21 Sept 2012

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Today a friend wanted some advice on choosing a tablet. The main purpose would just be surfing the net. Her budget was around £200 which puts the iPad out of the equation. So I suggested an Android powered tablet would be ideal as there are a few in that price range. Of course the first tablet to come to my mind was the Google Nexus 7. Another option was the Galaxy Tab2 7.0 Wifi 8GB (£199.99).

While doing some research, I realised that I had not blogged about the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. This tablet which runs on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, features a 10.1" crystal clear screen (compared to 9.7" on the iPad) and is powered by a 1.4GHz Exynos Quad-Core Processor. However, what makes this tablet unique is it's S Pen stylus with intuitive input. You can take notes or draw in S Note, or use Adobe® Photoshop Touch (which comes pre-installed) to touch up your images. If you a mathematician you will love the Galaxy Note 10.1. Hand written formulas will be cleaned up in an instant via Formula Match.


The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with 2 cameras: in the rear is a 5 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with flash and a 1.9 Megapixel camera in the front.

Another great feature is the ability to split the screen into two, so you can multitask. Browse a site on one page and take notes on the other side.

With the Easy Phone Sync you can still use iTunes to manage music, videos and podcasts, then sync to your Galaxy Note 10.1. They are also offering WIRED magazine's Note Edition allows for FREE until January 2013. For those who like playing games on their tablet, there a few games you can play with the S pen. Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is available for FREE for a limited time exclusively for all customers of this new tablet, (download from Samsung Apps).

Other specs: 2GB RAM; 16MB Flash memory. It weighs 597g (compared to the iPad which weighs 652 g/662 g).

The Galaxy Note 10.1 WiFi 16GB costs £ 399 (with free delivery) from the Samsung UK online store.

19 Sept 2012

The durable Xperia go

In between the excitement of the launch of the Samsung SIII, the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Apple iPhone 5, the launch of new phones by Sony went almost unnoticed.


Well, they have come out with a really durable phone they call the (not very exciting) Xperia go. However, the phone has some great features. They claim that the phone which has a scratch-resistant 3.5" display, has the highest water and dust resistance of any smart phone available. Most durable phones are usually quite thick, but the go is just 9.8 mm thick and weighs 110 g.

It runs on Google Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and is powered by a 1 GHz NovaThor™ U8500 Dual-core processor. It has a Talk time of up to 6 hours and 30 minutes and standby time of up to 520 hours (Wow! if true).

It comes with 5 a MP camera with auto focus, 16x digital zoom and LED flash. Yes, it takes HD videos (720p) as well.

What I like is the fact that it has 8GB internal memory, 512 MB RAM, Flash memory: 8GB eMMC and expansion slot which can take a microSD of up to 32GB. Plus you get 50GB free cloud storage.

The Experia go is available in 3 colours and costs only £219.

6 Sept 2012

The Nokia Lumia 920 is here

First hands-on video of the new Nokia Lumia 920.

The Specs:

4.3-inch OLED screen with ClearBlack display
8-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash.
Dual Core Snapdragon S4 processor
Windows Phone 8 OS


Looks like Nokia is going back to their roots and what made them so successful in the first place - interchangeable shells.
However, the most innovative feature is the wireless charging.

3 Sept 2012

Samsung Galaxy Note II

Last week Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Note II at IFA 2012 in Berlin.

So what is different from the previous Galaxy Note? The Galaxy Note II has a slightly bigger screen (5.5” as compared to 5.3) HD Super AMOLED touchscreen.

It is powered by a 1.6GHz Quad-Core processor (the previous Note has a 1.4GHz dual core processor). Best of all the new Note runs on Android™ 4.1, Jelly Bean OS. Moreover, it comes in three memory options of 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB with an expandable micro SD memory slot.