Archive for 2011

By July 12, 2011 Read More →

Sony launch external hard drives for home entertainment

pg5ub Sony certainly aren’t the most obvious company to be launching external hard drives but their new 500GB UBS 3.0 drive is designed to be used with BRAVIA TV’s, Playstation 3 and Handycam camcorders. The HD-PG5U drive will connect to compatible BRAVIA models and allow direct recording on TV programmes while the supplied USB cable will allow you to copy content from Handycam camcorders without the need of a PC.

Full details can be found in the press release that follows.

 

Posted in: Press Releases
By July 12, 2011 Read More →

Apple suing HTC, again

Apple-v-HTC Yesterday Apple filed a fresh complaint against HTC with the US International Trade Commission claiming that HTC have infringed Apple’s patents on technology used in the iPad and iPhone. This isn’t the first time that Apple have gone to the ITC with such complaints, indeed the ITC are already reviewing three other cases between the two tech giants.

Apple seem to be quite happy to make such accusations at the moment as this latest claim against HTC comes just a few weeks after a similar suit between Apple and Samsung.

The exact details of this latest claim have not yet been disclosed but is looking to block US sales of the HTC Flyer and Droid Incredible, Wildfire, EVO 4G and Desire. Previous claims by Apple included the ‘swipe to unlock’ which Apple believe they own the patent for.

HTC commented:

"HTC is disappointed at Apple’s constant attempts at litigations instead of competing fairly in the market," said HTC general counsel Grace Lei in a statement.

"HTC strongly denies all infringement claims raised by Apple in the past and present and reiterates our determination and commitment to protect our intellectual property rights," she said.

Following the complaint being issued by Apple, HTC’s stock prices fell by over 4 percent yesterday. This is sure to rumble on for months yet!

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: News
By July 11, 2011 Read More →

iTunes movies to go Full HD

itunes-hd-screenshot Awesome news for movie fans, Apple are going to bring Full HD 1080p video content to the iTunes video store in Q3 of this year. Many films and TV programmes are already available in both 480p (standard) and 720p HD formats with a small premium for the HD version.

Critics of Apple and iTunes have long slammed Apple for the lack of Full HD content so this is their answer but to be honest it had to come sooner or later so perhaps it’s really no great surprise.

If there is a change to 1080p content though there’s one other thing that’s going to have to change, the Apple TV. Currently the iOS powered version 2 Apple TV’s have the trusty A4 processor from the iPad and iPhone and it doesn’t have the power to play 1080p content, even with a firmware update. Looks like there is going to have to be a new version of the Apple TV released which will, presumably have the A5 chip so that there’s enough horsepower.

I wish I’d know this a month ago before I bought another Apple TV for home though!

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: News
By July 11, 2011 Read More →

BlackBerry PlayBook featured in Renaults latest concept car

image004 Well it looks like RIM have a new friend and it is Renault. Renault’s latest concept car neatly has the BlackBerry PlayBook mounted in the console!

With the BlackBerry PlayBook integrated into its latest concept, the FRENDZY becomes an innovative office on wheels, perfectly doubling up as a commercial vehicle and a comfortable passenger car, ideal for both business and pleasure.

For business users on the road, the ultra-portable BlackBerry PlayBook simply plugs into the dashboard, delivers advanced performance, uncompromised web browsing, with support for Adobe Flash, HD multimedia and advanced security features and out of the box enterprise support.

Posted in: News
By July 11, 2011 Read More →

ALK release CoPilot Live Premium for iPhone and iPad

coplilot-ipad1 We’ve reviewed CoPilot in the past and have been impressed with its user interface, map views and general map accuracy. I’ve been using the UK version in my iPhone for some time and have the USA version on my iPad 2 for those trips abroad.

Today ALK got in touch with me to let me know about their latest version of the CoPilot Live, the new Premium edition which includes new features such as Personal Routes, Active Traffic and social network integration so you can check in with Facebook places via the app.

What’s more, for the next 7 days you can get 50% off the already low price making UK & Ireland maps just £14.99 for unlimited use and the European maps version for £29.99.

More details of the new features follow. Head on over to the App Store to download.

 

Posted in: News
By July 11, 2011 Read More →

Microsoft ‘charging forward with Nokia’

windows-phone-7-series-thumb According to a statement made by Microsoft’s Steve Balmer the company is ‘Charging forward with Nokia’. This sound bite was from the Imagine Cup 2011 conference held on 8th July.

Mt Balmer goes on to talk about the next version of Windows Phone 7 and the next generation of phones running WP7 that will ship towards the end of this year. We’re looking forward to see what Nokia and Microsoft have in store for us and to testing the first phones released as a result of the partnership.

You can see an extract from the speech below or head over to Microsoft.com for the full thing.

 

Posted in: News
By July 11, 2011 Read More →

HTC to unlock bootloaders from August

htc-logo-300x188 I’m sure you’ll remember the statement that HTC’s CEO Peter Chou made back in May about reconsidering their position on looking the bootloaders on their Android phones. This was good news for anyone wanting to load customer ROMs on to their handsets as it makes the process a whole lot easier and reduces the likelihood of ‘bricking’ the phone.

In an update made via their Facebook page (see below) HTC announced that they are going to provide an unlocked bootloader for the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation 4G and HTC EVO 3D some time during August. They will do this via a series of firmware updates.

The HTC EVO 3D will go on sale here in the UK during the same times frame so we wonder if it will ship here with an unlocked bootloader or will require a later update?

 

Posted in: News
By July 10, 2011 Read More →

BlackBerry PlayBook Convertible Case from mobilefun.co.uk

PBcase

If you have recently taken the plunge and got yourself a BlackBerry PlayBook then chances are you will need a case for it to avoid those accidental scrapes and scratches. The folks over at mobilefun.co.uk kindly sent through the PlayBook convertible case for me to use and to be honest I am rather impressed.

Why Buy?

  • Made from eco-friendly faux leather
  • Doubles up as a stand for the PlayBook
  • Designed for the BlackBerry PlayBook
  • Official BlackBerry Product
  • Only £21.95

You can see a short video below of me unboxing and giving a quick tour around this premium product.

 

Posted in: Videos/Unboxings
By July 10, 2011 Read More →

LG Optimus 3D unboxing video

Optimus3D-main Last week I managed to get my hands on a pre-release version of the Optimus 3D but this week, thanks to Clove Technology, we’ve got the final retail version to unbox and review.

Having used the LG Optimus 3D for a few days last week I have been quite impressed with it not only the 3D features but also it’s ‘regular’ smartphone/Android features. It’s dual-core CPU runs at 1GHz and keeps everything running pretty smoothly.

Currently this is the first 3D phone on the market with the HTC EVO 3D just around the corner. With this being the first I suspect HTC are going to find it somewhat difficult to catch up.

Below you’ll find a simple unboxing video of the Optimus 3D. If you want to see it and some of the features in more detail then have a look at my Optimus 3D hands-on video from last week too.

 

Posted in: Videos/Unboxings
By July 9, 2011 Read More →

Amazon tablet coming this year?

amazon-tablet Is there any hardware manufacturer out there that isn’t developing or releasing a tablet this year? Seems that almost everyone is releasing their version of what they hope will be the next big thing in the tablet market. Apple are light years ahead with their iPad at the moment leaving all the others very much out in the cold.

So enter Amazon. Amazon have already had some success with several flavours of their eBook reader, the Kindle so are arguable in a good place to develop their own answer to the iPad. Amazon certainly have the exposure and the branding to pull it off. The clever money suggests that Amazon will have their tablet ready for the end of Q3 or beginning of Q4 of this year to ensure that they maximise the Christmas sales.

Amazon themselves have been extremely tight lipped about the possible Tablet so there is certainly nothing close to concrete when it comes to specification but I’m guessing it will be Android based. In any case I’m sure that Amazon will have been watching and learning from all the other tablets on the market, each one has come with its own share of problems and mistakes and perhaps the most important lesson is simplicity. My daughter could use an iPad from age 2 so if a 2 year old can use it the UI must be beyond intuitive, it must be innate. If Amazon, or anyone for that matter, can come up with a UI that can rival the iPad then maybe they have half a chance.

There is one other thing that Amazon could do to make an impact and that would be to use their whisper sync technology on a tablet. Imagine buying a tablet with built in 3G connectivity and never having to pay a subscription just as with the 3G Kindle. Perhaps unlikely for now but maybe it’s coming!?

As always we’ll be watching closely and will return with updates as we get them.

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Rumours
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