Author Archive: Gareth

Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.

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By May 23, 2016 Read More →

The History of the Mobile Phone

downloadWere you around when the mobile phone arrived? At what point did you acquire one? Do you know the difference between a feature phones and a smartphone? Broadbandchoices have put together a wonderful walk down memory lane in the form of an infographic.

Starting in 1983 and wiggling it’s way through Nokia’s and StarTAC, PDAs and Blackberrys, snaking onto the battle of Apple and Android and pulling out the latest and greatest before laying out the the future, the desires and the dreams. Finally asking you to vote for your favourite phone and an opportunity to win and iPhone SE. If you’re looking for a phone, you can find the best phones in the world in Trouvo.

The-History-of-Mobile-Phones-2

Posted in: Competitions, News, Phones
By May 20, 2016 Read More →

Google Play Store to hit Chomebooks

F101_Pixel2_Silver_PlayStoreIt’s not news, more than a rumour and far from a surprise however Google has now made an official announcement about the arrival of the Play Store to the Chromebook.

So, we’re bringing Google Play (the most popular app store in the world) to Chromebooks. This means you’ll be able to download and use Android apps, so you can make a Skype call, work with Office files and be productive offline — or take a break with games like Minecraft, Hearthstone or Clash of Clans. The same apps that run on phones and tablets can now run on Chromebooks without compromising their speed, simplicity or security. 

With day two of the 2016 Google I/O developer’s conference in full swing, you would think there might be a little info dribbling out however I guess this is not Android new, but Chrome news so it can take the back burner for now. I would expect something to be mentioned before the conference if over.

There is a little info to be gleaned from the announcement. The update will arrive in the developer channel with M53  and will initially be supported by the ASUS Chromebook Flip, the Acer Chromebook R 11 and the latest Chromebook PixelFrom the sounds of it there might be some incompatibilities on the cards for certain Chomebooks as Google state they are working with partners to launch some great new devices specially designed for Play. Worry not as you can check, Google is keeping an updated list of supported devices here.

With this manoeuvre the Chromebook changes greatly in the eyes of the consumer. The Play Store leads to games, something that the Chromebook has been short of, helping it’s position as a tool for business and education. On the other hand, it brings it a lot closer to the Windows platform for app content. One thing is for sure, there will be a lot of people looking at how to swap out their 16gb drives for something larger.

Posted in: Apps & Games, Laptops, News
By May 18, 2016 Read More →

The Moto G has options

Product-Grid-Img-MotoG4Plus-zoom-2xThe Moto G is a series of budget phones that have been constantly winning praise for the last four years. This year it would appear to a similarly excellent offering however there is are two options for customers to choose from, the Moto G4 and the Moto G4 Plus. Were most customers would probably expect the G4 Plus to have the traditional larger screen as we have seen with other brands using the Plus name Motorola (Or Lenovo really) have added a little more under the hood instead and to the camera.

These are the Specs both devices share:

  • Processor: 1.5 GHz Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 617 octa-core processor with 550 MHz Adreno 405 GPU
  • Height: 153 mm
  • Width: 76.6 mm
  • Depth: 7.9 mm to 9.8 mm
  • Weight: 155g
  • 5.5″ FHD
  • 1080p Full HD (1920 x 1080)
  • 401 ppi
  • All-day battery (3000 mAh) with TurboPower™ for up to 6 hours of power in 15 minutes of charging
  • Water repellent nano-coating
  • 4G LTE (Cat 4)
  • UMTS / HSPA+
  • GSM / EDGE
  • Rear Facing Camera: Options, Video Stabilization,  1080p HD video (30 fps)
  • Front Facing camera: 5 MP ƒ/2.2 aperture
  • Micro USB
  • 3.5 mm headset jack
  • 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 GHz + 5 GHz)
  • Bluetooth version 4.1 LE
  • Front-ported loud speaker
  • 2-Mics
  • Acceleromter
  • Gyroscope
  • Ambient Light

Product-Grid-Img-MotoG4-zoom-2x

A chart for you to study of the options:

Moto G4Moto G4 Plus
2 GB RAM2 GB / 4GB RAM
16 GB / 32 GB ROM16 GB / 32 GB / 64 GB ROM
13 MP Rear Camera16 MP Rear Camera
Laser auto-focus
Phase detect auto-focus (PDAF)
No Fingerprint readerFingerprint reader

Most things are retained from the previous Moto G line save for the water resistance which has now been dropped for Water repellent nano-coating. Moto Maker features a great deal of personalisation for your device and adds a lot to help influence a purchase for the fashion concious. We look forward to seeing the Moto G when it arrives and hope it is as successful as previous models in the line.

Posted in: News, Phones
By May 17, 2016 Read More →

Google launches Google Spaces

Google-Spaces-group-messaging-2Google Spaces has launched. This is a peculiar new social/sharing/chatting application for both Android and Chrome. Not quite the messaging application many believe Spaces is a social interface, closer to Google+’s Communities than Groupme or Telegram.

Spaces is an app for small group sharing. Users can create a space in one tap, and invite people in any way that you like with a quick link. With Google Search, Chrome, YouTube and Google Photos built in, you can find and share articles, videos and photos from within the app. And when you need to get back to something that you’ve recently seen in one of your spaces, use the search feature to find it quickly.

From study groups to house hunting to weekend trips and more, Spaces helps you get a group together quickly to share things about any topic.

For example, here is a Space created earlier for any and all to chat about our Tech Addicts UK Podcast

Posted in: Apps & Games, News
By May 17, 2016 Read More →

Superbook gives your phone that Laptop potential

12671689-d4ea-42e5-b701-17ce1579542aWhilst Microsoft are blowing trumpets out there for Continuum there is no real alternative currently available for Android. Certainly there is Air Droid however it’s just to much of a different approach to be considered an alternative. Whilst Chrome itself has a nice Remote Desktop client that is very reliable and both of these options require an internet connection. However, they are a world apart from Continuum. So there is a gap in the market.

That’s were the brand new Andromium OS steps in. With a clean, sleek design to match the aesthetics of a “Superbook.” The Superbook is a laptop shell, purposefully engineered to give any Android smartphone the capabilities of a complete, internet-connected laptop. Inside the hardware is the technology to translate video data over USB, meaning it’s universally compatible with nearly any Android smartphone. Just download the Andromium app from the Play store, connect the smartphone to a Superbook, and that’s it, your phone is now a laptop.

We won’t see this on the market right away, The Superbook and Andromium is on scheduled to launch on @Kickstarter on June 15th! However, it  sounds like the sort of thing that could work. There have been several attempts over the years to create a dumb terminal that translates your phone into a laptop operating system however none have been as conceptually realise as the Superbook. The names Redfly and Palm Foleo spring to mind, ideas that might have been ahead of the time. The Superbook may just arrive with time enough to make an impression before Google does something about the position of Chrome and Android.

By May 16, 2016 Read More →

Huawei P9 Lite arriving this month

unnamedHuawei has announced the plans to launch the P9 Lite in the UK. The smartphone will be available from EE, O2, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse at the end of May. The P9 Lite joins the P9 and P9 Plus to complete the flagship series and offering another option for those not enamoured by the P9 and P9 Plus’ large footprint and price tag.

Featuring a 5.2-inch full HD display, 13MP rear shooter, 8MP front-facing camera, Kirin 650 octa-core processor, 3000mAh battery, 16GB of onboard storage, MicroSD card support, 4G LTE support and a fingerprint 2.0 sensor. The P9 Lite keeps a high level of spec and looks to be the most interesting of the trio.

Huawei P9 family extended with P9 Lite

Available in the UK in May from EE, O2, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse.

Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) has announced the P9 Lite, an exciting new addition to the popular P9 family. The P9 Lite marries a sleek, stylish design with a powerful camera and creative photo editing capabilities, as well as the latest in high fidelity audio, fingerprint sensor technology and battery saving technology.

The P9 Lite smartphone will be available in the UK from late May and can be purchased in black from EE, O2, Vodafone and Carphone Warehouse.

Weighing just 147g and slim line with a 7.5mm depth, the P9 Lite’s lightweight, stylish, aluminium frame and sleek appealing form factor, results in a truly premium design, without the price tag to match.

Its bright 5.2 inch screen is encased in an aircraft-grade aluminium frame, ensuring the P9 Lite finds the perfect equilibrium between looking durable and aesthetically appealing. With a high screen-to-body ratio of 76.4 and an NTSC colour gamut of 85%, there are several reasons why the P9 Lite is a sight to behold.

With the P9 Lite’s 13MP rear camera, which boasts dual LED flash and autofocus, amateur photographers have clear, lifelike images at the tips of their fingers. With the ability to set white balance, ISO EV and shutter speed in pro camera mode, those that like to tinker with the finer details of the art of photography, can do so with ease.

The 8MP front camera produces full HD resolution images of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, so perfect selfies can be captured day and night.

Audiophiles also have reason to fall in love with the P9 Lite, with high fidelity audio and an integrated speaker design, the low frequency, volume and quality of the sound has seen considerable improvement since the last generation P series devices.

With ARM and TrustZone technology integrated into the P9 Lite’s lightning fast fingerprint 2.0 sensor, users can access everything in an instant, while ensuring private data remains private.

In terms of connectivity, the P9 Lite follows in the P9 family’s footsteps and comes equipped with the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system, Huawei’s intuitive Emotion 4.1 user interface and supports 4G. The P9 Lite has a HiSilicon Kirin 650 octocore processor, making the smartphone a powerful younger brother of the P9 and P9 Plus.

Thanks to its 3,000 mAh battery and ability to reduce power as required, the P9 Lite allows continuous calling time of up to 18 hours and standby time of 630 hours, (when operated on 3G).

The P9 Lite has plenty of storage capacity for higher memory requirements, coming with 16GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot which can support 128GB of expanded memory.

Rhys Saunders, Sales Director, Huawei UK&I Consumer BG, said: “With the P9 smartphone family, Huawei are offering users a superior smartphone experience. The latest edition to the family, the P9 Lite, with its lower price point, is no exception to this. The phone has a premium and stylish look and feel, a high-resolution rear and front camera, as well as a powerful battery, making this a perfect companion for budding photographers on the go.”

Posted in: News, Phones
By May 16, 2016 Read More →

Two-way SLI support for the GTX 1080 and more?

15124035975lSince the news of the unparalleled performance of the GTX 1080 broke last week, there has been little concrete information regarding the SLI support of Nvidia’s GTX 1080, leading many to assume that Nvidia is not talking about it therefore nothing to report. Two-way SLI with Nvidia’s new GPU would simply be impossible. 

We have now confirmed with several sources that this is not the case, with one source stating that the GTX 1080 will not only work with Nvidia’s new HB (High Bandwidth) SLI bridges but also with existing SLI bridges. This means that traditional 3-way or 4-way SLI bridges can be fitted and work with this new GPU.

At this time, Nvidia has not released any information regarding any 3-way or 4-way versions of their HB SLI bridge, which leaves many to speculate that only traditional 3-way or 4-way SLI bridges can be used for higher end SLI configurations. Right now Nvidia claims that their new HB SLI bridge will offer better SLI performance and scaling than traditional SLI bridges as the new HB bridge will offer double the bandwidth. Meaing older Nvidia SLI bridges will limit Nvidia’s SLI performance, however we are not sure as to how much.

By May 16, 2016 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy X to feature a foldable 4K display

samsung-foldable-tablet-1We have heard rumours over the last few years that claim Samsung have been working on a foldable phone. We have seen images of flexible screens is all shapes and sizes. However it sounds like Samsung might be bringing this angle to the market in 2017.  The latest rumour comes from the site Weibo in China. According to the sources, Samsung will release five flagships in 2017. Four of them are the standard launches: Galaxy S8, S8 Edge, Galaxy Note 7, and Note 7 Edge. A fifth device is being called “Galaxy X,” and it will apparently feature a foldable 4K display. The display will have diamond PenTile subpixel arrangement and fold in half like a wallet. That’s all we know so far about the Galaxy X.

There has been a drive over the last year to resurrect the flip phone thanks to TV shows glamorising the form factor on many Primetime TV shows. Rather than stepping back to the T9 days of the flip phone it makes sense that we take a step forward and make the modern technology bend to our needs and desires.

Posted in: News, Phones, Rumours
By May 16, 2016 Read More →

ASUS release ROG Strix GL502 Gaming Laptop

ASUS-ROG-Strix-GL502ASUS has released their new ROG Strix GL502 Gaming laptop. This comes with an IPS screen, the i7 Skylake CPU and a GTX 980m GPU. The ROG Strix GL502 is designed to be the sweet spot between portability and gaming capability, coming in with a 15.6″ form factor and a total weight of only 2.2Kg. This laptop can come with a 4K or 1080p display, up to 32GB RAM and a 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD. This series of laptop also comes with support for Nvidia’s G-Sync technology, which will eliminate screen tearing while gaming.

The cooling on the GPU is an “exclusive” system that incorporates copper heat pipes and dual fans in order to keep temperatures low under load. Right now ASUS has not revealed anything more specific on this new notebook cooling system.

   The first gaming notebook for ROG Strix makes its debut in the form of a compact powerhouse. Featuring a 6th Gen. Intel Core i7 processor, up to Nvidia GTX 980M 4GB/8GB with G-SYNC, NVMe PCIe X4 SSD, dual thermal design, and GameFirst III.

 

 

 

Posted in: gaming, Laptops, News
By May 13, 2016 Read More →

Acer Liquid Jade Primo Live Unboxing #Acerliveblog2016

Liquid-Jade-Primo_06Acer have taken on Belfast and with that brought an Acer Liquid Jade Primo for us to have a look at. Filmed on Periscope live from the event the video quality might not be the best however the Liquid Jade Primo is a good looking Windows 10 device that looks to make a bit of noise in the market.

The Liquid Jade Primo, is a 5.5-inch premium smartphone running Windows 10 Mobile. The Liquid Jade Primo provides ultimate productivity for professionals through Continuum, allowing Windows 10 universal apps to provide a PC-like experience when the smartphone is connected with a secondary display.

Multitasking Multiplied

With a USB Type-C monitor, wireless display accessories, or the Display Dock, the Liquid Jade Primo can provide a PC-like experience on an external display with Windows 10 universal apps. It can be used as a touchpad and virtual keyboard, or a keyboard and mouse can be connected for multitasking on both the screen and on the external display; this unlocks use-cases such as:

  • Connecting the smartphone to a TV or monitor at hotels or anywhere on the go for productivity-intensive applications, so that the heavier laptop can be left at home.
  • Projecting presentation decks to a projector or large screen, while displaying the “Presenter View” on the smartphone.
  • Playing videos on the TV while using other apps on the smartphone simultaneously.

The Liquid Jade Primo features a stunning 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display that supports 100% of the NTSC colour gamut, with 10000:1 contrast, and 176-degree wide-viewing angles. A hexa-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 808 processor, along with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal memory provides powerful performance needed for multitasking, while LTE Cat. 6 and 802.11ac MIMO connectivity options makes downloads a snap. The 21MP f/2.2 auto-focus rear camera has dual LED flash and supports up to 4K (3840 x 2160) video recording, and the 8MP f/2.2 front-facing camera boasts a wide-angle of up to 84-degrees while supporting up to Full HD 1080p video recording.

Engineering Excellence

To reduce the heat that resource-intensive multitasking brings, the Liquid Jade Primo features an advanced cooling system that efficiently dissipates the heat from the processor, while also reducing the overall rear surface temperature. For a slimmer chassis, the Liquid Jade Primo’s antenna is formed by laser direct structuring (LDS) technology, allowing integration of the antenna and back cover. Also contributing to the slimmer profile is on-cell touch technology, which moves the touch layer onto the outer glass surface of the screen, eliminating the touch substrate layer. 

Enterprise-Grade Security and Device Management With BitLocker technology on Windows 10 Mobile, the Liquid Jade Primo allows for full encryption of all user data stored on internal memory, protecting the device from offline hardware-level attacks. For corporate users, the Liquid Jade Primo also supports device management solutions such as Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA DM) v1.2 and Microsoft Intune, so that IT personnel can help users be productive while safeguarding company information.

Pricing and Availability

The Acer Liquid Jade Primo will be available in EMEA in February with prices starting at €569

The Liquid Jade primo is available as a standalone purchase, bundled with the Display Dock, or available as a Desktop Kit with an additional keyboard and mouse. Exact specifications, prices, and availability will vary by region. To find out about availability, product specifications and prices in specific markets, please contact your nearest Acer office or retailer via www.acer.com.

See the fun as it happens:

https://www.ukmeds.co.uk/surgical-face-masks