News

By December 21, 2013 Read More →

Samsung’s slew of Galaxy tablets

galaxynotepro02It looks like those rumours about Samsung pushing out new Android tablets might be accurate. A new report clearly names three new tablets coming in the first quarter of 2014. One of them is the previously-rumoured 12-inch tablet we have heard hints about throughout the year. This tablet will be called the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 and will supposedly be announced between February 3rd and February 9th. That’s not all. We also have word of a Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 and a Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4. Here are the current rumours regarding these devices in a quote below.

Quote:
The exact release of the 12.2-inch tablet is said to happen in the week that starts on February 3 and ends on February 9. It will come with 2,560×1,600 resolution, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage space, and a 9,500 mAh battery. It will run Android 4.4 KitKat from day one, and it’s going to weigh 750 grams. Its model numbers will be SM-P900 and SM-P905. Both Wi-Fi-only and LTE capable versions will be available, and the tablet will be out in black and white.This, however, isn’t going to be the only tablet that Samsung will launch in the first quarter of 2014. We’ve already told you about the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite, the cheapest tablet ever to come out of the Korean outlet. But alongside these two, Samsung will also release the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1.The Tab Pro 8.4 is obviously expected to come with an 8.4-inch display, and its model numbers will be SM-T320 and SM-T325. It will arrive in the sixth week of the year, just like the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2. It will sport 16 GB of storage and will be out in black and white.

The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 (model numbers SM-T520 and SM-T525) is going to land sometime between February 10 and February 16. Both Pro tablets will have Wi-Fi-only and LTE-capable versions. The Tab Pro 10.1 will also be offered in black and white, and it too will have 16 GB of storage.

Posted in: News, Tablets
Tags:
By December 21, 2013 Read More →

LG’s 105-inch curved TV

LG's 105-inch curved TVYesterday LG announced that they were to release the worlds first 105″ curved LCD TV at CES in 2014. Furthermore, the giant display will have a 21:9 aspect ratio, the likes of which we’ve not seen for some time.

The full press release from LG can be seen below:

Posted in: News, TV & Home Cinema
By December 20, 2013 Read More →

How to get faster charging on a Nexus 5?

faster charging on a Nexus 5Sometimes you can stumble on a feature in your smartphone that seems so simple but can completely change the ways that you can use it.

Something that I learned this week was that the Nexus 5 and many other Android smartphones have two different (and in the case of the Note 3 a third) charging modes. I have verified that this is true of the Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra

I have been finding that my car stereo was struggling to put enough power out through its USB port to even maintain the battery level, let alone charge it whilst I was using it to play music over bluetooth. This seemed strange as it had no problems providing plenty of power to charge my older iPhones even whilst I was using them for navigation and music playback.

A little investigation revealed that when plugged into a standard USB port with a standard cable, a slow charging mode is enabled and that when the same cable is used with the wall charging plug that came with the phone, the Nexus charges much faster. This is known as AC mode.

Proof of this can be seen in the battery status section of the settings App.

Screenshot_2013-12-15-21-45-43

So how can we speed things up when in the car or elsewhere I hear you ask?

The options that I have come up with are:

  • Use the original charger that came with the phone or another high output 2.0A third party adapter.
  • Get a dedicated charging cable (this will not provide the ability to sync if connected to a computer).
  • Find a dedicated 12v car charger that has the correct functions.

As my particular issue was in the car, I decided to pursue the second two options and a quick trip to a popular online store highlighted a couple of viable options.

PortaPow Specialised Fast Charging Micro USB Cable and PortaPow 2.5A Universal Dual USB Car Charger. As I have a car stereo which should have a pretty decent output from the on-board USB port I decided to give the cable only solution a go.

And the results are….

Screenshot_2013-12-15-21-44-43

A 10 minute car journey using GPS and bluetooth streaming of music and navigation instructions adds around 5% to the battery! The added benefit is that it frees up another normal sync cable to stay in one of the areas where I will normally need them or a spare for a bag or pocket. For the low cost of either of the options above and the benefit of having what is essentially a dedicated charging point for the car it seems almost an essential piece of kit for anyone who ever travels in a car

Post script – A further option is available with a software only solution for users who have rooted (jailbroken) their devices but I am not going to suggest this unless you absolutely understand what you are doing. Those that understand the rooting process and risks that are associated with it will probably already be aware the fast charging options and what is required

Posted in: News, Phones
Tags:
By December 19, 2013 Read More →

Amazon Kindle phone from HTC coming soon?

HTC-Amazon-Kindle-SmartphoneAn unnamed sources from Taiwan has reported that Primax Electronics has received an order from Amazon for compact camera modules (CCM.) Rumour has it these will be for smartphones hitting the market in the first half of 2014. These smartphones could feature floating point technology, and each phone will be equipped with six CCMs for sensing.

This bit of detail backs up previous rumours that a Kindle smartphone will have multiple front-facing cameras that will determine where the user’s face is located, and render the 3D on screen accordingly. However, the mention of “floating point” technology would indicate that the phone may have some form of motion sensing feature, allowing a user to control the phone without having to touch the screen.

Recently sources have reported Amazon has been working with HTC on three smartphones, and that one of these devices was in an advanced stage of development yet would not be ready to ship until 2014, if at all. Based on previous rumours, the phone will likely have four cameras on the front for the motion sensing/3D aspect, another camera on the front for video calling, and one on the back for taking pictures.

Posted in: News, Phones, Rumours
By December 19, 2013 Read More →

Kindle Fire HDX 7” £169 until 2nd January.

wpid-2013-12-18-13-07-26.pngAmazon.co.uk is offering a £30 discount on its new Kindle Fire HDX 7 inch tablet – perfect for those looking for a last minute Christmas gift! With this great offer, customers can pick up one of the stunning devices from as little as £169 from now until 2nd January.

The all-new Kindle Fire HDX tablet combines groundbreaking hardware, the latest version of Fire OS, Kindle FreeTime, expanded X-Ray for films and TV, and the revolutionary new Mayday button.  It has a stunning 1920 x 1200  (323 PPI) 7″ HDX display, quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 11 hours of battery life, and dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio. The offer is available on Wi-Fi devices and come in the choice of 16GB (£169), 32GB (£199) or 64GB (£229) storage. The Kindle Fire HDX is also available with 3G and ultra-fast 4G LTE.

For more information please visit www.amazon.co.uk/hdx.

Posted in: News, Tablets
Tags: , ,
By December 19, 2013 Read More →

Mobile Tech Addicts Podcast 216: Longer and Larger

Podcast-Logo_thumb.jpgGareth, Dan and Phil are here with another UK update on the mobile front. This weeks podcast is the Best of 2013 Awards. Matt threatens to call in on Google Glass and Dan shows off another of his goodies.

Featuring Gareth, Dan and Phil

Direct Download

iTunes

Download the iPhone App

Download the Android App

RSS Feed

 

Posted in: News, Podcast
Tags: ,
By December 18, 2013 Read More →

Google Glass updated to XE12

google_glass_xe12_screen_lock-580x326Google has delivered the December update for Google Glass and there are a few significant changes. The big changes seems to be Play Music support and some changes to where and when “Sent Through Glass” is added to communication. YouTube Glassware allows videos to be shared directly to YouTube and Hangouts supports sending and receiving chats, photos, and making video calls. Wink is a dubious feature that allows the camera to be triggered by winking rather than giving a speech command.

  • iOS app —  as we noted earlier, XE12 brings along better support for iOS. Expect an update in iTunes later in the week.
  • Google Play Music support has been enhanced, and the new Listen menu will let you browse playlists and open radio stations if you are an All Access subscriber.
  • Screen lock — set a screen lock from the settings menu and anytime you deactivate Glass or take them off (if you’ve set-up on-head detection) the screen lock will activate.
  • Hangouts Glassware — now you can send and receive chats, photos and make video calls with any Hangouts contact.
  • YouTube Glassware — share your videos to YouTube, with support for private and public uploads.
  • Wink — Explorers with a new model Glass (purchased or swapped after October 28th) can now take pictures via blinking. This works with the display off, and seeing the privacy outrage over this feature should make for loads of fun.
  • New Google Search features — searching for how far you are from a place or how many calories are in a food is now supported.
  • Removed Signature from Messages — no longer will your SMS messages say Sent Through Glass. Email will, though.
  • Removal of Guest Mode — maintaining Guest Mode was too much strain on the programmers, says Google. It is no more. Google recommends using a “demo Google Account.”

I’m sure that Matt will be checking out the update on his Google Glass shortly so watch this space for updates!

Posted in: Gadgets, News
Tags:
By December 18, 2013 Read More →

Samsung Extends HomeSync Available to More

2013-12-17 20.15.38Samsung Electronics today announced it will extend the compatibility of HomeSync to more Android devices. Through the Google Play app store, even more Android devices – including non-Samsung devices – will offer their owners the benefits of HomeSync.

HomeSync is a home hub solution that provides enough storage space to protect the whole family’s digital content. It delivers an immersive big screen TV entertainment experience, offering a new way of enjoying HDTV through a smarter Android user experience.

HomeSync provides one terabyte of private cloud storage, which is enough space to upload 10 photos every day for 82 years, or five minutes of home video for ten years. The device supports up to eight individuals with five different devices, so that a whole family can save and share images, music, videos, documents and files from any registered device. HomeSync allows the family to enjoy content through a variety of multimedia devices by syncing it to the TV using an HDMI cable, or connecting to a music player through an optical audio port.

HomeSync’s Android Media Centre offers the best of Android gaming, videos, and music, as well as the ability to flip through photos at home. In addition to this, Homesync allows the whole family to use a mobile device as a remote mouse and take advantage of the full Android experience with access to Android-based services from Samsung such as Samsung Apps, Media Hub and Video Hub, as well as Google services such as Google Play and YouTube.

HomeSync is available via Samsung Apps and Google Play. For more detailed device information and multimedia content, please visit www.samsungmobilepress.com.

Posted in: Gadgets, News
Tags:
By December 18, 2013 Read More →

Surprises as Microsoft 180 on their Xbox One DRM 180

Killer_Instinct_61114Microsoft may have done a 180 on its 180 regarding the DRM 24 hour check-in. By that, I mean that the console – during a live tournament that was being broadcast on Twitch – seemed to stop in the middle of the game to ensure that those using the console were the proper owners of the content.

FGCNN, where they were watching the stream and claim they noticed that during game users were kicked out and asking them to verify the content by checking in online. Video footage was captured, courtesy of Twitch user NYCFurby. FGCNN contacted Microsoft about the issue before running the story but they say they’ve received no response.

Worse yet it appears that the DRM check-in, as showcased in the video above, completely kicked the users out of the game. Before saving, logging anything or issuing a warning, the check-in just completely exited the user with complete and total disregard to the user activity or the content.

That’s just lovely.

Posted in: Apps & Games, News
Tags: ,
By December 18, 2013 Read More →

Gigabyte Using The Tegra Note 7

Tegra-Gigabyte-Notes-7-Tablet-Finally-Goes-OfficialGigabyte are launching a new tablet based around Nvidia’s Tegra Note 7 design. During a press conference on Monday the company launched the product and it hopefully arrive in the UK soon.

“Gaming, video, and web browsing performance all come to life better and faster with the lightning-fast NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor. Immersive sound, extended battery life, and Made for Tegra gaming controllers make going mobile more exciting, longer,” reads the product page.

According to the specs, the tablet features a 7-inch LED lit IPS screen at 1280 x 800 resolution and 10-point capacitive Nvidia DirectTouch. The screen is backed by a Tegra 4 SoC clocked at 1.8 GHz, 1 GB of DDR3-1600 system memory and a 4100 mAh battery promising up to eight hours of HD video playback. Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean is the OS of choice.

For storage, the tablet provides 16 GB internally and a microSD card slot for 32 GB of additional storage. The tablet also sports a 5MP AF HDR camera on the back and a VGA camera on the front, Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 LE connectivity, and several sensors. Other features include HDMI output, a microUSB 2.0 port, an audio jack, a front microphone, and front-facing stereo speakers with a bass reflex port that delivers 380-12 kHz frequency response.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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