Electricpig.co.uk - tech news fast!

Japanese cooling sprays: turning Japanese has never been so cool
Nokia Ovi Maps now available on Android and iOS: will it replace Google Maps?
Philips GoGear Muse 3: stroke the music, change the sound
How will the HP Ultrabook challenge the Apple MacBook Air and Acer UX21?
Tablet shipments fall by 28 percent, did we hit the tablet bubble?
Best Android apps of the week
BeBook Live review: Android features on a budget
Windows Phone 7 struggling, Mac OS Lion readied, and new MacBook Air: Lunchtime Lowdown
iDJ Live: iPad decks for under £80!
iOS 5 finally adds iPhone custom text tones

Japanese cooling sprays: turning Japanese has never been so cool

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 08:08 AM PDT

The Japanese have come up with a new way to cool down this summer: instant cool in a can. Just spray it on yourself, and it forms a foam that you can wrap around you. The foam will last an hour, which should be plenty of time, especially if this week is anything to go by.

There's also an ice spray – this forms a more diffuse pattern of what looks like pustules, fizzing on the skin like they're burning when actually they're chilling down to -9 degrees Celsius. See them both in action after the break.

All we need now is some sun.

Nokia Ovi Maps now available on Android and iOS: will it replace Google Maps?

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 07:28 AM PDT

Nokia's Ovi Maps have been a prized possession for its smartphones for years. Up until recently when Finnish giant struck a deal with Microsoft, Ovi Maps was limited to Nokia-only hardware. That changed when it was confirmed all manufacturers of Windows Phone hardware would be given access. What we didn't know was that Android and iOS would also be included. Now that Ovi Maps is available across all four platforms (Symbian, Windows Phone, Android, iOS) will it replace Google Maps?

First thing's first. Ovi Maps for iOS and Android is a web-only affair, powered by the HTML5 gem at m.maps.ovi.com. This mobile optimized website is your portal to all things Nokia mapping, delivering worldwide maps on the go for both driving and walking. After granting the browser GPS access, you'll be able to track your location no matter where the day may take you. In terms of advantages, iOS has the upper hand thanks to pinch-to-zoom support. On Android you'll need to press the zoom in and out buttons.

As exciting as the release of a mobile version of Ovi Maps for Android and iOS is, the question remains: can it replace Google Maps. For Android users we can answer that question with a simple no. iOS on the other hand is a different story. Google Maps for iOS is in dire need of an update (though there are alternate routes when using Google Maps on iOS 5 beta). Given the state of Google Maps for iOS, we'd say that web-based Ovi Maps is a viable alternative.

For iOS users looking for a new, free worldwide mapping solution look no further than Ovi Maps. Android users have been spoiled with a steady stream of updates to Google Maps and Google Navigation beta so Ovi Maps is not quite as compelling. However, if you're looking for a new route we recommend taking Ovi Maps for a spin at m.maps.ovi.com.

Philips GoGear Muse 3: stroke the music, change the sound

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 07:27 AM PDT

That’s right, the new Philips GoGear Muse 3 lets you adjust your music settings not with a graphic equaliser or by tweaking lots of meaningless numbers, but by moving your finger on the screen. Make the tune warmer, more powerful, or however you want it, depending on where your finger is. Cue hours of experimenting, trying to find the hot spot for every song in your library.

It's also packing a cool safety feature letting for protecting your hearing – read on for more.

The GoGear Muse 3 boasts two killer features that set it apart from the host of iPod wannabes: SoundPersonalisation and SafeSound. SoundPersonalisation lets you tweak the sound with a wave of your finger – a screen shows a word in each corner: Powerful, Warm, Sparkling, and Vocal. Waft your digit towards one to achieve that effect. We're yet to see it in action, so have to reserve judgement, but it's a cool idea, and about time someone brought something new to the MP3 player table.

SafeSound, meanwhile, is a failsafe for your ears. It constantly analyses the sound level, and alerts you if the volume and exposure could impact on your long term hearing. You can let it regulate the volume, or just tell you when it's getting harmful, if you want to live dangerously. It even shows daily and weekly overviews so you can change your listening habits accordingly.

There's an in-built speaker for playing tunes out loud, and the Muse plays nice with all the usual file formats, so FLAC and APE lossless, MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, etc. The 3.2-inch touchscreen is in 16:9, so perfect for movies, and there's a radio on board.

It comes in 8GB or 16GB flavours, plus you can expand storage with a microSD card. Look out for a review soon, when we'll be able to test these cool new features.

Out now | £109.99 (8GB), £139.99 (16GB) | Philips

How will the HP Ultrabook challenge the Apple MacBook Air and Acer UX21?

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 07:10 AM PDT

HP is reportedly ready to ship its MacBook Air competitor, the HP Ultrabook. After last month's D9 conference where CEO Leo Apotheker confirmed "there's a whole new product refresh coming out", anticipation for an ultra-slim HP laptop is at an all-time high. DigiTimes corroborated the story today by confirming two or more Ultrabooks are ready to ship. Can HP actually compete with the Acer UX21 and MacBook Air?

The world of ultra-slim laptops has eluded HP's product portfolio as of late. Brooke Crothers of Cnet noted the closest HP has ever gotten to an Ultrabook in recent years is the 0.8-inch Envy 13 which was discontinued. The HP Ultrabook will match the thickness of the Envy 13, compared to the 0.68 inches of the MacBook Air or 0.67 inches of the Acer UX21. If thickness alone determined a great product the Ultrabook would fall short. Thankfully this is only one facet of a great ultra portable.

Using power-efficient Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge processors, HP has outsourced Foxconn Electronics, the same company behind Apple's production. We're well aware that Apple's upcoming MacBook Air refresh will also include these chips, but remain uncertain over who will offer the faster clock speed. What we do know is that HP is targeting a price at less than £635 ($1,000 USD) for systems shipping this year.

At the end of the day the HP Ultrabook will be slightly thicker than the competition. Internal components will be nearly identical and ultimately the decision to choose between the Acer UX21 and HP Ultrabook may very well come down to who launches first. Acer has said it plans to release the UX21 by September of 2011. Meanwhile Apple is expected to launch its updated MacBook Air later this week.

If HP hopes to capture the interest of the Windows 7 crowd it will need to accomplish two goals. First, the pricing must be right on target. And second, HP must release the Ultrabook within the next 30 days. Microsoft's free Xbox 360 when purchasing a PC for college promotion will be a huge advantage for the ultra portable. Particularly when considering Apple is only offering a gift card for its App Stores.

Now that we've broken down what it will take for HP to compete with the MacBook Air and Acer UX21, we'd like to hear from you. What will it take for you to consider the Ultrabook over its competitors? Can specs alone win your business or will HP need to add some icing on the cake to garner your interest?

Tablet shipments fall by 28 percent, did we hit the tablet bubble?

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 06:28 AM PDT

The first quarter of 2011 was a rough patch for tablet sales. Following strong sales over the 2010 holiday season, the start of 2011 was very much a polar opposite. According to IDC, first quarter tablet shipments were down 28 percent sequentially, largely due to iPad shipments that were "well below expectations." Is this the first sign we're facing a tablet bubble or was Q1 2011 just a bump in the road?

Thinking back to the start of 2011 we recall a time fresh with iPad 2 rumors and Android tablet announcements. The year kicked off with more than 40 Android Honeycomb tablets announced at CES 2011. The first of which, the Motorola Xoom, would not be released until mid-February. Meanwhile in Apple's corner, the iPad 2 launched in early March. Consumer anticipation for both of these tablets clearly influenced demand in early 2011.

Early 2011 tablet shipments have taught us two important lessons. First, the market demands a cutting-edge product. Once the rumors and announcements begin to flood the Internet, the gateway is open and current devices are no longer in the lime light. The second lesson is that tablets are not like smartphones, impulse buyers are a scarcity. The simple fact that pricing of tablets competes with entry to mid-level laptops demands serious consideration when purchasing a tablet.

So did we just hit the tablet bubble? Not exactly. Consumers are simply smarter and doing more research instead of falling prey to impulse buys. When the iPad was released it was essentially a one-of-a-kind device, though plenty of tablets existed before it. In early 2011 we knew its replacement was coming alongside a full-scale Android tablet assault. The second half of 2011 will be nothing like the first.

IDC has raised its full-year shipment estimates to 53.5 million tablets, up from 50.4 million. The firm has high hopes for the iPad 2 and Android tablets. In fact, Android tablets were the only winners in the first quarter of 2011, growing by 8.2 points to 34 percent of total shipments. With an estimated 53.5 million tablets shipped in 2011 we are far from a tablet bubble. The first quarter of 2011 was a bump in the road and proof that the tablet market is not indestructible.

Best Android apps of the week

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT

Welcome to this week's Best Android apps round-up! As always, we've hand-picked the finest downloads for your Android smartphone, with a selection of games and apps to keep you entertained throughout the next seven days. If you’ve got an Android phone, or are just curious what’s new out there in app land, read on.

Snapping those lovely QR Codes using the excellent Barcode Scanner app is probably the quickest and easiest way to get these apps onto your phone's internal memory, but you can also click the title to achieve very much the same effect.

Fieldrunners HD

£1.87

Tower defence titles are so common on smartphones these days that it takes something truly amazing to stand out from the crowd – and in Fieldrunner HD's case, it's gorgeous high-res visuals, rock-solid presentation and polished gameplay. The game has already conquered hearts and gained significant critical acclaim on the iPhone, so it's little wonder that we've made this our first absolutely indispensable entry in this week's best Android apps run-down. Just ensure you're not too emotionally attached to your spare time before you download it.

Jessops Photo

Free

With many people choosing to leave their digital cameras at home and instead use their mobile phone for family snaps, we'd imagine that most of you have experienced the annoyance of having loads of great images on your Micro SD card but no quick and easy way of turning them into proper, physical photos. This handy application is here to provide a solution, as it allows you to upload your treasured snaps to Jessops' servers, where they print them off on professional-quality photo paper and mail them back to you – for a price, naturally. The app is relatively low on visual thrills but it works well enough, and saves you having to venture out to the shops in order to collect your embarrassing holiday shots.

F1 2011 Timing App Basic

Free

Seb Vettel may have this season sewn up tighter than Scrooge's purse strings, but that doesn't mean you can't get all excited about stats and lap times. This 'lite' version offers you the chance to gaze longingly at team and driver news, race data and full Championship results. All of this amazing info gets updated following each race, and if you want to take things to the next level you can upgrade to the premium version, which grants access to live sessions, including the real time 3D track positions of each car. You can also re-watch key moments via the replay facilities. The downside is that the premium pass will set you back £19.99, but if you're a dedicated F1 fan, you're likely to get your money's worth.

WipEout (Xperia Play exclusive)

£3.99

Way back in the dark, dim days of video gaming history (well, 1995, to be precise) Sony launched its PlayStation console alongside this futuristic racer. At the time it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen, combining exciting gameplay with polished 3D visuals and a pumping soundtrack which boasted the talents of Leftfield and The Chemical Brothers. Sadly, the latter element has been removed from this Xperia Play release due to tiresome licensing issues, but everything else has made the transition intact. Sony may be taking its sweet time with these PlayStation Pocket re-launches, but this is easily the best title to hit the service thus far.

NASA App

Free

With last week's space shuttle launch marking the final ride of the famous craft, now is a great time to download this official NASA application for your Android phone. While we could crack a weak joke about NASA being a bit pointless now that it has almost resigned itself to not flying men into space anymore, we'll resist the urge because the wealth of information, imagery and video contained with this download is incredibly humbling. You can literally spend hours sifting through mission logs, official photos and footage. A stunning achievement, and one that should be grabbed as soon as possible.

BeBook Live review: Android features on a budget

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 04:55 AM PDT

BeBook is best known for its e-readers, but now it's branching out into the world of tablets (isn't everyone nowadays?). As such, the BeBook Live is a super budget 7-inch offering that's taking tablets out of the polo-necked clutches of the Apple brigade, bringing them to the masses. We can't argue with the price, but is there anything else that'll aggravate you should you choose to spend? Read on and find out.

Design

First impressions count, and that's never truer than when taking a shiny new gadget out of the box. Because of its budget price, the BeBook Live has a plastic body rather than the glossy metal of the likes of the iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tab. We were initially turned off when faced with the plastic buttons, but fire it up and they're perfectly adequate, not being anywhere near as sticky as we feared. Having said that, the screen lock slider on the side does feel pretty flimsy.

The back has a matte finish, which again feels fairly cheap, but then again you can't expect too much at this price. The border is far chunkier than the HTC Flyer's too, giving it a much larger footprint, presumably to add the Home, Back, and Toolbar button.

So, not really a looker, but what about features?

Along the border you get an HDMI socket (though no cable supplied, to keep costs down), Mini USB port, microSD slot, and a headphone port. It's Wi-Fi only, too, so there's no 3G or GPS, and you'll need a hotspot to get online. Phone calls are out, unless you use Fring or Skype. There's also no rear camera, only a front-facing 2-megapixel offering, for video chats.

Screen

At 800 x 600 pixels, the 7-inch screen looks decidedly low res, and that's before you place it next to something more high end. You can make out the pixels making up even a small app icon on the main app screen, that's how obvious it is. So if it's gloriously detailed images and videos you want, it won't be ideal. Web pages tend to look washed out, and it's not great for reading text, with the white spaces looking blotchy.

Performance

It doesn't come with the Honeycomb version of Android either – what you get here is Froyo, a much earlier version that's not optimised for tablets. Using it is much like using a Froyo mobile, with the standard five home screens, though the large, low-res screen doesn't do it any favours. Froyo's starting to look a little ancient, but again, it's the price you pay for a budget tablet. But the 1GHz processor inside keeps things ticking along nicely enough.

You'll get about a day's moderate use from the battery, which isn't amazing, especially given the relatively low power of the device.

Extras

Android Market comes as standard, as well as Gmail and Google Maps apps, which don't come on all tablets at this price, though both are free to download. You can expand the memory up to 36GB (32GB on a microSD card, 4GB built in), and it comes with a 2GB microSD card in the box. And that's about it in terms of extras.

Verdict

The BeBook Live is hard to recommend. It's more expensive than an e-reader, with a battery that's nowhere near as good, and doesn't perform anywhere near a high end tablet, with no 3G and a low res screen. It's perfectly functional, but really, it doesn't do anything you can't get from your phone – in fact, chances are your mobile's running a newer version of Android than Froyo.

Tablets are still a relatively niche category, seeing as they're a completely superfluous luxury product. While we applaud companies like BeBook for trying to make them more affordable, the experience is so far removed that even the most generous of hearted would struggle to say it's succeeded.

Windows Phone 7 struggling, Mac OS Lion readied, and new MacBook Air: Lunchtime Lowdown

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 04:30 AM PDT

Lunch. The midpoint of the day. The meal between breakfast and dinner. Also time to graze on tech tidbits from the morning's goings on. Such as? Well today we've brought you Steve Ballmer admitting WP7 is struggling, news on the new MacBook Air, and developers being alerted of Mac OS Lion. It's a veritable feast of information.

Windows Phone 7 has gone from "very small to very small" – that's not us being snide, that's coming from Microsoft head honcho Steve Ballmer himself. Wow. Though it wasn't all bad; as you can imagine, he was keen to big up the relationship with Nokia, which is a bit like an ugly boy saying that his mum thinks he's handsome.

Apple has told developers to be ready for Mac OS X Lion. Looks like those rumours it'll drop this Thursday may not be far off – what better time to check our feature telling you everything you could want to know about it.

Is the forthcoming MacBook Air packing a backlit keyboard? It's rumoured to come later this month, and also rumoured to be bringing back the backlit, which we would welcome. Also rumoured? Thunderbolt, Intel's Sandy Bridge, and new high-speed flash memory. Here's hoping.

iOS5 has finally got custom text tones. Yes, we know the Nokia 3310 had them 11 years ago, but it didn't have pinch to zoom did it. You can also add custom tones for almost any alert.

iDJ Live: iPad decks for under £80!

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 03:43 AM PDT

The iPad has snuck into many a DJ booth around the country but now you can also use it at the heart of a dedicated set up. Pro-DJ kit maker Numark has released iDJ Live, an iPad dock with two tactile decks and a crossfader plus bass and treble controls.

Once you’ve docked your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch in the iDJ Live, you can use the physical controls to interact with Algoriddim’s djay app (59p on iPhone or £11.99 for iPad) or any other Core-MIDI-enabled app. It also comes with a custom audio cable to allow you to hook up to a sound system and monitor your mix with headphones. The iDJ Live is out now for £79 and you can see it in action on video if you click through…

Out now | £79 | Numark

iOS 5 finally adds iPhone custom text tones

Posted: 12 Jul 2011 03:07 AM PDT

Apple haters, you are quite right to chuckle at this one: the iPhone is finally getting custom text tones. Yes, a feature that was standard on the Nokia 3310, 11 years ago, will finally make it to Apple’s phone in iOS 5. In fact, iOS 5 Beta 3 introduces the ability to set custom sounds for almost every alert including new voicemails, email, sent mail, sent tweets, calendar alerts and reminders.

Of course, if you’re no stranger to an iPhone jailbreak, you’ve probably been setting custom alert sounds for ages. If not, this is a glorious day when we will finally be free from the yolk of Apple’s painfully limited selection. Hopefully this means events where a large number of iPhone owners are in attendance will no longer echo to the tedious sound of the default Tri-Tone text alert.

Out TBC | £free | Apple (via Techcrunch)

Made for Life

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Electricpig.co.uk - tech news fast!

Electricpig.co.uk - tech news fast!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Directories