Nexus 7 Dock is Back

The Official Nexus 7 Docking Station is back on the shelves of ASUS and sure to sell out fast. I have been checking stock on this bad boy since it sold out in January and have placed my order already before they sell out again. The link is below if you want to get yours ordered before they fly out of the door.

The dock itself means you can charge your Nexus without the need for cables and its perfect for docking and watching movies on.  Its retailing for £24.99 plus £6 UPS postage so its a bargain.  This is in the UK anyway.  I have found the dock available in a few places in the US but the postage was crazy to the UK. 

When ordering one from the US the postage was 3 times the price of the dock.  I wasnt that desperate so waited and my patience has paid off

Buy the Official Nexus 7 Dock

Nexus 7 Docking Station

Put your Nexus 7 at the center of your life.

• Angled for optimum viewing of movies, photos, webpages, and email.
• Standard 3.5mm port for speakers.
• Micro USB makes charging easy while using the tablet.
• Polished glass exterior and rubberized interior customized for Nexus 7.

Samsung Galaxy SIII is finally here

Samsung has finally ended all speculation on 3 May, 2012 and released details to the public on their newest smart phone which is set to rock the mobile world and put the iPhone 4S in the shade for a while.  Although not officially released yet most of the major retailers have been taking pre orders for this new smartphone and it should be released on contract very soon with reported dates for UK release to be the 30th May, 2012.

We have a feeling this phone could hold the throne of best throne for at least 2 years just like its older brother the Samsung Galaxy s2 and have more and more people converting to android.  The processor will be one of the fastest and it puts HTC's One phone in the shade straight away, and we are hoping HTC come back with an even better phone to keep android on top.

So whats so good about the new release from the Korean giants Samsung?

Here are some of the latest features

Smart Stay - This is a new technology which utilises ICS update to detect your eye movements and keep the screen on so it doesn't auto time out and go off.  Very handy if your surfing the web, reading an ebook or watching a movie.  Not sure how well it will work in the dark but I'm sure time will tell.

S Voice – Its supposedly better than the previous Samsung talk and now listens to commands like alarm off, answer the call, turn up the music and much more.  We will see if it is a contender to Apples Siri when its released.  I can personally say I don't use voice commands that much but might give it a try around the house for the day when I get my hands on the phone.

Direct Call – This is another new feature and Samsung describe it like this.  If your writing a text and decide its easier just to call the person then you just lift the phone to your ear and it starts to dial their number.  Quite useful in my opinion as I have lost count of the times I have had to do this.  Will save you a few key presses int he long run but another way that Samsung is making life simpler for the everyday user.

Here is some of the marketing text direct from Samsung on the phone.  The S beam looks very useful for sharing videos and music  instantly with friends. 

The GALAXY S III makes connecting with friends and working across different devices easier than ever.

Want to share multimedia files quickly and simply? S beam allows a 1GB movie file to share within an astonishing three minutes and a 10MB music file inside just two seconds, simply by touching another GALAXY S III without the need for Wi-Fi or mobile signal.

Balancing simple elegance and powerful performance, the GALAXY S III sets a new benchmark in smartphone technology.

Thin but energy efficient, the 4.8" HD Super AMOLED display delivers incredible HD playback with vivid colours and an ultra fast response.

With Pop up Play, you can watch an HD video anywhere on your screen whilst simultaneously checking your email or text in another. Whilst, to ensure faster connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi channel bonding which doubles your bandwidth.

The phone is coming in two colours initially and they have departed from the standard black phone and opted for a rather fetching Pebble Blue or Marble White.  I think Im going for the Marble white this time for something different.

We will of course be hosting our review roundup when the phone is received on the technology websites and have a Samsung SIII price comparison ready to roll on 30 May, 2012.

I think we all know that the long awaited release of Samsung's new android phone the Galaxy S3 is just around the corner and they have remained pretty much tight lipped on the specifications and even the look and name of the phone.

Seemingly its going to be released to the press and maybe the public on the 3 or 5th of May, the early leaks of the phone were seemingly fake, but they were never confirmed from any insider.
 

Samsung Galaxy S3 processor rumours

The processor will be using the latest Samsung Exynos quad core processor which promises improved power efficiency.  Its rumoured to be hitting the 1.5ghz mark which is perfect and should give us a zippy little phone.

Software

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will of course feature Google's latest operating system for android; Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.  A much improved operating system which the new Samsung phone is set to take full advantage of the new OS.  There are firm rumours that Samsung will be offering the phone with their Touchwiz interface, which isn't that bad and can be removed if you know what your doing.  We will probably remove it and replace with the GO Suite anyway.

The Display

The phone itself is supposed to be a bit more generous on the screen size with rumours setting it at 4.8-inches, although we suspect it may be 4.7-inches.  the screen is almost certainly going to be Super AMOLED and the actual phone may be a completely different shape from the original S2.  We think they will lose the home button since ICS since to rely on the touchscreen more than anything else.

Leaked Galaxy S3 Pictures

We don't know if any of these are real, and they show a few different versions and looks but we will let you be the judge.  Hopefully we will all be able to get our hands of the phone on 3rd May, 2013.

This is from engadget

This is from Gizmodo

The Korean mobile giant Samsung also released a teaser trailer, which although doesn't show the phone itself; it drops a few hints on what it may be like and is below.
 

Other Galaxy S3 rumoured specs

Having a look at the tech bible website of t3.com they have a few more Samsung Galaxy S3 rumours including saying it will have 2GB of Ram (10x more than my first desktop pc) 32GB of internal storage plus expandable via microSD.  A 12 megapixel camera which will be perfect for the likes of instagram and the new facebook camera app for android.

What do you think?

We will let you be the judge if they are real but within a week we will find out what its like.  anyone got it on preorder or waiting with baited breath to see if its worth taking out on contract or buying outright?

The popular online music service Spotify that pretty much everyone has heard of has launched a new beta version of its software foe the android OS today.  With the new launch comes a new look, access to friends and high-res images.

The latest updates bring the android app more in line with the iOS equivalent and will work on Googles latest update the ICS or Ice Cream Sandwich update on selected handsets and tablets.

Also amazingly for the first time on any mobile device the makers of Spotify have updated it so Android users will be able to check out related artist view and the apps seems to have been made much faster.  Other excellent features that have been added to the beta update are an all new slide out navigation system, the ability to check out your friends profile pages and playlists, see artists images in high res and other small tweaks.

The beta launches on the Google Play store today so make sure you grab it.

News on the grapevine is that Vodafone are releasing a new £100 mobile phone that will feature Googles latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich update.

It will be for the low end touchscreen mobile market and will suit people who are on PAYG or just want a cheap contract deal phone.

The new Huawei Ascend G300 will feature a touchscreen and is Vodafone exclusive on PAYG.  Initially released running Gingerbread it will get a summer update to Ice Cream Sandwich or android 4.0.

With a 4 inch touchscreen display, 5 megapixel camera, 1Ghz processor with 2.5GB internal storage expandable to 32GB with micro sd it certainly wont set the world on fire but will be great for low users or as a teenagers first phone.

Priced at £100 on PAYG or free on 24 month contract for £15.50 per month with 100 minutes, 500 texts and 250mb of data.

New android malware found

A bit of news we gleaned from CNET and Lookout is that there is a new peice of android malware to be aware of and watch out for.  Security firm Lookout have recently found that an old peice o

Image from Lookout

Its not belived to be in the Google Play market at this time but its worth keeping an eye on what applications you download.  It was recently seen in an app that proported to be the new Angry Birds Space app but you would see it comes from an unknown or fifferent publisher.

If installed to a phone it will redirect your market to a Chinese alternative app store, Im assuming to make the owners money.

Heres some advice from Lookout on how to stay safe
 

• Be alert for unusual behaviors on your phone, which could indicate that your phone is infected. These behaviors may include strange charges to your phone bill, unusual SMS or network activity, or application activities that launch when your device is locked.
• Always check the permissions an app requests. Use common sense to ensure that the permissions an app requests match the features the app provides and remember to look at the developer name, reviews and star ratings.
• Only download apps from trusted sources, such as reputable app stores and download sites.
• Download a mobile security app for your phone that scans every app you download to ensure it’s safe. Lookout users automatically receive protection against this Trojan.
   

Please bear in mind although once installed it desnt require any additional control it does need to be installed by the user, so make sure you stick to the Google Play store and official channels for your aspps and dont download anything that seems suspicious.

SDJNSNQZEEBX
 

Instagram for Android – A review of this new app

Well actually it doesnt say Im beautiful, it says its "A beautiful way to share your world"

I used to have an iPhone but I never downloaded or bought instagram if it was on there so this is a new experience for me.  Im not the best photgrapher in the world so maybe this will make some of my pictures beautiful.

Heading to the Google Play store I searched for Instagram for Android and downloaded the small application.

Credit Instagram

Once your past the log in screen it will ask if you want to add friends from Twitter, Facebook or from contacts.  Just a hint your better doing this now as its a pain to find how to add them later on.

Then its up to you whether you want to start taking photos and changing them or using exisiting photos.  I dont have that many useful photos and one thing this app has taught me is that I need to take more with my mobile instead of my digital.

I picked up a few and loaded a simple field scene I took whilst walking and played around with some of the settings.  Eventually I opted to turn it black and white or "Inkwell" as its called.  It turned out pretty nice and you have the option to remove the white border too. Then it saved it and uploaded it to instgram with an option to post to Twitter Foursquare, Tumblr or Facebook and Geotag the photo.

So far Im impressed so I tried it on my cat and made it into some strange Nashville picture, not sure what its meant to be but it made the photo look old anyway, and it was uploaded to instagram again.

When I finally found the settings they are easy enough to use, you can alter your photos so they are private, change camera settings, find friends and edit your profile and sharing options.  All very eay and intuiative.

So I thought I would post a test of the different options on a simple photo I took of the venue where Im getting married next year, or to be more precise where we are having the wedding reception.

A selection of some of the instagram filters on the Android – Click to view larger sizes

Normal picture without filters

Picture with amaro filter

Picture with rise filter

Picture with hudson filter

Picture with sierra filter

Picture with X-Pro filter

Picture with Lo-fi filter

Picture with early-bird filter

Picture with sutro filter

Picture with toaster filter

Picture with Brannan filter

Picture with inkwell filter

Picture with hefe filter

Photo with nashville filter

Picture with 1977 filter

Picture with Kelvin filter

Picture with valencia filter

Now apart from the filters above you can flip the photo, crop the photo or adjust the contrast.  But thats about it really and I would of expected a few more options.  The app is the same as the iPhone version but you cant currently preview your photo before taking it wqith the filters on as you can with the iPhone version but Im sure that will come.

A big downer on the app is that your locked to viewing your photos as a group on the actual app itself, it doesnt have its own web service like Flickr where you can view all your photos on a desktop.  There are a few ways around this but instagram seems intent on blocking them as we tried a few and they didnt work.  You can however share them to Facebook, Twitter and the likes but its not perfect.  There is also a way to view them on Flickr – just add your Flickr username you have assocaied with Instagram at Gramjunction and it will show them this way.

Overall I like the instagram app, but the filters arent really groundbreaking and there are others out there and options available to edit after the photo has been taken like Photoshop on the android.  Bu if fun filters are what you are after try this or Paper Camera*

*Paper Camera is not free and purchased through Google Play

Tell us what you think of instragram and share your photos if you like

Samsung has been totting up the figures and been doing a bit of number crunching and they have released a few figures to the general public.  They are about to announce they have shipped 40 million smartphones this year which is a tremendous amount.

A twitter conversation indicated that Samsung have already taken 10 million pre-orders for their new flagship phone the Samsung Galaxy S3 or SIII, mainly based on the popularity of their current flagship model the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Im currently in contract on my Samsung Galaxy S2 so wont be picking up a Galaxy S3 straight away but hope to get my hands on a model as soon as its out for a review or will make sure the best of the internet web reviews are compiled right here for everyone to see.

In the meantime if your looking for a new phone from Samsung and cant wait for the Samsung Galaxy S3 then compare prices on the new Samsung Galaxy S2 in Black, White or Pink.
 

Will you be buying the new Samsung Galaxy S3?  As always please comment below.

You get a lot of top 10, 20,100 android apps lists all based on random criteria or must have apps or editors favourites so I thought we would add to this crazy list with my favourite android apps. 

This isn't a list of the best apps for your phone or ones you should always have on your phone but a personal list of my favourite apps for how I use my phones. 

These apps are all compatible with the Samsung Galaxy S2 which is my current phone of choice running ICS but I'm sure will work on most android versions, but if you have any problems just refer to the app maker.

Ok so here goes for my top android apps.

1.Evernote
This app is a life saver for me, I have the worst memory in the world and it helps plan my day.  Good little app for lots of things but I mainly use it as a notepad for things to remember.

2. eBay
I live on eBay and if I'm not buying I'm selling, works very well with Android and can buy and sell easily from the phone.

3. Facebook
I suppose a must have if your on Facebook and I don't know that many people who haven't got it on their phones, I must use it at least 100 times a day.

4.  Sky news
Got to keep up to date with local events in the UK so I'm constantly checking this.  I prefer it over the BBC news app as its quicker to load and easier to read the top or breaking stories.

5.Twitter
I mainly use Twitter for my business ventures but again I check this randomly throughout the day, mainly for whats happening as I don't post or tweet that much.

6.Hotmail and K-9 Mail
Love both these apps and although I could have them all as one in K9 I prefer them separate.  Just wish I could change the email icon for K9 as I'm not a fan of the metal dog icon.

7.feedly
Another app I couldn't live without, it has all my RSS feeds and Google feeds all in one place and I spend hours looking through these at times.

8.APPY Geek
Great little app for keeping an eye on all the technology industry and great for finding new mobile and android information.

9.Paper Camera
Great little app for getting different photo styles, I love taking photos with the sketch filter and seeing how it changes.  A must have app for those creative people.

10.Aldiko
A fully functioning eBook reader and takes all types of eBooks and you can easily add from different folders.

11.Quido
I have been a member of the Quidco cashback site for a few years and find this useful for saving a few pennies or getting cashback.  Always remember to check to see if you get a check in bonus of 20p for shops if your heading out.

12.Tunein
Tunein radio is a godsend if you have a mixed crowd at a party and want to flick stations from all round the world.  I mainly have it on Kiss FM London for my own personal tastes but its so versatile.

There are plenty more to come and as always you can comment on your favourite apps below and I may add them to the list if they become essential to my daily life.

The HTC One X reviews started pouring onto the web today and as far as I can see the reviews have been pretty favourable.  We have made a small compilation of the reviews that have been coming out today and given our opinion on what we think of the new phone.  You can of course compare prices for the HTC One X  right here and snap up a good deal on one of the many tariffs currently available now.

So here is a quick summary of what some of the top tech review sites are saying, we will start it off with Techradar.

Techradar
They have given the HTC One X a 4.5 out of 5 which is an excellent review score.  They liked the super slim phone with its HD screen and of course the new Ice Cream Sandwich update it shipped with.  They also liked the new integrated apps such as dropbox and the new sound system and lock screen improvements.  They weren't impressed with the battery life as mentioned it wont last the whole day without a charge and the fact the touchscreen doesn't always wake straight away from the unlock screen.

You can read the full review here

T3
The gadget website T3 were impressed with the phone overall, the bright screen and the dropbox 2 year 25GB offer.  They liked the build quality and slim phone and the UI improvements and the fact its running Google Android Ice Cream sandwich. 

You can read a brief review here

Slashgear
This is an excellent review with some great pictures and exaples of the video quality of the new HTC One X.  They have gone into great detail and seem to like the new phone.  They thought the build quality was slightly cheaper than the HTC Sensation series but it is a more pocket friendly device than its older brother.  It mentions the 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and the 8 megapixel camera and from the pictures the quality seems to be good.

A downside of the phone is the fact it only has 32GB of storage and if your constantly storing videos and music you may run out of space quickly.  the 25GB of free dropbox storage may solve that for photos and the like anyway.  It mentions that the internet is a nice smooth experience and they seem to have flashplayer installed which is a good thing for those who love flash.  Finally they noted that the liked the battery life of the HTC One X saying it ran a full 12 hours before needing charged so it might be worth comparing these reviews. 

More on SlashGear's review here

Engadget
They seem to love the HTC One X review as well with many good points and the only downfall being the poor battery life. They were impressed by the lieghtweight phone and the new look.  They mentioned the camera is fantastic and have some excellent screenshots.  The internet experience is smooth and fast.

More on the review here

I hope you find the reviews useful, as always you can leave your comments on what you think of the HTC One X or if your going to buy it or wait it out for the Samsung Galaxy S3.