Phones

By May 28, 2014 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy S5 is it worth the hype?

s5The Samsung Galaxy S5 is the natural successor of the Samsung Galaxy S4, which was one of the most sought after models released to the market. However, does the Samsung Galaxy S5 offer anything worth getting excited about or is it better to wait for the S6?

The S5 features various improvements to its camera, display, design and operating software. However, there has been significant debate in the tech world about if an upgrade to the Samsung S5 is necessary in spite of the improvements.

Here, we will explore if the Samsung Galaxy S5 is worth the hype or if it a development that will ultimately fail until the release of the S6.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 Design

It is evident that Samsung has put in a lot of effort to make the S5 design different from its predecessor. It features a dimpled back to differentiate it from the glossy and smooth design on the S4. One of the main drawbacks, however, is that this handset is mostly made of plastic.

As this is supposed to be a high-end phone, some might expect a more expensive, luxurious material. Sony, Apple, Nokia, and HTC have all experimented with metal to make their high-end phones but Samsung seems reluctant to shift from plastic.

The Samsung S5 has been designed to be both dust and water resistant in about 3.3 feet of water for almost 30 minutes. The phone is available in a variety of colour finishes including sweet pink, champagne pink, shimmery white, copper gold, electric blue and charcoal black among others.

The S5 features a big and bold 5.1-inch full HD super AMOLED screen. One of the best aspects of this handset is its clear screen. It is a bright screen and this makes it ideal for users who spend a lot of time browsing the internet.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 Main Features

You can tell after just a few minutes that the S5 is definitely more usable when compared to the S4. Mostly because it includes more features that consumers are likely to use every day.

S Health

S Health is one of the most noticeable features on this phone. It includes a heart rate monitor that is placed at the back just below the camera. The monitor allows you to track your pulse. S Health has been designed to help users monitor their daily activity. However, it does not offer the same benefits you get from devices solely designed for this function.

Ultra Power Saving Mode

Samsung is making an effort to come up with a battery that will last longer when you need it the most. The ultra-power saving mode activates on your phone when you need it to reduce power consumption when the handset is not in use. The feature reduces available apps to six to reduce total power use and increase battery life.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S5 camera offers selective focus. This feature allows users to take pictures and then defocus the background. The downside is that the camera takes a while to ‘fire up’, especially if it is in sleep mode. Furthermore, its autofocus is swift but it is not always accurate.

Fingerprint Scanner

Samsung have decided to place a fingerprint scanner on the S5 home key. This is an intuitive program, but risky as it does not always pick up the fingerprint. Users are required to swipe vertically for the scanner to work but it is also possible to swipe sideways with less accuracy.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S5 handset comes with a 2.5 GHz CPU that makes it one of the
most powerful models on the market. However, with that being said, some of the features are slow. As mentioned, the camera can take a while before it is ready to work.

The model offers 16 GB internal memory, but only about 11 GB is available for use. The good news is that Samsung has eliminated some apps that were considered less significant on the S4, but you can still choose to download them in the Google Play Store. This gives users greater control over their internal memory.

Conclusion

The progression when it comes to performance and in-phone features make this upgrade more than worthwhile if you are coming up to the end of one of a number of long term mobile phones contracts. There are a number of great value contracts from Virgin Media available now that you can take advantage of to get the Samsung Galaxy S5 for a great price.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has an amazing screen and it offers plenty of battery life. This is a powerful and competent phone with unique elements that make it different from any other model available.

 

 s5colourss5_v_5s

Samsung Galaxy S5 – Size comparison with iPhone 5S

 

 

Posted in: Editorial, Phones
By May 27, 2014 Read More →

The LG G3 – A Quad HD smartphone

 lg-g3-official-1Today the world is going wild for the LG G3, LG’s latest flagship. In synchronised events in London, New York and San Francisco LG have updatged their much loved LG G2 with a feature set that will directly compete and perhaps best the flagships of Samsung, Apple and HTC. Much like the HTC One (m8) the G3 has a lightweight metal body and rocks an impressive QHD 2560 x 1440p 5.5-inch display, that works out about 530+ppi.

Housing this delicious Gorilla Glass 3 screen, most interestingly, is virtually no bezel at all.  LG G3 measured 8.9mm in depth, 75mm long and 146mm wide. Inside there is a quad-core 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2GB of RAM in the 16GB model, and 3GB of RAM in the 32GB model. This is expanded by a microSD card slot supporting up to 128GB. All of this is powered by a removable  3000mAh battery, similar to that we saw in the LG G2. Other features include Infrared, wireless charging LTE-Advanced, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and USB 2.0.

The LG G3 camera offers a 13-megapixel sensor featuring OIS+ (optical image stabilisation), dual LED flash, 4K video recording and a new Laser Auto Focus feature. On the front is a 2-megapixel “Selfie Camera” that shoots in Full HD. For this front facing camera the pixel size has been increased, ala the HTC One, to help with low level lighting and optimise the selfie frenzy that many are having to deal with.

LG_G3_4

LG have added a couple of extra mics’ and upgraded the speaker. The rear buttons, a volume rocker and hold button carrier over from the LG G2 have been tweaked for comfort and design aesthetics.

One feature that really set the G2 apart was KnockCode – a way of waking up and unlocking the device with a user-defined sequence of taps on the screen. The G3 has a few new features of play with, Contact Lock to allow you to hide naughty pictures sensitive files and a kill switch… to avoid embarrassment incase those naughty pictures sensitive files fall into enemy hands.

LG G3 will be available on 27 June. A Carphone Warehouse Spokesperson added

“Fans of LG’s G series are typically more tech savvy than the average customer and the G3 certainly doesn’t disappoint in terms of high end specifications. LG has somehow managed to cram an incredible 5.5” Quad HD screen, super-fast processor and top spec camera into one relatively lightweight handset with impressive and long lasting battery power. We’re predicting that this will be the geek chic device of 2014 that customers will want to snap up.”

Customers can pre-register their interest in the new handset from tomorrow (28.05.2014) at Carphone Warehouse and pre-order their handset from Carphone Warehouse from early June.  No prices have been set at this time however £400+ seems like a good starting place.

LG_G3_5

 

  

 

Posted in: News, Phones
By May 25, 2014 Read More →

Benchmarking comparison – S5 Vs. Note 3 Octa Core

vlcsnap-2014-05-25-17h15m21s129It’s hardly a battle to the death, the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Octa Core are two of the fastest phones on the market. Today we have a look at just how quick they are when compared to each other.

The S5 boasts a Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 with a Adreno 330 and 2gb of RAM. The Note 3 is not your typical off the shelf Note 3, instead this is the Octa Core version with an Exynos 5 Octa 5420 Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 and quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7 with a Mali-T628 MP6 and 3gb of RAM.

 

Posted in: Phones, Videos/Unboxings
By May 17, 2014 Read More →

HTC One mini 2 hands-on video

HTC One mini 2Just a few days ago HTC offcially announced the HTC One mini 2, successor to last year’s HTC One mini and little-brother to the HTC One (M8) released a couple of months ago.

As always, there had been a lot of leaks, speculation and rumours surrounding the mini 2 so much of the specification and design was alread ‘known’ but the full and official specification can be found below.

I’ve managed to get hold of an HTC One mini 2 and I’ve recorded an initial unboxing and hands-on video for you below. Covering the specification, hardware, side-by-side with the HTC One (M8) and a look at the user interface this is just a quick video for now, futher in-depth details and a review are to follow.

 

 

HTC One mini 2 specification:

SIZE: 137.43 x 65.04 x 10.6mm

WEIGHT: 137 grams

DISPLAY: 4.5 inch, HD 720p

 

CPU SPEED

  • Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400, 1.2GHz quad-core CPU

 

PLATFORM

  • Android™ 4.4 with HTC Sense™ 6
  • HTC BlinkFeed™

 

MEMORY

  • Total storage:  16GB
  • RAM: 1GB
  • 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:

  • 850/900/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps

 

 4G – LTE:

  • EMEA: Bands 3, 7, 8, 20
  • Asia: Bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 28

 

SIM

  • Nano SIM

 

SENSORS

  • Accelerometer
  • Proximity sensor
  • Ambient light sensor

 

CONNECTIVITY

  • 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
  • NFCii
  • Bluetooth® 4.0 with aptX™ enabled
  • Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n (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

 

SOUND

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

 

CaMeRA

Rear camera

  • 13MP, BSI sensor with f/2.2 lens
  • 1080p Full HD video recording

 

Front camera

  • 5MP, BSI sensor
  • 1080p Full HD video recording

 

MULTIMEDIA

Audio supported formats:

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

 

Video supported formats:

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

 

Location

  • Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
  • Digital compass

 

BATTERY

  • Capacity: 2100 mAh

 

Posted in: Phones, Videos/Unboxings
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By May 15, 2014 Read More →

HTC One Mini2 surfaces

htc-one-mini2The worlds best Android smartphone, the HTC One (M8), get’s a little brother.

It’s certainly no surprise arrival but the HTC One mini2 arrives bringing with it some of the HTC One (M8) features and design cues in a diminished package size.

Unlike last-years HTC One mini, which was almost entirely plastic, HTC have kept the metal design and looks of the M8 for the mini2. Featuring stereo BoomSound speakers, 4.5-inch 720p display a quad-core Snapdragon 400 CPU and chipset with 1GB RAM and 16GB ROM. Also included are NFC, a miroSD card slot, and a larger 2,100mAh battery.

The the announcement HTC CEO Peter Chou says:

The perfect choice for those who love the iconic design of the HTC One (M8) yet want something more compact.

Sadly, HTC haven’t included the IR blaster of the Duo Cam on the mini2 which may prevent a more widespread appeal.

HTC One mini 2_PerLeft_GunMetal

 

 

HTC One mini 2 specification:

SIZE: 137.43 x 65.04 x 10.6mm

WEIGHT: 137 grams

DISPLAY: 4.5 inch, HD 720p

 

CPU SPEED

  • Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400, 1.2GHz quad-core CPU

 

PLATFORM

  • Android™ 4.4 with HTC Sense™ 6
  • HTC BlinkFeed™

 

MEMORY

  • Total storage:  16GB
  • RAM: 1GB
  • 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:

  • 850/900/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps

 

 4G – LTE:

  • EMEA: Bands 3, 7, 8, 20
  • Asia: Bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 28

 

SIM

  • Nano SIM

 

SENSORS

  • Accelerometer
  • Proximity sensor
  • Ambient light sensor

 

CONNECTIVITY

  • 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
  • NFCii
  • Bluetooth® 4.0 with aptX™ enabled
  • Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n (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

 

SOUND

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

 

CaMeRA

Rear camera

  • 13MP, BSI sensor with f/2.2 lens
  • 1080p Full HD video recording

 

Front camera

  • 5MP, BSI sensor
  • 1080p Full HD video recording

 

MULTIMEDIA

Audio supported formats:

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

 

Video supported formats:

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

 

Location

  • Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
  • Digital compass

 

BATTERY

  • Capacity: 2100 mAh

 

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By May 8, 2014 Read More →

Tesco keeping up with the Hudls

Screenshot 2014-05-07 20.33.13The success of its Hudl tablet over Christmas has been confirmed by the that Tesco is set to launch not one but two new devices. A Hudl branded smartphone alongside an evolutionary update to the Hudl tablet from last year. 

The smartphone is not expected to appear until the end of the year however it will keep the Hudl branding. Oddly, the BBC reports that the phone will run Android and be of a comparable specification to the Samsung Galaxy S5. Much like the Hudl tablet this phone will come preloaded with Tesco services, including Blinkbox video streaming and Tesco shopping apps. The addition of these bundled apps will allow Tesco to “aggressively priced”  a higher-end smartphones.

In addition, Tesco also confirmed that the Hudl 2 could arrive as early as September. The first incarnation of the low priced, Archos built, 7-inch tablet sold around 550,000 units since launch before Christmas and was not only applauded for it’s low cost and higher than expected specifications but the ability to pay with Clubcard points helps many families justify having one. 

No specifications or prices for either the Hudl phone or Hudl 2 Tablet have been confirmed at this point.

Posted in: News, Phones, Tablets
By May 7, 2014 Read More →

ZTE announces the arrival of the Blade L2 in Europe

ZTE Blade L2ZTE have been busy recently and today have announced that their latest ZTE Blade L2 will be available in across Europe later this year. No word on an exact date as yet but the Blade L2 looks like a great mid-tier device. The handset is the latest and most stylish handset to come from the affordable and highly popular Blade series that has already received millions of global sales.

Today, ZTE celebrates the introduction of its latest mobile phone, ZTE Blade L2, in Europe. The ZTE Blade L2 is already ranged in countries including Spain, Greece, Germany, Slovakia and the UK and will be rolled out globally later in 2014. The ZTE Blade L2 is the latest and most stylish handset to come from the affordable and highly popular Blade series that has already received millions of global sales.

Featuring an elegant design with a 5” touch screen and white exterior finish, the Blade L2 not only delivers on style but also packs a powerful performance with its 1.3GHz Quad-Core processor. Thanks to its narrow frame design, the ZTE Blade L2 looks and feels even slimmer than its 8.9mm effective thickness.

Like its popular predecessors in the Blade series, the Blade L2 offers a superior photo experience, boasting a 5MP camera which includes a number of different settings from continuous shot and panorama to anti-flickering as well as a multi angle view that can easily be turned into 3D animation. To make sure that users get the perfect photo, the camera functions also include autofocus, flash, self-timer, face detection and ZTE’s Smile Shot. The ZTE Blade L2 also includes a 0.3MP front camera for self-portraits and video-calling.

Mr. AO Wen, General Manager of ZTE Handset European Operation Office, said, “At ZTE, it’s no secret that we pride ourselves on the affordability of our smartphone handsets that makes smartphone technology available to everyone. We’ve had huge success with our Blade series to date in Europe, and we’re excited to introduce the latest edition. We’re confident that the ZTE Blade L2 will offer our ever-more discerning customers across Europe a stylish and high performance device at the right price.”

The 5” large screen offers a superior experience for browsing, watching movies and previewing photos taken with the 5MP camera. Preinstalled with Evernote, Dropbox, Facebook and Twitter, the ZTE Blade L2 enables people to easily share their memories with friends and family at just the touch of a button.

 

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By May 1, 2014 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy S5 vs HTC One (M8) benchmark (video)

Samsung Galaxy S5 vs HTC One (M8)Although it’s quite a controversial topic, then benchmark performance of new devices always attracts a lot of interest.

At the moment, the two top Android phones are the HTC One (M8) and the Samsung Galaxy S5. In theory, the Galaxy S5 should be ahead of the M8, in terms of performance at least. The S5 has a 2.5GHz quad-core CPU whereas the M8 has a 2.3GHz quad-core CPU. Both run the Qualcomm 801 chipset and have 2GB RAM but the extra clock speed that the S5 has should definitely give it the edge.

There have been lots of Tweets and blog posts elsewhere questioning the performance of the Galaxy S5 and comments like “What’s up with the Galaxy S5 performance ?” seem not to be uncommon.

In the video below you can see me running a benchmark test on the Galaxy S5, side-by-side with the HTC One (M8). The results may surprise you…!

 

 

 

Posted in: News, Phones, Videos/Unboxings
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By April 30, 2014 Read More →

Acer Liquid Jade and Leap coming soon

Screenshot 2014-04-29 at 14.06.21 Today at and international Press conference Acer announced they would be release a new phone fairly soon with a bundled goodie, a smart wearable. The Liquid Jade looks to be one of the thinest phones on the market, we actually had a little hands on with the phone that Acer did not reveal a release date for. The Jade is to have Gorilla Glass for protection and no straight edges meaning the device is entirely curved. Two colours were on display with several more being planned.

 

Bundled with the Liquid Jade is the Liquid Leap, a wearable that promises to show fitness information alongside notifications sent from your phone smartphone. There was no confirmation if the smartwatch would be compatible with other devices, or sold separately.

 

 

Screenshot 2014-04-29 at 14.19.35

 

Screenshot 2014-04-29 at 14.20.54

Screenshot 2014-04-29 at 14.05.36

 

Looking around the Jade:

P1010087 P1010083 P1010082 P1010081 P1010080

P1010085 P1010078 P1010077

 

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By April 27, 2014 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy S5 unboxing video

samsung-galaxy-s5-vs-apple-iphone-5sAt the moment there is a strong battle between the flagship Android smartphones from both Samsung and HTC. We’ve already discussed the HTC One (M8) a lot on the site but this weekend we’ve finally managed to get hold of the Samsung Galaxy S5. 

The Samsung Galaxy phones have always been popular with the S3 and S4 versions selling at both incredible speed and volume. This latest Galaxy S5 builds upon the previous versions and brings a 5.1″ Full HD AMOLED Screen, Quad-core 2.5GHz CPU, 2GB RAM and either 16 or 32GB of on board storage. If the on board storage isn’t enough for you then you can also add up to another 128GB with a microSD memory card.

Samsung have added other features such as a fingerprint sensor and heart rate monitor to mention a few. 

Samsung have been more conventional than HTC with their camera. Here you’ll find a 16 mega-pixel camera with phase detection autofocus. Rather different to HTC’s 4.1 Ultrapixel approach.

As ever, I’m starting off here with an unboxing and hardware tour as well as a look at the UI and OS features.

 

 

Samsung Galaxy S5 specification:

  • 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
  • 3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
  • 4G Network: LTE (market dependent)
  • Micro-SIM
  • Dimensions: 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm (5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 in)
  • Weight: 145 g (5.11 oz)
  • Fingerprint sensor (PayPal certified)
  • IP67 certified – Water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes
  • Display: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.1 inches (~432 ppi pixel density)
  • Corning Gorilla Glass 3
  • TouchWiz UI
  • 3.5mm jack
  • microSD, up to 128 GB
  • Internal Storage:  16/32 GB storage
  • RAM: 2 GB
  • Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
  • Bluetooth: v4.0 with A2DP, EDR, LE
  • NFC
  • Infrared port
  • microUSB v3.0 (MHL 2), USB On-the-go, USB Host
  • Primary Camera:  16 MP, 5312 x 2988 pixels, phase detection autofocus, LED flash, 1/2.6” sensor size, 1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization, HDR, 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, HDR, video stabilization
  • Secondary Camera: 2 MP, 1080p@30fps, dual video call
  • OS: Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat)
  • Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801
  • CPU: Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400
  • GPU: Adreno 330
  • Sensors
    • Accelerometer
    • gyro
    • proximity
    • compass
    • barometer
    • gesture
    • heart rate
  • GPS with A-GPS support and GLONASS
  • TV-out (via MHL 2 A/V link)
  • Battery: Li-Ion 2800 mAh battery
Posted in: News, Phones, Videos/Unboxings
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