Home » Archives for Gareth » Page 66
Author Archive: Gareth
Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.
Inateck have provided us with a 2 in 1 Micro USB Cable + Apple Lightning Adapter Cable 1.2m (4ft.) This is ideal for charging your iPhone 6/ 5/ 5s/ 5c /iPad 4/ iPad air/ iPad mini mini2/ iPad 4th gen, whilst also providing a cable for a MicroUSB based device. The cap on the top can also slip onto any other MicroUSB cable in the event his cable, like so many Apple charge cable, doses.
You can purchase from Amazon, here.
- Material: PVC and PC; Length: 1.2m / 4 feet. The extraordinary flat cable design prevents pesky cable tangle
- Charge your device with your computer or a USB Car/Wall Charger! Sync your device with your computer to transfer music, videos, files and backup your data
- High durability with transparent and robust protection heads at both plugs，robust durable for stable and reliable transfers. Both for data transfer and charging
- Plug and play; freely convert between micro B and adapter with lightning plug
- Compatible devices: smartphones and tablets with lightening or micro B connection, e.g. iPhone 6/5/5C/5S, iPad Mini/iPad Air, Android phones and tablets etc
Gareth unboxes Inateck’s 4 Port USB3.0 Hub With 1 Port Charging, the cheapest USB 3.0 hub on around. This hub is equipped with both a 5V 4A power supply and built-in surge protection, 4 Port USB 3.0 + 1 fast charging port (5V 2A) for SamSung tablets and smart phones etc.
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 supports transfer rates up to 5 Gbps – The actual transmission speed is limited by the setting of the device connected; Backward compatible with USB 2.0/1.1. Support 4 ports USB interfaces for Desktop/ Notebook/ Ultrabook/ SATA HDD Docking Sation/ Digital Camera; Compatible With Windows XP / Vista / 7/8 /MacOS X 10.8.4/ Linux. High Performance with VIA VL812 Chipset; Slim Size – Easy Carrying and Experience; Safe and reliable; Build in Overvoltage/Overcurrent/Leakage and Short-Circuit protection unit. Plug and play; Supports hot swapping. No install driver needed; LED indicators display the status of DC power supply and USB connections.
You can grab one from Amazon.co.uk here for only £19.99
The HTC built Nexus 9 has now arrived on the Google Play store and Amazon here in the UK with prices starting from £319 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version. Other variations include the 32GB pushing the price to £399 and adding LTE connectivity continues to increase the price to £459. This is more in keeping with Google’s Nexus 10 pricing over the last few years. Many are furious at the iPad-esq pricing and it’s easy to see why. Google have made much headway with their cheaply priced Nexus 7 over the last three years and most had hoped for the Nexus 9 to mirror this. It features a 8.9-inch display, supported by a 2.3 GHz 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 processor and a 6700mAh battery, high specs for a high price. Oh yeah, it’s made by HTC, who make expensive devices.
Pre-orders for the Wi-Fi only version opened on October 17 – Google is promising that units will leave the warehouse in 2-3 weeks. If you order, expect it on November 3rd. If it doesn’t arrive, just wait longer.
Gareth has gotten his hands on, and unboxed Samsung Galaxy Note 4. This latest Phablet offering from Samsung is due to spark all manner of uncomparable iPhone 6+ vs Note 4 debates, battle and stand offs. Here Gareth, a Note veteran, unboxes the phone and takes a couple of days to adjust to the features and form some some early opinions of the feature set.
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 specification:
- Dimensions – 153.5 X 78.6 X 8.5 mm / 176g
- Display – 5.7” Quad HD Super AMOLED (2560 x1440)
- Processor – 2.7GHz Quad Core Process
- Memory – 3GB RAM + 32GB Internal memory
- Supports microSD up to 128GB
- Network – 2.5G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) : 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- 3G (HSPA＋ 42Mbps): 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
- 4G (LTE Cat.4 150/50Mbps) or 4G (LTE Cat.6 300/50Mbps)
- Camera – Front Camera 3.7MP + F1.9/ Selfie (90º), Wide selfie mode (120º)
- Rear Camera 16M+ Smart OIS/ Fast AF, Live HDR(Rich Tone)
- OSAndroid 4.4 (Kitkat)Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2X2 MIMO)Download Booster
- NFC
- Bluetooth® v 4.1 (BLE),ANT+ ,
- USB2.0, MHL 3.0
- IR LED (Remote Control)
- Battery3220mAh Fast Charging
- S Pen – 15g, Hovering 15mm, Pressure level 2,048
- Sensor – Gesture, Accelerometer, Geo-magnetic, Gyroscope, RGB ambient light, Proximity, Barometer, Hall Sensor, Finger Scanner, UV, HRM
Alcatel Onetouch has launched the IDOL 2 MINI S 4G LTE smartphone through Carphone Warehouse. This good looking Android smartphone has been built with performance and usability in mind. Its brushed metallic finishing and diamond cut perfectly complement its Quad Core processing power and a sharp IPS display to create a smartphone perfect for style-conscious consumers. With an 8 megapixel rear camera for HD video capture and crisp photos with image stabilisation enhancements, the IDOL 2 MINI S is a premium choice without the price tag.
With a screen size of 4.5”, the IDOL 2 MINI S is compact and fits in the palm. Despite its size, the IDOL 2 MINI S doesn’t compromise on the user experience. Innovative, user-focused features like One Finger Zoom ensure that it can genuinely be used with one finger.
The IDOL 2 MINI S is available in Slate from Carphone Warehouse priced at £12 per month on pay monthly.
IDOL 2 MINI S
- 4.5” qHD IPS display
- 8.5 mm thin
- Quad Core 1.2 GHz
- 4G LTE – Cat 4
- 8 Mpxl 1080p main camera
- 2 Mpxl front camera
- Android 4.3 (4.4 FOTA)
- NFC
These days, no matter what type of smartphone you own, a phone case of some kind is pretty much essential. Obviously there are 1000’s of designs out there but if you want to stand out and be individual then there’s no substitute for a persoanlised phone case.
The folks over at magicyourband.com have cases for Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy devices. Their 3D cases allow you to wrap your own photos, logos, images and text right around the whole case which not only looks cool but provides a high degree of protection.
The magicyourband.com design tool employs both Flash, WebGL and HTML5 technologies so should work on almost any device/platform.
The company has provided us with discount code NOVCASE50 which will give you 50% off any phone case that you purchase. The discount code expires at the end of November 2014 and is limited to one use of the code per customer. Just enter the coupon code in the checkout to have the discount applied.
Head over and check out the cases on offer!
Gareth takes a look at the RAVPower FileHub a Wireless SD Flash Card Reader, USB Storage Media Sharing, NAS File Server, power bank, Wi-Fi portable hotspot device. This new pocketable device is available from Amazon for £29.99 and manages to not only improve on the basic portable power source but add in some pretty neat hardware features to reduce the contents of your gadget bag. Check the video to see what it’s all about.
A FileHub is a revolutionary device that you can use to:
- Transfer files (photos, movies or videos) between your SD card/USB Portable Hard Disk Drive and your Kindle Fire, Android/iOS smartphones and tablets
- Transfer files between your iOS and android devices
- Move files (photos/Movies/Music) from your mobile device to SD card / USB HDD / Flash Disk
- A built-in 3000 mah power bank that you can use to charge your mobile devices.
Portable WLAN Hot Spot – Bypass your internet access to your existing Wi-Fi router,so you may access any data in the SD or HDD while surfing the internet simultaneously.(Allow 5 maximum connections at the same time for data sharing,or connecting to the internet service.
Specifications:
- CPU: Ralink RT 5350 MIPS24KEc 350 MHz
- WiFi Frequency : 2.4 GHZ Speed: 72Mbps at 20Mhz / 150 Mbps at 40MHZ
- External Battery Pack : 3000 mah 1.5A Max Input 1A Output
- SD Card Speed: Read: 3MB/S Write: 3.5MB/S
- USB Interface: Micro USB 2.0
Product Notes:
- Please download AirStor app or Solid Explorer first from iOS or Android app store.(You can also manage filehub by ES File Explorer (Android)/ File Browser (IOS) )
- You have to connect the filehub with your existing Wi-Fi router to have internet service.
- RP-WD01 only support hard drives with DOS/Windows format.
- Due to the limitation of Apple iOS system, you can not open the folder in your iPad, so you cannot copy it out to your external storage devices.
Gareth takes a look at a new low end, budget offering from Binatone. Taking a few queues from Apple and Samsung’s similarly sized devices the Binatone Homesurf is a £75 alternative that might suit someone not chasing that high end feel or experience.
Binatone HomeSurf 84 specification:
- Android KitKat 4.4.2
- 8” multi-capacitive touch screen
- Dual core 1.5GHz processor
- Latest Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system
- 1GB RAM and 8GB flash memory
- Expandable Micro SD storage up to 32GB
- 0.3MP front camera
- 2.0MP rear camera
- High quality loudspeaker
- Integrated microphone
- Audio file supports MP3 player
- Video file supports MP4 player
- 4 dimensional gravity sensing
- Battery life 2800 mah
It would appear that for some reason Belkin routers can no longer connect to the Internet. As of midnight EDT many Belkin router owners took to Twitter to all point out their Belkin routers were suffering from some sort of fault or demonic possession. At 9:30am PDT Belkin acknowledged the issue and an hour later, issued a workaround. Belkin has not yet revealed the cause of the mass outage. There are many, many annoyed users out there furious at Belkin and their ugly side can be seen on Twitter. One thing is for sure you can take away power, gas and water but don’t meddle with someone’s internet connection.
Update #2: Belkin says all routers should now be fixed.
We have confirmed that the internet connectivity issue is now resolved.
If your service has not yet been restored, please unplug your router and plug it back in after waiting 1 minute. Wait 5 more minutes and the router should reconnect. If you have any further issues, please contact our support at (800) 223-5546.
We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience to our customers. We are taking a number of actions to eliminate this sort of incident from reoccurring
Update #1: Belkin’s official statement.
Starting approximately midnight on October 7, Belkin began experiencing an issue with a service configured in certain Belkin router models that causes a failure when it checks for general network connectivity by pinging a site hosted by Belkin. We know this issue has affected select older Wireless-N Belkin router models including F9K1102, F9K1105, F9K1113 and F9K1116. We are continuing to investigate other possible routers that may have been affected. We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Until there is a fix in place, we have identified a workaround for customers that are using the F9K1102 and F9K1105 routers to regain internet connectivity. That work-around as well as ongoing updates can be found at our outage status page for more information:http://www.belkin.com/outage
Gareth takes a look at ZTE’s new quad-core smartphone with a 5 inch screen and generous 2000mAh battery. For the low price of £89 on Virgin pay as you go it all sounds to good to be true.
ZTE Blade L2 specification:
- Android 4.2
- Dual-core 1.3GHz
- Memory card slot
- 5in TFT LCD, 854×480 pixels
- Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0
- MicroUSB, 3.5mm headphone jack
- 5 megapixel with autofocus and LED flash
- VGA front-facing camera
- 2000mAh Battery
- Size 143 x 72 x 9mm
- Weight 166g
Inateck have provided us with a 2 in 1 Micro USB Cable + Apple Lightning Adapter Cable 1.2m (4ft.) This is ideal for charging your iPhone 6/ 5/ 5s/ 5c /iPad 4/ iPad air/ iPad mini mini2/ iPad 4th gen, whilst also providing a cable for a MicroUSB based device. The cap on the top can also slip onto any other MicroUSB cable in the event his cable, like so many Apple charge cable, doses.
Connect
Connect with us on the following social media platforms.