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Hands on with BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry 10 Jam took place in London on Thursday and the part I was looking forward to most was getting my hands on the dev alpha device running BlackBerry 10. Although RIM’s new OS is not due for release until Q4 this year what we have seen so far is both beautiful and in many ways unique.

BlackBerry 10 has been designed for BlackBerry users – people who want to get stuff done quickly and efficiently and the new OS allows for both those features, either one handed or two as the first release will be a touch screen handset.

I managed to grab some rather nice photos of what I was ‘allowed’ to see on the device which you can see below.

I’m sure you will agree with me that BlackBerry 10 looks amazing. The best is still yet to come.

Mobile Tech Addicts Podcast 172: Clash of the Titans!

Gareth and James are joined by Vince for a full comparison between the two biggest phones on the market, the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy SIII. James also gives us a neat preview of what to expect from Blackberry 10 having had an extensive play with their latest operating system. Apple manage to squeeze out a few updates to their iPhone and Macbook range as the guys attempt to muster up a little excitement about the announcement.

Acer high end tablet about to arrive

Acer just announced their newest Android tablet offering, and this one is designed to take aim directly at the Apple iPad. This new Acer tablet is called the Iconia A700, and will come with an impressive array of specs to truly give all tablets a run for their money. Here’s a breakdown:

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 1.3-GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 32GB of internal storage
• Measures 10.2 by 6.9 by 0.43 inches (HWD) and weighs 1.47 pounds
• 10.1-inch full HD 1,920-by-1,200-pixel display, with 224 pixels per inch, an 800:1 contrast ratio and a 178-degree viewing angle
• Wi-Fi only with 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR connectivity
• A micro USB and micro HDMI port
• A microSD card slot
• 9800mAh battery good for 10.5 hours of video playback
• 5-megapixel, rear-facing camera
• 1-megapixel, front-facing camera for HD video chats

Pre-sales for this new Acer flagship device will begin June 13. The tablets are expected to ship later this month.

Poster by: Gareth

Sony announce the Xperia Miro – via Facebook

The Xperia range just keeps on growing. The Miro is the latest edition and looks to be a budget Android smartphone although at the time of writing this we have no pricing confirmed. Announced today on Facebook, Sony say that the Miro is here although I am pretty certain this will actually be in Q3 2012.

Launching with Android 4.0 on board is going to please many people and with a 800MHz processor this one could well go head to head with the new HTC Desire C?

Let’s hope the price is right.

Thoughts?

You can see specs and some more images below:

Lamborghini getting in on the Android game

It would seem that some wealthy folks have more money than sense, because this next story is a real head-scratcher. When thinking of Lamborghini, most people envision a powerful, aggressive and masculine looking exotic sports car careening down winding European roads. That isn’t all they do because of course they are going to "cash in" on the celebrity of their brand name. Lamborghini has decided to jump into the Android smartphone and tablet industry as well. However, you would think that a high-end automobile manufacturer that competes with the likes of Ferrari and Porsche would actually go to the trouble of creating a high-end device, wouldn’t you? You would be mistaken in this instance.

Asus, rumours and the Nexus Tablet

Supposedly, a representative from Asus at Computex told Android Authority that the Nexus tablet we have heard so many rumours about will be coming "by the end of June." Just as a recap here are the previous rumours about the device: It will come with the Tegra 3 chip. It will have a price range between $150-$250 (probably $200). It will achieve this pricing by using the Kai platform. It will be announced at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco at the end of June.
It looks like this supposed confirmation actually at least one of these above rumours. We will have to wait and see if it turns out to be true because "the proof is in the pudding", but luckily we won’t have to wait long. On a separate note, this same Asus representative was able to confirm a couple of other separate Asus-related tidbits. Here’s a quote with some details,

Quote:

ASUS is in talks with US carriers to bring the Padfone stateside. The bad news is carriers hate it (somehow expected, those tethering fees are basically free money) and, so far, only AT&T is willing to give it a try. Things are going slow on this front, said the ASUS rep.
Moving on, the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700) is coming by the end of June in both a WiFi only and an LTE version, which will be picked up by AT&T. We suspected for a while that the Pad Infinity would come on AT&T, based on an appearance that the slate made on FCC. Now we know for sure. We’ve been told that Asus encountered production issues with upstream suppliers, but they are now solved and all the pieces are falling into place for the TF700 launch. The pad will go for $499 but we are not sure if that’s the price of the WiFi-only version or of the LTE version.

Source Android Authority

Posted by: Gareth

Mobile Tech Addicts Podcast 171: Don’t hold your breath!

Gareth and James are joined by Vince, a review writer from Tracyandmatt to get his opinions on the Samsung Galaxy SIII and the HTC One X.  The Nokia Lumia 710 and Motorola Motoluxe are both looked at with differing attitudes and James awaits a new service from Blackberry.

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Email us: [email protected]  Tel: 0208 123 3757

Save money with billmonitor.com

Fancy saving some money on your mobile bill? Well billmonitor may well just do that for you. Tracyandmatt readers can get free early-access to billmonitor’s unique mobile service, Bill Check-up, before it’s launched commercially to the general public. By analysing your bills every month, Bill Check-up helps you to save money and ensures you get the most from your existing mobile contract. Sounds alright doesn’t it?

Created by Oxford mathematicians and accredited by Ofcom since 2009, billmonitor.com started as a free to use mobile price comparison site.  It analyses your online bills to find out how you use your mobile phone, evaluates all the contract deals in the market and then matches you to exactly the right contract so you pay no more than you should. 76% of the UK is on the wrong contract and billmonitor has already helped thousands of customers switch to the right contract for them.

billmonitor.com have now extended the service to include ‘Bill Check-up’ to help people get the best value throughout the lifetime of their mobile contract, not just when they get a new contract.  Bill Check-up:

· Lets you know whether you’re under-using or over-using your mobile phone contract for minutes, text, and data. It gives advice on how to make the most of your allowances and optimise your current tariff so that you can save money

· Advises on roaming/international/other bundles as needed, based on usage data

· Provides a reminder of how long you have left on your current contract. When you reach 5 or less months to go, billmonitor will match you to alternative contracts suited to your individual usage pattern

billmonitor realises that many people are locked in to contracts and need to know how to use them most effectively. The new Bill Check-up service tells you what changes you can make to your usage and your current tariff to get the most from your existing contract without paying more

Head on over to billmonitor.com and check it out.

Posted by: James

Mock images of an Asus Google Nexus tablet appear

PhoneArena found something exciting for you guys this morning. The pics included are supposedly first draft (practice) press shots of Google’s new Asus-made Nexus Tablet. The "tipster" who shared these images claims that the tablet will still be a 7-inch Tegra 3 based device, and that it will be coming with Android 4.1, which will not be Jelly Bean, (which he claims will be Android 5.0). This is in contrast to earlier rumours that Jelly Bean would be just an updated & improved ICS version 4.1. Still, we aren’t even sure these pics are legit. The front pic certainly looks like a phone, because it has an earpiece slit. They do look pretty convincing other than that.

Posted by: Gareth

New Acer budget tabs look swish

Acer has just unveiled a couple of new entries into the tablet market during Computex. One of them could be a real breakthrough for Android tablets. First, we will share the less revolutionary product. This is one we have heard hyped in the past: the Iconia Tab A210. This one is designed to be a mid-range product, although details on pricing are scarce. Here are the specs on this one:

• Front camera
• Quad-core Tegra 3 processor
• 10.1" 1280×800 display
• USB 2.0 port
• microSD slot
• 3620mAh battery
• 8GB and 16GB versions

This next one is the more interesting of the two. It is the Iconia A110, and what makes it unique is its pricing. This one is definitely geared toward the budget-friendly crowd, but you wouldn’t think so by looking at the processor in it. This little 7-inch tablet also has the Tegra 3 quad-core chip in it, yet rumors suggest they are pricing this tablet at just $199.99. Could this be one of the first of the NVIDIA Kai Tegra 3 configurations? It seems likely, and it seems like this tablet is a no brainer when you compare it to the other tablets in this price range. Here is its spec breakdown:

• The 7" display with 1024×600 resolution
• 1GB RAM
• Tegra 3 processor
• 8GB on-board storage (expandable via microSD)
• microUSB and micro-HDMI ports

Could this be one of the first of an onslaught of inexpensive tablet devices? Android quickly rose to the top of the heap with smartphones, but it has been a bit slower for them to get competitive with Apple in the tablet market. It seems the "little android that could" just keeps on trucking forward, and eventually just might topple the mighty fruit, even in its tablet-dominating fortress.

Posted by: Gareth