Pebble announces the Pebble Steel Smartwatch – gold is similar to the Apple Watch

Android, Apple, Tech News, Wearables, ,

pbleteel

Pebble announced yesterday the Pebble Time Steel. This is the stainless steel version of the Pebble Time, with the same interface and software, but in a machined metal case that comes in silver, gold and black finishes. Pebble have also increased the battery life by another 3 days to 10 days in total.

Also the new watches will have ‘Smartstraps,’ which allows third-party developers to build smart straps as add-ons to both the standard and Steel watches. The watch has a port on the back, which will allow hardware makers to access and communicate with the Pebble Time. The smart strap would add extra sensors and electronics, batteries perhaps, heart rate monitor, gps chip and more.

The Pebble Time Kickstarter has raised over $12 million so with over 54,500 backers having pre-ordered around 65,700 smartwatches. The new Pebble Time Steel will retail for $299 and will be available to early Kickstarter backers for $249. Existing backers can choose to upgrade to the Pebble Time Steel without losing their spot in the queue. However, Pebble Time Steel starts shipping in July, instead of May for the first crop of standard Pebble Time devices, and June for the current backer group.

A bold move and lets hope it works for Pebble. And that gold finish Pebble Time Steel looks fairly similar to the Apple Watch in rose gold!

Source – techradar.com

BlackBerry Leap – Highlights

BlackBerry, Tech News

leap-coming-soon-1

BlackBerry Leap Highlights –

– Security to Keep Private Matters Private – like all BlackBerry 10 devices, it is equipped with support for encryption, plus built-in anti-malware protection and back-up, wipe and restore.

– Best-in-Class BlackBerry Keyboard – Type faster and more accurately on a touchscreen keyboard that learns how you write. With superior error correction, multi-language support, customised adaption, and flow, refuse to be bound by the mistakes and missteps that can hold you back.

– Master Your Messages in the BlackBerry Hub – See more of what matters and experience inbox Zen with the BlackBerry Hub on a brilliant 5” HD display. Messages from across your multiple personal and professional roles, like BBM messages, texts, emails, and social media, all appear in one easy-to-manage view.

– Battery that Powers Through a Full Day – You don’t work 9 to 5 – you’re the all-day, all-night type. With up to 25 hours of heavy use, the BlackBerry Leap will help you power through even your most demanding days. With an impressive 2800 mAh battery and the energy-saving optimisations in the BlackBerry 10 OS, BlackBerry Leap delivers battery life that will outlast even you.

– More Ways To Access Apps – Discover and purchase great business and productivity apps through BlackBerry World and the latest Android apps and games through the Amazon Appstore. And access modern mobile web apps via the industry-leading BlackBerry Browser*.

– The Power Of BlackBerry On Your Computer & Tablet – BlackBerry Blend seamlessly brings messaging and content on your BlackBerry to your PC and tablet to make you more productive instantly. Access your work and personal messages, notifications, documents, calendar, contacts and media in real time on whatever device you are on, powered by your BlackBerry. No saving to a cloud, no wires, no backing up.

Just one question, why is printing documents, emails and photos not included with the operating system? This is a failure not just of this phone but others like the BlackBerry Passport.

BlackBerry Leap Specifications

– 5″ HD touch display
– 8MP Rear camera
– 16GB Internal storage
– 25HRS battery life
– 1280 x 720 HD resolution, 294 PPI
– BlackBerry® 10 operating system
– 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps
– MicroSD card support up to 128GB

Source – blackberry.com

Sony Xperia Z4 – The World’s Slimmest Tablet

Android, Tech News

xperia-z4-tablet-gallery-01-1240x840-248ac84a11183345ca3c9ba6e8ce15e4

Sony has announced its new 10.1 inch tablet with a 16:10 aspect ratio. It now has a 2K screen with the resolution of 2,560 x 1,600. This translates into 299 pixels per inch. It is also insanely thin at 6.1 mm. It is as slim as an iPad Air 2. It’s weighs hardly anything at 392g.

In addition, front-facing stereo speakers, 5.1 and 8 MP cameras on the front and rear, respectively. Sony will offer an LTE variant of the slate alongside a standard Wi-Fi-only model.


The device runs on a 64-bit, 2 GHz Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor paired with 3 GB of RAM and up to 32 GB of storage. There’s a microSD card reader included, and the tablet packs the latest 5.0 Lollipop A 6,000 mAh battery is provided with Sony quoting 17 hours of video playback on a single charge.

Source – http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/products/tablets/xperia-z4-tablet/

Episode 33 – MWC Special- Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast is Live – Please RT

Amazon, Android, Reviews, Tech News, ,

As you know, I co-host a monthly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast.

To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

Episode 32, “MWC Special” is now live for your listening pleasure.

If you have enjoyed the podcast, please leave a 5 star review in iTunes. It helps others find our podcast. Go now and leave a review !

If you have any comments, questions or feedback, please drop a line at feedback@gdtpodcast.com or in the comments below.

And finally, our thanks to Audible as today’s podcast is supported by Audible- get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/GavDave . Over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. No obligation.

It’s a free trial so give it a go if you haven’t already.

If you are buying anything on Amazon, please use the link below. This will help support Gavin’s Gadgets with some of the running costs and using the link won’t cost you anymore. Thanks in advance.

GavGadgets@Amazon

Google+ is being split into Streams and Photos

Tech News,

Bradley Horowitz from Google confirmed the following today – “Just wanted to confirm that the rumors are true — I’m excited to be running Google’s Photos and Streams products! It’s important to me that these changes are properly understood to be positive improvements to both our products and how they reach users”

Via Forbes, “But Pichai said that two important parts of Google+, Photos and Hangouts, may soon be separated from the main product. “I think increasingly you’ll see us focus on communications, photos and the Google+ Stream as three important areas, rather than being thought of as one area,” he said.”

This may really impact some online communities on Google+, but I suppose we will just have to see how everything pans out.

HTC One M9 – more information not revealed so far

Android, Tech News,

The HTC One M9 has more tricks up its sleeve than first thought. Below is just a few extra items of information that might make you change your mind –

– Instead of optical image stabilisation,  HTC use electronic image stabilisation which conserves component space
– HD Video is supported at 30fps,  4K at 30fps and slow motion at 120fps. 
– The One M9 is IPx3 certified –  that is rain and mist proof.
– It comes with a standard 1.5A charger with the option to buy HTC Rapid Charger as the One M9 supports Quick Charging.
– The LCD panel circuitry is under the black bar
– HTC have confirmed the software is not final and most of the focus is on camera optimisations

Surprise, Surprise – We now know why IKEA made this announcement – details

Tech News

ikea_logo-630x224

Just a few days ago on the eve of MWC, IKEA announced it would start offering bedside tables, lamps and desks with Qi wireless charging capabilities built in. Those products will be available starting next month in Europe and in North America then globally afterward. Clearly the knew Samsung would be launching the new Galaxy S6 with wireless charging built in.

Maybe this will be the start of a wireless charging revolution and the end of the cable?

Cyanogen, Qualcomm and Alcatel OneTouch Hero 2+

Android, Tech News, ,

alcatel-hero2plus-cyanogen

Cyanogen are making new strides in the corporate wide having agreed a new partnership with Qualcomm

Now Cyanogen have announced a device along with Alcatel OneTouch. The Hero 2+ specifications are –

– Display 6-inch Full HD (1080 x 1920) TFT 16M color display + built in stylus
– Processor MT6592 2.0 GHz octa-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor
– Camera 13MP main camera + 5MP front camera for the perfect selfie
– Video Capture Full HD 1080p 30 frame per second video capture so you never miss any of life’s moments
– Memory/Storage 2GB RAM / 16GB of storage (Expandable to 32GB via MicroSD)
– Operating System Cyanogen OS 11 on Android KitKat 4.4.4
– Dimensions 160.5mm x 81.6mm x 7.9mm

Source – androidcentral.com

Google confirms to foray as a MVNO – its called Nova – details

Android, Tech News

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google revealed at Mobile World Congress that Google plans to bridge the gap between mobile networks and Wi-Fi, likely using its own Fiber network. The aim is to create a seamless hand-off between LTE and Wi-Fi, even during calls. As a result, the places to get access to Nova will be those that already have access to Google Fiber.

However, at this stage Sundar remained fairly tight lipped regarding its other intentions.