Accompanied by a surprise special guest, Xavier and Henry return for some discussion of Steve Jobs and the iPad Pro, before waxing lyrical about pie, podcasts, and the role of social media in the aftermath of the tragedy in Paris last week. Continue reading →
For all of us who find clicking on Amazon links and pressing buttons to add products to shopping carts mind-numbingly tedious, Amazon and Twitter’s new partnership promises to revolutionise how we shop in the most #social way ever. Enter #AmazonCart (or #AmazonBasket for my fellow Brits). Once you’ve linked your Amazon and Twitter accounts, you can add any product to your Amazon purchase queue by tweeting #AmazonCart in reply to a tweet that contains an Amazon product link. Of course what this doesn’t tell you is how much the product is, whether it is any good or if you can find a better deal elsewhere. Much of this can be solved by clicking on the link, but then what’s the point in this new scheme? Click on a link, take a peek and tap a button sounds a lot faster, simpler and consumer-savvy than seeing a tweet, pressing reply, typing out a response to (what is most likely) your brand of choice or a friend who couldn’t actually care any less about your chronic purchasing habits, scribbling #AmazonCart at the end and then tweeting your response.
But #hashtags, right?
Tablets. Macs. Phablets. Cylinders. Live tiles. Windows RT jokes. Tim Cook. Elop talking Microkia. Fingerprints. Polycarbonate. Aloomineeum. PureView. Fingerprints. Peripherals. Accessories. Beaches. Numbers. Gradients. Screen sizes. Phil Schiller being arrogant.
Most of all, the return of our snark-tastic liveblogs. See you at 8am BST/3am ET/12am PT for Nokia World and 6pm/1pm/10am for Apple’s iPad/Mac event!
We’ve long been aware of the emergence of curved and flexible display technologies, with the threat of companies actually implementing them being exactly that – a threat. Now, Samsung has actually crossed the proverbial line with the Galaxy Round, a phablet that’s set to hit SK Telecom in South Korea as soon as this week. What is it, you ask? The best way to describe things is by saying it’s a Note 3 that got into a fight and ended up far from deflated, with a crazy concave curve running across the screen from left to right. Aside from the reduced battery capacity (3200mAh -> 2800mAh), absence of S Pen and Wacom digitizer and reduced mass (now at 154g, probably due to the missing components) this thing is just a glorified and insane Note 3, and lucky Koreans will be able to step into a curvy future with the Luxury Brown model for just $1000. You really do get what you pay for.
Source Samsung Tomorrow
Via AnandTech
The original Vu (and the Intuition, European Vu (with Tegra), Vu 2 and whatever else you want to call it) was stupid. With a horrible 4:3 aspect ratio that only makes sense on tablets and computers from the early 90’s, trying to use it was impossible. Even if your thumb could cope with the yoga involved to operate the thing, you’d remember that there’s not a single adequate Android device with a 4:3 aspect ratio and, of course, the apps would behave accordingly. That kind of ‘minor issue’ doesn’t ever stop LG, though, as the Vu 3 is official now with a 5.2″ 1280 x 960 IPS display and some other things that don’t matter whatsoever because that screen, now larger and more awkward than ever before, is now even more stupid. Also, it looks just like a mutilated Galaxy S III which, looking at the G2’s Galaxy S4-esque aesthetic, seems to be LG’s ‘thing’ now.
Amazon’s latest Kindle Paperwhite appeared briefly in a product page this morning, but swiftly disappeared. Soon enough, however, a pre-order page popped up for it on both the UK and US storefronts. The price remains constant, at £109/$139 for the base WiFi model without special offers, but for your dosh you’ll get a screen with even higher contrast and less reflectivity, GoodReads integration, a 25% faster processor and a 19% increase in touch sensitivity thanks to a tighter touch grid. What remains the same from the original model that we reviewed earlier this year is everything else, including 8 weeks of battery life with typical reading and wireless connectivity disabled and the best dedicated e-reader money can buy today. Orders placed today will ship from September 30th in the States and October 6th in the UK, while variants with free worldwide 3G connectivity are promised for early November. Continue reading →
As long as you’re with AT&T in the US or are willing to import and unlock one yourself, the most compelling feature of the Moto X is that you can customise its external appearance using the Moto Maker tool. While the range of colour choices sparked much argument among orange enthusiasts, one option that is rather unique is that of a wooden backing. This wasn’t available at launch as Motorola was still finalising the exact tones and materials, but the ever-reliable Evleaks has posted an image of the four woods that will be available later this year. Choosing one over a polycarbonate shell will add a $50 premium to the cost of the device, though it is also reported that the baseline handset cost will drop to $100 with a 2 year contract later in Q4.
Source Evleaks
Want a Nintendo 3DS that doesn’t have the 3D or the hinge? Well, Nintendo has you covered. The 2DS is here October 12th for $129.99 and is also a wedge. A WEDGE.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAExBTWIp3M&feature=youtu.be]Source Businesswire
Via The Verge
The Nexus 4 may be getting slightly long in the tooth now as it approaches its first birthday, but it’s still pretty powerful and boasting the very latest version of Android with continued prompt updates from Google. Our own Neil Thomas loved it when he reviewed it earlier this year, and now the phone – which was already mindblowingly cheap at launch – has received a price cut on Google’s Play Store, presumably in preparation for the impending release of its successor. The 8GB model, previously £239, is now just £159, and the 16GB variant, formerly £279, is now just £199. While neither variant sports LTE connectivity, there is absolutely no question that the best mid-market Android phone you could buy is now the best cheap Android phone the world has ever seen. Providing you’re willing to accept that there’s a new one pretty much right around the corner (and let’s face it, if that’s beyond you then you should avoid technology at all costs) then, like me, you’ll be sorely tempted.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some money to find.
Source Google Play
Digixav 