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Google has revealed the latest additions to its stock Android range, including the Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet, and an Apple TV killer called the Nexus Player
Google has revealed the latest additions to its stock Android range, including the Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet, and an Apple TV killer called the Nexus Player.
The Nexus 6 is the largest smartphone Google has released yet, with a 5.9-inch screen making it a larger phablet than either the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or the LG G3. A 2.7 HZ Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor and choose between 32 or 64GB storage make the Nexus 6 a top device for enjoying media and games on the go. Built by Motorola, it looks like a super-sized Moto X (2014) with front-facing speakers and a metal flash ring surrounding the 13-megapixel rear camera and a dimpled Motorola logo on the back.
Amazingly, Google has said the new Turbo Charger for the Nexus 6 will give the phone up to six hours of use from just a 15 minute charge.
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Find out if your device is eligible for Android 5.0 and what features you can expect from the biggest update ever
Find out if your device is eligible for Android 5.0 and what features you can expect from the biggest update ever.
After months of speculation since the Developer Preview was showcased at I/O in June, Google have announced Android 5.0 will be known as Lollipop and will be available to download as an over-the-air update this Friday – if you have the right device. Stock Android devices such as the Nexus 5, 7, and 10 will be able to get the new operating straight away, however other devices may be delayed while manufacturers and carriers check Android 5.0 for bugs.
Motorola have also confirmed that Lollipop will be available for both their first and second-gen Moto Xs and Moto Gs, as well as it’s budget £99 Moto E, this autumn.
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The WEEE Directive is fighting back against so-called ‘e-waste,’ including old mobile phones
The WEEE Directive is fighting back against so-called ‘e-waste,’ including old mobile phones.
WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The WEEE directive is European legislation which is designed to reduce the amount of electrical and electronic waste that reaches landfill. This is currently the fastest growing type of waste in Europe. It’s increasing at 3 times the speed of other waste. The average UK individual generates 3.3 tonnes of electrical waste during the course of their lifetime. In 2005, The Royal Society of Arts unveiled a 7 metre high sculpture using exactly this amount of waste electronics and called it “WEEE Man”.
WEEE and RoHS
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Enjoy this award-winning, striking and unique platformer
Perhaps one of the most memorable and charming games on any platform, Thomas Was Alone began life as a Flash-based browser game back in 2010, before being released for desktop in 2012. How does the mobile version compare? While it looks like a slightly drab block game, this really doesn’t give an accurate representation of how the game plays, or what it’s all about. You control Thomas, a discarded red block AI who is slowly becoming aware of his surroundings and abilities. As the game progresses, you encounter other AIs who each have different abilities and clearly-defined personalities.
Thomas can jump, particularly well over distance, and he can fall well too, something that we learn in the introduction thanks to a Douglas Adams-esque narration, provided by comedian Danny Wallace.
Taking place within the mainframe where the AIs were stored, the aim of each level is for you to shepherd each AI to the exit, a portal where they will be transported to the next map. Often, negotiating these maps will require some co-operative play, which means switching between AIs to guide them in turn. This is done by tapping the relevant coloured block on its position around the edge of the display, while control of your AIs around the map is achieved by using your thumb to move and jump.
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Tesco’s follow-up to the successful Hudl is bigger and better than ever
Tesco’s second foray into the tablet market comes after an unexpected success with the original Hudl, which offered premium features without the matching price tag and proved to be only second behind the Nexus 7 in terms of the best tablet of 2013. The Hudl2 follows in that same vein, and although the £129 price tag is more than what the original sold for at launch, the Hudl2 shows that budget doesn’t necessarily need to be bad. The entire shell of the Hudl2 is covered in a soft rubberised casing that makes holding the larger 8.3-inch tablet far easier than we expected. It certainly lacks the premium finishes of the Tab S 10.5, for example, but this is a tablet solely marketed with the family in mind and all the rough and tumble that comes with it.
Users can find the usual suite of ports available on the Hudl2 and the inclusion of microHDMI is a nice touch to hook up the tablet to a TV. In portrait mode the volume rocker and power button sit right at the top of the tablet, which makes it difficult to reach for smaller hands and could do with being placed a little lower. Around the back there’s the familiar Hudl branding, as well as the 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. One of the biggest flaws of the original Hudl was the poor 3.2-megapixel camera, and although this is a marked improvement over the original, images still aren’t up the quality most users will like. This time around, Tesco has added 1080p video recording, which is a nice option to have, but it doesn’t match the quality that smartphones are now producing. As ever, the front-facing camera will be best used for Skype and other such apps, but definitely not recommended for taking photos or video recording. Also around the back are the dual speakers, which have surprisingly high volume levels and offer good clarity on any music played through them.
Thankfully Tesco has resisted temptation to cover the Hudl2 with a custom skin and instead has gone ahead with a nearly stock version of Android 4.4. As you’d expect you’ll find all of Tesco’s shopping and Blinkbox apps, as well as some really helpful apps to help set up the Hudl2 and set up parental controls. Thanks to the lack of a custom skin, the Intel Atom processor blasts through anything we threw at it. It deals with high-end games, multitasking and downloads effortlessly. We’d stick our necks out and say that it easily rivals many of the high-end tablets on the market.
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The HTC Desire Eye includes a whopping 13-megapixel front-facing camera
Okay so it wasn’t a new HTC One M8 like we predicted, but the HTC Desire Eye has finally quashed any rumours about HTC’s next device. Although we’ve come accustomed to metal devices recently coming from HTC, the Desire Eye goes back to a familiar plastic design. However, the feature where the Desire Eye looks to set itself apart from the rest is through the 13-megapixel camera on the front of the device. This is single handedly the most powerful front-facing camera ever put on a smartphone.
Apart from that, the Desire Eye has a 5.2-inch display, the standard Snapdragon 801 processor and 2GB of RAM to keep the device running smoothly. As you’d expect, there’s a wealth of new camera features to explore, but HTC Sense 6.0 will add some normality to the smartphone.
The HTC Desire Eye is being marketed as a mid-range device, but no news on exact pricing or how widespread its release will be.