Tag Archives: Review

Motorola Moto G – first impressions

Android, Reviews, Tech News,

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The Motorola Moto G has arrived yesterday. Actually, I was asked to get some vegetables on my way home, and to my shock horror Tesco were selling the Moto G in both memory sizes, 8gb and 16gb, and both were in stock. So a few carrots and leeks ended up being a bit more expensive.

Tesco sell the Moto G for £99 but it is sim locked to their Tesco Mobile network. £2.04 on eBay and ten minutes later and the sim lock was removed. Then 5 minutes to reflash the firmware with the Moto G default firmware and now I had an unlocked and de-Tesco’d phone. All for £101.04.

The system firmware needs 3gb. So with the 8gb I only had 5gb left. That was enough for about 30 apps, most of which were games. The phone feels comfortable in the hand and isn’t too big. The volume rocker rattles as does the power button. It’s fine just not premium engineering. Everything else about the phone seems ok. In fact the overall build quality is quite reasonable.

If you have this phone especially with the 8gb version you will have to stream everything and use the cloud services that Google and or others provide.

The screen is great. Battery life is unknown at present. Most of my apps installed ok. So surely there must be a catch. Well 5gb user available memory isn’t much. But you can manage. Sound via the headphones is astonishing. I was expecting it to be crap or poor but it wasn’t. It was well above average. This is achieved using the Equaliser settings. I will report back on the loudspeaker once I have had more time with it.

The Moto G includes an FM Radio, Moto Assist, Moto Care and tips, and all the Google services.

So would I sell my iPhone 5S for the Moto G ? Find out over the course of this week?

Nokia Lumia 820 – review conclusion

Reviews, Tech News, Windows,

Instead of revealing everything about the Lumia 820 now, I am going to reveal all my actual untamed thoughts on this phone on Sunday night, within Episode 4 of a podcast I co-host every two weeks with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast.

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

So if you would like to have anything answered on the podcast this Sunday, please leave a note in the comments. This should be an interesting podcast as Dave and I are near the end of our Windows Phone 7 Day Challenge. This is where we ditched our sims out of our iPhones and into a Window Phone. I chose the Lumia 820 and Dave the Lumia 925. Thanks to @Nokia_Connects for use of the hardware.

Nokia Lumia 820 – review thoughts part 2

Reviews, Tech News, Windows,

Another day has now passed with the Nokia Lumia 820.

There is a lot to like from a hardware and software point of view. Nokia include some great additions and I’m really enjoying Nokia MixRadio. I really like the fact the Nokia Here Maps is not only included free of charge, but that I can download the whole map of the UK, therefore not using my mobile data tariff whilst out and about. And just to be clear, downloading your country map is free too. The Family Room sharing is a nice feature, along with the People app. The People app integrated all my social networks and contacts, and provides a live title that kept updating with new social activity.

The app and game catalogue keeps improving and I’m not really struggling through lack of apps and or alternative options. It is clear, that if you use a Windows Phone, you have to really use the Microsoft Eco system to get the most from the experience. This now applies if using an android phone or iPhone, where you are best served with Google and Apple options respectively.

The only real issue I’m suffering from is the poor implementation of notifications on the Windows Phone operating system. This is not a fault of Nokia, it is squarely levelled at Microsoft. However, I believe the first quarter of 2014 will bring a new notification centre and in turn rectify the key area of weakness/failure.

I’m still surprised by the above average camera, especially in a phone that is so affordable in the line up of Nokia Lumia’s.

I’ve had no real issues with the 820 apart from poor notifications. Battery is lasting a whole day from 7am to midnight with about 25% left.

I’m going to explore the Microsoft marketplace and see what interesting apps and games I can find and will report back soon.

Nokia Lumia 820 – review part 1

Tech News, Windows,

So I have been using the Nokia Lumia 820 for several days now as my only phone, and there is a lot to like from a hardware point of view. Nokia have built a very solid piece of hardware, which provides a reassuring feel to using it. On the software front, Nokia include some of its own apps which massively enhance the user experience from Mixradio, Here Maps and photo shooting and editing apps.

The camera is a 8mp Carl Zeiss affair which snaps some above average photos for a phone in all lighting conditions. I view the 820 as the middle of the pack from Nokia’s offering of windows phones. Beneath the 820 is the 520, 620 and 720 and above are the 925, 1020 and just launched 1520. Having used the 620, 925 and 1020 I feel that the 820 is a little bit pig in the middle. It’s better than the budget end with improved hardware, camera and comes with a replaceable battery and memory card slot. But jumping up to the Lumia 925 and above in my opinion is a big leap. The hardware is superior along with the camera software and hardware.

Therefore, at the moment after 4 days with the 820, I am of the opinion that you either spend less and go for the budget 520 or 620 or get your wallet out and splash out on the 925, 1020 or 1520. The budget offerings don’t feel compromised. You appreciate what you are getting for your money. The 820 feels a little compromised, not that it really is in any way as it’s priced accordingly. It’s that I have been spoilt with the 925 and 1020. The 1020 would be my phone of choice if I didn’t have the 5S. In fact, I hear it calling everyday. It really was a marvellous piece of hardware with its 41mp camera sensor.

I will update you with my views as I get to use the 820 more and more.

Logitech UE 6000 headphones – final review

Apple, Reviews, Tech News,

To recap on the early part of the review click here.

I have been able to use these headphones a lot longer and despite their many strengths, the constant background hiss that appears when the noise cancellation is active, is starting to frustrate me. This means I can’t enjoy my music.

Classical songs are a complete disaster. Jazz is just as poor. The only genres that don’t get impacted are dance and heavy bass tracks. So if you like this type of music then these headphones will be fine for you.

However, in conclusion, I have decided to return these headphones and cannot offer my recommendation unless you like bass led tracks which hides the noise cancellation hiss. Of course, you can use these without noise cancellation being active, but then that defeats the whole purpose of these headphones.

The 7 Day Windows Phone Challenge

Reviews, Windows, , , ,

Myself and Dave Rich of UKMobileTech have both moved our sims into Window Phones and intend to use them exclusively for the next 7 days. Dave is using a Nokia Lumia 925 and myself a Nokia Lumia 820.

We both have used Windows Mobile phones in the past, but now its time to see how the new software updates improve the experience.

To recap on my reviews of the Nokia Lumia 620, 925, 1020 and now 820, click above into the Reviews page for all the links.

To find out how we got on, tune in next Sunday to part 4 of “Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast”. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

Thanks to @Nokia_Connects for the loan of the phones.

Nokia Lumia 820 – first impressions

Reviews, Tech News, Windows,

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I received the Nokia Lumia 820 is the post yesterday evening. I’ve only had a short time with it, but below are my first impressions.

It’s a fairly substantial feeling phone, both in terms of actual weight and feel in the hand. It’s very comfortable in the hand, approximately the same height as the iPhone 5S but wider. It’s has a 8mp Carl Zeiss camera, a removable back cover and battery and expandable storage with a micro SD card. In fact, at first glance I didn’t believe the back cover actually came off and had to watch a YouTube video revealing how the back cover was removed.

I took a few photos indoors in low light, and once again the Nokia optics perform rather admirably. The Lumia 820 is not in the same league as the 1020 but it did snap rather good photos despite the low lighting.

It’s style is similar to the Nokia Lumia 620, but larger with a better camera and 1gb ram. I don’t know what it is about the Lumia range but they feel tough and the only phone brand I would not protect with a case.

Next week I will post more thoughts of the Nokia Lumia 820.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 6000 – review impressions part 2

Apple, Reviews, Tech News,

Following on from my first impressions yesterday, I’ve have had a bit more time listening to these. The official specifications are –

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

HEADPHONE TYPE:Around-the-ear
DRIVER DIAMETER:40mm
IMPEDANCE:50 Ohms DCR Powered Off, 1K Ohms Powered On
SENSITIVITY:97 dB SPL/mW Powered Off, 99 dB SPL/mW Powered On, 1KHz
FREQUENCY RESPONSE:20 Hz – 20 kHz
CONNECTION:3.5 mm (1/8 inch)
NOISE ISOLATION:10 dB
BATTERY TYPE:2 AAA batteries
BATTERY LIFE:Over 40 hours of listening on average

The specifications don’t grab you and say these headphones will rock. They need a fair amount of juice to be powered hence why they sound more dynamic and with increased bass with the noise cancellation switched on. I also found to achieve the bass slam and depth you really needed the iPhone volume in the higher end of the scales at around 66% of volume and above. There is still the slightly annoying hiss with noise cancellation.

I have done several tests with the noise cancellation. Let’s just say it removes the sound partially but not completely. The Bose QC15 are much better for this but then cost 3 times as much. However, the UE 6000 noise cancellation is better than not being there at all.

Despite feeling heavyish to hold, the headphones are comfortable even with extended listening periods. Their sound signature is rather uninspiring with the noise cancellation off, although for some tracks the sound balance is more accurate. With the noise cancellation on, the bass is far more prominent and the tracks comes alive. I feel at times the treble and vocals become too muffled. The presentation is fun with a bass line. The added bass can be a very good thing even on classical music but sometimes it can overpower the track. I’ve tried the full spectrum of music genres and these headphones can surprise you irrespective of genre.

My verdict is a fun sound, sometimes really good, sometimes the bass overpowers the track and sometimes the bass adds more enjoyment to the experience. The noise cancellation is ok, but does add a hiss which I did find annoying but not all the time.

But let’s put the above in context. These were originally £200. And at that price there were better options. Except now, they are not £200 and can be had for around £88 on Amazon. At £88 these are a good offering, not perfect for me, but for many will be excellent.

Logitech UE 6000 headphones – first impressions

Apple, Reviews, Uncategorized,

The Logitech Ultimate Ears 6000 are a noise cancelling pair of over the ears headphones made for iPhone, iPod or iPad.

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The first impressions you get of these headphones are the packaging. Some serious marks for such a well presented and stylish box. It opens to reveal a pouch for the manual, a soft zipped case which had the headphones inside, the wired cable, and a cool looking headphone splitter, allowing for an extra pair of headphones to connect to your iPod or iPhone or iPad. The wired cable also has the controls for your iOS devices.

You connect the wired cable, remove the battery plastic strip and voila. Slide the power button on and you have the UE 6000 ready to rock.

So the good part of these cans in that the noise cancellation works even when the 2 AAA batteries run out. And the fact that it uses batteries you need to make sure you have a spare pair if on a long journey.

Switching the power switch on does cut out a lot of background noise although not everything. The noisy dishwasher was considerably quieter. With the noise cancellation on, the cans had more punch and dynamics. The bass is excellent. But I have noticed a slight hiss when the noise cancellation is switched on. This might be a nuisance with quiet classical music. The UE 6000 are very comfortable on first impressions.

More impressions to follow shortly.

Final thoughts on the Nokia Lumia 1020

Reviews, Tech News, Windows,

I’ve had the Nokia Lumia 1020 for around 2 weeks courtesy of Nokia.

I really enjoyed the Lumia 1020. I preferred it over the Lumia 925 as I preferred the polycarbonate build over the Lumia 925 aluminium frame. I also loved having the top notch 41mp camera. I took some fabulous photos and having the immense detail has proven invaluable.

If I was being extremely nit picky I wished the phone camera software had a HDR mode. In fact, talking about modes for novices I think have some preset shooting modes eg waterfall, fireworks, action etc would be great. Once again in a relatively short space of time window phone apps have improved. Couple that with the new processors and upgrades to the operating system, and you have an alternative to android.

I don’t know why, but I actually prefer windows phone to android. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m looking forward to the Lumia 1520.