Phones

By November 4, 2013 Read More →

ZTE Grand S Flex announced

grand_sZTE have again announced another new handset today. This time the ZTE Grand S Flex.

Offering a 4G/LTE connectivity and 5″ 720p display the ZTE Grand S Flex is already available in Spain, Czech Republic and Slovakia and will be launched shortly in Germany, Finland and Poland.

The full press release follows.

 

Posted in: Phones, Press Releases
Tags:
By November 4, 2013 Read More →

Casio G-Shock GB6900 review

Casio G-Shock GB6900 reviewSmart watches – Is less information more useful?

There has been much talk recently about the subject of wearable technology in general and smart watches in particular with many of the main players in the mobile phone industry already making or rumoured to be about to announce products.

These digital sports watches for men are including more and more features. A few established watch manufacturers have also now started to get in on the game. The subject of this review comes from Casio and is part of their long-established G-Shock line of watches. And here’s a handy tip for preserving the stunning appearance of your watch: explore this watch service! It offers an excellent solution for keeping your timepieces in pristine condition. Contact the Omega service centre Sydney if you encounter problems with your watch.

A bit of history of the Casio G-Shock GB6900

Casio Launched their first G-Shock watch back in 1983 and many of the early styles have gone through an evolution process that has seen them gain solar battery charing and atomic time keeping. Arguably the most advanced pair (the GB5600 and GB6900) now also incorporate Bluetooth 4.0 LE technology.

Both of these watches are the most iconic styles that Casio produce. The design of the GB6900 dates back to 1994 and has been worn by many musical stars and this led to a large number of collaborations with various clothing manufacturers.

On to the Casio G-Shock GB6900 review

Photo 05-08-2013 04 59 56 pmI started becoming interested in G-Shocks at the beginning of the year and the GB6900 was the second one I purchased. I was lucky enough to pick mine up for a very good price during a sale in the summer at the Casio shop in Covent Garden in London.

The version that I have currently sells for around £130 on Amazon UK. A second generation device has now been released that sells for around £50 more. I will go into some of the differences later in the article.

The watch is first and foremost a G-Shock watch and all of the most expected functions are present. These include world time, 5 alarms, stop watch and countdown timer. The watch is 200m water resistant and is regarded as a very rugged watch. Vey similar watches are used by many military and law enforcement personnel as well as being certified for use by NASA!

An additional feature found on the GB6900 is of course bluetooth 4.0 low energy connectivity to Apple and Android smartphones. All Apple iPhones since the 4S support BT4.0 LE but so far only limited Android devices have been supported. This has been due to limitations on both the hardware and software sides but more will be supported going forward.

One of the slightly irritating aspects of G-Shock watches is that reading the instruction manual is  almost essential. This is especially true of the bluetooth pairing process. It is easy enough to do and once you’ve done it once, you’ll be able to do it again easily but reading the instructions is required .

What can it do?

P1120357On the iPhone you can be alerted (by sound, vibration or both) of incoming calls, new emails, twitter notifications (mentions and timeline update – Advice on this, turn timeline updates off!), Facebook notifications, Weibo (a Chinese social network), calendar alerts and reminders. Apart from the incoming call alert, none of the notifications are pushed to you. They are instead checked on a 5, 10 or 15 minute schedule and the times can all be set independently. of each other.

Anything else?

One semi-useful feature is that by pressing a button on the watch, the connected phone will play a tone so that you can find it if you’ve put it down somewhere and can’t find it easily. The reason that this is only semi-useful is that the two devices need to be connected to each other. This means you need to be in range of where the watch actually is so you’d stand a good chance of finding it pretty easily anyway.

The time on the watch can also be automatically updated to match that of the phone. This is very useful when traveling across different timezones.

What does the V2 have that the V1 does not?

The second generation device adds additional features which seem like they would be quite useful. The watch can control music playback on the phone and the phone can be used to set alarms on the watch! They seem like good additions but are they worth the extra money? I would say that they aren’t and that is because of one reason!

Simplicity.

Photo 15-09-2013 12 55 19 pmHave you ever been in a situation where you just simply don’t hear or feel your phone ringing? Have you ever been waiting for an important call or email to come in and sat there waiting with your phone in your hand? This watch solves the problem as the vibration alert is just right to get your attention and give you just enough information to deal with what ever it is. You know that you’ve got a call or who the email is from. You can then deal with it on your smartphone or ignore it.

Some of the competing devices that are more full functioned would have you trying to use them to do tasks that would be much better performed on the phone. These other devices would also need to be charged up at best every few days. Not so the GB6900! Casio estimate that the battery will last for 2 years if you connect it to your phone for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In practice I find that I have it connected when I know that I’m going to be moving about and disconnect when I’m staying in one place. It is only a 3 second button press to turn the connection on and off and it’s all done from the watch.

If you forget that it’s got the bluetooth at all, it’s still a great standalone G-Shock watch and excellent for any physical activities. It’s got a great backlight that is activated by pressing the “G” button on the front. It’s available in lots of different colours and best of all if you want to change the colour of the one you already have, different straps and covers can be purchased for around £30 to £50 for everything required.

Over all I would say that if you want a rugged and water resistant watch that can also connect to your smartphone to provide limited but useful information when you need it then it’s a real winner

What’s not so good?

It’s quite a large watch and might not look so great with a suit or smart clothes especially if you chose one of the more vibrant colour schemes. Mine spends most of the time in a matt back colour scheme rather that the metallic brown seen in most of the pictures in the review and it only takes a couple of minutes to swap over. The only bothersome part is finding a screwdriver the correct size to remove the 4 tiny screws holding the bezel on.

Due to the size it also might not suit you if you have a very small wrist. Ive found it to be an exceptionally comfortable watch as despite looking a large watch it is very light and the resin strap is very flexible.

Pros

  • Easy set up (if you read the manual)
  • Standard G-Shock feature set
  • Very comfortable
  • Looks cool

Cons

  • Quite large
  • Does not go well with formal clothing
By November 3, 2013 Read More →

Android 4.4 KitKat Easter Egg video

Android 4.4 KitKat Easter EggThere has been a long tradition of including hidden messages or features in software. These hidden messages, called Easter Eggs, have featured in each version of the popular Google Android OS and with the latest release of Android 4.4 KitKat the included Easter Egg is a pretty good one.

Accessed by entering the Settings menu and clicking repeatedly on the Android Version number we’re treated to a spinning ‘K’ and then a series of tiles with logos from each of the Android versions including KitKat.

So here’s a quick video of the Android 4.4 KitKat Easter Egg in action on the Nexus 5 for a little Sunday fun.

By November 2, 2013 Read More →

Nexus 5 benchmark video

Nexus 5 benchmarkIn my Nexus 5 unboxing and hands on video yesterday, I ran a quick benchmark test on the Nexus 5 using Quadrant. As I mentioned in that video, the Nexus 5 benchmark scores seem to be a bit ‘off’ and I suspect that this is largely down to Quadrant not being updated for Android 4.4 KitKat yet, giving us some false values, although the graph seemed to be about right, the numbers were wrong.

So, further to several requests that I’ve had over the past few hours, here is the Nexus 5 running an AnTuTu benchmark. You’ll be able to see for yourself how it runs and what the final score is be watching the short video below.

The Nexus 5 is now coming along with me as my everyday phone and I’ll keep you posted on my experience with it. If you have any questions please submit them below.

By November 1, 2013 Read More →

LG Google Nexus 5 unboxing and hands-on video

LG Google Nexus 5 unboxing videoThe LG Google Nexus 5 was finally launched yesterday afternoon and went on sale here today in the UK. So far the sales have been strong and many stores have already sold out of the Nexus 5. In fact I had to try 4 different stores before I managed to find one that had stock and I got the last one they had!

So here is my Nexus 5 unboxing and hands-on video. I have to say, despite only having used it for a short time I am so far very impressed with the Nexus 5. If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know how much I love my HTC One but it may be possible that the Nexus 5 could soon see itself as my everyday phone.

In the video below I’ll show you what accessories come with the Nexus 5 and have a good look around the hardware. We’ll then have a look at what’s installed and play with a couple of applications before running that customary benchmark. There’s a strange outcome there though but you’ll have to watch the video to find out!

The LG Nexus 5 has an amazing specification for the money and in terms of sheer value beats just about everything out there at the moment.

The video is a little long so I’ve cut out a few bits to be included in another video later on.

By November 1, 2013 Read More →

HTC One to get Android 4.4 KitKat within 90 days

htc_oneWith the launch of the Android 4.4 touting Nexus 5 yesterday it was just a matter of time before questions would be asked of the manufacturers of other phones as to if and when their phones would see an update to KitKat.

HTC seem to have been the first to go on the record to talk about their update plans and Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC America has been talking to the guys at Engadget. In an interview with Engadget, Mackenzie has confirmed that The Google Play version of the HTC One will see the 4.4 update within a staggering 15 days, followed by developer and unlocked versions getting the update in 30 days. All other remaining carrier variants will then have the KitKat update available within 90 days, possibly less.

I just the past week or so HTC have released Android 4.3 and Sense 5.5 to HTC One devices and I’m already enjoying this update. No definitive news on when the HTC One Mini and HTC One Max will receive further updates and be taken to 4.4 but it certainly seems that HTC are going to take a more aggressive stance to updates going forward and I for one find this very reassuring.

At the moment there’s nothing official from HTC as to when the Global updates will be made available, but I would expect to see these also on an accelerated time-scale.

Posted in: News, Phones
Tags: , ,
By October 31, 2013 Read More →

Nexus 5 goes on sale at Carphone Warehouse from tomorrow

nexus 5 goes on saleHere’s some news that so many of us have been waiting for. The eagerly awaited Google Nexus 5 goes on sale here in the UK from tomorrow at Carphone Warehouse.

Furthermore, pricing has been confirmed at just £295 SIM-free (as I had suggested!) which is a serious bargain for the level of specification that you get. This truly is a flagship device at a bargain price and Carphone Warehouse further sweeten the deal as the first 1000 customers to order the Nexus 5 on contract will also receive a free Google Nexus 7!

The full specification and press release can be found below.

We’ll be trying to get our hands on one of these tomorrow so wish me luck!

 

Posted in: News, Phones
Tags: , ,
By October 31, 2013 Read More →

Google Nexus 5 is now official

N5_Black_Frnt_3Q_Rght_Vrtcl-SIMP-LYRS_LGLG and Google have now officially launched the Google Nexus 5 and their joint press release can be found below.

LG AND GOOGLE INTRODUCE GOOGLE NEXUS 5

Slimmest and Fastest Nexus Phone Ever Now Available Online in Select Markets

LONDON, UK, 31st November 2013 — Following the success of Nexus 4, LG and Google have partnered again to deliver the first smartphone featuring the latest Android operating system, Android™ 4.4, KitKat®. Packed with new features, Nexus 5 is the slimmest and fastest Google Nexus phone to date.

With a stunning 5-inch Full HD IPS display, Nexus 5 boasts an expansive screen for an unrivalled visual experience. The lightweight smartphone comes in both 16GB and 32GB versions and is the perfect combination of powerful performance, functionality and convenience thanks to LG’s proven hardware and best of Google software and services.

Posted in: News, Phones
Tags: , ,
By October 31, 2013 Read More →

Lantronix xPrintServer review

Lantronix xPrintServer review - iOS printingIf you want to print from your iOS device you’ll typically need a printer that supports AirPrint. AirPrint was introduced some time ago as part of iOS 4.2. Despite it being around for a while, AirPrint has not found its way in to many printers.

So if you have an existing printer that doesn’t support AirPrint but you don’t want to replace it, your options are somewhat limited. That’s Lantronix xPrintServer comes in. This small box simply plugs in to your existing network and provides AirPrint capability to virtually any existing printer.

It really is plug and play but before we get in to any of the detail, have a look at the unboxing video below to see what you get.

By October 31, 2013 Read More →

Vodafone and O2 smash speed records

deviceSince the launch of their 4G services two months ago, O2 and Vodafone have more than doubled their mobile internet speeds in London and surrounding areas.

Thousands of independent scientific tests by RootMetrics across the capital also found:

  • EE keeps its crown as top mobile network operator for Londoners
  • Ilford was Greater London’s speediest spot for mobile internet speeds
  • Vodafone beats O2 for speed but not for reliability
  • If you want a phone to be a phone, then O2 is best for calls and texts

The full London RootScore report is available to download from the RootMetrics website at http://rtmet.com/1gLTSGv, where you can also review the methodology behind the tests.

 

Posted in: News, Phones
https://www.ukmeds.co.uk/surgical-face-masks