Huawei becomes “official smartphone partner” of Arsenal football club

Some very rich men are about to be handed a load of free mobile phones, thanks to a deal between Huawei and Arsenal to declare the smartphone maker the official tech partner of the London club. The deal starts now and lasts until the end of the 15/16 session, and will see Arsenal players in Huawei ads and more cross-promotional marketing fun.

Here are some men who have temporarily left their iPhones in the dressing room:

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Bizarre deal. Here’s the thing:

Huawei and Arsenal Announce Global Partnership

Premier League Club Chooses Huawei as Official Smartphone Partner

[London, United Kingdom, 20 January 2014]Huawei, the leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, and Arsenal Football Club today announced a new partnership, which will see the telecommunications specialist become the Official Smartphone Partner of the north London club on a global basis.

Read the full article »

by  /  January 20, 2014  /  Posted in: Handsets, News, Opinion

Augmented reality virtual pet game Animin bringing CG poo to a table near you

Next week’s Toy Fair will see the launch of Animin, a modern take on the virtual pet phenomenon that uses augmented reality to project your little animal friends out into the real world via a smartphone or tablet display. The game is your classic virtual pet kind of thing, only they “exist” in the real world as graphics overlaid atop your phone or tablet’s view of your surroundings.

They evolve and get sick as virtual pets tend to do, but seeing as this is 2014 the app also includes voice recognition and instant messaging integration, making it a more social take on the pretend veterinarian genre. Here’s what it’ll be like:

animin-photo

A small computer animal would appear to have done a poo on the table. We think children might therefore like this sort of thing quite a lot, as they tend to enjoy anything that involves poo, real or fictional, and computer animals are almost as popular.

That was a video of fashionable people liking it. So if they like it, unfashionable people like us will surely like it too. Animin launches later this year.

by  /  January 17, 2014  /  Posted in: Handsets, News, Opinion, Tablets

Sony Xperia E1 — 4-inch display and 100 decibel speaker output

Sony’s got another one. The Xperia E1 is aimed at the cheaper end of the market, offering a 4-inch display running at 480 x 800 resolution, powered by a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8210 clocked at 1.2GHz. Sony’s selling this one as being for music fans, as its onboard speaker is apparently able to output music at up to 100 decibels.

That won’t be annoying. Here’s the chunky little loudmouth:

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No mention’s been made on price yet, but Sony’s claim of performance and class compares it with phones costing less than 175 euros at launch, so it ought to be lower than that. Which equates to about £145. Here’s the thing:

Introducing Xperia E1 – simply the best smartphone in its class

Incredible music with a super-clear 100dB speaker and 30 days free access to millions of songs through the Sony Entertainment Network2

Blaze through apps and the internet with the fastest processor in its class and fast data speeds

Experience all of this through the bright and clear 4” WVGA display encapsulated in the latest Sony design

14th January 2014, London, UK – Sony Mobile Communications (“Sony Mobile”) today introduces Xperia E1, a new Android smartphone that brings Sony’s leading audio technologies together with expertise in display, design, performance and content to create a smartphone independently recognised as the “best smartphone in its class”.

Read the full article »

2 Comments by  /  January 14, 2014  /  Posted in: Handsets, News

Moto X UK launch confirmed for February 1st

Motorola UK has today revealed a plan to bring the Moto X to the UK, with the phone set to launch here through Phones 4U, Carphone Warehouse, Amazon, Techdata and via network O2 next month. Phones 4U will have a white model, but apart from that there’s no mention of the advanced customisation options the US had. Shame.

Moto X features a 4.7-inch 720p display, 4G connectivity, a 2200mAh capacity battery and it’s all powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro with 2GB of RAM and a 10MP camera. Not bad, but the SIM-free price is a rather extreme £380…

moto-x-uk

…and as much as we admire the game-changing Moto G, we’re not sure the Motorola brand has been resuscitated enough to start charging £380 for slightly ageing hardware. Not yet. Here’s the thing:

Moto X. Just Talk, it responds.

LONDON, 14th January, 2014 – Meet Moto X™ by Motorola, the ultimate wingman, because your smartphone should work for you – not the other way around. Moto X represents the best of Motorola and Google, and it’s coming to the UK.

Moto X has a unique curved back, designed to fit your hand. Talk to Moto X and it learns your voice. With Google Now, it tells you what you need to know – even when you’re not touching it. With two flicks of your wrist, Moto X becomes your camera and captures the shots you used to miss. All of this coupled with its all-day battery means that Moto X is ready when you are.

Read the full article »

by  /  January 14, 2014  /  Posted in: Handsets, News

UK Moto G Android 4.4.2 update starts “today”

*Checks for update*

According to Motorola UK, the hot new sensation on the block ought to be seeing its KitKat upgrade arrive from today, with the company…

*Checks for update*

…announcing that the Moto G 4.4.2 update ought to start hitting people’s phones from today. But, it says the process will take a week before it trickles out to everyone, so it might be a while before you’re hooked up with the OTA notification.

*Checks for update*

Here’s the thing from Motorola:

Android KitKat Comes to Moto G in the UK – Our KitKat family is expanding! When we launched Moto G to the UK market in November 2013, we committed to delivering Android, KitKat, to devices by early 2014. We’re thrilled to start delivering on that promise. Over the next week we are officially rolling out Android 4.4.2 to Moto G phones – starting today! This latest version of Android brings some cool new features, including printing emails and photos from your phone.

MOTO-G-KITKAT-1

WHY AM I ALWAYS THE LAST IN LINE?

MOTO-G-KITKAT-2

COME ON IT’S NOT FAIR.

MOTO-G-KITKAT-3

PLEASE MAKE IT COME ON MY TELEPHONE MOTOROLA I AM NICE ABOUT YOU NOWADAYS.

7 Comments by  /  January 13, 2014  /  Posted in: Firmware, Handsets, News

Xperia Z1 Compact launching in January at Phones 4U, free speaker bundled in too

Phones 4U appears to have grabbed a short exclusive on selling the new Xperia Z1 Compact in the UK, claiming it’ll be ready to sell the phone in January — earlier than the February worldwide launch date offered by Sony earlier today. Plus, if you pre-order one from Phones 4U now, you can get a wireless speaker that, at some point in the product’s lifecycle, was deemed to be worth £119.

The phone shop wants £29 a month on its cheapest contract in return for the Z1 Compact, which gives buyers a Vodafone SIM coming with 600 minutes and 500MB of data.

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Not bad, not great, but we like the idea of having that much POWER in a smaller chassis. Check it out over at P4U if you’re similarly curious.

by  /  January 7, 2014  /  Posted in: Deals, Handsets, News

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact – Snapdragon 800 on a 4.3-inch display

Finally, one of the hardware makers has come up with a “mini” model of one of their flagship phones that doesn’t compromise at all on specs. The Xperia Z1 Compact comes with a 2.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8974 chipset, otherwise known as the Snapdragon 800, plus 2GB of RAM. There’s nothing compact about that, only the display has been scaled down, offering a 4.3-inch screen running at 1280×720 resolution.

The Z1 Compact also features the same stonking camera sensor as the full-size Z1, coming with a 20.7megapixel imaging system. The only minor change is the battery capacity, which sees the Compact’s battery reduced to 2,300mAh size. Apart from that…

xperia-z1-compact

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…it’s a winner for anyone not after a monstrous rectangle of a phone. And look, that pink one’s got your name engraved on it. Sony says it’ll launch around the world from February. Here’s the thing:

Sony introduces Xperia™ Z1 Compact – the world’s best premium compact smartphone

Get all the best of Sony’s Xperia Z1 in a pocket-friendly compact smartphone

Stylish and durable waterproof2 design in a range of four vibrant colours – white, black, pink and lime

The world’s best camera in a compact smartphone3 with Sony’s proven camera technologies: Award-winning “G Lens”, 20.7 MP “Exmor RS for mobile” CMOS image sensor and “BIONZ for mobile” image processing engine

Read the full article »

1 Comment by  /  January 7, 2014  /  Posted in: Handsets, News

STATS: Android and Windows Phone share up in the UK, iOS down

Analyst Kantar Worldpanel has released its latest set of data covering the UK’s smartphone OS sales situation, showing that the Android user percentage continues to rise over here, with Google’s OS now powering well over half of all smartphones sold in the UK.

The numbers, for the three months ending in November of 2013, show that Apple’s iOS smartphone share is down as a result of Android’s continuing explosion, and…

android-os-share-uk

…in a rather embarrassing development for BlackBerry, Microsoft’s Windows Phone has blown past it to take third place in the smartphone OS market share war, doubling WP’s share in the space of a year to take a newly respectable 10 per cent of all smartphone sales in the UK.

Meanwhile, Kantar says 86% of all mobiles sold during that three month period were “smart” models. Read more over at Kantar.

2 Comments by  /  January 6, 2014  /  Posted in: Handsets, News, Opinion, Tablets

Sonic Racing Transformed out now on Android

Sega’s transition to mobile developer continues, with a version of its well-received home console Mario Kart clone Sonic Racing Transformed arriving on Android today. For £2.99 you get to race 10 characters around tracks inspired by Sega games of old, with the game’s Google Play listing claiming multiplayer racing is “coming soon” too.

We can’t help but be baffled by this continuing Sega retro fascination, as the average 12-year-old gamer of 2014 won’t have the slightest clue what some of the tracks and music are referring to. Still, here it is:

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Looks nice enough, and some people we trust liked it on console, but we’re officially too old to be bothering with it. Check Sonic Racing Transformed out here if you’re young and impressed by colours.

1 Comment by  /  January 3, 2014  /  Posted in: Apps, Games, News, Opinion

BEST DEALS: TalkTalk SIM and 4GB data for £12 a month

We’ve been looking for something like this for a while. TalkTalk Mobile uses the Vodafone network to provide its coverage, so if you, like us, live somewhere where Vodafone is your only viable mobile network option, this is a great SIM-only deal.

For £12 a month you can have a TalkTalk SIM offering unlimited minutes and texts, plus a stonking 4GB mobile data allowance. Or if that’s perhaps a bit much there’s also a cheaper £6 option with 500 minutes and 1GB of data. Both of those are 12-month contracts, but you can also pay a bit more to have the same allowances on a rolling one month basis.

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Those are about the best we can find out there right now. These deals are apparently only available online, so check them out over at TalkTalk.

Stuff one of those in your Moto G and laugh at the £36 a month crowd.

3 Comments by  /  December 31, 2013  /  Posted in: Deals, Handsets, News
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