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Archive for 2014

By Gareth April 4, 2014 Read More →

Qualcomm powering Amazon’s Fire TV

It feels like it came out of no where, Amazon have announced a new set top entertainment system called Fire TV. This will run a customized version of Android, just like the Kindle Fire tablet. Here are a few hardware specs of the device:

Quad-core processor (supposedly is three times more powerful than Apple TV and other rival devices)
2GB of RAM
Dedicated graphics processor
Will ship with a tiny, plastic remote control that has only seven buttons and a directional pad
Voice command search queries
Support for Android gaming ( Amazon has launched a studio internally to develop in-house games)

This is a new device that plugs into your television and lets you stream video content from the Internet. Much like Apple TV, and Google TV before it Fire TV is more of a lounge/living room solution than the Chromecast however it essentially fulfills the same goals. The primary focus of Fire TV will be Amazon Prime Video however it will also support third-party content, like Netflix and Plex. As per usual this is geared towards the US market with Hulu and HBO being some of the touted apps. There is little news as to when we can expect to see it on UK shores and there will have to be negotiations with likes of BBC and Sky over their delivery services before it arrives. According to Amazon, more third-party apps will be coming to the Fire TV in May. This includes music apps like TuneIn, Pandora, & iHeartRadio.

In addition to TV and movie content the little black box is boasted as a gaming platform also. We will see some rather tasty games, obviously the finest Android can provide. The Fire TV is being powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor. As the first product of its kind to go live with a Snapdragon 600 processor, the Fire TV will utilize the processor to enable new and improved user experiences, essentially redefining the living room experience. Multimedia performance with 1080p HD video, 7.1 Dolby surround sound, a graphics accelerated UI and console quality gaming. The Qualcomm processor also provides the Wi-Fi connectivity.

The device will be available to buy today for $99, and a gaming controller for it will cost $39.99, Stateside of course.

Posted in: News, TV & Home Cinema
Tags: Amazon, Fire TV, Kindle, Qualcomm

By Gareth April 3, 2014 Read More →

Samsung unveils new Galaxy Tab4 series

Samsung Electronics has today announced its next-generation tablet, the Galaxy Tab4, offering a unique and vivid viewing experience for the whole family. The Galaxy Tab4 has a premium look and feel combined with a lightweight and portable design.

Available in 10.1-inch, 8.0-inch and 7.0-inch screen sizes, the Galaxy Tab4’s vivid WXGA display with a 16:10 screen ratio makes watching content even more enjoyable. Its Multi Window functionality means you can seamlessly switch between apps and windows, as well as drag and drop different content easily.

The new Galaxy Tab4 range comes equipped with a number of fun and shareable services allowing you to access content and stay connected with friends and family wherever they are, including:

Group Play: Share and play music, documents and games with friends in real time
Samsung Link: Share and play content across smart devices anytime, anywhere
WatchON: Watch TV shows and movies on any device, anywhere in your home or on the go

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab4 line will be offered in a choice of Black or White globally beginning in April, 2014. UK availability and ranging will be announced in due course.

Galaxy Tab4 10.1 Product Specifications:

1.2 GHz Quad Core

10.1-inch WXGA (1280 X 800),

Android 4.4 (KitKat)

3MP camera + 1.3 MP Front facing

WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n , WiFi Direct, BT4.0, USB2.0

1.5GB RAM

16GB storage

6,800mAh Battery

Galaxy Tab4 8.0 Product Specifications:

1.2 GHz Quad Core

8.0-inch WXGA (1280 X 800)

Android 4.4 (KitKat)

3MP camera + 1.3 MP Front facing

WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n , WiFi Direct, BT4.0, USB2.0

WiFi/3G/LTE versions

1.5GB RAM

16GB storage

4,450mAh Battery

Galaxy Tab4 7.0 Product Specifications:

1.2 GHz Quad Core

7.0-inch WXGA (1280 X 800)

Android 4.4 (KitKat)

3MP camera + 1.3 MP Front facing

WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n , WiFi Direct, BT4.0, USB2.0

WiFi/3G/LTE versions

1.5GB RAM

16GB storage

4,000mAh Battery

Posted in: News, Tablets
Tags: Galaxy Tab4, Samsung

By Gareth April 2, 2014 Read More →

USB Type-C to feature reversible charger connectors

Recently CNET published some of the first images of the new USB Type-C cables and ports coming in the future. This new, tiny connector is due to be a reversible form, taking much of the aggravation out of plugging power or data transfer cables into your device. Essentially, this is along the same lines as Apple’s Lightning port. It has been a while since we moved from mini USB to micro USB and a refresh is exciting, there shouldn’t be too many folk out there to grumble as much as Apple users did when their expensive docks and chargers became a little bit incompatible with newer Apple devices. However, anyone who has struggled to find the right way round for a microUSB to fit into their phone in the dark will certainly appreciate the new form.

Posted in: Gadgets

By Matt April 1, 2014 Read More →

Amber Gold HTC One (M8) available at Carphone Warehouse

Nope, it’s not an April fools joke, Carphone Warehouse really do have the HTC One (M8) in Amber Gold.

The brand new HTC One (M8) is now available in trendy Amber Gold first at Carphone Warehouse. It is available to purchase online at http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/htc/one-m8 and on the telephone from today (Tuesday 1 April) and in selected stores from tomorrow (Wednesday 2 April). Prices start from £38 with a £49 upfront cost or free from £42 per month.

A Carphone Warehouse spokesperson says, “Over the past 12 months we’ve seen more gold handsets launch than ever before and that trend looks sure to continue this year as their popularity with consumers shows no signs of abating. HTC’s Amber Gold is a very tasteful colour option and fits the premium feel and unique metal design of the HTC One (M8) perfectly. This is the newest smartphone on the market and in the newest colour so we’re excited to help our customers get hold of it ahead of everyone else.”

The HTC One (M8) is built with a lot of attention to design with a durable high quality metal unibody and the subtle gold effect on this metal makes this the perfect choice for the fashion conscious.

Featuring stereo speakers and HTC BoomSound™, the HTC One (M8) is ideal for when you want to get the party started. It also comes with a Duo Camera, which lets you take brilliant shots in any light thanks to HTC UltraPixel technology, before adding professional looking effects. In addition, the HTC One (M8) has been designed with selfies in mind, featuring a 5MP front camera – ideal for capturing your best side.

Carphone Warehouse is offering £100 cashback on the new HTC One (M8) in all colour variants (Amber Gold, Glacial Silver, Gun Metal Grey) on Pay Monthly and Upgrade deals. For more information, visit http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/htc/one-m8

Posted in: News, Phones

By Matt March 31, 2014 Read More →

HTC One (M8) full hands-on video

We’ve had our HTC One (M8) for a while now so thought iut was about time that we recorded a full hands-on video to show off some of the more important features and take a more detailed look at the hardware.

In the video below I’ll show you the hardware and discuss the specification before booting up and playing with the OS and user interface to look at some of the features that have changed in HTC Sense 6.0. I’ll also show you some of the elements that are part of the Duo Camera experience that features so heavily in HTC’s push of the HTC One (M8).

So what do we think of the HTC One (M8) so far? We’ll I’m really impressed with the design and build quality but that’s no surprise from and HTC device. Performance-wise the M8 is great and out-performs anything else that I’ve previously used. The camera is brilliant and the Duo Camera features allow for some really creative shots.

It’s a long video so I’m going to come back to some of the other features in another video soon…

HTC One (M8) specification:

SIZE: 146.36 x 70.6 x 9.35 mm

WEIGHT: 160 grams

DISPLAY: 5.0 inch, Full HD 1080p

CPU SPEED

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 801, 2.3GHz quad-core CPU

PLATFORM

Android™ 4.4 with HTC Sense™ 6
HTC BlinkFeed™

MEMORY

Total storage: 16/32GB
RAM: 2GB
Expansion card slot supports microSD™ memory card for up to 128GB additional storage (card not included)

NETWORK

2G/2.5G – GSM/GPRS/EDGE:

850/900/1800/1900 MHz

3G – WCDMA:

EMEA: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps
Asia: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps
AT&T: 850/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 21 Mbps
Sprint: 850/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA up to 14.4 Mbps
Verizon: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 14.4 Mbps
TMUS: 850/AWS/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps

CDMA:

Sprint: 800/1900
Verizon: 800/1900

4G – LTE:

EMEA: 800/900/1800/2600 MHz
Asia: 700/900/1800/2100/2600 MHz
AT&T: 700/850/AWS/1800/1900/2600 MHz
Sprint: FDD 800/1900 MHz , TDD 2600 MHz
Verizon: 700/AWS/1800/2600 MHz
TMUS: 700/AWS MHz

SIM

Nano SIM

SENSORS

Accelerometer
Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor
Gyro sensor
Barometer sensor

CONNECTIVITY

3.5 mm stereo audio jack
NFC
Bluetooth® 4.0 with aptX™ enabled
Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5 GHz)
DLNA® for wirelessly streaming media from the phone to a compatible TV or computer,
HTC Connect™
micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port with mobile high-definition video link (MHL) for USB or HDMI connection (Special cable required for HDMI connection.)
Support consumer infrared remote control

SOUND

HTC BoomSound™
Dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers
Sense Voice

CAMERA

Duo camera

Primary camera: HTC UltraPixel™ camera, BSI sensor, pixel size 2.0 um, sensor size 1/3”, f/2.0, 28mm lens
HTC ImageChip 2
1080p Full HD video recording with HDR video
Secondary camera: capture depth information

Front camera

5MP, f/2.0, BSI sensor, wide angle lens. with HDR capability, 1080p Full HD video recording
Gallery with UFocus™, Dimension Plus™, Seasons, Foregrounder, Image Match

MULTIMEDIA

Audio supported formats:

Playback: .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media Audio 10)
Recording: .aac

Video supported formats:

Playback: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 10), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3)
Recording: .mp4

Location

Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
Digital compass

BATTERY

Capacity: 2600 mAh
Embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery
Talk time: Up to 20 hours for 3G
Standby time: Up to 496 hours for 3G

Posted in: News, Phones, Videos/Unboxings
Tags: Featured, HTC One (M8)

By Gareth March 30, 2014 Read More →

The Armiga – part Android, part Commodore, all awesome

There is a new IndieGoGo campaign is hoping to provide Commodore enthusiasts with an authentic as possible experience to the original Amiga with an all-in-one enclosed package. Running on a Raspberry Pi is an Amiga emulator configured as an Amiga 500 with 1MB of RAM, equipped with an on-board 3.5″ floppy disk drive .

There have been a wave of machines that emulate various pieces of old hardware recently. From Bluetooth Spectrum 48k for an iPad to the Retron 5 taking all manner of cartridge based games. Whilst the argument that you are better off using the original hardware these newer alternatives appealingly offer HDMI outputs, a more reliable method of enjoying pixel perfect gameplay on modern displays.

The system features a dual booting setup. Equipped with the latest build of Android users will have tools at the ready to create disk images of original floppies. Emulation fans can look forward to screenshot functionality and the addition of save states too, while the techies amongst us can revel in the possibilities the ethernet port may bring.

The Armiga Project is hoping $140,000 in the next two months, with pledges of $139 securing one of the first systems.

Armiga Specification:

Powerful Dual Core ARM CPU.
2 USB host: Joystick, mouse and keyboard support, as well as pendrives/hdds.
SD card slot: Save your ADFs or bring new ones!
Ethernet connection: Connect to your network for easy ADF management.
HDMI: Digital AV quality on the big screen!.

Features:

Full Amiga 500 emulation: The target machine is the iconic Amiga 500 and right now 90% of the disks are running!
Boot to Android: Armiga supports Dual Boot and comes loaded with Android 4.2.2, so when you’re not playing you can have all the power of Android!.
Automatic disk load: Like in the original Amiga; insert the disk and off you go!.
Disk dump: Create ADF images of your favorite games and keep them safe on the SD.
ADF support: Bring your own ADF images on a pendrive or SD card and enjoy!
Disk swap: Just insert the disk and it will be dumped. When time comes to change disks, just select the right ADF. Ain’t it easy?.
FTP server: No need to take the SD off to manage the ADFs; just do it from your computer!.
Graphical menu: Simple and elegant, with usability as main focus.
Game save: Save your game and resume later.
Autosave: Forgot to save?. We do it for you!
Screenshot: Wanna share your joy?. Give our screenshot feature a try.

Posted in: Apps & Games, Desktop Computing, News

By Gareth March 30, 2014 Read More →

Specs of the Padfone X released by AT&T

Even though Asus officially announce the new PadFone X in January, they didn’t reveal the specs of the device. Asus doesn’t have to worry as AT&T revealed the full specs of the device recently. We still don’t know when or at what price the device will arrive, but we at least know it is coming to AT&T.

Here’s that spec-breakdown:

The Asus PadFone X phone section –

5-inch 1080p Full HD touchscreen
13 MP rear camera
2 MP front camera
2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor
2 GB of RAM
16 GB of internal storage
A microSD card slot
Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
2,300 mAh battery
Android 4.4 KitKat
Dimensions are 143.93×72.46×9.98 mm, and it weighs 150 grams

The Asus PadFone X Tablet Dock –

9-inch 1,920×1,200 touchscreen
1 MP front camera
4,990 mAh battery
Dimensions will be 250.4×172.25×11.63 mm, and it will weigh 514 grams

With each successive generation of this innovative device it keeps getting better and better. Asus has done a great job at refining and perfecting their technology.

Posted in: News, Phones, Tablets

By Matt March 29, 2014 Read More →

HTC One (M8) Benchmark video

With the launch of the HTC One (M8), many of you are asking questions about performance, in particular the speed of the new device and how this compares to its predecessor, the HTC One (M7).

The M8 has a Snapdragon 801 chipset and Quad-core CPU clocked at 2.3GHz (The Asian market gets a 2.5GHz version!), and 2GB of RAM. Clock-speed wise this is a decent step up from the 1.7GHz quad in the M7.

So what does this clock speed jump equate to? In general usage the difference isn’t that noticeable but in intensive apps and games you’ll notice it more.

In the video below you’ll see an HTC One (M8) Benchmark compared to the HTC One (M7). The benchmark was run simultaneously to give some impression of the speed and how much quicker the M8 completed the test.

Interesting results in that the M8 has twice the score of the M7!

Posted in: News, Phones, Videos/Unboxings
Tags: Benchm, HTC One (M8), kitkat

By Gareth March 28, 2014 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy S5 Exclusive 4G Offer on EE

EE are offering an exclusive deal when pre-ordering a Samsung’s flagship device, the Galaxy S5. Whether you fancy the device in Charcoal Black, Shimmery White and Electric blue this deal looks to be an attractive incentive for you to pick EE as your network of choice for your next contract.

If you pre-order a Samsung Galaxy S5 between the 28th of March and the 10th of April EE will upgrade your contract from a 3G Plan to a 4G Plan at no extra cost. In addition, they will throw in a free return flight to one of the following destinations: Amsterdam, Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Prague, Berlin, Munich, Rome, Brussels, Nice or Vienna. The phone will cost £59.99 on a £37.99 monthly plan. This includes unlimited calls and texts to use throughout the UK and Europe!

This deal is exclusive to EE and must have been pre-ordered online from 28th March- 1oth April. The deal is also open to those who pre-order an HTC One or Sony Xperia Z2 online through the EE Shop. This is not available in store or through any third parties.

For more information, check out EE’s website.

Posted in: Phones

By Gareth March 28, 2014 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 leaked

We have two pics of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 were leaked by @evleaks. These pics show off the smallest of the The Galaxy Tab 4 series which will eventually arrive in 7-inch, 8-inch, and 10-inch models. They contain the usual Samsung aesthetics. Additionally, these pics reveal that the Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 will continue Samsung’s trend of including the ability to make phone calls on the device.

Posted in: News, Phones, Rumours, Tablets

Archive for 2014

Qualcomm powering Amazon’s Fire TV

Samsung unveils new Galaxy Tab4 series

Galaxy Tab4 10.1 Product Specifications:

Galaxy Tab4 8.0 Product Specifications:

Galaxy Tab4 7.0 Product Specifications:

USB Type-C to feature reversible charger connectors

Amber Gold HTC One (M8) available at Carphone Warehouse