Tag Archives: details

The Chord Mojo – The Game Changer has Arrived – First Impressions

  

Chord Electronics is a UK audio company based in Kent. Chord has been making high end quality audio products for many years. Last week they announced their new Chord Mojo, their most affordable product to date and likely to be one of their most successful products. So what is the Chord Mojo? Chord Electronics state –

“Chord Electronics is proud to introduce Mojo, the ultimate DAC/Headphone Amplifier for your smartphone. Simply connect Mojo to your iPhone, Android phone, PC, or Mac, plug in your headphones and you can experience crystal clear audio the way you would hear it in the recording studio.”

  

  


Key Features

-Mojo was designed for the music loving Smartphone owner.
-It is powerful, but small and comfortable to carry.
-It works with your iPhone, Android or Windows phone… Also DAPs.
-Mojo is also compatible with your Mac, PC, or Linux computer.
-Mojo has three digital inputs – USB, Coaxial, and Optical.
-Mojo charges in just 4 hours to provide up to 10 hours use.
-You can use any pair of headphones with Mojo, from 4Ω to 800Ω.
-With two 3.5mm analogue outputs you and a friend can listen too!
-Mojo plays all files from 32kHz to 768kHz and even DSD 512.
-Mojo is fully automatic and remembers its last used settings.
-Its case is precision machined from a single solid block of aluminium.
-Mojo is entirely designed and manufactured in Great Britain.
-Output Power @ 1kHz
-600 ohms 35mW
-8 ohms 720mW
-Output Impedance: 0.075 ohms
-Dynamic Range: 125dB
-THD @ 3v – 0.00017%

So we can all read the specs and features and so on, BUT the key point is how does the Chord Mojo perform and does it sound any good! Answer it is a magical, breathtaking product that blows the competition away when it comes to musicality, sound quality and tonal reproduction. At its price point of £399, there is nothing anywhere near this and likely up to and slightly over £1,500 that competes. Chord sell the Hugo, a bigger version of the Mojo for £1,400, and yet the Mojo according to those that are lucky enough to own both reproduces 97% of what the Hugo achieves. Some say its better.

  
I have been listening to the Mojo with Sony MDR-1RNC, AKG K702 and ATH-M50x headphones and I have never heard my headphones sound so good. Period! The Mojo is funky with its coloured balls that change colours yet its built like a rock. A stunning piece of engineering. I am not listening to high end FLAC or DSD tracks just normal MP3 encoded music to achieve this wonderful sound. For the record, the Mojo is not a review unit/loan. I consider the Mojo the single best electronic purchase I have ever made. That list includes phones, cameras, tablets, audio equipment, gadgets and more.

My recommendation would be to stop buying the next best smartphone, and start enjoying your music collection all over again!

Chord Electronics Mojo Headphone Amplifier / DAC information and deal at Amazon UK

YouTube launches YouTube Red service – details and viewpoint

YouTube has announced its brand new YouTube Red membership package, which will cost $9.99 per month when it launches on Wednesday, October 28.

The service provides subscribers with an ad-free viewing experience, along with the ability to save clips for offline playback and background play audio on smartphones and tablets.

With this service you also get the Play Music All Access, so really its a rebranding using the stronger YouTube brand and throwing in an ad free experience to differentiate itself.

There is a tougher side to this new service. Any YouTube creators who don’t sign up to YouTube’s new Terms of Service will have all their content removed from public view, even the ad version!

It won’t be long before everything will eventually be behind a pay wall.

YouTube naturally created a video to promote is new service –

Apple updates nearly everything – Adds Features and Advices of Price Increases

Last night the internet ground to a crawl as Apple released software updates for nearly all its hardware in one go at the same time. Isn’t it amazing that Apple can pull off this feat.

This included Macs, iPhones, iPads and Apple Watch. Apple TV to follow too.

There were lots of new features/bug fixes –

– News app came to the UK – first thoughts is that it is super slow
– Find my Friends now appears on http://www.icloud.com
– Apple Watch was all about bug fixes and longer battery life
– New emojis across everything
– Update for Live Photos, which now senses when the iPhone is raised or lowered to refrain from recording unnecessary movements eg shoes
– EL Capitan bug fixes

But there was also a few new pain points –

– iTunes Terms of Service changed due to increased cost with in app purchases.
– Game Center and nearly everything Apple does had a new legal agreement which you had to agree to. How many of you read it?
– This updates kills the new jailbreak although I cannot see any reason to jailbreak anymore

So did you notice anything new?

The Features of iOS 9 Battery and Low Power Saving Mode

If you have an iPhone or iPad, I hope you have updated to the new iOS 9 as Apple has delivered on a number of improvements to battery performance and added a low power saving mode.

In my time with the iPhone 6 Plus, the one aspect that stood out was stunning standby time. Now with iOS 9 you get the following improvements.

– Apple have indicated that just by updating to iOS 9, you should get up to an extra one hour’s worth of battery. That’s really impressive if true.

– One way the battery is saved in iOS 9 is stopping the screen from turning on when notifications arrive. This is achieved by using the light and proximity sensors to determine the device is face down.

Now there is a Low Power Saving mode in the settings app. This should have been available a long time ago, but better late than never. This mode offers the following benefits –

– Limiting network activity
– Background downloads are stopped
– App background refreshes are stopped
– Animations are reduced
– Email is no longer fetched automatically
– Screen brightness is reduced

To ensure all of these new options are easier to find the settings app is now more visible instead of being in a sub menu where the battery details previously resided. The battery stats are now able to show battery stats in far shorter time frames instead of the previous last 23 hours.

All of these changes are a positive improvement and I look forward to testing the battery improvements and low power saving mode when I get the iPhone 6S Plus.

Google launches Android Pay to take on Apple – details

“Google has made its mobile payments system, Android Pay, available at more than one million locations in the United States. The tap-to-pay system will compete with Apple Pay in the burgeoning mobile payments market. Android Pay can be used with smartphones that have near-field communication (NFC) capability and Google’s KitKat 4.4+ operating system.

It will allow users to store their credit card details on their phones, as well as loyalty cards and other data.
Existing users of the Google Wallet app can access Android Pay through an update, while new users can download it from the Google Play app store in the coming days. Retailers including Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Subway are among the first to participate in Android Pay, with more to come. It will be extended to mobile checkouts in some apps later this year.

The Google system will support credit and debit cards from providers including MasterCard, Visa and American Express, as well as banks including Bank of America, with Citigroup and Wells Fargo to follow. Rather than passing users’ credit card details to a retailer, both the Google and Apple systems generate a “token” so the actual data is not revealed during a transaction, reducing the risk of data theft. Last month, Samsung launched its own mobile wallet service, called Samsung Pay, in South Korea. It will be available in the US from 28 September, with countries including the UK, Spain and China to follow.

Google is yet to reveal when Android Pay will be available outside the US.”

Only US at the moment, just shows how well Apple has done to get so far ahead.

Source – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34216475

This is the new Moto 360 – details

  
Over the last month or so the Motorola Moto 360 has been selling at a reduced price to clear out old stock ready for the new version. 

Except it not version but versions. Finally, two sizes will be available. And judging by the photo, different finishes and straps as well. 

Sadly, the flat tire arrangement on the screen is still carried forward. 

Source – @evleaks

https://mobile.twitter.com/evleaks/status/637997715109113856

Apple closing in on Fitbit – details

According to Reuters, Apple is rapidly catching Fitbit up in terms of sales.

Apple Inc, which launched the Apple Watch in June, is within striking distance of leader Fitbit Inc in the wearable devices market, market research firm IDC said. Apple shipped 3.6 million Apple Watches in the second quarter of 2015, just behind Fitbit’s 4.4 million wearable fitness and health trackers, IDC said. The Apple Watch, which sports many health-related features and apps, is seen as the biggest rival to Fitbit’s trackers.

Apple is likely to sell more Apple Watches over Xmas, as people potentially buy one of these as a gift. FitBit currently does not integrate with Apple Health so clearly there is no love lost between these companies. However, a Fitbit Charge HR is a great device for fitness and a much lower cost of ownership than an Apple Watch. But I do wonder if there is room for both companies to survive at current sales levels?

Source – http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/27/us-apple-fitbit-wearables-idUSKCN0QW1OA20150827

Honor announces the Honor 7 flagship phone costing £249

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Last night Honor announced the new Honor 7 for the UK. Retailing at £249 but available now for a few days until 31st August 2015 for £209 via https://www.vmall.eu/uk/honor-7-grey-281214/ .
If you want to buy via Amazon UK it is now available Honor 7 Amazon UK deal

I have watched all the hands on videos and reviews and really like what I see. Some of the highlights include –

– Fast Fingerprint indicator, Smart Voice WakeUp, personalised “Smart Key”
– 20 MP rear and 8 MP front camera
– 5.2 inch FHD display, metallic body, ceramic blasting
– Long lasting 3100 mAh battery, Smart Power 3.0, Reverse Charging, Quick Charging
– Kirin 935, 64 bit OctaCore CPU with up to 2.2 GHz, revolutionary heat dissipation design
– Dual sim or sim plus micro SD card
– Boost the volume by up to 2dB with Voice+ or eliminate all noise for up to three metres with the super hands-free calling 3.0 mode.
– Storage: 16 GB / RAM: 3 GB / User Available Memory: approx. 9 GB / External: microSD card (up to 128 GB)
– 3G: YES / 4G: YES / Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.1 / A2DP stereo / Bluetooth BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) / Wi-Fi: 802.11ac/a/b/g/n, 2.4G Hz /5G Hz
– NFC included

So if you pre-ordered before the 31st August 2015, you could pick up this phone for £209. That seems like a lot of phone for your money. See what Btekt and Gadgette thought of the Honor 7 in an open review type discussion of the phone. I think its amazing what you can buy for a few hundred pounds nowadays!!

So what do you think?

Three UK – #makeitright – translates to large immediate price increase for PAYG customers – details

Via Three UK –

We thought you should know that our All-in-One 15 Add-on is being replaced from 19th August. Don’t worry if you have recently purchased the All-in-One 15, as you can still use it until it’s finished, but if you want to continue afterwards with the great features our All-in-One Add-ons offer, you will need to switch to another one.

So what do Three suggest might work to replace the above plan –

Based on your recent data usage, you may find that the All-in-One 10 Add-on better meets your needs. Our All-in-One 10 Add-on gives you 100 minutes, 3000 texts and 500MB data for up to 30 days. What’s more, you can use your Add-on allowance to use your phone abroad at no extra cost in 18 destinations worldwide when on holiday (some limits apply – see Three.co.uk/feelathome).

Somehow, I doubt very much that most people will be able to switch from All-in-One to 500mb data per month! Alternative plans seem to start from £20/£25 per month. This is part of Three UK’s #makeitright. This change will increase my current plan by £7 per month, which is nearly a 50% increase overnight.

Source – http://www.threemicrosites.co.uk/AIO20B

The Samsung Gear S2 – Copy or Original

Samsung has released a video highlighting some information about its new smartwatch, the Gear S2.

Is it me, or does it look similar to another brand of smartwatch? Regardless, the app/eco support along with linkage with Google Now cards will determine the success of this device. At the moment, Android Wear is not good enough to be used as a fitness device like the FitBit Charge HR. For example, FitBit and MyFitnessPal link together really well.

But maybe, Samsung and Google have some surprises on the software front too next month.