Let's Talk Tech
Samsung and Best Buy are sharing the love.
If you’re biggest gripe with the Galaxy Gear was its price tag, you can now snatch one for a little more than the price of a Pebble! Today only, most of the color options for the Gear are ready to drop for $149.99. I would image at this price, they’ll move quickly…
Is this enough of a price cut for you to jump on the SmartWatch bandwagon?
It’s official! The next Lumia headed to VZW will be branded “Icon” instead of some string of numbers.
Icon looks to bridge some of the new high power internals found on Nokia’s 1520 phablet with a slightly more phone-like form factor. The 5″ OLED screen is 1080p, and it’s packing the Qualcomm 800 quad-core we’ve all come to know and love in our high end phones. 32GB of storage will be on board with 2GB of RAM to keep all your apps fed. Best of all, Icon retains internal wireless charging based on the Qi standard, so no futzing with sleds or cases.
For you A/V freaks, the 20MP shooter from the 1520 will make another appearance, as will the high fidelity quad microphone array which allows for incredible sound and solid noise reduction on your videos.
Bridging the boxy design of the Lumia 928 with a slimmer Aluminum build and curved glass, it’s an attractive piece. Not as curvy as the phones we’ve used on AT&T, but distinctive and modern.
The phone will drop on February 20th for $199.99 with a two year agreement. Purchasing before March 16 will also get you a free wireless charging dock.
More info on Nokia’s site, or see their teaser vid below!
Windows Phone is growing up fast.
Details on the new SDK for Windows Phone 8.1 have leaked on Reddit, and Twitter user @AngelWZR has posted screen shots from the developer emulator showing all kinds of fun new features for Microsoft’s phone update.
Highlights include fixes for my top two gripes! Windows Phone will now have separate volume controls for media and alerts. It’s can be a painful experience listening to music and then having an email alert go off on your headphones.
We’ll also see radically improved file management in WP8.1. As it stands now, WP8 handles files much like the iPhone does. You don’t really have access to one central app where you can see file location. Now, like on Windows 8 and RT, WP8.1 will allow the new OneDrive app to manage cloud storage and local storage. We’ll also see improved support for memory cards, support app installation on removable media.
We’ll also see significant improvements to other services like NFC, screen sharing on TV’s, and WP8.1 will allow for 3rd party messaging apps. Alongside improvements to the actual phone OS, Microsoft is pushing forward with universal app support, so new apps being developed can work on both Windows Phone and the Metro interface for Windows 8. We knew this synergy was coming with the future Threshold update, but it’s exciting seeing pieces falling into place now. Right now apps don’t travel between phone, tablet, and computer, and I don’t want to have to buy Halo multiple times to play it on all of my various screens.
Best of all, Microsoft has stated that all WP8 phones will be eligible for the 8.1 update. This is a great step forward for the platform, as even the most entry-level phones like the Lumia 520 should be able to benefit from some of these updates.
The actual 8.1 update is rumored to arrive in April, which means we could see much stronger competition from this third place platform later in the year. See some more screenshots of WP8.1 in action below!
Building a little momentum with their Windows 8.1 offerings, Microsoft now sells Asus’ mini tablet, and the price is pretty reasonable.
$329 gets you an 8″ screen powered by an Intel Atom quad-core and 2GB of RAM running a full version of Windows 8.1, giving consumers yet another reason to ignore Windows RT. 32GB of storage on board, but with the full OS and recovery partition, a good chunk of that wont be available to consumers. You’ll probably want to opt for a memory card as VivoTab accepts MicroSD upgrading. A 5MP rear camera is on board. You’ll also get Microsoft Office Home & Student, which usually retails for $140.
Plus, this budget friendly tab comes with a Wacom stylus for precision selection and pressure sensitive drawing. It makes the VivoTab a handy all-rounder, and an interesting alternative to the Android and iOS solutions available.
The next stage of our mobile devices will be contextual notifications and smart alerts. Google Now feeds us info before we search for it, and now Qualcomm wants to improve your at-a-glance experience on you lock screen.
Snapdragon Glance analyzes your behavior, and will attempt to prioritize notifications based on your past actions. It will also rank apps and contacts for quick access to the services you use most and the people you most often communicate with.
Snapdragon Glance also works in tandem with Qualcomm’s Battery Guru to help improve run time.
While this all sounds great, there is a small hitch. To run this new lock screen, you must have a phone using a Qualcomm processor, and it must be running Android 4.3 or higher, so a pretty significant chunk of the Android ecosystem wont be allowed to play. If you do meet those criteria, it’s free on Google Play.
Oh, the time I used to spend putting together dream workstations on Newegg. Looks like they’re getting tired of people like me putting products in our shopping carts, and are looking for ways to make it easier for us to push “Ship”.
Welcome Newegg Premier, a $49.99 per year membership fee gets you three day shipping (better rates on 2-day and overnight), no restocking fees on returns with complimentary shipping, early notifications on sales and events, and exclusive deals. You can sign up for a free 30 day trial, and Newegg will throw in 100 “Egg Points” (worth a dollar towards your next purchase).
Newegg will have to combat Amazon’s included media services, but the timing on this move could be pretty good, as there are rumors Amazon might be increasing the price of Prime. For people focused on the shopping experience, this could be an interesting (potentially cheaper) alternative.
Here’s the scoop.
Trade in an iPhone 4, 4S, or a Galaxy S2 in good working condition.
Sign up for a new two year agreement on AT&T.
Walk out with either a Lumia 1020 or Lumia 1520 for free.
But seriously, if you were shopping a new phone, and were considering a Windows Phone, you can pick between the best smartphone camera on the market, or one of the best phablets available. All you have to do is turn over a phone which was likely destined for a recycling center.
Full details on the Microsoft Offers page!
(via Baran Gercek, Analie Cruz)
*** Update: Enobong Etteh from BooredAtWork.com joined me on Youtube to discuss all the Sony news announced today (embedded below)***
It seems to be the major challenge for large corporations, adapting to current market trends, and attempting reorganization.
Sony has their hands in a lot of different tech markets: phones, PC’s, TV’s, Cameras, Playstations, and media (TV/Films/Music). That’s a big ship to steer, and they’ve attempted two previous company wide reorganizations in 2009 and 2012. Ahead of their positive third quarter financial statement showing a 20% revenue increase over the same period in 2012 thanks to the PS4. Unfortunately they’re forecasting a shocking $1 Billion loss for the fiscal year, and now Sony is announcing their next major corporate reform plans.
Their intention with TV’s is to reduce R&D costs, and streamline manufacturing. They’ve reduced losses from this division from 147 Billion Yen to 69 Billion Yen over the course of a year, and they estimate they should be able to reduce that further to 25 Billion Yen ending fiscal year 2013. They don’t expect the TV division to become profitable until early 2015 (ending fiscal year 2014).
More drastic, Sony is also selling off their VAIO PC division. Rumors pointed to VIZIO or Lenovo possibly acquiring them, but it’s now official that Sony will be selling to Japan Industrial Partners Inc. It’s unknown how much the PC line will be sold for. Sony will cease design and production of new PC models after the current announced line up of PC’s is released this Spring.
On top of these measures, Sony will also be cutting 5000 jobs in response to this new poor forecast. In early trading this morning Sony stock is up almost 5% following the announcements.
Enobong Etteh from BooredAtWork.com joined me in a Google Hangout to discuss the announcements:
Full Sony press release below.
Continue reading “UPDATED: Sony’s Next Stage? Reforming TV Business, Selling Off PC Division”