4K Smartphone Camera Test: Real-World UHD Samples from the Lumia Icon/930 (Lumia Denim)

It’s ABOUT DAMN TIME a Lumia phone in the USA got the Denim update, but now we can FINALLY take a look at the 4K video quality on the Lumia 930 (Icon)! Here’s the MOST comprehensive review available on the internet!

Note 4 UHD Camera Test.
LG G3 UHD Camera Test.
iPhone 6+ HD Camera Test.

Full Review: Kingston HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset with Microphone Test

Kingston’s HyperX Cloud II is an ambitious follow up to their first Cloud headset. Not only are they refining and simplifying the cabling, they’re adding a USB DAC while only charging $20 more. Is the HyperX Team biting off more than they can chew? Let’s take a listen!

Shop the HyperX Cloud II on Amazon.
More info on Kingston products.

App Review: Blue Skies Weather App for Windows Phone 8.1

There are a number of weather apps available in the windows store to choose from. I like to try different apps to bring you the best of what is available and I came across this sweet weather app from Blue Skies.

Blue Skies is designed and developed by Rohit Rajendran who did an amazing job. He literally thought of everything you need from a weather app.

Blue Skies has a well designed UI that is very easy on the eyes, and is simple to navigate. There are light and dark themes to suit your needs. On the first screen you will see basic information about weather in your city. If you tap on the circle it will give you wind and chance of rain. Near the bottom of the screen it will tell you how far the nearest storm is from you.

Heading over to the next screen on Blue Skies you will see your high and low for the day, humidity, precipitation, sunrise and sunset. The boxes at the bottom of the screen will show your weather throughout the different times of the day. Just scroll through the boxes to see if you will need sunglasses, your umbrella or snow shoes! Continue reading “App Review: Blue Skies Weather App for Windows Phone 8.1”

Smartwatch Review: Asus ZenWatch Running Android Wear 5.0 Lollipop

Continuing our run of reviews through the Android Wear ecosystem, Asus has delivered one of the more attractive offerings with the ZenWatch. As a fashion piece it looks like it could go toe to toe with the upcoming Apple Watch, but how does it perform? Let’s take a look…

Asus ZenWatch on Google Play.
Shop Smartwatches on Amazon.

Review: Moto 360
Review: LG G Watch
Review: LG G Watch R

Review: Sennheiser Urbanite XL Headphones- Sophisticated Design, Impeccable Build Quality

Sennheiser impressed last year with the high end Momentum headphones, and now they’re positioning the Urbanite line as their mid-range audio experience. A unique blend of modern design and incredible build quality, do these cans have what it takes to stand up to more established “FashionPhones” brands? Let’s take a listen!

Shop the Urbanite XL’s on Amazon.

The Long Awaited Moto 360 Smartwatch Review – It’s Just OK…

One of the most popular posts we published last year was the announcement for Motorola’s boundary breaking watch the Moto 360.

Now that we’ve spent some time playing with it, has it lived up to the hype? No. It has not, and here’s why…

Shop the Moto 360 on Amazon.
Shop the Moto 360 on Google Play.

Microsoft FINALLY brings Tablet Optimized Office Apps to Android!

After we saw a demo of an iPad running Office apps, Android fans wondered, rather vocally, when we would also get to take part in the business grade festivities.

Oh sure we had an Office Phone app for basic viewing, editing, and formatting, but it lacked proper tablet support.

Microsoft office word document for android tablet app somegadgetguyAll that changed yesterday when Microsoft’s Word, Excel, and Powerpoint tablet apps were finally approved on Google Play. Each service is an individual app, and downloading the apps is totally free. When not linked with an Office 365 subscription, the apps function as viewers, and wont allow you to edit docs or spreadsheet. Though with unlimited cloud storage coming to OneDrive with an Office 365 subscription, it’s not a bad value when compared to other cloud storage solution.

Linking to Office 365 opens up a full world of document and presentation creation and editing, very similar to what we saw on the iPad version. The full toolsets of Office are included, with advanced formating and formula support, and are well optimized for touch screen use. Tied directly into Office Online, OneDrive, and can be linked to DropBox, it’s a fairly robust ecosystem for sharing and collaborating.

Microsoft office excel for android tablet app somegadgetguy

As they’re beefy services, the download sizes are pretty large. Expect all three apps together to clock in at around 370MB. There’s also an issue with compatibility. Most of the tablets I ave lying around are not yet approved to install the apps. No Asus Transformer, no NVIDIA Shield, even the newer Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 was a no go, so my first impressions were performed on a Nexus 7.

Still it’s a great collection for Android, and now Windows Tablet and Phone fans can start the waiting game as we should see touch optimized Office apps arrive with Windows 10.

Microsoft Word on Google Play
Microsoft Excel on Google Play
Microsoft Powerpoint on Google Play

Lens Review: 16mm f/2.4 Pancake Prime for Samsung NX Mirrorless Cameras

I’ll admit it. I’m a prime snob.

In moving from Canon to Samsung, I was worried about lens selection. While it’s certainly not as robust as Canon’s first party offerings, Samsung has some really decent glass to play with. Let’s check out one of the wider lenses available for this APS-C shooter!

Shop the 16mm f/2.4 Prime Lens for NX Cameras
Shop the Samsung NX30 Mirrorless APS-C Camera
Shop the Samsung NX1 Mirrorless APS-c Camera