News

Archos to enter the phone market

It looks like Archos will be jumping into the Android smartphone game. Some new intel and pictures have come out that solidify these rumours with some very detailed info. Here’s a quote,

The most interesting one is a Galaxy S III look-alike, the Archos 48 Platinum, a flagship device with a 4.8-inch IPS display with a 800 x 1,280-pixel resolution and the popular MediaTek MT6589 chipset with a 1.7GHz quad-core processor. The best thing about the Archos 48 Platinum is its price – it will only cost 249 euro (around $335) at launch, which is slightly more than a third of other flagship devices. The device will run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Of course, the quad-core MT6589 is not quite on par with the Exynos 4412, but nonetheless its a pretty impressive chip for its price. Performance is expected to be around 50% to 60% of that of the Samsung device. The flagship Archos 48 Platinum will go on sale in May.
Next on the list is the Archos 52 Titanium, a 5.2-inch Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-based smartphone. It will obviously be an even more affordable solution given its 480 x 800-pixel display and dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 512MB of RAM. There is no info on its price yet though.
Finally, Archos will also ship a purely low-end device in the form of the Archos 35 Carbon. This smartphone will feature a 3.5-inch 320 x 480-pixel screen, a single-core 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and 512MB of internal storage (expandable via microSD cards). The Archos 35 Carbon will run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and cost only 90 euro (around $120) at launch.

As you can see, Archos is not leaving its "budget-friendly" ideals behind. Still, the phones could be a relative bargain and it will be nice to see some upward-moving market pressure on pricing. If more of these inexpensive devices can start to make a dent, then the big dogs will have to get a bit more competitive with their pricing as well.

Posted by: Gareth

HTC: The countdown

A visit to HTC’s website is met with a simple countdown on the homepage at the moment. The countdown of the expiry coincides with HTC’s press event being held on the afternoon of 19th February.

The exact details of the event are a closely guarded secret but it is expected that we are to be introduced to the much rumoured HTC M7 which is almost universally claimed to be the HTC One.

As always, I’ll be on had covering the event on Tuesday afternoon and will have full details as soon as I am able to share. For now it’s just a case of sit and wait and be hypnotized by the ticking down of the seconds!

Posted by: Matt

Try the new Sony Xperia Z at Phones 4U

The new Sony Xperia Z may not yet be available to buy but thanks to Phones 4U, you can get your hands on it in one of its 300+ stores to try the phone out before it goes on sale.

I’m not aware of this being done with any other phone before so it’s a great opportunity to see what the phone is like before you go ahead and pre-order one. You can pre-order from today and the Xperia Z starts shipping on the 28th Feb.

This is a great idea and one that I hope to see in future with other handsets and manufacturers.

Full press details follow.

Motorola RAZR HD now in stock at Expansys

Looking to pick up a new high end Android smartphone SIM free? You could do a lot worse than thinking about the Motorola RAZR HD which Expansys now have in stock. The SIM free price is a reasonable £419.99 which also includes free shipping.

Designed to keep up with you all day, Motorola RAZRT HD is built for action. With a slim, premium design, beautiful 4.7-inch HD display and the best of Google, Motorola RAZR HD will keep you entertained and connected all day – on a single charge.

Now you can watch everything on-the-go in stunning HD detail. Movies, photos, magazines and websites shine through with vibrant clarity on Motorola RAZR HD’s 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD display. It’s the same display you’d expect from an HDTV – except in a much smaller package.

Motorola RAZR HD has the premium design materials you expect from the Motorola RAZR family, including a Corning® Gorilla® Glass display, DuPont KEVLAR® fiber and splash-guard coating.

Order the RAZR HD here.

Posted by: James

Microsoft Surface Pro launches, sells out

Microsoft released their Surface Pro 128GB and 64GB and made them available through their online store in the USA. However, within just a few hours the flagship tablet device is already out of stock.

The 128GB version, which costs $999 and does not come with a Touch or Type cover, had sold out before 6:00am PST Saturday morning, according to Microsoft-focused news website WinBeta.

Looking at the Microsoft store again this morning it seems that the 64GB version is now back in stock, presumably someone at MS found another couple of boxes down the back of the sofa.

Call me cynical but isn’t it entirely likely that MS simply chose not to list all of their 128GB inventory purely to create the media attention to selling out which we are now fuelling? Hmm.

One thing that really bothers me about these Surface products is this line regarding the storage in the 64GB model: “64 GB (approximately 29 GB available for user content)” – less than half of the memory is available?!

Posted by: Matt

Vodafone: Don’t upgrade your iPhone 4S to iOS 6.1

Via their online support forum, Vodafone have warned customers with iPhone 4S models not to update to iOS version 6.1. Apparently iOS 6.1 is causing issues with 3G and can also impact the device connecting to the network.

I’ve a number of colleagues that started to report issues with the iPhone’s shortly after the update and, guess what, we too use the Vodafone network.

Furthermore, they are all reporting that the battery life following the update has been dramatically shortened, but this could be part of the issues with the phone struggling to connect to the network.

The statement from Vodafone can be seen below:

Hi everyone,

We’re aware of an issue caused by Apple iPhone 4s handsets that have been upgraded to iOS 6.1 which impacts performance on 3G.

Some customers may occasionally experience difficulty in connecting to the network to make or receive calls or texts or to connect to the Internet. Apple is working on a solution to their software issue. These connection problems are intermittent.

While Apple’s investigations continue, we would recommend that anyone who has not yet installed iOS 6.1 on their iPhone 4s should delay doing so until Apple has confirmed that their problem has been fixed.

Posted by: Matt

White Motorola RAZR i now in stock SIM free at Expansys

Been waiting to buy the Motorola RAZR i in white SIM free? You can now as Expansys have received stock and are waiting to ship you one. In addition you could also win a Virgin Day Experience which sounds pretty neat.

4.3 inches of gorgeous edge-to-edge, AMOLED HD screen means you can be absorbed into your media like never before on the Motorola Razr I. Constructed from high quality materials, it’s as amazing to hold as it is to look at. It has an air-craft grade aluminium frame, tough Corning Gorilla Glass to protect the display from knocks and a splash-proof layering. It’s very light (126g) and the 8.9mm thickness justifies the Razr name.

Intel power growls underneath the striking exterior. Despite it being a single core processor Intel has managed to defy possibilities by squeezing dual core power from its 2GHz chip. This breezes through the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system – Jelly Bean available in due course. In terms of connectivity and memory, the Razr I has 8GB of memory built in, this can be expanded though thanks to the 32GB memory card slot. NFC is built in too.

ZTE Blade III arrives in the UK

ZTE has launched the ZTE Blade III 4-inch smartphone in the UK. The latest addition to the Blade family, the ZTE Blade III features a larger screen, memory capacity of 2.5GB which can be further expanded with a 32 GB memory card and Android 4.0.

The expanded storage memory of the Blade III offers extra space for music, apps, pictures and games while the 4-inch WVGA touch screen and upgraded operating system provide a sharp multimedia experience. The Blade III can be purchased in store or online from Virgin Media from today for £79.99 PAYG or from £13 a month.

Raspberry Pi ‘lite’ version hits the shelves

Here at Tracy & Matt towers we’ve been using Raspberry Pi’s for a while now, they are a good development platform for hardware controllers etc. Although I still prefer the MBED platform.

The Raspberry Pi has been hugely successful, mainly because its reasonably cheap while still packing a punch when it comes to hardware performance. It can be used for movie streaming and even runs several versions of Linux.

As if the current version was not cheap enough a new lightweight or ‘bare-bones’ version has just gone on sale.

The new Model A has the same CPU and footprint as the B model but has less memory (256MB), no Ethernet and just a single USB socket.

The Model A goes on sale today at a variety of outlets for just £16. If you are looking for something to tinker with for a DIY project they are definitely worth a look!

Posted by: Matt

Samsung’s new Smart TV Line-up

Today Samsung have announced its 2013 Smart TV and AV line-up with some gorgeous looking new models hitting the shelves later this year.

There are some awesome features to be seen, and heard, with the new range including UHD displays and valve amp based speaker systems.

The full press release can be seen below. I cant wait to physically see some of these UHD units!