Geektech arena

HTC has gone under the rader this time and announce the lunch of a new device much without the notice of the general public, guess they did that on pupose (hope so).
The Desire 400 is a dual-SIM handset with a 4.3-inch screen that is headed for Asian markets. The phone has landed on HTC sites in Russia and Ukraine. According to the Russian site, the screen will have a 800×480 resolution and be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2GHz with 1GB of RAM. On the back is an 8MP camera while a 1.6MP camera sits on the front of the handset. Thankfully it has a microSD card slot since there is just 4GB of storage inside.
The Ukrainian site, however, states the device will have a 5MP camera with a VGA camera on the front. Also, a dual-core processor will be inside. This is likely just adjustments made for different regions. Both have HTC's Sense user interface and BlinkFeed. Stay tuned for more information on this little device.

The LG G Flex could start arriving on our doorsteps as early as December if you're living in Europe.
As flagged by 3G.cn, LG has sent out invites for an LG G Flex event in Hong Kong on December 3, which is reportedly to mark an international launch.
Currently, the phone is only available in Korea, where it went on sale in early November for the eye-watering price of 999,900 Korean Won - about $940
 in the US, £583 in the UK and AU$992.
The G Flex will be available in France on Orange towards the start of December - that much we know - so we're hoping to see it hop over to the UK around the same time. As for the US, the flexy phone won't be making its way over until early 2014.

Unique shape:

The G Flex, LG's first curved phone, has a 6-inch curved OLED, a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 13-megapixel camera.
It also has a rear case that can heal itself when scratched, which might be even more exciting than the bendy headline feature.
And let's not forget about the Samsung Galaxy Round, which curves along a vertical axis instead. Although there's no guarantee we'll be seeing that outside of Korea any time soon.

Blackberry released its messenger (BBM) to both the Android and IOS platform some months back and honestly peoples respond to using the app was a success much beyond the expectation of many. But the late arrival of this app to the cross mobile platform still gives it a hill to climb as other competitors such as Whatsapp,LINE, Viber and the rest already have a head lead of many years.








But apparently Blackberry is trying to cover up that gap with their recent deal with several Android manufacturers. The company announced the it has managed to partner with several Android manufactures to have the BBM app pre-installed in their mobile devices. The company announced in a press conference that major Android manufactures in Africa, India, Indonesia, Latin America and the Middle East region, with names that some of you guys may or may not be familiar with such as, Be, Brightstar, Celkon, EVERCOSS, IMO, Micromax, Mito, Snexian, Spice, TECNO, TiPhone and Zen. This is basically just their first step to bring thier app more into the spot light on the android platform, its expected that sooner or later they will take a bolder step in partnering with other bigger manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, and Sony.

If one were to list possible uses for a smartwatch, controlling a television set just might make the list. The Samsung Galaxy Gear can already do a lot of things, such as taking photos and displaying full notifications and now it can control TVs as well thanks to the Smart Remote app. The app has been developed by Samsung and Peel, who make the WatchOn app found on the former’s devices. Smart Remote basically controls WatchOn app on the smartphone, since the IR blaster on Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 already allow users to control their TV sets. The advantage of having Smart Remote on Galaxy Gear is that users don’t have to keep their Galaxy S4 or Note 3 in their hands all the time, though they will need to place it as such that the IR blaster is facing the TV. That’s because the signal to switch channels, control volume or even power off will go through the device’s IR blaster given the fact that Galaxy Gear does not have one of its own. Those who’re interested can download the app on their smartwatch from the Gear Manager app on their smartphone, the smartwatch must be paired for the app to install. Smart Remote is hosted on Samsung Apps

We are just a few hours away from the lunch of the Xbox One and gamers can't wait to get their hands on this next generation console which many anticipates to be ahead of other game console available. The new soon to be lunched Xbox One has lots of unique features which makes it stand out and today, we are taking a look at it's voice control commands. The voice command allows for users to carry out certain functions without having to leave their seat or push certain buttons and this gives gaming a new face. so without wasting much time of your time, here are the list of voice commands for the Xbox One game:



Xbox on - Wakes up Xbox One, can turn on television and cable/satellite set-top box

Xbox turn off - Puts Xbox One to sleep/off, can turn off television and cable/satellite set-top box. You'll have then confirm you want to turn it off with a "yes"

Xbox select - Shows voice command options for everything on the screen that is supported, highlighting relevant commands

Stop listening - Stops Kinect from listening or cancels voice commands if Kinect is triggered during casual conversation

Xbox help - Shows help menu with available options

Xbox sign in/out or Xbox sign in as [person] - Signs in/out an Xbox Live member

Xbox show notification - Shows on-screen notification(s)

Also the Xbox One is making a heavy play for TV and to do so, you'll need TV controls. Here are the commands:

Xbox watch TV - Launches cable or satellite TV from set-top box. We've used this a lot, it works really well

Xbox show guide or Xbox OneGuide - Launches OneGuide for cable or satellite TV subscribers. Less useful at the moment, as it's not coming to the UK until 2014

Xbox volume up/down Xbox mute/unmute - Controls volume of TV set or AV receiver, if enabled in the settings

Next without using your controller, you'll be wanting to get around the Xbox One interface. Here are commands needed for navigating around:

Xbox go Home or Xbox show my stuff - Returns to Home. This is the command you'll probably use the most

Xbox Snap [app] - Launches activity in Snap mode. This is great fun and works well.

Xbox unsnap - Unsnaps activity in Snap mode

Xbox switch - Switches focus of the activities in Snap mode and Fill mode

Xbox go to [activity] - Launches specific games, TV shows, apps, notifications and sections of the dash. This is a hugely important command, you'll use it a lot

Xbox show menu - In full screen: shows menu for whatever is on the screen. At Home: shows menu for whatever is in the current window

Xbox go back - Returns to previous screen or menu option

In games you'll probably use less commands, and more controller, although games like Zoo Tycoon offer plenty of voice control too. But the big ones relating to gaming are:

Xbox record that - Records the previous 30 seconds of gameplay, which is a great trick for catching those

Xbox start a party - Launches the Party app in Snap mode, although you can start the party at any time

Xbox use a code - Triggers Kinect code scanning for QR codes for game downloads, etc

Xbox pause/Xbox play - Pauses gameplay or resumes gameplay, meaning no more scrabbling for buttons when the phone rings

The Xbox one fancies itself as a complete media solution for your living room, so you'll be wanting to control your videos and music too. Here's what you need:

Xbox play [music/video] - Launches video and music playback

Xbox play/stop/pause/fast forward/rewind/faster/ slower/skip forward/skip backward/next song/ previous song - Controls for media playback, works on both music and video

Then you have Skype as a fully integrated feature. Here's what you need to say to get talking:

Xbox Skype [person] or Xbox call [person] - Launches Skype call to a person from your Skype favourites list on your Xbox One

Xbox answer/answer without video - Answers incoming Skype call

Xbox hang up - Ends Skype call

Xbox send message - Sends message to your Xbox Live friends

Then there are commands to help you search and use Internet Explorer:

Xbox Bing pause [item(s)] - Launches Bing, then searches for the game, movie, TV show, game add-on or app using conversational voice. We've found it to be a bit hit and miss

Browse to [website] - Browses to a specific website when already in Internet Explorer

Whilst on the topic of Internet Explorer, the browser actually contains a lot of dedicated commands for navigation which only apply when you're it's open, here's a couple of useful ones:

Scroll up/Scroll down - scrolls the page up or down

Click on [link] - clicks a link on the webpage

Lets hope this implemented voice control by Microsoft can achieve it's propose, what's your say?

Even before it's official lunch on Friday the 15th of Nov. reports has been coming in about the playstation 4 game experiencing console bricking. Although this issue wasn't really seriously taken into account as the main console is yet to b released.

But soon after it's lunch, reports about this same issue has resurfaced once again as gamers are complaining about their game exhibiting the "the blue screen of death" syndrome,  in which the console's light bar flashes blue but never outputs a video signal or boots up. Although complains are coming up

As of press time, nearly 40 percent of the PS4 reviews on Amazon are one-star reviews complaining of hardware failure. The official PS4 support forums have been overwhelmed by complaints of broken units. Speaking to IGN, a Sony representative said the company believes there are various issues in play, but less than .4% of units are affected. "We are closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents and are on track for a great launch."

We viewed a video of the LG G Flax and it's self healing panel and today a little more specs of this curvy phone has surfaced.





LG lunched the much-awaited G Flex smartphone in October this year. The Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean-based phablet is powered by a quad-core 2.26GHz Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974) processor, an Adreno 330 GPU, and 2GB of RAM. It features a 13-megapixel rear camera, and a 2.1-megapixel rear camera. The G Flex is backed by a 3,500mAh battery, weighs 177 grams, and is 7.9mm at its thinnest, while being 8.7mm at its thickest.

Some other design features to note are that the G Flex will have rear buttons similar to that on the LG G2, also on the back of the device will be a protective film that when scratched can repair itself within a couple of minutes. The G Flex will be available from some time in November in South Korea but it has not yet been revealed when it will be released into other countries. The LG G Flex is priced at 999,900 South Korean Won.









What are your thought about the LG G Flex and an is it worth buying? Let us know in the comments below.

When BBM for IOS and Android first arrived, it was received by users on both platform with much enthusiasm with Blackberry recording an estimated download of  within a week of its release. On Tuesday, Blackberry announced an update for it's app and this time, support for the Wi-Fi only iPads as well as the iPod touch has been add to on the IOS platform it along side few new features.

LG just released a new phone LG G Flex, and i must say it's curved nature gives it uniqueness and style, but that's not all that this phone has got. One very slick feature is the G Flex’ self-healing back panel, which shrugs off damage like it was the skin on Wolverine’s knuckles.

With the release of the playstation 4 close at hand, many can't wait for the release of the much talked about Xbox One which from all indication, New Zealand will be the first to lunch it on it's release date scheduled on the 21st November 2013.




But as of now, Microsoft New Zealand has dropped what is set to be the first console officially to be handed over on lunch day into a shark tank at the Kelly Tarton's SEA LIFE Aquarium in Auckland with 20 live sharks in it.




But it's assured that the console will b retrived on time for the lunch and handed over at a minute pass mindnight at the official New Zealand Xbox One lunch event.

BlackBerry recently announced a change in direction in its attempts to turn its fortunes around which included a change in the CEO, and now following some screenshot leaks BlackBerry 10.2.1 with Android support is possible soon.
Recently BlackBerry appointed a new interim CEO and in an interview it was stated that it would be too early to decide if the company would adopt the Android platform. Now though the image that you can see on this page is one of many that show a BlackBerry Z10 running the Google Play Store, which would mean Android applications.
If this image is accurate and not some kind of elaborate fake the Canadian company could be hard at work getting its devices ready to natively run Android apps that are directly downloaded and installed from the Google Play Store.
The platform has seen the sideloading of Android apps previously but this new compatibility is rumoured to be coming via the BlackBerry 10.2.1 update that will be pushed out to some of the company’s handsets as well as the BlackBerry PlayBook.
While these images could have been faked it could possibly give the platform a welcome boost with access to the Google Play Store and the numerous applications that are not currently available on BB10 devices.
Do you think this is the real deal and do you hope it does come eventually?


 Source: phonesreview

Smartwatches are becoming the next big thing in the mobile market, and we have seen the likes of Samsung and Sony taking the lead in the production of this wearables, and different concept of what the much anticipated Apple smartwatch might look like,


 But apparently, these company aren't the only ones with such plans as mobile phone giant Nokia has released its own smartwatch, the Lumia watch.



 The Nokia Lumia smartwatch comes abit different from other available smartwatches because they are very colourful much like the Lumia phones. From what we gathered, the Lumia watch will have an AMOLED display and runs a tweaked version of the Windows Phone platform as they're obviously designed to work with your Nokia Lumia handset or tablet. Users can view calls, messages, emails, facebook and twitter notifications, battery life and of course date and time. also there will be camera connection via Bluetooth and  a great feature is it's ability to be used under water like the Lumia phones.

 As we know Microsoft has recently purchased Nokia and this maybe the reason why the idea of smartwatch has arosed. What do you think about this beauty?

After much waiting, the release date for the playstation 4 has been announced, but before the thought buying the game console comes to mind, one has to but wounder the difference between the new console and the previous ones (playstation 3, playstation 2). Sony exposed all of the specs and features for their new console,in their conference at the E3 2013 on the 10th of june, and here they are:
Specs

    * Release price - $399 (£349)
    * Controller price (on top of console price) - $59 (£54)
    * Playstation Eye price (on top of console price) - $49 (£45)
    * Octa-core AMD Jaguar/Kabini x86-64 CPU
    * 8GB of GDDR5 RAM
    * Radeon 7870-derived GPU with 18 compute units
    * Using Bluetooth to connect to gamepads
    * 2 USB ports (front)
    * HDMI output and S/PDIF optical audio output
    * Aux socket and Gigabit Ethernet socket
    * 802.11 WiFi built in
    * Not backward compatible
    * Able to use pre-owned games



Release Date
The Playstation4 will go on sale on Nov. 15 in the U.S., followed by the U.K. on Nov. 29. Australia will also see the console then, while Canada too shares the U.S.'s Nov. 15 launch date.

The Controller - Dualshock 4
Sony have made many adjustments to their new controller. It has been claimed by Engadget that each controller will go on sale for $59 (£54) on top of the actual console's price.
A lot of the changes to the new controller are quite substantial and creative so we can’t wait to get our hands on them and try them out for ourselves.

    * Sony have replaced the traditional ’START' and ’SELECT’ buttons with a brand new ‘OPTIONS’ button.
    * Both a three-axis gyroscope motion sensor and a three-axis accelerometer have also been added to the controllers to get the player more indulged in the game.
    * A new touchpad has been added to the front face of the controller with 1920x900 resolution and with click sounds to tell you when it has been pressed.
    * A new ’SHARE’ button has been added to the front face of the controller, in which Sony has tried to increase social media on their PS4. It makes it a lot easier to upload videos and gameplays online.
    * The analog sticks have been redesigned to make them more precise.

The Playstation Eye

When it comes to the mobile industries, Apple's reputation proceeds it, Even if you are not a fan of theirs nor own any of their many device, it's hard not to be impressed by what they produce each year.

Ipad mini saw a top mark as one of the most accurate touchscreens among other tablets within its space as of 2012,

But seems the story isn't much of a the same this year around when in a touchscreen test, Samsung's Galaxy s3 smart-phone beat Apple's iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. The test was conducted by a finnish company named OptoFidelity, which's specialized in measuring automation and machine vision. The team used a device it calls "WatchDog" in testing the accuracy oand responce of iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c touchscreen panel and compairing the result to Galaxy S3.

The finial result showed a disappointing result on Apple side with most part of its touchscreen panel having an inaccuracy above 1mm represented by the red areas, whereas the Galaxy S3 is much more uniform with most part of it's touchscreen panel inacuracy rating below 1mm.

But the test also comfirms Apple's latest phones are a great deal faster than the Galaxy S3, of which is not much of a shocker.Their performance tests captured the speed of both the camera and the browser, revealing that both the 64-bit iPhone 5S and the A5-powered iPhone 5C are noticeably faster when it comes to launching applications like the camera.

While the rumors were flying for the last few weeks about various companies that may step up to enter a bid for BlackBerry, Lenovo was one of the names to enter the mix. We explored what would happen if Lenovo were to go through with a purchase and the Chinese company had reportedly gone so far as to sign an NDA with BlackBerry in order to view their books.
Now the Globe and Mail has reported that any potential deal between BlackBerry and Lenovo would have been shot down by the Canadian government citing national security concerns, which isn't that surprising given the role of BlackBerry in the government and enterprise space. An anonymous Canadian government official stated "We have been pretty consistent that the message is Canada is open to foreign investment and investment from China in particular but not at the cost of compromising national security."
According to the report Lenovo was extremely interested in BlackBerry, which yesterday called an end to their strategic review and received a $1 billion investment from Fairfax Financial and other institutional investors.
BBRYBlackBerry MediaSource: Globe and Mail