Category: Android

HTC, Android updates, and iterative hardware [opinon]

I wish I’d been on the podcast two weeks ago, to have a rant about the One X+. For some reason, this minor hardware update has completely set me off. The key selling point seems to be that it’s running Jellybean along with an updated version of Sense. …

HTC Japan anounce the J Butterfly

HTC Japan have announced the HTC J Butterfly and boy is it a looker. It is a 5″ 1080p phone that looks a bit like a larger version of the One X. It is available in either White, Black or Red. Spec wise it is pretty impressive, packing …

Fancy a reconditioned or graded device?

Don’t mind buying a graded handset? Want to save yourself a bit of money? We’ve been given a nudge about SmartfoneStore.com this morning and they seem to have a good selection of slightly cheaper phones including iPhone these Galaxy SIII handsets. A Grade C handset (which apparently means …

Definitive proof: Galaxy SIII is better than iPhone 5

Why? Just why? There are many scientific experiments that have gone a long way towards advancing the human cause.  There are those that sacrifice everything they have in order to achieve their lifetime goal and along the way humankind benefits.   There are those that do something never …

Sony Xperia T – Review

Sony announced that the Xperia S was going on sale during Mobile World Congress back in February, however we are now in October and the S has been replaced as the flagship camera phone by the Xperia T. The Xperia T really is a powerful high end smartphone …

Asus announce the Padfone 2

The Asus Padfone seemed like one of the best ideas man had ever come up with, along with sliced bread and pork scratchings. The Padfone seemed to be the answer to a lot of peoples problems. A tablet, powered by a smartphone. What became of it? Well no …

LG Jelly Bean update schedule released

It seems like the heir to the Nexus dynasty is going to be LG, however, they are renowned for being particularly tardy with their Android updates, so it’s good news that some needy handsets are due some Jelly Bean action, right? Well yes, if you’re patient, oh, and …

Even Nexus updates need improving [opinion]

So you may have heard that Google have begun rolling out Android 4.1.2 for the Nexus 7 (last week) and the Galaxy Nexus (today). Great stuff, that’s why you buy a Nexus: to get the pure Android experience, with the instant updates directly from Google. Only it isn’t …

The new iPhone 5 doesn’t look the same in the flesh

We’ve seen the adverts and the pictures, but somehow – up close – the iPhone 5 looks a lot different. It almost looks a little… “Samsungy”. Yup, we spotted the Galaxy SIII sitting on an iPhone 5 stand in the window of a local Vodafone store this morning. …

Amazon Appstore freebie: Dummy Defense

Today’s Amazon Appstore free app is Dummy Defense (yes, it’s an Americanism) , a game where you have to protect a mannequin from various evils including bombs and spiky things. At this point I would normally talk about my brief experiences with the nappy having played it through. …

Lookout Mobile Security for Android undergoes major update

Ok, so you have spent months looking forward to getting a new handset, weeks agonising over which OS, which handset and then even more time haggling with your network for a decent tariff. Finally your brand new device arrives and there it is looking all nice and shiny, …

Cheap Galaxy SIII Accessories up for grabs

Yes, it’s one of those voucher sites, yes, the “original price” is probably inflated a little but, for some of you, this could be just the thing. The SIII accessories bundle is £9.99 (although there’s some confusion on the site and it also says £9.98) and includes a …

Galaxy SIII Leads in battery browsing tests

Battery life. You can’t get through the day without someone in your office mentioning .. or cursing it. Now those clever people at Which? have tested battery life on a selection of smartphones whilst browsing. Screen brightness was set to “maximum” during all tests and they used their …

Acer S500 Cloud Mobile – Initial Impressions

Acer have made a few nice looking phones recently, the other week we looked at the dual SIM equipped Liquid Gallant Duo and I was very impressed overall. So when I found out they were going to send us their flagship device the Cloud Mobile I was a little …

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Flip Cover – Review

It seems quite a few of the big names in mobile phones these days are producing their own accessories, and cases. Not just as functional protective devices, but that are actually nice to look at too. Samsung are no exception, and produce cases for both the Galaxy S3 and the …

LG Optimus G previewed on YouTube

It’s not quite the next rumoured pure Google variant after the Galaxy Nexus, but the full manufacturer version currently called the LG Optimus G which you can now see on YouTube. There’s an almost marmite-level contrast of opinions on this phone from our team. Some of our team …

Google begins updating Play Store

Google has begun rolling out an update to the Play Store.  The new version (3.9.16) has some rather useful updates that many people have had on their wish list for a while. If you download lots of apps then you are aware of just how frustrating it is …

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini Hands-On

So, we asked Samsung if we could have a few minutes with the SIII Mini. Just a few precious minutes. They laughed at us. They made us cry. They pulled our hair. Meanwhile, another website called All About Samsung has got hold of it… but hey, they put …

Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini is now up for pre-order – Less than £300 too

Earlier on today Samsung officially announced the upcoming Galaxy SIII Mini. What new product announcement isn’t complete without some prices and some pre-orders ? (Well, maybe a Nokia one perhaps). UK online retailer Clove has put up the Galaxy SIII Mini 8GB model in blue or white for …

Samsung announces the Galaxy SIII Mini

As widely leaked, Samsung have today announced the Galaxy SIII Mini.  As the name suggests, the device looks like a shrunken down Galaxy SIII and features the same nature UX of its bigger sibling. The 4.0″ Super AMOLED handset comes with a dual core 1GHz processor, Android 4.1 …

Galaxy Nexus II is really the Galaxy Premier – Rumour

There have been rumours circulating regarding a new Nexus handset as far back as August when James reported on a possible Galaxy Nexus refresh. Well, it turns out that the i9260 is actually a new addition to the Samsung Galaxy range to be called the Galaxy Premier. According …

HulloMail announces Alloha! Group Call Application

Hullomail, the fantastic cross-OS visual voicemail application has announced its new Group Calling proposition Hulloha! for Android. If this were an enterprise application, this would be called a conference call app, and the idea is the same. There are no hidden calling charges as the group calling number …

More new Nexus pictures surface – Rumour

Yet more pictures of the alleged new Google Nexus have surfaced on a Belarusian website.     There is still no sign of any new version of Android and with Jellybean 4.1.2 being pushed to Nexus 7 devices as we speak any other new release may well come as a surprise. …

Samsung Galaxy Note II available on T-Mobile

It’s 4G “ready” and available in white or titanium. For £79 up-front you can grab the Samsung Galaxy Note II in all its LTE glory for 2 years, but you will be paying £41 per month. The “Full Monty” plan includes unlimited texts, internet and minutes although it’s …

HTC drop out of the US tablet market

The tablet market is a bit cut-throat. Most of the world buys an iPad without a thought of a spec comparison (yes I know it’s not that simple). Meanwhile companies such as Amazon sell hardware at cost to recoup revenue through content, and now Google and Asus are …

Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini specs and pic leak!

Leigh earlier wrote about the Galaxy SIII Mini that is due to be revealed tomorrow. Well, it would appear that the specs and a picture have managed to find there way onto the interwebs by a German website called Mobile Geeks.  The handset is purported to have the …

LG Nexus 4 Appears on Carphone Warehouse systems

We’ve heard the rumours, but now there’s more evidence showing that LG could indeed be producing the next Google Nexus-branded handset. A white and black “LG Nexus 4” is snapped on this shot, said to show the Carphone Warehouse inventory database. If true, it could help to bring …

Galaxy SIII Mini to be announced tomorrow

My wife recently looked around for an upgrade. She loved the look of the SIII but said that the screen was just “a bit too big” and the iPhone 4S screen was “a bit too small” (and she didn’t want to pay the iPhone 5 asking price). Today …

[Updated] Jellybean 4.1.2 rollout to Nexus 7 begins

Google has today started rolling out an update to Jellybean for Nexus 7 devices.  A user in Australia has sent the following screenshots to EE Times.       As you can see above the update enables landscape mode to the homescreen.  The update isn’t a major one …

Samsung Galaxy Music Announced

Samsung have announced a new handset today in the form of the Galaxy Music. With a 280×320 3″ LCD screen, a 3mp rear camera and 4gb of internal storage the handset is certainly budget in specification.  The Galaxy music will be shipping with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. …

Are you unsure what to do with a Samsung Galaxy Camera?

Are you thinking about getting a Samsung Galaxy Camera? Are you at a loss what to do with it? Well Samsung have made a nice little inspirational video showing you what you could do with their upcoming Galaxy Camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv57H0LpHUo Not that I need telling what to do …

Cheapy 10.1″ Time2Touch tablet

A while ago we covered a deal on a Time2Touch 7″ tablet which was getting off-loaded for £79.99. Anyhow, it’s the 10.1″ version that’s on offer this time. Apparently it normally sells £299.99 but the people Discount Vouchers have it on offer for £119.99. The Time2Touch SC104B tablet …

ZTE responds to claims about US security

Yesterday news surfaced that Cisco has cancelled a contract with ZTE over concerns for national security and sale embargoes with Iran. This is all off the back of a report the US Intelligence agency produced which suggested products by ZTE and Huawei should be banned. Cisco yesterday took the first …

HTC rolls with the punches. Profits take a beating.

Times are a little tough at HTC. Just a year or two ago there were HTC handsets everywhere. All shapes and sizes. Now everything seems to have spun around. Despite reducing their portfolio and concentrating heavily on the HTC One handsets there’s been a distinct deflation in the …

Orange San Diego is now rootable

Can you remember on Saturday we mentioned that if you had an Orange San Diego and you fancied trying to break it you could manually update it to Ice Cream Sandwich using an OEM manufacturer update file. Well things have gone a step further, after updating to the …

Angry Birds Star Wars Announced for Nov. 8th

Angry Birds is extending its space invasion into a galaxy far, far away with Angry Birds Star Wars. Available on November 8th, one of the most iconic mobile games will join forces with one of the most iconic movie franchises. Each bird will be themed to a different Star Wars …

Nexus 7 32GB shipped to customer by mistake

Nexus 7 rumours, LG Nexus rumours, Key Lime Pie rumours… When are we going to get something tangable? Well, the waiting’s over for one lucky Japanese Nexus 7 owner. Upon booting up his shiney new Google tablet he found that it wasn’t the 16GB varient he’d ordered. Instead …

Updated: BBC launch iPlayer Radio

The BBC are today launching iPlayer specifically for their range of radio stations on iOS with Android to follow soon.  Unfortunately there is no word yet of a version for Windows Phone or Blackberry. Update: The BBC have now confirmed that no version for either Windows Phone or Blackberry …

Sony Xperia Miro – Review

A few weeks ago we got hold of the Xperia Miro for review and we quickly posted up our initial impressions. The Miro is one of the entry level devices from Sony and in the same way as with the Tipo we reviewed a while back, I was …