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Showing posts from April, 2011

The HTC Desire S

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This Machine is a heavy little unit. But that gives it a great feeling of quality. The battery compartment is something of an oddity however. On first inspection, there is no way to get into the back of the handset. The top and bottom are slightly rubberised, but they don't prevent the unit slipping in your hand. But where to put your sim in isn't immediately obvious. When you figure that you have to slide the bottom portion off, things get even more unusual. Two exposed metal contacts sit on the battery cover, initially I thought this was to connect the Mic, but they're not, the mic is built into the phone on the opposite side, it just pokes out of a small hole. These contacts must let the phone know that the cover is on. I would've assumed then that these trigger the phone to dismount the memory card, to avoid the potential of read/write errors corrupting it, but no, the card is still accessible with the battery cover removed. So I have no idea why they're there.

How to sync an Android phone with a Mac for free.

This question has been rattling round in my skull for a while now. A quick google search and I found this link. http://www.ehow.com/how_5945326_sync-android-mac.html I first checked the Apple Mac store and to my amazement, found it WAS available, for £8.99! However, thats too easy. I want to do it for free.  Ok, lets tackle these issues one by one....... firstly I have the details of my Gmail account.  Contacts and Address book .   All of the contacts I want are already stored in my gmail account. But what I really want is to add contacts in my Address book, and have them auto sync with my android phone. As they're already syncing, phone to gmail cloud. The issue becomes, how do I sync google with my mac? I boot up address book and click Address book>Preferences. I see a box; it says Sync with Google..... can it be this easy? I click it, and input my gmail details. Done. Well, no actually, that option is only there because I own an iphone. And well, to be blunt. It won't w

The Motorola Xoom Tablet

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I still can't decide whether there is room for one of these in my life or not. The argument I get from so many people is that, if they just want to look on the internet for something quick. A tablet is always on, so they could pick it up and launch their browser straight away. Now without wanting to spark a Windows vs Mac debate. I can already do that on my Mac anyway, even when its off, and even if I have to put my password in. Not only that, but sadly, due to a major lack of a social life. It's usually keeping my knee's warm anyway. However, What is it like to use? Well, it's always on, for a start. The android OS is dreamy to use. It really is simple and it has so much 'desktop' space to customise, I really think that there is more than most users would ever be able to make use of. The two camera's are useful for things like skype video calls and er, photos. The Camera is ok, although for a 5mp, it isn't quite as sharp as I'd expected. But its mos

THE INCREDIBLE S!

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The HTC desire was an exceptionally good class leading android handset, that catapulted HTC to the forefront of smart phone development and sales. The Wildfire was a good entry level Android phone. So how does the Incredible S stack up next to them? well, To start with, it feels like its got one of those 'extra battery' cases on it. Initially it feels odd. Although the matt black plastic feels high quality. If it weren't for the extra bulk, it would be as slim as an iphone4. But because of it, it isn't. All of the extra goodies in the box are wrapped in strange grey sealed body bags. Neat, but weird. I slip a sim in and boot up. What I'm hoping for here, is a Desire, with a better screen, sound and swype! Initial impressions are hopeful. The screen looks excellent. Clear and responsive too. It feels like a high quality device. Flicking from app to app, the handset copes brilliantly as I fumble my way through the menu's, changing my mind, the phone keeps up with

INQ Cloud aka Facebook phone.

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The initial worry with any borderline 'droid phone is whether the screen is resistive or capacitive. Capacitive screens tend to be pretty responsive, where as resistive, require resistance, IE, they need to be pushed. The good news with this one, is, it's capacitative. After opening the very funky box, a simple user guide falls out. Seriously easy instructions to follow, one may assume this is a smartphone for beginners. Appropriately ignoring the guide, I put my sim in and ran through the initial setup. Simple, within about 6 simple setup screens, I was connected to both my network and wifi. I followed the 'learn more about your phone route' and found myself looking at the same simple instructions that fell out of the box earlier! Gmail details entered and a short while later, my screen is full of facebook (I didn't ask for this, it just appeared!) I duly enter my facebook details and surprise, surprise I'm logged into Facebook. Then, I allow INQ mobile to acce