I have been using the Google Pixel the last few days and so far its been pretty impressive although I have found the battery a bit on the weak side not seeing a full day having said that I am a power user so its not often I get a FULL days use from any phone without having to top up at some stage in the day.
With Nougat 7.1.1 out of the box it comes with some nice touches within the UI like tapping an app for instance and sub menus pop up on screen,this is akin to Apples force touch,hopefully more apps have this feature, the is also a few gesture features built in too like the fingerprint scanner acting on the double dragging down your top menu.
The two tone look on the back is actually nicer in person than seeing it in images and I like it although its a fingerprint magnet (the top piece is glass) however most people will put a case on the device so you can excuse that,We do have some case reviews on the way so stay tuned for those.
The camera set up is not bad either featuring an 8MP front facing camera and 12MP rear camera and it shoots decent snaps, USB TYPE C maybe a caveat for some which means having to change all cables at home but I am now in transition here with having 3 devices using this type but was slow off the mark and its here to stay and we may get use to it,It will be better in the long run with faster charging and data transfer..
The build quality is good its kind of a hybrid between the iPhone and a HTC with both looks and feel,Though the antenna lines take the look off it its solid and very light it must be said. We have the headphone socket present and then on the bottom we have ONE speaker, Given it loos aesthetically better with the two ports this long used technique is now becoming annoying leading some folk to believe you have dual firing speakers when you dont,the speaker itself is not as loud as other but its not bad either..The downfall on its placement is its downward firing so if in a shirt pocket or playing games you will block it..
Overall given its 5 inch display which is smaller that what I am custom too I have gotten use to it and can manage fine but will look forward to the XL later on this month. So far its been impressive apart from the battery life (2770mAh) but its super quick and smooth and if I am honest it still does not deserve the asking price, Google need to wake up here and think about what they are doing next and dont follow Apples lead with unrealistic pricing if they want to gain foothold..
BT Halo Twin The initial view of the packaging was big & heavy, the Twin handsets are larger and longer than a standard phone. The handset felt sturdy, curved with a comfortable rubber earpiece. The microphone fits snuggly around the mouth There is a metal base for charging with the answer machine built in. When the handset is removed from the base, the handset lights up making it easier to see in the dark. The number buttons have a backlight. The box comes with all the cables connections in different shapes ensuring they can’t be mixes up making the job of setting up easy. This Box came with contents and manual.
This model has the facility to Block nuisance calls. (You must have caller ID enabled) You can also opt out of marketing fixed-line (landline) calls by registering free on http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/number_type.html . Mobile customers can register their mobile by sending a text ‘TPS’, followed by their email address to the shortcode 85095. ROI Customers can have their telephone number included in the NDD Home Phone – National Directory Database (NDD), this is an opt-out register via their telephone line provider, eir, Virgin, Sky etc. These are not part on the call blocking technology but useful to be aware of. Should you use the phone, when the phone is set up initially, If the contact is not stored on the phone, trueCall asks callers to state their name and then press the hash key on their phone allowing you to know who is calling. This feature can be turned Off or On but may confuse your callers at first until their numbers are stored in the phone book,
BT Halo Twin – Pairing to smartphphone
BT Halo Twin – Pairing to smartphone This is one on my favourite features, pairing this to my smartphone with the Halo over Bluetooth, this allows all contacts on the smart phone to be copied directly to the BT Halo. This took about 3 minutes having close to 1000 contacts on my phone, I would recommend having a purge of your contacts on your smartphone first to ensure old obsolete numbers are not copied to the handset. You can register up to 2 mobile phones with 1000 names / numbers in each. This gave the choice of calling from the home phone number or my mobile each time I wanted to place a call. Answering a call on my smartphone is also possible when within Bluetooth range (Bluetooth’s range is limited to 10m) of the house phone. The call quality was far superior on the BT Halo than using the smartphone as I placed my smartphone in a good signal location and used Bluetooth around the house, previously on the stairs my smartphone would break up while there was no change in call quality using the BT Halo. The BT Halo also had a superior comfortable feel especially on long calls.
Features
A great feature on both base stations is 2 separate 1 amp USB charging sockets allowing e.g. your mobile to be charged beside the phone. This means 1 less power socket plugged in, removing unnecessary clutter. There is also a find button which would help should a handset fall behind the sofa. I have read some reviews which mentions poor call quality on the handset, this may have been an older version of the handset software or incorrect filters on the telephone. The call quality on the Handset landline and when used via the Bluetooth via my Smartphone has been of good quality. There is a backlight on the base station which if located in the bedroom is low enough not to disturb sleep. There is a large structured menu with a reset button, if case you accidentally set up any setting not required. A useful feature is the alarm clock which can be used as a standard alarm clock (this does not have the facility to automate the alarm turning off at the weekend, this is done manually). The battery life is Up to 21/ hours talk time/240 hours standby. The volume button on the side is easy to use, the answer machine buttons look stylish and easy to use as part of the base. There is the usual variety of ring tones, key pad tones and other features.
BT Halo Twin Features Register 2 mobile phones at any one time Store 1000 numbers on your Halo contact list, plus 1000 contacts from each of your synced mobile phones (register 2 mobiles at any one time) Copy telephone contacts between Halo handsets 1.8″ Vibrant Colour Screen Hands-free speakerphone on handsets Up to 60 minutes of message recording on answer machine Do not disturb mode with one touch call blocking PIN controlled outgoing call blocking so that you can block premium, mobiles or international calls. Clear Back-lit keypad Long range reception up to 300m outdoors, 50m indoors Up to 21 hours of talking and 240 hours on standby Easy access to BT calling features (3 way calling, call divert) See and hear if you have a second call waiting.
Twin set
If deciding on a product, (& money is not the key requirement) going for the Twin option, a 2 handset is highly recommended as try taking a call on a Saturday morning with the handset downstairs, placing one handset upstairs and one downstairs worked well, call quality on both was excellent. The handset which was left upstairs required no wiring just plugged into the standard mains socket.
BT Halo Twin
ROI use This phone comes with the BT Logo and a comes with a UK cable designed for the UK, In ROI you can use the standard RJ11 cable with the phone. The phone will operate similar with the only different been the answer machine and call waiting different numbers which will work. Note eir dropped their SMS service on fixed landline so this feature will not work in Ireland if with eir. Cost Is it worth it? If you receive Nuisance calls and this becomes an issue, then a product of this nature is a must. If this is for a non-techie, this phone can be used as a normal phone but expensive to be used as a basic phone.
To get the best from this phone utilising the array of menu its worthwhile. Regarding the cost, we pay 100s of Pounds / euro for the latest smart phone (albeit subsidised by the networks) which will be obsolete in about 2 years. This model, I would expect to get a least 5 years of use, without the need for an upgrade, while only comes with 1 year warranty. Most manufactures of cordless phones only provide a 1 year warranty which is a shame as many other product come with a 3-year warranty.
Note: If there is no power to phone, Electricity is gone, calls cannot be made or received, nor 999. 112 calls. Technical support If required is available via the Free BT Helpdesk on 0800 145 6789 or via the email link on the product page at www.bt.com/producthelp.
This product is available in the UK & Ireland fromCurrys , Argos and ShopBT
This is a fantastic new app just launched which converts speech into text and vice versa.. The app will in short help people with hearing problems communicate with just about anyone..The app is called Be Warned – Connect..
The app is free and now available on both Android and iOS platforms. On trying out the app there today it does pick up what you say fairly accurately using the speech option like you would see on the likes of google assistant for example and its pretty good. Also there is some templates baked into the app which you would select and the device will then call out these to the person its intended for… You can also create your own personal templates too
Description..
The app converts speech into text and vice versa. For example, if you want to order something in a café, you can write your order in the app and it will utter your text immediately. When a waiter replies you, their speech will be converted into text on your screen.
The app contains a number of templates to reach someone really fast and easy. Users are also allowed to create an unlimited number of their own templates for situations they experience everyday.
-recognize the speech a hearing person uttered
-voice the text you want to say
-use templates to communicate even faster.
Only a few weeks into the new year and a new scam. Well perhaps not new nonetheless you need to watch out for it. In typical form the SMS will be sent to your device and telling you that you have won a nice €750 voucher. Its simply no true and nothing to do with Super Valu. We just got this text a few moments ago.. The SMS will have MW Media 2405 and claim to be smart shopping dot com and then telling you that you have received a photo message. See the image below and watch out for this and DO NOT attempt to open the SMS no matter how tempting. These ultimately rope you into either a subscription service or just steal credit from you.
We have spoke to Super Valu about this and they will also alert people about this scam..
Weeks back we saw the Instagram team announcing the global availability of its “Live Story” feature.
Originally available only in certain countries, the app is pretty much becoming a mix between Snapchat, Vine and Periscope.
The original IG Story became one of the more popular parts of the app by getting the lovely number of more than 150 million users DAILY. And now the company just want to expand the market.
You will find the option by swiping from the app and selecting “Start live video”, according to the company this way popular Instagrammers and followers can be more connected and interact with each other.
There’s a “Top Live” options to explore new and popular users, so heavy and not so heavy users can find new content, which won’t be available after the live event is finish.
Try to keep in mind that the option can now be found on every platform , so if you haven’t seen the update yet, be patient as it could take a bit before it reach your region.
The new start of the show van be found on version 10.0 and above
Drew Burstein is the owner and director of a company called Frame Your TV. He regularly writes about interesting topics in relation to television and has created this infographic on ‘The Rise of SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand) , Is Online TV Killing Traditional TV?’
Online TV and video services are forecast to generate $42 billion / £30 billion in global revenues by 2020.
Over 50% of consumers state that they watch streamed on-demand video content at least once a day, up from 30% in 2010.
While traditional TV still remains strong, it is linked to age and one in four consumers completely cut or pared back their traditional TV services in 2015.
The provision of high-speed Internet is a must for any business, but that does not automatically mean it should pay big bucks for the highest bandwidth packages on the market when more conservative packages would suffice. To determine how much bandwidth a business should be paying for, it needs to conduct a full investigation into its Internet usage, including the browsing activity of users on the company’s network and the flow of that activity. It’s also important to account for the number of users on the network and the maximum downtime that the business could afford without productivity and profitability being affected.
This infographic that Irish Telecom (http://www.irishtelecom.com/managed-network.php) have sent us over covers the most important aspects that a business needs to consider when determining its bandwidth requirements. Some companies would make do with lightweight packages if all they need is to be able to surf the Internet and operate an email account. Others would need high-bandwidth packages if their routine online activity includes a high level of web-based application usage and caters for 20 or more users, many of whom will connect multiple devices to the network.
The first step to reducing bandwidth usage is to crack down on non-business use. Most of us have probably been guilty of frittering away office hours on social media in the hope that we won’t get caught, but even if your boss doesn’t spot it, the evidence will be there in the bandwidth consumption figures. As for streaming websites such as Netflix? Of course it shouldn’t be used during working hours, but there’s definitely some who try to get away with it, and in the process feast on their employers’ bandwidth usage. The best thing the employer can do is to block it outright and conserve bandwidth for more economical functions which are actually relevant to company activity.
Take a look at the infographic below for a guide on finding the ideal office bandwidth balance.
Recently we featured a well known product called TrackR which is a small tracking device which can be placed almost anywhere and it gives you the ability to track items via you smartphone, This time around we check out a similar product called Tile Mate.. Its made from plastic,its small and discreet and surprisingly no GPS built in,instead it uses your mobile phones geodata.
It looks simple and is simple its simple to set up and thats all you need to know, Simplicity wins for most but functionality is also important this has it all. So after you purchase the tile all you need to do is download the app on Android or iOS and set it up which take a minute or two..
It comes well presented in a nice package too if I may add, I am a stickler for presentation if you do not know by now.. Is comes in a two tone colour there is one button and some plastic to protect it, I suggest leaving it on if you can as its prone to getting marked.. You can press the button marked “Tile” to hear some sounds to ensure its alive and well.. This wakes up the tile too.
Tile works rather well. There is several reasons.. You can find things and if you lost your mobile phone you can ring it not only that its crowd-sourced too so users anywhere within a range can alert you to where your missing item last was so this is idea is quite a benefit having a network of users as additional eyes if you will.. the problem though with this is that it has no GPS tracking which will not show you a TRUE location it works via Bluetooth but you can leave the app running in the background and as mentioned you can report a lost item an other users can pick up on this once they are running the app too which you probably should and would deem your purchase void if not to be honest. Also to point out if you misplace your mobile phone you just tap the Tile icon twice then this rings your mobile phone which is neat along with this you can of course ring your things from the tile..
There is no separation alerts here which is a letdown but not a caveat. From using TrackR I was pleased to have this but then over time I was getting pointless separation alerts and eventually turned it off because it annoyed me several times a day for nothing but thats not to take away from TrackR it works dam well. Another great feature here is that the Tile itself is LOUD. You could easily hear it if something was buried under your car seat or down the back of your sofa so thats pretty neat. Tile is also waterproof. Tile also works within a 100ft range with any Bluetooth V4. Tile will last you around One Year but they do offer a replacement programme which is nice..
Overall Tile is a good piece of small tech that wont get in your way and help you out someday when you are in trouble but for the majority of the time it will sit redundant wherever you place it having said that its not a bad thing if you are not in the habit of loosing things and if you are this is something you should consider. One small thing as I said with TrackR,being a security conscious person I would not advertise it and leaving it dangling on a bag for all to see for example because would be thieves would be aware of such gadgets and just remove them. Other than that it works perfectly fine and does what it says on the tin..
Porn is one of the biggest industries in the world and with the launch of VR this is not going to go away anytime soon, In fact its going to be good for the industry. People that know me well know I am a fan of the VR world and have asked have I tried any of the apps yet and the answer is NO.. Perhaps I should see for myself but for me its just like squashing your head up to the TV at home seeing things bigger, I cant think for any reason how it will actually enhance the experience but hey.. You can tell us if you like… Like my timeline does be full of images suggesting sites to try and mostly these are paid visits which I totally disagree with and find it sad to be honest.. But since the explosion of VR its obviously a win for the porn industry and they are not hanging around on cashing in..
Does this next step take the virtual piss though and who wold buy a canister of the dangly bits?? Thats how it works you buy canisters of a particular cent and they dont come cheap either.. This is where we are at now though so perhaps its time to get use to it.. Also this will come with its very own standalone app… The mask will cost from around €60 and the scents around €6. This is probably going to be the next best thing to a Virtual Doll.
OhRoma is a sensory mask that users attach to their virtual reality headset & synch with their teledildonics accessory. Just as a user sees, hears and feels in their 360-degree virtual surroundings while wearing their headset, with OhRoma they can now smell them too! Invented by the engineers at CamSoda Labs, users can choose from an assortment of sensual scents that are proven to excite, arouse and, ultimately, climax.
Users place the OhRoma mask over their face. The mask will heat up the cartridges and begin to produce various aromas. Users can utilize the app to pick and choose the aroma they want to smell. They can even combine aromas and switch between how heavy or light each scent is.
Well thats the short and curlys about this new piece of tech to enter the world and to be honest you could not deny it was coming… What do you think, Tell us below.
