mobile

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Moto X and Moto G available in the UK today, Moto 360 in October

Motorola unveiled the new generation Moto X and Moto G and you don't have to wait. They are already available in the US, but they've also arrived in Europe. Flipkart in India is also launching the new Moto G. The long-awaited Moto 360 smartwatch is available in the US but will come to the UK next month.

Here's the Motorola Moto X price in the UK, it's available at the newly arrived Motomaker with a basic back or a premium wood or leather back.

	Plastic	Leather/wood
16GB	£420	£440
32GB	£460	£480

The Motorola Moto G pricing scheme is simpler, the phone starts at £145 and is available today from Amazon UK. In India Flipkart is launching the Moto G today at INR 13,000 (for comparison purposes that works out to £132). There's no pricing info for the dual-SIM version yet.

The Moto X and Moto G will be launching in France next month too, at €520 and €190 respectively.

The Motorola Moto 360 will arrive in October to quite a few retailers – Amazon, Tesco, John Lewis and from O2. The price will be £200 for a leather strap (gray or black leather).

iOS 8.0.1 already in the works, will be seeded to partners soon

Next Tuesday, Apple is set to unveil the long awaited and much leaked iPhone 6. The handset may come in two sizes, and it could be joined by new tablets at the same time.What is certain though is that the finalized version of iOS 8 will be made available soon after those announcements, perhaps even on the same day.Over the past few weeks, Apple has been tirelessly working on iOS 8, releasing a few builds as betas for developers to tinker with. Now it seems that the company is already hard at work on iOS 8.0.1.

This version might be seeded to Apple's partners very soon, according to some unnamed sources. There's no changelog right now for iOS 8.0.1, but given the small incrementation of the version number, it will probably consist mainly of bug fixes and various enhancements.This seems to imply that Apple has already found a few things it could change for the better in iOS 8, hopefully they aren't very big or impactful - otherwise the launch of the 8.0.0 version might not please everyone.On the other hand, the 8.0.1 update could arrive shortly after the release of 8.0.0. Or who knows, maybe Apple will go with 8.0.1 from day one.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Samsung Galaxy S® 5 Sport (Sprint), Electric Blue

ABOUT THIS PRODUCT

Take on the Elements

Designed for active lifestyles, the Galaxy S® 5 Sport works with the elements as well as you do. The IP67 Certification and full-sealed design means it’s protected from dust and moisture***, while the Side Grip Enhancements give you a reinforced and stylish hold. And you’ll feel in control with the defined hard keys that make it easy to operate when you're on the go.

Work on Fitness†, Anywhere

The integrated S Health™ partner† makes it fun and accessible to work on your fitness goals. Track your steps, map your run, refuel with on-demand nutrition info—even check your pulse with the built-in heart rate sensor that responds to your touch. And for those who choose the great outdoors for exercising, Activity Zone launches features like a compass and stopwatch to make every movement outside matter†.

Immersive 5.1" HD Display

Everything we know about HDTV is packed inside the large 5.1" Full HD Super AMOLED® display. Enjoy richer colors, see darker shadows and get faster response times. So whether you’re watching the playoffs, reading stats or playing games, you’ll experience it all in full HD 1080p clarity.

Fast Action 16MP Camera with Pro Editing Tools

Get more details out of every picture. With faster Auto Focus and real-time HDR, you’ll get high quality photos, whether you’re courtside or on the trail. And with the simplified user interface, you’ll get all the shooting modes displayed in an effortless, intuitive way.

Samsung Galaxy Avant™ (T-Mobile), Black

ABOUT THIS PRODUCT

Keep it simple.

Use Easy Mode to simplify your home screen with bigger icons and only your favorite apps. It’s the perfect way to stay focused and enjoy more of the Galaxy Avant’s amazing capabilities.

Powerful Performance for Content on Command

Downloading, uploading, video streaming and web surfing are all lightning-fast with the Galaxy Avant™’s 4G LTE connection. And now you can share content like pictures and videos to other Galaxy devices using S Beam™, by positioning them back-to-back.

A Premium Design at the Right Price

Elegant contouring and a soft leather-like back surround the 4.5-inch qHD screen, giving you a phone that looks as good as it feels in your hand. When it comes to entertainment, the pixel-rich display features a 16:9 ratio that’s optimized for video, so everything you watch appears bright, beautiful and true-to-size.

One Camera. Dozens of Possibilities.

All the options you need are packed inside the rear-facing 5MP camera. Whether you’re getting creative with features like Panorama, Sound in Shot or Auto Focus, or adjusting to your surroundings with settings like Night, Sport or Beauty Face, you’ll capture and share all of your moments in crisp, colorful detail.

SPECIFICATIONS

TYPE

T-Mobile

COLOR

Black

Android™ KitKat 4.4.2

CAMERA RESOLUTION (FRONT)

CMOS | VGA, 0.3MP

CAMERA RESOLUTION (REAR)

CMOS, 5MP

INTERNET USE TIME

3G: Up to 9 Hours; 4G: Up to 10 Hours; Wi-Fi: Up to 10 Hours*

INTERNAL MEMORY

1.5GB RAM, 16GB ROM**

MAIN DISPLAY RESOLUTION

960 x 540 (qHD)

MAIN DISPLAY SIZE

4.5"

The Moto 360 launches today for $249

By now you probably know all about the Motorola Moto 360. It’s round, runs on Android Wear, is water resistant, comes with a heart monitor and pedometer built in, and has a built in microphone for voice actions and text input. The only thing you probably didn’t know before now was when the Moto 360 was going to launch, where it was going to be sold, and for how much.Motorola has just announced that the Moto 360 will be available today starting at 11AM C.T. on Motorola’s website, through Google Play, at BestBuy.com and through select Best Buy stores. The device will set you back $249 with either a black or gray leather band. Later this fall, a metal edition of the Moto 360 will launch for $299, but you can buy metal bands separately for $79 or leather bands separately for $29.The Moto 360 faces some tough competition in the Android Wear powered smartwatch race, but there’s good reason to believe it will still be the number one smartwatch to beat this holiday season. Let us know if you’ll be picking one up in the comments below.

HTC One remix: performance champ

Like most other mid-range phones, the spec sheet of the HTC One remix doesn’t have much to brag about. The phone’s equipped with a 1.4 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor that’s paired with a measly 1GB of RAM. Yes, the KitKat version of Android running on the phone is optimized to work well with just half a gig of memory, but we all know that 2GB is the sweet spot these days. Simply put, the specs on the HTC One remix are underwhelming.Fortunately for HTC, the specs of the One remix seem to have little bearing on how the phone actually performs. When running benchmarks, the numbers clearly show that the HTC One remix isn’t on the same level as the HTC One (M8), Samsung Galaxy S5 or the LG G3. It’s not even close. But when you load up a game or stream your favorite HD show from YouTube, Netflix or Google Play, you’d never guess that the phone is only half as powerful as today’s flagships.

HTC One remix benchmarks

3DMark: 4654
AntuTu: 17145
GFXBench: 103
Quadrant: 9945
Vellamo: 705 (metal), 1153 (multicore)

Gallery

htc-one-remix-benchmark-vellamo-multicore

It’s true that benchmarks do a great job showing how individual devices are able to handle 3D graphics, loading webpages or handling complex algorithms, but they don’t give you a real sense of how the phone will handle apps or games. In our experience with the HTC One remix, the phone was able to keep up with the Samsung Galaxy S5 while playing Asphalt 8: Airborne, Modern Combat 5: Blackout and The Room Two. The HTC One remix is a little slow when loading these games, but the extra second or two isn’t noticeable unless you’re comparing two devices side by side. We’re willing to go out on a limb and say that the gaming experience may actually be better on the HTC One Remix than many flagship phones thanks to its front-facing BoomSound speakers. They definitely make the phone larger than it needs to be, but the immersive audio created by the phone is quite impressive.The One remix’s 1.4GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor should get a lot of credit for the device’s impressive performance, but the real reason it exceeds expectations is because it is a mid-range device with a 720p display. Swap out the HTC one remix’s display with a high-resolution 1080p screen and this article would be littered with doom and gloom references. Since the HTC One remix’s 720p display only has 44.5 percent of the pixels of 1080p screen, the Snapdragon 400 processor don’t have to work nearly as hard as the Snapdragon 801 and 805 processors used in the HTC One (M8), Galaxy S5 or the LG G3.Some will say that buying a mid-range phone often means you need to make a few compromises. In the case of the HTC One remix, performance isn’t one of them.

Rumor: Sony Xperia Z3 coming to Verizon

Yesterday, when T-Mobile was the only carrier announced as getting the Sony Xperia Z3this coming fall, it was assumed Magenta would have exclusivity on the device in the US. But according to PC Mag, that might not be true.

PC Mag is reporting today that they have received a document detailing the Xperia Z3 as coming to Verizon under the name Sony Xperia Z3v. According to the document the Verizon variant will feature prominent Verizon branding (duh), and come with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. The document also depicts the Verizon Z3 as having Amazon Music, the Amazon AppStore and Kindle preloaded on the device.

If Verizon does indeed end up carrying the Sony Xperia Z3, it will be the first Sony device to grace the carrier’s shelves since the Xperia Play three years ago in 2011. This may be just what Sony needs to gain some momentum and take a chunk out of Samsung’s market share.