Category Archives: Mobile Devices

Category containing all posts that relate to mobile devices.

Toshiba P850-138 review: well priced mid-range entertainment laptop

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Toshiba has always had a history of producing decent quality laptops that last and feel well built. This laptop is no exception. Whilst the laptop is, by no means, the most powerful machine around, it definitely does pack some decent hardware.

I think Toshiba’s idea was to create a light entertainment machine that wouldn’t cost the Earth. It seems to do that pretty well – considering it has a dedicated 2GB nVidia graphics card, Harmon/Kardon speakers and built in Bluetooth 4.0 and Wireless N Wi-Fi for easy streaming.

However, it’s not all high spec hardware. After all, the machine only has a 2.3Ghz dual core Core i3 processor. Whilst the rest of the hardware in the laptop makes the slower processor unnoticeable, you’d think they’d have looked a bit higher for something that originally cost £600.

Thankfully, the price has since fallen to £500, which I believe is far more reasonable.

The laptop will cater for the average person’s entertainment desires pretty well. The 2GB nVidia GT630M will handle most pre-2012 games at high quality settings without breaking a sweat – and even 2012 games will run if you’re prepared to sacrifice a bit of quality. I tested the machine with GTA IV, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Just Cause 2 – all of which played really well, even at high settings. That, paired with the Harmon/Kardon speakers – which provide a really good audio experience with fairly good bass and treble (especially for a laptop), make games and HD films a pleasure to play/watch. With the bonus of a 640GB hard drive, you aren’t likely to run out of storage for your multimedia.

And for those that need to travel, it’s got you covered too. Battery life is fairly good – expect 4-5 hours of use when browsing or word processing. You’ll even get a couple of hours of gaming out of the battery – but watch the laptop doesn’t overheat when fans are throttled by power management (but rest assured it will shut down if it does get too hot). The device isn’t too heavy to carry around either. At 2.6kg it’s hardly light, but it’s not something that would be too heavy to take to work or commute with. The lid of the laptop has a very smart looking aluminium finish which will stand out in the office, too.

There are a couple of issues. There seems to be a bit too much movement in the keyboard when typing heavily – which doesn’t seem fragile but I would have liked it to be a bit more sturdy. Also, don’t be surprised when you find the laptop full of bloatware from the start – although not all of it is useless. Things like McAfee security can be binned straight away (get Microsoft Security Essentials instead) – however tools like Toshiba’s Sleep and Charge can be a lifesaver.

Sleep and Charge is a utility that’s been bundled with Toshiba laptops for some time now. Basically, two of your four USB3 ports (yes that’s right – four USB3 ports) are programmed so that when you shut down, sleep or hibernate the laptop, the ports remain on. This means you can plug in your phone or MP3 player into the port and charge it off your laptop battery. There’s also a similar tool for the onboard speakers – plug your MP3 player into the 3.5mm mic jack while the device is off and make use of your nice speakers.

Overall, I think that at £500 you won’t get much better in terms of an entertainment laptop. Yes, it has it’s few minor issues – but overall it has all the hardware to keep you entertained for hours on end. I’m really impressed with it, and with a brand like Toshiba I can be confident it’ll be working well for years to come.

HTC releases software update for HTC Sensation/Sensation XE – speeds up boot, fixes bugs (3.33.401.6 / 3.33.401.106)

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HTC have just released a software update for the Sensation and Sensation XE. The update, which is described as an “enhancement” update is around 60MB in size and takes around 5 minutes to install. It is listed as version number 3.33.401.6 for the Sensation and 3.33.401.106 for the Sensation XE.

HTC have been rather vague in any improvements/updates that have been implemented. As far as I can see, these are the changes:

  • The “Android is upgrading” phase that occurs when rebooting the phone from ‘cold’ has been removed. The phone no longer attempts to optimize apps when starting up. This appears to have drastically improved boot time – now around 20 seconds from power on.
  • The autocorrect keyboard has had fixes implemented now meaning it works properly again with apps such as Twitter (it stopped working after the initial release of ICS for the devices).
  • Spelling corrections in the UI – e.g. “develop option” now rewritten as “developer options” in the Settings menu.
  • The device now responds much faster from sleep – the initial release of ICS left the device taking 2-3 seconds to respond to a wake-from-sleep request in some instances.
  • Bluetooth streaming appears to have improved on my initial tests – the bitrate of Bluetooth streams was dreadful with the initial release of ICS but now seems to be better, although only time will tell if this is actually the case.
  • ADDED: My phone no longer spontaneously reminds me every so often that it is up to date and that no updates are available.

However, some users are already reporting major issues with Wi-Fi on some devices since the update. According to some users, Wi-Fi will no longer connect properly (especially over longer ranges). I’m not personally experiencing the issue but will report back if I start to run into issues.

Most stock Sensation/XE users should be able to update OTA now. If you’re using a network supplied phone, it may be a little while longer before you receive the update.

Copilot Live Premium GPS Navigation review (Android)

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So now I have my car, I need to make sure I have a good way of guiding myself when I don’t know where I’m going. I’ve tried many sat nav apps over the years over various phones and operating systems. On my previous phone, the Nokia 5230, free sat nav software was provided courtesy of Nokia and I have to say – considering it was free – it was fantastic. Not only did it include features that would normally come at a premium (eg traffic and speed camera alerts), but it also allowed maps to be downloaded to the memory card (in order to save data usage).

Sadly, whilst Android does have free sat nav provided (courtesy of Google) – it’s quite limited. The actual navigation is very good – but considering it doesn’t have speed camera alerts and also doesn’t allow map downloads, I decided I had to look into a premium option.

After much deliberation, I decided to go for Copilot Live Premium. It comes at rather a cost – £25 up front including VAT and then £10 per year (after the first year) for ongoing traffic alerts. However, you do get all the premium features I would expect – including free map downloads to a memory card (which are also very well sized) and free speed camera alerts.

Performance of the app is very good – on my HTC Sensation XE movement shows at a lovely frame rate. The GUI is also very efficient – not only does it look tidy but you can also choose from a wide range of stats to show on the main display such as speed, distance remaining, ETA and so on.

 There are also plenty of settings you can play with – from changing how far in advance the app warns you of an upcoming junction through to the types of POIs that are displayed on the map. I found some settings hard to find – in many cases they were hidden away – but there’s definitely no shortage of customisation.

Overall, I’m very happy with the app. In future, I’d like to see better speeding warnings – right now you only get a warning when you’re over 5mph over the speed limit. Whilst this is handy, if I was doing 35mph in a 30 zone I’d easily get caught by a mobile speed camera.

Ratings
Features: 4/5
Performance: 5/5
Price: 4/5 (good value for money, but monthly payment options would be nice)

HTC Watch film rentals just 5p each this Easter!

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HTC have launched a price-crash rental weekend for lucky Brits. With a selection of 50 films (many of which being new releases), anyone with a recent HTC device can grab a lovely selection of films to watch for just 5p each.

I’ve never used the service before, so I was keen to get started. You simply open an account with them (it doesn’t use your Google account or any other account you have with HTC) and then browse through the store. It’s marked “Easter special” on the opening page. Then, make your selection and enter your card details.

As soon as your card payment is accepted, the film will start downloading. You get 30 days to start watching the film and then 48 hours to finish once you’ve started – just like iTunes.

If you’re travelling in the car over Easter or just need a film fest, give it a try!

Ice Cream Sandwich on the HTC Sensation/XE – my thoughts (review)

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Ok, so I’ve only had ICS on my phone for around a day – so it’s hardly the time to be too judgmental about it, but I thought while I have half an hour spare I’d share my thoughts so-far.

Overall, I love it – it is so much faster than Gingerbread was. It really is like getting a brand new phone six months after buying it. The interface is faster than ever, memory management is decent, apps load quickly and power consumption isn’t too bad either. The actual interface design hasn’t actually changed hugely – you get a new homescreen, new menu and new settings interface – but most other things are reasonably similar. The lock screen has barely changed at all – but for the fact that notifications now show a contact image and you can use face unlock, it’s all the same.

In terms of functionality, I’ve found a couple of minor niggles but otherwise it’s pretty decent. My first problem is that I’ve lost HTC’s autocorrect functionality on the keyboard in many third party apps such as Twitter – this is a nightmare and causes a lot of problems when writing half-hearted tweets. There are also a couple of spelling mistakes within the software – and whilst this really isn’t a problem it is something I’m very OCD about. This, for example. Somebody at HTC must have forgotten how to spell.

Put the minor niggles aside and there’s nothing you won’t like about Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s always been a question to me whether the new update would mean better battery life, and whilst I haven’t had the chance to test that out many people are reporting much better standby time. I’ll see how it goes – I’m too much into the habit of leaving the phone on charge for half the day so I’ll need to creep out of that habit a bit.

The update is available now for all unlocked, unbranded HTC Sensation and Sensation XE phones in the UK so grab yourself the download if you’re ready to upgrade. It’s around 300MB and you’ll need to do it OTA so make sure you’re connected to a wi-fi network if you haven’t got unlimited data. The upgrade took me around 20 minutes, but I ended up doing a factory reset after I’d upgraded. I sort-of wish I hadn’t really reset it – many people recommended that you do but after doing so I don’t think it’s actually made much of a difference. Other than the fact I’ve wasted hours of my life putting it all back together, it hasn’t really done me or the phone much good!

Still, go get it if you’re phone can. You won’t regret it – just make sure you do a backup of your phone just incase anything goes wrong.