Category: Android

IFA – Acer Predator gaming tablet

Acer didn’t just have phones to release at the their event during IFA, they also unveiled the Predator Gaming Tablet… This is a very unique proposition. It is a tablet that has been designed primarily for gaming. It runs Android 5.1 on an Intel Atom X7 and is …

HTC drops off Taiwan stock index

Despite efforts to reshape and refocus, HTC has today fallen from the bottom of the TWSE 50 Index, which lists Taiwan’s 50 largest firms. The fact that this has happened could further damage the HTC share price, which has taken a beating recently following a big drop in …

IFA – Acer’s new phones

Acer had lots to talk about at IFA, so I decided to pay them a visit and get some hands on time with their new products. Now, traditionally we tend not to see that many Acer phones in the UK – with the exception of their M220 that …

IFA – Huawei Mate S Unboxing

I have been lucky enough to have been given a brand new Mate S for review so, as is the norm, here is the unboxing. The unit I have been given is the 32GB standard version, not the premium version (apparently I am not special enough). 😉 So let’s …

Oppo R7 goes up for pre-order

Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Oppo (which a number of our team members have had devices from), has today announced that they are now taking pre-orders for their latest flagship device: the Oppo R7. Specs of the Oppo R7 are: 6-inch, 1080p AMOLED display. Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 chipset. 32GB internal …

Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact coming to a network near you

You’ve seen our Xperia Z5 hands-on and now, understandably, you might be wanting to get either the new Sony Xperia Z5 and Sony Xperia Z5 Compact yourself. Well, good news my friends, good news. Those lovely people at Three, who are definitely going to send all the team …

XIAOMI RedMi Note 2 going relatively cheap

It’s time for another one of my “around £100” phones. This time it’s the XIAOMI RedMi Note 2, which is available in a 16GB version for $168.85 (around £111.35) or a 32GB version for $205.85, which is about £135.75. Available in either black or white this is a …

Robin. The smartphone superhero?

To people like me, this could be a tough sell. It’s a smartphone which has cloud storage – around 100GB – to keep your files on. No more running out of space on your handset, at least in theory. Yes, there is actually storage on-board, some 32GB of …

WileyFox will be swiftly available

Remember those two affordable handsets we talked about last week? The Swift and the Storm? The manufacturer, WileyFox, today announced a release date for the smaller of the two, the Swift. On the 22nd of September you’ll be able to buy the Swift directly from the WileyFox store …

IFA – Tado Smart Thermostat

Here at IFA there are loads of companies pitching Smart Tech in various different forms. I was able to visit one such company this morning. They are called Tado and they are starting to become very popular in the energy-conscious society that we live in. As we are …

IFA – Xperia Z5 Range hands on.

I have been on the Sony booth here at IFA and have had a chance to have a play with their latest devices.  We have seen three new handsets – the Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact and the Xperia Z5 Premium. The major focus of the visit was …

Pricing for the Galaxy S6 edge + on giffgaff announced

Fancy the new super-sized Samsung Galaxy S6 edge + on giffgaff? They’ll be selling it from September 4th contract free and completely unlocked. You can then stick one of the giffgaff monthly SIM cards in, and there’s a range of plans to choose from with 3G and 4G ‘goodybags’. …

IFA – Haier announces 5 new phones

One of the great things about the big shows like IFA is that it provides the opportunity for OEMs, big and small, to reveal their wares.  Announced today were five new handsets from Haier.  Not heard of them? Me neither, but that’s because they are new to the …

IFA – Revealed at last, the Huawei Mate S – Update

Well, although we saw it coming from a mile off, the end product is still pretty sweet. Huawei, who are rising fast in the smartphone world, have just shown their new baby – the Mate S. It comes with a cushioned rear and a “skid resistance” which should …

Inside Huawei – Part Two. [FEATURE]

After far too much alcohol, I’m experiencing a painful ride across Shenzhen in the warm morning heat. The three hours of sleep and my 30-second “panic repacking” of my suitcase hasn’t gone well. I felt a lot like this guy.. After mixing my drinks and visiting a number …

Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 5.5 – Review

Something I have been seeing across the industry right now is an emergence of lots of low price flagship challengers. These come from various sources, with the most prominent of these being China. Now, the inherent problem with buying from China is what then happens when it goes …

IFA – Huawei Watch officially released

This one has been waiting in the wings for a while, since MWC in fact it has popped up every now and again since but we were always missing one vital clue. The price well that has been announced. It is going to be selling for €399.00 starting …

IFA – GIGASET launch the ME smartphone range

Hello from Berlin once again, and today a company which is known for producing home DECT telephones had decided to go ahead and release three new smartphones. The ME Pure, ME and ME Pro come to us from GIGASET. All three of the ME smartphones are said to …

Remix Mini Android PC to launch in October

The ‘Worlds First True Android PC’ – The Remix Mini – has successfully concluded its KickStarter Campaign, raising $1,647,155 in funding, and is set for an October launch. Unsurprisingly running Jide’s Remix OS, the Remix Mini provides a multi-tasking windowed environment and the ability to connect the PC to …

IFA – Huawei Press conference Live Blog

The Huawei event is one of the first big press events of IFA 2015. I am sitting in the hall and waiting to see what they will announce. Rumours are pointing to a new Mate phablet and a release date for the Huawei Watch. Let show begin…

Upcoming tablet 8 coming to the Google estate?

If It wasn’t such a possibility from the Chocolate Factory, I’d dismiss it as yet another rumour, but it makes a weird type of sense. Whilst we have absolutely no confirmation yet that there is any truth to this, some photos have come online from China that purport …

Inside Huawei – Part One. [FEATURE]

I enter into the Huawei Cloud Park. It’s a modern office complex with relaxed-looking staff holding coffee as they scan through security terminals. I walk past some PR girls wearing the now familiar Honor T-shirts. They’re holding teddy bears and flowers. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s …

Amazon instant video update. Now you can download movies

Are you a Amazon Instant video user? Well if you are there is an update coming to the app which allows you to download movies or TV shows to your device, so you can watch them off line later. You can only download over a WiFi network not …

IFA – Huawei Mate S leaked early

We’re just snout to board a plane ahead of IFA. The event will showcase a lot of upcoming mobile tech, but Huawei are announcing their new device even earlier – tomorrow in fact. We’re all signed up for the launch, but it looks like @evleaks has already blown …

China – The land where your smartphone was born. [FEATURE]

This week you’ll see special series of posts documenting my trip to China and my inside look into Huawei. China has the world’s biggest economy, and people buy more smartphones than anywhere else. One in five people on Earth are Chinese, and as I begin to fly over …

Mockodile not enough? Goldgenie helps…

Sometimes mockodile is just not enough, or so I’m told. If you have large amounts of cash you need to part with and a desire to flaunt it with an iOS or Android device, Goldgenie might be a company with something to offer you. They even have something …

Cyanogen OS 12.1 OTA update now available

Cyanogen OS, the corporate arm of the Cyanogenmod third party operating system based on Android, has released version 12.1 (based on Android Lollipop 5.1.1) and it is available to download now. If you have a device running it then choose Settings, About Phone, System Updates and if it’s …

McFlip – World’s first reversible Micro USB – On test

Type C USB cables are a way off from being common and a very long way from being ubiquitous. But the idea, blazing USB 3 speeds with a plug that is reversible – sounds awesome. The McFlip takes you half-way there and, more importantly, it’s available now and uses the …

Doro 820 Mini Competition – The winners

A couple of weeks ago we had a big competition to give away one of two Doro 820 Mini phones. Our mailbox was overflowing with entries on this one, so many thanks to every single entry. We’ve stuck all of them into our randomizer and the following two …

Honor 7 Ready to buy here in the UK, plus a few other surprises

Last night, at the Honor launch event in London, we learned more about the Honor 7, plus the fact that you can actually buy the thing at vMall – an official Huawei and Honor store. Buying handsets direct is something people are more confident about doing now, and …

Wishbone Smart Thermometer – Review

Have you got a small child? If so you will be most likely aware that they have an uncanny tendency to get ill from time to time. Now ,like any good parent, we’ve got a digital thermometer. However, like any good self respecting toddler my son despises the …

Oppo R5s, the slimmest of upgrades

Oppo are stepping things up! October last year saw the introduction of the R5, the slimmest smartphone on the market. At just 4.85mm it’s a wonder they can fit anything inside the chassis. This year they have given the device a facelift (I can’t find the old R5 …

WileyFox sneak up on us with affordable smartphones.

We’ve all heard the story, an impressive specification at a low price. Oppo does it, Honor does it, OnePlus does it… Now WileyFox do it too! This is the Storm, the ‘premium’ version. Rocking a Snapdragon 600 at 1.5GHz it will be relatively snappy. Helped by the 3GB …

Motorola Moto G 3rd gen – Review

It has been just less than a couple of years since Motorola launched the original Moto G, and now the third iteration of Motorola’s successful device is with us. I recently live-blogged the announcement event for the 3rd generation Moto G, the Moto X Play and Moto X …

Samsung S6 edge+ pricing on Tesco Mobile

Fancy grabbing the latest Samsung kit via an MVNO? Tesco Mobile, the 50/50 venture between the grocer and O2, will be selling the all-new S6 edge+ from £43.50 a month with no up-front cost. The shiny new phone will be available online and from Tesco Phone Shops from …

Android shown running on a BlackBerry Passport

Ah, the BlackBerry Passport. A seemingly bold (geddit?) handset from a company on the way out. However, what if BlackBerry were cooking up a slightly different model? With Android on it instead? It’d look something like this wouldn’t it? (Forward to around 5 minutes in) No, I couldn’t …

ZTE Nubia Z7 – Now down to £190

If you’ve got around £190 kicking around then this ZTE Nubia Z7 4G Phablet could be yours. It might be called a phablet but, with a 5.5″ screen, it’s not a totally two-handed operation. Powered by Android 4.4, this has a Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.5GHz CPU with a …

Get Cortana for Android right now…. If you’re in America

Yes, there’s a leaked version out there, but now the Microsoft personal assistant is ready to download from Google Play. You can even have it replace your Google Now functionality if you wish. There’s a couple of caveats though. Firstly, it’s only a beta. Secondly, you can only …

HTC Buy back their own shares

Following some serious staff cut-backs and media reports announcing that the company was essentially worthless, HTC have announced that they are to buy their own shares. Now, this “share repurchase” might sound confusing but it basically means that the company is buying back its shares from the marketplace. …