Tag: tech

Flip phone trend and the rise of feature phones – National Retro Day

Essential feature phones are making a comeback with people craving simplicity and a way to escape digital fatigue by going back to basics. Not only that, Y2K and retro trends are showing no sign of slowing in 2023 with Google searches for “Y2K” up and on the rise since 2021 according to the latest report on Gen Z by GWI. Nokia have 4 iconic feature phones from HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones to obsess over this National Retro Day (27th February).

To celebrate all things retro you can claim a 10% discount across all feature phones online at  https://www.nokia.com/phones using the code RETRO from Monday 27th February until Sunday 5th to March 23:59 GMT 2023.

Adam Ferguson, Head of Product Marketing at HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones says

“Gen Z and Millennials are going back to this style of device for a number of reasons. The clamshell design and retro camera aesthetic are all nostalgic of the 90s and Y2K era that has been so popular of late. Plus, with SMS and calls only, they are great for going back to basics, if you want to reduce screen time and take a digital detox. The iconic Nokia 3310 is still a perennial favourite given its iconic shape and it has that element of fun and feel good about it with classic features such as Snake.”

Nokia 2660 Flip

Starting at €74.99 RRP

Iconic flip design with a big display, big buttons, and zoomed-in interface.

Made of tough polycarbonate with a selection of stylish colours including red, black and blue.

Battery for weeks and tens of thousands of flip cycles endured to ensure superior durability, so you can go about your day with confidence and keep your phone for years.

Listen to FM Radio through earphones or the hands-free speaker and enjoy your favourite sport, music or broadcasts at home or on the move.

 

Nokia 8210

Starting at €74.99 RRP

Fall back in love with the return of an icon – the Nokia 8210 4G is reimagined for a modern-day audience and provides a timeless classic for today’s retro lovers.

The Nokia 8210 4G is inspired by the classic feature phone, but is now equipped with contemporary features including in-built MP3 player, wireless and wired FM radio, and a camera to capture life’s best bits – alongside a slice of retro courtesy of fan-favourite games like ‘Snake’.

A light and compact design seamlessly carries a massive battery which allows for longer conversations and weeks of standby so users can call, text, and go offline with confidence.

Nokia 5710 XpressAudio

Starting at €84.99 RRP

A completely unique device, this innovative feature phone features built-in wireless earbuds housed beneath a sleek and robust slider on the back of the phone saving you space in your pocket and letting you charge on the go.

A unique and stylish design – available in white/red and black/red colour combinations.

Dedicated music buttons make playback easy, the in-built MP3 player stores thousands of your songs, and wireless FM radio keeps you in the loop at home or on the move.

The big 1450 mAh battery  delivers even longer talk time and playback time and lasts for weeks in standby.

Nokia 3310

Starting at €59.99 RRP

  • An iconic phone, re-designed for today with a reimagined rounded form in a selection of classic colours.
  • Remember when you could leave the house without a charger? Well, with the new Nokia 3310, you can. Talk all day or leave on standby for up to 31 days with the long-lasting battery.
  • Beat your high score with the legendary Snake game, updated for the colour screens.

First Look – Urbanista Phoenix solar powered earbuds

Just over year ago a pair of headphones was introduced that could charge by solar power and it grabbed people’s attention it must be said and some even snubbed the idea until they seen it first hand from me with the Urbanista Los Angeles headphones and still up till now I have not seen any mainstream headphone/earbud manufacturer come up with an alternative and the same thing has happened again after showing the new Urbanista Phoenix off.

Now Urbanista has brought the same powerfoyle technology to their earbuds which makes for a very interesting path forward with this technology and hopefully more will adopt it in the future.

Urbanista Phoenix is compatible with the Urbanista mobile companion app that puts you in complete control of your audio experience. The Urbanista app, available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store, gives you deep customisation options, including EQ controls to adjust the audio to meet your taste. The companion app also provides information on how to get the most out of the product’s playtime, including visual indications of solar charge levels and usage, and the option to customise the earphones controls and voice assistant.

 

Tuomas Lonka, Urbanista’s Brand and Marketing Director, comments: “It’s a privilege to continue on this path of innovation together with Exeger and use the latest in solar cell technology to bring ground-breaking audio products to market. Our Los Angeles self-charging headphones were so well received by customers and consumers alike, that we knew right away that we wanted to apply this futuristic way of consuming audio to a true wireless design. Urbanista Phoenix really is a market leading product, and we are excited to see how these shape the future of our listening experiences in years to come.”

Urbanista Phoenix key features:

●      Solar and ambient light charging with Powerfoyle™
●      Hybrid active noise cancelling
●      Transparency mode
●      Multipoint connection
●      Playtime 8 hours
●      Total battery reserve 32 hours
●      Microphone noise reduction
●      In-ear detection
●      Automatic power off
●      Touch controls
●      Voice assistant support
●      IPX4 water resistant
●      USB type-C charging
●      Bluetooth 5.2 version
●      Urbanista mobile app compatible
●      Available in Midnight Black (Black) and Desert Rose (Pink)

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Unboxing

First Look – Urbanista Atlanta hybrid ANC multipoint connection earbuds

The Urbanista Atlanta, advanced true wireless earphones for total music listening with hybrid active noise cancelling and multipoint connection for up to two devices which in today’s world is one of the latest key features required for people on the go and work on multiple devices be it at home or in the office.

With working from home still a thing or being in the office having a multipoint connection is a key feature people need for swapping between devices as most of us are using both at the same time or at least one of them if like me having a laptop and phone on the go it is vital I have a multipoint connection and the latest from Urbanista have just that feature..

Today we take a first look at the Atlanta which also has app access which is great for fine tuning these earbuds and with Urbanista you are guaranteed great sound to enjoy your music and your calls, any questions fire them below or on our YouTube channel.

Features 

Playtime 8 hours
34 hours total playtime
Hybrid active noise cancelling
Transparency mode
Microphone noise reduction
Automatic play/pause
Multipoint connection
Touch controls
Voice assistant support
Wireless charging
IPX4 water resistant (earphones)
USB Type-C charging
App support

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Unboxing

Creative Outlier Free and Outlier Free Pro bone conduction headphones – First Look

Creative recently announced two pairs of bone conduction headphones which is now becoming a popular trend and for the better we have tested quite a few pairs over the last year or so and I am looking forward to seeing how creative have done here with the latest two headsets on offer.

Today we take a first look and hands on of the new bone conduction headphones which look identical but one has more to offer hence the name Pro and if you have any questions feel free to ask below or on our YouTube channel and we will gladly answer them.

The use of bone conduction technology revolves around transducers on the headphones, which, through vibrations on the user’s cheekbones, transmit sound waves into the inner ears. With their ears freed up from in-ear or over-ear headphones, users feel safer through heightened environmental awareness while enjoying high-quality acoustics – this is especially useful for joggers or cyclists on busy streets, or gym enthusiasts who like to chat with their workout buddies.

Creative Outlier Free

The Outlier Free is equipped with a slew of handy features for wireless headphones – up to 10 hours of battery life per charge (10 minutes of quick-charging provides 2 hours of playtime), IPX5 water resistance, Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint connectivity (up to 2 Bluetooth devices at a time), low-latency mode to minimize audio-visual lag, built-in microphone and Siri / Google Assistant support. It is constructed using lightweight silicone and titanium memory alloy for optimal comfort and fit.

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Creative Outlier Free Pro

The Outlier Free Pro stands out even more with its 8GB (stores 2,000 MP3 songs) built-in music player (also compatible with FLAC, WAV and APE file formats); it enables users to enjoy their favorite tunes without the need to carry their mobile phones. Thanks to its IPX8 rating (the highest waterproof rating for water immersion), swimmers can even swim underwater in the pool.

Bluetooth 5.3, delivering robust connections for up to 2 Bluetooth devices at a time. There is also a low-latency mode to minimize audio-visual lag for movie-watching; users have the added convenience with a built-in microphone for calls, and Siri / Google Assistant support. Lightweight silicone and titanium memory alloy are used to construct the Outlier Free Pro, translating to all-day comfort and fit.

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Unboxing Video

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded Launches Today For PlayStation VR2

XR Games and Sony Pictures VR (SPVR) are pleased to announce that Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded is out now for PlayStation®VR2.

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded is a premium version of the hit VR game, rebuilt to take advantage of PlayStation®5 and PlayStation®VR2. Fans will experience the action, characters and humor from the hit movie franchise with a brand new cel-shaded art style, new character models, new animations, new lighting, ragdoll physics, new music, completely re-designed progression system, a new game hub, a whole host of brand-new gameplay content, and PlayStation®VR2-exclusive features.

PlayStation®VR2-exclusive features include:

  • Adaptive triggers: making every weapon feel different
  • Controller haptics: unique haptic feedback every time you fire a weapon
  • Headset rumble: feel the horde approaching in the headset
  • Eye-tracking: supports eye-tracking for foveated rendering

Additionally, players can also look forward to a new story level, three new remix levels, new Gun Range challenges, new guns, new perks and new gun skins to enhance the fast-paced, heart-pounding zombie horde gameplay.

“Zombieland looks and feels better than ever on PlayStation®VR2.” said Jake Zim, SVP, virtual reality, Sony Pictures Entertainment. “The hardware’s unique features such as controller haptics and adaptive triggers help to deliver an immersive arcade VR experience that players will love.”

“We have put everything into making Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded the absolute best version of Zombieland imaginable.” said Bobby Thandi, Founder and CEO of XR Games. “I can’t wait to see a whole new audience experience a truly next-generation Zombieland VR that uses the power of PlayStation®5 and PlayStation®VR2.”

 

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded can be purchased now on PlayStation®VR2 for $24.99/£19.99. Available here: https://bit.ly/3DlEDCJ
For more information about Zombieland: Headshot Fever, visit the game’s official website at: https://www.zombielandvrgame.com.

Sony announces two new pairs of headphones – WH-CH720N over-ear and WH-CH520 on-ear wireless headphones

Sony has announced two new headphones – the WH-CH720N and the WH-CH520 – giving music lovers the option of on-ear or over-ear wireless headphones packed with Sony’s critically acclaimed audio technology.

The over-ear WH-CH720N wireless headphones incorporate Dual Noise Sensor technology and Sony’s Integrated Processor V1 chip to provide noise cancelling. In addition, a lightweight design and up to 35 hours of battery life let you enjoy music for longer without background interruptions.

The on-ear WH-CH520 wireless headphones provide up to 50 hours battery life with all day comfort and enhanced call performance to meet the demands of your day. Plus choose from four colours – black, blue, white and beige – to match your style.

Both models also feature Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) to produce high-quality sound exactly as the artist intended as well as Multipoint connection for easy connectivity between devices.

All day comfort, without the noise

Whether you’re flying long-haul or relaxing in a café, the over-ear WH-CH720N headphones deliver Sony’s advanced noise cancelling performance thanks to the Integrated Processor V1 chip and Dual Noise Sensor technology, so you can enjoy more music and less background noise.

The Integrated Processor V1 helps eliminate external sound, with a low processing delay to make the noise cancelling more effective than ever. The WH-CH720N also features two microphones in each earcup which, coupled with Dual Noise Sensor technology, captures ambient sound. This lets you block outside noise everywhere you go, so the only thing you hear is your music.

Plus with the Sony| Headphones Connect app, you can adjust the ambient sound across 20 different levels for when you’re on the move.

Stay comfortable, however long you listen

You’ll never need to take a break from your favourite music with the WH-CH720N. The over-ear headphones are ergonomically designed to be comfortable for even longer periods. At just 192g, the WH-CH720N are Sony’s lightest overhead wireless headphones with noise cancelling. Comfortable synthetic leather and urethane materials combine with optimum ear pad structure and dimensions for exceptional wearability. With up to 35 hours battery life with noise cancelling on, you’ll have enough power to keep listening all day and into the night. You can stay comfortable at home too watching TV and who remembers the old TV ears?

The WH-CH520 have also been carefully designed with everyday use in mind. You can stay powered up for days with up to 50 hours of battery life. So you can listen to your favourite music without worrying about running out of charge. Plus the on-ear headphones feature an adjustable headband with padding, soft earpads and lightweight design so you can find the perfect fit and stay comfortable for longer.

Superb sound for every song

Enjoy natural vocals, crystal clear sound and balanced tuning on both the WH-CH720N and WH-CH520 Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE), producing a high-quality sound exactly as the artist intended. When the original music is compressed, it loses the high-frequency elements that add details and richness to a track. Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine faithfully restores these to produce high-quality sound that’s closer to the original recording.

The Integrated Processor V1 included within the WH-CH720N also produces an authentic listening experience by reproducing the detail in your music with minimal distortion. The sound tuning is intentionally designed to be well-balanced from low to high frequencies with natural and clear vocals.

Whether you’re listening to electrifying pop or bassy rap, the WH-CH720N and WH-CH520 allow you to tailor your sound using the Equalizer in the Sony | Headphones Connect app. You can choose from a variety of settings to match sound quality with the music genre you’re listening to or even create and save your own settings.

Crystal clear conversations

Improved technology features on the WH-CH720N mean you can enjoy even better call quality. Beamforming microphones with Precise Voice Pickup technology are smartly positioned to pick up your voice more clearly and accurately in a range of environments. A newly developed Wind Noise Reduction Structure around the microphones reduce background noise for you, keeping conversations and music clear and uninterrupted.

Whether you’re joining an online class or a work meeting, the WH-CH520 also provides easy hands-free calling and great call quality. Simply answer calls with one click of the buttons on the earcup so there’s no need to take your phone out of your pocket. Built-in high quality microphones and noise suppression processing mean the WH-CH520 collects sound and reduces ambient noise during calls so you can make clear calls even in noisy environments.

Both the WH-CH720N and WH-CH520 feature Multipoint connection, easy button operation and can be controlled with your voice. Since the connection is easy with Swift Pair and Fast pair, these headphones are ideal for everyday use.

Designed with sustainability in mind

Sony has designed these headphones with the environment in mind. There’s no plastic in the WH-CH720N and WH-CH520 packaging which is designed based on low toxicity design principles and towards Sony’s “Road to Zero” environmental plan. Both headphones also use recycled plastic materials.

Pricing and availability

The WH-CH720N is available in black, blue, and white and will be available to purchase from March 2023 with a suggested retail price of £130 / €160.

https://www.sony.co.uk/headphones/products/wh-ch720n

https://www.sony.ie/headphones/products/wh-ch720n

The WH-CH520 is available in black, blue, white, and beige and will be available to purchase from March 2023 with a suggested retail price of £60 / €70.

NGMN guides the industry with 6G Requirements and Design Considerations

In its latest 6G publication, “6G Requirements and Design Considerations”, the NGMN Alliance (NGMN) has defined several important requirements for 6G. By providing this guidance to the industry, NGMN takes on a leading role in avoiding fragmentation of future 6G standards and achieving affordable deployments and services valued by end users.

The publication offers guidance and input to Standards Development Organisations (SDOs) working towards realisation of the vision of communication systems for 2030 and beyond, currently being developed by ITU-R. It has been developed on the understanding that there will be an evolution towards 6G without distinction between any new 6G technology, an evolution of 5G or a combination of both.

New approaches have been identified within this publication covering digital inclusion, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and flexible deployment. Potential new capabilities related to prospective use cases are discussed qualitatively as well as new paradigms to address traffic growth, capacity needs, minimise complexity and provide alternatives to densification.

Luke Ibbetson, Head of Group R&D, Vodafone and NGMN Board Member, says: “This important contribution reflects how evolution towards 6G needs to deliver customer led outcomes whilst maximising efficient use of resources and ensuring the practical deployment of software-driven networks.”

Anita Döhler, NGMN CEO, states: “As a global mobile operator driven organisation, reflecting the entire ecosystem in its membership, we are well positioned in submitting 6G Requirements and Design Considerations to SDOs and the industry. Our objective is to guide and support the mobile industry in achieving a global 6G standard and with already over 50 companies participating in this specific project today, we look forward to driving industry alignment around 6G architecture in the future.”

Following NGMN’s publications “6G Drivers and Vision” in 2021, “6G Use Cases and Analysis” in 2022, the latest publication “6G Requirements and Design Considerations” marks the next step towards a deeper understanding of 6G architecture.

The publication can be downloaded from here: www.ngmn.org/publications/6g-requirements-and-design-considerations.html

Collaboration is key to driving the industry’s most important topics such as NGMN’s strategic pillars: Green Future Networks, Operating Disaggregated Networks, and 6G. NGMN therefore invites all parties across the entire value chain to join the Alliance in this important endeavour.

Further information and all publications of the NGMN Alliance can be found on their website at www.ngmn.org.

Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS and Mini Pro HS earbuds first look

Soundpeats is a well known brand that delivers great quality earbuds at a cost effective price and they have sent us two new pairs for us to check out and a full real hands on review will be coming soon with many more earbuds and other tech that is now sitting on my desk. The twp pairs today in question is the Air Deluxe HS and Mini Pro HS earbuds one being your standard earbud and one with a stem so something for both interested parties here when it comes to style and looks.

Having a quick first look myself I like both designs here and the cases in particular are really nice with both having a matt finish and fingerprint free and easy on your pocket too when it comes to size. But how will they sound? We will find out soon enough after some thorough testing as we do test the biggest range of earbuds in Ireland with a real hands on look rather than stock image reports.

SOUNDPEATS Air3 Deluxe HS Wireless Earbuds

SOUNDPEATS is one of only a few in the market that comes with high-quality sound but affordable wireless earbuds for audio enthusiasts. Adopt Qualcomm 3040 with aptX-Adaptive codec V5.2 brings instant connection and super sound, the mostly keep the sound and scene are synchroned.

Air3 Deluxe HS — Best Alternative Wireless Earbuds Of AirPods
Hi-Res Audio Certification & LDAC Codec Tech
14.2mm Driver & Four Microphones
In-Ear Detection & 20 Hours of Playtime
Low Latency Game Mode & App Control
UK Amazon: https://bit.ly/Air3DeluxeHS-UK
US Amazon: https://bit.ly/Air3DeluxeHSUS (22% off coupon +10% off Code:  NI6VXZF8)

 

Mini Pro HS l Ultra Light Hybrid ANC for Commuting

SOUNDPEATS Mini Pro HS is Hi-Res Audio Wireless certificated and equipped with LDAC technology, a maximum transmission volume of 990kbps, and maintains the maximum bit depth and frequency of 24-bit/96kHz Hi-Res audio files, close to lossless sound quality. Besides, with Bluetooth5.3 and the built-in 10mm biodynamic driver, Mini Pro HS restores the sound details in a more stable and natural way, so you can hear and feel the surging bass.

    • Hi-Res Audio & LDAC Coding Tech
    • 10mm Driver for Immersive Bass
    • 40dB Hybrid ANC& Clear Call with 6 mics
    • 4.9g Ultra Light& In-ear Ergonomic Design
    • 8 Hrs Single Playtime &28H Full Playtime
    • Game Mode& Standardized Touch Control

UK Amazon

US Amazon

Stay tuned for our full review soon and of course if you have any questions drop em below and we answer all questions.

Unboxing

/e/OS adds private search engine Mojeek to their list of search options

The latest release of /e/OS, the deGoogled and pro-privacy smartphone operating system (OS) includes the privacy-focused independent search engine Mojeek, offering customers concerned about privacy more options to search online without being tracked.
As two human-centric independent technology products, Mojeek and /e/OS are both excited about the new ways in which this combination can help those looking to leave the surveillance-heavy walled gardens of Silicon Valley far behind.
The founders of these two alternative tech projects, Gaël Duval and Marc Smith (of /e/OS and Mojeek respectively) have built sustainable businesses which are competing with Big Tech and providing people with real choice.
With the coming of the latest update of /e/OS 1.8, Mojeek search engine can now be found among the list of other privacy search options in the /e/OS Browser app.
Individuals with smartphones running /e/OS can change the default search engine, in the Browser app, by clicking on the three-dots button (top right corner) then navigating to Settings > Search engine.
/e/OS is a deGoogled mobile operating system which goes to great lengths to remove all of the unnecessary and privacy-invasive aspects of Google’s long-running mobile platform. Through this work, Gaël and his team have made the move to privacy as simple as possible for the end-user.
Whereas with most similar operating systems you have to have sufficient technological knowledge to unlock and re-flash your previously Android-running device, with their trading arm users can buy Murena smartphones, including Murena One, with the /e/OS operating system already running on them out of the box. On top of this, pre-flashed /e/OS smartphone models include the anti e-waste electronics manufacturer Fairphone, offering an ethical and environmentally-friendly smartphone alternative.
Mojeek is a non-tracking search engine that is truly and transparently independent, unlike most allegedly “alternative” search engines which still continue to source results from either Google or Microsoft’s Bing.
Started in 2004, Mojeek now has a web search index of over 6.5 billion webpages. After becoming the first ever private search engine back in 2006, Mojeek has grown sustainably by leveraging the investments of committed private investors who believe in Mojeek’s aims. Their team has also grown steadily, bringing in individuals that share its values of privacy and support for human rights. This includes experienced tech entrepreneur, Colin Hayhurst, who stepped into the role of CEO in 2020.
Gaël Duval – /e/OS and Murena
“It’s a pleasure to collaborate with Mojeek to bring their pro-privacy search engine to Murena users. It brings a lot of value, and shows that working together, we can build a strong and new proposal for users. Like the organic food market became real in the 2000s, together we are pioneering this emerging and super dynamic ‘fair-IT’ market, that offers a real answer to consumers who are seeking products that offer guarantees for their privacy, and are more sustainable.”
Colin Hayhurst – Mojeek
“People and businesses should be able to search and then navigate the web without having their tracks followed or data harvested. Mojeek search results are provided based on the search query you enter, only on settings you control, and can even be customised without any cookies. To provide that we built our search infrastructure, index and algorithms from the ground-up. Our mobile users want a platform from an entity that practices similar principles, and is an alternative to Big Tech companies like Google, Apple and Huawei. Murena and e/OS/ is the ideal complementary smartphone platform for using Mojeek.

“This release has for the first time combined a web search engine and operating system with both being truly alternative pro-privacy products. With both projects having aspects of their offerings which are environmentally-friendly (Mojeek being a green search engine, /e/OS being available on the Fairphone 3 and 4) and both having been built outside of the assumed home of software, Silicon Valley, this is a completely unique opportunity for people to take back their privacy and support alternatives. After years of domination by US business and venture capital, two dynamic European companies are showing the world that they still have a choice when it comes to their tech.”