Thursday, November 14, 2013
Is Scotland falling behind on superfast mobile broadband?
A report by Ofcom, the UK’s communications watchdog, has published a report showing that despite nearly 75 per cent of UK homes having access to superfast broadband, this figure is significantly lower in Scotland.
In the report, it is revealed that only 52 per cent of properties in Scotland have access to superfast broadband. There is a small increase compared to the previous year, when this figure stood at 45 per cent, but overall, the country is lagging behind the rest of the UK. Only 9 per cent of homes in rural and remote parts of Scotland can access superfast broadband, which is considerably less than the 25 per cent reported in rural areas in the rest of the UK.
Ofcom’s data also shows that more than a quarter of Scottish homes don’t have access to even 2G coverage, whilst over half can’t access 3G networks. The price comparison website uSwitch said that the rollout of the EE 4G phone network to increasingly more towns and cities could help the situation in Scotland. Broadband expert Marie-Louise Abretti said:
“The Scots are trailing well behind England and Northern Ireland when it comes to superfast availability – frustrating for anyone suffering sluggish speeds,”
“With mobile internet not up to scratch in Scotland either, Ofcom’s report makes for grim reading.
“There is a glimmer of hope as EE has plans to roll out 4G to rural areas, but the network has suggested these plans may be put on hold if Ofcom increases spectrum fees,”
Scotland’s mobile data use was found to have increased by a massive 51 per cent compared to last year, as more people take advantage of 4G contract, PAYG and 4G SIM only plans on EE and other networks. However, despite the growth, mobile data use in Scotland was found to be lower than in the rest of the UK overall.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
The Best and the Worst of the iPhone 5c
The iPhone 5c, marketed as the cheery little sibling of the more serious, secure, and stuffy 5s, is advertised for those who want a little colour in their lives. Two new changes will strike you right out of the 5c’s box - first, this is no longer the sleek grey or stark white instrument of Apple’s past, but a smarties-toned jelly bean of a phone available in grass green, sky blue, bubblegum pink, butter yellow, and white. Unfortunately for those whose colours of choice run more on the darker side of things, there is no option for a palette darker than pastel green. And second, the 5c is one of the first that runs the crisp new iOS 7, a toned, flattened, and ultra-powerful new interface for the iPhone operating system. Here’s a look at some of the essential pros and cons of the new device.
We’re very glad to see that the 5c cleverly hangs onto the best aspects of the retired iPhone 5 - its A6 processing chip, 326 ppi retina display, and iSight camera with 8 megapixels. But the 5c gains two whole hours of talk time on battery life, more LTE bands on the global network, and a little weight in its polycarbonate exterior. Those upgrading from the iPhone 4 will find themselves with a beautiful new phone, and those upgrading from the iPhone 5 will find themselves with very nearly the same phone, with better battery life and a new paint job. If you find yourself debating between the 5c and the 5s, remember that the 5s is heaped with extra features that the 5c isn’t…but will you actually use them?
In releasing the iPhone 5c and iOS 7, it seems like Apple was targeting those who dearly wanted to join the basic Apple family, but somehow hadn’t had the opportunity to yet. It’s an extremely user-friendly phone, but lacks the Touch ID fingerprint sensor of the 5s, as well as the larger 64GB storage option. The 5c was Apple’s nod to those who wanted to jump on board with this year’s generation of phones, without getting too deep into a more complex, expensive, and powerful phone like the 5s. But unfortunately the outer shell of the 5c doesn’t feel as quality as that of the 5s aluminum casing, and the color and size options are fairly limited.
iOS 7 is not a complete overhaul from the previous version of the operating system, but with added features like a Control Center, even smoother transitions and transparent colors to match the 5c tones, and a more beautiful home screen layout with some new one-swipe commands, it is different enough.
At £470 to £550 on its own from the Apple store, the iPhone is predictably not cheap - though some have joked that because of the different body materials, the S version of the phone is for Sophisticated while the C is for cheap. While the expense is not quite a con, because the phone is reasonably priced considering the level of advanced technology, it’s certainly something to consider. According to presale hype, the 16GB iPhone 5c can be had at Three for £37 a month on a two year contract with a £49 up-front handset fee
And to bring it all back to reality, we end with neither the best nor the worst, but simply the most absurd of the iPhone 5c. Thank goodness for the Huffington Post UK, who have done tests of the 5c on concrete, various other materials, and finally up against a .50 caliber rifle. Yes, that’s right.
We’re very glad to see that the 5c cleverly hangs onto the best aspects of the retired iPhone 5 - its A6 processing chip, 326 ppi retina display, and iSight camera with 8 megapixels. But the 5c gains two whole hours of talk time on battery life, more LTE bands on the global network, and a little weight in its polycarbonate exterior. Those upgrading from the iPhone 4 will find themselves with a beautiful new phone, and those upgrading from the iPhone 5 will find themselves with very nearly the same phone, with better battery life and a new paint job. If you find yourself debating between the 5c and the 5s, remember that the 5s is heaped with extra features that the 5c isn’t…but will you actually use them?
In releasing the iPhone 5c and iOS 7, it seems like Apple was targeting those who dearly wanted to join the basic Apple family, but somehow hadn’t had the opportunity to yet. It’s an extremely user-friendly phone, but lacks the Touch ID fingerprint sensor of the 5s, as well as the larger 64GB storage option. The 5c was Apple’s nod to those who wanted to jump on board with this year’s generation of phones, without getting too deep into a more complex, expensive, and powerful phone like the 5s. But unfortunately the outer shell of the 5c doesn’t feel as quality as that of the 5s aluminum casing, and the color and size options are fairly limited.
iOS 7 is not a complete overhaul from the previous version of the operating system, but with added features like a Control Center, even smoother transitions and transparent colors to match the 5c tones, and a more beautiful home screen layout with some new one-swipe commands, it is different enough.
At £470 to £550 on its own from the Apple store, the iPhone is predictably not cheap - though some have joked that because of the different body materials, the S version of the phone is for Sophisticated while the C is for cheap. While the expense is not quite a con, because the phone is reasonably priced considering the level of advanced technology, it’s certainly something to consider. According to presale hype, the 16GB iPhone 5c can be had at Three for £37 a month on a two year contract with a £49 up-front handset fee
And to bring it all back to reality, we end with neither the best nor the worst, but simply the most absurd of the iPhone 5c. Thank goodness for the Huffington Post UK, who have done tests of the 5c on concrete, various other materials, and finally up against a .50 caliber rifle. Yes, that’s right.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Apple pushes out iTunes 11.1.3 with bug fix
The update is available for Windows and Mac OS X. It solves a problem with the equalizer and improved according to Apple, the software performance when switching between representations in large iTunes libraries. The update also fixes a few other minor errors. Because of some new features and the release of iOS 7, you should quickly change.
Without iTunes 11.1 you could not manage iDevices with iOS 7 if you have brought latest version of iPhone or iPad, the update is imperative and with the old version you cannot access to the data. The update also has podcast station on board that allow you to create your own stations with preferred podcasts - and thus make them available with new episodes at a central location. Your transmitter, subscriptions, and the positions where you stop playback, the app synchronizes “podcasts “via iCloud.
Who wants to leave it to chance, which iTunes song plays next, uses the new Shuffle. Select “Random Genius Play “to have iTunes start playback of tracks that go great together. Click again to hear something else. For users in the United States is iTunes radio on board.
Top 10 Reasons To Buy An Iphone
The person whoever is not interested in video will also after synched with iTunes on MacBook Pro. Once you get used to seeing video on the iPhone’s gorgeous 3.5 inch screen, you won’t want to use an inferior phone ever again.
2. Email and Visual Voicemail
Another thing on iPhone is email. You can check your Google mail whenever and wherever you want. It’s so convenient and very well done on the iPhone. It’s comfortable to read and easy to type replies via the on-screen keyboard. It won’t take long to get to the point where I can type pretty fast on it .Visual voicemail is great! You will love being able to pick and choose visually which message you want to listen to.
3. Google Maps
For those people who gets lost very easily and whenever you’re driving around, you can just stop and pull directions up with Google Maps on your iPhone. It’s very useable and it gets the job done.
4. Music and Audiobooks
As with video, the iPhone makes a superb iPod. In fact, it’s the best iPod ever. You can even keep a few different playlists on your iPhone. It all works together, including your audio books.
5. Power
Just look out the power of iphone
• Talk time: Up to 8 hours
• Standby time: Up to 250 hours
• Internet use: Up to 6 hours
• Video playback: Up to 7 hours
• Audio playback: Up to 24 hours
You can find that your iPhone pretty much adheres to what Apple has said.
6. Safari
It is just amazing to use Safari and get the real web on your iPhone. It’s so different from the “mobile web” .Before I used Safari on my iPhone, I thought the web on a phone was just stupid. There’s no flash support yet but there will be and since you can zoom in and out, it works really well and comfortably for your eyes. Safari a big reason at this point.
7. Multi-Touch
Here’s another thing that is sceptical about. The touch screen on the iPhone works great for typing email as well as browsing web pages, zooming in and out of photos, and so on. It only takes a few minutes to get used to the basics of using the touch screen and not much longer to get used to the keyboard.
8. Pictures and iPhoto
The iPhone/iPhoto combination really does add value to the iPhone though people don’t talk about it too much. Pictures create real time fun and brings us old memories back.
9. Navigation
The iPhone is very different. You can easily get to the functions you need and whenever you want to get back to the main screen, you just push the button at the bottom. The iPhone is supremely comfortable to use when it comes to moving around within its software. Don’t underestimate that until you’ve had a chance to really use it.
10. Fingerprint scanner
Apple has introduced a new fingerprint reader on the home button of the iPhone 5S, thus it provides an extra security to the device. The stainless steel detection ring scans skin layers, at 500ppi and its thickness is 170 microns. By the ring around the home button, it knows that your finger is there and you don't have to tell it to scan.
Difference Between iPhone Camera And Other Mobile Phone Camera
One of the most appealing features of iPhone cameras is the ability to apply filters to your photos with apps. Many of these apps create the look of old antique film cameras.
The iPhone image files gives up a 22.9 megabytes about the size of many recent point-and-shoot camera files. Image corrections in software like Photoshop are still limited at this size, so accurate exposure and colour at the time the image is captured is important.
The phones optics will result in a noticeably sharper image that gives better tonal range. Shadow details and even highlight definition is totally different from other mobile phone cameras.
The iPhone battery drains quickly during a long time camera usage. Actual numbers will vary depending on how often your screen is on, and what else is active on your phone.
Camera operations can be improved by adding two new features. By touching the central subject area on the screen such as face, you can lock both the focus and exposure until you take a picture, so that you can recompose the frame. However, the lock will be released after shooting the first photo.
On the side of the phone Apple has added additional shutter releases to the volume buttons which is easier than screen touching. You can shoot only one exposure at a time.
Overall, the iPhone camera produces images as good in quality and is simple, user-friendly and fully automated. When you add in options for post processing techniques and filters and with the growing library of apps, you have a product not just for consumers but it is also for a professional who is looking to shoot inconspicuously and quickly.
