New Amazon 6-inch Tablet Costs $50, Planned for this X-Mas

September 8, 2015 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

The new Amazon 6-inch tablet costs $50, which is half the price of the cheapest Fire device. As the massive retailer struggles to sell their pricier tablets, the only way further is downwards.

The new Amazon 6-inch tablet is aimed at those buyers that are looking for a more simple device and aren’t willing to cough up major doe for streaming videos.

According to close sources, the Seattle-based company is planning to release their 50 bucks, 6-inch screen tablet in time for this year’s holiday season. This means that it will be one of the cheapest tablets on the market.

Amazon will offer a straightforward tablet which will be effectively disposable. Rumors have it that it will sport inferior specs, but for $50 we don’t need anyone telling us that.

The 6-inch tablet will be able to stream videos and users have the possibility of shopping on Amazon.com. Basically, you won’t be doing much with it. Durability, screen quality and battery life will be highly inferior if you dare to compare them with Apple’s iPad and even Amazon’s high-end Fire tablets.

The device will not have a stereo speaker built-in. In its stead, you will find a mono speaker.

The 50 bucks tablet is part of Amazon’s new product line that also includes other tablets with better specs. Also, bigger screens – 8-inch and respectively 10-inch.

Amazon Fire HD 6

Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive dubbed Lord and Savior of the first world, has always sought new ways to undercut the company’s hardware competitors. Amazon outsources almost everything when it comes down to manufacturing their new cheap-as-hell devices.

Much of the development was done overseas by a company called Shanghai Huaqin Telecom Technology Co. – Taiwan-based Compal Communications Inc. also plays a major role.

Amazon’s Lab126 did some of the grunt work, but not much, people close to the matter noted.

The cheapest Kindle costs $79. It could have been $50, but Amazon just couldn’t drop the retail price because the e-reader screen tech vendors wouldn’t settle for a bargain.

Cheap is really good, more so if you’re a cost-conscious buyer. But, is Amazon aware of what they are giving up? Are buyers aware that they will have an inferior experience? Will they tolerate it or will they dispose of their new purchase in a matter o weeks?

Everyone bashed Amazon and Bezos last year for pricing their Fire smartphone the same as Apple’s last gen iPhone. Regardless of packing it with a free Prime membership, which costs $99, nobody cared. Even when the massive on-line retailer cut down on the phone’s price tag sales didn’t change.

After their smartphone flop, Amazon laid off almost the entire group of engineers that worked on the Fire. The group was known to help develop Fire TV set-top boxes, Kindle e-readers, the Fire slate and other gadgets and devices.

Amazon’s cheapest Fire tablet, which currently sells for $99, includes adverts – they appear as screen savers. Want no ads and the same tablet? You’ll have to pay up $114.

It is unknown at the current moment if the Amazon 6-inch tablet will include ads or not.

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Samsung Galaxy View Launching This October

September 7, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

Samsung Galaxy View was unveiled at the IFA 2015 Berlin

The IFA 2015 Berlin event 5-10 September

During the Berlin IFA 2015 event, Samsung teased their upcoming next gen tablet the Samsung Galaxy View. Rumors were plentiful but now we have an official date.

The South Korean-based manufacturer will release their ginormous tablet this October.

It’s a 18.4-inch device tasked with increasing the company’s tablet sales. Unfortunately, popularity for this kind of device is slowly decreasing. Apple and Samsung are witnessing a decline in sales – the iPad and Galaxy Tab aren’t doing that well compared to last year.

The main reason is that there are more flagship smartphones manufactured with bigger displays than ever before. Take a look at Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus.

Smartphone screen size is bigger and functionality is almost on par. Why would a consumer buy a tablet when he can acquire a smartphone that he can keep in his pockets?

With the Samsung Galaxy View 18.4-inch tablet, the smartphone manufacturer is hoping to entice consumers to make a 180 degrees turnaround.

Apple is also aware of this. Their counter-attack could very well be a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, rumors have it.

The new SM-T670, dubbed the Samsung Galaxy View, will sport a 1920 x 1080 resolution on the 18.4-inch display. However, screen quality is somewhat sub par to what we are accustomed to. There will be no AMOLED display on Samsung’s new tablet.

Samsung HQ

The Samsung Galaxy View houses the company’s proprietary Exynos 7580 proc and 2 gigs of RAM. The gigantic device will have 32 gigs of built-in storage. At the current moment we don’t know if we will be able to expand size via a microSD card slot.

For such a big device, there has to be a bigger power source. Samsung features a 5,700mAh battery to juice the 18.4-inch display. The company notes that the device will be packaged with an integrated stand. This means that you will be able to use it as a monitor in order to fully take advantage of its capabilities.

We don’t know the display’s ppi and we don’t know at how much the Samsung Galaxy View will retail at. What we do know is the basic specs and that it’s going to be available this October.

We will have to wait until October to see if the entertainment behemoth’s new device will increase tablet sales, or if it’s a dead and gone tech.

However, if you can’t wait until then, you might want to take a look at Lenovo’s new phablet line. They are pretty weird but the specs on those babies are just to die for.

Image Source: 1, 2

New Lenovo Smartphones are Pretty Weird

September 6, 2015 By Kenneth Scott 2 Comments

New Lenovo Smartphones - Phab Plus phablet

The Lenovo Phab Plus

The new Lenovo smartphones are weird-looking, weird-manufactured, simply put, weird. Among other announcements, Lenovo randomly showcased new smartphone lines. Not a single one of them will be released in North America.

The Motorola parent company has some peculiar things planned for Europe, China and the Middle East. It’s like they are living in a completely different world.

I don’t like phablets and I don’t understand their appeal. Huge blocks just aren’t my thing.

However, Lenovo is still trying to make this trend popular and the company is embracing phablets like never before.

The base Phab model has a 6.98-inch screen that sports a 1080p display and mid-range specs. Cough up more cash and you’ll get an upgraded Phab dubbed Phab Plus with better innards but a smaller screen. The Phab Plus has a 6.8-inch 1080p display, 2 gigs of RAM and a Qualcomm 615 proc.

Both of them reside on the mid-tier category, performance wise.

The Lenovo Vibe S1

Basically, Lenovo just stretched everything so they can plaster the phablet tag.

Lenovo’s head of PR notes that their new devices will remove the dilemma that usually comes when users want to choose between a smartphone with a big screen and a small tablet. I don’t understand what they are talking about. Nobody, and I mean not a single soul on this planet has this dilemma. You either want a smartphone or a tablet. You don’t lose sleep at night weighing the pros and cons.

But wait, Lenovo being weird doesn’t end here.

Take the Vibe S1. It has two front facing cameras especially designed for selfies. The smartphone’s main sensor is a 8 megapixel camera unit. The second one has 2 megapixels and it’s a depth-sensing camera so selfie aficionados can add all sort of peculiar effects, like bokeh.

However, the Vibe S1 comes with some pretty more-than-decent specs. It features a MediaTek proc, which doesn’t really shout reliable, but you’ll get 3 gigs of RAM and, get this, 160 gigs of storage.

The Lenovo Vibe P1

Wait, there’s more.

A couple of new Lenovo smartphones that feature a pretty cool gimmick are the Vibe P1 and the Vibe P1m – who brands these phones? ‘Cause my 12-year-old cousin could do a better job.

The gimmick is that both smartphones come with a physical switch which the user can use to put the device into a power-saving mode.

Oh, yeah right, they also come with humongous batteries.

The P1m has a 5.5-inch screen, a 720p display and a 4,000mAh battery!
The P1 comes with a 5-inch screen, a better 1080p display and a 5,000mAh battery!

What’s the battery life, I wonder?

The P1 also weighs 6.67 ounces. For a smartphone that isn’t light at all.

These new Lenovo smartphones will hit stores in the following months. Unfortunately, for some I guess, North America won’t get its dose of weirdness.

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Streaming is Easier Thanks to the New GeForce Experience

September 5, 2015 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

With YouTube Gaming and now the new GeForce Experience from Nvidia, streaming has never been easier!

There are two modes of game streaming. The first one is streaming via a video feed that showcases what you do inside the game. The second one is about how you can play a game remotely through another device that streams the experience.

Nvidia is well aware that both of these modes are becoming more and more popular with each passing year. That’s why they are introducing a new GeForce Experience, which lets users do both things much more easily.

It has begun rolling out in beta form, but I would recommend patience on your behalf. They still need to polish everything before it’s suitable for the end-consumer.

The update that introduces an on-screen overlay will be available for all of your games. You don’t need to set anything prior to your gaming session. All your tools are already there, if you want to use them of course. You can access it via a keyboard shortcut.

If you don’t want to use this feature, just don’t. It won’t stand in your way, it’s totally unobtrusive.

Instant replay and video recording resemble Nvidia’s ShawdoPlay function. Basically, that’s exactly what they are, but in a more straightforward and intuitive format.

The max res you can use is 4k at 60 frames per second, this means that for an hour of recording you’ll need roughly 60 gigs of free space.

You have the option to let the Nvidia GPU run a DVR service in your background. It automatically records the last 30 seconds – you can set it to as long as 20 minutes. Afterwards, they are available for replay.

The most important feature is the sharing element. The new overlay is so much more easier to use and uploading is reliable and quick. Trim your video as you like and then upload it to YouTube.

Those of use who have done gameplay walkthroughs or Let’s Play vids know how trimming a video is a huge chore. There are no settings you need to tweak before-hand. The new GeForce Experience might just be a knight in shining armor.

Play a match of LOL, record it, and upload a high-quality video to YouTube. Just Fantastic.

There’s also a broadcast to Twitch option. Yet again, Nvidia emphasizes quick access – click one button named Start to get your session live.

The last feature, that we know of so far, adds the possibility of inviting your friends to join your game via e-mail or a shareable URL. When and if they accept your invite, they will be able to either watch your session, play with you in co-op games or game in your place.

Everything will be done in a 720p res at 30 frames per second and your mates will need to run Chrome and a plug-in – on PC or Mac.

Unfortunately, there is no Chromebook support at the moment, but who knows what the future holds for us?

I’m quite curios on how this will evolve. What about you?

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Super Mario Maker – Game Design Is for Everyone

September 4, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Super Mario Maker is set to launch on the Wii U on September the 11th. The thing is, most people don’t know that Nintendo’s newest Mario makes game design fun.

We’ve all played Bob the Builder in a Warcraft or Starcraft map editor, and while we had plenty of tools at our disposal – see Dota and TD – they weren’t that approachable to newcomers.

You see, Super Mario Maker is highly addictive mainly because it’s so easy to design a level. You have familiar tools that won’t overwhelm users, the gamepad fits the medium perfectly and you can immediately play your creation.

If you’re a gamer then you most likely played Mario once in your lifetime. If you own a Wii U, now’s your chance to relive those childhood stress-free glory days. Remember those pipes, blocks and power-ups from the original Super Mario Bros.? Welp, they are part of your library of tools in Mario Maker.

Because these tools are so familiar, Nintendo doesn’t explain what the ? blocks do, or what a mushroom consists off – no Timmy, a bad trip isn’t the correct answer.

Tools are highly intuitive, they are evergreen. Even if you didn’t lay a finger on Mario ever, you’ll know what to do without help from a tutorial.

Too many tools, too much functionality may be overwhelming at first. If it’s too hard on the first try, gamers might not launch the title a second time. Super Mario Maker locks the majority of tools at the beginning. It may be a little bit annoying to some that the game forces you to play through in order to unlock tools, but that’s the gamification element.

If you want to unlock boo ghosts or warp pipes, you are required to play at least five minutes a day, each day, for an entire week.

These limitations keep the game from overwhelming users. You master the basics as you play, and you unlock new possibilities when Nintendo thinks you are comfortable enough.

Game design is incredibly hard and sometimes downright boring. I’ve wasted my fair share of time developing my very own Warcraft 3 campaign, only to not even play it because I was so exhausted by the whole design process.

The whole design process has been streamlined so it doesn’t feel like such a chore. The Wii U gamepad is seriously the best input for Super Mario Maker. It frees your mind and hands. It’s easy and fun to just draw crazy things and then unleash them onto the virtual world.

Super Mario Maker - The Wii U gamepad fits the medium perfectly

I think I overdid it a little bit…

That’s the thing. You create and then you can immediately play your creation. You don’t even have to finish the level. The Play button can be found in the left corner of the screen. Tapping it unleashes your creation, regardless if it’s complete or not. This is mainly used for testing things out.

The bottom line is, Super Mario Maker is just, simply put, fun.

You build a level from scratch, then you can play it. If you want to undo something, then just use the cute dog button. I’m just dying to play it again!

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

OnePlus 2 Review – The Flagship Killer That Could

September 3, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Manufacturer OnePlus have outdone themselves once again. The OnePlus 2 is a flagship killer that is really really hard to get hold of.

The OnePlus 2 is one of this year’s best, and boldest, smartphones. It’s not just a radical designed phone, no sir, it’s the whole package. Quite frankly, it’s a remarkable device. It would have been this year’s best smartphone, price to value ratio, if it weren’t for that horrible invite system.

OnePlus 2 Review

Amazing price to value ratio, it has an elegant and classy screen tone, a reliable fingerprint scanner and an almost excellent camera image quality.

The thing is, their invite system is just painstakingly horrible. Getting hold of the device means that you either a) have all of the Greek pantheon on your side, or b) you’re just incredibly lucky.

OnePlus 2 specs

5.5-inch 1080p screen;
Snapdragon 810 proc;
3 or 4 gigs of RAM;
16 or 64 gigs of storage space;
Dual SIM;
Almost excellent camera;
3,300mAh battery.

OnePlus 2 Design

When you first lay your eyes on it, the OnePlus 2 won’t feel like anything special. Considering it’s manufactured by a company that is borderline unknown in the mobile industry, you could be prone that it comes packed with a design that shocks and awes.

The OnePlus 2 isn’t designed to be sold off of shelves. You can only acquire it directly from OnePlus and the odd importer here and there – Amazon also lists the OnePlus 2 but at a stupid-expensive price of $500 plus. Don’t spend more than $400 for the high-end model.

Anyway.

The thing is, you need an invite to be allowed to pay for the device. As I write, these invites aren’t that easy to receive.

Sure, it’s a strategy to increase its hype and anticipation by limiting stock. But consider the middle-man retailer here. If somebody else was in the middle, let’s say Verizon, you can bet your sweet tush that the OnePlus 2 would definitely not cost $329.

But enough with marketing.

When you hold the OnePlus 2 next to the HTC One M9 and LG G4, it isn’t overshadowed but it doesn’t necessarily excel. It’s just a phone that feels great in the palm of your hand.

The original OnePlus One was built out of plastic, mostly anyway. The next gen smartphone also has plastic bits and pieces here and there, but its sides are made out of magnesium alloy. It gives an aluminium feel, which makes it pretty cool to the touch.

Magnesium alloy is also slightly lighter than aluminium, but this doesn’t make the OnePlus 2 light. In fact, the phone weighs about 175 grams. That is 20 grams heavier than the LG G4. Nothing worth fussing over about.

Moreover, because after the initial weight-shock, and comments about how it’s meatier than most phones on the market, you’ll completely disregard its surplus and fall in love with what it can do.

If you have petite hands, just like me, then you’ll have some issues holding it with one hand, but not something that I consider to be a deal breaker. If you do have minuscule handsies, the OnePlus 2 allows you to tweak how reachable soft keys are – you can switch between hardware soft keys and software ones.

Also, you can easily relocate the back and recent apps keys.

However, if you’re looking for something really slim, then I don’t think the OnePlus 2 will satisfy your needs. It’s 9.9 millimeters thick.

OnePlus 2 Covers, Connections

Mostly, it resembles the OnePlus One, but it does have its random moments when it feels unusual. Mainly because of the magnesium alloy that gives it that weird, futuristic vibe. The back mirrors the OnePlus one – it’s fuzzy and a little rough.

It sports a high-friction build-material and I’m quite shocked that no other mobile manufacturer has adopted it – it’s been present since the OnePlus One. The thing is, sometimes, it feels like you’re holding a shaved puppy.

If you don’t fancy this, you can pick other covers for about 30 bucks a pop. Including kevlar and wood materials. I found the kevlar cover to be the best pick out of all of them.

The phone’s back can be easily peeled with your fingers. It won’t give you access to its battery, but you’ll have an open door for the dual SIM slots.

You won’t find a microSD card slot, so I recommend you go with the more expensive model that features 64 gigs of storage space. Also, the OnePlus 2 is not waterproofed.

You have one button on the left side of the phone that turns all notifications off except those who have priority. It’s an easy way to silence you phone, but at the same time, allowing phone calls to go through.

It doesn’t have a microUSB socket, instead, it features a USB-C slot.

The benefit? Everything is going the USB-C way. The downside? Throw out all your other cables because they won’t work with the OnePlus 2. You won’t have the Speedy Gonzales USB 3.0, and to be honest, I have mixed feelings regarding USB-C.

USB-C is reliable and I haven’t found its fault, but I don’t see its point.

OnePlus 2 Fingerprint Scanner

An impressive piece of hardware is the fingerprint scanner. OnePlus takes tips from Apple’s iPhone Touch ID sensor, and Samsung Galaxy’s S6 scanner. You’ll find it located just under the Home key, on the front of the device.

You aren’t required to swipe your finger all over the place. You just need to hold it there for a few of seconds and voila. Indeed, it is slower than what you would find in an iPhone 6 scanner, but it is as reliable. It can store up to five fingerprints.

OnePlus 2 Screen

It has a big 5.5-inch screen. It’s larger than the iPhone 6, HTC One M9 and the Samsung Galaxy S6. Display quality is excellent.

Screen type? The trifecta of excellency – LTPS, IPS and LCD.

Because of the LCD, the OnePlus 2 won’t have the same dark as night black color scheme as Samsung’s S6 OLED. Still, it’s above the decent standard. More so, the backlight and contrast are comparable with high-end smartphones.

In a normal darkened room setting, its quality becomes obvious – it can’t output the same backlight as the S6’s OLED. In a normal lit room setting, you won’t see a difference.

The IPS gives the OnePlue 2 incredible view angels, with just a few losses of brightness here and there. Colors are pleasant and full of life. I’m happy to announce that this device doesn’t have an overly saturated palette. I’ve seen some pretty nasty devices in my time.

Instead, it takes a more relaxed approach. There are no reds that pinch your eye sockets, and there are no weird shades present. I can honestly compare it to the iPhone 6. Pleasant and comfortable for viewing purposes.

The LTPS, which is another screen architecture, helps the phone cut down on how much power its display uses. This equates to more battery life.

Tones are warm, and colors seem natural. That’s what you must look for in a smartphone. It has a shocking 401ppi density that rivals the one, pixel by pixel, found in the iPhone 6 Plus. It’s 1080p display is just superb.

The LG G4 and Samsung Galaxy S6 are better and have a higher pixel density counter because they use QHD. Noticeable? Just barely when up-close. Remember, you’re paying under $400.

Corning Gorilla Glass 4 encompasses the display and brings top-notch brightness. The OnePlus 2 isn’t a fingerprint magnet, and because of GG 4, it’s somewhat scratch proof. This doesn’t mean you can smash it without consequences – please, behave yourself sir, or madame.

However, the auto-brightness setting needs a little bit more polishing. Maybe in the next gen OnePlus. It does work, well enough, but it makes the screen too bright when you are indoors, and it doesn’t react that well when you go outside.

Bottom line, the display is to die for.

OnePlus 2 Android, Oxygen OS

The OnePlus 2 is more than capable of running Android 5.1 Lollipop, and the following Marshmallow. It has the Oxygen UI on top of it all. What does this mean? Well, it’s just a custom user interface with lots of features – some more covert than others.

It will look, and feel, exactly like your usual Android 5.1 Lollipop, with a ton of new features for power users. It sports a Nexus-like style.

One additional feature than you won’t find on your usual Android 5.1 device is Shelf. It’s basically an extra home-screen where you can add your most used apps, contacts, widgets and the likes. It’s not that great, but I got the feeling that OnePlus will update it in the following 12 months so you could actually use it without thinking it’s useless.

Oxygen gives users customization possibilities. You can make your phone fit you, not the other way around.

You can switch menu system color schemes, switch between software and hardware soft keys, or simply alter whatever icon sets there are for installed apps. This might seem overwhelming at first, but even a non-geeky user will find his way easily.

OnePlus 2 Performance

OnePlus 2 doesn’t fall short when it comes to performance. Android Lollipop also helps it run better in this area.

It runs smooth as silk with no lag issues.

The Snapdragon 810 proc, which is currently the high-end chipset from Qualcomm, ensures that the OnePlus 2 runs as as flagship phone. It has an octa-core CPU comprised of four 1.8GHz Cortex-A57 cores and another four, less powerful, Cortex-A53 cores. The Adreno 430 GPU makes the smartphone capable of running everything on the Play Store.

The main issue is heat. Complaints have arisen, mostly on internet forums, regarding the Qualcomm octa-core CPU. The consensus is that OnePlus should have gone with the weaker MediaTek Helio X10 chipset.

The OnePlus 2 gets quite warm without provoking it too much. Normal web browsing will make the top half warm, even if it’s for 10 minutes. Yet, OnePlus have put some safety nets in place so that their smartphone doesn’t reach molten lava levels.

The Snapdragon 810, while not the best regarded proc out there, is a good component that fits the OnePlus 2. It’s paired with 4 gigs of DDR4 RAM, which is just excellent. Most flagship smartphones use DDR3.

OnePlus 2 Camera

The OnePlus 2’s camera is super. The camera app? Not so much.

For 329 bucks, it’s quite shocking that it has a rear facing 13 mexapixel camera unit, and that the front one sports 5-mp. But you should never trust these numbers, because even the cheapest phones can carry a 8 megapixel camera.

The thing is, for this kind of money, the sensor is just excellent. It’s not even made by Sony, which makes the majority of sensors for smartphones.This one is built by Omnivision. Never heard of them until now, but its known as top-dog in China-made phones.

It features dual LED flash, later-assisted focusing and optical image stabilization. It doesn’t compete with the S6 or LG G4 in this department, but it outputs great quality.

However, the thing that most disappoints me is the awful camera app – which might just be a launch bug. Fingers crossed.

Why is it so bad? Because it’s based on the standard Android camera app that doesn’t have a smart UI. It lags a little bit and zooming isn’t well, working as it should. It feels lackluster when compared with everything else.

OnePlus 2 Battery Life

Huge amounts of stamina, insane amounts I might add. I found it to last approximately two days between charges. On a continuous 720p loop it reaches the half-day mark. Intensive use breaks it to 24 hours plus.

It’s somewhat similar to what you can find in a Samsung Galaxy S6. Also, it’s better than the LG G4 and the HTC One M9.

OnePlus 2 Sound, Call Quality

In this area you will find decent quality elements. They are not exceptional in any way. Call quality is clear, with random noise present. Good thing this isn’t often at all.

The call speaker is also clear, and the secondary mic found on the top edge provides active noise cancellation when you’re speaking to someone.

But it doesn’t have that sound that just punches your ear hole, like flagship phones sport.

You can find a single speaker on the bottom of the phone. It’s mediocre, with respectable high volume. It can cope in the kitchen or when you’re taking a shower. Listening to music or podcasts won’t offer an excellent experience, but not a horrible one either. It’s just mediocre.

OnePlus 2 Verdict

Should you buy the OnePlus2?

Yes. A thousand times yes, over and over again. For $389 it’s a steal. Price to value ratio is fantastic. The camera needs a little bit more polish, however, but that’s going to most likely be patched through an update by OnePlus.

You don’t have a microSD slot but you get 64 gigs of storage space.

OnePlus 2 Price – $329 or $389

Go buy it if you have an invite.

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The Next Gen Apple TV Will Be Game-Changing

September 3, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

On the 9th of September, on a Wednesday, Apple will most definitely unveil their next gen Apple TV.

It will feature more powerful components and a new touchpad-friendly remote.

However, the new remote will be one of the main highlights. The touchpad input greatly improves its usability and the built-in motion sensors will make it function as a game controller.

Software-wise, the next gen Apple TV will be packed-full with features. It will have its very own App Store and, of course, Siri will be fully integrated. The beloved digital assistant will support hardcore voice control, sources add.

Reports note that the next gen Apple TV will come with a feature that old Apple TV users have been craving for years.

I’m talking about universal search.

Think of Popcorn Time, but legal. You can search for a TV series or a movie and results will displayed from various sources.

Sources close to Apple note that this will be a game-changing addition. The end-user is the one to profit out of this. We will have the possibility of choosing from a wide variety of streaming video services – why should I pay $10 for Breaking Bad when I can get it at $5?

Be sure that Apple’s iTunes Store will be displayed each and every single time.

But a search function is pretty useless without filters. The Apple TV’s universal search will allow users to search for directors and actors, among other things.

All these things can be done via Siri.

Yet, not only Siri resides at core of this new functionality. In 2013, Apple acquired a video discovery startup named Matcha.

The Proactive search feature found in iOS 9, along with Matcha, is rumoured to also be part of the stew, 9to5Mac reports.

The universal search feature is going to be a cornerstone for Apple’s TV, a device that suffered immensely from its text-based capability. This may very well transpose the next gen Apple TV as a reliable entry-level video-streaming-oriented device.

9to5Mac also reports that the price of the new Apple TV will start at $149. In the near future, Apple will sell internet TV service subs. The faster they make this happen, the more households will be enticed to install an Apple TV.

Of course, Apple declined to comment on these rumors. Go figure.

We’ll have to wait until the 9th of September for the official announcement.

We are more than curious to see what Apple’s TV main competitors, Amazon Fire TV and Roku, have in store for us. If they don’t act fast, they might just lose the head-start they have.

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Nextbit Robin – A Cloud-First, Design-First Smartphone

September 1, 2015 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

Scott Croyle has been credited for pushing the boundaries of what smartphones should look and feel like. When he was in charge of HTC’s design department, as commander-in-chief, the One series witnessed a critically acclaim never-before-seen by the company.

Now, with the Nextbit Robin, Croyle wants to push boundaries even further.

He departed HTC last year, in April, to join a highly-intriguing start-up called Nextbit. They were initially aiming at developing software, not hardware.

Croyle had his way and he gathered a team that would be eager to develop awesome things for our pockets.

Today marks the day Croyle showcases what he has been working for such a long time. The Nextbit Robin is what he likes to call the design-first, cloud-first smartphone.

Croyle has told The Verge that he was more than tired of pleasing mobile carriers instead of the end consumer. With Nextbit, he doesn’t have to go through all of the hassle. He feels more liberated and in power.

Nextbit will sell directly to consumers, and because they are a small start-up they can experiment and prioritize to better fit consumers – aesthetics, originally, freshness in design and, of course, tactile appeal.

Their main goal was to look the part. It’s pretty hard to build a poorly designed smartphone nowadays, he adds. Because of this, they wanted to avoid the conventional and boring look.

I wanted to kind of zig and maybe zag.

When you first lay your eyes on the Nextbit Robin, you don’t know how to react. It’s simple but not really. Its rectangle shape doesn’t convey that natural sense at all. It has a spartan approach, notes Croyle.

Spartan symmetry to be accurate.

Designing a phone is to Croyle as is symmetry to Wes Anderson and Kubrick. They just fit together.

Everything is as it should be with the Robin. You got a bezel above the screen, and below it – both are identical. The cameras are positioned on opposite sides, but they mirror their placement.

However, we do not know how much difference this will make in the eyes of the end-user. But, it’s a pretty nice when considering how much thought and work Croyle and his team put in the smartphone’s design.

It features a Snapdragon 808 proc, which is a derivative of the 810 but without all that nonsense regarding thermal issues. The 5.2-inch 1080 display was a no-brainer, adds Croyle.

The Nextbit Robin will be launched on Kickstarter pretty soon. That’s where users who want to support the brand new smartphone-maker Nextbit will have the posibility of choosing a battery life and other components.

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No Hiding The Google OnHub Router In a Corner

August 31, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

If dealing or handling routers is not your cup of tea, the new Google OnHub router has got you covered. The $200 device hit the shelves on August 31st, promising to solve humankind’s problems with router blinking lights and unattractive cords.

What makes the Google OnHub router so special? First of all, it’s quite a sight for sore eyes. You definitely won’t be throwing this in a corner, hiding it in a drawer or sticking a brown paper bag on top of it.

Secondly, it’s easy to set up. That means you won’t waste hours on the phone with customer support to get help for installing it and answering questions like “Is your device plugged in?”.

The first tests all seem to sing Google OnHub’s praises. Compared to an Apple router, the Google OnHub was faster by six megabites per second and performed better on long distance tests, from three rooms away.

The cylindrical device comes with a swappable shell in black and blue, with Google pinkie promising there will be other colors in the future.

Google OnHub doesn’t light up like a Christmas tree and it only blinks when it wants to tell you something. You can also adjust the brightness so it doesn’t ruin your mojo.

You can setup the Google OnHub only through a mobile app, iOs or Android. The steps are easy to follow. The same app shows you how many devices are currently using the network and it also keeps you in the loop with how much data each of them is eating up. You can prioritize the devices if you have a God complex.

The nifty app of the Google OnHub also allows you to share your network with guests (instead of passing around a stained piece of paper) and it will also help you pinpoint any issues, suggesting ideas for fixing them. You can also manage the router remotely, which comes in handy if your parents were born in the 50s.

Google OnHub is made by TP-LINK, a third party networking hardware maker. Other companies are bound to design and start selling their own versions of the OnHub, like the Taiwanese company ASUS.

The router has some other aces up its sleeve, in the form of unactivated features. The Google OnHub will have Bluetooth and ZigBee low power wireless which will probably be activated at a later date by an automatic update.

Excited to get your hands on the Google OnHub? Personally, I’m more excited to see if this router will turn into a hub for all the devices in my house.

Image sources 1, 2, 3

Has Google Rigged Search Results in India?

August 31, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The CCI, which is the Competition Commission of India, is investigating the big G. They think Google rigged search results in India. If found guilty, Google might be fined 10 percent of the company’s income. That’s a whooping $1.4 billion.

The CCI has received complaints from more than 30 companies around the world. Facebook, Flipkart, Hungama Digital, MakeMyTrip and Nokia’s maps division are among the companies who have told on Google.

The main issue here is that Google has been gaming search results to display their own content and services more obviously, regardless of the fact that other sources have a higher hit rate.

The report filed by CCI notes also notes that sponsored links that are shown in results show a direct correlation with the amount of money an individual, or a company, spends on adverts with sneaky-Google. Flipkart, an ecommerce portal, states that they are a victim in this case.

Google needs to respond until the 10th of September. The company has to present itself in front of a seven member commission on the 17th, a week later. The commission is headed by Chairman Ashok Chawla.

Can we say that Google rigged search results for certain? Welp, we can’t say for sure. However, what we can say is that Google is acting more mischievous than it normally does. A few months ago, in March, the CCI fined Google with $166,000 for failing to cooperate.

More so, just last week they rejected claims that they are rigging search results in Europe. Google faces the exact same charges on the EU front.

We expect a decision being made until the end of the year. If Google is found guilty, they can be fined up to $6.7 billion, or a 10 percent payment of its annual revenue.

If this goes south for G, the decision will most likely be challenged at the Supreme Court. If they still won’t win, the CCI commission will ask the company to make major changes regarding the way they do business.

This is the first time a case goes globally where an antitrust body is formed and rises against Google.

According to Ms. Vestager, who is a Danish politician, Google is also being investigated by the European Union regarding their dominance over its Android OS.

Kent Walker denied these accusations last Thursday via a blog-post. Kent added that Google hasn’t reduced online competition at all, in fact, the company has sent approximately 20 billion referrals to various Internet companies across Europe over the past 10 years. This lead to a 227 percent increase in traffic for the websites targeted.

We’ll see how our search-engine Lord and Savior gets out of this one. What do you think? Is Google knowingly profiting from their stance of top-dog?

Image Source: 1, 2

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