Press Releases

An art gallery in your living room? Possible with Samsung’s new Smart TV app

Samsung Electronics today unveils a first look at the s[edition] App onto Samsung Smart TV. The new premium App, which will be exclusively showcased this week at WIRED 2012, will create an exciting artistic display for WIRED delegates as they explore the exhibition zone and see works from some of the world’s most acclaimed contemporary artists via Samsung’s 75-inch ES9000 LED Smart TV.

Including unique and exciting works of art from artists including Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Shepard Fairey, the s[edition] App provides Samsung Smart TV owners with the chance to buy, collect and display limited edition art for the home. Prices for a work of art range between £5 and £1000 and come complete with a certificate of authenticity.

What’s more, the unrivalled picture quality of Samsung’s Smart TVs enhances the artwork with the Micro Dimming Ultimate and Precision Black technology available on the latest Smart TVs in the range delivering richer, more optimised colour and detail. The higher contrast ratios, deeper black levels and increased brightness also help bring to life the colours within the art.

Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite Available Today

Looking for a new reading device? The new Kindle’s offer pretty good value for money if you ask me.

• All-New Kindle Fire HD offers a stunning customised HD display with the fastest Wi-Fi, exclusive Dolby audio with two stereo speakers, high-performance processor and graphics engine for the most immersive HD experience available on a lightweight, portable 7″ tablet, at a breakthrough price-only £159
• Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G are our most advanced e-readers ever built – featuring higher resolution, 62% more pixels, 25% higher contrast, patented built-in front light, 8 weeks of battery life and a slim and sleek design – from only £109
• Kindle Fire-the #1 bestselling product on Amazon.com for the past year-now available in the UK with a 20% faster processor and twice the memory of the original Kindle Fire, at a breakthrough price-only £129

You can read the full press release below:

Three confirm they will sell the iPad mini

Hot on the heels of yesterdays Apple’s press event Three have today announced that in the coming weeks it will offer iPad mini and fourth generation iPad. They are also keen to stress some data speeds which I can only presume is because EE will be going live with their 4G network next week.

Three will offer these new iPads with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to its Ultrafast network, planned to cover almost 50% of the UK population by the end of the year with average speeds of 6-8 Mbps.

iPad mini, a completely new iPad design that is 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the third generation iPad, and features a stunning 7.9-inch display, Apple-designed dual-core A5 chip, ultrafast wireless performance and an incredible 10-hours of battery life. The fourth generation iPad has a gorgeous 9.7-inch Retina display, Apple-designed A6X chip with blazing fast performance, a new FaceTime HD camera and even faster Wi-Fi performance. Both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad come with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features.

For more information about iPad please visit www.apple.com/ipad/

Posted by: James

EE unveils pricing and plans for its new superfast Fibre Broadband and 4G services

· Superfast speeds: EE delivers superfast speeds, five times faster than 3G, and typically ten times faster in homes and offices with fibre broadband

· Exciting new services: EE Film provides customers a one-stop shop for film, combining 2-for-1 cinema ticketing, listings, trailers and film downloads or streaming into one place. EE Film also offers ‘pause & play’ functionality between mobile and PC with the largest catalogue of new releases compared to similar providers. The new Clone Phone insurance service replaces your device and digital content in under 24 hours

· Simple pricing for the digital age: Unlimited calls and texts as standard on your mobile; customers simply select their data allowance, starting from just £36 per month for consumers and £35 (excl VAT) for businesses, with built-in cost control tools

· Expert Support: Fast track service for all customers, plus access to approximately 10,000 experts on the high street, on the phone and online

Read the full press release below:

Google Nexus 7 becomes the best selling tablet at Carphone Warehouse

Carphone Warehouse has announced that, since going on sale on 27th July, the Google Nexus 7 inch tablet has become the highest selling Android tablet in the history of the category.

The UK’s largest independent mobile retailer has seen a huge demand for this smaller sized tablet running on the Android 4.1, Jelly Bean operating system.
Graham Stapleton, Chief Commercial Officer at Carphone Warehouse, says, “Looking at the sales of the Google Nexus tablet, it’s clear that there is a massive demand amongst our customer base for smaller tablets. We’re seeing a real shift in what customers are using their tablets for, with more and more watching content on the go. It’s now common to see people using their tablets during the morning commute or catching up on the day’s news in a local coffee shop, and smaller devices make it easier to handle.
“We’ve seen that 59% of total tablet sales in our stores are sold as either connected or tethered, to allow access to the internet on tablets that don’t have inbuilt 3G connectivity.  At Carphone Warehouse, we offer a wide range of tablet and phone packages, so are well placed to offer the best tariff for each and every customer.
“It’s impressive that this product is our biggest selling Android tablet, and it will be really interesting to see if other manufacturers will follow suit with smaller tablets over the coming months to spice up the Christmas period.”

Frankly, I am not surprised at this news. Not only a great tablet but I had super customer service from CPW when I purchased mine there.

Posted by: Matt

Samsung announce the Galaxy S3 MINI – Pre order today from Clove

Samsung Mobile UK has today unveiled the Galaxy S III Mini, a compact version of the flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III. The Galaxy S III Mini brings the high performance, intuitive ease-of-use and nature-inspired design of the Galaxy S III to an elegant, compact smartphone with a 4.0-inch screen. If you fancy picking one of these beauties up you can pre order it now SIM free from Clove for £298.80 including V.A.T.

 
Simon Stanford, Vice President, Telecommunications & Networks Division, Samsung UK and Ireland said: “The award winning Galaxy S III has been extremely well received globally since it launched earlier this year so we are thrilled to be able to offer our customers the same revolutionary design, intuitive usability and intelligence in a mini version. We will continue to develop smartphones to cater for a variety of customer needs and this latest release demonstrates our ongoing commitment to offering our customers more choice at every price point.”

The Galaxy S III Mini is powered by Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), the latest version of the world’s most popular smartphone operating system, benefitting from fast, fluid and smooth graphics along with a new Google SearchT experience featuring Google Now.
 
Stylish and compact, the Galaxy S III Mini shares the Galaxy S III’s breakthrough design and simple elegance. Its ultra-minimal curved frame creates a rich natural feel, which is also reflected by its nature-inspired home screen, wallpapers and ringtones. A beautiful 4.0-inch Super AMOLED display offers a generous viewing experience that means multimedia and Web content can be viewed in brilliant colour and clarity. The compact size of the Galaxy S III Mini offers customers a comfortable grip and a convenient one-hand operation.
 
The Galaxy S III Mini is packed with intelligent technology designed to make interacting with the phone incredibly natural and intuitive. S Voice, Samsung’s advanced natural language recognition software, means your voice can be used to unlock the phone with simple customised commands. Your voice can also play a favourite song, turn the volume up or down, organise your daily schedule, or automatically launch the camera and start taking photos.
 
The Galaxy S III Mini also understands human gestures to make using the phone easier and more natural. With Smart Stay, the phone’s camera tracks a person’s eyes and keeps the screen lit as long as they are looking at it. When reading a text message from a friend or family member, Direct Call allows customers to automatically call that person simply from the motion of lifting the phone to their ear; and Smart Alert conveniently alerts people to missed calls or messages as soon as the phone is picked up.
 
Content sharing is easy and fast on the Galaxy S III Mini. Its S Beam feature allows a 10MB music file to be shared in just two seconds by simply tapping on another S Beam-enabled device, such as the Galaxy S III or Galaxy Note II, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The Buddy Photo Share function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

You can catch the full specs below:

EE Confirm 4G LTE roll out date – see our hands on video test of the network

Hot off the press EE have today confirmed that they will launch their 4G LTE service at the end of October. Olaf Swantee has given the following statement:

“We are delighted to announce that the official launch of our new customer brand, EE, offering the UK’s first superfast mobile 4G and fibre broadband service, will take place on the 30th October 2012.

“This is a significant milestone for the United Kingdom, and for the people and businesses of our country who will now be able to enjoy the huge advantages of superfast 4G technology for the first time.

“We are very proud to be pioneering, innovating and leading our industry in launching 4G for our nation through our new EE brand.”

Want to see EE 4G in action? Check out our hands on video below where we tested out the network yesterday.

HTC announce the One X+

HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today unveiled the HTC One X+, a refreshed version of its award winning HTC One X smartphone, running the HTC Sense 4+ experience on Android Jelly Bean. The HTC One X+ combines the iconic design, amazing camera and authentic audio experience of the HTC One series, with increased performance, longer battery life and expanded internal storage. 

“We are taking the HTC One X to a new level with the introduction of the new HTC One X+,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “Our customers will have super-fast browsing, an even better camera and more immersive entertainment with Beats Audio.”

Performance, Endurance and Storage:
Featuring a 1.7 GHz quad-core NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 AP37 processor and 64GB of internal storage, the HTC One X+ LTE version is up to 67% faster than the HTC One X LTE , making the HTC One X+ the best rated Android phone on the market. Developed to be lightning fast, the HTC One X+ enables quicker web browsing, fluid gaming and graphic rendering, and speedy downloads, providing effortless usage on the go.

In addition to its increased performance speeds, the HTC One X+ introduces extended performance with the inclusion of a 2100 mAh battery, giving you up to 50% (6 hours) more talk time, and longer to browse the web and enjoy your favorite music and videos.

New premium Huawei E3256 dongle now available from Three

The E3256 is the perfect partner to work on Three’s ultra fast HSPA+42 network, which is being rolled out and is targeted to reach over 50% of the UK by the end of the year.

The new dongle with a premium finish and design, features a rotating head with a USB connector which tucks in and swivels out when you need to use it and just like a mini aerial, the dongle can also bend to stand vertically.

Bryn Jones, CTO at Three said, “We’re delighted to be able to offer the advanced Huawei E3256 dongle because when it’s connected to our HSPA+42 network, customers will be able to enjoy ultra fast internet access for better streaming, browsing and downloading.”

James Powell, Product and Solutions Director at Huawei Device UK & Ireland, said, “The E3256 shows, again, Huawei’s leadership of the mobile broadband market. Connectivity remains an essential part of the Huawei story and the E3256 demonstrates the same technical excellence and design that have brought our smartphones and home devices such attention. It is a great prospect for customers looking to stream video and other data-hungry content on the move”.

The Huawei E3256 is available for a one-off upfront cost of £24.99 on a one-month rolling contract at £15.99 per month for 5 GB of data or from £44.99 on Pay As You Go with 1GB of data.

Key features:

*   Dual Carrier HSPA+ compatible
*   Swiveling design

Posted by: James

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will be in store on October 1st

Samsung Mobile UK has today announced that the Galaxy Note II will be available from Monday 1st October from the Samsung Brand Store at Westfield, Stratford City and across all major networks in the UK. The Galaxy Note II launches with Android 4.1 JellyBean and an upgraded Google Now service, which includes new features such as contextual search. With a 1.6GHz Quad-Core processor and HSPA Plus, owners of this new device can enjoy super-fast screen transitions and performance when browsing the Web, as well as quick app start-ups.

Simon Stanford, Vice President, UK & IRE Telecommunications & Networks Division, Samsung UK and Ireland said: “The introduction of the original Galaxy Note was a great success – we succeeded in creating an entirely new category and went on to sell more than ten million devices globally. With the Galaxy Note II, we’re not only expanding the category, we’re also evolving the technology to the point where it genuinely feels as though you’re using a traditional pen and paper. What’s more, it’s a device that everyone can use – whether that’s a fashion designer drawing a new design, or young professionals using the multiscreen and pop-up features to edit a document, send an email and browse the web – all at the same time.”
“We were delighted by the hugely positive response we received when we first announced the Galaxy Note II at IFA back in August. The Galaxy Note II is a whole new level of innovation and we are confident users are going to enjoy the updated features and design of our latest Galaxy device when it hits the shelves on the 1st of October.”