Gadgets / Tech Archives - Page 41 of 86

Bonus Tech Mobile World Congress

28th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

Marcus Bronzy is currently at Mobile World Congress and he’s seen a lot of brand new cool technology. Below are 3 of the things that he’s seen are bonus tech from Mobile World Congress!

Bonus Tech: SelFly

SelFly

This is the SelFly a phone case like no other, it’s a selfie drone. That’s also a case. Yes, our cases are also becoming drones now too! The drone craze is going one step further so we are never away from our drones as well as our phones. The case is only 9mm thin too so there’s not too much added thickness or weight to your phone either. Don’t worry though the case isn’y designed to have your expensive phone fly off attached to itself. So no dropping of £1000 smartphones from 60ft in the sky!

See more here!

Bonus Tech: FITT360 Camera

FITT Camera

The FITT Camera is designed to unobtrusively capture your most loving moments in full 360 degrees. Butin first person view, so people will get to see first hand your memories from as if they’re looking through your own eyes! It’s hands free and sits on your neck, you don’t even have to do anything. Just hit record and let go, the camera does all the other work for you. All you have to do is when your ready, hit share on your smartphone! The FITT360 even has GPS built in so you’re able to track and record exactly where you went when using this device. Not out making memories? Simply connect the camera to your smartphone and use it to listen to music via the bluetooth!

See more here!

Bonus Tech: 3MK Protection

3MK

This was one of the most impressive pieces of technology that Marcus saw whilst at Mobile World Congress. 3MK Protection are a smartphone protection company that’s built on making sure that their protectors, first and foremost protect well. But at the same time keep your phone looking ‘naked’ and as pristine as possible. Whilst there Marcus checked out the Flexible Glass ‘cases’ that they have on sale. Once on, the flexible hybrid glass, looked as though there was nothing on his phone at all. But yet it provides it with incredible protection!

See more here!

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

LiFi – Lights that have Wifi?

28th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

Marcus Bronzy is at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona this week and he got to witness something really really cool! Our internet connectivity is about to be revolutionised! With LiFi – a type of technology that will allow internet connections via light. Yes light. It’s quicker than wifi too! When we said Lights we mean any lights, so thats lights that are in our car headlights, street lights and the lights in our homes.

LiFi

‪How are lightbulbs the answer to faster internet?! Find out more here: howtokillanhour.com/gadgets-tech/lifi-lights-that-have-wifi #MWC18 ‬Marcus Bronzy DJ Ace Funk Butcher Nick Bright Purelifi

Posted by How To Kill an Hour on Thursday, 1 March 2018

LiFi: How does it work?

LiFi enabled LED lights modulate illumination levels and send data, just like morse code. Thus sending it to your device. The current (light) can be modulated at extremely high speeds, this in turn can be detected by a light detector on your device and the current re-converted into an electrical current, therefore carrying data.

You will still need an ethernet connection to connect to the internet, but once you’re all set up, you’re good to go to get wireless internet from light!

As routers are that gives you 100mbs a second, lights are much faster as each LED bulb has a maximum of 42mbs EACH. So if you have 10 LED bulbs in your area, that’s a total of 400mbs! What makes it faster is that data is sent and received at the same time!

LiFi doesn’t use radio frequencies, it uses the light spectrum which allows for a whole lot more data to be carried. 1000x more bandwidth available to users to be exact!It doesn’t affect radio frequencies either so you can use it in hospitals, airplanes and places like chemical plants. Safely.

This technology will be an integral part of wireless networks in the future!

LiFi: Security

LiFi is limited to the area in which the light illuminates and touches. So unlike WiFi your signal will remain hidden to anyone outside of the illuminated area! Want even more security? Simply close the door or draw the curtains to protect your network from hackers! The LiFi lights are fully networked and each light can ‘speak’ to each other, each with their own separate IP address! Why would the lights need to speak to one another? So you’re able to move around your home or office space and not lose connection!

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

Sandisk 400gb microSD Card

28th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

Marcus has been at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week and he has seen a range of different weird and wonderful mobile technology. But one thing that has really caught his eye is the Sandisk 400gb microSD Card. Yes you read that right, a whopping 400gb microSD card! We remember floppy disks that could hold 4mb, so 400gb is very very impressive for us!

So what do you get for your £199 400gb MicroSD card? Well you get 100Mb/s a second data transfer. That’s SUPER quick! Data transfers that quick equate to a total of 1200 photos in a minute!! 400gb will also allow you to hold 960 albums approximately. Hold a total of 7200 photos and 1920 mins Full HD video.

If you have a MIL Camera and/or android smartphone or tablets take microSD cards, you’re able to load apps a lot faster due to the A1 rated performance.

Your super small and super light microSD card also comes with a SD card converter, making it less easy to lose it! At £200 and 5g it’s super easy to lose but super heavy on the bank balance!

BUT!

Sandisk have made sure that their Sandisk 400gb microSD card is protected! This card is very durable it is waterproof, X-ray proof, shock-proof and temperature-proof!

This is a great buy and even at £200 it is pricey, but, it’s not even £1 a gig, if someone said to you it would cost 50p per gigabyte of storage. In this day and age you’d rip their arm off! It’s just as it’s so small of a device we think it’s expensive. But for the drone users out there and the action cam users, 400gb on such a small device is very very enticing for them. After all it’s one less thing to carry around.

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

To purchase your own 400gb microSD card please click here!

Mobile World Congress Day 1

27th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

Marcus recently went along to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and saw lots of stuff during day 1, check out a vlog of his time there below:

Mobile World Congress: Samsung S9

The latest update in the hugely successful Samsung S series has been released! The Samsung S9 is this years answer to last years S8. While it doesn’t look all that much different design wise. There’s a lot more going on under the hood of the device that makes it worthwhile. Especially if you like cameras.

To read more please click here!

Mobile World Congress: Nokia 8110

Nokia are playing on our nostalgia once again with the success of the 3310, HMD Global are re-releasing the Nokia 8110. This time with a whole new modern and upgraded set of insides. In 1996 the original ‘banana phone’ was made famous by Keanu Reeves in ‘The Matrix’

To read more please click here!

Mobile World Congress: HTC Vive Pro

Virtual Reality has been steadily growing over the past year and we have tried a lot of them here at How To Kill An Hour. We liked HTC’s Vive, we thought it was very impressive. But now HTC have upgraded and put rockets on the HTC Vive. Introducing the HTC Vive Pro!! It’s designed to meet the most hardcore of users and gamers in the Virtual Reality world and it is impressive! HTC are calling it the most immersive virtual reality to date.

To read more please click here!

Mobile World Congress: Huawei Mate

The Huawei MediaPad 5 is a 8.4″ tablet device with a TON of features that make it stand out from the crowd. For example it has an incredible sound system built in, that uses it’s Histen audio technology. The Histen audio tech creates a perfect soundscape that gives 3D sound that is richer, boldered, layered and much more powerful than anything before.

The Matebook X Pro is the follow up to Huawei’s Matebook which was released in 2017, it has a aluminum body and is thin and light, giving it a very modern look. It comes complete with a 13in 3K LTPS screen. Which Huawei are stating, allows the bigger screen to fit inside a 12″ laptop shell. Thus bringing form factor down.

The Huawei Mate 10 is a smartphone that is HUGE and has a few features up it’s sleeve which separate it from the rest of the pack. Firstly, the Huawei Mate 10 has a FULL HDR display, in glorious 16:9 aspect ratio, making it perfect to watch movies on. It has an almost bezel less design, and a robust glass casing. On both the front and the back of this glorious phone! It’s Android based so all of your favourite apps are capable with it too.

To read more please click here!

Huawei Mate series

27th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

The Huawei Mate 10 is a smartphone that is HUGE and has a few features up it’s sleeve which separate it from the rest of the pack. Firstly, the Huawei Mate 10 has a FULL HDR display, in glorious 16:9 aspect ratio, making it perfect to watch movies on. It has an almost bezel less design, and a robust glass casing. On both the front and the back of this glorious phone! It’s Android based so all of your favourite apps are capable with it too.

Huawei Mate 10: Battery

The Huawei Mate 10 has a very impressive battery. The Huawei Mate 10 has a HUGE 4000mah battery and optimized with Huawei’s own internal software. The Smart Power Management system helps to optimize the use of the phones power and thus make your phone stay alive for longer.

Huawei Mate 10: Camera

The Huawei Mate 10 has an incredible camera, that unlike other cameras with two lenses. Uses software driven capabilities to recoreate the Bokeh effect. While it also boasts a 1.6 F stop aperture and ‘Real Time Recognition’ Which basically means the phone’s camera will easily be able to recognise the scene that it’s in (Low Light/Day time) and objetcs that are in the shot.

Despite all these super cool features, unfortunately it doesn’t have wireless charging built in. Though that is a minor compared to all the really cool features that it has. Most notably the vivid and crystal clear screen that the smartphone has is one of the best we’ve seen here at How To Kill An Hour!

Huawei MediaPad M5

The Huawei MediaPad 5 is a 8.4″ tablet device with a TON of features that make it stand out from the crowd. For example it has an incredible sound system built in, that uses it’s Histen audio technology. The Histen audio tech creates a perfect soundscape that gives 3D sound that is richer, boldered, layered and much more powerful than anything before.

The Huawei Media Pad 5 has a HUGE 5100mah battery, that takes no time at all to fully charge from flat. A total of 1.9 hours is all that’s needed to give your MediaPad a new lease of life. The MediaPad uses smart power saving technology to allow a user to watch up to 11hours of 1080p video too.

Are you a gamer? When gaming on this powerhouse the Huawei minimises all notifications so you are able to save the world in peace!

The design is simple and stylish and comes complete with curved 2.5D glass. Allowing for secure and comfortable use for long periods of time.

Huawei MateBook X Pro

The Matebook X Pro is the follow up to Huawei’s Matebook which was released in 2017, it has a aluminum body and is thin and light, giving it a very modern look. It comes complete with a 13in 3K LTPS screen. Which Huawei are stating, allows the bigger screen to fit inside a 12″ laptop shell. Thus bringing form factor down.

“The MateBook X Pro has the world’s first full-view screen in a notebook, featuring a massive 91% screen to body ratio, which is down to the amount of engineering work we’ve done to reduce the bezels around the display,” (Peter Gauden, senior product marketing manager for Huawei. Guardian)

The Huawei is very smart too, with the power button also doubling up as a fingerprint scanner. Here are some impressive stats from the Huawei Matebook X Pro:

1.33 Kg Weight
1 USB A port and 2 USB C ports
Thunderbolt 3
3.5mm Headphone Jack
4.9mm depth at it’s smallest
4 speakers (Two treble, two bass and comes complete with Dolby Atm0s)
Intel 8th generation quad-core i7 U series processor
Up to 16GB RAM
Nvidia MX15 Graphics Card
2GB Memory
12 hours of battery life (Video Playback)

Plus it comes with something that you may not even notice at first. But there is a camera. It’s hidden beneath a key in the middle of the keyboard!

To listen to our latest show please click here!

To see more watch our Mobile World Congress Day 1 Vlog please click here!

HTC Vive Pro

27th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

Virtual Reality has been steadily growing over the past year and we have tried a lot of them here at How To Kill An Hour. We liked HTC’s Vive, we thought it was very impressive. But now HTC have upgraded and put rockets on the HTC Vive. Introducing the HTC Vive Pro!! It’s designed to meet the most hardcore of users and gamers in the Virtual Reality world and it is impressive! HTC are calling it the most immersive virtual reality to date.

HTC Vive Pro: Hardware

Firstly the headset itself, hardware, not software, has been upgraded. The face cushion has been redesigned to block even more light out to make a user feel more immersed before a game has been played. The face cushion will contour to most users faces with the use of a brand new cloth lined foam. The nose rest will shape to fit any nose thanks to a unique flower petal inspired design too! Plus the headset moves all the weight so it’s at the centre of gravity, making for comfort like no other.

HTC Vive Pro: Chaperone

A very impressive introduction to the HTC Vive pro is a feature which HTC are calling ‘Chaperone’. They’re stating that a user will no longer have to second guess their surroundings. The tech creates a virtual outline of their environment enabling them to see without ever having to remove the headset. The headset has also seen an improvement and upgraded tracking abilities. Increased colours available from the highest screen available.

Not only that the audio has seen an incredible upgrade, the Hi-Res audio has been upgraded to include, 3D Spacial Audio. Allowing the headset to deliver true to life immersive audio. The powerful amp that’s built in creates soundscapes that will transport a user into a whole different world. Noise cancellation is also included. The dual microphones allow for active noise cancellation but also safety is key and alert mode and conversation mode are included. This way you can hear what’s going on around you, thus avoiding any accidents. (Or any need to take off the headset!)

Also what a lot of VR enthusiasts have been calling out for: VR without the need for wires! For the first time thanks to Intels WiGig technology, users can use the HTC Vive Pro as they please and with full freedom!

To listen our latest podcast please click here!

Also see more watch our Mobile World Congress Day 1 Vlog please click here!

Samsung S9

27th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

The latest update in the hugely successful Samsung S series has been released! The Samsung S9 is this years answer to last years S8. While it doesn’t look all that much different design wise. There’s a lot more going on under the hood of the device that makes it worthwhile. Especially if you like cameras.

Firstly the Samsung S9 solves something that annoyed a lot of S8 owners straight out of the gate. The placement of the fingerprint reader. On the old S8 the reader was next to the camera and a lot of users complained that they’d often print the camera and not the sensor. This time, Samsung have done the smart thing and placed it underneath the camera.

Taking a look at the specs the S9 isn’t much different, if at all, to it’s younger brother. They both share the screen size (5.8 inches) resolution (QHD) and aspect ratio. It still has a headphone jack, it still has USB type C, still has wireless charging and obviously it still looks the same. Plus IP68 dust and water resistance.

Samsung S9: So what’s new?

Firstly, the Samsung s9 has got Dolby Atmos surround sound in their upgraded speakers. All be it slightly. So you can enjoy surround sound on your phone. Specs got a little bump, the battery is 3000mah and 3500mah for the larger S9 model. 4Gb Ram and 6Gb Ram for the larger model.

The most notable thing about the Samsung S9? The camera.

Samsung’s S9 has an all new camera system, with a 12MP rear camera and the lens has seen a huge update. The rear camera has a variable aperture lens. Using Samsung’s ‘dual-aperture’ technology. You can shoot at F/1.5 and let in A LOT of light into the camera. Or, you can shoot at F/2.4 to get that super fine detail. The adjustment is all done in camera and the software adjusts itself depending on how much light is in the scene. Samsung say its around 100Luts where the camera adjusts to the bigger F stop setting and is defaulted at F/2.4. For the enthusiasts and professionals among us, there is an option to adjust these manually in the ‘pro mode’

Other camera upgrades include slow motion video, 240fps at 1080p and 960fps at 720p. Though quality may be hurt at this fast of a frame per second.

Also in something that we’ve seen before, not sure what it is called. Anyhow, Samsung are calling it ARemoji and it uses the front phone to create an emoji based on your likeness. So you can use the emoji to create videos of yourself talking in emoji form. Animals are also available if you wish to become an animal.

Samsung S9 is available March 16th 2018 and is available to pre-order on March 2nd 2018.

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

To see more watch our Mobile World Congress Day 1 Vlog please click here!

Nokia 8110 – Banana Phone Upgraded!

27th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

Nokia are playing on our nostalgia once again with the success of the 3310, HMD Global are re-releasing the Nokia 8110. This time with a whole new modern and upgraded set of insides. In 1996 the original ‘banana phone’ was made famous by Keanu Reeves in ‘The Matrix’

The original 8810 was groundbreaking due to the weird but useful shape, which many dubbed a ‘banana’. It may look silly but it served a very good purpose. The shape allowed the phones microphone to be placed as closely an as ergonomically to your mouth.

The upgraded 8810 runs a ‘Smart Feature OS’ which allows for 4g connectivity. Something you wouldn’t expect from such a stripped down phone. Plus would you believe it, it even has Facebook! Well eventually it will, Facebook have said that an app will be available to download at some point.

Nokia 8110 – Apps you say?

It may look small and but it is mighty. The Nokia 8110 will include stripped down versions of Google Assistant, Twitter, Maps, and search. Alongside the usual texts, email and of course the old favourite ‘Snake’.

HMD Global, Nokia’s parent company suggest that the Nokia 8110 is a phone that we should use to switch off from the always connected modern world. That the use of their phone would be perfect for the weekend to:

“switch off, have fun and relax in the knowledge that all your smartphone essentials are there when you need them”

Will the 8810 be as popular as the previous upgraded 3310? We will soon find out when it’s released in May in the UK for a total price of £69. The banana phone will be available in black or yellow.

Do you remember the Nokia 8110? What are your thoughts on the newest upgrade from Nokia? Let us know by contacting us via our socials! @howtokillanhour

To listen to our latest podcast please click here.

To see more watch our Mobile World Congress Day 1 Vlog please click here!

Human Uber – It’s not what you think

8th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

When you read the title of this blog post you’re thinking of something quite comedic. At least we did anyway when we first heard about this. We had visions of you calling a ‘Human Uber’ and someone would come along and give you a piggyback to your destination. But the Human Uber is not that. It’s something else. Something A LOT better.

The Human Uber is the nickname to a tech from Japanese researcher Jun Rekimoto. Called ChameleonMask and is kind of like a mobile facetime. According to the official website of ChameleonMask the tech is deemed as a piece of tech that “uses a real human as a surrogate for another remote user” by giving a surrogate a “mask-shaped display that show’s a remote users live face anda voice channel which transmits a remote users voice” so a video call basically. Jun Rekimoto has described his invention as being “surprisingly natural”. Which is surprising considering what it looks like:

Credit: @haleylaurenross

Human Uber: Uses

One of the uses of this tech is designed to help out your lazy friends. For example, you could help your friend move out. Or you could use the ChameleonMask and use someone else to do the work for you. While you’re actually doing it as it’s your face on another person’s body. Right?

What’s quite alarming is how is a surrogate going to see where they are walking? The tablet device is literally right in front of their face. So doing a bunch of work for someone is going to either take a lot of co-ordination with your surrogate. Or there’s going to be some sort of glasses that will help your surrogate actually see.

We’re struggling to see how this is going to work, or if it is even necessary, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Would you use this platform if it ever came to fruition? Would you be the mask or the maskee? Let us know via our social media channels. Our handle is @howtokillanhour across all platforms!

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

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Powerbeats 3 – Your new Gym ear-phones?

8th February 2018/in Gadgets / Tech /by billywright

Powerbeats 3

We all love the gym. Correction. We all love to hate the gym. However, we all still go, some of us religiously, some of us sporadically. However, one thing that links us all is our love of music. Hitting the gym is great and all, but it’s nothing without your music. It’s the worst when we forget our earphones at home. No one likes the gym’s in house music. We think we have found your new favourite earphones. Plus their wireless. Let us tell you about the Powerbeats 3.

The Powerbeats 3 are the earphones to beat all earphones. They’re stylish for one and come in a range of colours. Such as:

Powerbeats 3 – Colours

Black
White
Flash Blue
Siren Red
Shock Yellow

They come with a handy wire tamer to hold the wire away from your body and neck. Therefore preventing from any potential dangerous tangles or flying out of your ears. We’re especially impressed by 12 hours of battery life. So for those who work out even up to 2 hours a day for 5 days a week will have 2 hours spare to listen to your favourite tracks.

Powerbeats 3 – Connectivity

Furthermore, connecting them to your phone is a piece of cake. Excuse the pun and resist the temptation! Simply turn on your Powerbeats 3 keep them close to your iPhone 7 or iPhone X and the phone will automatically recognise them. Click connect and you are done! As, this is all due to Apple’s X1 chipset which is found on the Beats X!

Most of all, if you’re running a little low on juice and you’re also running late to the gym. Charge the Powerbeats 3 up for 5mins and you get 2 hours of charge in these bad boys as well. With sweat and water resistance, an ability to take calls on them, there’s nothing to not like about these gym focused earphones!

To listen to the guys discussing this on the podcast please click here.

To purchase your own Powerbeats 3 please click here!

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