Revealed back in 2013, the Ouya was an Android running micro-console meant to bring high quality gaming to the masses. The company raised over 8.6 million USD on Kickstarter but poor reviews meant that the console was more or less dead on arrival. The Ouya, priced at $100, shipped with middling hardware and a lackluster software selection. Continue reading “Android console maker Ouya bought out by Razer”
The BlackBerry 10 experiment hasn’t clearly not been as successful as the company hoped. While built on a solid QNX foundation, the operating system failed to gain much traction due to the lacking application ecosystem. If the latest rumors are to be believed then it looks like BlackBerry itself might be looking at other options. Continue reading “Rumor: Blackberry working on Android running handset”
It’s been a long time coming but the Samsung Galaxy S6 active is finally official. The specifications are hardly a mystery and are more or less the same as the regular Galaxy S6. The principle differences of course are that the phone is water resistant up to 1.5 metres due to the IP68 certified casing. Additionally, the handset is shock resistant, dust proof. A major improvement is the inclusion of a much larger 3,500 mAh battery that should allow for greater autonomy while using the handset. Continue reading “The Samsung Galaxy S6 active is official, packs 3,500mAh battery and IP68 shell”
It’s just been six weeks since the launch of the Apple Watch and Cupertino is already rolling out some major enhancements to the software of the wearable. The biggest of these is the addition of native applications which will result in a much more compelling experience for users. We breakdown the new features below. Continue reading “Apple Watch gets native apps via update to watchOS”
Apple Pay is the company’s mobile payment service that lets users with iPhones and the Apple Watch to make transactions at retail outlets and even online without requiring the use of a physical card. Launched last year, the service doesn’t require the use of an Apple specific payment terminal. Today at WWDC, the company announced that it now supports over 2500 banks from across America. It will also start supporting Discover based cards later this year which will bring an additional 50 million cards into the fold. Continue reading “Apple Pay to be a part of Wallet, launching in UK this July”
Apple today announced the next version of it’s mobile operating system. Like OS X 10.11, iOS 9 will also focus on improved performance and smaller improvements across the board. Continue reading “iOS 9 announced at WWDC, brings Proactive and split screen multitasking”
At WWDC 2015, Apple VP Craig Federighi announced the launch of the next version of Apple’s desktop operating system. Mac OS X 10.11 will be called El Capitan based off yet another mountain peak to continue Apple’s nomenclature scheme. The focus here is on improved performance and stability while bringing minor visual overhauls across the board. Continue reading “Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan announced by Apple”
One of the old ones, HTC remains as one of the few smartphone manufacturers that have been able to stand the test of time. Brand loyalty and genuinely well built, pioneering products that consumers want have guaranteed that so far. When the HTC One launched, it was widely regarded as the best phone around. Fast forward an year and HTC mixed it up yet again with the One M8 that brought along a somewhat gimmicky depth sensor but pushed the design and build further ahead. But if the recent financial reports and consumer sentiment are anything to go by, it seems that HTC is running out of steam. The recent release of the One M9+ has a lot riding on it’s shoulders. Is it good enough to stem the tide and bring new consumers into the fold? We find out in our review. Continue reading “HTC One M9+ Review”
All signs indicate that the much awaited Galaxy S6 Active is right around the corner. The ruggedized version of the highly rated Android smartphone has been spotted in a number of images by prolific leaker @evleaks but this time around it is Samsung that has gone ahead and put up the details on it’s support website. Continue reading “Galaxy S6 Active revealed on Samsung website ahead of launch”
Early last year, Google introduced the Open Automotive Alliance. A joint effort by the software company and automobile manufacturers, the goal was to bring a smarter and safer in car experience to consumers. All of this would be powered by Android Auto, of course. So far the mainstay of luxury car manufacturers, Mahindra & Mahindra has announced it’s intention to join the OAA and to offer Android Auto as an option on their vehicles. Continue reading “Mahindra joins Open Automotive Alliance, to offer Android Auto on XUV & Scorpio”
A pet peeve of practically every Android smartphone user has been the amount of free storage available on the handset. Manufacturers are notorious for stuffing bloatware on devices with already limited storage and then skimping out on the SD card slot as well. The Nexus line set this standard for increased software stability but it looks like Google has taken a proper about-turn on their stand. Continue reading “Android M to bring vastly improved SD card support”
While wireless charging has certainly been of interest to consumers, it hasn’t quite kicked off at the level that was expected by smartphone manufacturers. This is partially because of the range of standards on offer that reduce the chances of future compatibility and also confuse consumers. With the merger of PMA and A4WP, this choice is about to get a lot easier. Continue reading “PMA and A4WP wireless charging standards combine to offer a single multi-mode solution”
It’s been a long time coming but it seems like the long awaited Ubuntu handsets are finally starting to make their presence felt. Just four months after the launch of the 1st device running the open source operating system, we have the Aquaris E5 HD which aims to provide improvements all around. Continue reading “Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition announced to bolster Canonical’s efforts in emerging markets”
It’s taken a while but USB, the ubiquitous standard finally introduced a new reversible connector that is termed as Type C. We’ve already seen adoption amongst hardware manufacturers and now with Android M, Google is all set to take it up a notch in terms of capabilities.
Continue reading “Android M will let USB Type C equipped phones recharge other devices”
Differentiation is the name of the game when it comes to budget hardware. Yet, caught within this dichotomy of price and quality, most brands end up being rather generic in their offerings. Yu, a spinoff from mass market brand Micromax, is taking aim at the internet savvy, young audience that wants cutting edge features at a budget price. Sounds like Xiaomi, Lenovo and the myriad other brands out there? Well, Yu has a trick up it’s sleeve and it is called CyanogenMod. Through the course of the review we’ll take a look at the hardware, the software and also how both interplay with each other to try and create a compelling offering at a low end price. Follow along to see what we find out. Continue reading “Yu Yuphoria Review”
