Elon Musk is building a ‘solid metal snake’ to charge Tesla cars

by Chris Smith 31 December 2014 |

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Telsa CEO and real-life Tony Stark has rounded out 2014 by announcing the electric car firm is working on a novel solution for charging motors like the Telsa S.

Musk took to Twitter on Wednesday (via TechCrunch) to announce Tesla is building a ‘solid metal snake’ which will automatically slither from the wall and dock with the car.

This would eliminate the need for users to manually connect the car when they return home from work. It would also eliminate the potential forgetfulness of owners who wake up ready to head to work only to find they have no juice for the journey.

He tweeted: “Btw, we are actually working on a charger that automatically moves out from the wall & connects like a solid metal snake. For realz."

He added the solution would be backwards compatible enabling all current Model S cars to get in on the action.

“This can be used with all existing Model S cars, not just futures ones,” he wrote.

Read more: Driverless cars - What you need to know

Back in November this Telsa announced it was expanding its UK operations with six new supercharger sites opening in London, Reading, Bristol and Edinburgh. The sites promise to charge the Model S’ battery by half in just 20 minutes.,

Earlier in December the firm also announced it was boosting the range of the Tesla Roadster to 400 miles off a single charge.

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French postal service successfully trials delivery by drone

by Chris Smith 31 December 2014 |

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Everyone knows about Amazon’s plans to deliver Prime packages to nearby locations using drones, but it appears a regular old postal service has already achieved lift-off.

Gigaom reports that ‘France, La Poste’ has already performed successful tests allowing a small six-rotor drone to deliver parcels to location and safely return to the nest.

The Geodrone project is capable of delivering a 9lb package to a house of business up to 12 miles away. Once a postal worker loads the parcel onto the drone, it automatically takes care of the rest.

According to news reports in the country, the successful tests near the town of Pourrieres in Provence will result in a full launch that targets those in difficult to reach mountainous and waterside locations.

The French service has the luxury of eased drone regulations, compared with the reams of red tape Amazon is attempting to cut through with its planned Prime Air service.

Read more: Parrot AR Drone 2.0 review

The retailer, which promises GPS-enabled drone deliveries to those living within half an hour, must wait for the Federal Aviation Agency in the United States to approve the use of commercial drones before proceeding with its plans.

Amazon has resorted to testing the drones outside of US airspace, with Jeff Bezos admitting the service may launch in Europe before it can hit the US.

You can check out the Geodrone in the video below.

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T-Mobile chief tips Apple Watch to reinvigorate wearable space

by Luke Johnson 31 December 2014 |

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The fledgling wearables market will be thrust into the mainstream by the upcoming arrival of the Apple Watch, T-Mobile CEO John Legere has predicted.

Despite a number of high profile devices having already hit the market – including the Moto 360 and LG G Watch R, Legere has suggested the smartwatch space needs the might of Apple to drive wearables in to the realms of mainstream adoption.

Having been announced alongside the iPhone 6 back in September, the Apple Watch is not set to hit retailers until ‘early 2015’.

Although backing Apple to be the driving force in pushing wearables on to the next level, Legere has remained highly diplomatic in given a nod to the devices already on the market.

“I love what Jawbone, Fitbit, Samsung, LG, Microsoft and others are doing in the wearables space, but we haven’t begun to see the potential of this category,” he stated in an end-of-year announcement reported by Ubergizmo.

“It’s going to go from $1 to $20 billion in the next few years and though we won’t see its full impact in 2015, I believe that the Apple Watch will mark the tipping point when wearables go from niche to mainstream.”

Related: iPhone 6S release date

While Apple’s marketing machine and brand loyalty is sure to make the Apple Watch a bigger success than existing wearables, such as the oversized Samsung Gear S or the Sony Smartwatch 3, pricing could prove the device’s stumbling block.

With the long-term benefits of wearable gadgets still the subject of much debate, the Apple Watch starting price of $349 could deter many existing smartphone and tablet owners.

Are you planning on snapping up an Apple Watch or are you still underwhelmed by the wearables market? Let us know via the comments section below.

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HTC One M9 release date, rumours, news, specs and price

Everything you need to know about the HTC One M9?

Like night follows day the HTC One M9 looks set to follow on from the 2014 released HTC One M8, with a flurry of leaks and rumours already surrounding the eagerly awaited device.

With the annual Q1 flagship smartphone cycle fast approaching, the HTC One M9 release date has been tipped to be held around March, with a 20.7-megapixel camera the latest killer spec to be mooted to appear on the device.

Although the phone's formal name is still shrouded in much mystery - HTC is reportedly canning its popular 'One' branding - the handset is expected to feature a mass of premium components.

Tipped to follow the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in joining the QHD display revolution, the HTC One M9 specs sheet will reportedly be enhanced by either a Snapdragon 805 or 810 processor. Google’s latest Android 5.0 Lollipop OS has also been tipped to run the show.

Set to go head-to-head with the likes of the iPhone 6 for smartphone supremacy, the HTC One M9's release date is expected to be announced shortly after the Barcelona-based Mobile World Congress gathering in March.

We'll continue to update this post with all the latest HTC One M9 release date details and rumours moving forward. Bookmark it not to be kept up to date on all things M9 related.

HTC One M9 Release Date

Despite many of its competitors using the annual MWC conference to launch their latest smartphone wares, HTC prefers to avoid the scrum and go out on its own.

In recent years, the company’s flagship phones have been announced either in the weeks before, or after, the mobile-centric show. We don’t expect 2015 to be any different, either.

Although there's currently no word on an official day, the HTC One M9 release date is expected in the weeks surrounding the European gathering. MWC 2015 is scheduled to be held between March 2 and 5, so we'd expect to see the One M9 unveiled in mid to late March.

If the company follows last year’s efforts – the M8 was both announced and made available for purchase on March 25 – you might even be able to buy the One M9 immediately after launch. This would lead us to believe a post-MWC announcement is more likely than a pre-show unveiling.

This post-MWC launch window will likely see it go on sale at the same time as an army of rivals.

We would expect the M9 to hit retailers within weeks of both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Sony Xperia Z4, in what will be one of the busiest periods of the year for new handsets.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S6 Release Date, Rumours, News, Specs and Price

HTC One M9 News

Before you go getting too excited, hold up. It's been suggested that the HTC One M9 might not even go by that name. According to claimed insider sources, the Taiwanese manufacturer will adopt an all-new naming convention for its future flagship offerings.

The leak, which came courtesy of serial Twitter-based tipster @Upleaks, stated: “OK, here’s a “little” leak; Next HTC flagship is NOT the M9. They will not use simple codename like M* anymore.”

Although dismissing the HTC One M9 name, concrete details on what the device will actually be called are still few and far between.

While it has been suggested that the M9 could actually be known at the 'HTC Hima', it is currently unclear whether this is a development name or the full production title.

Personally, we'd be surprised if HTC turned its back on the ‘One M’ brand. A series which has revived the company’s ailing smartphone fortunes, the product line is as key to the company – and as recognisable to the public – as its Desire efforts in years gone by.

SEE ALSO: Sony Xperia Z4 Release Date, Rumours, News Specs and Price

HTC One M9 Rumours

The era of QHD phones is firmly upon us and there have been suggestions the HTC One M9 will follow the trend to become the next high-end handset to move beyond Full HD into the realms visual supremacy.

According to certain reports, the M8 will adopt an LG G3-mimicking 2560 x 1440-pixel QHD panel.

This isn't a foregone conclusion, however. Contrasting reports have suggested the M9 will retain the same 5-inch, Full HD panel bestowed upon its predecessor.

While screen quality is still open for debate, so too is size. While a handful of leaks have suggested that the One M9 will match its smartphone rivals in stature, it is widely believed the device will line up smaller than either the G3 (5.5 inches) or the Galaxy Note 4 (5.7 inches).

At present, it appears likely that the M9 will be bestowed with a new 5.2-inch form factor. While this is larger than either the M8 (5-inch) or the M7 (4.7-inch), it's still considerably smaller than many rival devices.

Supply chain sources have gone as far as leaked an image purporting to be of the M9's 5.2-inch QHD panel.

The benefit of bringing a hi-res QHD display to a smaller panel is simple – a higher pixel density and even crisper visuals. The One M9 could feature a 564ppi density, sharper than either the G3 (534ppi) or Note 4 (515ppi).

The similarities with devices such as the Note 4 won’t stop there, either.

Further HTC One M9 rumours have suggested the phone will pack the same 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor as some existing phones.

Again throwing questions into the air, further reports have claimed the M9 could adopt the all new, 64-bit Snapdragon 810 chipset set to be introduced to devices in early 2015.

This will reportedly by paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD card.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Release Date, Rumours, News, Specs and Price

HTC One M9 Specs

The HTC One M8 is less than a year old but its spec sheet is already looking old hat when compared with the latest throng of high-end smartphones. According to latest reports, the HTC One M9 is about to rectify this.

The One M8’s camera was a feature that was much anticipated, but ultimately failed to impress. The phone’s 4-Ultrapixel dual-lens snapper stood out from the competition, but not necessarily for the right reasons.

With the M9, the Taiwanese manufacturer looks set to revert to toeing the line. While a 20.7-megapixel, OIS-enhanced camera is tipped to feature on the phone’s rear, selfie lovers could be set to rejoice as a 13-megapixel front-facing snapper has also been rumoured for inclusion.

If this crowd-following camera doesn’t tickle your fancy, HTC has hinted that a potentially surprising addition could be on the cards.

Back in April, HTC imaging specialist Symon Whitehorn hinted that the manufacturer was already working on smartphone cameras with optical zoom lenses.

“Optical zooming in a smartphone is not too far off at all for HTC,” he told Vodafone.

“I can’t give too much away, but within 12-18 months we’ll see huge advantages in phone optics.”

He added: “Two years ago I would have said that phones will never replace DSLRs. Now I’m not so sure.”

Going hand-in-hand with strong visuals is impressive audio and we don’t expect the Galaxy S6 rival to fall short on this front.

It wouldn’t be a HTC flagship without dual stereo speakers up front, and the One M9 is expected to once again pair its audio enablers with the company’s BoomSound audio-enhancement technology.

What’s more, based on latest leaks, the handset’s power-hungry array of innards will be serviced by a sizeable battery. Leaks have suggested the handset will keep on chugging thanks to a 3500mAh Lithium-Ion battery



SEE ALSO: LG G4 Release Date, Rumours, News, Specs and Price

HTC One M9 Price

A QHD display, 64-bit processor and innovative camera technology won’t come cheap. Throw in a luxurious brushed-metal design as well and the HTC One M9 price might not be too easy on your wallet.

As you might expect, there's currently no official word on the HTC One M9 price. Based on the company’s past handset launches, however, we wouldn’t expect to see the upcoming device offered up much below the £550-600 marker at launch.

What would you like to see HTC bestow upon its next flagship phone? Let us know via the comments section below.

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Samsung UE85HU7500 TV Review

What is the Samsung UE85HU7500?

The UE85HU7500 is an 85-inch LCD TV with a native 4K/UHD resolution. Which means it’s potentially every AV fan’s dream come true – especially as its £8000 price tag is a hell of a lot cheaper than similar-sized UHD TVs from last year. Let’s just hope its huge size doesn’t prove a step too far for Samsung’s current LED panel technology...

SEE ALSO: Best TVs Round-up

Samsung UE85HU7500 – Design and Features

Not surprisingly the first thing that hits you about the UE85HU7500 is that it’s big. Though actually, while the screen is enormous, the TV as a whole doesn’t feel as monumental an imposition on your living room as you might expect, thanks to the way its screen acreage is somehow held inside an impressively trim frame.

What there is of this frame looks good, if not especially original, with a glossy black finish and transparent extension along the bottom edge. We remain fans of Samsung’s latest understated but beautifully built metal desktop stands.

Connectivity is everything you'd expect of a high-end modern TV. Its four HDMIs provide version 2.0 support so they can receive native UHD at 50/60 frames per second, while multimedia playback can be enjoyed via three USBs or DLNA media streaming via LAN port or Wi-Fi. Samsung’s big boy also supports direct Wi-Fi and MHL connectivity for easy phone or tablet connection.

Needless to say, the network ports additionally let you take the UE85HU7500 online to access Samsung’s latest Smart TV platform. We’ve covered this extensively in a previous feature, so all we’ll say here is that it deserves kudos for providing the catch-up apps for all of the UK’s main broadcast channels and the Netflix 4K UHD service, but that its interface is startling to feel a little cumbersome.

Also, strangely, there’s no sign yet of support for Amazon’s recently launched UHD streaming service. Even though Samsung promised before the 2014 IFA show that its TVs would be the first with Amazon UHD playback.

It’s important to add here, too, that the HU7500 series is compatible with Samsung’s Evolution Kit, whereby you can add in future years external boxes that upgrade your TV with not only potentially updated connectivity, but also Samsung’s latest processing and Smart TV systems.

The UE85HU7500’s native 3840x2160 resolution is backed up by a local dimming system that can adjust the light levels output by separate sections of the screen’s LED lighting array to deliver a much better contrast performance. This local dimming should be particularly welcome on the UE85HU7500 given the potential for normal LED lighting systems to cause backlight clouding on such vast screens.

Also helping pictures – as well as the speed of its smart features – should be the UE85HU7500’s Quad Core Plus processing engine, while motion handling should benefit from a 1000Hz-emulating combination of a scanning backlight, native 200Hz panel and frame interpolation technology.

One final noteworthy feature of the UE85HU7500 is its audio system. It uses no less than six drivers – front tweeters, front mid-range drivers and two woofers – to pump out a whopping 90W RMS of power.

Samsung UE85HU7500 – Setup

Although Samsung’s picture presets are slowly improving, they still tend to be pretty unhelpful thanks to their over-aggressive stance on backlighting and sharpness. A few more picture presets would be appreciated too, as would a more sophisticated ‘auto’ picture adjustment system like that now employed on Sony’s high-end TVs.

Fortunately you can usually greatly improve the picture quality of Samsung’s TVs with some relatively easy adjustments, and so it proves with the UE85HU7500.

Your starting point – especially if you’re about to watch a film in a fairly dark room – should be to drastically drop the backlight level. We’d suggest using the 7 or 8 setting.

You should also make sure you’ve got the Smart LED local dimming feature active on its Low or even Mid setting, since otherwise dark scenes have a quite marked grey look to them.

Sharpness should be set to around its 40 level for native UHD content and slightly lower for upscaled HD. You should make sure all noise-reduction systems are turned off for native UHD and, we’d argue, upscaled UHD, too. Finally we’d recommend using the motion processing on its Clear level or a Custom setting with Judder and Blur Reduction set to around 3 each.

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Samsung rolls out app to deliver 360-degree video to Gear VR

by Chris Smith 30 December 2014 |

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Early adopters who’ve snapped up the Samsung Gear VR Virtual Reality headset can now leap into fully immersive video worlds thanks to a video app.

The Milk VR app delivers free 360-degree videos to the “Innovator Edition” headset, which went on sale in the United States in early December.

The clips, which last 1-10 minutes, allow those with the Galaxy Note 4 and Gear VR combo to explore from scene from the camera’s point of view.

"Video is like the Wild West in VR," said Nick DiCarlo, head of Samsung's VR business, told CNET. "There are so many ways to shoot immersive video. Milk VR can play a wide range of content."

The Milk VR apps will join the Milk Radio and Milk Video services already offered by Samsung, but the company hopes this Virtual Reality spin-off can blaze a trail for VR video.

The firm will be paying for the videos and they’ll be available to download as well as streamed, once the app has been obtained from the Gear VR homescreen.

Read more: Oculus Rift - hands on with the amazing VR headset

Samsung has so far been mum about the launch of a full commercial version of the Gear VR headset or whether the Innovator Edition will be available outside of the US.

Perhaps the firm will have an answer at CES 2015 next week?

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Samsung Ativ One 7 all-in-one PC lands with a curved screen

by Chris Smith 30 December 2014 |

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Samsung Ativ One 7

Samsung has announced the world’s first all-in-one PC with a curved screen, ahead of next week’s CES 2015 show in Las Vegas.

With the new Samsung Ativ One 7, the company has taken its flexible display technology, previously featured within 4K televisions, monitors and smartphones, and adapted it for the PC market.

The desktop all-in-one has a 27-inch full HD display manufactured using a TN panel rather than IPS technology. Samsung says the curve actually tricks you into thinking the display is larger than 27-inches.

Behind the curved display there are, amazingly, some computer components too. Samsung is packing in an Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive.

It’s got a pair of built-in 10W speakers (with lossless audio transmission possible through APT-X), there’s 4 USB ports, HDMI in/out ports and an SD card reader.

It’s got Windows 8.1 built-in and the SideSync 3.0 software, which allows Galaxy smartphone owners to receive calls and texts on their computer, while also mirroring its screen.

Read more: Samsung UE55HU8200 review

Samsung is also slipping the Ativ One 7 in the first quarter of 2015 for the US price of $1,299. We’re still waiting on word on UK price and availability.

The all-in-one will be on show at CES next week and we’ll be at the Samsung stand to take a look. Is a new PC with a curved screen on your New Year shopping list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Samsung’s new 12-inch Ativ Book 9 is thinner than a MacBook Air

by Chris Smith 30 December 2014 |

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Samsung has announced a brand new, 2015 version of its Ativ Book 9 laptop computer, which promises to mount an even larger challenge to Apple’s MacBook Air line.

The new Ultrabook, which’ll be shown off at CES 2015, boasts many of the specs tipped to land in Apple’s rumoured update.

It has a 12.2-inch display with a resolution of 2560 x 600 and has an impressive-sounding outdoor mode, allowing users to bump the brightness up to 700 nits.

It’s also got the new Intel Broadwell Core processors, which enable Samsung to built the model without a fan for the first time. This comes at the expense of a little power, but the fanless model is expected to be a key spec within Apple’s soon-to-be-on-the-way update.

At .46-inches thick and weighing in at 2.1lbs its thinner and lighter than the 11-inch MacBook Air too.

The Ativ Book 9 will arrive with Windows 8.1 on board in the first quarter of 2015. There’ll be two models; one with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD for $1,199 and a second which doubles down on both of those specs for $1,399. We're waiting on UK prices.

Apple has long been rumoured to launch a 12-inch MacBook Air packing Intel Broadwell chips, a fanless design and a Retina Display.

Samsung, it seems, has beaten its great rival to the punch. We’ll be checking in on the Samsung Ativ Book 9 2015 on the stand at CES which kicks off in little over a week.

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Cheap Washing Machine Sale UK: The cheapest washing machine deals

Discount washing machines from the all the major brands

Whether you need to replace a broken washing machine, or buy a new machine for your new home, it pays to search for the best washing machine deals available.

To make your life easier we've trawled through the washing machine sales to find best deals on washing machines from Samsung, Bosch, LG and many more major brands.

Please leave a comment if you find a deal we haven't spotted. We'll keep adding new deals to this page as they appear.

Last Update: 17:34, 30/12/14

Related: Our pick of the best washing machines

Cheap LG Washing Machines

Save £100 on £499 8kg LG with TrueSteam

The LG F14U1TBS2 is a 9/10 washing machine that's £100 less than when we reviewed it. At just £500 it's a steal. It washes well, it's efficient and it looks great, but best of all is the TrueSteam feature. This quickly freshens up smelly but otherwise clean garments using a blast of steam and reduces creases. Head to eBay for the deal.

Cheap Samsung Washing Machines

Save £70 on a £369 8kg Samsung

We gave the Samsung WF80F5E0W4 a 7/10, but it's now available for £70 less at just £369. It's a little noisier than some and spin efficiency is only average, but it washes very well and comes with a 5-year warranty. Currys sells an identical machine for the same price but in graphite instead of white.

Save £100 on a £499 9kg Samsung
That's a good machine, but we gave the Samsung WF90F7E6U6W a 9/10 and Recommended Award and it's now £100 less. It has a faster, more efficient spin (1,600rpm vs 1,400rpm), a larger drum (9kg vs 8kg) and it's much quieter (69dB vs 79dB). It's available from John Lewis and AO.com.

Cheap Bosch Washing Machines

Save £200 on £499 9kg Bosch
This promising Bosch machine is down from £699, making it a great deal. Its 1,600rpm spin should leave your clothes reasonably dry and its self cleaning detergent drawer is a nice touch. Bosch is a reliable brand, so you can buy in confidence. Head to John Lewis for this deal.

Cheap Miele Washing Machines

Save £115 (£474 after deductions) on 7kg Miele
This is a brilliant deal. Miele offers £75 cashback on the WDA100 and use the code SALE40 at Appliance City and you get a further £40 saving. This 7kg machine only comes with a 2-year warranty, but Miele has reputation for quality for a reason.

Spotted a deal we haven't or found one of our deals has expired? Please leave a comment to let us know.

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Samsung unveils 360-degree ‘ring’ speakers ahead of CES 2015

by Luke Johnson 30 December 2014 |

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Samsung is following LG in unveiling a flurry of new audio products ahead of next week’s CES 2015 gathering.


With the Las Vegas-based convention to kick off next Monday, January 5, Samsung has prematurely announced a selection of new sound bars and home audio offerings.

Perhaps most eye-catching of the new arrivals are the WAM6500 and WAM7500, a pair of futuristic-looking 360-degree ‘ring’ speakers.

The one-piece speakers are built around a ‘ring radiator’ core to offer all-direction audio and promised room-filling sound.

Pairing substance with style, the ring speakers feature premium, curvaceous designs with the smaller WAM6500 packing a metal carry handle to enhance its portable credentials.



Related: Best portable speakers

Joining Samsung’s 360-degree speakers are a selection of new sound bars, including a selection of curved models designed to accent the company’s growing line of curved TVs.

Samsung’s new top of the line sound bar will be the 8500 series, a device which packs 9.1 channel speakers within a sleek, curved form.

“We know how much people love music and that’s why we are expanding our portfolio to bring high-quality, wireless audio into the home,” said Jurack Chae, Senior Vice President at Samsung Electronics.

He added: “With the new WAM7500/6500 people can enjoy a vibrant sound wherever they are, while our new Curved Soundbars perfectly complement the TV viewing experience.”

Although Samsung has yet to announce pricing details or release date information for the its new audio offerings, with CES 2015 set to kick off in a matter of days, don’t expect further details to be too far off.

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LG G4 could pack integrated G Pen stylus

by Luke Johnson 30 December 2014 |

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The LG G4 will land with an integrated stylus in tow, latest reports have suggested.

Despite LG having made waves in the smartphone space in recent years with the LG G2 and LG G3, it has been suggested the Korean manufacturer could look to echo the Galaxy Note 4 and bestow its next leading smartphone – the LG G4 – with a stylus.

Although the LG G3 sports a 5.5-inch panel, the handset’s phablet-flirting size has been kept down thanks to minimalist bezels.

It is likely that if the G4 does incorporate a dedicated stylus, LG will be forced to bulk up its smartphone’s frame in order to accommodate the peripheral.

With the latest G4 rumours having surfaced courtesy of Chinese site ITHome, we must stress these claims should be taken with a considerable pinch of salt given their less than official foundations.

However, adding a bit of credibility to the claims, earlier this year is emerged that LG has trademarked the term ‘G Pen’, presumably in reference to a smartphone stylus.

Related: Sony Xperia Z4 release date

The LG G4 has been the subject of multiple leaks and rumours in recent weeks.

According to latest reports, the G4 will run Qualcomm’s latest 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor alongside improved camera optics, Android 5.0 and LG’s now customary rear-mounted volume and power controls.

With the G4 release date expected to be held post MWC 2015 during Q2, LG has already patented the G4 name.

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LG details new 4K TV lines ahead of CES 2015

CES 2015 is now just a matter of days a way and LG is already getting in the mood, detailing its upcoming line of 4K TVs.

With the Korean manufacturer having already announced plans to introduce its first Quantum Dot technology incorporating TVs at the Las Vegas-based show, LG has now offered up more details on the range of 4K panels set to make an appearance.

In an official statement, the company announced: “LG will be unveiling its expanded lineup of 4K Ultra HD TVs, with new designs, more features and picture quality enhancements, at the 2015 International CES in Las Vegas.”

While the introduction of new TVs at the year’s biggest tech show is hardly surprising, LG’s upcoming additions are already turning a few heads.

So, what are these new features? Well, according to the manufacturer, five of its new TV lines will benefit from multi-channel Ultra Surround System audio designed in partnership with Harman Kardon.

With In-Plane Switching to be an every present feature across the upcoming 4K LG lines, webOS 2.0 will also be present on the TV collection.

The reworked smart TV platform is said to be “even more user-friendly than its predecessor”, whilst boot times have been slashed by 60 per cent and customizable menu bars are also being introduced.

What’s more, with the company’s TVs set to be slimmer, lighter, more affordable and with improved 4K upscaling, it appears LG’s TVs will be ones to watch in 2015.



Related: Best TVS 2014

“LG 4K ULTRA HD TVs are designed to offer a viewing experience unmatched in the TV industry,” In-kyu Lee, LG’s Senior Vice President and head of the TV and monitor division, said.

“The breathtaking picture quality is underpinned by our latest ColorPrime series for a truly superb home entertainment experience.”

CES 2015 will kick off next Monday, January 5, running through until Friday, January 9.

We will be on hand on the Vegas show floors so stay tuned to TrustedReviews for all things CES 2015.

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New Samsung Galaxy S6 pictures leak fully formed handset

by Luke Johnson 30 December 2014 |

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Is this the Galaxy S6?

With the Samsung Galaxy S6 release date expected to be held in the coming months, claimed images of upcoming handset have popped up online.

The subject of multiple leaks and rumours in recent weeks, the latest S6 images appear to show a fully formed device with an LG G3 echoing slimline bezel and an iPhone 6 mimicking flat metal back.

While previous reports have suggested the Galaxy S6 is being developed under the codename ‘Project Zero’, given its standing as a ground-up refresh, the leaked images show a device with a design markedly similar to the existing Galaxy S5.

As well as a new metal frame, the leaked images have hinted that the S6 will run Google’s Android 5.0 operating system – as you might expect – given the Lollipop-themed notifications shown and the company’s traditional large physical home button.

What’s more, the S5 introduced optical heart-rate sensor looks set to be retained beneath the phone’s rear-mounted camera.

Popping up courtesy of Iranian blog Toranji, we must stress that the claimed Galaxy S6 picture should be taken with a sizeable pinch of salt given its less than official origins.

Related: Samsung Galaxy Note 5 rumours

Although not shown in the leaked images, recent leaks have claimed the Galaxy S6 will feature a bevy of high-end specs.

Packing a Snapdragon 810 processor alongside 3GB of RAM, it is expected the S6 will sport a 5.5-inch, 2560 x 1440 pixel QHD display and a new 21-megapixel snapper.

While some have suggested the S6 will be formally introduced during next week’s CES 2015 gathering, we find this hard to believe. Instead, we can see the S6 entering the realms of reality around the Barcelona-based MWC 2014 gathering in early March.

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EE TV Review

What is EE TV?

Available exclusively to EE customers, EE TV is the most concerted bid yet by a mobile phone company to get a foothold in your living room. It’s a set-top box carrying a Freeview HD tuner, Internet access, a startlingly large 1TB HDD for recording TV shows and a couple of genuinely welcome surprises up its sleeves. And in case you were wondering, we’re assured that the nascent EE/BT negotiations are nothing to worry about where EE TV is concerned!

SEE ALSO: Best TVs Round-up

EE TV – Design and Features

The EE TV box is a bit of an oddity to look at. Its square footprint is impressively small for something carrying 1TB of storage, and there’s something quite attractive about the glossy black surround that runs around the edges and frames the top. However, the grilled finish of the top together with the utterly rudimentary green LED power light on the front give it a rather ‘laboratory’ feel – like something designed for scientists rather than AV enthusiasts.



Connections on the rear are broadly as you’d expect. There’s an HDMI output that’s recommended as your TV connection of choice, plus there’s an RF loopthrough, an optical digital audio output for plugging into your AV receiver, a monitor output, a USB port and an Ethernet port – though the unit does also have Wi-Fi.

Unfortunately the USB port can’t be used for playing back multimedia files onto your TV, and we were also surprised to find that the EE TV’s network connections don’t support DLNA multimedia file streaming from networked devices. Given EE’s mobile heritage it would surely have made sense if you could access photos, videos and even music files stored on your mobile devices.

Before getting deeper into the EE TV’s actually very impressive feature list, let’s explore how much the EE TV box costs.

It’s marketed as being free to all EE mobile subscribers who sign up to an EE broadband plan. These plans start at £9.95 a month as a launch offer for EE mobile customers, with £15.75 line rental. That gets you EE TV – which EE reckons is worth £300 – plus unlimited broadband up to speeds of 17Mbs, and free weekend calls. The entry-level Fibre package with up to 38Mbps goes up to £19.95, while a ‘Fibre Plus’ package offering speeds of 76Mbps is £29.95 a month.

Obviously the most fundamental feature of the EE TV box is its ability to combine streamed and live broadcast content into one seamless experience. But it goes much further than that in its bid to expand your home entertainment options.

First, its provision of no less than four Freeview HD tuners opens the door to some great features. The most basic of these is that you can record four different channels simultaneously to that 1TV built-in hard drive. But more impressively the quad-tuner array lets you watch different channels simultaneously on up to four different devices – tablets or phones as well as your TV.



This ability for all members of a four-person household to watch a different shows at the same time fits perfectly with EE’s belief that TV viewing is becoming increasingly personal. While we retain some probably old fashioned concerns about this new way of further fracturing family life, we must say it’s a feature we used extensively during this review.

Having so many tuners – and such a big HDD – to play with also opens the door to perhaps the EE TV box’s most innovative features: Replay and Restart.

If you have the Replay feature active EE TV automatically records up to 24 hours of your favourite six channels, allowing you to instantly catch up on anything you may have missed. As for Restart, if you come in and find you’ve missed the first 10 minutes of something you’re interested in, Restart lets you simply rewind the show back to the beginning.

There are limitations to both Replay and Restart, it must be said. Perhaps the most disappointing is that Replay currently only works with standard definition channels. It’s easy to understand why this decision was made, as having six channels recording HD constantly for up to 24 hours could ultimately put some strain on your available memory even with 1TB to play with. But that doesn’t alter the painfully large gulf that exists between the quality of HD and standard definition broadcasts on the Freeview HD platform.

Replay isn’t available for anywhere near every standard definition Freeview channel either. You have to pick six from BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News, BBC Parliament, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV2, More 4, Film 5, and E4.

What’s more, if you activate Replay it uses up two of the four tuners, meaning you can only record or stream two channels simultaneously rather than four.

The Restart feature, meanwhile, only works for channels that share the broadcasting multiplexes of the six favourite channels you’ve selected.

Despite these limitations, though, both the Replay and Restart features address pretty successfully key problems of modern TV life not even touched on by rival boxes.



By the time you’ve added Restart and Replay content to the more standard recording and streaming features of the EE TV box you’ve clearly got a lot of content options for the EE TV interface to have to handle. But it actually handles everything pretty brilliantly.

The EE TV menus have more in common with smartphone or tablet apps than typical TV menus with their bold use of high resolution images and preference for graphics-laden tiles over boring text lists. And moving between content options is no more complicated than scrolling between On Demand, Live TV, Recordings, Replay and Tools & Help top menu options.

Under each header you get multiple windows showing highlighted or most recent content, plus a window through which you can access further options. And that’s it really. It takes just seconds to get to any menu you want and then find the content you want within each menu.

In the On Demand section, the highlight apps at the time of writing are YouTube, Wuaki.tv, the BBC iPlayer, Hopster, The Box Plus, Demand 5, BBC Sport, and Muzu. Going through the More Apps window brings up further links to Daily Motion, Energy NRJ, Deezer, The Weather Network, MeteoNews, Euronews, BBC News, Gemporia, CloudioTV,

It’s impossible to ignore the fact that this list doesn’t include Netflix, Amazon Instant, the ITV Player or 4OD - four of the UK’s biggest app hitters. Naturally EE can add more apps as they become available, and it was certainly hinted at the EE TV launch that Netflix at least isn’t a million miles away. But it’s a shame none of these four streaming stalwarts are there from the off.

Shifting to Live TV, you get a main window showing the currently viewed channel, with five more windows around it showing stills from whatever’s showing on BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. It’s a pity, perhaps, that these secondary channels can’t be your ‘favourites’ rather than just the first five channels on the listings, but it’s still and effective form of presentation. Especially as shows available with the Restart feature appear with a little ‘rewind’ icon in them, while a white bar shows you how long each one has been running for.

Smaller icons on the right of the Live TV screen give you access to multiple pages of tiled lists of all the currently showing shows. Fortunately this rather impractical approach can be filtered down to HD channels; Restartable channels; or by genre.

There’s also a separate window to access digital radio channels on the Live TV screen, and finally you can access a full and more traditional TV Guide. This guide is notable for allowing you to scroll back as well as forwards (like Freetime) and for the way it includes icons indicating when a programme is available for Restart or Replay.

It’s worth adding here that if you’re watching TV and you hit the up button on the remote, you get an attractive scrollable list down the left of the screen showing everything that’s showing on every channel, giving you a handy surfing shortcut that causes minimal disruption to your viewing.

The Recordings menus is very straightforward, just using the same window approach to show the two most recent recordings in the top menu, with access to everything else through an All Recordings menu.

The Replay menu works almost identically to the Recordings one, with five of the currently Restartable shows appearing on the home screen and all the rest accessible via a ‘deeper’ window and presented in channel order.

We mentioned earlier that the EE TV menus resembled smartphone or tablet apps. So you may not be surprised to learn that there’s a companion app for iOS and Android that almost mirrors the menus on the EE TV box and lets you access all of its features without you having to interrupt viewing on the main TV. The app even communicates with the EE TV box to sync recordings and settings.

You can also, of course, choose to watch a recording or live TV show on the smart device you’re using without changing what’s showing on the main TV.

The companion app is so intuitive and the functionality it makes possible so varied thanks to the EE TV box’s four tuners and huge HDD that it joins the Replay and Restart features in setting EE TV apart from - and above - the majority of rival devices. It’s just a pity such a superb smart interface couldn’t also run to allowing you to send your smart devices’ multimedia content through EE TV to your TV screen.

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Facebook apologises for Year in Review feature

by Luke Johnson 30 December 2014 |

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Facebook has apologised for its Year in Review feature after users complained of the images selected to highlight their years.

A free-to-use service which automatically selects images from users’ accounts to recap their time in 2014, Year in Review received criticisms for its at times less than tactful picture choices.

Examples of the feature’s issues include the use of images of a person’s house on fire and pictures of users’ recently deceased relatives.

Tragically, the flaws of Year in Review were highlighted when one user, Eric Meyer, was confronted with pictures of his six year old daughter who died earlier in the year.

Describing the feature’s image selection as “jarring” and “wrong”, Mr Meyer has received a formal apology from Facebook after his story went viral.

Although acknowledging that Facebook’s mishap was far form a directed attack, Meyer, speaking in a blog post stated: “This inadvertent algorithmic cruelty is the result of code that works only in the overwhelming majority of cases.”

He added: “The Year in Review ad keeps coming up in my feed. There wasn’t enough thought given to cases like mine or anyone who had a bad year.

“The design is for the ideal user, the happy, upbeat, good-life user. It doesn’t take other user cases into account.”

Related: 2015 tech we are most excited about

With Meyer having received a public apology from Facebook Product Manager Jonathan Gheller, the social media head told the Washington Post that Facebook has stated looking at ways to improve the Year in Review algorithm.

He stated: "[The app] was awesome for a lot of people, but clearly in this case we brought him grief rather than joy.”

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HTC One M9 specs leak with 20.7-megapixel camera in tow

by Luke Johnson 30 December 2014 |

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A number of claimed HTC One M9 specs have leaked online, suggesting the handset will be a 5-inch, Full HD powerhouse.

Surfacing courtesy of a leaked AnTuTu benchmark test, the HTC One M9 specs have suggested that the upcoming HTC One M8 follow-on will overlook the now popular move to an LG G3 and Galaxy Note 4 mimicking QHD display in favour of a more traditional 1080p offering.

Instead of focussing on minor visual enhancements, it appears the Taiwanese manufacturer looks set to target its efforts on a dramatically improved camera combination.

According to the latest leaks, as reported by NoWhereElse, the HTC One M9 specs sheet will see a 20.7-megapixel rear-mounted camera line up alongside a 13-megapixel selfie snapper.

This is a major step up on the 4-Ultrapixel and 5-megapixel combination found on the One M8.

If that’s not enough to tempt you, Qualcomm’s latest 64-bit Snapdragon 810 processor is also set to make an appearance alongside Adreno 430 graphics and 3GB of RAM.

Although it is currently unclear what the M9 will look like, it is expected that the handset will adopt a sleek, brushed metal finish similar to its predecessors.

As with previous leaks, it has again been suggested that the One M9 will adopt an all new naming convention and actually be known as the HTC Hima come launch.



Related: Everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy S6

Although recent leaks have suggested HTC could make its first formal appearance during CES 2015 next week, we believe a post MWC unveiling in March is far more likely.

Instead, it has been suggested that the upcoming Las Vegas-based convention will see HTC out its first wearable device alongside a new Desire-branded handset.

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Europeans can now return iTunes, App Store purchases within 14 days

by Chris Smith 29 December 2014 |

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Apple is now giving European customers the opportunity to get full refunds on any iTunes, App Store and iBooks purchases within 14 days of receiving the receipt.

The change in policy gives users a “right of cancellation,” within the two week time-frame without the need to provide a valid reason.

Users do have to put their request in writing with a written statement or using the in-app 'Report a Problem' tool, but aside from that it’s plain sailing for refund requests on digital purchases.

Once the purchase is cancelled, Apple says users will receive their refunds within 5-7 days.

The updated terms and conditions (via 9to5Mac) state: “Right of cancellation: If you choose to cancel your order, you may do so within 14 days from when you received your receipt without giving any reason, except iTunes Gifts which cannot be refunded once you have redeemed the code.”

Previously the firm’s policy had been that all purchases were final, unless it granted the consumer an exemption, so it’s a pretty large shift from the Cupertino-based firm.

Read more: Best iPhone 6 apps: iOS 8 essentials

The change comes in order to comply with European consumer regulations that give customers in many EAA countries the right to a 14-day return period for goods and services.

The European Commission guidelines were first established in June, but Apple has only made the change to its policy within the last month.

UPDATE: SlashGear is now also reporting Google has updated its own terms to allow for 14 day returns, up from its previously stated 2-hour window.

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New Vaio smartphones on the way to compete with Sony?

by Chris Smith 29 December 2014 |

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The investment firm which bought the Vaio brand from Sony earlier in 2014 is reportedly planning to launch a new range of smartphones under the name.

Japanese newspaper Nikkei (via 9to5Google) claims the first handsets could be unveiled at the CES 2015 tech show, which begins in Las Vegas next week.

According to the report, the Japanese Industrial Partners group plans to launch the devices in partnership with a Japanese mobile network.

The phones, running on the Android OS, would likely compete with Sony in its own backyard. It seems unlikely they would emerge beyond Japan at this stage.

Sony itself is seemingly planning a host of mobile launches for CES with new flagship smartphones and tablets running the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system out of the box.

A Sony Xperia Z4 is likely, while a new Xperia Tablet Ultra is also expected to make an experience on the Sony stand.



Read more: Sony Xperia Z4 rumours

Since Sony sold off the Vaio computing brand in February, the new owner has focused on computing, rather than competing, products.

The most noteworthy releases were the Vaio Fit and Vaio Pro laptops in June. They arrived without Sony branding but were otherwise identical to those previously on sale.

Since leaving the computing business, Sony has increasingly focused on mobile and gaming and is heavily relying on the PS4 to spearhead a return to form in 2015.

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Microsoft to replace IE with new browser for Windows 10?

by Chris Smith 29 December 2014 |

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Reports have emerged on Monday claiming Microsoft could be ready to debut a brand new web browser for the forthcoming Windows 10 operating system.

Zdnet sources say the in-development browser, codenamed Spartan, looks more like Firefox and Chrome, and “is not IE 12.”

According to the report, it’ll be a lightweight browser available for both mobiles and desktop devices running Windows 10. It’ll also support extensions, apparently, just like Google and Mozilla's options.

The sources also say IE 11 will continue to ship with Windows 10 devices, but will only be kept around “for backward-compatibility’s sake” says reporter Mary Jo Foley.

We may get the first look at the new browser on January 21 when Microsoft holds a consumer-focused event to showcase the progress it is making with Windows 10.

Read more: Windows 10 Technical Preview: First impressions

Microsoft's reported move comes as Internet Explorer’s popularity continues to fade, with users turning to third-party solutions like Chrome, Firefox and Safari and much more browsing taking place on mobile devices.

As of June this year, Google’s Chrome was the most popular browser with almost 32 per cent of the market. The various versions of Internet Explorer sat at 31 per cent, according to stats collected by Adobe. As far back as 2008, Microsoft boasted an 80 per cent share of browser traffic, but that figure continues to drop.

Can a platform agnostic, mobile-friendly browser help revive Microsoft’s fortunes? Let us know your thoughts below.

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