Make a Note! & Free Galaxy note handset offer!

Hi all, just a quick post to remind y'all about the release of the amazing samsung galaxy note, packing the all new 's pen' stylus, a hd super amoled plus display and an immense dual-core processor!


Get yourself down to your local carphone warehouse, phones 4 u, o2 etc... and ask for a demo, you will want one!


http://cmvlive.com/technology/gadgets/vodafone-launches-cheapest-deals-so-far-for-a-free-samsung-galaxy-note

Above is some amazing news for Vodafone users!

Thanks, and a shout-out to Samsung Jam!

As a few of you have heard,  I have been selected to attend the Samsung Mob!lers Day as a UK representative in South Korea, courtesy of Samsung Jam. Thanks to everyone who visits my blog, your continued support enables me to bring you more and more content!

I'll be gone week commencing 5th December and on my return I will be raring to bring all the latest news & articles to y'all once again!

Thanks

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: A preview...

In early 2010 Google pushed out the groundbreaking HTC Nexus One device, giving casual users and cellular software developers a Mobile phone with specifications high enough to run the most demanding of applications with ease. Shipped with the latest Android software (2.1) and no fancy overlay to get in the way, this device was only out with one mission – to change the common idea that phones were to be kept as they shipped.

Since the release of the HTC Nexus One, Google decided to hand the Nexus baton to the mighty Samsung, who released the innovative ‘Nexus S’, comparable to the award-winning Galaxy S, but sporting exclusively the latest version of Android (2.3), stripped of the TouchWiz interface and topped off with a gorgeous curved screen designed to push ergonomic innovation to the next level.  The Nexus S was a huge hit with developers and a great device overall. It is clear that Nexus devices are more than just a series of quirky handsets, they are a growing ensemble of pioneering technology crying out to be pushed to the limits... In this short time a phenomenon has appeared as if from nowhere.

So now, here we are about to witness the release of the latest Nexus device, the question is no longer ‘will it be as good as PHONE A?’, it is now more a question of ‘which manufacturer can produce a device powerful, desirable and innovative enough to hold the Google Nexus title?’. Samsung have been entrusted with the responsibility, let’s look at the product...

The first thing to note is the usual Nexus signature – the latest version of Android, now v4.0 AKA ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ the whole OS has been vamped and is now no less than stunning... Taking utilities with both mobile handsets and Tablets in mind a whole host of new tools have been added to the interface, for example, multi-tasking has now been made much more effective with the addition of scrollable, live thumbnails of running/recently used applications – clearly suitable for large and small screens...

A first for the Nexus range is a break from the now bog-standard screen resolution of 480x800 pixels, now upped to 1280x720, on a 4.65’’ display, images and interface should be crisp beyond all expectations, not to mention that the display is Super AMOLED, which has been Samsungs secret weapon against all competition. Developers will now need to look at the way app interfaces look in a whole new light, as the display quality offers too much potential to under-fulfil. The display has also been given the curve-treatment which is sure to turn heads!

Despite the ‘mere’ 5mp sensor the image capture of the primary camera has been a massive hit with the ‘hands-on’ reviews, also thanks to the high screen res your photo previews are sharp as a tack.

Another pleasant addition to the specs is the increased battery cell capacity, at 1750mAh, it has to be enough to get even the most angry-birds-addicted user through just over a day without precautionary charging! Unfortunately, like the last Nexus model there’s no room for memory expansion, though this phone does come in 16GB & 32GB models it should be rather hard to fill...

On the whole I feel the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a welcome addition to the Nexus family, the specs are reasonable but nonetheless revolutionary. The handset is the most desirable I have seen in a long time and I, personally would use this as my primary device. Ice Cream Sandwich is the way forward and this device is definitely running it to it’s potential.

Go get it!

The first 5 things you should do with your new Galaxy Tab

So you've just rushed out and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab, what now?? Well I’m assuming you are in the middle of adding your Googlemail account to your device – so once you are done, take a look below at the first 5 things I suggest you do!

1: Make sure your software is up to date!

Sounds like a drag really, but this is very important and it’s best to do this first! When connected to the internet do a software update check on the settings menu, if there are available updates, do it immediately! This will make sure your Tab runs as smooth as butter!

2: Download Angry Birds!

This really is the first app I tried out on the beautiful large, bright screen. It is the ultimate test of the fun factor and you WILL love the experience!

3: Bought the WiFi version?? Don’t worry!

If you have an Android phone running V2.2 (Froyo) or higher, the chances are you can tether your new Tab to your phone’s 3G internet connection, which means you get petty much all the capabilities of a full 3G Tab!

4: Get it on’t Tube!

Please do yourself a favour and browse the Honeycomb layout of the YouTube app, it is absolutely amazing, with the ability to watch a video whilst simultaneously browsing or adding comments, YouTube have really outdone themselves now!

5: Set up your office!

One of my favourite features of the Tab 10.1 is the office suite, with a large screen keyboard, fully enabled office software, and an email app which blows every other Tablet out of the water, it would be rude not to try it out as a portable workstation! To say you created a CV, got on Jobsite, and emailed prospective employers from your shiny new Tab is yet another step towards the future!

Hope this information has been found useful – you can find me on Twitter @virtuoso666

5 Reasons to get a Samsung Galaxy Tab!

I had never planned on owning a Tab before I actually got one, but after taking it through its paces I have found it to be more useful than I ever expected!

1: Gaming on it is ACE!!!

Yes, the most obvious point is that the larger display allows a greater gaming experience, but the Tegra chipset is what makes the games come alive! Birds will be flying into pigs smoother than ever, not to mention more accurately!

2: The office is now officially ultra-portable!

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with free software called Polaris Office, which is a full MS compatible suite in which you can view, edit and create new documents in MS Word, Excel and PP format, there is also now an online storage facility so you can retrieve your important documents anywhere!

The email apps also look absolutely stunning on this device, with the ability to view one email whilst browsing through others this is truly a ‘full’ email experience. The calendar is large and clear too, making use of the scrollable widgets can make life much simpler!

3: Join the Tab club!!

There are several free (and paid) apps available on the android market specifically optimised for Honeycomb 3.0+, for example the YouTube app has a completely new layout in which all your suggested videos are laid out in a 3D style wall which looks amazing when scrolling through. Other apps to check out are the Dolphin browser for Tablets, Google Docs and IMDB.

4: The Battery, oh lord, the battery!

A reason to buy the tab its-self alone is the immense battery life, whilst in constant use you can probably get 10 or so hours out of it, but when its under light use, with a bit of Wifi here and there, a couple of YouTube videos a day etc... I wouldn’t be surprised if the battery lasts a week!

5: Media, how it’s meant to look!

If you are a commuter like myself, and often find yourself bored, you may also find that watching movies on a sub 5’’ screen entertaining, for a couple of minutes. With the Tab 10.1 the screen is so large and clear you will instantly find yourself immersed in your videos, the display is HD and the sound is crystal clear, whether using headphones or the built in STEREO speakers.  This device really turns portable media into true entertainment on the go, and when combined with a web connection, the possibilities are endless!

Go try one out and let me know how you get on!

Review of the mighty Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Recently the world seems to have become obsessed with a new wave of tablet devices, the most popular brands of which seem to be Apple, Samsung, Blackberry, Acer, Motorola and HTC – All with a few common features in mind; all slim, large display, simple, and social media oriented.

One of the latest tablets on the market is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 which seems to be the slimmest, loudest and fastest, but is it quite the best?

First Impressions:

On opening the box, I found myself gazing at a flawlessly flat, glossy slate which I was scared to touch at first in fear of getting fingerprints all over the screen. I soon pulled myself together and dove into the very efficiently packed retail box. Before describing the actual Tab first I’ll confirm that inside the box is the following – USB Cable (Tab specific cable), high quality headset, power-brick for charging, and the usual paperwork.

Out of the box the Tab had zero battery, which gave me plenty of time to admire the device. On the front there are no physical features to speak of, only the Samsung logo and a front-facing camera break the silence here. Holding the device a few things are apparent here – the weight is perfectly distributed so no matter which way up the device is held, the screen feels very cold and solid, which is always a bonus for me, also, all ports seem to be very carefully placed to optimise use in landscape or portrait.

Once the Tab was all charged up I switched it on to be mighty impressed by the initial boot-up speed, starting up was effortless, and the initial layout of the widgets really showed off the benefits of having a large screen.

The Display:

The first thing I was keen to test out was the capabilities of the large display, and from the word ‘go’ this display really delivered! Being accustomed to the Galaxy S 2’s Super AMOLED Plus display I did expect to be a bit disappointed, but boy was I wrong! Colours are presented with all the vibrance you could ask for, the resolution provides for some of the sharpest imagery I have ever seen, from bold photos to the tiniest of on-screen text everything is razor sharp. The widgets just seem to ‘jump’ out of the foreground, which is really impressive. Typing is as natural as it gets on a touch screen, it may take a bit of getting used to, but after a couple of days I found myself naturally writing out emails as quick as I can on my laptop. Touch-screen response is top notch, not a complaint at all.

The interface:

As mentioned above, the factory layout for the widgets is just perfect for jumping in and exploring the device, I instantly found myself welcomed by new, large, interactive widgets which can be placed around the home screen so intuitively that it was if I had owned the Tab for months, customising the Tab to make it my own took 5 minutes initially but the sheer amount of freedom kept me coming back to tweak some more.

Multimedia:

Another great thing about the large screen is having the ability to feel truly immersed in video, especially when combined with the brilliantly placed stereo speakers (on either side of the device), flaws in low-res videos are made apparent, but you didn’t buy a Galaxy tab 10.1 to play low-res videos, did you??  The YouTube app has been adapted especially for honeycomb tablets which is just stunning, viewing a video whilst writing a comment is now not only a possibility, but it’s a pleasure too!

I never thought I’d use the tab for reading Ebooks, but thanks to the high resolution, I found reading the many free news articles extremely stimulating as images and text could easily sit side-by-side for a real newspaper article experience. I personally wouldn’t be reading War and Peace on an Ebook reader but did find reading from this device very natural

There are a lot of games which adapt well to the higher resolution/increased screen size, the games I tested were angry birds (of course), stupid zombies and zynga poker, all of which were greatly augmented on the tab, physics are still represented accurately and the extra space on screen makes the games naturally more immersive.

Both cameras, despite the modest image resolution seem to pick up photos more than worthy of uploading to facebook etc... and unless you work for paramount pictures, video capture is non-too-shabby too!

Business:

One unexpected benefit I found with the Tab is the potential for business use, the calendar/agenda widgets are clear, with lots of information, and the email layout is perfect for viewing your emails whilst scrolling through other items simultaneously.

When it comes to typing, the options provided should cater for everyone... Even Swype has been added with the option to reduce the keyboard size for those of you who are used to your phone keyboards... The Tab 10.1 could seriously replace the laptop for your average business commuter.

Practicality:

Weight and size are unarguably in this devices strengths, but I have found myself utterly dumbstruck by the battery life of this thing. With light use, say fifteen to thirty minutes use a day this thing can be used easily for a week without need re-charging, that’s of course turning off wifi between use etc, but nevertheless is shockingly impressive. Sound is easily audible in a normal quiet-ish cafe scenario.

In Summary:

The Tab is a great device, for anyone remotely interested in social networking, passing time and viewing media how it was meant to be viewed on the go, it also seems to be perfect for business use.

Pros: Amazing display, great business potential, light and attractive.

Cons: In need of more Tab oriented apps.

The future: looking at Samsung mobile technology in years to come.

There’s no doubt that Samsung for some time now, have become a leader in world technology, and arguably the world’s most inspirational provider of mobile technology. Samsung have never failed to unleash unthinkable innovations into mobile phones and set the standard for the competition.

I have been given the most difficult task I can think of – which is to try and pen some ideas of what I think Samsung will be doing with their future products 5, 10 and 15 years from now.

Let’s get silly.

Recent times:

Looking back at the last 5 years mobile phones have changed rather drastically in terms of form factor and primary purpose, the reason for this I believe is that the hardware manufacturers are predicting more demand for silent communication and higher demand for multimedia based networking. The evidence for this very easily found with the loss of the ‘banana style’ form factor once the only option for mobile phone users – the classic ‘almost wrapped around the side of the head’ design which made speaking on the phone second nature, has been almost completely dropped to make a large, flat touch-display fit in better.

Alpha-numerical keypads which once suggested ‘full time numbers, part-time text’ are being phased out for QWERTY keyboards which contradict the alphanumeric idea completely. The fact that hardware keypads are close to extinction suggests we are reading more than we are writing on our phones too...

Once upon a time mobile phones and computers were made to be kept well away from each other, they didn’t get along very well and once connected there was very little point in the unison. For a short period phones and computers were used together for the transfer of media etc... but as tech has moved on so fast even that use is arguably redundant with the move of social networking and cellular internet access!

My opinion on mobile tech today is that the primary purposes have changed completely, less than 20% of all my communication on my Galaxy S 2 is spoken, and of you count Internet browsing, news, research and leisure, probably less than 5% of my phone use is spoken phone calls. If it was up to me, it would be a mobile organisation, communication and media device, not Mobile phone!!

5 Years from now:

In 5 years I believe that computers will simplify/boldify operating systems in order to grab the social network audience, and as a result operating systems such as iOS, Android and Chrome will account for a much higher proportion than now – Windows will dumb-down a little, so to speak.

With the above in mind this will enable mobile phones to sync seamlessly in real-time with computers, tablets, TV’s and other household appliances (within reason). We will be communicating on computers and mobile phones in an identical fashion... Saying ‘I can’t wait to get home to upload this’ will be an extinct expression. Mobile network providers worldwide will increase bandwidth, and voice clarity will be seen to as a priority.

Social networking in 5 years will be popular as ever, eventually becoming a common medium of communication for the elderly as well as the younger generations.

The changes in Samsungs hardware will update at the same rate as today, which means in 5 years, proportionately speaking, mobile phones will be out-speccing top gaming computers of today (granted, you can’t exactly truly appreciate top gaming capabilities on a mobile handset). Screens will be 4X higher resolution by standard and 3D will still be a bit hit and miss with consumers. Large storage capacities exceeding 1TB will be offered to extreme media fiends (Don’t believe me? Check out today’s SDXC capabilities). Battery life will be improved, but I can’t help but think that performance will still be questioned.

As for form factor I believe we will have a similar common standard to the Google Nexus S or the Nexus Prime – Taking a curved display, concealed camera and having almost no border to the screen.

10 Years from now:

In 10 years from now, having a household without some form of mobile phone or home PC will be like running a household with no trousers... It will be almost impossible to hold a family or social life. Your mobile phone will be your primary source for emails, which contain the entirety of your household bills etc... And physical post will only be items of shopping. Measures will be taken to try to introduce charges for use of all wireless networking as demand for physical post plummets, book sales are starting to drop and adult education starts to be moved from the classrooms into the home office.

Social networking will no longer be associated with students, novelty photos you never view and alter-egos. Social networking will be known by the individual providers’ brand name and will be the mainstream for all non face-to-face communication. Very few will still use land-line phones, with the exception of businesses.

Hardware-wise Samsung would have now cracked auto-stereoscopic 3D displays but 3D is still not so popular! The next step in display tech will be to bring plasma-holographic imagery to mobile devices. Phones are now very thin and resistant to impact & other elements. Media such as music, recorded video and photos are stored on the now-reliable cloud – watching video between your PC, Phone & TV is seamless and instantaneous thanks to improved mobile networks & technology. Voice-recognition no longer suffers from mistakes caused by regional accents and is now commonly used on numerous handsets. Very little difference between UI’s across phones, PC’s & TVs.

15 Years from now:

Very little has changed in terms of social networking since the 10 year

Ergonomics and inspiration, making our lives easier!

Technology has always been around from the beginning of civilisation, whether useless or revolutionary, and the top factor in consumer technology has always been ergonomics. Here are five of my favourite gadgets and how they have become an extension of the human anatomy.

The Bicycle:

Not a typical ‘Gadgety’ article, nor associated necessarily with typical ergonomics, the pedal bike is the only common form of transport which is practically free to run, and suitable for commuting distances. The Bicycle takes human effort and introduces a gearing system between us and the road, enabling our power/velocity ratio to be manipulated, which ultimately gives us the power to travel speeds and distances that are impossible by the laws of human nature. Although not as popular as once upon a time, a truly mind blowing concept, taken for granted by most of us.

The Gas Lighter:

It’s hard to think of life without the benefits of instant fire, and unless you’re Ray Mears you will have a huge problem obtaining it without a lighter. Where I find the fascinating ergonomical revelation here is the sheer immense amount of power made possible with a mere flick of the thumb, very few inventions have such a massive benefit/input ratio. The lighter weights less than a bunch of keys but is one of the most useful items to be carrying whilst stranded!

The Swiss Army Knife:

The Swiss army knife is such a great invention, every tool you could possibly need for a camping trip fits right in your pocket, and makes clever use of physics and geometry to give you the most efficient user-experience, from ‘levering’ open tin cans, using the strategically placed cork-screw or carving sticks into tools, everything has been thought of.

The Knife and Fork:

The knife and fork, another invention taken for granted by most people. The knife and fork made it to my list for a number of reasons, but the main reason is the fact that they are so common, a forgotten invention often mistaken for a part of our natural human anatomy. I don’t even know who invented them (though I will be googling it imminently) but they are purpose made to enable us to consume with minimal effort.

The Yale Lock & Key:

The common lock and key is a favourite of mine as it’s such a small invention, but has been the industry standard since invention, used in Banks, Prisons and even our homes for one sole purpose – Security. A device that typically weighs less than a kilo in total is able to grant or deny access to our most treasured belongings. A tried and tested device which is so common we would be considered ‘mad’ to live life without it. And the best part is, I hear you ask! The key fits right into the palm of your hand!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – Perpetual evolution. (Samsung Mob!lers)

The world we live in is developing non-stop and we, as people are no exception. Adapting to our surroundings, changing in order to keep up with industry, nature and our own dreams.

It would be almost impossible to justify comparing the human race to a single piece of modern technology, but three words can be used to describe what is desired by mankind, and achieved by Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 – Thin, Fast and Powerful. Why are these three words paramount in Samsungs technology of today? Here are a few insights.

Thin:

Thin is in, as much as some of us are intimidated by the pressure of media, we cannot switch on a TV without facing what we are ‘supposed to be’.

As well as being fashionable, thin is what streamlines us, stripping away un-necessary bulk in order to optimise efficiency, to enable ease of transportation and to save power. Thin looks good when proper care has been taken to achieve it, thin gives us the opportunity to hide in the shadows, to quietly overtake, to move in the slipstream.

Fast:

The world is one big race, and with so much competition, one factor is a must – Speed. Speed is the difference which separates great effort and great achievements. With the amount of information we need on a daily basis to succeed, lag is at the forefront of failures arsenal. Do you have an idea which could make you your first million?? Get there fast, or you may never get there at all.

Powerful:

Power is the ultimate measure of potential, impact, output, processing capacity and all we strive to gain in society. We are all born as vulnerable beings, and from the moment of birth, life is a struggle for power, whether political, physical or social – Power is a characteristic not to be challenged without great caution. Power is what is exerted during the challenge and what is rewarded after in another form.

All of the above examples could be used to describe human desires, or technology.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab has achieved all these characteristics, but the technology is always developing. Thin, Fast, Powerful – the forefront of design.