Author Archive: Gareth

Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.

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By March 11, 2014 Read More →

Asus Chromebox knock the ball out of the park, Stateside

61Q4AURMIvL._SL1500_It would seem the Asus Chromebox is a hit. Currently sitting at No. 1 on Amazon.com’s best seller list the Asus Chromebox makes a desktop companion of the ChromeOS similar to what the Chromebook has been doing for notebooks and laptops.  The Chromebox comes in three different flavours, the first featuring a 1.4 GHz Intel Celeron 2955U Processor with 2GB of Ram for $179, a Intel Core i3-4010U with 4GB of Ram for $409 and an Intel Core i7-4600U with 4GB of Ram for $590. Each unit also features a 16 GB SSD HDD, Intel HD graphics, Gigabit ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, 2x USB 3.0 ports, 1x 3.5mm headphone / microphone port, 2-in-1 SD/MMC port and the ever evolving Google Chrome OS.

  • Amazon — $179 with free shipping, ships March 14th
  • Newegg — $179, ships March 14th
  • Tiger Direct — $179 with free shipping

The i3 and i5 variants do not appear to be as easy to track down however the reports are these ship on the same dates. At this price is it impossible not to at least be tempted by the box for $179, even just to plug into a TV or unused screen. No news of when this is to appear on the UK shores, right now Amazon.co.uk offer the Samsung Series 3 Chromebox running Intel 1.9GHz, 4GB RAM, 16GB SSD for £279. A nice alternative however likely to be superseded in the near future.

 

Posted in: Desktop Computing, News
By March 10, 2014 Read More →

HP 8 at a price to make you think twice

hp-8-leadHP is back in the Android tablet game with a new budget tablet. They have announced the HP 8, shockingly featuring an 8″ display size on the device. What’s really surprising is the affordable price of the HP 8. At only $170, this is easily the least expensive 8-inch tablet on the market. Of course, with that price you don’t expect that the specs will be anything spectacular to write home about and you would be right. We hope to get this in for a test as soon as possible.

 

Here are the HP 8 Specs:

  • 7.85-Inch (1,024 x 768) display
  • Android 4.2.2
  • A quad-core ARM chip made by the Chinese company Allwinner
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 16GB of expandable storage
  • Stereo speakers
  • 3,800mAh battery

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Posted in: News, Tablets
By March 10, 2014 Read More →

The All New HTC One leaked again

m8_001The All New HTC One has had another leak, this time coming from China. Several picture of the device appeared on the local social network Weibo. The All New HTC One (Anho) will be officially revealed this month, on March 25 and has been referred to by many names over the last few month like the HTC Two, HTC One 2. Keeping the device a secret has proved difficult for HTC, or possibly all of these leaks are staged to remind folks dazzled by the Samsung Galaxy S5 to hang on in there as there is an alternative round the corner.

The photos of the Anho don’t really show anything we haven’t seen before, or reveal any new information only the size of the unit compared to the HTC One Max.

 

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Posted in: News, Phones
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By March 6, 2014 Read More →

How much would you pay for Firefox?

dell_uk_firefoxIf, purchasing a Dell machine here in the UK, you decide you wish to have Firefox included out of the box then you will have to pay an extra £16.25. Mozilla are investigating the charge Dell are enforcing for the option that is entirely voluntary when selecting machine specification. When questioned about the charge Dell responded with:

“Dell Configuration Services, including the application loading service, ensure customers have a complete, ready to use product when it arrives,” a Dell spokesperson told TNW. “In this particular situation, the customer would not be charged for the Mozilla Firefox software download, rather the fee would cover the time and labour involved for factory personnel to load a different image than is provided on the system’s standard configuration.”

Dell’s website in the US, and Canada do not include the option and it really seems like Dell is pushing the boundaries. Mozilla have kinda covered this under their Software Distributions policy, the document states:

If you are using the Mozilla Mark(s) for the unaltered binaries you are distributing, you may not charge for that product. By not charging, we mean the Mozilla product must be without cost and its distribution (whether by download or other media) may not be subject to a fee, or tied to subscribing to or purchasing a service, or the collection of personal information. If you want to sell the product, you may do so, but you must call that product by another name—one unrelated to Mozilla or any of the Mozilla Marks. Remember that we do not want the public to be confused.

Money well spent you think? 

 

Posted in: Desktop Computing, Laptops, News
By March 6, 2014 Read More →

The Asus Chromebox is shipping

801x600xasuschromeboxtop-1.jpg,q826d5f.pagespeed.ic.HAZJ0WMBKPOnline US tech retailer sabrepc.com is listing them in stock and ready for ordering. Shipping is 1-2 weeks in the US however they offer International shipping so YOU can have one, in a few weeks.

The Asus Chromebox specifications are listed as:

  • Model: CHROMEBOX-M004U
  • Type: ChromeBox
  • CPU: Intel Celeron 2955U
  • SSD: 16GB
  • RAM: 2GB DDR3-1600
  • Graphics: Integrated Intel HD 4400 Graphics
  • Connectivity: HDMI, DisplayPort, RJ45 LAN
  • Kensington Lock
  • 4x USB 3.0
  • 2-in-1 Card Reader
  • Wireless Dual Band 802.11 a/b/g/n with Bluetooth V4.0
  • Dimensions 4.9” x 4.9” x 1.67”
  • Form Factor: Small Form Factor
  • Operating System: Chrome OS

They are hardly likely to set the world alight however a little box like this with a small price tag might just be what some are looking for to plug into their TV or as a secondary desktop. If you have $179.99 handy, you can buy one now! The Intel i3 is listed by SabrePC at $369.99, that’s $30 less than the RRP.

Posted in: Desktop Computing, News
By March 4, 2014 Read More →

Archos 40B Titanium arrives

archos_40btitanium_Pers_slide_1We have only just received the Archos 40 Titanium in for review and already Achos have announced a successor.

Archos presents their new entry-level music enthusiasts phone, powered by the Mediatek MT6572 dual-core 1.3GHz ARM Cortex-A7 processor. 4-inch IPS display with a 800×480 pixel resolution, 4GB of internal storage plus a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi, HSPA+, Bluetooth 3.0, and a 1400mAh battery. This phone is released now for 110€ in Europe. You can find out more about it here.

Posted in: MP3 Players & Accessories, News, Phones
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By March 3, 2014 Read More →

The Samsung Chromebook in faux leather

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Top leak specialist @evleaks has put out a picture of the oft rumoured Samsung Chromebook successor.

Adopting the faux leather look of the Samsung Galaxy Note III this Chrome OS notebook is touted to be running the Exynos 5 Octo and has four low-power cores (Cortex A7 1.3 GHz) and four high-performance cores (Cortex A15 1.8 GHz). The built-in graphics chip is a Mali-T628 of ARM. The product is expected to be priced at £250-£300. 

The new Chromebook is likely to have an improved resolution of 2560×1600 with 3 GB RAM, a storage capacity of between 16GB and 32GB, and a screen of 12 inches or less. Also, it is predicted to support USB 3.0, have a built-in battery lasting for at least seven hours, and weigh slightly over 1 kg. 

 

Posted in: Laptops, News
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By March 1, 2014 Read More →

Archos 40 Titanium Unboxing

archos_40titanium_Pers_slide_1Archos is filling the market with devices at the moment, some cheap, so not so cheap. To help avoid confusion Archos have labelled the phone ranges after periodic elements, Titanium, Oxygen and Helium. Titanium being the more price conscious range with five different variants covering differing sizes.

In this video we look at the low-end Archos 40 Titanium, a 4″ Android smartphone with a fairly capable Dual-Core processor but a rather measly amount of RAM and ROM.

Posted in: Phones, Videos/Unboxings
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By February 28, 2014 Read More →

Mobile Tech Addicts Podcast 221: Mobile World Congress 2014

Podcast-Logo_thumb.jpgGareth, Matt and Phil are here with an update on what happened at Mobile World Congress this year.

There’s plenty to talk about in this show with new flagship devices from Samsung and Sony as well as some announcements from HTC, Nokia and Lenovo to name a few!

 

Featuring Gareth, Matt and Phil

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Posted in: News, Podcast
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By February 27, 2014 Read More →

Samsung unveils SDKs for new devices

samsung-logoSamsung Electronics today announced the immediate availability of Software Development Kits (SDKs) for the Galaxy S5 and Samsung Gear 2, during the Samsung Developer Day at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.

Following the unveiling of the Galaxy S5 and Samsung Gear 2 in Barcelona on February 24, the SDKs were introduced to over 500 app developers from around the world at the Samsung Developer Day, a conference Samsung has held since 2011 for app developers at the App Planet exhibition space at MWC.

An SDK for the Samsung Gear 2 based on Tizen was also introduced publicly for the first time. In addition to these SDKs, a Gear Fit SDK for Samsung Gear Fit was introduced, highlighting the potential for wearable apps development.

Dr. Won-Pyo Hong, president and head of the Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics, said “Samsung will continue to provide more comprehensive SDKs for our mobile devices and maintain collaborative relationships with development partners to present unique and unprecedented content and services to our customers.”

During Samsung Developer Day, the company also introduced an upgraded Samsung Mobile SDK 1.5 with the finger scanning technology, strengthened motion-detection function included in the Galaxy S5 as well as Multi-screen technology for developing apps that can simultaneously operate on TV and mobile devices.

The S Health SDK was also presented to developer partners. S Health, Samsung’s personalised app which uses health information accumulated through sensors, is available on various Samsung mobile devices.

In addition to the SDK exhibitions and demonstrations, a presentation on mobile app development trends for 2014 was provided by guest speaker Andreas Constantinou, the CEO of VisionMobile.

Awards for the Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013, a global contest for app development held successfully last year, were also presented in a ceremony.

Newly Released SDK:

 

Name

Description

S Health SDK

S Health SDK allows developers to use the health data created by S Health application

Gear SDK

Gear SDK provides supports for tools and various APIs to create applications for SAMSUNG Gear

 

Gear Fit SDK

Companion UI Profile provides an emulator for wearable device and various APIs to control Gear fit.

 

 

Upgrade SDK:

 

Name

Description

Samsung Mobile

SDK 1.5

Samsung Mobile SDK 1.5 is upgraded targeting to Samsung Galaxy S5.

Motion and Gesture function is strengthened. Moreover, Pass, development tool for touch recognition app and Office, converting image between document tool are added.

Multi-screen SDK

Samsung Multi-screen SDK is an all-new SDK that allows developers take advantage of Samsung’s market leadership in smartphones and smart TVs. Based on a cloud publishing system, the Multi-screen SDK includes APIs for one-touch discovery and pairing of devices, which allows for content sharing across devices.

 

Posted in: News, Phones
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