Reviews

By October 20, 2013 Read More →

Google Chromecast Unboxing and Setup

google chromecastGoogle have yet to officially announce a date for the UK launch of the Google Chromecast however there has been the odd occasion Amazon have been able to deliver the Chromecast around the world if only for short periods of time. I managed to pick one up and here is the unboxing and basic operations. I must have spent about an hour trying to get this to work, the unboxing video is more of a highlights video if anything.

Google’s Chromecast is a simple way of streaming web video to the big screen thanks to being easier to use and slicker than your existing smart TV, set-top box or games console.

The HDMI dongle has already launched in the US, and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Google has promised it will launch in ‘other countries’ soon, but as of yet, there’s no news on its exact price in the UK or when it will actually launch.

Update: I have tried the Chromecast on various televsions around the house and on both main wireless networks and the problem is still evident. I will have to do some reading and maybe one day it will work…

By October 16, 2013 Read More →

Apple Leather Case for iPhone 5 & 5S

iphone 5s case leatherJust a quick review of a case that I picked up at the weekend for my new iPhone 5S that I’ve been using since launch day without a case.

I previously had an iPhone 5 and I used that with a shell case from launch day until I got the new S model.

I was quite shocked at the condition that the iPhone was in. It appeared that small pieces of grit had somehow managed to get between the case and the phone and has scratched the finish off the edge of the phone.

I decided that I wouldn’t be using this case with my new 5S but I tried it on there for an hour or so and it felt a little loose on the new phone. I decided that I would use the phone without a case and see how I got on. I quickly found that I don’t like the way the iPhone 5/5S feels without anything on. It is too slippery and too thin for my liking and I was constantly scared that I was going to drop it whilst removing it from my pocket.

Whilst walking past an Apple store I thought I’d take a look at the different cases that they had available and the Apple case really caught my eye for the simplicity and quality. It seemed a little expensive at £35.00 but I thought that if I can buy one case and stand a good chance that it would look after the finish of my phone in everyday use it was worth a go.

This is what your £35 gets you.

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I chose the black but it is also available in brown, beige, yellow, blue and a special (Product) Red version where some of the profits go to a Charity set up by Bono of U2.

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The back of the case has a nice embossed Apple logo and the leather feels very nice. There is a warning on the back of the packaging that the case is made of natural leather and that the finish will change with use.

There is a nice large cut out for the camera and flash but all of the buttons are covered and have little bumps so that you can feel where they are. No need to try to reach through the case to press them with a fingernail here. Unfortunately apple chose not to replicate the ring/vibrate switch as part of the case and it might be a struggle for those with larger fingers to operate. As a plus it will not get knocked accidentally.

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The case is lined with a nice, soft suede/micro-fibre material which should help to prevent scratches like I experienced before.

Inserting the phone is easy, just push it in.

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The case fits the phone perfectly. If it had been any other way I would have been shocked.

The case offers a small lip to provide some protection to the screen if laid on a surface face down.

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The headphone and Lightning connector ports are nicely exposed for the majority of things that you’d want to use them for but strangely the lighting connector will not work with one of Apple’s own accessories that I use every day. I have still not updated my bedside dock to one with native Lightning and so, I have been using the 30 Pin to Lighting adapter. As you will see this will not work with this case.

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The mic and speaker ports in the case line up perfectly with those on the phone and no difference in call quality or speaker volume can be noticed.

Apple iPhone 5s leather case Verdict.

Over all I am extremely impressed with the case but it does have a couple of downsides but for me these are not enough to make me want to return it and search for something else.

Pros

  • Quality looks and finish
  • Perfect fit

Cons

  • Not all Lightning accessories will be compatible
  • Ring/Vibrate a little difficult to access.
  • £35 is quite a lot to spend on a case.
Posted in: Phones, Reviews
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By September 29, 2013 Read More →

BlackBerry Q5 Review

BlackBerry Q5 reviewThe BlackBerry brand name has long been associated with the best in physical QWERTY keyboards on their devices, this theme hasn’t changed regarding the Q10 their flagship in this category and now I have their ‘cheaper’ option, the Q5, for review.

This will no doubt be more desirable for the younger generation because on contracts at least it is a lot cheaper than the Q10 but will this smaller and cheaper smartphone stand up to the standards that the Q10 has set?

Well, to find out the answer to that and other questions you may have you will have to read the rest of our BlackBerry Q5 review…

By August 23, 2013 Read More →

Sky NOW TV Box Review

Sky NOW TV BoxSky TV is the most popular satellite TV service in the UK to date, Virgin Media can’t touch Sky for channels and services so for this reason you might ask ‘why the heck release NOW TV then?!’ well to be completely honest with you i felt exactly the same when i first heard about the streaming service but it then dawned on me.a lot of people might not be able to afford any of the Sky TV packages.

So for that reason alone the Sky NOW TV box represents insane value for money because at £9.99 delivered you gain access to Sky’s entire catalogue of Sky Movies and also access to all of the Sky sports channels, plus BBC iPlayer, Sky News, BBC News and Demand 5. There is one downside to this though, none of it is free as well, this is Sky after all! You get a free trial for 30 days of Sky Movies and in my particular box i received a free 1 day Sky Sports Pass which will last 24 hours. Otherwise to gain access to both Sky Movies and Sky Sports it will cost you (after the 30 days trial) £8.99 for 3 months and then £15.99 thereafter for just the Movies package, to get Sky Sports too it is a whopping £9.99 per day! This would be ok as a once a month thing but for Sports fans its a shocking deal!

That’s the pricing details out of the way so lets talk about the box for a bit then i will tell you about the viewing quality.

Posted in: Reviews, TV & Home Cinema
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By August 10, 2013 Read More →

Angry Gran Toss Review

Angry Gran Toss ReviewA rather bizarrely named app, this pretty much hits the nail on the head! I could describe this app in one word; Music.

Angry Gran Toss has literally THE most addictive music in the world. After you’ve played the app this app’s soundtrack will stick with you for the rest of your day, and to be honest, the rest of the week. It’s a strange relationship I found myself having with the music; hating it and yet loving it simultaneously. It’s so frustrating that you want to turn it off and yet it makes the game so much more appealing with it on.

Ok, so we’ve established the music on this game is an experience you must have first-hand. But what about the rest? In this review, we will talk about the graphics, the gameplay and the price.

 

Graphics

clip_image004The graphics are consistent with the tongue-in-cheek vibes that the app chucks out in bucket loads. The characters are all cartoon-based, with changing backgrounds as you fire Gran further and further afield!

It is so common for mobile app games to feature soft graphics, which almost entirely are cartoon based, to make the game feel less intimidating and serious. It allows for casual gamers to just pick up the game and enjoy it rather than having to get stuck into the game to start to get any enjoyment from it.

The character animations are also comical and over exaggerated, for example when Angry Gran hits a walking pedestrian, falls in a skip or hits a mid-air obstacle!

 

Angry Gran Toss Gameplay

So, the gameplay. What is this game about? Well, basically you have an Angry Gran. And you’re aim is to catapult that Angry Gran as far as you can. As Gran travels through the air and gets further away, the background changes to different environments. So you start off in the city, you go to the suburbs and then into the countryside. There are probably more after that, but these are for you to discover!

clip_image006You get given a cannon to start with, in which you need to angle the cannon to get the best firing distance along with getting the power bar at the optimum launch power (which goes up and down quickly so you have to time it right). As Gran flies through the air, there are obstacles which will either hinder or help her progress, and you are equipped with a gun (which in the game feels normal, but now I’m writing this it’s a pretty macabre concept) with which you shoot Gran when she gets too close to the ground to keep her in the air and travelling for longer distances.

You get given a set amount of ammo to do this, and there are mid-air bullet stashes that if Gran hits you get your ammo replenished. These are hard to come by though and I’ve yet to find any skill related way of hitting them.

Other mid-air obstacles such as blimps can propel you further, but others will send you crashing to the ground even quicker.

There are more obstacles on the ground, which can either help or hinder you when you fall. There are skips, which stop Gran dead when she falls in them. Or there are water pipes that when you hit, Gran gets thrown into the air and travels further. You also get more points for causing damage to the telephone boxes and pedestrians.

There is a built-in shop, in which you can purchase upgraded cannons, upgraded guns, perks such as a DaVinci flying machine (that allows Gran to fly further) along with loads of other perks and upgrades that will aid you in getting as far as possible.

 

Price

The app is free. However, you are able to make in-app purchases to upgrade your weapons, cannons and perks quicker than doing it naturally. These vary in price depending on how many coins you buy, but are in line with normal in-app purchase levels. Of £0.99+.

Due to it being a free app, it does feature advertisements. These are only seen on the menu’s and not whilst mid-game. These are quite intrusive adverts and do take up quite a lot of the screen real estate.

 

Conclusion

Overall, this is a highly entertaining game. The music and the light-hearted vibes make the game (and the concept) highly comical and it’s a game that is perfect for just picking up on the go for a quick game, but you can also easily get sucked into a longer session on it!

This app is by Ace Viral, and they have a whole host of other similar apps. For example, Words with Angry Gran, Angry Gran Radioactive Run and Angry Gran Run!

This review was written by Greg Mosley, editor of GTM Mobiles Reviews. Check out his Smartphone blog for Android Game Reviews.

Posted in: Apps & Games, Reviews
By August 7, 2013 Read More →

HTC announces Desire 500

Desire 500 blue 3V HiRGB Render Today HTC have unveiled another new handset, this time carrying the familiar Desire name, and called the HTC Desire 500.

The Desire 500 has been launched to fill that mid-range gap and will bring with it some of the advances seen on the HTC One, such as Blinkfeed and Video Highlights and coupled with 4.3″ WVGA display, 8 megapixel camera, 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM, MicroSD card expansion slot and 1.2GHz Quad-core CPU.

Initially to be available in Lacquer Black and Glacier Blue there are already images of a red version out there too.

The full press release follows and we will, of course, have one here for review as soon as possible.

Posted in: Reviews
By August 7, 2013 Read More →

Blackberry Q10 Review

Blackberry Q10 ReviewBlackBerry are trying a new tactic in the smartphone wars with their new operating system, BlackBerry 10, we will talk a lot more in the review.

The first BlackBerry 10 device is the Z10 which is BlackBerry’s flagship device and the Q10 is the more ‘BlackBerry’ BlackBerry with a more conventional look. What I mean is that when you hear someone say ‘I’ve just got a new blackberry’ you expect to see a phone with a smaller screen and a full QWERTY keyboard.

So with that in mind how will this device cope with competing with the full touch devices? And not to mention the Z10 too!

To find out those answers and answers to any other questions then please read on. Not before you’ve watched the BlackBerry Q10 unboxing video from Matt of course.

Posted in: Phones, Reviews
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By June 9, 2013 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One compared (Part 3)

IMG_3310 Over the past few weeks I have been looking at the HTC One and and Samsung Galaxy S4 and so far I’ve compared the camera performance and expressed my opinion regarding the screens used in each device.

This week I’m turning my attention to the audio performance, specifically the loud speakers and speaker phone. In this respect the winner is far more clear than the previous tests we’ve performed but let’s have a look.

HTC have made a pretty big deal of the speakers that they’ve added to the HTC One, there have been numerous TV commercials and posters to explain what Boomsound is all about. Boomsound is the name that HTC have given the speaker and audio technology they’ve used on the HTC One.

In essence there are two front-facing loudspeakers in the HTC One. These have large acoustic chambers to give a greater dynamic range and more punch while a build in amplifier can pump up to volume. The fact that they are forward-facing is a huge benefit too and furthermore, being stereo mans that watching movies or listening to music with the phone at an average viewing distance yields great sound performance.

Posted in: Reviews
By June 2, 2013 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One compared (Part 2)

IMG_3307 Last week, in part one of my comparison between the HTC One and the Galaxy S4, I looked at the camera on both devices and published a selection of photos for you to make your own judgement with. Thanks to all that provided feedback.

This week I decided to concentrate on the screens of both devices in an attempt to decide which was best. Once again, the results of this were not as totally clear cut as I had initially expected, but I’ll discuss that as I go.

So lets start with the numbers.

The HTC One has a 4.7″ 1080×1920 (full HD) screen giving a 469 ppi pixel density. The technology used here is Super LCD3 and is, naturally, capacitive touchscreen. Covering the display, Gorilla Glass 2 aims to prevent scratches and knocks.

The Samsung has the same 1080×1920 resolution but is a slightly larger 5.0″ screen for a slightly lower 441 ppi pixel density. Instead of LCD, here you’ll find a Super AMOLED display this time covered with Gorilla Glass 3. I’m unsure as to the difference between the Gorilla Glass types but one assumes the 3 is better than 2.

Posted in: Reviews
By May 25, 2013 Read More →

Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One compared (Part 1)

s4_one The Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One are two of the most popular devices on sale at the moment and are going head to head for the top smartphone spot. In fact the HTC One has already won a couple of industry awards, including Best New Mobile Handset at MWC earlier in the year.

I’ve been using the HTC One for a few months and the Galasy S4 for a couple of weeks so I thought it was about time that we started to compare some of the key features of both devices.

For the sake of full disclosure, I should say that I was not expecting to like the Galaxy S4. I wasn’t a big fan of its predecessor, the S3 and I was already using and very much enjoying the experience of the HTC One. However, after just a short period of time with the S4 I like it too!

The questions I most frequently have via Twitter at the moment is ‘Which is better the S4 or the HTC One?’ or ‘Should I buy the S4 or the HTC One?’. I think these questions are almost impossible to answer in isolation, there are many factors to be considered as each device is, obviously, different and therefore better at some things than others.

At time of writing this first part, of what a suspect will end up being 3 or 4 posts over the next week or so, I haven’t been able to make up my mind either. I’m switching between the S4 and One throughout the day depending upon what I want to do so I am also hoping that writing these comparison articles may help me decide too!

So in this first part I’m going to talk about the cameras on each device. As we have discussed in other posts on the site before, HTC have been quite brave with the choices they have made with the HTC One camera. Instead of chasing more and more megapixels HTC have gone the other way and reduced the pixel count down to 4.0MP while increasing the size of the individual pixels on the sensor. The result, they call the Ultrapixel camera, yields an over 300% increase in the amount of available light, and more light equals better pictures, in theory.

Samsung have have been rather more conventional with the S4 opting for a 13MP sensor. That’s not to say that it’s not a good sensor and that it’s not a good upgrade from the S3 but it’s the approach to cramming in more pixels.

So lets take a look at some of the photos. In all the samples below, there is no editing or cropping. HTC One on the left, S4 on the right:

 

Posted in: Reviews
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