Via The Financial Times –
Jony Ive had an interview with the Financial Times yesterday which revealed snip buts on his life and the Apple Watch.
Sir Jonathan hinted that Apple may have invented an entirely new form of gold just for the new timepiece. No surprises here. Apparently, the molecules in Apple gold are closer together, making it twice as hard as standard gold.
And twice as expensive probably!
So if you read my other post regarding the Samsung Galaxy S6, you will know that the Amazon.de pre order pricing starts at €949 and goes up to €1,049.
Fortunately, the HTC One M9 is only €749 some 200 euros cheaper. This price differential maybe the difference that sways people to upgrade to the HTC One M9.
At the moment, Amazon UK only has an option to be notified when this phone is available.
Why get the world’s media to unbox and demonstrate your phones when you can do it yourself. That is exactly what Samsung has done with the 2 unboxing videos. Despite any bias they are worth watching.
and
Amazon.de now has the pre order pages for both the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and Samsung Galaxy S6.
The pricing is as follows –
S6 Edge 128gb – €1,049
S6 Edge 64gb – €949 (this has had a 5% discount already applied)
S6 Edge 32gb – €999 (this is correct, same as 64gb at the moment)
S6 32/64/128gb – €999 (amazon clearly doesn’t want to reveal it hand yet on the pricing, but you can preorder and you will only be charged the lowest price at the time)
To add some perspective, €1,049 equals £759. So is the S6 or S6 Edge to expensive?
Source – http://www.amazon.de/Samsung-Galaxy-S6-Edge-Touch-Display-schwarz/dp/B00TX5PSBO
Apple is due to release iOS 8.2 next week, in time for its big Apple Watch Event on Monday 9th March.
If you are wondering what is new below is a list covering most of the changes.
Health App improvements
-Adds the ability to select the unit of measurement for body temperature, weight, height, distance, and blood glucose
-Improves stability when dealing with large amounts of data
-Includes the ability to add and visualise workout sessions from 3rd-party apps
-Addresses an issue that may have prevented users from adding a photo in Medical ID
-Fixes units for vitamins and minerals
-Fixes an issue where Health data wouldn’t refresh after changes data source order
-Fixes an issue where some graphics showed no data values
-Adds a privacy setting that enables turning off tracking of steps, distance, and flights climbed
Stability Enhancements
-Increases stability of Mail
-Improves stability of Flyover in Maps
-Improves stability of Music
-Improves VoiceOver reliability
-Improves connectivity with Made for iPhone Hearing Aids
Bug Fixes
-Fixes an issue in Maps that prevented navigating to some favorite locations
-Addresses an issue where the last word in a quick reply message wasn’t autocorrected
-Fixes an issue where duplicate iTunes purchased content could prevent iCloud restore from completing
-Resolves an issue where some music or playlists didn’t sync from iTunes to the Music app
-Fixes an issue where deleted audiobooks sometimes remained on the device
-Resolves an issue that could prevent call audio from routing to car speakers while using Siri Eyes Free
-Fixes a Bluetooth calling issue where no audio is heard until the call is answered
-Fixes a timezone issue where Calendar events appear in GMT
-Addresses an issue that caused certain events in a custom reoccurring meeting to drop from Exchange calendar
-Fixes an certificate error that prevented configuring an Exchange account behind a third-party gateway
-Fixes an issue that could cause an organizer’s Exchange meeting notes to be overwritten
-Resolves an issue that prevented some Calendar events from automatically showing as “busy” after accepting an invite.
Source – bgr.com
Samsung will be offering a total of 22 free gifts for the Samsung Galaxy S6. These might vary dependant on region but should include the following –
-VSCO,
-Magisto
-Pac-Man Friends
-The Hobbit: Kingdoms
-Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs
-NYTimes
-The Economist
-Kindle for Samsung
-Audible
-Workout Trainer
-Endomondo
-Uber
-Keepy
-PayPal
-Life360
-LastPass
-Shazam
-Fleksy
-Evernote
-Pocket
-Parallels Access
-Hancom Office
Some of the above offers are similar to those already being offered on the Note 4.
Source – sammyhub.com
Via CNET/AndroidCentral.com –
“Xiaomi has announced that it will offer a similar storefront to European customers. There won’t be any handsets up for sale, however, as Xiaomi has mentioned that like the US store, the European offering will only sell accessories.
According to Xiaomi’s global vice president Hugo Barra:
It’s going to be a different Mi.com experience from what we have in our markets in Asia, because we’re not selling phones. We’re only going to sell a small number of our hero accessories, things like the Mi Band, studio-grade headphones, in-ear headphones and the world’s most popular power banks.”
Xiaomi is currently focusing its efforts on the Indian market as well as its home turf. By offering good value accessories, it will start to increase its brand awareness.
Via KoreanHerald –
“LG Electronic’s mobile chief, Cho Jun-ho, went on record to say that the G4 will be “radically different” than the G3. For starters, LG is joining the metal party by including a metal body on the G4. Moving on to software, LG will utilize UX 4.0 which will offer a major overhaul of its software design.
Cho Jun-ho then added that they plan on releasing an even higher-end smartphone later this year”
It has been rumoured that LG arr working on a dual curved edge display similar to the Galaxy S6 Edge. Does anyone think this statement has been delivered to try and combat the Galaxy S6?
Phandroid.com put the Samsung Galaxy S6 up against their iPhone 6 to test up the camera’s stabilisation prowess.
In case you’re wondering when I had my iPhone 6 Plus and pitted it against my Note 4, the Note 4 stabilisation was far superior to that on the iPhone 6 Plus. The 6 Plus video was all jerky but the Note 4 was smooth. Both phones were on a tripod and a mezzanine floor that was being impacted by vibrations from the go karting below.
Honor held its launch event yesterday evening at MWC, and launched not one but two new phones.
I recently reviewed the Honor Holly and Honor 6 and was really impressed at the quality and value of these handsets. Now we have the Honor 4X and Honor 6+.
Let’s look at the Honor 4X.
The Honor 4X is a 5.5 inch 720p display, 64-bit 1.2 GHz Octa-core processor that provides 40% better performance than other 32-bit handsets, a 13MP primary camera with a f/2.0 5 piece lens, wide angle, HDR, a 5MP front camera, dual-SIM technology, a 3000maH battery that allows for two days of continuous use and superfast, uncompromising wireless connectivity with 4G compatibility for those that demand a faster connection. 1050 LTE/EPC patents guarantee seamless communication on the go. Storage is 8gb, 2gb ram. Dual silicon microphone design and noise reduction technology ensures unparalleled call quality even in the most demanding of environments. The 4X boasts a 72 hour battery and 7 days in Ultra Power saving mode. Android 4.4 with a confirmed upgrade to Android Lollipop too. Interesting the loudspeaker is on the side.
I mentioned the 13mp camera, but how about these features – “Ultra snapshot”, off-screen photo mode, all-focus mode, map view and a camera that can take photos in 0.6 seconds. That is not launch the camera app in 0.6 seconds but actually have taken a photo in 0.6 seconds.
The Honor 6+ was the other phone launched by Honor and the phone I personally want as my next smartphone.
So what makes this phone so special. It is based on the Honor 6 which I reviewed and throughly enjoyed. The Honor 6+ is for the digital photographer who wants more creativity. Capture unparalleled selfies on the 5.5-inch screen using the 8MP front facing camera. Unlike some phones, the Honor 6+ has an incredible 3,600 mAh battery which provides 2 days normal usage and that is without using the power saving modes. Now the rear cameras offer something extra. Featuring a parallel dual-camera, that’s two x 8mp rear lenses, blurry-night time photos are a thing of the past with the Honor 6+. The dual-lens camera means that the Honor 6+ captures double the amount of light. Coupled with a focus time of just 0.1 seconds, you’ll be able to capture beautiful night-time scenes that offer a level of clarity never seen before on a smartphone. Other features of the camera include a night mode with up to 32 second exposure. You can refocus the shot after taking and adjust the f stop from f/0.95 to f/16The display is a 5.5inch 1080p JDI Nega-LC FHD screen. Enjoy deep blacks and rich colour thanks to a stunning 1500:1 ultra high contrast ratio. A Kirin 925 octa-core processor powers everything with 3GB RAM, 32gb storage AND micro SD card support up to 128gb.
More info at – http://www.hihonor.com/en/pages/home and expect reviews on these phones as soon as possible.
For a detailed view of the Honor 6+ view this video. It is in Chinese but with English subtitles. Well worth a look.
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