Archive for October, 2013

By October 25, 2013 Read More →

Could KitKat be Android TV?

Could KitKat be Android TVWe have a new report suggesting that Google’s next OS, Android 4.4/KitKat could be designed as a bridge to facilitate Android TV and that will be its primary new focus. There have been rumours that Google plans to close down Google TV and reinvent it as Android TV. This new report seems to confirm that and also shines a light on how Google plans to introduce it.
According to these rumours, the main enhancements we will see in KitKat will be geared toward Android TV. Here’s a quote with more of the details,

Quote:

According to the industry on October 23, Google will greatly increase compatibility with TV in the next Android OS. In particular, it will improve the interface with smart devices. It seems that Google has greatly improved the user interface (UI)/user experience (UX), which have been regarded as the limitations of the existing smart TV, and the app development environment for TV. ‘Android 4.4 KitKat,’ soon to be disclosed, is most likely to be the next OS.
A number of industry insiders said “I heard Google say ‘the next OS has greatly improved its utilization in TV. In particular, there will be many changes in the interface between smart devices and the TV.”

In effect, Android 4.4 KitKat is a bridge between Android smartphones and Android TV, just like Honeycomb was the bridge between Android smartphones and Android tablets

By October 24, 2013 Read More →

Samsung rapped on the knuckles

wpid-Samsung_Logo.svg_.pngIt seems Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission has fined Samsung $340,000 (£210,000) for paying a company to post fake online reviews and comments praising its own products whilst criticising its competitors. The company, OpenTide, employed “a large number of hired writers and designated employees”, to post on Taiwanese forums about several rival companies. HTC is rumoured to have been one of the victims of Samsung’s tactic to “highlight the shortcomings of competing products”

Samsung is also said to have taken part in the “disinfection of negative news about Samsung products” and posting positive evaluations of their own products. The investigation began in April and has recently concluded with Samsung admitting: “The recent incident was unfortunate, and occurred due to insufficient understanding of these fundamental principles.” They continued “We regret any inconvenience this incident may have caused. We will continue to reinforce education and training for our employees to prevent any future recurrence.”

This on top of recent allegations that Samsung have been ‘cheating’ with their device benchmarks, it hasn’t been a good few weeks for them!

 

Posted in: News
Tags: , ,
By October 24, 2013 Read More →

HTC One gets Sense 5.5 and Android 4.3 Now

android-43-jelly-beanA little over a week since the HTC One Max debuted with Android 4.3 and Sense 5.5 we’ve just learned that the HTC One will be getting the update to 4.3 and HTC Sense 5.5 starting now.

HTC Sense 5.5 brings along some nice changes to with notable improvements to Blinkfeed, Google+ integration, Gallery and Video Highlights and a new Scribble app for note taking and writing directly on to the screen.

To see a little more of Sense 5.5 on the HTC One Max check out my unboxing video.

I have the update downloading to my HTC One as I type. The 675MB update lists the following enhancements:

System Improvements

  • Android 4.3 and HTC Sense 5.5 update

Video Highlights Improvements

  • Updated Interface
  • Add Soundtrack to videos

Blinkfeed Improvements

  • Access recommended news from social networks
  • Additional Global News Sources
  • Save articles to read later or offline
  • Create custom feeds from news media and YouTube

Music Improvements

  • Updated Interface
  • Embedded music channel with new scenes

Sense TV Improvements

  • Updated interface
  • Add My Picks Page to improve program management

Screenshot_2013-10-24-12-57-44Screenshot_2013-10-24-13-05-59

The update itself seems pretty painless and has taken no more than about 10 minutes to download and apply but as with any update, I’d recommend doing a full backup first.

Posted in: News, Phones
Tags: ,
By October 24, 2013 Read More →

Toshiba STOR.E BASICS 2.5 Inch 1TB external hard drive review

Tosh.jpgThe Toshiba STOR.E BASICS 2.5 Inch 1TB external hard drive is a super small storage device. Featuring a High speed transfer connection via the USB 3.0 port, backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and ready to use with Microsoft Windows could this be the perfect potable device of you media on the go?

In this video review we’ll take a look at the physical hardware and then go on to benchmark the drive to see how well it performs.

Quickly transfer files with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and store up to 1 TB of data on STOR.E BASICS external drives. Easy to use and backward compatible with USB 2.0, STOR.E BASICS external drives are ready to use with Microsoft Windows with no software installation required.

By October 23, 2013 Read More →

Mobile Tech Addicts Podcast 212: Everything you can think of

Podcast-Logo_thumb.jpgGareth, Matt and Dan are here with another UK update on the mobile front. This week it’s a packed show with lots to talk about from the HTC One Max and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 to the series of announcements from Apple’s event a few days ago.

It’s a marathon show and one of our longest! 🙂

Featuring Gareth and Matt

Direct Download

iTunes

Download the iPhone App

Download the Android App

RSS Feed

Posted in: Podcast
Tags:
By October 23, 2013 Read More →

HTC doing a Smartwatch too?

HTC_one_watchHTC is planning to launch their own smartwatch competitor to the Galaxy Gear. They are also apparently coming out with a new tablet which they claim will be “disruptive” to the market. Today, more details were released by Bloomberg on HTC’s plans. As business has continued to deteriorate for HTC, they are grasping at straws for any opportunity to get a product to gain headway in the market.

Here’s a quote with a bit more:

Dwindling market share for HTC smartphones led to the company’s first quarterly loss and a 54 percent slump in its share price this year as it loses ground to Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the world’s biggest producer. The smartwatch will join a growing segment of wearable technology that already includes devices from Samsung and Sony Corp.

Here’s another quote from CEO Peter Chou in a BGR article:

“It has to meet a need, otherwise if it’s just a gimmick or concept, it’s not for people’s day-to-day lives. That is an opportunity for us,” Chou said of smartwatches. “People laughed at us when we came out with the first smartphone… Now everyone has a smartphone. I’m pretty sure wearables will be the same, but don’t judge from what is in the market [now].”

Posted in: News, Phones
Tags: , ,
By October 23, 2013 Read More →

BBM hits 10 million downloads

BBM hits 10 million downloadsBBM was finally made available, after a delay of a month, to Android and iOS devices on Monday. Since then and in just 24 hours BBM hits 10 million downloads by Android and iPhone users, one of the best single-day openings for a mobile app ever.

We’ve experienced a few issues with BBM on iPhone and Android but we’re not sure how widespread those issues might be. Please let us know in the comments selection below what your experience has been and if you want to get in touch with our team you can reach us at 7C5063A9

BlackBerry’s press release follows:

Posted in: Apps & Games, News, Phones
Tags: ,
By October 23, 2013 Read More →

iOS 7.0.3 released – reduces sickness, solves iMessage issues

iOS 7.0.3 releasedFollowing yesterday’s press event, Apple have rather quietly released the latest update for ios, 7.0.3, which is now available as an over the air update for all iOS devices.
This update does look to be the one that many ios 7 users have been waiting for and promises to address the iMessage issues that have plagued so many from the outset.
And for those of you suffering with motion sickness because of all the zoom and parallax effects added to iOS 7 you’ll be pleased to know that this update also brings with it the ability to turn these affects off.
There are quite a number of other fixes and changes in this update, many of which focus on improved security. The full list can be found below.

iOS 7.0.3 changes:

  • Adds iCloud Keychain to keep track of your account names, passwords, and credit card numbers across all your approved devices
  • Adds Password Generator so Safari can suggest unique, hard-to-guess passwords for your online accounts
  • Updates lock screen to delay display of “slide to unlock” when Touch ID is in use
  • Adds back the ability to search the web and Wikipedia from Spotlight search
  • Fixes an issue where iMessage failed to send for some users
  • Fixes a bug that could prevent iMessage from activating
  • Improves system stability when using iWork apps
  • Fixes an accelerometer calibration issue
  • Addresses an issue that could cause Siri and VoiceOver to use a lower quality voice
  • Fixes a bug that could allow someone to bypass the Lock screen passcode
  • Enhances the Reduce Motion setting to minimize both motion and animation
  • Fixes an issue that could cause VoiceOver input to be too sensitive
  • Updates the Bold Text setting to also change dial pad text
  • Fixes an issue that could cause supervised devices to become un-supervised when updating software
Posted in: Apps & Games, News, Phones, Tablets
Tags: , ,
By October 22, 2013 Read More →

iPad Mini with Retina Display announced

ipad mini with retinaIn the final announcement from today’s press event held by Apple we have the new iPad Mini with Retina Display.

Offering the same form factor as the existing iPad mini, the new Retina Display version will also include the A7 chip, 5MP camera and forward facing iSight camera. As with the existing line-up there will be 16, 32 and 64GB models with WiFi or with WiFi and Cellular.

Don’t let its size fool you. iPad mini is powered by the new A7 chip with 64-bit architecture. A7 delivers killer performance — up to four times faster CPU and up to eight times faster graphics performance than the previous generation — without sacrificing battery life. So you get incredible power in a device you can take with you wherever you go.

iPad mini has everything that makes an iPad an iPad, but it’s a fraction of the size. At just 7.5 millimeters, it’s pencil thin and unbelievably light.3 You can easily hold it in your palm. And stash it in your smallest bag without a second thought, so it’s always close at hand.

iPad Mini with Retina Display

  • 7.9-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
  • 2048-by-1536 resolution at 326 pixels per inch (ppi)
  • Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
Posted in: News, Tablets
Tags: ,
By October 22, 2013 Read More →

Apple announces the iPad Air

ipad airAlso today, during their press conference held in California, Apple have announced the new iPad Air.

Thinner, lighter and more powerful that ever before, the iPad Air has a 9.7″ retina display. A much thinner, 43% thinner bezel surrounds the screen and at 7.5mm thick it’s 20% thinner than the iPad 4 and weighs in at just 1 pound! The lights full size tablet in the world!

Having the same A7 CPU that we first saw in the iPhone 5s there’s also the M7 motion chip from the new iPhone.

The iPad Air goes on sale starting November 1st, from just $499, the same price as the existing iPad 4

The new iPad Air is unbelievably thin and light. And yet it’s so much more powerful and capable. With the A7 chip, advanced wireless, and great apps for productivity and creativity — all beautifully integrated with iOS 7 — iPad Air lets you do more than you ever imagined. In more places than you ever imagined.

iPad has always been about the display. And that’s even more true with iPad Air. Because we reduced the width of the device, along with the bezels on the sides of the display. But the size of the stunning Retina display is exactly the same. So your content fills your view more than ever. With a 2048-by-1536 resolution and over 3.1 million pixels, photos and videos pop with detail and text looks razor sharp. Pixels are indiscernible. So all you see is what you want to see.

The A7 chip takes iPad to new heights of power and speed. Thanks to the A7 chip, apps run faster. Games are more responsive. And everything you do with iPad Air feels quicker, because it is quicker. Up to twice as quick, in fact. But that’s just the beginning. It also supports OpenGL ES version 3.0, enabling detailed graphics and visual effects once possible only on desktop computers and game consoles. And the A7 chip features 64-bit architecture, opening the door for even more robust and powerful apps. Which means even more possibilities for what you can do with iPad Air.

Posted in: News, Tablets
Tags: , , ,
https://www.ukmeds.co.uk/surgical-face-masks