Samsung unveils world’s first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc player

Ars reports on Samsungs first 4k Blu-ray player... but will the consumers be fussed if OTT quality is OK enough for their tastes? Check out the link and decide.

http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/09/samsung-unveils-worlds-first-4k-ultra-hd-blu-ray-disc-player/

I bought a OnePlus One - mini review time!

The UK is a horrible place for buying a contract phone! 12 month contracts are hard to come by and when someone does offer them, there is usually a considerable mark-up on the overall cost. 

So having gone now the sim-only rolling contract route, I got a great deal with Three.co.uk a while back which equals to: 200mins, 5000 SMS and Unlimited 4G* for about £13per month. You can't really argue with that and the price has since gone up. The only draw back is I can't tether other devices but I rarely do that to validate an extra £8 a month. 

So being on this contract left me with my old faithful Samsung Galaxy S4. It still works but looks beaten and deserves a rest (or a £100 exchange with recycling firms). 

Enter the OnePlus One. a high(ish) end phone that seems to have been priced as a mid-range phone. The excuse being they don't blow all their money on marketing. I went for the 64GB version as it doesn't have a micro SD slot. This comes in a £269 (not inc shipping). I also got the blue flip case for a little protection. 

Impressions:  It's big! Previously I had a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and it feels on par with that although not as wide and more comfortable in the hand as the buttons don't feel as low down on the bottom. Compared to the S4 it's huge! Thickness is what you'd expect from this size of phone and slips into pockets easily enough when combined with not being overly wide.

The Screen: It's 1080p, not 4k which is actually probably a good thing in terms of battery. The brightness is good and text looks clear and sharp.

Battery: This is my third day with it so I'm still unsure about this. I have been using the phone a lot while customising it and installing everything back onto it including videos and music. The specs suggest a nice large 3100 mAh battery which should mean a decent stint under normal use.  I haven't messed with any battery saving features so I might not be used to length as I always had my S4 on power saving mode.

The camera: The camera is great and the flash is even better. I haven't tested the 4k video yet but this was another appealing factor about the phone. Also the fact that it uses multiple mic's for better sound recording!

I mentioned in a previous post I got some Samsung Level Over's. These and the Samsung app for them work beautifully.

Only issue I've hit so far is that I used to get cheap plastic bike holders for my Samsung phones. Ironically with this being a Chinese phone I would have thought there would have been a ton of cheap accessories flooding the market. I seem to only be able to find universal bike holders which I'm not overly keen on.

[Edit] - Actually, I don't like how they've integrated SwiftyKey. I changed over to Swype in stead and found that much better.

Anyway, to wrap up. I'm very impressed with this phone. Any questions? Leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

https://oneplus.net/uk/one#specifications

*Fair use policy applies.

New gadget alert! Smasung Level Overs

I gave in and bought  these as the price point had come down far enough for my liking! £164 for a Bluetooth Headset with decent ANC is very nice and is now in the sort of range of Plantronics offering. 

I've only had them a few days and the ANC doesn't seem as crazy good as the Purity Pro's I had previously but it's good enough to drown out Office AC and other consistent background noises. It's not strong enough to drown out people taking though. 

Comfort: These are very nice. I can wear them for a good few hours with no aches or pains where as the really soft Senhheisers HD558's start to feel a bit too much like they are clamped to your head after a long while.

Looks: I thought the black version looked a little too boring while the White/tan colouring in my opinion looks very nice.

Controls: So on the right side there are touch controls. swipe the cup forward / back and the track will skip forward / back (Although I found this didn't work on play.sportify.com ). Up / Down will control the volume which works pretty damn well for me.

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom.

I'm tempted by this when it's released in the UK. An optical zoom in a compact form factor where I get the best of both worlds. Running Kit-Kat as well so will have the latest support and run apps smoothly from the looks of the spec sheet. I've not been able to decide what phone I'd like next for a while. The Lumia 1520 / 930 are still lacking Sky Go which is a real pain for me and everything else has been a bit bland or gimmicky. I do also like the HTC One M8 but it feels rather delicate and also like it'll be a scratch magnet! 

Cheesy Promo:

Samsung K zoom Product Specifications:

Network	LTE	Cat4, HSPA+ 42Mbps LTE 800/850/900/1800/2100/2600 HSPA+ 850/900/1900/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
	3G	5-band HSPA+ 42Mbps HSPA+ 850/900/1900/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
Display	4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED Display (1280x720)
AP	Hexa core: 1.3GHz Quad-Core + 1.7GHz Dual-Core Processor
OS	Android 4.4 (Kitkat)
Camera	Main(Rear): 20.7 Mega pixel 1/2.3 BSI CMOS Sensor, 10x Optical Zoom, OIS, 24-240mm, F3.1-6.3 AF Assist LED Sub(Front): 2.0 Mega pixel
	ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 Continuous Shot: 3fps MAX with AF Format: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WBMP, BMP, AGIF Xenon Flash, SMART Mode, Expert Mode(P/M), My Mode
Video	Recording & Playback: Full HD (1920x1080 /60p) Codec : H.263, H.264(AVC), MPEG4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark, MP43, WMV7, WMV8, VP8 Format: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
Audio	Codec : MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/AAC＋/eAAC＋, WMA, OGG (Vorbis), FLAC Format : MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA
Value-Added Features	SMART Mode(28): Auto, Pro Suggest, Program, Beauty face, Shot & more, Panorama, Virtual tour, Rich tone, Night, Continuous shot, Selfie alarm, Manual, Kids shot, Landscape, Dawn, Snow, Macro, Food, Party/Indoor, Action freeze, Waterfall, Animated photo, Sound & shot, Surround shot, Silhouette, Sunset, Fireworks, Light race
	AF/AE Separation, Object tracking , Studio, Smile/ Blink detection
	Ultra Power Saving Mode
	Kids mode
	S Health Lite
Google Mobile Services	Chrome, Drive, Photos, Gmail, Google, Google+, Google Settings, Hangouts, Maps, Play Books, Play Games, Play Newsstand, Play Movie & TV, Play Music, Play Store, Voice Search, YouTube
Connectivity	Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4+5GHz, HT40, Bluetooth®: 4.0 BLE USB: USB 2.0 NFC A-GPS + GLONASS
Sensor	Accelerometer, Gyro Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Light Sensor
Memory*	RAM: 2GB Internal Memory: 8GB microSD slot: micro SDSC (up to 2GB guaranteed), micro SDHC (up to 32GB guaranteed), micro SDXC (up to 64GB guaranteed) *User memory space may be less than the total memory space due to system files. **User memory may differ by region, carrier, and supporting language, and may change after software upgrade.
Dimension	137.5X70.8X16.6(20.2)mm, 200g
Battery	2,430mAh

http://www.samsung.com/uk/discover/mobile/galaxy-k-zoom-unveiled/

Android Kit-kat being pushed out to Vodafone UK S4 customers.

Woke up this morning to see the update pending. Its around 350Mb so its not a small update by any means.

Samsung Galaxy S5 preview - Engadget

Not as impressive as I thought it might be. Most things seem to be under the hood. No stereo speakers which I had hoped for. The heat rate monitor is pretty cool for the health conscious.

I'm a little more interested in the second revisions of their gear lineup if they bundle that with the phone in some good deals.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/24/samsung-galaxy-s5-preview/

Galaxy S5 rumours & thoughts

See link at the bottom. 

A 2k display on a 5in screen just seems a bit excessive to be honest! If the rumours are true and is LCD over AMOLED then I don't think that'll be great in daylight either... Still it's on course for an April release which is when I got my S4 last year so it's a decent option. I''d also be impressed if it doesn't kill the battery in just a few hours of gaming. 

Same goes for the 6 core 64bit processor. Although that does sound pretty cool and the idea of 'carrying' your desktop around in your pocket is pretty cool. I hope they give it a mini-HDMI / MHL out to plug straight into a display.

On a side note. I'd love for them to release the same spec as a Windows Phone and give the devs something to built towards! That OS needs more rapid development! Thats not to say Android won't for some of these features.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2317640/samsung-galaxy-s5-release-date-price-specs-and-features

Sammy is making a few patent deals recently.

First Google and now this, looks like their aiming to dodge a fair few future issues and gadget creation becomes more and more of a minefield.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/27/samsung-ericsson-cross-licensing-agreement/

Large 4K screens at CES 2014

Over 100 inches on a bendy TV...

Whats the market ratio for homes that could reasonably house one of them in their living rooms! 

Certainly for gaming your eyes would be 'swimming' around the screen unless you were sitting a good distance back. 
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/08/samsung-uhd-release-window/

Go home S4, Your drunk... (update problems)

Go home S4, Your drunk... 

Samsung boasts 800,000 Galaxy Gear smartwatch sales in two months

I'd like to get my hands on one but unless it was thrown in with a phone deal I'd probably give it a pass due to the battery life which I've heard is bad. Still it's a good start! 

http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/19/samsung-800000-galaxy-gear-sales/

Samsung acquires 7.4 percent of Gorilla Glass maker Corning, signs long-term supply deal

Samsung certainly know how to not keep all their eggs in one basket.... Apple certainly knows this as they try to move away from fuelling Samsungs revenue lines... There are always sapphire displays as a alternative.. 

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/23/samsung-acquires-7-4-percent-of-gorilla-glass-maker-corning/

Samsung to unveil the S5 in January?

So Samsung, although selling well with the S4 has supposed not met internal sales targets. This could mean an early revision for the next release. To loosely tie that in with other rumours, could we see it dual booting with Windows Phone 8! 

I was very tempted by the Ativ S... a 5S with windows phone could be a real crowd pleaser... 

http://www.t3.com/news/samsung-to-unveil-the-s5-in-january

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Looks like the Samsung Galaxy note 3 has had a bumpy ride with rumours of benchmark cheating and a underperforming USB3 connector.

Its interesting to see them go with that awful looking USB3 connector. It was a long time coming but I still think there are a lot of unhappy manufactures having to work with less PCB space because of it.

I had the Note 3 but it was just a little too big for me in the end. I went to a Lumia 920 and then onto a Samsung S4.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7376/samsung-galaxy-note-3-review

Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch doesn't impress in full review

I think they nail it in this review really. Its still a concept but it's a decent effort. Battery is also rather shocking apparently.



http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-gear-smart-watch-doesnt-impress-in-full-review-50012363/

Samsung reveals new Exynos smartphone and tablet chip

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23422822

Samsung S4 outdoors shots

Took a panoramic shot although it was rather tricky with the cyclists zooming past.  

What Microsoft and Nokia want to see making headlines...

Windows Phone now the third place smartphone ecosystem as BlackBerry sinks further

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-phone-now-the-third-place-smartphone-ecosystem-as-blackberry-sinks-further

If you thought the Galaxy Note was large...

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/11/samsung-galaxy-mega-6-3-5-8/

My new phone..

So the Nokia Lumia 920 is in for repair for what I imagine is going to be the first of many dust repairs.... I could have gone for a £10 Nokia but the Samsung was cheaper and likely wont brick if I have to factory reset it like the Nokia flagship 920 does....

Hello new friend...