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.

Google quality report is out now in the USA

Released in Canada first, it's now hitting the US and will be expanding further shortly.

It's rather like Netflix's ISP speed index. Thay want to show up internet service providers (ISP's) where they have bottle necks either through limited peering and transit off / on their network or where they restrict third party services.  Also it will give a good indication of which ISP's networks contain their caches (CDN's like Googles GGC or Netflix's OpenConnect) which keep the content closer to the customer to it doesn't have to traverse the wider internet.

The idea being that if the ISP's don't provide good access to the third party video content (more data = more cost loosely speaking) then their customers can be made aware and vote with their feet if they want.



http://www.google.com/get/videoqualityreport/

A look at the PS4 and Xbox One hardware

A gadget p0rn video really.. but all the same it does make me take another look at the PS4 controller.

I'd still fairly set on the Xbox One but I think some really interesting stuff could come out of the PS4 controller with advance PC support (they have only announced basic PC support).

Suggestion / ramble for Nokia & Microsoft

So Microsoft and Nokia have jumped into bed together. Its been a while coming but with Mr Elop being an ex-MS employee it was set in the stars. 

There is hope but it's still a fledgling platform in comparison to Android and iOS. The market share is growing but slowly.

Nokia have really carried the Windows Phone platform forward but I go get the feeling that HTC, Samsung and maybe even Dell seemed like they were left for dead a bit which is a shame. (I really liked how thin the HTX 8X was and the Ativ S really did no bad in my eyes either). i hope they continue with the OS and models. 

The platform has hardware restrictions... Thats a good thing in many respects. I means less variation which means more targeted software which in theory should mean less development time and better quality. 

Nokia have a  few headline features in their 41 megapixel camera and design. The iPhone 5c has clearly given a nod to the Lumia range. I think the ecosystem needs to keep current with hardware changes though against the competition. quad-cores, resolutions, AV format support are major features lacking here. 

Now here comes the kicker(s), they've struggled for developer support in a lot of areas. Namely Instagram being one of the biggies. At the moment the platform has some great alternatives but the average customer doesn't want or go exploring for alternative services that use the service they want via another app. 

So what can be done? Well MS and Nokia seem to like developing and maintaining apps for others (The Facebook app was an example of this). Thats good as it gives some assurance but surely getting a bigger market share will temp devs over when there is more to gain. 

Nokia are somewhat going in the right direction with their decently specced lower end devices targeting the younger, growing population. They have product placement in programs like HollyOaks and various others. I think this has been their main area of growth for the platform. Especially with the recent financial climate.

Then comes the release date: 25th September (UK)... The iPhone 5c and 5s come out on the 20th September. Thats going to gut Nokia's straight away... Next up... Specifications... generally more is better in peoples eyes... Stick a bloody quad-core chip in your phone, make it 64-bit... If not, make it a damn sight cheaper! 

Next, your competitors sell ecosystems..They combine into an experience but they all fair pretty well as stand alone separates. Now you may have seen on this blog that i'm a recent fan of the Xbox music service. In does well as a stand alone product on various platform and I like it because its like Spotify without the clutter. Push the ecosystem! Here maps is actually quite nice to use but I always think of google maps first when i go to type on my keyboard. 

Raise awareness of the product links as well as how well they work separately. I.e. I'll stick with your music service if I can still use it and change my phone! 

Next the bundles! Below is one you really need to get operators to subsidise and make. It'd be awesome. Hell, shove this on Vodafone in the UK with their 4G and Spotify deal and make a big deal of the headphones and that'd win a few customers. The camera is great but the specs sheet is lacking, you have a fight on your hands this time a round Nokia. Not sure your good looking but fat top ender will handle it without a helping hand. 

Also whats with the bloody red version being missing! That was the best one!   

I should point out I had a Lumia 920, I wanted to love it. It didn't love me. Dust kept getting in the earpiece and breaking the sensor so I couldn't get the screen back on during a call as the phone thought my ear was still pressed to the phone...I gave up after the 4th handset replacement and sold it. Also the OS need a bloody rotation lock! I now use a Samsung S4, it's not great and doesn't look as nice but it's big, thin and has swift key which I absolutely love! I do miss the Xbox live achievement games though! 

I got an iPad mini - my verdit, fail!

Not massively impressed which is a bit sad.

I got it thinking it'd be a handy device that i'll pass onto the girlfriend when something I want comes along as my commutes have been a lot less interesting since my old Ipad was stolen.

I still fully intend to do that. I had a proper GPS or USB3 which makes it a bit painful...

I got the black 32gb 4G version. I can't believe Apple's cheapness as to not include a pair of earphones and the sim tray..I thought I was going to break the thing pulling it out. What happened to their build quality!

I don't think I'm going to get another tablet for a while. The Nexus 7 looks good but I want to see how people find it after a short while first. Apple will have to pull out all the stops if I'm going to consider them again for a tablet.

Windows, reimagined: A review of Windows 8, Ars

I've got my retail copy in the post. Been using the release candidate and at first I didn't like it but its started to grow on me.

I think this would be perfect with a Dell S2340T touch screen LCD in front of you and then a larger LCD just behind slightly raised!

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/windows-reimagined-a-review-of-windows-8/

AnandTech - Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) Review

AnandTech - Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) Review

Raspberry Pi review - Bit-tech.net

Click here: Raspberry Pi review

Ubuntu 11.10 Impressions a week on.

I haven't used Ubuntu since it implemented the Unity UI. Having had some time pass since its launch and, I thought it about time to give it a spin.

To be honest I'm not overly impressed with the UI. It isn't all that great to navigate and seems clunky. They have in fairness made for a less pain free experience in terms of 'install and go' with a lot of features working straight out of the box.

I was also bit surprised that it has not been able to detect my Nvidia GTX 275. This is something previous Ubuntu versions never had issues with.

The Ubuntu Software centre is a nice addition and I think this will help a lot of new users find what they are looking for but could do with some expansion on the search criteria.

In terms of day to day use it's pretty good thought! Libre Office works in it's usual seamless manner as well as most other productive software... I did have issues with WireShark picking up the right interface though.

My personal preference was to change the browser to Chromium and the music player to Amarok (especially if you use Lastfm's Scrobble feature). I'd probably recommend the novice user still steer clear for a little while longer (at least from unity anyway) but overall its a step in the right direction, it's nice to see some major development on a GUI for once.