App Review: YouTube HD by Idea Creator Corp

wp_ss_20140111_0005This may be the best YouTube app for Windows 8 phones hands down. It even blows away the official YouTube app by a few miles. Idea Creator Corp went all out in designing this app. I have tried quite a few YouTube apps and was disappointed in what was out there until I found this app. The design is pretty well thought out. Once you sign in you will notice your home page and see the latest videos from your subscriptions. Slide over to the next page and here you will find live tiles that will display your subscriptions, hot videos trending, uploads, playlists, my videos, favorites, recorded and playlist all in a nice neat layout.

When you are watching videos with YouTubeHD you can actually watch them in portrait mode which allows you to leave comments while the video is playing and play video in landscape mode. There is also an option for 3 different live tile color schemes which is pretty cool!

The Good Stuff: Continue reading “App Review: YouTube HD by Idea Creator Corp”

Pebble App Review: Blockslide 2.0 (with Battery display)

We’re only a couple days into playing with the Pebble, and we have a full video hands on coming soon, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look at a few apps for this little wunder-watch.

With all the customization options available, the first thing you notice, a lot of the watch faces aren’t anything special. Mostly just static images with a clock pasted on top. Examining the wares at MyPebbleFaces can be a bit daunting when you first search through the site.

One of the first watch faces I stumbled upon, using the 2.0 BETA firmware on my Pebble, was Blockslide. It has a fun, almost Atari-retro look to the clock, with a date below the time. Instead of the time just updating, smooth animations slide blocks around to usher in new minutes and hours. It’s not only pleasant, but it’s smoother than I thought the Pebble capable of.

One of my pet peeves with Pebble s the lack of a stock battery indicator. Blockslide includes one via wrist flip. Twist your wrist over, and the time will morph into a battery readout for a couple seconds before sliding back to the clock. It looks cool. It looks really cool.

If you’re sporting a Pebble, this is a fun free watchface which has garnered a reaction from everyone I’ve shown it to.
Blockslide 2.0 (for SDK2) on MyPebbleFaces

First Impressions Video: The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom on AT&T

Samsung is one of the most experimental companies on the planet when it comes to various gadget form factors and features. As a follow up to last year’s Galaxy Camera, they’re expanding the Galaxy S line-up with a crazy zoom lens phone. From an optics standpoint, it looks like it might be able to give the Lumia 1020 a run for its money…

The Zoom is an interesting set of features and compromises. Let’s take a look around!

App Review: Poker King Texas Hold ‘Em

037Are you a poker fan and just can’t get enough of the game? You should check out Poker King developed by Geax Game Inc. Poker King is one of the top rated poker games for Windows 8 phones, Android and iOS.

This app was very well designed and very easy to use. The graphics are very easy on the eyes and well polished.  Playing Poker King is very smooth and you can choose to play in Sit-N-Go, Tournament,  or browse tables to play at.

One of the nice features while searching for a table to play at is the option to choose the fast option. If you regularly play poker on your phone then you know how frustrating it can be when another player is taking his sweet time trying to figure out their next move. When you choose a table with the fast speed, you will have a shorter time to make your move thus making the game a lot faster and enabling you to play more games in a shorter period of time.

Poker King’s game features: Continue reading “App Review: Poker King Texas Hold ‘Em”

Gadget Review: Kingston Hyper X 240GB SSD

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Today we have the oh so sexy Kingston Hyper X 240gb 3K SSD. I have always used Kingston’s USB flash drives in the past, and when I received this bad boy in the mail I was super excited to get started!

Let’s start off with the packaging. The Hyper X came in this neat little well designed box. Inside the box the Hyper X was nestled in between 2 layers of a rubberized foam block along with all the other goodies in the box all neatly packaged. I opened the box to see what Kingston had in store for me. The Kingston Hyper X came with cloning software, a really cool anodized multi bit screw driver, mounting hardware for desktop towers, a case for using the Hyper X as an external hard drive, a USB cable, SATA data cable and a 3.5 bracket. Continue reading “Gadget Review: Kingston Hyper X 240GB SSD”

First Impressions: The Qualcomm Toq Smartwatch with Mirasol Display

qualcomm toq box smartwatch wireless charge cradle review somegadgetguyIt’s in my hands!

One of the gadgets I’ve been most excited about this year is finally here! Qualcomm is delivering a really interesting smart watch solution, with a fantastic display. Also exciting, as this is the first product from Qualcomm where they’re trying to speak directly to consumers.

I’ve barely gotten it out of the shipping box, but let’s take a look at this sexy little piece, some of the set up, and a run down on the feature set!

Shop for the Qualcom Toq.

First Impressions: The Lenovo IdeaCentre Flex 20 – A 20″ inch Windows 8 Hybrid All-in-One

holding the lenovo flex 20Well this guy is a monster.

Lenovo has really embraced the idea of alternative design as it relates to Windows 8. Instead of just a basic consumer all-in-one, they’ve built out a hybrid 20″ touchscreen slate with up to 3 hours battery run time, an adjustable hinge, wireless keyboard and mouse, and table top gaming accessories.

There’s a LOT of machine to cover, so let’s get to it!

Shop for the Lenovo Flex 20.
Lenovo Flex 20 Speaker Test.

Hands on Review: Microsoft Surface Music Kit for Surface Pro and Surface 2

microsoft surface music kit review remix somegadgetguyYou can’t even buy one yet!

Microsoft has been sending them out in limited batches via contests, and it’s a very interesting beginning. A first step towards offering up custom hardware interfaces for our tablets and hybrids. No longer shall we be ruled by the tyranny of QWERTY!

Well then, let’s take a look at the Surface Music Kit!

Related:
Audio recording on the Surface 2 for Voice Over and Podcasting!