Mobile Phones

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30
Apr 13

Blackberry Z10

Blackberry Z10

I did snort when I heard that Alicia Keyes was made the global creative director of Blackberry and I laughed out loud when it was rumoured that she tweeted the news from her iPhone. Blackberry have been in crisis for a couple of years, once the pioneer of smartphones they took their eye of the ball by trying to ram their tablet down our throats and pushing out dodgy devices after device. With Samsung, HTC, Apple and even Nokia are made their mark on smartphone universe it looked like Blackberry had bit the dust. Suddenly their cute devices looked very dated compared to the lush iPhones, HTC X and Ssmsung Galaxies that had flooded the market. Something needed to be done and Blackberry retreated to strategise and emerged with a new brand name, new ambassador (cough Alicia, drop the iPhone) and new smartphone. Enter Blackberry Z10, the phone that would put the brand back on the map. Well I decided to check out the Blackberry Z10 to see what the big deal is all about.

The phone is powered by Blackberry 10 which is the now operating system, the Blackberry Z10 and offers you a seamless way in using your apps and features. Like the Windows Phone you can keep all your favourite apps in one place so you have instant access to them. Blackberry’s piece de resistance is the BlackBerry Hub which gives you instant access to your emails, text messages and BBM. Since those are the tools that I use most then I really love this feature. The keyboard is not bad; it feels easy to type ond has a punchy feel when you swipe the keyboard. It is made to understand and adapt to our writing style, so we can type faster and more accurately. I didn’t really see any real evidence of this but I did feel more secure typing on this model than my Samsumg. It did feel odd having to constantly swipe upwards in order to move from A to B and with no back button, navigating between apps and screens was a real pain.

Overall the Blackberry Z10 is a massive improvement from their recent models and if you are a real communicator then this is the phone for you. The Blackberry Hub is a real seller but as a regular Smartphone the cons are too much for me to consider it as an option. Lack of compatibility to Instagram and Pinterest is annoying but at least the Whatsapp tool is a lot better than the previous version. In terms of touch screen phones the Blackberry Z10 does not really offer anything dramatically different from the other phones out there but the Blackberry Q10 which is keyboard based may be a different matter.

The BlackBerry Z10 is available on all major networks and sold in from Carphone Warehouss.

Mobile Phones — 1 Comment
16
Apr 13

An Afternoon with Holly Willoughby and Windows Phones

Holly Willoughby

Holly Willoughby posing with her Windows Phone

I am typing this post on my brand new Windows Phone. Last week I was invited to attend an event with Windows and Bounty mums. It was held at the Covent Garden Hotel and hosted. by TV presenter, Holly Willoughby. The aim was to promote how Windows Phones can help busy parents organise their lives by educating and entertaining kids and offering tools that allows them to manage their household chores. The brilliant feature, Kid’s Corner was praised a lot as it allows parents to share their phone with their child but while fully controlling what their kids can see on the screen. Kids Corner sops kids from making accidental phone-calls, misdirecting emails and making unapproved purchases. The format was a round table discussion where avid Windows Phone users shared their opinions about the model and the benefits. The room was full of Mummy bloggers, journalists as well as Bounty ambassadors and they all had something valuable to add to the. discussion. Holly kicked off the talk by telling us how valuable the phone is to her life; as a modern day lady she has to juggle career and family and she was a huge fan of the calender feature which allows her agent to see her itinerary and add meetings and events in for her. Other features that got the thumbs up were Sky Drive which allows you to access your files anywhere, the connectivity with Microsoft Office as well as the variety of games on offer.

We were lucky enough to be gifted a Windows Phone 8X for HTC to take away with us. I have been using Blackberrys for the last three years and I got my Samsung S3 late last year so I am not at all familiar with the Windows Phone. To me it is the phone with all the squares but what I didn’t know was that those squares are pretty dynamic. They are Live Tiles and essentially keep you up to date with what is going on in the lives of your family and friends. You can arrange your screen and decide on what updates that will appear on it. After hearing about all the wonderful features, I could not wait to get started on it and I was impressed with what I saw. The phone is a bit smaller than most Smartphones so that makes it a lot more portable and the keypad is a lot more easier to type on. The navigation of the phone is also a lot more clearer and simple – whilst with the Samsung you ended up with open windows every time you opened an app, that ate your memory, with this phone all you have to do to exit an app is press the back arrow sign. I love the interface of the Windows Phone because all the fonts on it is the same across all apps unlike the Samsung where the font is tiny on Whatsapp and Facebook yet microscopic on text messaging. However what I love about this phone is the camera. I adore the fact that you have easy access to it simply by pressing the button on the side. This is really useful for me especially at times when I want to whip out my camera and take a quick picture. This feature really kicks my Samsung Galaxy into touch. Looks like iPhone and Samsung have a real challenger on their hands.

Mobile Phones — No Comments
25
Mar 13

Sony Xperia Z

Sony Xperia

So while Samsung, iPhone and HTC corner the smartphone market all the other brands struggle to keep up. Sony’s response to the avalanche of Smartphones that do everything except make the tea is the Somy Xperia Z. Like all the other big boys the Sony Xperia is also a large handset with a five inch display, but while the HTC and S3 feels light, the Xperia for some reason feels a lot heavier due to it’s chunky build. It contains a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13.1-megapixel camera, 4G cellular connectivity and 16GB of built-in storage, which can be augmented using microSD cards. It also has the sharpest level of HD available on a mobile phone. The handset also houses a 13 megapixel fast-capture camera with next-generation Sony Exmor RS™ to ensure that you always get crystal clear photos, wherever and whenever they are taken. It works spectacularly in all light conditions and is the first handset ever to allow HDR video capture on a mobile phone. This is the first big Android launch of 2013 and it is certainly an interesting one because it has a mixture of old and new. The design is is a bit dated and reminds me of the new Blackberry Z0. In fact it is rather like a fitted kitchen with all the ports and openings covered with flaps. It gives a seamless style but I find it annoying as you have to search for a while for all the ports that you need. Functionally the phone has a lot going for it - it is water resistant and dust proof and if you ever dropped it from a great height it would survive unlike other models that chip easily.  How it works as a phone remains to be seen.

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4
Feb 13

Samsung Galaxy SIII

Samsung S3

So after a lot of umming and urring, tooing and froing I have finally snapped my the Samsung Galaxy S III. I was torn between the Samsung Galaxy S III orS3 as it is known and the Samsung Note II but the S3 won due to practicalities and good old fashioned economics. I was planning to use the Note as a mini tablet and maintain my Blackberry Bold but that was not possible due to the fact that you cannot have the same mobile number operating on two phones and it makes no sense to have two separate sim cards. With S3 I can use it as a phone and a micro tablet so the decision was made. I picked up the phone on Saturday and I  chose the pebble blue as blue is my signature colour. I have heard how great the S3 is but I was not prepared for how fabulous it turned out to be. The concept of the S3 is that it is inspired by nature, it is designed to see, listen, respond, and enables you to share the greatest moments of your life. Well I can confirm that it lives up to its words.

First of all the camera function is amazing and rivals any DLSR and makes every image you take look clear and crisp. The camera syncs with Google so you have all your data ie contacts, calender and emails on tap. Also the web browser is excellent and loads quickly – the phone is even powerful enough for you to watch videos on it. The best thing about having an Android phone is the amass of wonderful apps that are at your disposable. With Blackberry you are more or less an outcast and do not have access to decent apps, so to be able to experience the wonders of Instagram and Kindle is awesome. Even the apps that I was using on my Blackberry such as Whatsaps, LinkedIn and Facebook are enhanced on the S3. What I love about the S3 is Google Maps, on the Blackberry it was total pants but on the S3 it works like a dream. I tested it on Monday when I headed off to the BenefitXmas do and it got me there safe and sound.

Ok the touch screen takes a while to get used to, the prescriptive text can be annoying and I will admit that the phone is a bit on the large side in comparison to the Blackberry but all I need is a great case and I will be home and dry. The only downsides that I can think of is that you have to charge it quite a few times during the day. I charge it at night and then once again during the day. Luckily it has a facility where you can see how much battery life you have left and you get a signal when the phone is fully charged. The S3 comes with 16GB so I don’t need to worry about running out of space with all my images bur considering that it has Picassa on it which holds all my old images then that is a good thing. I can confirm that the S3 is a joy to use. Together with the Griffin Stylus Pen that I was gifted by the kind ladies from Talk PR I am ready to take on the world.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is available on all major mobile network providers.

Pic taken from Flickr thanks to JonR Cook

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