Author Archive: Matt

More than 20 years in the IT industry. Blogging with a passion and thirst for new technology since 2005.

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By January 13, 2010 Read More →

HTC offer Nexus One support

By now I’m sure you will have heard that some Nexus One owners, especially those on T-Mobile, seem to be experiencing some issues with their new handsets. There is apparently some problem with 3G connectivity for T-mobile customers where the handsets are dropping off the 3G network and sticking to EDGE or GPRS. I’ve not got my Nexus One as yet but I’ll certainly be testing it with my T-Mobile SIM!

T-Mobile customers are complaining that they are unable to get any support from either their carrier or from Google directly as one is blaming the other for the issues, neither of them offering to assist.

So it is surely welcome news that HTC, the manufacturer of the Nexus One, have stepped up and have added Nexus One support pages to their site and are also offering telephone support and troubleshooting guides.

HTC_NX_PAGE

If you have a Nexus one and are experiencing problems head over to the HTC support pages to see if they can help. We’d also like to hear from you!

 

Don’t forget to check out our Nexus One unboxing video too!

 

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Posted in: Phones
By January 12, 2010 Read More →

Android 2.1 coming to Motorola DEXT/CLIQ

Looks like good news for all of you Motorola Dext or Cliq owners out there, Android 2.1 is set to be coming to your device in the near future.

In a tweet from MotoMobile, the official twitter account of Motorola in Chicago, they announced that:

Its official: Moto CLIQT users can look forward to an update to Android 2.0 in the future. Timing to be announced closer to availability.

Followed by a correction:

Apologies for the confusion, everyone. Our CLIQ users can look forward to an update to Android 2.1.

We’re just waiting to see how long before we get to see Android 2.1 on the Droid/Milestone, I figure it wont be long though. Keep an eye on the MotoMobile twitter account as they seem to tweet frequently with updates!

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: News
By January 12, 2010 Read More →

HTC to partner with Brightstar Europe

HTC announced today that they have signed a distribution partnership with Brightstar Europe. This should allow HTC to improve the speed with which their accessories enter the distribution channel.

HTC sent us this press release:

LONDON, UK – January 12, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, has today announced it has signed a pan-European master partnership agreement with Brightstar Europe to develop the distribution channel for its official accessories line.

Brightstar Europe’s expertise in logistics and stock management will help improve the availability of HTC key accessories and the speed in which they can be ordered and delivered, while reducing minimum order quantities. The new agreement will help existing HTC distribution partners across Europe better meet the needs of their clients and end-users.

“HTC has become known for the unique experience its mobile phones provide. The same culture of innovative thinking and design is applied to produce a rich portfolio of accessories that complement and extend this experience for the user,” said Florian Seiche, Vice President at HTC Europe. “We have formed a new partnership with Brightstar Europe to invest in what is an increasingly significant sector for HTC. The pan-European deal will enable the accessories team at HTC Europe to focus more on the needs of its distribution partners, to better support their businesses.”

Rod Millar, President of Brightstar Europe said, “We are happy that HTC has chosen to partner with Brightstar Europe to accelerate the growth of its accessories business across Europe. By utilizing our state of the art logistics and infrastructure, we believe we can shorten HTC’s time to market, satisfy demand and quicken turnaround time by providing significant vendor support to its partner distribution channels.” 

The deal will establish Brightstar Europe as the master distribution partner of accessories in Europe for HTC’s leading phones such as the HTC Hero, Tattoo and the newly launched HD2. The partnership will commence in Q1 2010.

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Press Releases
By January 12, 2010 Read More →

Nexus One Enterprise?

There has been so much ‘News’ surrounding the Nexus One over the past week, many of the mainstream media outlets have even give it some coverage.

One story that seems to still be making the headlines is that Google is apparently ‘Awash’ with complaints about the Nexus one and is poor, patchy or in some cases, non-existent 3G coverage. The support forum for the Nexus One has literally hundreds of complaints about the 3G issue, many being passed backwards and forwards between T-mobile and Google’s own support team.

With all the excitement and news comes even more rumour and speculation so we’ve heard something this morning that is interesting, and somewhat more positive than 3G problems.

Rumours have just started to surface that there will soon be another version of the Google handset, ‘Nexus One Enterprise‘. If the rumours are to be believed the new handset will have a sliding hardware QWERTY keyboard.

It does seem like a logical progression and I for one would love to see a QWERTY version of the device. Thoughts?

 

Lets just hope that these 3G issues can be ironed out soon!

 

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Posted in: Rumours
By January 10, 2010 Read More →

5 new Apple products?

I just had an email tip from one of our readers. He works for a major UK retailer (John Lewis??) and apparently they have just added 5 new Apple products to their stock list. Each item is priced at £2000 but he goes on to say that this price is likely to come down a lot to hide item speculation and that it is common for new launch products to appear in their stock file so that they are able to start provisionally allocating stock, writing product info etc.

What could these new products be? We wonder if perhaps this maybe the Apple iSlate tablet being added to their stock list in time for its launch? Maybe it’ll come in 5 colours or perhaps 5 varying specifications?

Let the speculation begin! Comments anyone?

We’ll bring you more news as we get it. Thanks for the tip. If you have any tips for us please let us know via our contact page and don’t forget to include your name and email address and whether or not you want us to include your name.

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Rumours
By January 10, 2010 Read More →

Eye-fi pro card unboxing video

A few days ago we told you about the new range of Eye-fi cards that had just been announced at CES. We thought it was about time we reviewed the Eye-fi cards as they are such a cool idea!

The Eye-fi pro card

The Eye-fi pro card

 

If you’ve never seen them before then concept is relatively simple. Take a normal size SD memory card, fill it with 4GB of memory and then cram in a Wi-Fi adapter that can transfer the content you just recorded over Wi-Fi straight back to your PC/MAC or auto upload to your favourite sharing site for you all without you having to think about it or even remove the card from the camera!

As the Eye-fi card is basically a standard SD/SDHC memory card size it will work with any camera or digital camcorder. As soon as you take your photos they can be automatically transferred as long as you have Wi-Fi coverage. There are plenty of other options available too but I’ll cover it all when I get to the review later this week.

As always I have recorded an unboxing video but this is just a quick one so that I can show you the package and tell you about the various options. Take a look at the video below.

 

Eye-fi pro memory card unboxing video

 

Eye-fi pro Specification:

  • Wi-Fi security: Static WEP 64/128, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
  • Range: 90+ feet (27.4m) outdoors and 45+ feet (13.7m) indoors
  • Storage capacity: 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB
  • Power: Powered through device.
  • Card dimensions: SD standard 32mm x 24mm x 2.1mm
  • Card weight: 2.835 gram (0.1oz.)
  • 802.11b/g/n

 

Currently-supported photo/video services:

  • Adobe Photoshop Express
  • Costco Photo Center
  • dotPhoto
  • Evernote
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Fotki
  • Gallery 2
  • Kodak EasyShare Gallery
  • MobileMe
  • Phanfare
  • Photobucket
  • Picasa Web Albums
  • RitzPix
  • Sharpcast
  • Shutterfly
  • SmugMug
  • Snapfish
  • TypePad
  • Vox
  • Walmart
  • Webshots
  • Windows Live
  • YouTube
  • Zenfolio

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Videos/Unboxings
By January 9, 2010 Read More →

3G problems with Google Nexus One?

Google are rightly proud of their new Android handset, the Nexus One. However, it seems that the launch has not been without a hiccup or two.

The latest problem that many early adopters seem to be reporting relates to the 3G performance and seems to be specific to those using T-Mobile.

Apparently when the device looses 3G reception the phone falls back to EDGE or GPRS, which is in itself a good thing as it means that you retain your data connection. The problem though, is that the Nexus is not then reverting back to 3G connectivity even when 3G coverage resumes. The only way to get back to 3G is to reboot the device.

At the moment Google are blaming the T-Mobile 3G network. Affected users seem to be unable to get any kind of support from either Google or T-Mobile.

Personally I suspect that the problem lies with the device itself being too aggressive with the SIM and connectivity. We’ve seen a very similar problem with the Acer Liquid on T-Mobile. The problem with the Liquid is that when you loose your signal, going in to a tunnel for example, then you cant get coverage back until you either reboot the handset or switch flight mode on and off. As both the Nexus and the Liquid are android devices I wonder if there could potentially be a common issue.

We should have our Nexus in a few days time so I’ll test with T-mobile as well as other networks and see how we get on with it.

Love to hear from anyone that has a Nexus One experiencing this problem, let us know via the forum!

 

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Posted in: Phones
By January 9, 2010 Read More →

Nexus One on T-Mobile and Three in UK?

When the Nexus One was launched earlier this week it was originally reported that the device would be a Vodafone exclusive here in the UK.

nx1

The Google Nexus One

 

There has, however, been some speculation over the past few days as to whether the Nexus One would make it to any other UK carrier and if, indeed, it would be available SIM-free. Early indications are that it will be a carrier only handset and will not be sold SIM-free through regular distribution channels but according to several UK sites T-Mobile and Three are in advanced talks with Google. “We can confirm that we are in talks with Google on the Nexus One,” a spokesman for 3 stated recently, according to paidContent:UK. “We are in talks with Google and hope to have something to announce soon,” a T-Mobile spokesman added, cited by Total Telecom.

With the apparent popularity of the Nexus One already, many people having already purchased the handset direct through Google’s online ordering page (google.com/phone), I would be surprised if the other carriers are not going all-out to have the Nexus One in their portfolio.

It will definitely be interesting to see what the next few weeks and months have in store for the Nexus One. Incidentally I could have my Nexus one here in the next few days so please do feel free to start asking your questions ready for the unbox and review!

 

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Google, Nexus One, Android, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Posted in: Rumours
By January 8, 2010 Read More →

Only 220 Palm Pre’s sold in Ireland?

The Palm Pre was another device discussed at length during our podcast with Mobiletech Addicts earlier this week. The panel (ok Gareth, Andy, James and I) were all in agreement that the Palm Pre could have been something special but the promising Web OS has been sadly let down by poor hardware.

I just read a short article from our friend Ewan over at Mobile Industry Review. Ewan has gathered some information about the Palm Pre’s sales in Ireland and I have to say the news, if correct, isn’t good. According to the source, just 220 units sold since launch some 12 weeks ago!

Read the full story over at Mobile Industry Review.

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: Rumours
By January 8, 2010 Read More →

Will Google be sued over Nexus One?

According to several sources the family of Philip Dick, deceased author of the book Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep upon which the Blade Runner film was based, are set to sue Google for using the Nexus name. The family claim that this is an infringement of Mr. Dick’s intellectual property rights.

chou

HTC’s CEO Peter Chou shows of the Nexus One

 

Isa Dick Hackett, Dick’s daughter, claims the names are lifted straight from her father’s science fiction novel Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep?

“Google takes first and then deals with the fallout later,” she said. “In my mind, there is a very obvious connection to my father’s novel. People don’t get it. It’s the principle of it. It would be nice to have a dialogue. We are open to it. That’s a way to start.”

Google’s response to the claim is that the name has nothing to do with Dick’s work, and that it was simply using the word in its original sense – as a place where things converge.

 

Love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this one over on the forum!

 

Posted by: Matt

Posted in: News
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