Archive for 2012

Zara Phillips vs. the Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Samsung today unveiled a modern day portrait of silver Olympic medallist Zara Phillips, created using its latest tablet device, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Bringing the concept of the portrait up to date, artist Darren Baker, replaced the traditional paintbrush and easel with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and its S Pen – an advanced pen-input technology which can be used for sketching, editing documents or annotating images.

The portrait was created during a sitting at Home House with Zara in London last week. It was created by Bradford-based artist Darren Baker, whose previous subjects include Tony Blair, Jonny Wilkinson and Lewis Hamilton.

“I love the concept of this portrait. To have the chance to work with Samsung to give the traditional portrait a modern twist was really appealing. It was incredible to watch it take shape – and to see just how intricate the artist could be with the S-Pen. I’ve got a Galaxy Note 2 myself, and although I’m no artist, it’s great for me – I can keep up to speed on emails, edit and make notes on my training schedule and even watch movies if I find myself with some spare time,” said Zara Phillips.

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is the newest member in Samsung’s range of Galaxy Note devices. It launches with Android 4.1 JellyBean and an upgraded Google Now service, which includes new features such as contextual search. It has a 1.6GHz Quad-Core processor and HSPA Plus, a 5.55″ (141mm) HD Super AMOLED display and 8 megapixel rear-facing and 1.9 megapixel front-facing cameras with HD video recording.

HTC 8X now in stock at Expansys

The HTC 8X has just arrived in stock at Expansys and will set you back a reasonable £399.99 SIM Free. We unboxed the new Windows Phone 8 device just the other day and it really is quite a beauty.

If you missed the video you can catch up with it here. And if you like what you see head on over to Expansys and get your orders in. I suspect the HTC 8X is going to be pretty popular.

Posted by: James

Apple get told off, told to apologise again

Just last week Apple posted their online "apology" letter to Samsung. They were ordered by a UK court to acknowledge that Samsung did not copy their designs and ordered to host it on the homepage of their website. Unsurprisingly, the letter they posted was hard to find, and was written in a snide and condescending manner. Rather than sincerely acknowledging what the courts asked them to, they talked about how the Samsung tablets were "not as cool" as the iPad, and they also included references to their other victories across the globe in which Samsung was found to have copied. They even published the statement on an unbranded page with a small link from the homepage. This was basically a slap in the face to the UK court’s ruling, and it seems that the court is not too happy about it.

The UK court just found that Apple was in "non-compliance" and ordered them to create a new statement that complies with the order. Apple complained that they would need at least 14 days to draft such a letter, but the judges basically slapped that argument down. Judge Jacob said he "cannot believe" that it would tale that long. He also said, “I’m at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this. That is a plain breach of the order.”

Apple’s 14 day request was denied, and they were given 48 hours to comply with the order. They will also have to leave the new statement on their home page until December 14th, and they must publish notices in U.K. newspapers and trade magazines with details of the ruling.

Posted by: Gareth

O2 sticks their arm in

The LG Nexus 4 is arriving soon and the handset will be selling for prices starting at £239 sim free. Exceptionally good value from Google there. Whilst some may still not fancy paying out for the handset up front O2 are to carry to LG Nexus 4 on contract and shall be launching it on Tuesday 13th November.

We’ll be selling it on our range of On & On Pay Monthly tariffs and it’ll be free on all tariffs from £36 a month up. Whichever On & On tariff you take, you’ll get unlimited calls and unlimited texts to anyone in the UK as well as 1GB of data

Yes, £36 a month appears to be what O2 feel is an appropriate price tag for the Nexus 4. In an attempt to make the deal sound in some way good value, there will also be 50 32 inch flatscreen TV’s given away to the first 50 people in the queue, there is also some waffle about the first 20 being able to take a panoramic shot of London from the top of The O2 Arena.

To purchase the phone directly from Google will set you back £239 for the 8gb version and £279 for the 16gb. To purchase from O2, the grand total over the 24 months will be £864. Less the price of the phone (I will use £279 as the 8gb isn’t the most attractive) will be £585. This means you will be paying £25 a month for the contract. You would be much better off grabbing the phone from Google themselves and checking out another Sim card option, like GiffGaff or Talk Mobile and save yourself a good few £££!

O2 might have lost the plot with their “deal” here and hopefully we will see a revised price plan before launch.

Posted by: Gareth

Android 4.0.3 ICS rolling out for the Vodafone Huawei Ascend G300

Are you a Vodafone Huawei Ascend G300 owner? Well watch out as Ice Cream Sandwich is coming your way. Vodafone dropped us an email earlier today to say that the roll out is commencing so as well as you having possibly one of the best value handsets of the year you also get a well deserved OS update. Smiles all round.

If you are a new Android user you can head on over to the Vodafone eForum where all will be explained. How jolly decent of Vodafone to offer such as service. A pat on the back for them.

Enjoy your update G300 posse.

Posted by: James

Movember starts tomorrow – Want to help us out please?

Tomorrow see’s the first day of Movember and for the first time I shall be taking part. For those that know me you will be aware that I only have a beard trim once a week anyway and to be honest with just a moustache I look blooming stupid, so it should make for a comical month!

The funds raised in the UK are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, Prostate Cancer UK and the Institute of Cancer Research. We work with these partners to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.

If you are in the position to make a small donation to a very worthwhile cause we will be most grateful. You can do so by visiting http://mobro.co/jamesrichardson73 and if you want to keep up to date with silly moustache pictures I will post one a day on our Twitter page. I’m blushing just at the thought of it but it isn’t about me – we need to raise for funds for men’s health.

For those that can help I thank you in advance – James