Entertainment on the Move

When the iPad was originally launched, tablet devices were launched into the limelight. It goes without saying that Apple were not the first, but they made this category of device sexy and created an experience that many did not know they wanted, until they had handled one of these new wonders. Since the first generation iPad was so successful, many other manufacturers frantically played catchup.

To a certain degree they have, with many manufacturers backing the Google Android platform. Whilst the hardware may not be as sexy, the ecosystem is definitely developing. The selection of apps on the Google Play Store is now more than acceptable, making the myriad of devices from the likes of Samsung, Asus and Acer (to name just a few) very viable options. My personal opinion is that they are not quite as tied in service-wise, whereas the Apple iPad is very good at synchronising with the likes of an Apple desktop or laptop.

This new category, for a long time, has been thought of as an ideal way of consuming media, but not necessarily creating. Things are pretty good, with regard to photo manipulation, simple spreadsheets, text documents and the like, but anything more than that is often a compromise. I do take notes on my iPad, but anything more than that and I grab my laptop, or sit down at a desktop computer.

Whilst these two platforms battle it out, Microsoft is sitting in the wings. It dipped its toe into the water with the Surface RT and Surface Pro, which were a hard sell due to lack of apps. However, with their most recent offerings, the Surface 2 and Pro 2, things have improved. Apps that were missing first time around are now appearing with around half of the mainstream titles not available at original launch, now in the Windows App Store.

Whichever platform you choose, all of these devices have something in common. They are all great entertainment devices. Awesome for playing back videos, music, playing games etc. The internet browsers add yet another dimension and allow you to play online games. You might even be able to increase your riches too, by trying your luck at Blackjack, Slots or Roulette on Casino.com who, like many websites, have enriched their experience for mobile devices. So whether it's online shopping, emails, surfing the internet or staying in touch with friends & family, this new breed of tablet device is here to stay and I am certainly thankful that Apple made this category popular again.

Android Kit Kat vs. iOS 7

With tech giants Apple and Google squaring off this year with the release of their new operating systems, we take a look at both and discuss some of the key features and benefits. 

iOS 7 
Always keen to stay one step ahead of the competition, and eager to make up for some issues with iOS 6, such as the ineffectual Maps app, Apple’s new iOS 7 will be available for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, the iPad 2, iPad third and fourth generation, the iPad mini and the iPod touch fifth generation.

The new feature and update list is lengthy to say the least, but here we take a look at some of the most important innovations that we think will make iOS 7 the most intuitive operating system that Apple has produced to date.

Putting you in control
The new control centre, accessed by swiping upwards on any screen, is a handy little feature that allows you to access an inbuilt torch, control your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, switch to Airplane mode, adjust the brightness of your screen and play music. In addition, you can also switch your phone’s Do Not Disturb function on or off, which is really useful when you find yourself in the cinema or in a quiet area.

Account logins
This is one of the features we are most excited about for iOS 7. The new operating system allows you to store passwords, account names and credit card details in the iCloud, with the details being automatically filled in when you sign into a website or online shop that you’ve previously visited.

Smartphone users have been waiting for this feature for a long time and, with Apple’s guarantee that details will be securely encrypted, it’s certainly going to be a real time-saver for Apple’s customers.   

Fingerprint ID
This is only going to available to users who purchase a new iPhone, but, long term, it’s got the potential to transform the way in which users access downloads, as well as all other kinds of data, by replacing the need to remember hundreds of different usernames and logins. 

Android KitKat
While Apple has a reputation for keeping their cards close to their chest, it seems that Google have become pretty adept at that particular feat themselves. In contrast to the iOS 7, we know very little about the Android KitKat, apart from information gleaned from the online rumour mill.

It’s strongly speculated that the Android KitKat will launch in October or November 2013 and all that Google are publicly saying at this point is that they are committed to making “an amazing Android experience available for everybody."

With this in mind, we fully expect the KitKat OS to be made available to older phones, as well as the new, long-awaited, Nexus 5.

In terms of specific features, sources indicated that the Android KitKat will include tweaks to gallery visualisation, new animation APIs and new notification widgets. At this point that’s all we know, but the suspense is killing us and, if the rumours are anything to go by, the KitKat should make the wide array of Android OS pay monthly phones available on the market that little more exciting.

The debate
It’s difficult to come to a conclusion on which operating system is going to be the most exciting and functional, largely because we know so little about the Android KitKat. So, if you’re in the market for a new phone this year, we think that patience is certainly a virtue you should covet, at least until we have a little more information at our disposal.

Article Credit: Ben Williams

New Gadgets

The ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity is the new tablet on the scene in a saturated market, though believe it or not this one boasts something different. Pocket Lint reviewed it as the best complete laptop replacement with a tablet like screen and smooth, lightweight keyboard. Starting from £549, cash loans can help purchase this fancy new gadget at cashwindow.co.uk.

The ASUS Transformer can be seen as the most flexible of the tablets and offers a great alternative to the Windows or OS X laptop operating system. Using the Android system, it can now function with the use of office documents and removable USB drives just as well as the Windows system does, perhaps offering a welcome alternative to some. The biggest boast for this tablet is the stunning high-resolution screen and the battery life, which is better than most tablets. Although a downside may be the price tag, which reaches close to most laptops, the benefit of this tablet is the keyboard which can make it more user friendly than most other tablets, great for those who do all their work on a tablet.

If the price range seems a bit steep, Cash Window can offer quick cash loans to help you get to that gadget quicker than most. As long as you know you can afford to pay it back, a cash loan can be a way to ensure that you can afford the lump sum for that gadget, rather than saving your pocket money for months and months. Cash Window offer cash loans available to collect over the counter or money loans straight into your bank account and a variety of financial options to suit your needs and periods to pay it back. So whether you’re looking for the new ASUS Transformer tablet, or another fancy high-tech new tablet on the market, Cash Window can help.

Early Impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S4

As you are probably aware, I started my coverage of the Samsung Galaxy S4 a few days back on my channel. Whilst I am still working on my Full Review, which will take the form of a video, now is a good opportunity to share my early impressions of some of the features.

Form & Size
Before handling the device I thought it would be too big, but to my surprise, even though it sports a 4.99-inch screen it feels good in the hand. Samsung have done a superb job here, concentrating on a design that was not broken in the previous version and making the bezel around the screen super thin.
One of my earlier dislikes of the Galaxy S3 was the very thin battery cover. I am happy to say that has been addressed to and the cover on the S4 is thicker and feels more robust.
The materials used seem to have changed too. Yes, this is primarily plastic, but it feels more rigid. The silver band around the edges looks nicer and the overall quality seems to have improved. Maybe it is just the type of plastic used, but whatever Samsung have done, they upped their game.
The large screen really does impress too, with its 1920x1080 resolution. This gives plenty of screen real estate for browsing the internet and emails. Where it really does shine is watching videos… the Galaxy S4 is certainly a smartphone that I could watch a full length video on. 

S Health
I love my Fitbit, which is a small device that I use to track my daily activity. It keeps a tab on my steps, sleep and food consumption (via an app). Samsung have developed their own app that uses the internal sensors of the Galaxy S4 to do more or less the same. It does not offer constant monitoring, instead you stop & start the app when you go for a walk or run. In addition you can also track food or calorie intake. The interface looks nice and from my early tests it seems pretty accurate, more or less mirroring what my Fitbit does.
 

Smart Pause & Air Gestures
These two features may seem like a gimmick, but they are quite useful. Smart Pause is great for watching videos. The most basic way of describing it, is you watch a video, look away to talk to someone in the room and the video pauses. Look back at your Galaxy S4 screen and it instantly resumes. OK, I know you could tap the pause icon on the screen, but the feature actually works very well.
Air Gestures is another great feature, but one that I will probably use a lot less. It allows you to wave your hand across the sensor on the device and have it move between photos (for example). If I am doing an action with my hand, in my opinion I may as well swipe my finger on the screen.

Accessories
Whenever a new smartphone is released many third party manufacturers release cases and accessories in the following weeks. What amazes me with the Galaxy S4 is just how many were available prior to and on launch day. Cases, chargers & screen covers, all made to enhance your experience. My favourite so far is the Official S View cover (see video below), because not only does it protect the phone, but also changes the display when closed to show just the clock, date & notifications. In addition, when you open the front cover, the Galaxy S4 wakes up and springs into action.
 

Battery Life
Although a little early for me to pass judgement (I will do that in my full review), things seem pretty good. With my iPhone 5 I just about manage a full days use between charges. In my first couple of days with the Galaxy S4 I had no problem getting through the whole day on a single charge. That is pretty impressive, considering the screen is brighter & pushing a lot more pixels, plus there is a quad core processor in this beauty of a smartphone. Add to that the fact that you could always carry a spare battery if you really need to. All this equates to a very good proposition, if you rely on your phone for long periods of time between charges. 

All in all my early impressions are very positive. I test smartphones pretty much every day and can honestly say that the Samsung Galaxy S4 has caught my attention. It really could be the best smartphone of 2013. 

Will the Samsung Galaxy S4 be King of the Smartphones

The race has been going on for years … which smartphone would be the thinnest? the fastest? or perhaps highest resolution camera? And for 2013 it seems to be all about the screen resolution. With many smartphones all launching with 1920x1080 full HD resolution screens, what could be next?

At the end of April 2013 we will see the Samsung Galaxy S4. Yes, it is fast, has a a nice camera and a full HD screen to top it off. I personally remember when Samsung announced it. With their tongue on cheek presentation they showed us Smart Pause, where the video you are watching pauses when you look away. Next up is Air View & Gesture, where you greasy fingers do not even need to touch the screen to navigate your way around. And then we have S Health which tracks your activity, daily food intake and weight … promising a fitter you.

These features are just a few of the many new enhancements which I termed gimmicks when I first saw them. However, we all need to take a step back and think, what else could Samsung do to move this type of technology forward? And I think they are brave in trying to give us some really unique features. OK, so everyone will use S Translator every day, but if you find yourself in a foreign country, perhaps on holiday, you will be glad to have it at your disposal. I strongly believe that all manufacturers are beginning to realise that things like a high megapixel camera on a tiny phone sensor is not a cutting edge feature. Rest assured, when they react to the Galaxy S4 you will see them all squashing in tonnes of new features to their 2014 products. By then, Samsung may well have the lead that they need to take the top spot in this sector.

As with every new smartphone launch, a good selection of accessories always follow and one that caught my eye is official View Cover. Without even opening the cover you can see the current time & useful notifications, the contrasting colour of the display peeping through is awesome and… it looks very sexy too.

By now you should now that I try new smartphones out practically every day. I am an avid iPhone user, but have been tempted away with the likes of the Lumia 920 and a couple of years back, the Blackberry Bold 9900. I feel very strongly that Apple need to react to their competitors smartphones, with their lovely high res large screens. The App argument is no longer an issue either (at least where Google Android is concerned). With the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4… of course I will be testing & reviewing it. Who knows, if it delivers on performance, as I am sure it will, the SGS4 might find its way into my pocket and if it does the View Cover is mine too.

Nearly 400K for Nexus 4

A wonderful piece of crowdsleuthing by the fervent Android fans of theXDA forums has revealed how many Nexus 4s have been built. The astonishingly cheap phone was one of the most popular phones of 2012 -- coming second inCNET UK readers' Phone of the Year awards -- but production shortages left many would-be buyers frustrated. So how many Nexuses are out there?

In a post spotted by TechCrunch, XDA user Alexander T deduced that the first four figures of the serial number on the box reveal when and where your Nexus was made. Get your box out and have a look -- the first figure is the year of production, so 2 for 2012, 3 for 2013. The second and third figures are the month, so 11 for November, 12 for December, 01 for January. The fourth letter determines where the phone was built: K for Korea, C for China.

After several people confirmed the system worked by posting their first four digits and when they received their phone, user draugaz suggested, "Now it would be interesting to decode the rest of the numbers so we could roughly estimate the actual production counts."

The last six figures of the code, which correspond to the last six digits of the IMEI number inside the phone, appear to be a simple counter of the number of units produced. By looking at serial numbers in Nexus 4 YouTube unboxing videos, the intrepid draugaz began to work out rough production counts for October, November and December. Soon other users were joining in and a good spread of data appeared.

Read the full article here [source Crave]

New Features for Samsung ChatON

Mobile Instant Messaging has come a long way since it first swept the globe with Blackberry Messenger. iPhone offerings advanced the communication options, but Android, the fastest growing operating system today, is leading the way with the ChatON app from Samsung.
Leading the future of IM interaction, the ChatON app takes IM to the next level with animated messages for more creative freedom, calendar interaction to manage your busy schedule, group chat and chat rooms, and an interactive profile page. The “Trunk” feature allows you to store contents in a sharing box, and post comments to other sites including Facebook. 

Samsung ChatON app features:
Enhanced Group Chat, where broadcast messages can be sent to several buddies at once
“Trunk” - a ChatON Contents Sharing Box, where users can leave comments and share contents to other sites including Facebook
Animation Message, users can create their own animated messages with original drawings, texts, audio content and changing background images
Anicon (Animated Emoticon), users can download various animated emoticons from chaton.com
Buddies say, users can post comments directly to buddies’ profile at any time
Interaction Rank, users can check how often then chat with their buddies on the progress bar
Micro SNS Community (Social Network Service)

Now available in 120 countries in 66 languages, Samsung’s ChatON is usable across iOS, BlackBerry and Android devices. Download ChatON for free at https://web.samsungchaton.com

Huawei Ascend G 302D goes public

 

It's a curious thing to have gold signify the low-end, but that's just what Huawei's done with its G series smartphone line. That bottom-dwelling, budget tier, first announced at this past Mobile World Congress, has already seen a couple of category cousins come out into the open (see: Vodafone's G 300 and T-Mobile's G 312), so color us unsurprised to find yet another single-core, Googlefied device crop up at the FCC. The associated docs leave little to the imagination, treating us to unobstructed images of the Ascend G 302D -- presumably, a 4-incher. We're not quite sure what software the phone'll run when it ships, though from the looks of those very ICS-like capacitive keys, we wouldn't rule Android 4.0 out. Spec-wise, we have the included manual and some RF testing to go off of, revealing two different sized batteries -- a 1,350mAh and 1,500mAh -- support for Bluetooth, WiFi b/g/n and AT&T-compatible radios. That's not to say this lil' guy's guaranteed an official U.S. slot on that carrier's lineup, but it should make for a decent import option. Hit up the source below for additional shots of this mobile minor leaguer.

[Source: Engadget]

Asus Transformer Pad Infinity set for UK Launch August 31st

 

The Asus Transformer Pad Infinity, already out in the US as well as other parts of Europe, has finally been priced and dated for the UK market. It'll be available from Amazon UK on August 31st in 32GB or 64GB configurations, with an asking price of £599.99 (around $930). It's unclear what exactly you'll get for your money right now — Engadget reports the £599.99 price is for a 64GB model with included keyboard dock, while Phandroid maintains it's for a 32GB tablet.  No matter which site turns out to be correct, it's safe to say that the Transformer Pad Infinity is one of the more expensive tablets around — so what will you get for your money? Well, there's a 1920 x 1200 10.1-inch Super-IPS+ display, a quad-core Tegra 3 SoC clocked at 1.6GHz, 1GB of DDR3 RAM, and, of course, the keyboard dock accessory, which transforms the tablet into an Android-powered laptop. The Transformer Pad Infinity will arrive with Android 4.0 installed, and Asus has confirmed that its tablet will get an update to Jelly Bean in "the coming months."

[Source: The Verge]