Huawei Ascend W1 Windows Phone 8 First Look

Chris Hare
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0
Huawei Ascend W1 Windows Phone 8 First Look

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The Ascend W1 is 10.15 mm thin and features a 4-inch IPS LCD 480 x 800 touchscreen with OGS Technology, powered by the high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8230 dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Adreno 305 GPU. With a 1950 mAh battery, the Ascend W1 has 470 hours of standby time, the longest among all smartphones in its class. It features a visually iconic design inspired by a tropical island and comes in an array of bold colours including blue, red, black and white. The Ascend W1 is a smart and stylish alternative for consumers looking for great technology at a price that is right. At the time of writing April 2013 the Ascend W1 is a timed Exclusive to O2 in the UK for £129.99 on Pay as you go.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqQyL4DH2WM%5D

Recorded at The Gadget Show Live 2013 at NEC in Birmingham

 

Halo Week: Drop Shock starts with the new Castle Map Pack

Andrew Edney
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0
Halo Week: Drop Shock starts with the new Castle Map Pack

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Microsoft and 343 Industries today announced “Halo Week: Drop Shock”, a concentrated supply of new “Halo 4” content, giveaway opportunities, promotional pricing, DLC sales, and availability of Volume 2 of the original soundtrack. And for today its the new Castle Map Pack.

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Kicking off the week of Spartan festivities, the Castle Map Pack is launching worldwide on Monday 8th April. Developed by Certain Affinity in collaboration with 343 Industries, the Castle Map Pack brings players three medium-to-large, maps that emphasize vehicular combat and large battles over stunning open spaces, where team strategy is the key to successfully conquering the battlefield.

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Alongside the release of the Castle Map Pack, 343 Industries will introduce Competitive Skill Rank (CSR), a new 1-50 level ranking system which measures your performance in War Games, intelligently matches you against opponents of comparable skill, and displays your rank on your Halo Waypoint player profile. Starting 8th April at 10:00 a.m. GMT and ending 22nd April at 10:00 a.m. GMT, play the Castle Team DLC playlist and reach CSR level 35 or higher at any point on or between dates above, and receive an exclusive Avatar tee.

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Check back tomorrow to find out what Day Two brings.

Xbox 720 is Rumoured for May 21 Reveal with $500 Price Tag

Chris Hare
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0
Xbox 720 is Rumoured for May 21 Reveal with $500 Price Tag

The Newest Rumour for the Xbox 720 will reportedly be unveiled at an event in May. The Xbox 720 unveiling, which was previously rumoured for 26th April, will now take place on 21st May, according to US blogger Paul Thurrott.

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Codenamed Durango, the machine will reportedly retail for $500 (£325), or $300 (£195) with a subscription, and will in fact require an always-on internet connection.

“Going back and looking at some of the stuff I got a long time ago, it actually says ‘must be internet connected to use’ – that’s in the notes. That’s all I have, but it does say that,” Thurrott explained on What the Tech (got to 54.43 mark on the video).

Paul Thurrott also claimed that Microsoft is planning to release a budget Xbox 360 later this year, codenamed ‘Stingray’.

Skyrim update 1.9 Brings Legendary Difficulty to Xbox 360

Chris Hare
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0
Skyrim update 1.9 Brings Legendary Difficulty to Xbox 360

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has received a new patch on the Xbox 360.

Released on PC last month, version 1.9 adds the new Legendary difficulty level, while also removing the level cap by introducing legendary skills.

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When a skill reaches level 100, players will now have the option to make it a legendary skill. Doing so resets the skill to level 15 and return its perks, allowing users to level up the skill again.

There is also a wide range of bug fixes in version 1.9, including a number of quest-specific fixes, a reduction of random dragon encounters after the main quest and a “fixed rare instance of couriers who would appear only dressed in a hat”.

The update is likely to go live on the PS3 in the coming days.

Nokia Lumia 928 Design ousted in Leaked Photos?

Chris Hare
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0
Nokia Lumia 928 Design ousted in Leaked Photos?

Nokia’s Lumia 928 smartphone has seemingly appeared online in a press photograph via evleaks.

The handset, rumoured to be the company’s next flagship Windows Phone 8 device, is said to be a lighter and thinner take on the existing Lumia 920.

Nokia Lumai 928

The leaked image, ousted on Twitter by evleaks, depicts a handset with Verizon Wireless US branding, which hints at possible US exclusivity.

Nokia’s Lumia 928 is expected to feature the same hardware specs as the Lumia 920, with the addition of a xenon flash to bolster the phone’s 8-megapixel camera.

Previous reports indicating that the handset will sport a svelte aluminium body have been denied.

Nokia is yet to announce an official release date or launch territories for the Lumia 928

Microsoft Outlook Coming to Windows RT ‘This Year’

Chris Hare
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0
Microsoft Outlook Coming to Windows RT ‘This Year’

Microsoft’s Outlook service is reportedly coming to Windows RT-based hardware later this year, I think that will please a few people.

Win Supersite editor Paul Thurrott claims to have seen the software running on the Windows RT edition of the Surface tablet at one of the company’s offices.

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“I can at least verify that it’s real – that is the software has actually been created and is in shipping form,” he wrote.

Paul Thurrott also claimed that Outlook was not included in the Windows RT operating system at launch because of a bug in the software, and fuelled rumours that Microsoft Office is in the works for iOS devices.

The tech blogger said that Microsoft has delayed releasing the productivity package for Apple devices because it does not want Outlook to appear on third-party hardware before Windows RT users are able to receive it.

Nintendo eShop discounts this week

Andrew Edney
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0
Nintendo eShop discounts this week

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There are some really good discounts available this week from the Nintendo eShop.

Nintendo Wii U titles:

  • e 2: Director’s Cut – Was £13.99, now £6.99
  • The Cave – Was £9.99, now £7.99
  • Toki Tori 2 – Was £12.99, now £11.69
  • Little Inferno – Was £8.99, now £4.49
  • Mighty Switch Force: Hyper Drive Edition – Was £8.99, now £6.75
  • Nano Assault Neo – Was £8.99, now £5.99
  • Puddle – Was £8.99, now £6.29

Nintendo 3DS titles:

  • Mutant Mudds – Was £8.09, now £5.39
  • Mighty Switch Force – Was £5.39, now £4.09
  • Art of Balance TOUCH! – Was £6.29, now £4.49
  • Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! – Was £4.19, now £3.19
  • Gunman Clive – Was £1.99, now £1.49
  • Dress to Play: Cute Witches – Was £3.59, now £1.79

Are you going to buy any? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Uprising DLC – The Replacers video

Andrew Edney
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0
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Uprising DLC – The Replacers video

The next Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 DLC is called Uplrising and is coming later this month. Activision have released a new trailer called The Replacers, which is a sequel to its Replacer video for the Revolution DLC.

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Uprising includes four new Multiplayer maps (Magma, Encore, Vertigo, and Studio), as well as the frightening new Zombies adventure, “Mob of the Dead”.

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Here is the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MsQXQTYsMuo

Are you going to get it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Microsoft sells Mediaroom to Ericsson

Andrew Edney
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0
Microsoft sells Mediaroom to Ericsson

Today, Microsoft and Ericsson announced a definitive agreement for Ericsson to acquire Mediaroom, the number one IPTV platform deployed by TV operators around the world.

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This is what Microsoft posted on their blog:

This acquisition is mutually beneficial and strategically aligned for both parties. Ericsson will continue to invest in the growth and success of Mediaroom to the benefit of customers, employees, and the industry. It allows Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox.

We are proud of the world-class engineering and business achievements within Mediaroom. They have a rich history of driving innovation in IPTV. As early pioneers, they built the infrastructure to stream video on limited bandwidth, and today they enable multiscreen entertainment experiences for pay TV subscribers. Mediaroom has contributed to the evolution of TV and powers 22 million set-top boxes today in 11 million subscriber households.

With the sale of Mediaroom, Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want – whether on a console, phone, PC or tablet. And with 76 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world with 46 million Xbox LIVE members, it is a mission that gets us out of bed in the morning.

It is not a mission that we can achieve alone. We want to partner with the industry to deliver the next wave of innovation in games and consumer entertainment. We will partner with content creators, studios, labels, networks, content aggregators, operators and distributors to make this happen. We believe the future of home entertainment is one where TV becomes more simple, tailored and intelligent. We believe the best is yet to come for this industry.

Our vision and energy for the future of entertainment is more focused than ever. Stay tuned.

New Pokémon Revealed for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y with Date

Chris Hare
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0
New Pokémon Revealed for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y with Date

pokemon x pokemon y

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y launches worldwide in October. Today, the mysteries of the newest Pokémon titles continue to grow with the unveiling of a Pokémon that is strangely familiar to Legendary Pokémon Mewtwo!

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This new Pokémon shares many traits with Mewtwo and its suspected that the newly discovered Pokémon has a connection with Mewtwo —a powerful Pokémon that debuted in Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue.

Here is the new trailer:

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Are you going to catch it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Far Cry 3 – Blood Dragon Revealed!

Chris Hare
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0

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a new standalone title which will arrive for purchase on 1st May.

Far Cry 3 - Blood Dragon cover
Details of the game have appeared on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The only multiplayer feature listed is leader boards, so it sounds like this will be a single-player campaign or maybe even some sort of challenge mode.
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Here’s what the description says:
“Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is THE Kick-Ass Cyber Shooter taking place on a bizarre open-world island crawling with evil. Welcome to an 80’s VHS vision of the future. The year is 2007 and you are Sargent Rex Colt, a Mark IV Cyber Commando who’s fighting against a cyborg army gone rogue. Your mission: get the girl, kill the baddies, and save the world. Experience every clich? of a VHS era vision of a nuclear future, where cyborgs, blood dragons, mutants, and Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, Navy Seals) collide. Playing Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon doesn’t require a copy of Far Cry 3.”

Music sounds better with an HTC Windows Phone 8X with Beats Audio

Andrew Edney
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4
Music sounds better with an HTC Windows Phone 8X with Beats Audio

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Back in November when Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8, we got to see the HTC Windows Phone 8X. Fast forward a few months and we were given the opportunity to see, or rather hear how good music sounds on the HTC Windows Phone 8X by being involved in recording a song in a music studio and playing it back on the phone.

The 8X has a dedicated amp built right into the phone, so it pumps more power to your headphones than ever. Plus, Beats Audio is coming to Windows phones for the first time ever. Take that combination and transform your listening pleasure with deeper bass, crisper vocals and detailed high notes for music, games, movies and videos.

The Beats Audio tuning process holds the highest respect for the artist – never interfering with the track as there’s nothing better than what the artist originally made in the studio. Beats Audio software paired with tailored HTC hardware ensures the best sound possible, delivering a listening experience that captures the essence of what was originally created in the studio.

Prior to the event taking place we were provided with an HTC Windows Phone 8X handset with a partially recording music track on it so that we could hear the early stages of the song.

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Upon arriving at Press Play Studio, we were given a brief tour and introduced to Jack, the producer of the track, and the singer / songwriter Grace Lindsey.

Jack showed us how he planned to pull all the elements of the song – the music, the vocals and other elements together.

We were once again played the rough track, and then it was time for Grace to enter the recording booth and sing the vocals she wrote earlier in the week.

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Grace sounded amazing and there was a real buzz in the studio as she was singing.

Then it was time for us to go into the booth ourselves (thankfully not to sing) but to provide background clapping. What was funny was Grace standing outside of booth watching us this time!

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After that a couple of the other guys had a go laying down some guitar tracks whilst we got to talk to Grace and Jack.

Before long it was time for Jack to mix together a rough cut and play it for us. In the studio, over all the professional equipment it sounded great, and this was only the rough cut.

Within a few minutes we had the rough cut uploaded onto our HTC Windows Phone 8X handsets so that we could hear what the track sounded like on the handset, and I have to say I was incredibly impressed just how well it sounded, considering the audio was coming out of a little handset. There was also a real noticeable difference when listening to the track with Beats Audio switched off, so you really would want to have it enabled.

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I really enjoyed the afternoon in the studio, and it was certainly a unique and interesting way of checking out the amazing performance of Beats Audio.

I asked James Atkins, Head of Marketing UK / Ireland at HTC about listening to music on a phone and he said:

“Music functionality is now a standard feature many on smartphones, yet often the experience of listening to our favourite tracks is somewhat lackluster. Not so on HTC devices, by pioneering enhanced audio integration with Beats Audio in both hardware and software, HTC is able to demonstrate that music is not only an invaluable phone feature, but one that can deliver rich, authentic sounds, just the way the artist intended it in the studio.”

HTC really have put a lot of effort into ensuring their Windows Phone 8X device not only delivers what you would expect from a phone, but also delivering what you would expect from a high quality music device.

CDW - HTC Beats Audio Music Event

If you want to listen to the final cut of the song, which Grace named Never Die, you can listen to it below.

You can learn more about the HTC Windows Phone 8X from the HTC website.

Activision announces Fast & Furious: Showdown game

Andrew Edney
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0

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The explosively popular franchise built on speed is heading to console, as Activision announced that they plan to launch Fast & Furious: Showdown.

The game was developed through a license deal with Universal Partnerships & Licensing, and will be available to players, coinciding with the Fast & Furious 6 theatrical release in May, 2013. Fast & Furious: Showdown delivers an adrenaline-packed experience on Xbox 360, PlayStation3, Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS, and Windows PC.

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In true Fast & Furious form, players will get behind the wheel of the some of the hottest vehicles and race across epic locations around the globe. Players can team up through two-player co-op, and take part in a collection of high-stakes driving missions. The game provides the ability to switch between key roles from driver, gunman, tactician, to daredevil. Players can also build and modify their dream car with a variety of fantastic upgrades and performance perks.  Also included is a Challenge Mode in which players can test their skill at completing over-the-top objectives and an online leaderboard allows racers to compare challenge scores with friends and gamers around the world for ultimate bragging rights.

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Fast & Furious: Showdown will be available 24th May, 2013 and the game is rated PEGI 12.

Two minute review of the mophie juice pack helium for iPhone 5

Andrew Edney
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3
Two minute review of the mophie juice pack helium for iPhone 5

If you have an iPhone 5 and you find that you never have enough battery power then you need an external battery pack. How about a case with an integrated battery pack? That’s where the new juice pack helium from mophie comes in.

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Here is how mophie describes the juice pack helium:

Ultra-thin, 1500mAh protective battery case made for iPhone 5. Feel the difference in the palm of your hand; 13% thinner than any of our previous iPhone juice packs. It’s so thin, you won’t believe there’s a battery inside.

Engineered with edge-to-edge protection and outfitted with 80% more battery life to keep your iPhone 5 safe and charged, the juice pack helium allows you to truly Do more. Its elegant, thin design makes it the perfect accessory, easily fitting into any pocket or handbag. The enhanced forward-ported acoustics redirects the iPhone audio towards you, optimizing playback and maximizing your experience.

Simultaneously charge your iPhone and juice pack together with the included micro-USB cable. Use the LED indicator to check battery levels before you head out and flip the standby switch when you’re ready to use the juice pack’s battery or when you need to recharge your iPhone while on-the-go.

Who are mophie?

mophie describe themselves on their website:

mophie is a California-based, award-winning designer and manufacturer of mobile intelligent devices and accessories. It is widely recognized and highly acclaimed for its creative designs and innovative solutions. Mophie was the proud developer of the Juice Pack, first ever “Works With iPhone” portable battery case certified by Apple Inc. All mophie’s products are developed to address real consumer and business needs and are seamless integrations of industrial, electronic, software and artistic designs. Mophie has operations in Michigan, California (Orange county), and China. Its products are available in Apple Stores, Best Buy, AT&T stores and other major retailers worldwide.

Specifications

Dimensions: 2.49 in x 5.49 in x 0.59 in
Weight: 2.44 oz
Battery Capacity: 1500 mAh
Product Compatibility: iPhone 5

What’s in the Box?

The box contains the helium case, a manual, a charging cable and a pass-through headphone adaptor.

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A Closer Look

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And here is the helium next to my iPhone 5 just to show the thickness.

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Using the juice pack helium

The helium actually came with a charge, so that was really useful. When you want to charge it yourself just plug the charging cable into the helium and plug the other end into your computer or other USB charging device.

You can check on the progress of the charge by pressing the button and see how many of the charging lights are lit. If all four are lit then you are done.

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Fitting your iPhone 5 into the helium is simple – just pull the bottom of the helium off, slide your iPhone 5 in and then clip the bottom part back in. When you are ready to charge just click the switch on the back from red to green and away you go.

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Here is how the iPhone 5 looks when its in the helium case.

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You can see all the buttons are still easily accessible.

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If you want to use headphones you may need to use the included pass-through headphone connector.

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Final Thoughts

I have used other mophie products on previous iPhones so when I heard about the helium I couldn’t wait to try it.

It is really light-weight and its very durable. It is also really easy to use and adds a significant amount of battery power to your iPhone 5. Yes it makes your iPhone 5 slightly bulkier than it was without the helium attached, but I would happily trade the slimness of the “naked” iPhone 5 for the helium any day of the week on the grounds I’m not worried about running out of power anymore.

The mophie juice pack helium is now a permanent fixture with my iPhone 5 and I am confident that for most, if not in all my daily activities, I won’t run out of battery again, which has probably been my biggest criticism of the iPhone.

The inclusion in the box of he pass-through headphone cable was a good idea and it ensures that any set of headphones should work perfectly even if you are using the helium.

If you have an iPhone 5 than frankly you need the mophie juice pack helium if you don’t want to risk running out of power. Yet another excellent product from mophie. Now if they could just make one even thinner I would be even happier.

Available now for £59.95 on www.mophie.com, the juice pack helium is around 13 percent thinner than previous juice pack air versions released for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, and is available in a metallic gunmetal soft touch finish.

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