Rough Cuts Ltd Blog

It's not often we get something in genuinely unique, based more on style than functionality, but this week we have just that. The Binatone Brick is modelled on the Motorola DynaTAC, which was unsympathetically nicknamed the brick, because of it's sheer bulk. Having said that, at the time, it was a massive leap from the car battery and curly cord affairs that were lugged around by the 80's 1%! This handset is, frankly ginormous by todays standards. You can, if you choose, put a sim card in it and use it as your main phone. Or if you prefer, you can connect it via bluetooth to your smartphone and use it separately. It wedges beautifully between your shoulder and head but is not a road legal handsfree kit. It's compatible with the 2G network, so is capable of sending SMS messages as well as making and receiving calls. It has digital call quality so calls are clear and hiss free. Not only that, but, it has a memory card slot.... It includes a music player, although ironi...

We had the Sony Smart watch in some months ago, however, it wasn't a great experience. To start, the watch looks cumbersome and plastic, the screen resolution was poor, the functionality clumsy and the effective usefulness virtually nil. I wore it for a day or two, then realised I looked like an idiot and it did nothing I want, so it's sat, unreviewed on my shelf ever since, gathering dust. Sadly now, I no longer use an android handset, but the Samsung Galaxy Gear really makes me wish I did. Sure it's not perfect, but look at it! Even James Bond never had a watch this cool. The appearance of the white strapped, rose gold version that we have is clearly a subjective issue, but so far, everyone that has seen it in our office is a fan. The screen is also strikingly clear. Set up is a little tedious if I'm being honest. Initially it had nil charge and, once we'd put it in it's bulky charging clamp bed, it didn't even appear to be charging; but it was. The odd...

Don't get me wrong, I love Windows mobile OS. In terms of favourites, I'd place it higher than Android, which I know many people quite justifiably disagree with. I have no beef with Microsoft, I love my X-Box too. I like Microsoft, I just despise Windows and think it's long overdue a massive makeover, to make it simpler and easier to use and less prone to system errors. iPad's just don't do system errors. Ironically iPhone's and Windows phones both 'just work'. Mac OSX isn't perfect, but it's a damn sight less imperfect and I am genuinely excited about Mavericks, which, I hope, will be even less imperfect. My first look at a surface was at a meeting last week, when the geekiest of us, proudly produced it to show us some photos from years gone by. We found we couldn't swipe from photo to photo, instead we had to close the window down.. view the old familiar Windows Explorer underneath, then click to open the next photo. I wasn't impress...