by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Exclusive: Three confirm Nokia Lumia 900, no plans to stock device

A representative from Three UK has confirmed to Digixav that the network are not planning to carry the Nokia Lumia 900, a rumoured device that is expected to be announced next week at CES in Las Vegas. When we asked on Twitter about the carrier’s upcoming release of the mid-range Lumia 710, no new details were available. When we enquired about the prospects of the leaked 900 however, the representative appeared to confirm that the device is real and that the network have passed on the opportunity to stock it. This news, along with a similar Twitter leak by Swisscom late last year seem to provide strong evidence that the 900 is right around the corner.

See Three’s leak below or on Twitter.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

The Poll: Will RIM exist in 2013?

Last time, we asked who actually uses Google+. We had a remarkable 50/50 split in the results with all who responded having a knowledge of the service.

Today, spurred on by their Biggest Flop award and our general hatred of them, we ask if Research In Motion, the failing makers of BlackBerry devices, will still exist this time next year.

by James Hardy

Technophobia: Stop changing Facebook!

Technophobia is a column by James Hardy. Views expressed are not necessarily those of Digixav.

So now, apparently, we have to make a timeline of our lives on Facebook. Well no, Mark Zuckerberg, contrary to your belief, most people that use Facebook don’t spend their whole lives on it. Yes, there may be a select few that do in fact have Facebook as their home page, and spend ten hours each day constantly refreshing their news feed waiting for one of their nine hundred friends to write some bullshit about their ex.

Which brings me onto another point: Facebook statuses. Only post statuses which most of your friends will be able to understand. These are genuine examples from some of my Facebook friends.

OMG that was actually soo funny hahahahaha
Why waste your breath apologising? #Idiot.
You couldn’t trust him but you never said no.
Fucking twat. Why would u do that?
Ur 2 good 4 him hun. Dont take his shit.

Really? Maybe to two or three of your friends these will make perfect sense. Who knows, you could be a comical genius. But 95% of your friends will have no clue as to what is going on. Don’t bother. Save your breath.
Don’t get arthritis. Just text the friends that will understand!

This leads (sort of) on to my next point. Facebook ‘friends’. I think I have added perhaps a dozen people on Facebook. Everyone else has added me. Because to be honest, I can’t be arsed. I don’t use facebook all that much, at least not compared to some. I have 200 friends. This is a tiny amount compared to most of my friends. I kid you not, the person who wrote the first status above has over 1000 friends. One thousand friends! That is quite frankly, ridiculous. Nobody knows a thousand proper friends. It is just a lie. If I meet someone while on holiday in Mongolia for a few minutes, and add them on Facebook, they are not my friend. Life doesn’t work like that! Having thousands of Facebook friends doesn’t necessarily make you popular.

In that respect, I like Google+. They have circles set up for acquaintances, friends and family. And really, most of your facebook friends would should go in acquaintances. You could have 1000 acquaintances. You don’t have 1000 friends.

Note: That was sort of bullshit. I don’t even use Google+. I just know they have acquaintances.

Anyhoo, back to the main point. I have looked at someone’s profile with the timeline thing. It is confusing! As human beings, we do not like change. That is a fact. So if, Mark Zuckerberg, you change Facebook every month, people are going to be pissed off. Stop doing it!

And finally, to people who aren’t on Facebook. I don’t think that you are some strange, messed up people. I salute you. You are the black sheep. You have resisted Mark Zuckerberg’s attempts to get the whole world on Facebook.

Unlike the rest of us. The Zuckerzombies.

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook!

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

The Digixav Awards 2011

2012 is now here and Digixav’s first calendar year on the internet has come to an end. We decided that there was only one way to celebrate and that would be to give out some virtual awards to the techy things that have made this year great.

Continue reading →

by Henry Hunt

What we’re looking forward to in 2012

2011 is nearly over and we can all agree that it has been pretty good for tech. Nokia’s credibility returned and people began to talk to their phones. We all know, however, that 2012 can be epic. Here is what we want from the year ahead.

Windows 8

We know it’s coming in 2012 with a beta as early as January. I love the Metro UI on my phone and I am looking forward to seeing it on both tablets and computers, and not to forget Windows Phone 8 that is rumoured to be coming in the third quarter of next year.

Nokia’s Windows 8 tablet

Following straight on from Windows 8 comes the Nokia tablet that Paul Ansellem, GM of Nokia France, assured us would be available by June. Due to the recent partnership between Nokia and Microsoft, the ‘Lumia Tab’ would likely be the first Windows 8 tablet so this inadvertent announcement could give us information as to the release date of Redmond’s next OS. Plus, if it looks anything like an enlarged Lumia 800 as My Nokia Blog’s mockup suggested, the DX offices will be full of productive happy bunnies.

Nokia Lumia 900

Speaking with a French paper, Ansellem said that the fantastic Lumia 800 was like the BMW 5 series. Great, but a 7 series is better. Numerous leaks have suggested that it will be an 800 with a larger screen, the Lumia 900. The 800 is a great phone but in my opinion a 4.3 inch device with a high resolution and HSPA+ is what the market needs. I don’t give a damn about LTE because I hate Ofcom.

The inevitable rise of Windows Phone 7

With the number of apps on the Marketplace recently having broken the 50,000 barrier, it’s no surprise that our favourite OS Windows Phone 7 is growing. Unfortunately it is not yet at the same level as iOS or Android, but hopefully in the next 12 months Microsoft will catch up to their competitors and Nokia will produce some awesome handsets and WP will eat it’s way into the market.

Apple without Steve

With Steve Jobs having passed on earlier in the year, we still are not sure as to how Apple are going to cope without him. Even though Steve will have planned ahead before his passing, Tim Cook is having to fill a big gap that was left by the father of the modern computer.

RIM

I am sure that everyone is looking forward to the final nail in RIM’s airtight coffin which is most likely going to come in the coming year. So yeah. Death to RIM.

webOS goes open source

Since Leo Apotheker won the idiot of the year award, people have been wondering whether webOS was dead or not after HP announced they were discontinuing its use in their products. However at the beginning of  December, it was announced that HP would be making it open source, in the coming year we are looking forward to manufacturers creating webOS devices.

HTC going for quality over quantity

Apparently HTC are going to completely change their marketing philosophy and go for quality over quantity. Hopefully in the next year we will see something good come from the Taiwanese company instead of such abominations as the HTC Sensation, Sensation XE and Sensation XL. DEATH TO SENSE.

That is all.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

App of the week: Flipboard

This week’s app of the week is Flipboard.

Flipboard is a fantastic app that lets you add whatever content you desire to a virtual ‘social magazine’. Complete with Facebook and Twitter integration, it is more than a conventional RSS reader as it corroborates your social feeds and go-to websites in one place with a beautiful flipping interface. A free account will sync your feeds across devices, and a recent update allowed the app to work on iPhone and iPod touch. Take a look at what Flipboard themselves have to say about it in the video below.

Flipboard is now my only source for news and social updates. The app is free and gloriously ad-free and I would recommend it to anyone with an iDevice. Even Apple love it, having made it their iPad app of the year. It might also be in the running for a more prestigious award from a certain website this weekend…

Flipboard, iOS, Free
Download from the App Store or visit the website

by Henry Hunt

WP7 AOTW: Face Swap

This weeks WP7 AOTW is Face Swap by Microsoft Research.

This app, to put it simply, swaps two people’s faces. There is no practical purpose to this app as it is just to waste time. To use this app, you simply select a photo in your photo albums and the app automatically finds the faces in the image. You then proceed to select which faces to swap and the app does all the rest. You can then proceed to laugh at the results.

Simples.

Face Swap, Windows Phone 7, Free

Download from the Marketplace

by Henry Hunt

Why I hate RIM

In the tech world there is a large amount of hate towards Research In Motion, the makers of such pieces of shit such as the BlackBerry PlayBook and the Bold 9900. I hate RIM, as do most of my colleagues, for a number of good reasons. They are the company that everyone loves to hate and they don’t do a lot to help themselves.

Continue reading →

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

iOS AOTW: iTunes 12 Days of Christmas

This week’s iOS AOTW is a simple one – Apple’s own 12 Days of Christmas app.

It is the most wonderful time of the year and therefore Apple’s annual European promotion to give away a new free thing every day from December 26th to January 6th has returned. Grab the app now to get notifications of each gift, with something sure to take your fancy. Last year we got Mirror’s Edge, a Charlie Chaplin film and the amazing Father Ted Christmas special to go with the Kings of Leon and Kylie Minogue, so the good must surely balance out the bad this year as well. Although not all the gifts may be to your tastes, remember Apple don’t have to do this and something good will surely pop up.

Merry Christmas from all at Digixav

iTunes 12 Days of Christmas, iOS, Free

Download from the App Store

by Henry Hunt

WP7 AOTW: YouTube Download

This week’s  Windows Phone app of the week is YouTube Download.

This app is like Ronseal. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It allows you to download HD videos on to your phone from YouTube. To download a video all you need to do is to search for the video in question and press download. It then gets added to your download queue. You can even choose what quality the video downloads in. One of the best things about this app is that the videos you have downloaded are then available in the music and video hub along with all your other audiovisual content to ensure that all your media remains centralised as Microsoft intended.

YouTube Download, Windows Phone 7, 79p

Download from the Marketplace