Author: Juan Carlos Bagnell

Juan has been obsessed with consumer electronics since before computers had GUI’s. Out of college he worked on a JIT computing contract which supported DOE facilities in New Mexico. He’s been featured on numerous podcasts and radio shows lending his tech insights. You can also find him in LA directing voice over actors and producing spoken word recording.
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Nokia Releases Their Own First Impressions Video for The Lumia 1520

nokia lumia 1520 hands on video youtubeWhy wait for reviewers right? This is pretty much the going trend for companies releasing new gear I suppose…

However, if you were curious about Nokia’s up coming phablet, you can get a quick taste of what the phone is like courtesy of the Nokia Youtube Channel. They spend almost four minutes getting hands-y with the Lumia 1520, checking out the hardware, playing with the new camera app, and it looks pretty clean.

The phablet wars have been joined by Windows Phone! What do you think folks? Will you be getting one?

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Review: TRENDnet Powerline 500 AV Adapter Kit – Internet Over Your Home’s Electrical Wiring!

trendnet powerline 500 av adapters home networking somegadgetguy reviewWe recently moved to a new place, and the shape of our new condo means our current WiFi router no longer broadcasts a strong enough signal to our living room to enjoy Netflix with image degradation or tons of buffering.

We didn’t want to string Ethernet cabling all over our new place, so I reached out to the folks at TRENDnet to try out one of their Powerline adapters, which uses your home’s electrical wiring to carry a networking signal.

Let’s see if the 500 AV kit managed to solve our Netflix woes.

For more info on TRENDnet products: http://www.trendnet.com/
Shop for the Powerline 500 AV Adapters on Amazon.

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Nokia Quietly Releases “Refocus” Website – Lytro style focusing coming to Lumia Smartphones?

nokia refocus demo picDetails on this are pretty slim, but it could be an exciting development for mobile photography (pun intended).

For those who don’t know what Lytro is, it’s a special camera which takes photos that allow the photographer to select the focus point AFTER the image has been shot. Take a picture of a scene, and pick what to focus on later. It’s a really sci-fi approach to shooting stills.

It looks like Nokia might be replicating that functionality in a future app update on Lumia Smartphones. Dubbed “Refocus”, it provides similar focus-after-the-fact features, or the ability to make everything in focus. As I’m used to shooting on an SLR, there’s something a little mind blowing about having your entire frame in focus.

Nokia quietly released a website to show off some test pics. As this doesn’t rely on any specialty hardware, it could become a popular feature moving forward, especially when paired with the excellent image sensors built into the Lumia 1520 and 1020. Rumors point to this feature being included on Nokia’s up coming phablet, then filtering into a select number of older phones later through software updates.

Play with this photo below to see how Refocus will work, or hit the link under it to check out Nokia’s site.

Nokia Refocus

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Samsung confirms future Galaxy Gear compatibility with Note 2, GSIII, and GS4

29 gearThe Galaxy Gear has garnered a lot of attention for smartwatches, but the fact that it’s only currently compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 is a little limiting. Samsung officially announced today that they’ll be expanding the line up of phones that can talk to Gear.

Posted on Samsung’s Google Plus profile:

Today we’re announcing that the #GALAXYGear will be compatible with the #GALAXYS4 , #GALAXYSIII and #GALAXYNoteII via the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update starting this month. In addition, the GALAXY S4 Mini, S4 Active, Mega 5.8, Mega 6.3 and S4 Zoom will also support the GALAXY Gear through a separate software update at the end of October.

Of course you have to filter updates through carriers too, but hopefully this means if you’re using one of the above phones and were thinking of trying Gear, your wait wont be much longer.

(via Samsung G+)

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Will Elon Musk Bring Android Apps to the Tesla Model S Dashboard Touchscreen?

model-s-interior1_960x640At a reception in Germany, Elon Musk spoke to a crowd about Tesla’s investment in the German market. Germany is very forward on renewable energy, alternative fuels, and they seem like a natural fit for the Tesla vibe. Especially considering that Germany was the second place market for the Tesla Roadster (behind the USA).

While answering questions about their corporate plans, Musk was asked about developing apps for the huge touchscreen built into the dash of the Tesla Sedan. The Model S currently uses a build of Linux, so porting Android apps over, or running them in an emulator, should be fairly easy to do, and he does specifically mention updating the car’s browser to chrome.

Elon actually takes the stage at 14:47 in this video, and you can skip to 37:20 to hear him answer the question about apps and Android.

I still have some ergonomic and safety reservations about an automobile control surface comprised mostly of a smooth featureless touchscreen, but at least I might not have to learn a new and unfamiliar  UI when I’m finally able to get my hands on a Tesla of my very own… Some day… It could happen… Sigh…

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The New Nokia Camera App for PureView Lumia Phones – Feature Walk Through on the Lumia 1020!

nokia camera app windows phone lumia 1020I’m super excited to see Nokia combine the features of the Pro Camera and Smart Camera apps for Lumia Windows Phones. While Lumia phones often feature impressive cameras with cool features, it was always frustrating having to remember which features were in one app and which were in a different app. Now we have one camera app to rule them all!

But seriously there are some incredibly photographic controls built into this new app, allowing users to control a myriad number of exposure settings. If the camera is the most important part of your smartphone experience, and you haven’t checked out a Lumia, you’re kind of missing out.

Let’s take a look through the new Nokia Camera app on the Nokia Lumia 1020!

Related:

Video samples from the Nokia Lumia 1020 – The best camera on a phone today.

Ask Juan: How useful are 41MP pics from the Lumia 1020 when uploading to Facebook, Instagram, etc?

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AT&T Shows Android Some Love With U-Verse App, Live TV

u-verse app for androidIt’s always a bit of a bummer when an app or service is a platform exclusive. I mean I get it why so many services are developed for iOS first, but that waiting for an app on Android can be killer. Whelp, if you’re a U-Verse subscriber, but you’re using an Android phone or tablet, looks like AT&T is finally showing you some love.

Not only will you have the ability to control your DVR and browse on demand content, you’ll be able to watch live TV on more than 20 channels anywhere you have a data connection. Plus, more channels will be added in the future. Not a bad little value add, and now us droids can play too.

So AT&T… With all the cool Lumia gear you guys sell… When might we see a U-Verse app for Windows Phone? That Lumia 1520 has a pretty sweet screen…

(via AT&T)

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So Many Tablets! I Join BooredAtWork to chat iPads, Lumias, and Surfaces

iPadAir-iPadMini_34B2B_lock-blue_home-nebula-PRINTMany, yesterday was a pretty full day. Microsoft started selling the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. Apple showed off sleeker iPads. Nokia unleashed a Windows Phone phablet and a Windows 8.1 RT slate. Plenty to keep a solo tech blogger like myself busy. Thankfully I have a few friends in the tech blog community to help me out. I joined BooredAtWork.com in hangout last night to chat about all the exciting developments.

It was a lively discussion, chatting up all the news. What was your favorite announcement yesterday? Are you looking forward to a Retina iPad Mini? LTE on a Nokia tablet? Drop us a comment!

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