Category: Android

Motorola MOTOSMART Budget Android Device

Motorola announced today a new budget Android device coming in the next few weeks, they say that the device will be available by the end of July on T-Mobile, here in the UK at a very respectful £99.99. Are you looking for your first Android device and have …

App Review: CamCard for Android

Ever wanted to look awesome, professional and geeky all in one? CamCard is the app for you! Scan business cards that you’re given and store them directly as new contacts, or share that information with colleagues. In essence it’s a platform that allows the scanning of Business Cards …

Got the SIII and want the Samsung Smart View app?

This might only target a fairly small subset of people, but they’re no less important than anyone else. If you, dear reader, have gone out and bought yourself one of those whizzy Samsung Smart TV’s and then bought a brand new Samsung Galaxy SIII, listen up. On the …

Patent Wars: Now Galaxy Nexus Sales Ban Overturned

In what could be seen as a surprise move the ban on the sales of Google’s flagship Galaxy Nexus handset has been overturned by the appeals court. No reason has been given for the overturning however Apple have until Thursday to appeal.  The full trial is due to …

How online music should be done. 7Digital Review

Over the last few years I have been looking for a solution to my music storage problem. Recently whilst playing about with Windows Phone I have come close to finding my ideal solution. That solution was 7Digital. First of all I should let you know what the problem …

Exploding Galaxy S3 was microwaved!

A couple of weeks ago we reported on a possible case of an exploding Samsung Galaxy SIII.  It had been claimed by a user in Ireland that his S3 exploded whilst on his in-car charger. Appearing on Samsung’s global blog are details of how they contracted an independent investigator (Fire …

LG Optimus L7 Review

The LG L7 forms part of the “L Style” range. When we saw the L3, L5 and this at Mobile World Congress. This is at the very top of that range but it’s still not one of the most powerful devices we’ve seen from LG. First impressions are …

Review – Doro PhoneEasy 610 (one out of three ain’t bad)

Okay, it’s not cool, it’s not smart, but the Doro PhoneEasy 610 is a phone at least! A phone which deserves a mention because of what it achieves by not being cool or smart. Why am I reviewing a feature phone? Despite his age, my elderly father has …

Amazon About to Enter Phone Market?

Reports coming from Bloomberg indicate that Amazon could be about to enter the mobile handset market and are said to be in the process of acquiring patents to protect themselves from possible litigation. The Chinese mobile manufacturer Foxconn is reported to be working with Amazon on the device.  There is …

Sony Xperia 13 Megapixel Phone Due Soon?

With the Sony Xperia S only just getting Ice Cream Sandwich around the world, looks like Sony are busy making it’s replacement with an improved 13 megapixel lens capable of 1080p HD video. The ‘LT30p’ as it is known at the moment should also have a metal back …

Opinion: Patents

When you listen to Episode 4 of our podcast later, you’ll hear me rant solidly for about 5 minutes on patents and how they are reported. Today brings a perfect example to illustrate my point. On Tuesday Apple was granted a patent for “wearable displays” and many people …

Android spam issue called into question

Just a short while ago we reported on claims that some Android devices were spamming via a botnet of rogue handsets. The news came via a Microsoft blog post, which showed how spam emails had “Sent from Yahoo! Mail on Android” in the text and “androidMobile” in the …

LG Optimus 4X HD Unboxing

In the last few days retailers have started to get the eagerly awaited LG Optimus 4X HD into stock. Expansys are one of these retailers and they have recorded a quick unboxing of the device which you can see below. LG’s First Quad-Core Processor Smartphone: LG’s next milestone …

Samsung Galaxy Beam now available to buy

We had a quick play with the Samsung Galaxy Beam during Mobile World Congress. We tried to hold back on asking “is that a projector in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me”, but slightly embarrassed ourselves by asking, “do things work better in the …

Android phones sending out spam

If you’re using an Android phone it could, according to researchers, be used as part of a botnet. The research, which was performed by Microsoft, shows that Android devices can send mail out through Yahoo! mail servers, spamming people with adverts. The Microsoft blog states that.. All of …

Initial Impressions – Hannspree HANNSpad SN70T3

So this week we got sent one of the new Hannspree HANNSpads by the kind people from Hannspree. When I initially heard that a new HANNSpad was going to be released I was quite excited. The original was quite a hit with the development community and we haven’t …

Vodafone Smart II Review

  So, if we’re looking at budget Android handsets we have to look at this – the Vodafone Smart II. It’s going on sale for just £70 and is powered by Android 2.3. Inside it’s actually an Alcatel device – the charger and battery gives it all away …

Apple defeated in the UK

The high court has ruled that HTC have not infringed four Apple patents after a dispute between the two companies. The judge rules that the Apple “slide to unlock” feature, which has been used as ammo against other firms, was an “obvious” development and had actually been seen …

Samsung & Google Join Forces To Combat Patent Ban.

Google have declared that they are joining forces with Samsung in the patent wars.  Within hours of their appeal against the sales ban of the Galaxy Nexus handset in the US being turned down, Google have said that they, together with Samsung, are ready to release an OTA patch …

We all love shooting zombies, right?

Madfinger the developer behind great games Samurai Vengeance and Shadowgun have released their latest which is a zombie shooting type game. There is a brief back story to it, but I quickly jumped past that and started shooting zombies. As with all of Madfinger games they are Tegra …

Samsungs appeal against Galaxy Nexus ban denied

The battle between Apple and Samsung is heating up. A few days ago Apple managed to get sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus blocked in the US. It was all down to a patent regarding the persistent search box on the screen of the Nexus. This ban was …

3CX Mobile Device Manager Review

In recent years we’ve seen a shift in the way that mobile devices are used in the workplace. Previously you may have had a Blackberry or Microsoft Pocket PC dropped on your desk. Things were locked down, secure and managed. Now, with the advent of “Bring Your Own …

There’s something very familiar about the Smart II

Whilst reviewing the Alcatel-built Vodafone Smart II we noticed something very familiar with the recovery mode. If you’ve ever used CWM, aka ClockwordMod, you’ll probably be more than familiar with this screen. It was developed by Koushik Dutta (@Koush). CWM is pretty much open and is licensed under …

Motorola XOOM 2 10.1″ 16GB Wi-Fi going cheap

Fancy a Xoom 2 for £269.99? Well, you’ve got to act quick because eXpansys only have it at this price until 11PM (UK time) tonight. The Motorola Xoom 2 is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU running Android Honeycomb and has a light aluminium body. There’s also 1GB …

Gameloft release Gang Domination a challenging social card game

Gameloft are well known for their great games that really push the boundaries of what a mobile device can do. There latest game is a little bit different to the norm. It is a turn based social card game, whereby you either play against your friends or your …

Sony Xperia U Review

Since Sony took over the headset business of Sony Ericsson recently, it is easy to say they had an uphill struggle getting consumers to part with their money in an industry full of competition from the likes of HTC and Samsung.  Announced back at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the …

Patent Wars: Now Samsung Galaxy Nexus is Banned in US

We reported a few days ago that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been banned from sale in the US pending the outcome of a patent trial bought by Apple. Well, it would seem that Judge Lucy Koh is a bit of an Apple fan as she has now …

Opinion: Google, You have failed again!

At 5.30pm on Wednesday night I settled myself down to watch the keynote speech at Google I/o – Google’s developers conference (their very own version of WWDC.) There had been plenty of rumours about an upcoming OS release, a new tablet and Google TV. I watched as Android …

Deal alert – Samsung Galaxy Nexus £319.99 from Expansys

So you fancy a bit of jelly bean action, eh? Funny how that sentance would have got you sectioned last week.. Anyhow the lovely people at Expansys have the “flagship” Google phone, the Galaxy Nexus at a rather impressive £319-99 with free shipping. Jelly bean will be officially …

Nexus 7 root achieved (already)

Yes, you read that right. The new Google Nexus 7 has been rooted, only two days after it was given to Google I/O attendees and around two weeks before the tablet is released to the general public. A user called ‘birdman’ on RootzWiki has posted a guide on …

Face Unlock security gets tightened in Jelly Bean

Google has given the security of its Face Unlock feature a bit of careful consideration in the upcoming Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release of Android. The feature was introduced with the dawn of ICS as a way to unlock your phone through face recognition, but shortly after it’s …

The new Hannspree HANNSpad is now available

Cast your minds back over the last few weeks. Think of all the Android tablet news you’ve heard. Your probably thinking of the accidental tweeted picture and the following press release we posted about the “new HANNSpad”. At the time Hannspree said that the new HANNSpad would be …

Three Xperia S users receive Ice Cream Sandwich

Now, don’t mis-read that headline. There’s more than three people with the ICS / Android 4.0 update, we’re talking about the mobile network “Three”. They’ve announced that their Xperia S customers can.. err.. “proactively download the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update”. What this basically means is that you …

Adobe kills Flash on mobile devices

Although Adobe announced at the end of last year they were not supporting Flash on mobile devices going forward, today they are going a step further and have announced it will be removed from the Google Play Store in August. Jelly Bean is the first version of Android …

Coolsmartphone Recommended Android app – Volume in Notification

This little app is for Android tablet running Honeycomb or higher. It adds a few buttons to the status bar area on your tablet. The buttons will change the media volume without having to use the hardware button. It is really quite useful if you want to quickly …

Endomondo hits 10 million users and celebrates with a sale

If you, like me, are a pure example of a pure athlete, you’ll have probably tried Endomondo. It’s an app which uses GPS to track your exercise and reports how many calories you’ve burned. OK, I’ll be honest, I sit on my backside for most of the day …

Be the Amazing Spider-Man

Spider Man, Spider Man, does whatever a Spider can. Now the movie spin-off-app “The Amazing Spider-Man” is now available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android for just £4.99. You get 25 missions to fight your way through. Spider-Man has to keep the city free of rampaging gangs …

Google Maps (and many other apps) updated. Offline Maps are go!

Check into the Google Play store this morning and you’ll find a whole heap of updates from Google. Apps inluding Chrome, Google Play Books, Google+, Google Earth have been updated and Google Maps now has an “Offline Mode”. What is this? Well, remember years ago when we used …

Jellybean for the Galaxy Nexus hits XDA

Well that didn’t take long. Although Android 4.1 will officially be coming in July as an OTA update for existing devices, those wizards over at XDA already have the stock version released yesterday at Google IO available to download and flash to your device. If you know how …