Apple clearing way for new Apple TV with iTunes offer

Apple could be paving the way for the much-rumoured new Apple TV box with a new deal on the existing model.

Over in the US, it’s emerged that Apple retail stores have begun offering a $25 iTunes gift card to customers who buy a current generation Apple TV. This promotion is set to run until March 5.

As pointed out by 9to5Mac, this is the classic behaviour of a company that wants to shift old stock prior to the launch of a replacement model. It's especially noteworthy for Apple, a company that's never quick to discount or run offers on its products without good reason.

The next Apple TV is rumoured to represent the biggest overhaul for the range yet. While all versions to date have been media streaming devices, acting as a bridge between your iOS device and your TV, the next one expected to be a full-on set-top-box.

It could come with a dedicated TV tuner for playing regular live TV content, but with Apple’s customary UI magic layered on top. It’s also claimed that Apple is in the process of agreeing terms with media companies - the most recent of which being Time Warner Cable - to stream the latest TV shows.

Earlier reports have suggested that the new Apple TV will have its own app store, and could even come with a heavy focus on gaming. Combined with a significantly more powerful processor and controller support, it could well take on the properties of a games console as well as a media box.

Most sources believe that the new Apple TV will launch some time between June and the end of the year.



Next, read our pick of the best TVs of 2014.

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Windows 8.1 free edition could be in the works

Windows 8.1 - soon to be free?

Microsoft could be considering the launch of a free version of Windows 8.1, according to reports.

Following its downward price trend of recent times, Microsoft could be set to launch an extremely low-cost or even completely free version of Windows 8.1.

That’s the claim that has been made, first by ZDNet and then by The Verge. Both reckon that Microsoft is in the process of trialling something called Windows 8.1 with Bing, the early versions of which appear to have leaked online with no great discernible changes.

This new version would come bundled with key Microsoft apps and services, and it's being suggested that it would stand as a way to encourage reluctant Windows 7 users to upgrade for free (or at least for a very low cost).

Microsoft might even offer this version of Windows to PC manufacturers for a knock-down license fee, as part of measures to head off Google’s Chrome OS at the low-end of the PC market.

It’s not known just yet exactly how Microsoft plans to monetise this free OS with Bing, as the company’s search engine already powers a number of free services within the Windows 8 OS.

Both sources are at pains to stress that this is just an experiment on Microsoft’s part, and Windows 8.1 with Bing may never see light as a commercial product. Still, it’s interesting to learn that the company is looking to radically shake up Windows’s monetisation model, just as it did with its interface.



Read More: Best Windows 8 laptops

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Quantum Dots Explained: What they are and why they’re awesome

Quantum Dots and the iPhone 6 Screen

Quantum dots. Sound cool, don't they? But for once this is a technology that's actually as good as it sounds. Quantum dots, among other things, have the potential to revitalise the LCD screens in our phones, tablets, TVs and laptops.

Apple is widely tipped to use them in the iPhone 6 when it comes out later this year, but it isn't the first and won't be the last. Sony already uses quantum dots in some of its TVs under the Triluminous brand, though it's not believed any of its phones currently use the tech despite the Triluminous brand being applied to some of them. Amazon used quantum dots to good effect in the Kindle Fire HDX 7 and HDX 8.9 tablets as well.

But, as things go on the internet, when Apple is rumoured to do something it's a seriously big deal, even if it isn't first to do so. Such excitement isn't misplaced, however, as you'll find out if you read on.

What are quantum dots?

Simplifying things greatly (as this guide aims to do, mostly), quantum dots are incredibly small particles. They range between 2 to 10 nanometers in diameter, which is equivalent to 50 atoms. Yes, atoms. You can't measure these things using your old school shatter proof ruler. It's this small size that gives quantum dots the unique properties to improve our tech.

The colour light that a quantum dot emits is directly related to its size; smaller dots appear blue, larger ones more red. In LCD screens they're applied as a way of eliminating the need for White LED backlights and colour filters. As Dr. Raymond M. Soneira, President of DisplayMate, explains: "Instead of using existing White LEDs (which have yellow phosphors) that produce a broad light spectrum that makes it hard to efficiently produce saturated colors, Quantum Dots directly convert the light from Blue LEDs into highly saturated narrow band primary colors for LCDs."

What are the benefits of quantum dots?

For LCD screens, the benefits are numerous. They're the kind of benefits that are simply no-brainers.

Better colour accuracy

The key benefit of quantum dots is improved colour accuracy. The light produced by quantum dots is so closely tied to their size that they can be tuned very precisely to emit the exact kind of light needed. This means purer, cleaner whites and more precise colours.

Colours on the Kindle HDX series are excellent

Higher colour saturation

One advantage, though some might call it a disadvantage in some contexts, of OLED screens over LCDs is colour saturation. Colours on OLED screens simply 'pop' more due to the huge colour gamut OLED screens can achieve. Quantum dots can, according to Dr. Soneira, increase the colour gamut on LCD screens by in the region of 40 to 50 per cent. This is great, but it's the combination of high colour gamut and great accuracy that's really exciting. OLED screens look fantastic to the untrained eye, but many of those found in phones thus far aren't very accurate or 'faithful' to the actual colours they're presenting. This can create imbalances, such as radioactive colours and iffy skin tones in videos and photos.

Taking a long term view, the impact of more devices with larger colour gamuts could mean a serious increase in the quality of video and other content. Specifically, in the level of detail you can see due to greater number of colours available. The only caveat here is that for most purposes sRGB is the colour standard for computing – it's the standard colour space for everything you see on the internet, for instance. That means you might not enjoy the full benefits of a higher colour gamut screen straightaway due to content being created to cater for sRGB, and not Adobe RGB or the broadcasting standard Rec.709 for example. Still, with many screens unable to produce 100 per cent of the sRGB colour space, there's still a benefit to be had in the short term.

Improved battery life

One of the contradictions of modern tech is that people say they want better battery life, but when it comes to it they'll choose a slimmer, sleeker and 'sexier' phone over a chunky one with better battery life. Some of you reading this will be jumping up and down saying that's not you, but it is most people. Phones haven't been getting slimmer and lighter by accident. Companies make them that way because that's what sells.

Another truism is that the most effective way, by far, to improve your phone, tablet or laptop's battery life is to simply turn the brightness down. You can fiddle with the settings as much as you like, but it's the screen that sucks down the most power. Which is why the potential power savings of quantum dots, believed to be up to 20 per cent, are so attractive.

What quantum dots promise, on paper, is superior image quality and a reduction power use. That's a powerful combination, especially for a company like Apple that's loathed to compromise on design for the sake of practical things like larger batteries.



(This is also yet another reminder that the slow pace of battery tech development is holding back our tech. Since it has improved markedly, companies are forced to find power savings elsewhere.)

What are the downsides of quantum dots?

While there are doubtless plenty of complexities in integrating quantum dots into screens, from an end user perspective the only downside we've seen thus far is (an actually quite serious) light bleed issue. This was seen on the new Kindle HDX tablets, the first quantum dot tablets. While not visible under many conditions, any white background (i.e. when reading a book) exposed very irritating bleed from the edges. Rather than white light, the bleed on the Amazon Fires was blue. Why? Because the backlight LEDs are blue.

Here you can see the backlight issue on the Kindle Fire HDX severe

This isn't a trivial problem. When we reviewed both the new Amazon tablets we were impressed by the colours, contrast and brightness, but the light bleed was profoundly annoying – enough so that it devalued the good parts. Solving this issue is vital to whether we see quantum dot phones and tablets, but we'd put our money on it getting sorted fairly soon. Apple reportedly has patents describing how it plans to solve this particular problem.

Quantum Dots and the iPhone 6 Screen: Will it happen?

Assuming the bleed issue seen on the Kindles can be sorted, quantum dots have the potential to radically improve our tech. We've already seen them at work in Sony's 4K TVs, which were outstanding. Moreover, the fact they're already in use shows this isn't some outlandish new tech that's years away. For that reason there's a very decent chance, we'd say, of Apple using the tech in the iPhone 6. It clearly won't be alone, however, so the idea that this is some silver bullet that will wipe the competition away is misleading.

Next, read our in-depth analysis of the new HTC One M8's camera

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Best Tech of the Month Feb 2014: 5 Best Products You Can Buy

It’s the end of the month. You’ve just got paid and the bills have been taken care of. So what are you going to do with the money left over? You could do something sensible like save it. Or you could go out and treat yourself to shiny new gadget or two to play with instead.

OK, you're probably not going to do that and we certainly don't suggest you should. But in case you've missed them, there's been plenty of cutting-edge kit that has made its way into TrustedReviews HQ in February whether it's been 4K monitors, 12.2-inch tablets, a host of new cameras or more headphones vying to make it into our round-up of the best headphones.

To finish off the month, we've been clawing our way through the showfloors of MWC 2014. The TrustedReviews team has been out in full force in Barcelona getting hands-on time with the Samsung Galaxy S5, Xperia Z1 sequel the Xperia Z2, as well as strapping on wearables like the Samsung Gear Fit and playing with tablets like the Lenovo Yoga Tabet 10+HD.

We also clocked in some serious game time with Titanfall, got a hands-on play with PS4 exclusive InFamous: Second Son and even found time to get the Wii U out to play Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze.

Some of the tech has impressed, others have simply been a major disappointment. As we take a look back at the tech reviewed and rated last month, we've decided to pluck out the gadgets we loved the most.

From MacBook Air rivals to the best new cameras to take on holiday, feast your eyes on our pick of the best tech this month.

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Blockbuster brand back in business

The Blockbuster brand will soon be back on UK high streets and streaming into our living rooms.

Back in mid-December, all remaining Blockbuster stores closed their doors for the last time. Following the its second period of administration of 2013 (the first came in January), a buyer was unable to be found for the former video rental great, and the brand ceased to exist.

Except, it didn’t. Not entirely. Dish Network Corporation, which retains ownership of the Blockbuster brand, has now licensed it out to Crash Entertainment Group. Crash owns a number of UK online radio stations as well as five entertainment stores on the Isle of Man.

Crash intends to open 10 new Blockbuster stores in the UK and rebrand its existing Isle of Man shops with the venerable old name. It’s a far cry from the hundreds of Blockbuster stores that used to operate around the country, but such a physical presence doesn’t appear to be the main thrust of the new business.

Crash plans to start a new Blockbuster mail-order DVD subscription service by late 2014. The company will also operate the Blockbuster On Demand video streaming service, which runs on Virgin Media’s TiVo boxes.

"Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business," says Dish boss Joseph P. Clayton, "we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings."



Read More: Best Games 2013

Via: Eurogamer

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Google Hangouts for iOS completely revamped

Google has released a new version of Hangouts for iOS with a fresh look and a host of new features.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Google Hangouts 2.0 for iOS has an altogether flatter, more iOS 7-friendly style about it. The UI now features contextual options menus that drop down from the top of the screen with a touch, meaning they stay out of the way until needed.

Having updated the app, Google has included a bunch of tutorial speech bubbles to walk you through its new features.

Stickers allow you to add expressive animated images to your messages. They’re a bit like emoji, but are significantly larger (taking up a whole message bubble to themselves), and more detailed.

You can also now add brief video messages to conversations. Simply hit the attachment button (which is also how you add stickers) followed by the camera button, then press the shutter button for a picture or hold for a video and release to stop recording. It’s very intuitive.

This attachment menu also now facilitates location sharing, enabling you to quickly send out a map of your current location.

Finally, Hangouts 2.0 has been fully optimised for iPad. You can now enjoy two-pane video calls, making much better use of the extra screen space afforded by Apple's tablets.

You can download Google Hangouts 2.0 for iPhone and iPad from the App Store now. As always with Google’s apps, it won’t cost you a penny.



Read More: Top 6 WhatsApp alternatives

Via: Frank Petterson

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Huawei Ascend Y530 Phone Review

Budget Android gets a facelift

The Huawei Ascend Y530 is one of the company's cheapest phones. It is out to win over a few first-time smartphone users, and those who aren't willing to shell out hundreds for a new mobile.

Its specs won't wow you, but Huawei has upped its design game to offer an all-round better-looking phone than last year's models. We checked the phone out at MWC 2014, where it was first shown-off.

Huawei Ascend Y530 – Design and Features

The Huawei Ascend Y530 is the follow-up to last year's Ascend G510. As the G series classes its act up with the Ascend G6, the Y series is graced with this new – also pretty classy – model.

Huawei has worked on a new shell for the Y530, and it's sleeker and slimmer than last year's phones. I looked at the white version, and was pleased with the aesthetic upgrades Huawei has made. Smooth curves and a neat two-tone screen surround give this phone a bit of style, where the G510 was a bit of a dumpy, style-free zone.

It's not a real beauty – the soft keys in particular let the side down with their pure prosaic-ness. But the Ascend Y530 looks better than the phone it follows.

Huawei Ascend Y530 – Screen

However, one of our most serious criticisms of the G510 remains – the screen. Its specs are OK for a budget model, at 4.5 inches and 854 x 480-pixel resolution. However, the display is highly reflective.

Screens lose reflectiveness by applying anti-reflective coatings and cutting out layers in the screen's architecture. To my eyes, the Huawei Ascend Y530 must have more layers than a Vienetta. And from an angle, you can clearly see that the actual display layer is significantly recessed from the surface.

This is something Huawei needs to work on – especially as the underlying panel seems to be a perfectly serviceable IPS display.

Huawei Ascend Y530 – Specs

Other specs don't see any real upgrade from last year's G510. You get an entry-level Snapdragon 200 MSM8210 dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB internal storage. This is not a supremely fast phone, and if you like your apps and games you should consider that higher-performance phones like the Motorola Moto G aren't all that much more expensive these days.

The Y530's rear camera uses a 5-megapixel sensor with flash while the front one has a very basic VGA sensor.

First Impressions

The Huawei Ascend Y530 looks a good deal better than last year's low-cost Huawei phones. However, screen and performance issues are still present so make sure you're buying at the right price as seems to be a lesser phone than something like the Motorola Moto G or Nokia Lumia 520.



Next, check out our round-up of the best mobile phones

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Samsung Tizen OS: 6 Things You Need To Know

What is Tizen OS?

It’s been several years in development and with the announcement of the Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, we could be inching closer to the first smartphone running on Samsung’s own Tizen operating system.

After siding with Google and embracing Android for its Galaxy smartphones and tablets, the Korean manufacturer is signalling its intent to go it alone, offering an alternative to Google’s mobile OS, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 perhaps to a lesser extent.

So what is Tizen and how will it differ from Android? Here’s six things we know so far about the operating system that joins Firefox OS, Jolla Sailfish and Ubuntu Touch in the bid to shake things up.

Watch our Tizen OS demo video:

1. It’s open source

Samsung has worked with Intel to develop the Linux-based platform that was built from Nokia and Intel’s ditched MeeGo platform. Its open source nature means hardware manufacturers that choose to adopt it, are free to tinker with the interface and the UI to make it as unique as they like.

Samsung has also taken some of the more interesting features that cropped up in Bada, its first attempt to go it alone on an operating sytem and built them into Tizen.

2. HTML 5

Tizen is an HTML5-based operating system, which means for content creators the platform should have a shorter development cycle and lower costs to deal with to make apps.

For the user, it means we can expect slicker mobile web applications for phones and tablets. There should be greater native support for video especially so you'll no longer have to download plug-ins to watch YouTube clips or when you want to listen to a song.

3. Tizen will look like Android with TouchWiz

Will it be as clean and an intuitive experience as iOS or Android’s 4.4 Kitkat operating systems? In its latest guise 2.2.1, Tizen doesn’t look entirely different from a TouchWiz-layered Android as our Tizen first look video above shows.

Running on a prototype phone, you can see that Dynamic boxes play a big part in the overall feel of the UI and can be re-sized to reveal more information from the app.

Tizen will also include the swipe down notification bar with toggle bar as used in the TouchWiz UI and is set to support multitasking, integrated power saving, a firewall to block sites and other features already available in current Samsung phones.

4. It’s not just for smartphones

The operating system aims to offer a unified experience across multiple devices, so expect to see it featured in TVs, laptops and even crop in the 'bank and car industries' according to Samsung Electronics co-CEO J.K. Shin.

Tablets running Tizen have already reached the hands of developers and the operating system has also been demoed running inside in-car entertainment systems. The first official Tizen device, the 20.3-megapixel Samsung NX300M camera was announced in late 2013. As for the first smartphone, well, Samsung is still aiming for a 2014 launch with the latest suggesting we can expect a Tizen phone in March.

5. Samsung Tizen apps

As we've seen with Windows 8/Windows Phone 8, apps is a very big deal for any new operating system. The good news is that Tizen will support native and web apps just as it did for Bada and existing Bada apps will also be ported over. Cut the Rope and Gameloft's Asphalt 7 are already set for the open Tizen Store and gives you an idea of the calibre of content you can expect at launch.

To help make sure the app catalogue is fully stocked, Samsung also launched a Tizen app challenge in 2013 handing out $4 million to the 64 winners who created a both native Tizen apps and HTML5-based applications.

The Instagram-like Tizengram HTML 5 app was created by one developer during a Tizen Developer lab in 2013

6. The future of Tizen

Tizen 2.2.1 is primed and ready to be used on smartphones despite Samsung having yet to unveil its first phone. That's not stopped the S4-makers from looking at what's next with Tizen 3.0 already in the works. Revealing details at its Tizen developer summit back in late 2013, new features include support for 64-bit processors including Intel and ARM chips.

Like Android, there will be multi-user profiles as well as support for games and app that require more advanced 3D graphics. This update is expected later in 2014 and has already made an appearance on the Samsung Galaxy S4 so we might not too far away.

Are you sold on the Tizen OS? Do you think it will be a success? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

MORE: Read our round-up of the best smartphones

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Minecraft movie confirmed to be in the works

The developer of the run-away video game smash hit Minecraft has confirmed that a movie tie-in is in the very early stages of development.

According to a recent tweet from Markus "Notch" Persson: "Someone is trying leak the fact that we're working with Warner Brothers on a potential Minecraft Movie. I wanted to be the leak!"

This announcement coincides with a Deadline report revealing that Warner Bros. has just acquired the rights to develop a Minecraft movie. Apparently, the producer of The Lego Movie, Roy Lee, is helping to develop the project.

It’s easy to see where the latter’s recently acquired expertise could come in useful. Minecraft, like Lego, is a property built upon the free-form 'build your own fun' premise. The game, which is available on PC, console, and mobile, involves steadily constructing vast worlds from simple virtual building blocks in a bid to survive and tame a harsh environment.

Just this week, Persson revealed that Minecraft had reached 100 million registered users, which certainly suggests that there’s a sizeable audience for a movie tie-in.

Warner Bros. was doubtless encouraged to back this project (and the attached producer) by the huge success of the aforementioned The Lego Movie. It’s been revealed that the film has raked in takings of $280.5 million worldwide after just three weeks of being on release.

Of course, all involved will also have to be wary of the dismal record of video game movies. Aside from Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider films, there haven’t been any notable box-office smash hits in the category.



Read More: Best games 2013

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Amazon in discussions to add music streaming to Prime

Amazon is in discussions with music labels to add a music streaming service to its Amazon Prime subscription.

Rumours of an Amazon music service to rival the likes of Spotify have been running for some time. Last March, talks were said to be at a very early and informal stage, but the latest suggestion is that they’ve entered an advanced stage.

According to Recode’s sources, "Amazon is now engaged in more serious talks with big music labels about making that happen."

Of course, that doesn’t mean that an agreement is anywhere close to imminent. According to one label, Amazon is asking for a large discount on the pricing terms offered to rival services such as Spotify, Beats, and Rhapsody. As you might imagine, that’s causing a bit of a problem.

Amazon’s plan is to give this music streaming service away to customers as part of the Amazon Prime service, which already provides free next-day delivery options on Amazon products, 500,000 free ebooks, and just recently the Instant Video movie streaming service.

That last addition has pushed the price of Prime up by £30 here in the UK, and Amazon is planning to offer a similar price hike in its native US, where Instant Video has been available through Prime for some time.

The addition of music to that package could be just the sweetener Amazon needs for such a rate increase in arguably its most important market.

Over the past few years, Amazon has been hiring executives with experience in digital music, so it’s clearly gearing up to enter the market - and it could be ready to do so some time this year.

Read More: How Amazon Prime Instant UK affects Lovefilm and Amazon Prime users

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YotaPhone UK release date will be held ‘in two weeks’

YotaPhone is UK bound with £415 price tag

The YotaPhone UK release date has been confirmed, with the Russian manufacturer announcing the dual-screen phone will hit British shores next month.

Having launched in a number of European countries back in December, the Android powered smartphone, which features an integrated E-ink display on its rear, will hit the UK for the first time “in two weeks,” the company’s COO has told us.

Speaking exclusively with TrustedReviews during MWC 2014, Lau Geckler, Yota’s Chief Operating Officer stated: “In two weeks’ time it will be available in the UK via our web shop.”

Although Geckler was unable to give an exact date on which the phone will hit UK shores, his week-long window should see the innovative handset hit British shores between March 10 and March 14.

Confirming further details on the E-ink screen packing phone, Geckler confirmed that the YotaPhone price has been set at £415 for the UK. The handset costs €499 (£409) in European markets.

At present YotaPhone is available in Germany, Spain, Austria, France and Yota’s native Russia.

Although the innovative handset is not currently available in the UK, Geckler has claimed the company has already seen high interest levels from us Brits.

“We actually already have a lot of UK consumers who have bought the phone through the international web shops but of course they are not getting the UK charger,” he told us.

Despite none of the UK’s high street retailers having yet signed up to stock the YotaPhone, Geckler remains confident the company is on the right path.

“All the large operators, including the UK ones have a long cycle,” he said. “It takes time but it will happen. The dialogues are very encouraging but we just have to be patient.”

With the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean powered handset sporting a standard 4.3-inch 720p HD display, the YotaPhone’s party piece can be found around back where a 4.3-inch E-ink display is located. Running a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, the YotaPhone specs sheet is further enhanced by 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel primary camera.

Earlier this week Yota Devices announced a second-generation YotaPhone, with the E-Ink rear panel adding its own touch capabilities.

Read More: Five concepts from CES 2014 we wish were real

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Virgin Media launches 152Mb top speed broadband

Virgin Media has launched a new ultrafast broadband service, which can offer top speeds up to 152Mb.

The new broadband speeds are 19 times faster than what Virgin Media calls “regular broadband”, and is faster than the broadband speeds offered by its competitors.

The top speed 152Mb connection will be available to those who already have the 120Mb Virgin Media broadband.

Virgin Media is also boosting its entry-level 30Mb fibre optic broadband to 50Mb, with existing 30Mb customers’ speed to be boosted to 50Mb, 60Mb or 100Mb over the next 12-months.

“Overwhelmingly people tell us the internet is force for good,” said Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media CEO. “From daily life to the bigger aspects of society, culture and economic growth, digital is making a significant, positive difference to people’s lives. We’re supercharging our incredible network to ensure that Virgin Media customers can make the most of the online world”.

Virgin Media has seen its customers’ peak internet use grow by 55 per cent over the past year, which has spurred the company to introduce the faster broadband speeds.

“Faster, safer home internet is great news for families across the UK,” said Maria Miller, Culture Secretary. “Families are now downloading films, streaming music and playing games through phones, laptops, tablets and consoles. Higher speeds will enable the whole family to use the internet at the same time.”

The broadband provider has also introduced new parental controls with Web Safe, which allows you to restrict access to types of potentially age-inappropriate content.

There’s also a new accompanying Switched on Families interactive guide to support parental figures in making informed internet choices.



Read more: Best routers 2014

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Smartphone war will be about experiences not specs in 2014 says network

The S5 will be one of the year's biggest phones

The 2014 smartphone wars have kicked into overdrive at MWC 2014 this week, but this year’s battle will not be fought on the specs front network provider Three has suggested.

Speaking with TrustedReviews during the Barcelona-based conference, Three has hinted that 2014 will see leading handset manufacturers look to move away from the specs race and compete to provide consumers with the most desirable user experiences.

“The main trends for 2014 will be that your main vendors, so HTC, Sony and Samsung, they are all changing,” Brendan Arndt, Three’s Portfolio Manager told us.

He added: “It used to be a bit of a spec war and now it is much more about the experience that customers are getting on the phone.

“That’s definitely one of the trends between all of the vendors.”

As an early sign of Arndt’s predictions, the Samsung Galaxy S5 was officially unveiled earlier this week with relatively minor hardware updates joined by added focus on user security, fitness tracking and software-introduced camera enhancements.

Suggesting that consumer demands are changing as smartphone specs hit heights unnecessary to most general user cases, the Three manager has stated consumers are becoming less willing to trade off overall performance for one new hardware feature.

“I’m an early adopter and I love tech but I’ve changed because I’ve seen so much of it. For me it is much more about the experience now,” he told us.

Looking to the coming year of smartphone evolution Arndt stated: “One vendor might have a 2K display and one vendor might just have a Full HD display. For me, that doesn’t really make a difference because I can’t really tell the difference.

“It is definitely better, the 2K, but knowing what I know technology wise it’s a question of do I want the battery to be poor or do I want a really nice experience.”

Would you rather previously unseen hardware features or an improved overall experience on your next smartphone? Let us know via the comment boxes below.

Read More: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Sony Xperia Z2

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GTA Online: The Business Update to arrive March 4

GTA Online: The Business Update

The new GTA Online: The Business Update will launch on Tuesday, March 4 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Rockstar Games is releasing a new free DLC pack for GTA Online called The Business Update and brings formal-themed content to the GTA 5 experience.

“Enjoy the perks of rising through the ranks of your Los Santos and Blaine County business ventures with The Business Update, coming next week on Tuesday March 4th to PSN and Xbox Live”, said Rockstar Games.

You’ll be able to get your characters some new rides with The Business Update, as it comes bearing three new sports car gifts: the Albany Alpha, Dinka Jester and Grotti Turismo R.

If ground transportation isn’t your kind of thing, you can now get the Vestra airplane with the latest update.

Ammu-Nation will also stock two new weapons for some “serious firepower”. You might want to equip the Special Carbine or Heavy Pistol for your next heist.

Weapons and vehicles aside, The Business Update offers new suit jackets, trousers, glasses, high-heels and blouses to smarten up your GTA Online character. For disguising yourself for your next hostile takeover, there’s also a new selection of masks to don.

“Just like the recent Valentine’s Day Massacre Special, the new vehicles and weapons will be available in both Story Mode and Online.”

In your GTA 5 save, the new weapons will automatically be deposited in all three characters’ inventories with two full ammo clips. The cars will be stored in the garages too.

You’ll need to purchase all the new vehicles and weapons in GTA Online though, with the cars offers from Legendary Motorsport and Elitas.

Rockstar Games will host a Business Update Event Weekend in the very near future, with more details coming soon.

The developer also teased new features like Online Heists, Capture Creator and new Assassination and Flight School missions for Story Mode that will come with a future update.



Read more: GTA 5 Guide – Things to do in Los Santos

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LG F70 Phone Review

The cheapest 4G phone?

4G internet connectivity has become the norm in expensive, top-end phones. However, we almost never see it in phones like the LG F70. This is an entry-level mobile that offers super-fast 4G internet. And it's the sort of device that has the potential to bring 4G to the masses. We had a play with it at MWC 2014, where the phone was launched.

LG F70 – Design and Features

The LG F70 is a simple-looking, inoffensive phone. It comes in black or white, has a textured plastic back and is slightly chunky. It's not going to turn heads, but it's not likely to turn many off either.



The black and white versions

Its styling is very similar to the higher-end LG F90, but there are a few design cuts. Each spec is a little lower, and the soft keys are drawn on in white, rather than relying completely on an LED under the surface. As such it looks about 10 per cent less slick.

Build quality is decent, though, and a 4.5-inch screen makes the LG F70 an easy-to-handle phone.

LG F70 – Screen and Specs

The LG F70's screen is WVGA (800 x 480) in resolution. That's about as low as a 4.5-inch screen can go without looking terrible. Sharpenss is just OK, but the solid quality of the underlying panel doesn't make the pixel structure too apparent.

Of course, we were looking at the screen on max brightness (that norm at tech shows like MWC 2014) so pixellation may become more apparent under normal conditions.

Other specs are also entry-level. The LG F70 uses a decent quad-core Snapdragon 400 CPU, but there's just 512MB of RAM on-board that's sure to cause some stuttering on an app-packed phone.

The resolution of the main camera is just five megapixels, but you do get an LED flash, and there is a front camera. These two are sometimes left out of entry-level phones.

Each of these specs is one rung down from what you get with an LG F90 – but without knowing the prices of either phone we don't know which represents a better deal. Like the F90, batery life should be great, though, as the F70 has a large 2,440mAh battery. It should last for a solid 1.5-2 days.

The software is much the same as the F90's. The LG F70 runs Android 4.4 with the LG custom interface on top. In top-end phones we occasionally complain about LG's UI, but I think it is better than either the Huawei or ZTE ones – and those companies offer some of the most compelling alternative entry-level Androids.

A couple of obvious new extras include Knock Code, which lets you take the phone out of standby by tapping a pattern on the screen, and a simple home screen mode designed or those not used to smartphones.

First Impressions

The LG F70 should be one of the cheapest 4G phones ever made. The low RAM and screen resolution mean it won't offer a superb, all-guns-blazing Android experience, but as 4G plan prices start to drop we need to see more low-cost 4G phones like this.

Next, check out our round-up of the best mobile phones

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Huawei MediaPad X1 Tablet Review

The point where phone and tablet meet... pointlessly?

The Huawei MediaPad X1 is one of those curious devices that lives at the spot where phone meets tablet. This is a 7-inch phone, making it a bit too big to fit into trouser pockets.

Even Huawei admitted to us that it's not something everyone will be able to get on with, especially given its ~£400 (400 Euro). But it has a few interesting bits. We took a closer look at MWC 2014.

Huawei MediaPad X1 – Design and Features

A 7-inch phone is always going to be tricky to handle, but the Huawei MediaPad X1 does its best to help. Its thin bezel makes it the narrowest 7-inch phone-tablet to date – it's 103.9mm wide.

Of course, in phone terms it is absolutely massive. You can hold the MediaPad X1 in one hand, but you'd be foolish to try and use the thing without getting both mitts involved. Consider it a 7-inch tablet instead, though, and it's pretty great. It's slim and light in its class at 239g and 7.2mm thick. I can imagine using this thing on the train on the way to work – no problem.

It feels pretty good too. The back is mostly anodised aluminium with a couple of plastic bits at the top and bottom to fit in the antennas, and to make fitting in the speaker grille and camera lens a bit easier (drilling into/molding plastic is cheaper and easier than drilling into metal). The plastic bits also hide the SIM slot and microSD memory card slot.

The price you pay for this slim, neat design is a rear speaker rather than having a front stereo pair like the MediaPad M1. However, you'll probably be using earphones while out and about anyway.

Huawei MediaPad X1 – Screen and Specs

The MediaPad X1 has a much better screen than its M1 brother, though – despite being an inch smaller. It's 1,920 x 1,200 in resolution offering good sharpness and great viewing angles thanks to its LTPS panel.

Brightness appears to be strong, and the tablet gives you control over the colour temperature too.

However, like other Huawei devices, it's let down a bit by the software – it uses Android with the Huawei Emotion UI on top. It does three things that I think are slightly misguided moves, at least for the UK buyer.

It gets rid of the apps menu, instead jamming everything onto your home screens. This makes it a bit more like iOS, but as the organisation of apps is completely different, it just doesn't work well. It tends to make your phone's interface a bit confusing.

The second issue is the 'hide-able' nav bar. This makes sense when you're watching a film or playing a game, but there's little reason to do so while you're browsing your home screens. And there's too much potential to hide the bar accidentally. Again – confusing.

Finally, there's the theme-based approach to the UI. These themes affect the icon style, the look of the shortcut bar and more. Most of them are a bit ropey, and while there is a friendly-looking one that trends towards the current norm of making interfaces look simpler and more coherent, we're not even convinced all buyers will realise they can change to this look.

It's software, rather than hardware, that holds the MediaPad X1 back – assuming you find a crowd of people interested in the idea of a 7-inch phone, that is.

Core specs of the MediaPad X1 are fairly strong. The phone uses a quad-core 1.6GHz Huawei HiSilicon CPU and 2GB of RAM. The processor is not quite as fast as the latest high-end Snapdragon chips, but it's not bad.

This is a 4G-ready phone and its complement of cameras is unusually strong. It uses a 13-megapixel Sony rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front one. Higher-resolution front cameras are becoming a little more common, especially in the phones of Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers like HTC and Huawei. 'Selfie culture' is hardly exclusive to those countries, much as I shudder at the idea of using the MediaPad X1 to take selfies with friends out in public.

First Impressions

The Huawei MediaPad X1 is a bit of an oddball. It's a 7-inch phone, and it only makes sense if you consider it as such given that rival 7-inch tablets are available for less than half the price. It seems like Samsung may already have some of the MediaPad X1's potential sewn up with the Note series of phones, but it is a promising device regardless.



Next, read our best tablets round-up

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Samsung Galaxy F to launch in May as metal Galaxy S5?

The perforated plastic back of the Galaxy S5

The rumoured Samsung Galaxy F could launch in May as a metal-bodied Samsung Galaxy S5.

The Galaxy S5 was unveiled at MWC 2014 on February 24 with the same plastic body as its predecessor the Galaxy S4, despite rumours of an all-metal body.

However, according to Korean sources, Samsung executives met in a closed-room meeting at MWC to discuss the incoming Samsung Galaxy F, also known as the Samsung Galaxy S5 Premium.

The Galaxy F is tipped to come encased in an all-metal body and features other “premium materials” to differentiate it immediately from the Galaxy S5.

Internal hardware will also be tweaked so that the Galaxy F properly earns its Premium moniker.

Apparently one of the ways the Galaxy F will be improved over the S5 is introducing optical image stabilisation to the 16-megapixel rear camera.

The 5.25-inch screen will supposedly be upgraded to a resolution of QHD 2560 x 1440p giving the Galaxy F a pixel density of 559ppi.

It may well also feature the rumoured 64-bit Samsung Exynos Infinity teased for an MWC 2014 unveiling earlier this month, but which has yet to make any formal appearance.

The sources also bizarrely suggest that the Galaxy S5 price will be lower than that of the Galaxy S4 at launch last year - £599.99. To us, this seems rather strange considering the S5’s new hardware like the fingerprint scanner and heart rate sensor.

However, if the Galaxy S5’s initial RRP is lower than expected, it would reinforce the rumour of a premium version of the device launching in May.

Read more: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs iPhone 5S

Via: Sammobile

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Sony launches EU PlayStation Store Deal of the Week

Sony has launched a new way to get digital game discounts on the PlayStation Store with the Deal of the Week.

Complementing the wealth of discounts and one-off price cuts regularly introduced on the EU PlayStation Store, Sony has decided to add a Deal of the Week.

“In addition to your normal sales and promotions, PlayStation Store will now also host a recurring Deal of the Week,” said PlayStation Store team member, Jawad Ashraf. “Some of you may have seen similar one-off details crop up now and then in the past, but as of today these discounts will be a regular presence.”

According to Sony, the Deal of the Week offers will go live every Wednesday and only be available for that week, so you’ll need to move quick if you want to pick up a bargain.

This week’s deals, launched today February 27, are for FIFA 14 on the PS3 and PS Vita. Both titles have been reduced to just £19.99, which is quite the saving.

Normally, the PS3 version of FIFA 14 is a whopping £59.99 on the EU PlayStation Store and the PS Vita edition is £44.99.

This special, limited edition digital price is actually cheaper than the physical copy price offered by the majority of online and in-store retailers.

It’s not clear if and when PS4 editions of certain games will be added to the Deal of the Week offers, but watch this space.

Read more: Best PS4 games

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Nokia Asha 230 App Review

Life on the small screen

The Nokia Asha 230 is a small, low-cost phone that runs the Asha platform – which powers Nokia's cheaper mobiles. Asha phones are often geared towards developing markets, but a £40-odd price and touch interface could well see it win a few fans in the UK.

We took as closer look at MWC 2014 to see what it's about.

Nokia Asha 230 – Design and Features

The Nokia Asha 230 is a tiny, stubby phone. It's chunky, and comes in several of the Lumia series-favourite colours – including green, yellow, blue and red as well as the less ambitious black and white.

It is, predictably, a plastic phone. Build quality is better than many ultra-budget phones, but you're not going to be impressing anyone down the pub with this mobile. It is pretty cute, though, in a sort of chubby runt-of-the-litter way.

Little extras like matching the colour of the volume and power buttons to the body show that this is a Nokia phone – not a budget phone from some brand no-one has ever heard of. Like the Nokia X Android phone, there's just the one front control button – a little arrow that acts as a back/home button.

In-hand, the Asha 230 feels oddly small. It's not often we see touchscreen mobiles with tiny screens these days.

Nokia Asha 230 – Screen and Software

The screen is perhaps the part hardest-hit by the phone's low budget. It's a 2.8-inch, 240 x 320 pixel screen. These sorts of specs used to be common 8-10 years ago, but now seem positively antiquated.

They leave the Nokia Asha 230 with a very blocky-looking display. It's really this, rather than the immediate look of the Asha system, that betrays this as a 'feature phone' grade device, rather than a smartphone. The software is also a bit sluggish.

The Asha 230 also misses out on some smartphone-essential features. There's no 3G – just EDGE/GPRS – and no Wi-Fi. However, it does let you get on-board with many things you'd want to do with a smartphone. There's WhatsApp support, Facebook and Twitter. The phone has 4GB of internal storage and a microSD socket, making it a potential little music player.

Other specs are very basic, though. The rear camera has a 1.3-megapixel sensor with a fixed focus – incapable of producing remotely good photos. And the 64MB of RAM shows you how intensive the Asha system really is.

If you value flexibility, you'll be able to do a good deal more with a low-cost Android. They're already available for under £50.

First Impressions

The Nokia Asha 230 is a cute phone that looks and feels better than many £40 phones. However, the poor screen and limited hardware/software mean it'll be of limited appeal to UK buyers.

Next, read our review of the bargain-tastic Motorola Moto G

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Sony Xperia M2 vs HTC Desire 610: Spec Comparison

Sony Xperia M2 vs HTC Desire 610: Which is best?

The Sony Xperia M2 and the HTC Desire 610 are the latest affordable Android smartphones aiming to emulate what the Moto G achieved in 2013.

Motorola's best-selling handset ever re-defined what was possible for a smartphone that didn't cost almost the same as a HTC One or a Samsung Galaxy S4.

Can these two 4G smartphones cause a stir in 2014? We compare the specs to see what they are made of.

Sony Xperia M2 vs HTC Desire 610: Design

Sony Xperia M2: 8.6mm thick, matte plastic body

HTC Desire 610: 9.6mm thick, weighs 143g, matte and glossy plastic body

Like the Xperia M and the Desire 601, their successors channel the look of the more expensive HTC One and Xperia Z1. The 610 looks like the HTC One from the front, albeit it swaps an aluminium frame for a more predominantly plastic body. With matte on the sides and a glossy back the 610 doesn’t have a removable battery. It does make room for HTC’s Boomsound speakers despite lacking the Beats Audio technology to make the most out of them.

Similarly, the Z2 adopts the same 'OmniBalance' design used in the Xperia Z1 and now the Xperia Z2 minus the aluminium frame. Available in black, white and purple, the M2 weighs 148g and measures in at 8.6mm thick, making it slimmer and only marginally heavier than the 610.



SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Galaxy S4

Sony Xperia M2 vs HTC Desire 610: Screen

Sony Xperia M2: 4.8-inch qHD 540 x 960 display (229 ppi)

HTC Desire 610: 4.7-inch screen qHD 540 x 960 display (234 ppi)

One area where things feel very mid-range are the displays. While screens have got larger, with the Xperia M2 hopping up from a 4-inch display to a 4.8-inch one, resolution and pixel density are evenly matched.

A 960 x 540 resolution doesn’t fill us with much optimism especially as this is far from a major improvement from the distinctly underwhelming displays in both of the previous handsets. When you consider the Moto G manages a 720p HD camera we are entitled to expect more.

It's a similar story with the Desire 610's screen. It has the same resolution but the screen is just 0.1 of an inch smaller.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs Sony Xperia Z2

Sony Xperia M2 vs HTC Desire 610: Camera

Sony Xperia M2: 8-megapixel main camera, 1080p HD video recording, HDR mode on videos

HTC Desire 610: 8-megapixel main camera, 1.3-megapixel front facing-camera, 720p video

Cameras tend to suffer at the lower end of the smartphone scale, so HTC and Sony have both tried to rectify this. The 610 doesn’t use the same UltraPixel camera used in the HTC One and the One Mini unfortunately. This was the sensor that cut resolution in favour of incorporating larger sensor pixels to generate better low-light performance. What you will find on board is an LED Flash, the ability to shoot HDR images and 720p HD video recording. Taking care of selfies and video calls is a 1.3-megapixel camera. One of the most notable omissions is an autofocus to help prevent photos being a blurry mess.

The M2 also packs an 8-megapixel main camera with a front-facing shooter that Sony has yet to reveal precise details about. The good news is that it uses the Exmor RS for mobile image sensor to help shoot better low-light photography and has digital image stabilization to prevent things from looking jittery. Other notable features include the fact that the HDR mode can now be used for video, new camera modes like Social Live broadcasting and Full HD 1080p recording.

Sony Xperia M2 vs HTC Desire 610: Software, CPU, RAM and Battery Life

Sony Xperia M2: Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, 1.2 GHz Snapdragon quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 2,300mAh battery

HTC Desire 610: Android 4.4 KitKat, 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor, 2,040mAh battery

Like every Desire phone, the 610 runs on Android and the good news is that’s it bang up to date with Android 4.4 KitKat. With HTC’s Sense UI overlaid on top you’ll also have access to the socially-driven Blinkfeed home screen and an all-round sharper, cleaner-looking operating system like you can expect to find on the HTC One.

To keep things running slick, there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor, although that’s accompanied by just 1GB RAM which might affect its multitasking prowess.

The Xperia M2 effectively matches it for processing power and RAM although runs a lightly skinned version of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. That’s not an entirely bad thing as 4.3 Jelly Bean is still one of the cleanest versions of Google’s mobile OS and Sony doesn’t dramatically overhaul the experience.

In the battery department, the M2 packs a 2,300mAh battery compared to the 610’s 2,040 battery, so both should be in the stamina realms of the Moto G. Sony claims you can expect up to 14 hour talktime and just over 8 hours of video playback. With Battery Stamina mode also on board, it should help keep Sony's mid-range smartphone going for longer, though the slightly lower capacity is a small concern at this stage.

Sony Xperia M2 vs HTC Desire 610: Connectivity and storage

Sony Xperia M2: 3G and 4G LTE, 8GB internal storage with microSD card support up to 32GB

HTC Desire 610: 3G and 4G LTE, 8GB internal storage and microSD card support up to 128GB

Where both handsets trump the Moto G is the fact that they support 4G. This means you can enjoy the faster data connections and download speeds if you plan to spend a little more on your contract. The connectivity similarities do not end there with the M2 and 610 both offering NFC, DLNA and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless streaming. Whether it’s sending music to a speaker or syncing data from a fitness tracker they have got it covered.

MicroSD card support is often a deal-clincher for some and when there’s just 8GB of storage to play with, and the Desire 610 just shades things here as it supports cards up to a remarkable 128GB whereas the M2 is limited to up to 32GB. The M2 does also come with 50GB of free storage via Dropbox rival Box if you want to store content in the cloud, though.

First impressions

When you compare the specs, there is very little between the two mid-range 4G Android phones. The screen is slightly bigger on the M2, but it has the same resolution as the 610. The cameras are almost identical although the M2 perhaps shades it with the extra features and 1080p Full HD video recording. They match each other in the power department, although the 610 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat instead of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

The ultimate question is whether they can rival or even beat the Moto G. The Motorola phone has a vastly superior screen and can do almost everything a more expensive phone like the Nexus 5 can do for a fraction of the price. It does lack 4G and if you are looking for something more future proofed this is a clear advantage.

HTC and Sony have yet to talk pricing but we are anticipating that the M2 and 610 will be closer to the £200 price mark than the Moto G. if that’s the case they could well end up being two very viable alternatives to our current cheap phone favourite.

MORE: Best smartphones to buy 2014

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