Introducing the Snap Pets Camera

January 8, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

In Las Vegas at the annual Consumer Electronics Show are presented a variety of electronics and tech gadgets coming in big and small packages. What looks to stand out in the crowd, however, seems to be the stick almost everybody uses for taking selfies. A “selfie stick” is used to hold your camera or smartphone away from you to take selfies much more easily.

For whatever reason the stick used for selfies has had a huge impact on the world in the last couple of months and was a very popular item that was pretty hard to find this holiday season for it was sold out in most retailers. It’s time, however, has almost come to an end. A brand new company has presented their newest device used to make taking selfies easier named Snap Pets. The device might be able to impose a serious threat on the selfie stick.

Snap Pets is basically a camera that is able to take far better photos than the front facing camera on your smartphone and it isn’t affected by shaky hands or incompetent friends with a little too many drinks onboard. These small and adorable cameras connect to your Android device or iOS device through Bluetooth and you can place the small cameras anywhere to take a photo of you and your friends.

There are numerous ways in which you could snap photos these days for social network websites such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. It’s common these days that people take photos of almost everything. Meeting a celebrity on the street? Better take a photo. Attending a social event? A photo seems like the right thing to do. Sky jumping? Better snap a photo of this. Eating dinner? Might as well immortalize the moment. It’s these kinds of photos, or “selfies”, that have taken by storm all social networks and this is why the “selfie stick” came to be developed.

Instead of putting your expensive smartphone at the end of a stick from where there is a good chance that it will fall and break into million pieces and not to mention that most of the times the photos are unusable because of shaky results, Snap Pets offers a solution and basically accomplishes the same thing. Snap Pets is a different way of taking “selfies”. You can put the camera anywhere you want and remotely activate it with the use of your smartphone. The Snap Pets features a built in camera that connects wirelessly to your Android or iOS device and it can be controlled from the tip of your fingers.

We must admit that it is an unusual approach on the “selfie” matter but the company wishes to contain the selfie stick trend before it reaches an even more advanced level of madness. The design of the Snap Pets is pretty awesome and will definitely appeal to a younger crowd, is very easy to use and the app for it is extremely user friendly. The Snap Pets camera will retail this spring for $29. This is a photo captured with Snap Pets which shows the level of quality a person can expect to achieve by using the camera known as Snap Pets.

Image source: gottabemobile.com

Just like Snapchat, the photos taken with the Snap Pets are very small and thus are easily transferred through Bluetooth directly on your smartphone where you can easily share them on any social network website you wish to.

The newest trend is the selfie stick at the moment, but it most likely won’t last very long. Be sure to buy a Snap Pets selfie camera the moment it will launch in spring for only $29.

Sony Smartwatch 3 Review

January 7, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Sony had previous attempts at making a smartwatch that weren’t very successful. As a matter of fact, its previous smartwatch, the SmartWatch 2 was actually pretty darn awful. However, Sony, which seems to learn from its mistakes, has developed its newest wearable called the SmartWatch 3.

Sony’s SmartWatch 3 has a better design, interchangeable straps and an improved waterproofing. And, probably most important, Sony has decided to get rid of its tedious custom interface.

The device now uses Android Wear, the software developed by Google which provides an integrated platform for companies like Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony to use in their product and be able to allow people to develop apps that work across all platforms.

The SmartWatch 3 costs $250 and is currently on sale directly from Sony. Here is our Sony SmartWatch 3 review.

Design

Sony did not put a circular face on their smartwatch, like LG did. Sony’s newest smartwatch has a square face. This makes it look more like a fitness device because of its strap and display and Sony’s SmartWatch 3 doesn’t look as luxurious as the LG G Watch R with its leather strap and metal casing.

The device is not unattractive per se, but the rubber strap and square face look a little boring. This is not the kind of watch you would wear on your wrist when being dressed for a party or a social event. The LG’s G Watch R, however, could remain on one’s wrist when being dressed for several occasions without looking like it’s out of place.

Even though Sony’s newest smartwatch is quite on the heavy side and more than a little chunky, the rubber strap makes it quite comfortable to wear. But you will certainly not want to sleep while wearing it on your wrist. One of the reasons the watch is chunky is that it has a micro-USB port built right into it. This port allows the user to charge the device by directly plugging a cable into it, whereas other Android Wear devices need a special charging stand. This is a plus, because the stand used by other Android Wear devices is quite annoying as you need to always keep in mind that you have to take it with you should you not spend the night at home.

SmartWatch 3 can be removed from the strap allowing the user to change the style and color of it. Even though only green and black straps are available at the moment it’s quite certain that Sony will offer different other straps in the near future. Because the screen pops out very easily from its strap, the user will be able to make his or hers watch look more special than the standard version that comes in black (or the available lime-green strap).

The SmartWatch 3 is not just water resistant, it is totally water proof, which means that you don’t have to take the watch off your wrist every time you wash the dishes or go into the shower for fear of damaging it. However, water droplets in contact with the watch’s screen will interact with it.

Display

The SmartWatch 3 has a screen of 1.6 inches and a resolution of 320×320. This is about the same as other smartwatches and thus, the screen is about as good as its other competitors (or is it?). The screen is pretty bright, even though under strong lights it may prove to be difficult to read. The colors on the SmartWatch 3 are pretty weak when compared to the more vivid screen on the LG G Watch R, however, and the viewing angles are not very good either, which means that you have to look at the watch just right to have an ideal view.

But because you won’t be browsing through images and watch videos on the SmartWatch 3, colors aren’t all that important to begin with. The device could be in black and white for all we care. Viewing angles, however, are a different story. Taking into consideration that the watch will move in different positions on the user’s wrist, the viewing angles are quite important for the user won’t be able to always have the optimal angle when viewing the device. Even though the display is readable in every angle, this is definitely a point against the device when compared to the Samsung Gear Live and the LG G Watch R which both have greater viewing angles.

The SmartWatch 3 has several faces the user could choose from but they are very few in number and aren’t all that impressive to begin with. The faces resemble mostly digital watches and even though they match quite well the look of the watch itself, they don’t really make it look more elegant. The G Watch R, however, features a whole bunch of watch faces that really look good on the device and some of them really make the smartwatch look quite luxurious.

Even though there are tons of watch faces available from third-party developers on the Google Play Store, it’s a real shame that Sony has not put a little more effort into bringing more faces on their device right out of the box.

Software and Features

Sony’s SmartWatch 3 runs Android Wear OS for smartwatches. Because the Android Wear operating system isn’t tampered with or skinned by manufacturers, like the Android OS, the interface is the same across numerous watches like the G Watch R and the Gear Live. Android Wear connects to your phone (NOTE: The phone has to be an Android phone as Android Wear devices won’t work on Windows Phones or iPhones) and will show the user information like notifications, calendar appointments and weather which will be displayed as cards on the smartwatch screen.

Swiping the card to the left will give the user more information about it or open the app on their smartphone and swiping it to the right will dismiss the card. You can also use voice commands to ask the smartwatch to set a timer, show your schedule or get information about the weather. You can also make searches on the Web and dictate emails to send to your contacts. Some voice commands such as “What is the time in Los Angeles?” will give the user an immediate answer on the display of the watch, while others, such as “How do you cook a turkey?” will give the user a list of search results from Google.

Even though the SmartWatch 3 can easily recognize voice, certain names in the contacts are often misheard by the device and the user has to start talking at the right moment for the watch to be listening. The information is processed quicker than on the LG G Watch R, which gives a faster, smoother experience with less difficulty.

The user can store music directly on the smartwatch (4GB of space are available on it) and may listen to it by pairing the device to a Bluetooth set of headphones. Because the music is on the watch, the user won’t have to also carry the phone. This is a nifty feature if you want to go out for a jog and don’t wish to bring a clunky smartphone with you. It’s pretty easy to make use of the feature but it works only with tracks that have been bought from the Google Play Music store. So if you wish to have music from some other source on your watch, the feature is pretty much useless.

Another cool feature is that the watch has GPS built right in, unlike other watches that rely on the GPS from your smartphone. Built in GPS means that you can jog with the smartwatch on your wrist and the device will give much more accurate information and can do so without carrying that clunky phablet in your pocket.

However, not all apps can make use of the built in GPS, and surprisingly, not even Sony’s LifeLog app didn’t work with it. But we expect that in the future more apps will support the GPS built into the device.

Even if the music capabilities and GPS features may prove to be enough for someone who jogs very often, the device lacks a very important function: a monitor for heart rate, offered by both the LG G Watch R and the Moto 360. And even though the readings from these two smartwatches aren’t totally reliable, they do give people other information about their progress. It just seems a little ignorant for Sony not to offer something like this in a device intended for fitness.

Battery Life

Sony claims the SmartWatch 3 can last for at least two days, which we really don’t think is quite so. Maybe you would be able to get this kind of life out of the device if you don’t use it for music, use the GPS feature on it and never let the display on the auto-on mode. What’s the use of having a smartwatch on your wrist if you won’t use any of its smart features?

If you do use the smart features, however, you’ll see the battery drain quite quickly. Connecting Bluetooth headphones on the device, using its GPS features and making use of voice control, the user could very easily be able to drain the battery in just one day, a day and a half if you use it less intensely. As most Android Wear devices, the watch will most likely require an overnight charge. However, the USB port built into the watch will make this a lot less tedious.

Conclusion

Because of its square design and built in features, it’s obvious that the SmartWatch 3 is intended for fitness rather than fashion. The watch scores points for the USB port built into it, smooth usability and the fact that you don’t have to carry the charging cradle everywhere you go.

However, the device falls short because of the inferior quality display with pretty bad viewing angles and less vibrant colors than the Gear Live and G Watch R, and the lack of a heart-rate monitor. It’s also less stylish than other devices because of its boring watch faces, rubber strap and square design for which you won’t be able to carry the watch on every occasion.

Wrapping Up…

PROS

– Built-in GPS that tracks your workout.

– Waterproof

– Built-in USB port for charging

– Android Wear runs very smoothly on the device

CONS

– Screen is awful, with bad viewing angles and poor colors

– Less classy than the LG G Watch R because of its design

– No heart-rate monitor

The Verdict

Even though the built-in GPS feature is quite handy, the lack of a heart-rate monitor on a fitness device seems to be quite unacceptable. Also, the poor screen quality and unimpressive design make the Sony SmartWatch 3 look like it’s below the Gear Live and the G Watch R.

Images source: sonymobile.com

Could Climate Models be improved after the revelation that Crops contribute to Global Warming

November 23, 2014 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Recent findings suggest modern farm production could be having a major impact on global carbon cycles and could greatly improve today’s climate models and improve forecasting.

A recent study showed that a big jump in food production to meet rising food demands from a burgeoning global population is responsible for as much as 25 percent of the seasonal increase in carbon dioxide (CO2), according to Economic Times. Carbon dioxide is absorbed in the spring and summer as plants produce lots of solar-hungry leaves. Once the energy has been converted to food, it is released into the atmosphere as the leaves die off in the autumn and winter, producing big fluctuations in CO2 levels.

The Economic Times described the crops as a giant “sponge” for CO2, a sponge that is getting bigger and can release much more carbon dioxide than in the past. As global food productivity doubles in the coming decades, scientists may be better able to create accurate climate models with this new knowledge of the effects farms have on the environment

Chris Kucharik, a co-author of the study who works at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the research findings are “another piece of evidence” suggesting that things humans do on a large scale can have big effects on the planet as a whole.

The biggest crops i.e. maize, wheat, soybeans and rice have jumped 240 percent in production since the 1960s in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in the U.S. Midwest and China where the crops are most commonly found.

Up until now scientists hadn’t realized the impact farms had on CO2 levels specifically but after observing CO2 spikes during the seasons, Kucharik and his team, including researchers at Boston University, determined the connection by counting how much carbon absorbed by plants had changed over time.

Jailbreak iPhone 6, 5S and iPads with iOS 8 or iOS 8.1

November 20, 2014 By Karen Jackson 1 Comment

There has been a lot of heated discussion on the topic of Apple’s iOS 8 operating system. Since it was first released, customers complained that the OS has a lot of glitches and bugs. According to statistics, only 56% of Apple clients have upgraded to the 8.0 version of the OS, and over 40% of devices remain on iOS 7. The good news is that iOS 8.1 was recently released, and it provides with significantly better functionality.

We have already tackled the importance of upgrading to iOS 8.1 in a previous article. The conclusion was that the iOS gets more advanced every year and by not upgrading it you are missing out on a lot of nifty features.

According to recent news, the company actually rolled out the iOS 8.1.1 update on Monday for iPhones iPods and iPads. A word of advice for those with Pangu8 jailbreak in mind: stay away from this update as it will bug your device.

Today we would like to tackle the subject of jailbreaking for iOS 8.0 and 8.1 devices. But first, what does jailbreaking mean?

Jailbreaking is the process of circumventing Apple’s security measures in iOS to install tweaks, hacks, and mods that aren’t allowed in the App Store. The U.S. Library of Congress has ruled that it is now illegal for you to unlock your smartphone if it was bought after January 26th, 2013.

Not everyone can afford to purchase all of Apple’s apps. This is where jailbreaking becomes useful. We have prepared for you an extensive tutorial that will help you jailbreak iPhones and iPads. As a disclaimer, we would like to mention that jailbreaking your device will void your warranty. You can easily restore your phone to its previous settings by uninstalling everything with iTunes. So if you decide that you want to go back to the non-jailbreak state of your phone, you can do that quickly.

For those of you who are prepared to take the risks –waking up with a 500$ doorstop- here is a great tutorial that will help you jailbreak your device.

Getting Started

You will obviously need an iOS device (anything that runs on iOS 8 or 8.1 will be perfect – this includes iPhone 6, 6 Plus, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3), and a Windows/Linux computer. At the moment, there is no naitive Mac jailbreak tool for iOS 8. The first thing you have to do is to install iTunes on your computer. If you don’t have it you can simply download it from the official page of Apple. Next, you must plug-in your iOS device and make sure that iTunes recognizes it.

What You’ll Need:

Lates version of Pangu software
Latest version of iTunes

Before you start, you should create a back-up of your iPhone/iPad, just to be safe. Although the process differs from that of iOS7, the steps are relatively easy to follow and safe. Backing up or restoring to factory settings will also remove unwanted apps that might disrupt your jailbreaking process.

Once you have completed all these steps you are ready to jail-break your iOS 8 device. The Pangu team is relatively new to the jailbreaking scene, but it has successfully managed to create a tool that will help users jailbreak their untethered iPhone 6, 6 plus, 5c, 5s, 5, 4s, all iPads and the iPod touch 5. At first, they created a tool in Chinese, available only on Windows which did not include Cydia. Saurik updated it Cydia for iOS8 but it required manual installation.

Finally, the 1.1.0 version of Pangu was released. It includes English language and bundled Cydia. Hop on over to Pangu’s official website, and hit the ‘download’ button for the software’s latest system. If you already have a device that was jailbroken with Pangu8, you have to update to the latest untether package (more on this subject later in the article).

Jailbreaking your iOS 8.0 – 8.1 Device

You are now ready to begin the jailbreaking software.

Once you have downloaded Pangu8 from the official website you have to track down your file and ‘run as administrator’. If you downloaded the latest version you should see instructions in English.
Wait several minutes for Pangu8 to recognize your device and click on “Start Jailbreak” – the blue button in the middle. Right now, all you can do is to sit tightly, grab a cup of coffee and wait. It will probably take a few minutes for the process to complete.
If the tool stops without jailbreaking, your button will become blue again and you have to try again. Assuming that everything worked well, your iDevice will reboot.
You will be taken through Apple’s initial setup. Upon rebooting you should see the following message:

Once you are in your menu again you have to track down your Pangu app icon (as displayed in the image below). Open it and click on “Install Cydia”. Cydia is basically an app store for jailbreak iPhone tweaks.

After you hit install, and the software is finished with the process, you will be prompted that the device will ‘respring’ (a respring is a soft reboot). Upon rebooting you will see the Cydia icon on your home screen.

Click on it and let it do what it has to do (it will probably display the message “preparing filesystem” for several minutes). After it finishes, open Cydia again and you are ready to go.

That’s it! You have successfully managed to jailbreak your iPhone device.

You will now be able to install third-party applications, themes, utilities, mods and tweaks that are usually not authorized by Apple. In other words, you will be able to improve and enhance your device beyond the limitations of what Apple allows. Although jailbreaking is not illegal, it will violate the End User License Agreement (EULA), and your warranty will become void.

How to Un-jailbreak your iO8 Device

Let’s say you decide that jailbreaking isn’t for you after all. What can you do? It’s actually quite simple. The following steps should help you restore the device to its previous settings:

Connect your Apple device to iTunes (on a Mac or Windows).
Cancel any auto-syncing, if it starts.
Hold your home button and power/sleep buttons pressed at the same time.
Wait 10 seconds like this, then continue pressing the power/sleep button for 5 seconds. After that, you can let go of the phone.
If you respected steps 3 and 4, the device of the screen should go black and iTunes will give you an option to restore it.
Follow the steps on iTunes to download the latest version of iOS for your device.

.7. Restore your back-up.

iOS 8 and Above Jailbreak iPhone Tweaks and Apps

Since the iOS 8.1 update rolled-out Apple users have been asking themselves if there is any point in jailbreaking anymore. The truth is that Apple has added many interesting features that were not previously available on iPhones and iPads. Nevertheless, there are still several tweaks and apps that you should definitely consider using on a jailbroken phone. Here are a some of them:

HideMe8

For those of you who want to get rid of several iOS 8 interface elements, HideMe8 is the perfect tool. With it you can customize many things such as badges, apps, date text etc. You can also modify screen elements, the Control Center and many more. HideMe8 is one of the most advance customization tools for jailbroken devices.

More About HideMe8: click here

F.lux

Another app that you might enjoy is F.lux. This nifty tool has been around since iOS 7 and it works perfectly well on iOS 8 as well. What it does is adjust your lighting for night and day. iOS devices change screen temperature based on time of day (it’s warmer at night to make it easier to read).

“Each evenining at sunset, f.lux warms up the colors of your phone. At dawn, F.lux returns your phone to daylight colors.

More info about F.lux: click here

MyWi

MyWi quickly adds tethering for your iOS device irrespective of whether or not you are paying for it through your carrier. The app costs 20 dollars, but considering that most carriers charge twice as much monthly, it is well worth its price.

More info about MyWi: click here

iFile

If you’ve ever used Android devices you are probably already familiar with EsFileExplorer. iFile is siminar to it. This file manager for iOS will enable you to view files, unzip them, edit text files, import music and many more. It’s a lot more than what it seems at a glance.

More info about iFile: click here

Netflix ++

Netflix++ is one of the best movie streaming services out there. With Netflix++ you can view trailers for your favorite movies before viewing it. This will make browsing for great movies a lot easier.

More info about Netflix ++: click here

Winterboard

Winterboard is without a doubt one of the best ways to customize the look of a iOS device. The problem is that there is not a stable iOS 8 version of it yet (it will be released shortly). Among the customization features we will mention adding personalized images, themes, icons and more. To install it you have to open Cydia and download the app. Restart your phone and download a theme of your choosing.

If it is given to you in a .theme folder you will have to install an iPhone explorer and copy it in your computer (/library/themes). Open your Winterboard app, tap select themes and play around with the appearance of your phone.

Activator

This is one of the most cherished tweaks for jailbreak iphones. With it you can assign custom actions and gestures to your swipes. For example, if you want to automatically open an app you can assign a gesture to it. There is no limit to what this tool can do for you.

More info about Activator: click here

Slide2Kill8

Another tweak that you might enjoy is Slide2Kill8. It makes closing and managing apps as simple as swiping the screen. Everybody knows that multiple apps are app killers, but Slide2Kill8 will help you manage them easily.

More info about Slide2Kill8: click here

Other interesting iOS8 Jailbreak iPhone apps/tweaks: Aeternum, Asos, CyDelete8, Dotter, Instagram++, NoLiveClock, SendDelay, TransparentVolume8, Apex2, Aria, Backuplt, Bridge, InstaLauncher, NC Customizer, PdaNet, SleekPhone, Snapper, TetherStatus, UIRotation8, Protube HD.

With this we will conclude the Jailbreak tutorial for iOS8 Devices on Windows. There is a special tutorial for Mac users, to run a virtual Windows install. Whatever you do, make sure that you have a back-up available for your device. Although there have been very few cases of bugs reported, you don’t want to lose all of your data for nothing. For further questions feel free to contact us!

Fidelity Contrafund Cuts (NASDAQ: AAPL) Apple Stake

November 17, 2014 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Apparently not everyone is in love with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). The Fidelity Investments Contrafund reportedly cut it’s stake in Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) by 9 percent.

The Contrafund Is the largest active shareholder of Apple stock, only 9.2 million shares at the end of April, down to 10.1 million shares in March. The stock held the second heaviest weighting in Contrafund, behind Google’s (GOOG) 5.7%.

Fund manager Will Danoff cut the funds stake by 12 percent during the first quarter. To add to this news,

A US government lawyer has accused Apple of teaming with publishers in 2010 to drive up the prices of the books.

The Justice Department attorney, Lawrence Buterman, opened a New York trial by telling a judge Monday that Apple’s scheme cost U.S. consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Lawyers for Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple say the allegations are based on “faulty assumptions and unfounded conclusions.”

Nexus 9 Price, Specs Details: US Cellular Release Date on Nov 6, AT&T, Verizon to Follow

October 29, 2014 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Google introduced two new Nexus products on October 15th, the Google Nexus 6 phablet and the Google Nexus 9 tablet. Along with these, Google also announced the arrival of the Nexus Player and the Android 5.0 Lollipop OS.

Nexus 9 and the Google Nexus 6 that features the new Android 5.0 Lollipop software update can be preordered now. The preorders began on October 17. The November release dates of both the devices are fast approaching. If you wish to preorder any of these products, you can access the Google Play Store or Best Buy. Are you interested in buying the Google Nexus 9 tablet? This article will help you in understanding what you can expect from it.

Today, Mr. Villarreal, the head of the industrial design with Google for the HTC Nexus 9 says that the Google Nexus 9 which is a premium laptop at an affordable price has been built only to inspire other Android tablet manufacturers to build high-quality premium tablets that can be made available with reasonable price tag. By this, he made it clear that the Google Nexus 9 has not been built as an iPad Air 2 killer even though it was introduced a day earlier than the Apple’s tablet in October.

Google Nexus 9 has arrived just before the end of the year holiday season. Google Nexus fans were expecting an upgraded edition of Google Nexus 7 2013 to arrive during the summer season but Google surprised the fans by introducing a larger Nexus tablet and delaying its arrival to October. As expected, it has come with the newest Android OS – 5.0 Lollipop.

As we mentioned before, the Nexus 9 tablet has been built by HTC. The reason why Google has opted for HTC to build the new tablet is that the search engine was impressed by the simplistic design of HTC One which came fully loaded with amazing features. The HTC Nexus 9 also comes with numerous amazing features. The Google Nexus 9 is available in three colors namely, black, white and gold. The black and white are available on preorders but the golden edition or the LTE version is not available yet.

Google Nexus 9 Release Date

The official Google Nexus 9 release date is November 3. If you have placed an order for the tablet, the shipping of the device would probably start from this day. The Google Nexus 9 preorders began on October 17 on Google Play Store, Amazon and Best Buy. So, even though the tablet has been available on preorders for quite some time, there are plenty of Nexus 9 tablet stocks available. Amazon and Best Buy have clearly mentioned that the preordered Nexus 9 will start shipping from November 3. Buyers need to be aware of the fact that the tablet will be delivered a day or two after November 3. So, it is quite clear that nobody who has preordered the Nexus 9 can avail on November 3.

If you wish to buy the Nexus 9 on November 3 and use it on the very same day, you can visit the Best Buy store on that very day and take home the latest Google Nexus tablet. As of now, Google is not talking about the 4G LTE model but rumors coming from varied sources indicate the LTE model is slated to release in November 12 or later.

Google Nexus 9 Price

The Google Nexus 7 tablet that came out last year came with an affordable price tag. Because of it, it managed to remain as the best selling tablet of 2013 and still is one of the most preferred tablets. The Google Nexus 9 which is larger in size has powerful specs and plenty of amazing features. However, this time around, the Nexus 9 does not come with an affordable price tag.

The 16GB Nexus 9 can be yours for $399. The 32 GB Nexus 9 is priced at $499. The third edition is the 4G LTE model which is priced at $599. By this, the Nexus 9 slots itself as the priciest Nexus tablet manufactured till now. According to the Verge, the Nexus 9 LTE model will take longer to arrive at the Google Play Store and other retail outlets. The Nexus 9 was not made available for preorders when the other two models were made available for preorders on October 17.

Google Nexus 9 US Carrier Support

T-Mobile Nexus 6 release date has been set to November 12. On the same day, it will also start selling the Nexus 9 tablet. This indicates that even other leading carriers from the US will join the bandwagon and declare the price and date of arrival of the 4G LTE model. However, none of the other carriers of US have announced any concrete details except for supporting the Nexus 9 tablet.

AT&T has not declared any release date information. The Nexus 6 will come to US Cellular on November 6 but there is no information about the Nexus 9 tablet. Sprint and Verizon are mostly likely going to offer the Nexus 9 but they have not announced anything on the release date.

Nexus 6 is coming to all the five major carriers of the US. The Nexus 9 is also expected to come out on the same track. Even if any carrier does not support the Nexus 9, users will be able to purchase a SIM card from the desired network and use it on the new Nexus 9.

Google Nexus 9 Specifications

The Google Nexus 9 comes with powerful specs that will easily tempt you to buy one only if you consider buying a pricy Nexus tablet. Since it is an HTC product, it has amazing appeal thanks to the brushed metallic appearance along with soft matte finish. The tablet measures 153.6 x 228.2 x 7.95 mm.

The Nexus 9 comes with an 8.9-inch display screen that supports 2048 x 1536 screen resolution. The marvelous screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 3.

Nexus 9 tablet is powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 processor which is 64-bit powerhouse. It is well-supported by 2GB of RAM. The Nexus 9 is available in two storage options, 16GB and 32GB. There is another 32GB LTE model too as discussed above which is slated to release later.

Google Nexus 9 will come preloaded with Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system. The rear camera is of 8 MP and comes with Optical Image Stabilization. The front-facing camera is of 1.6 MP. The front side of the tablet features dual BoomSound speakers from HTC. The HTC Nexus 9 comes loaded with a massive 6700 mAh battery.

Where Can You Purchase The HTC Nexus 9

The Google Nexus 9 certainly has impressive specs and it seems it will go ahead on with not one but two recently released Apple tablets, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3. The demand for the Google Nexus 9 will sure kick up for the upcoming holiday season.

So where can you purchase the Google Nexus 9 tablet? The very first place to look for the Google Nexus 9 is none other than the Google Play Store. The next best place to look for it Best Buy. On the official website of the Google Nexus 9, retailers like Amazon and Gamestop are also listed.

When the Google Nexus 7 2013 was released, the tablet was available with plenty of retailers such as Staples, Office Depot and many others not only in the US but also at different retailers in the UK and other countries. The stock of Google Nexus 7 got over pretty fast last year through Nexus 7 whereas other retailers accidently started selling the tablet early. Something similar can happen even in this year with the Google Nexus 9.

Other retailers including Walmart are yet to list the Nexus 9 tablet but some time ahead in the coming month, the Nexus 9 tablet may become widely available through different retailers. Until that happens, interested buyers can visit Best Buy to checkout the device in real-time before purchasing it.

Google Nexus 9 Accessories

For previous Nexus devices, there weren’t any popular accessories and even if there were any, they weren’t easy to find. Well, for the Nexus 7 tablet, Google did manage to bring up good options for accessories. For the Nexus 9 too, Google is poised to roll out official accessories.

First in line is the keyboard attachment that will allow users to use the tablet like a laptop. It can be easily attached to the tablet by means of the magnet attached to the accessory and the device. Users will be able to fold in two varied angles. By this, it can rival the Microsoft Surface and the iPad Air 2 for which numerous third party keyboards are available.

Another accessory that you may want to buy for the Google Nexus 9 is the magnetic folding case. It is priced at $40 and it comes in four different colors. It has not yet arrived for purchase. It is available for preorders with Amazon. You can place an order it now so it arrives in time when your Google Nexus 9 arrives to your doorstep.

iOS 8 Jailbreak on iPhone 5, 6, iPad: Top 5 Expected Features to Arrive

October 28, 2014 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

iOS 8 is available for download along with the most recent v8.1 update. Now that the new iOS have arrived, users are waiting for jailbreaks tweaks so that they can access its new features. In the previous year, a lot of iOS 7 jailbreaks tweaks were rolled out which showed that there is still a huge demand for tweaks. Hence, new jailbreaks tweaks are also expected to come to iOS 8. Here are some of the tweaks users can look forward to

Personalized Notification Center Widgets

The Notification Center on the iOS 8 has been improved. It now allows the users to add widgets to the Notification Center which makes it possible to give the users an instant access wide range of information. So, without opening the dedicated apps, one can simply access to the notification center to see updates like latest news, weather forecasts, and more.

So, what will the iOS 8 Jailbreak tweak will do for the Notification Center? Well, it will let you do more with the widgets in the Notification Center. iOS 8 only allows you to place only supported widgets in the Notification Center. After jailbreaking the iOS 8, users will be able to add even those widgets that are not supported yet. It could even allow arrival of those standalone widgets that can let users give access to varied information of the handset. For instance, a new widget may allow quick access to information like battery status and processor usage.

More Features for iMessage

iMessage is the default message for creating texts on iOS 8. It now allows users to quickly send media files like pictures, video clips and audio files to other iPhone users. The iOS 8 jailbreak would certainly introduce new features to the iMessage. As of now, it only allows users to send one photo at a time. The jailbreak tweak will make it possible to share multiple photos at a time.

There may be some other features like scheduled SMS that may come to iMessage. We are not sure what new features may come forth but it is certain that the iMessage will certainly receive enhancements with iOS 8 jailbreaks tweaks.

Third Party NFC

The Android and Windows Phone powered devices have been featuring the NFC chip since quite some time. However, Apple has introduced the NFC chip in the newer iDevices that have released in this year. The iPhone 6, the iPhone 6 Plus, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3 all feature the NFC chip.

With the NFC chip onboard, users can make payments by flashing their handsets at the payment terminal at shopping centers. Apple has launched an exclusive mobile payment service called the Apple Pay with which only the new iPhones can be used for making payments.

iOS 8 jailbreaks tweaks will certainly bring a whole lot of new capabilities for the NFC chip. It will let users to sue NFC tags and touch NFC enabled devices with each other to perform data transfer like sharing photos wirelessly.

The NFC which stands for Near Field Communications has been one of the most desired features that was expected to come to iPhones since several years and it is only this year that the Cupertino company has made the feature available on the iDevices released this year. Few months down the line, Apple may allow third parties to build different kinds of NFC related apps but it is not going to happen any time soon. Until then, the iOS 8 jailbreaks tweaks will unlock the NFC chip to support third parties unofficially.

File Explorer for iCloud Drive

Apple has introduced iCloud Drive feature with the new iOS 8. Even the OS X Yosemite comes with the very same feature. iCloud Drive is Apple’s answer to competitors like Google Drive and Dropbox.

On the OS X Yosemite, users can easily access any files from the iCloud Drive, add and remove files form it conveniently. On the iCloud Drive app for iOS 8, such things cannot be done. Sadly, even the service is called iCloud Drive, users are not actually able to use as a ‘’Drive”.

So, what is missing is a file explorer feature for iCloud Drive. By the way, there used to be dedicated called the iCloud File Explorer which allowed users to browse the files present on the cloud storage from Apple but app was quietly removed by Apple from the app store.

Since there is a need for a file explorer, Apple may introduce an official file explorer app for iCloud Drive for iOS 8 users. However, the chances of it happening are miniscule. Since it is a much needed feature, chances of arriving through iOS 8 jailbreaks tweaks are quite high. If it happens, it may force Apple to launch the official app for said feature soon.

Activate Siri All the Time

Apple iOS 8’s virtual assistant feature called Siri can be launched only when the user says “Hey Siri” to the device. This activates the feature and from then it starts listening to what user says. Cool thing is that users do not touch the handset to access the dedicated app to launch Siri.

By the way, in order to quickly start the Siri voice assistant app by calling out “Hey Siri”, users are required to keep the device plugged to a power source. Well, the cool feature does not sound cool anymore.

iOS 8 jailbreaks tweaks are waiting to get unleashed. Users would surely want to access Siri by calling out it even when it is not connected to a power outlet. We are not sure when would release an update that would keep Siri always listening irrespective of the fact that the device is connected to wall socket or not. We strongly feel that the iOS 8 jailbreaks tweaks may introduce this feature so that users can make the best use of Siri.

iPhone 6 Battery Life vs iPhone 5S Battery Life vs iPhone 5 Battery Life

October 27, 2014 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

iPhone 6 arrived this year in September. The iPhone handsets that came out in the previous years such as the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5C, iPhone 4S and so on featured 4-inch displays. The iPhone 6 comes with a larger display of 4.7-inch. In this year, Apple also released a phablet edition called the iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C where the handsets released by Apple in 2013 and the iPhone 5 came out in 2012.

Here we are comparing the battery life of three iPhone handsets namely, the iPhone 5, the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6. Here we go:

Battery Capacity

All the three iPhone models come with non-removable batteries. The iPhone 5 comes with a battery of 1440 mAh capacity. The iPhone 5S has a 1570 mAh battery onboard. The latest iPhone 6 has a larger battery compared to the other two with a capacity of 1810 mAh capacity

Standby time

The iPhone 5 has a standby time of 225 hours on 3G. The iPhone 5S offers a standby time of up to 250 hours on 3G. Lastly, the iPhone 6 can churn out a standby time of 250 hours.

Talk time

The 3G talk time offered by iPhone 5 is up to 8 hours. The iPhone 5S offers a talk time of over 10 hours on 3G. The iPhone 6 outshines all the other iPhones with a talk time of nearly 14 hours.

When the iPhone 6 was announced, Apple did not announce the battery capacity of the iPhone 6. However, it revealed the battery prowess of the iPhone 6 by comparing it with the battery of iPhone 5S. Here is the battery life information revealed by Apple on the iPhone 6 release date:

• iPhone 5S can deliver continuous audio for 40 hours whereas the iPhone 6 can do the same for 50 hours.

• The iPhone 5S supports video playback for up 10 hours on single charge whereas the same can be done on iPhone 6 for 11 hours.

• Users can do continuous Wi-Fi browsing for 10 hours on iPhone 5 whereas on iPhone 6 users can do the same for 11 hours.

• Both iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6 supports 10 hours of LTE browsing.

• iPhone 5S supports 3G browsing for 8 hours. On the iPhone 6, continuous 3G browsing can be done for 10 hours.

Apple iPhone 6 Battery Life Test

When GSMArena had conducted a battery life test on the iPhone 6’s battery, it was found that the iPhone 6 could reach a talk time of over 12 and half hours. The continuous web browsing test on the battery revealed that it could last for up to ten and half hours and the continuous video playback test showed the battery can last for nearly nine and half hours.

The battery life test on iPhone 6 battery revealed an endurance rating of 61 hours which is nothing but the total hours of battery life available for continuous talk time on 3G, internet access and video playback.

Galaxy Note Edge Release Date: Global Samsung Note Launch Patterns

October 26, 2014 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge was announced along with the Galaxy Note 4 on September 3 through the Unpacked event. It is a well-known fact that Galaxy Note Edge which sports a breakthrough curved display is not a mainstream smartphone that is readily available. In September, Samsung had announced that the Galaxy Note Edge will be limited edition concept smartphone. In other words, the Note Edge is a niche device.

Samsung had revealed that it will manufacture only 1 million Note Edge units for this year and it will aimed towards selected countries of the world. One of the major reasons behind it is more complicated for the manufacturer to build a curved display smartphone. Moreover, the apps will have to redesign to suit the display screen of the handset.

According to the release patterns so far, the Galaxy Note Edge seems to be marketed towards countries like the US, South Korea, UK, Germany, Japan and China. Also compared to the Galaxy Note 4, the Note Edge comes with an expensive price tag.

UK Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Release Date

In the UK, the preorders for Samsung Galaxy Note Edge had begun even when the stock of the handset was not available with the UK retailer- Clove Technology. The retailer listed the Note Edge around the last week of September with a price tag of £650 along with VAT whereas the Note 4 was listed with them with a price tag of £575 along with VAT.

After Clove Technology, even other UK retailers joined the suit and started with Galaxy Note Edge preorders. However, UK retailers have recently declared to its audience that the arrival of the device may delay. Hence, we are not sure by when the handset will be available in the UK.

Japan Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Release Date

In Japan, Samsung had organized a special event called the Galaxy Note Edge World Tour to showcase the handset and its features. Through the event, Samsung declared that the Galaxy Note Edge would be come to popular Japanese carriers – KDDI and NTT DoCoMo. The Galaxy Note Edge release date is slated for the last week of October in Japan.

According to NTT DoCoMo, they will be launching the Galaxy Note Edge on October 23 with only black color edition of the handset. The date has passed but the handset is not available for purchase in Japan. The white one is expected to hit the Japanese markets through DoCoMo in November. Even though Galaxy Note Edge preorders started in the UK first, Japan is the first country to receive the world first smartphone that features a curved display on its right edge.

US Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Release Date

In the US, the Galaxy Note Edge is expected to arrive through all the four leading carriers of the country, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. In the third week of this month, Sprint confirmed the arrival of Galaxy Note Edge on its network as it cleared the FCC certification. It is only after a handset is certified by FCC, it can release in the US. The announcement of the FCC certification for Sprint’s Galaxy Note Edge came after the handset was FCC certified for AT&T and T-Mobile.

As of now, Verizon Wireless which is also going to offer the Note Edge has not revealed anything on the device in the recent past. Also, we are not sure when the handset will be made available through US Cellular. Rumors have it the US Galaxy Note Edge release date is November 4. This piece of information has not been verified by the Samsung. The pricing of the device has not been revealed but speculations indicate that the Galaxy Note Edge pricing through US carriers will be $399 on contract.

Russia and India Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Release Date

Until now, the Galaxy Note Edge release date for various speculated markets like the UK, South Korea, Japan and other are still unknown. Another country that has been recently added on to the list of countries that are to receive the Note Edge is India. As expected, Samsung did not announce Galaxy Note Edge release date for India but the handset is expected to hit the Indian markets by the end of this year.

Russia too is a new addition to the list of countries that are poised to receive the niche smartphone. For the Russian audience, the pricing of the device has been revealed. It is priced at RUB 49,990 which equates to $1225 and is expected to release with the last two months of the year. The information of Russian release was revealed by Hi-Tech.Mail.Ru which is well-known for releasing accurate information.

China, Canada and Australia Galaxy Note Edge Release Edge

The Galaxy Note Edge is also expected to come to the world’s largest smartphone market of China. It is priced at CNY 7,000 which equates to $1139. As far as Canadians are concerned, they will have to wait longer as the device is expected to come to Canada by next year.

For Australia, the Galaxy Note Edge release date is set to November 12. However, there seems to be a delay in Australia too because few days it was rumored that the Note Edge would release in the Australia by November 5.

The Galaxy Note Edge is the only handset in the world to feature a curved display on its edge. The edge display can be used to see notifications, news, access frequently used apps and many more. The size of the Super AMOLED display of Note Edge is 5.6-inch and it supports a quad HD resolution of 1600 x 2560 pixels.

The Galaxy Note Edge’s performance is driven by Snapdragon 805 chipset that works at a speed of 2.7 GHz along with 3 GB RAM. The handset comes preloaded with Android v4.4.4 KitKat overlaid with TouchWiz UI. Since the Android Lollipop has arrived, the Note Edge will be one of the handsets that will receive the new Android build very soon.

The handset also features a 16 MP main camera with OIS and the front features a 3.7 MP camera. It also features a very intuitive S-

iPad Air 2 Release Date Speculations, Pricing, Preorders and Deals

October 25, 2014 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

In the previous week, it was declared by Apple that the iPad Air 2 will release in 30 countries. The new tablet from Apple was announced on October 17 alongside the iPad Mini 3. Though the iPad Mini 3 does not feature any major improvements from the predecessor model apart from the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, the iPad Air 2 has arrived with major improvements.

iPad Air 2 Price

When you visit the Apple Store, you would know that the iPad Air comes with storage options like 16 GB and 64 GB. Unlike all the predecessor models, the 32 GB edition of iPad Air 2 has not been manufactured.

The only Wi-Fi edition of iPad Air 2 is priced at $499, $599 and $699 for 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB, respectively. The iPad Air 2 is also available as Wi-Fi + Cellular models. The 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB models are priced at $629, $729 and $829.

iPad Air 2 Preorders

The preorders for iPad Air 2 began on October 17. U.S, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K are the first set of countries where the iPad Air 2 preorders have started.

China and Macau are the two exception countries that are going to sell only the Wi-Fi models of iPad Air 2. By October end, the tablet will be available in few countries and then in the coming months, it will be made available in other parts of the globe. Apart from preordering through Apple, users can even look at the other retail shops like Best Buy and Amazon.

Shipping Date Has Remained Almost the Same

When the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus preorders began, because of the huge demand, there was a huge delay in the shipping dates ranging from two to four weeks. By the way, there have not been significant delays in the shipping dates of iPad Air 2.

Customers who have placed order for the iPad Air 2 through the Apple Store are expected to receive their devices within two or four days in the US. Some of the variants of iPad Air 2 have shipping dates ranging from four to six days. There have been reports that the iPad Air 2 sales have gone down. In other words, the demand for iPad Air 2 has greatly mellowed down. So is it because of low demand or good stock of the device that the iPad Air 2 is easily available , we are not sure.

iPad Air 2 Release Date

Even though the iPad Air 2 release date has not been officially confirmed by the Cupertino company, it is quite understandable that the release date is around the corner. One of the signs through which you can know that the release date is near is the listing of the tablet on Apple’s website along with in-store pickup option. Rumors based on the previous release patterns of IPad Air 2 shows that tablet may be available for direct purchase on October 24.

Collecting the iPad Air 2 From the Store on Release Date

If you have managed to successfully place an order for the an iDevice, Apple allows you to pick your device from the store on the release date of that device. The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus were also made available in the same way. By the way, the iPad Air 2 is not available with the option of picking up the tablet from the store. However, this might change when the Cupertino company officially announces the iPad Air 2 release date

iPad Air 2 Deals

The iPad Air 2 is available through Walmart through its trade-in deal. The special offer from Walmart starts from October 24 until November 16. If the value of your tablet falls between $100 through $199, you can stand a chance to receive $200. If the value of your tablet is higher than $200, you may not be eligible for double-trade in but you can get an amount that is equivalent to the value of your tablet. If the value of your tablet is up $100, you are eligible for double trade-in value.

Best Buy offers a sure minimum value of $200 to the customer to avail the new iPad air 2 when traded with iPad 2 or higher. Currently, the deal is not available for the original iPad. If your device is damaged, trade-in programs may not be available for you.

iPad Air 2 Features

The iPad Air 2 is world’s slimmest table with a thickness of only 6.1mm and it weighs only 437g. The size and technology of the 9.7-inch display is same as the one that is present on the predecessor models. The iPad Air 2’s display comes with anti-reflective coating which prevents up to 50 percent of reflections.

The iPad Air 2 is running on the latest A8X chipset which contains a 64-bit processor that is 40 percent faster than the A8 CPU present inside the new iPhone 6 models. As far as GPU is concerned, even Apple has improved it as it performs 2.5 times quicker than the GPU that comes with A7 chipset. The tablet also features an enhanced M8 processor that can collect information from the sensors present on the device and pass it on to the A8X chipset very quickly.

The iPad Air 2 is the very first tablet from the Cupertino company to feature a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The tablet is housed with an 8MP iSight camera which comes with features like slow motion video shooting at 120fps and burst mode. For crystal clear audio recording, the tablet is fitted with an extra microphone. On the front side of the iPad Air 2, there is a 1.2 MP camera which has been designed to snap selfies.