Cool But Probably Denied iPhone 5 Features

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Hi Tech Gadgets
iPhone 5 mock-up

iPhone 5 mock-up

By now, Apple has probably already finished the final specifications of its iPhone 5. Although they are very mum on the features, we can expect only the best from them. They are, after all, one of the leading giants in the electronic devices industry.

While there has been lots of debate as to what Apple has added in the iPhone 5, there can be no mistaking that there are some features which are clearly out of the question. Some are against Apple’s standards and some are just outright ridiculous. Find out what some of these are by reading the article.

First in the list is the micro HDMI port. Just last month, March 2011, Apple announced that their devices would be able to support 720p and 1080p video output. This is good and all but the problem is that you need to use Apple’s own Digital AV to make it possible. This converter/extender costs around $40 which is very bulky when you compare it to the micro HDMI port that utilizes an inexpensive yet efficient $5 cable. Scratch this feature of the list because Apple does not look like making adjustments at the moment.

Second is the presence of removable batteries. While other smart phones have no problems implementing this, Apple is not concerned about this at all. They are sticking to their design which, for them, makes their devices lightweight and portable. This does not seem to bother consumers though except for those which have problems powering up the device. In this case, the only solution would be to send the phone for repair unlike others where you can just replace the battery if it was indeed the problem.

Next on the list is the expandable memory. Yes, if you were hoping this would be available, sorry to disappoint you. Currently, Apple has no plans of introducing SD card slots in the iPhone 5. For whatever reason it may be, let us at least hope that they improve the phone memory so as to meet the memory demands of today.

Last on the list is the world famous issue regarding Flash support. The iPhone 5, as expected, will still not be able to support Flash. Although it is not surprising, it is still disappointing to a vast majority of consumers who can do nothing but complain. The entire web is clearly dependent on Flash. There are some sites which offer alternative viewing for iPhone users but it will never be the same without Flash. Either way, Apple will never allow Flash as long as they are selling games via iTunes.

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LG Optimus 2

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Hi Tech Gadgets

LG Optimus 2

LG Optimus 2

Mobile phones are getting more and more powerful all the time. Last year we saw just how fast phones such as the iPhone 4 and the Blackberry Torch could operate, but this week things got even faster with the release in the UK of the world’s first ever dual core mobile phone, the Optimus 2, from Korean telecommunications company LG.

The phone features a Tegra 2 system that not only runs the phone ridiculously fast but also to keep the power down and the phone has proved extremely popular with customers already. Various retailers have announced that sales that were beyond their expectations and Data Select announced that their first stock has sold out, this is all since the release last Saturday as well. Just what is the fuss all about though?

Well, the phone is not the best looking phone on the market and looks a little cheap to be honest but on the other hand it’s basic, safe design means that there are plenty of uglier phones out there. It must be in other areas that the phone has attracted all this positive attention then and the ease of use is unbelievable. The speed of the processor and the simplicity of the software (in terms of use rather that quality) means that whatever your doing is easy, quick and satisfying. E mails, social networking, or downloading apps are all taken care of by LG and Tegra so you do not have to worry.

The processor does not just mean faster applications though, the phone also comes with HD video playback and the dual core means that this is better on the Optimus 2X than it is on any other phone, including the Samsung Galaxy S II and the HTC Desire HD. The phone is not perfect but considering it is LG’s first attempt- as well as being the mobile phone world’s first attempt at a dual core phone they have achieved remarkable results.

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Blackberry Torch

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Hi Tech Gadgets
Blackberry Torch

Blackberry Torch

In the past, the words that first came to one’s mind when thinking of the Blackberry range of phones from Research in Motion were along the lines of efficient, businesslike, perhaps even bland.

Blackberry has always performed extremely well in the mobile phone market but they have often been thought of as corporate tools. You would have your Blackberry for the office and another, more fun phone for when you are at home.

RIM, a Canadian electronics company, saw a problem with this as they were missing out on a large and lucrative chunk of the mobile market. Over the last year the company have been making a concerted effort to bring out a more consumer driven approach, to get young people interested in their handsets and make their phones more fun.

This drive towards the consumer market has been massive success for the range, with sales showing that they are one of the fastest growing brands in terms of selling to young people. It has not taken Blackberry long to change its image and one of the reasons has been the release and success of Blackberry Torch.

The Torch is Blackberry’s rival to phones like the iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S and Nokia N8, a phone that is not just packed full of everything you would expect from a Blackberry, but has so much more. The usual suspects are there; peerless e-mailing and messaging software. Messaging that is free between other Blackberry users at that. But also you get everything that the other phones have – the latest social networking applications, a 5 megapixel camera, a brilliant touchscreen – but still with Blackberry’s QWERTY keyboard to slide out.

The Torch is trying to give you the best of both worlds. Although the phone is not perfect and it will be some time before Blackberry rivals iPhone and Android for the quality and quantity of apps, the Torch is a huge step in the right direction and leaves you wondering what RIM have up their sleeve next.

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Motorola Defy

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Hi Tech Gadgets

Motorola Defy

Motorola Defy

Motorola is still trying to gain more market share and become profitable (they ended 2009 with 150 million in losses), and last year’s Droid was a step in the right direction. To try and get into yet another market niche, Motorola has released the Defy – a ruggedized all touch smartphone, which has very nice specs and can withstand quite a lot more abuse than your usual slate.

First of all, the exterior of the Motorola Defy has been reinforced from all sides. On the front, covering the 3.7 inch 480×854 touch screen, you have the best glass possible – Gorilla glass, which is very scratch resistant and isn’t afraid of drops (it sure won’t shatter on impact, like the glass on older and cheaper phones). Around the phone sits a rubber coating that helps make the phone water resistant and absorbs the shocks when its hit or dropped. And finally, on the back you have a reinforced plastic door that covers the battery and other internals. Funnily, the camera and flash don’t have any protection and seem pretty easy to scratch, but maybe that’s only the appearance and it’s really Gorilla glass that covers them, as well.

Aside from the ruggedized body, the Motorola Defy has pretty standard specs for a modern phone. It runs on a 800 MHz processor, and has 512 MB of RAM, which really helps make the phone fast and smooth. It runs on Android 2.1, but an update to 2.2 is imminent, seeing as almost all other Motorola phones got one. The phone has 2 GB of built in memory, which you can easily extend using the external microSD card slot. Other than that, the phone has HSPA support (7.2 Mbps download and 2.0 Mbps upload), GPS, Wifi b/g/n, accelerometer and magnetometer, a big 1540 mAh battery and other useful things.

The Defy is a pretty good phone for those who want to use it outdoors, and should definitely hold up to much more abuse than other similarly specced phones. The drawback is the bigger overall size, but people who buy the phone already know that they have to make this trade-off.

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Flip Ultra HD Video Camera

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Hi Tech Gadgets

Flip Ultra HD 3rd Edition

Flip Ultra HD 3rd Edition

The new Flip Ultra HD video camera is the ultimate point and click video camcorder. This new 3rd generation Flip Ultra HD as the name suggests, can shoot video in 720p at 50fps. Very impressive for such a small gadget. It has a useful 8GB of internal memory which will let you record up to 2 hours worth of video at the devices highest setting. The Flip Ultra has build-in image stabilization with really helps with camera shake and produces silky smooth video even when used in say a moving vehicle or first person sports shots.

Playback of your videos files on the Flip Ultra HD is easy too. You can plug it directly into you HDTV via the HDMI port on the device or if you have a newer TV, plug the Flip Ultra HD into you TV’s USB port and watch your recordings. As with all the Flip products, the Ultra HD come with the FlipShare software on the camcorder itself. So when you first plug the device into your PC or Mac, it should auto install the software to your computers. The FlipShare software makes it easy to edit, organize and share your videos via YouTube, Facebook and twitter etc or export the video file to a more professional video suite.

All in all, if you are looking for an inexpensive, ultra portable, high quality and simple to use video camera, you cant go wrong with the Flip Ultra HD.

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Intel’s New 510 Series SSD Utilises 6Gbps SATA III

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Hi Tech Gadgets

Intel's 510 Series SSD

Intel's 510 Series SSD

Intel has released their latest line of SSD (Solid State Drive), the 510 series. Using the new 6Gbps SATA III interface, the Intel’s New 510 Series SSD has a theoretical throughput speed of, well 6Gbps – pretty speedy indeed. You will need a motherboard with the latest chipsets to take full advantage of the new SATA III speeds like Intel’s new ‘Cougar Point’ chipset.

With this new 510 series, you can expect sequential read speeds of 500MB/s and write speeds of about 315MB/s for the larger capacity drives which is a significant increase over the older Intel X25-M and X18-M SSD SATA II models. On release, Intel will unleash two models. A 250GB capacity model priced at $584 and a cheaper 120GB model which come in at around $284. The Intel 510 Series SSD also uses Intel’s new 34-nm NAND flash memory.

With these size SSD, most people will use them in a dual drive system. You use the SDD to store your operating system and programs for ultra fast performance, and use a standard hard drive to store your larger data, photos and videos files etc.

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Google TV

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Hi Tech Gadgets
Google TV

Google TV

Google’s latest product, Google TV, will be attempting to change the way viewers watch television this fall by integrating live TV and the internet. In fact, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, stated that he believes that it will be arriving in households before the end of September. So what can we expect from Google’s latest software?

First, the basics. Google TV operates on set top boxes with the ability to connect via Wi-Fi or through standard cable. It also has a standard QWERTY keyboard and a mouse/pointing device. Google has already partnered with online TV technology innovators like Rovi and Jinni as well as Sony, Intel and Logitech to have it built into their devices. Anyway, on to the functions.

Features

Google TV’s initial selling point is it’s ability to search for shows through live TV and the internet via the remote or keyboard. Simply typing in the name of a show gives you listings for future programs on any channel and gives you the option to record (provided you have a DVR) or stream those shows on Hulu or Amazon. If that’s not enough, you can even find missed clips of shows through this search function.

Another benefit it currently provides is that it allows users to multitask their TV and internet needs onto one monitor. You can watch a TV show in one corner of the screen while using the rest to browse the web.

One of it’s potentially cooler sub-features is it’s ability to automatically translate subtitles using Google’s language services. This allows you to instantaneous create subtitles translated from the broadcast language to whichever other language you’d prefer (and that Google supports).

Another nice feature is that the Android phone can be used as a remote. You can actually speak commands to your TV like “The Office” and the appropriate show will come on. Also, since it’s already built into Android, existing Android apps in (Android) Marketplace will work on Google TV without porting.

The Future for Google TV

Google has attempted to assist developers using Google Developer Tools in constructing the next generation of Google TV applications (apps) by opening it up to developers with an upcoming SDK and API release. Developers can also optimize their websites for Google TV.

By having Google TV to be open source through Google’s developing tools and combining that with Android market place, Google hopes to be the first true incarnation of web TV.

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Apple iPhone 4 Reception Problems

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Hi Tech Gadgets
Apple iPhone 4

Apple iPhone 4

Apple is facing a barrage of criticisms from many customers and tech gurus alike regarding the new iPhone 4. Many people have been reporting signal strength lost when the iPhone 4 is held in a certain way with lose in audio quality or even worse, calls being dropped altogether!

Well handled Steve Jobs

iPhone 4 customers were outraged when Apples CEO Steve Jobs was quoted saying ‘don’t hold it that way’ as a fix for the design flaw. Below is a video for the iPhone 4 problems in action.

iPhone 4 Fix

Apple have after some persuasion admitted there is a problem with the iPhone 4 saying the glitch is with the way the phones software calculates the signal bars on the screen. Hmmm Anyway, their will be releasing a software fix very shortly so we will just have to wait and see….

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