UK customers are lucky that the hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 is available for pre-order from Vodafone, EE and O2, and the luckiest 2000 of them will get to play with a free 7 inch Galaxy Tab 2 also, as we reported earlier. For those of you anxious folks in the US, AT&T has announced that the S4 will be available for pre-order starting April 16 priced at $249.99 with a two-year contract.

The carrier hasn’t announced which model they are offering (maybe the 32GB S4), and no hints on exactly when the device will be shipped. If it’s the 16GB model, the announced price is $50 higher than what the iPhone 5 is currently available for. Head to the AT&T website for signing up to be notified when the S4 will be available.

As for other US carriers, T-Mobile will start offering the S4 on May 1^st (no contract of course), and it is also expected to be available from Verizon, Sprint, as well as MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular and Cricket.

Just to remind you, the S4 is coming with a 5-inch 1920×1080 Super AMOLED screen, a 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor in the US (1.8GHz Exnyos 5 Octa everywhere else), Android 4.2.2. Jelly Bean, and an amazing 13-megapixel shooter.

Do you have plans to order the S4?

[Source]

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Designed by Prox Dynamics of Norway, the Black Hornet is four inches long, one inch tall, and weighs 16 grams. There’s a tiny camera mounted on board that can send pictures and videos back to a handheld receiver up to a kilometre away, allowing soldiers to gain information about an area without having to directly risk the lives and safety of soldiers that would otherwise be tasked with that mission.

It helps that the Black Hornet is incredibly tiny and flies nearly silently, navigating its way around buildings to see if there is any danger. It can only fly at a maximum of 10 meters per second and the battery pack only lasts about 25 minutes, but that should be enough for some basic recon. It can act as an R/C helicopter or it can act as an autonomous drone based on GPS.

Yes, it’s expensive, but that’s military-spec tech for you. It’s ruggedized to handle the harsh conditions of the battlefield, including extreme heat and wind. The UK Military of Defense has placed an order for 160 units, totalling 20 million GBP. That works out to about $31.3 million or about $195,000 each.

[Source]

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If you’re resided in the UK, you may have taken notice of the new iOS 6.1, which for Vodafone has had a few problems getting pushed out fully to all the iOS handsets.

Some users may have had problems connecting to 3G whilst using iOS 6.1 on the iPhone 4S with the Vodafone network. The following statement from Vodafone gave more information on the subject:

We’re aware of an issue caused by Apple iPhone 4s handsets that have been upgraded to iOS 6.1 which impacts performance on 3G. Some customers may occasionally experience difficulty in connecting to the network to make or receive calls or texts or to connect to the Internet. Apple is working on a solution to their software issue. These connection problems are intermittent.

While Apple’s investigations continue, we would recommend that anyone who has not yet installed iOS 6.1 on their iPhone 4s should delay doing so until Apple has confirmed that their problem has been fixed.

Vodafone has now worked on a fix with Apple, and they have now given the okay for Vodafone customers to update to iOS 6.1 on the iPhone 4S.

If you did download the 6.1 update and came across the 3G connectivity issue, it’s probably best that you follow Vodafone’s advice and update to the newest 6.1.1 for the iPhone 4S handset. How has your luck been with iOS 6.1 in the UK?

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BlackBerry launched their new BlackBerry 10 OS and BlackBerry Z10 smartphone last week in the UK and early sales appear to be promising.  All Things D and Jeffries and Co. report the handset is selling very well in the U.K, with some stores even selling out of BlackBerry Z10 inventory already. BlackBerry is hoping the good sales in the U.K. will be a sign of strong upcoming sales in other countries. 

Currently BlackBerry handsets are very popular in the teen demographic in the U.K., something they are yet to capture in other countries. This is a big change from their usual “business” audience. 

We will have to wait and see how the rest of the world responds to the BB10 and Z10.  What do you think of the handset?  Would you pick one up?

[ source ]

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Excitement has been stirring in Europe since the announcement of the the 5 inch 1080p HTC Butterfly. So much so that UK Expansys started offering up the Butterfly for preorder in the UK. One site, Coolsmartphone, decided to get in on the preorder action.

While Coolsmartphone was not told a date of availability or even a price for that matter, it was a shot in the dark that the site was willing to take.  This last weekend they received an email from Expansys explaining they would not be receiving the device in the UK:

Thank you for your recent interest and preorder of the HTC Butterfly. Unfortunately, we have now been informed by HTC that this device will not be available in European markets, and as such we have had to remove it from our website and cancel your preorder.

It certainly seems like a strange move to leave the Butterfly out of the European market when they brought it to the US already as the HTC Droid DNA.

At this point, all Europe can do is hope that it is still coming perhaps using yet another different name. Did you have your sights set on the Butterfly?  What phone will you get instead?

[ source ]

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We’ve all been told that it’s dangerous to shine a laser pointer straight into someone’s eye, but that’s just with the laser pointers you can pick up at your local dollar store. Now, imagine far more powerful laser dazzler weapons–using multiple wavelengths–that boast enough energy to pop a balloon. This can cause pilots not only to get distracted or temporarily blinded, but they could even suffer from more permanent eye damage. In fact, the US FAA says that there are over 2,000 incidents each year where pilots have lasers pointed at their planes.

Protecting pilots against one wavelength at a time just isn’t good enough, so the UK MoD turned to Thin Film Solution, based out of Glasgow. The resulting prototype has a composite structure where the polycarbonate layer has a special light-absorbing dye. When bonded with the glass lens, the wavelengths can then either be filtered out or reflected out, helping those pilots retain their optimal vision. They’re still working on it, but I can see how these laser-filtering goggles can become standard issue for at least all military operations.

[Ministry of Defence via Source]

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You might say that UK didn’t miss the bus for 4G LTE, but they certainly were late. Just now we are seeing LTE speeds with the EE network, and the rest of the carriers are still many months away from 4G LTE speeds. That being said, the United Kingdom is determined not to be late to the party again.

The “5G Innovation Centre” is now being set up at the University of Surrey to help push forward mobile broadband speeds and ensure that UK is one of the first to flip the switch onto higher speed networking next time around.

The government will put up £11.6 million (roughly $18.6 million) in funding for the effort, but it doesn’t end there. Several companies like Samsung, Telefonica, Fujitsu and others are also pitching in for a combined investment of £24 million (around $38.5 million). The hope is that such a large investment will allow the researchers to go behind theoretical looks at 5G and instead will allow them to truly develop and standardize 5G solutions in the near-future.

The 5G technology isn’t just about speed, it will also focus on energy and spectrum efficiency. At least in its earliest form, the goal is to provide around 10Gbps per-tower target, which means connections of about 200Mbps for each connection.

How soon will such tech reach the UK? Considering where they currently stand, it is likely a decade away. Even though there is still a lot of time between 4G LTE and 5G, it is good to see that the UK is being very proactive about making the jump early next time.

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If you’re in the UK and are looking for an all-in-one freeview experience for your Android, FilmOnX provides all the popular channels straight to your device with no sign-up fees and no other equipment. There are premium options to unlock more channels, but the bulk of the TV features are offered for free.

Layout and Functionality

It’s really not hard to navigate through FilmOnX; you’ll get an interactive list of scrollable channels on the left, and a viewable stream of the selected channel taking two thirds of the screen on the right.

If you tap the viewing screen, touch controls will pop up in charge of switching to full screen, or pausing the streaming content, and turning the volume up and down. The full screen mode gives you a larger viewing space by removing the clutter on the left, which will take you into a widescreen view.

The screen plays decent video and audio quality, and the only aspects that make it inferior to watching from a regular television is the small screen and FilmOn’s logo which has been watermarked onto the screen in the top right corner.

The volume control isn’t exactly necessary along with the physical controls on your device, but it does give you a little bit more precision over the volume playing from the app itself. The pause function allows you to stop the current program playing, but when played again, it will catch up with live TV instead of playing from where it was paused from, making the control a useless gimmick.

It’s also very easy to navigate through channels and they have been separated off into different categories to help viewing ability. Although you cannot quick jump to different categories, they have been clearly marked and are easy to define.

Streaming and Recording

You have the ability to stream either high or low quality, helpful for those with varying web connections. The lowest quality on FilmOnX is pixelated and grainy, whereas the higher quality is of a much greater definition. It’s a shame there isn’t any way to choose anything between high or low quality.

Premium

With FilmOn you can purchase premium packs which include a few different channels. The average price is around £5 a month, but unless there’s something that really catches your eye, it’s not really necessary. There are also streaming packs offering different lengths of recording time, allowing you to record programs to watch at a later date. The premium features do add a few functionalities, but you’re not going to miss out on any casual viewing without paying. It’s also important to note that if you use this app it will count as watching live TV, which means you will need an up-to-date TV license.

Summary

Pros:

• Easy to use interface
• Many freeview channels available
• Up to date TV guides
• No extra costs or equipment needed

Cons:

• Recording features and premium channels cost
• Streaming is usually fine, but does have occasional hiccups
• No ‘Jump to’ categories or favorites section

Download FlimOnX here.

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When you’ve parked your stolen bike somewhere (and you’ve presumably locked it up some way too), you activate the SpyBike with a special keyring. If during this time the SpyBike detects that it’s on the move, you’ll get a text message on your phone. Meanwhile, the SpyBike also goes to work by GPS tracking its whereabouts, which you can then view through the free website. The battery can last “for months between charges so long as you remember to disarm the tracker before riding your bike.”

The SpyBike won’t help you if the bike recovery turns to violence, but at least it can tell you where you can find the bike. While there is no monthly charge for the actual GPS tracking service, the SpyBike does require you to install an active SIM card so that it can send you those text messages. This also serves the secondary function of using aGPS via GSM where the primary GPS is less effective. The SpyBike product itself is £97.50, or about $152 US.

[Source]

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Urban commuters don’t really need a car, since a bicycle is so much more compact and can more easily weave its way through traffic. Even though you may know BMW better for its cars, it has now unveiled a pedal-electric bicycle that it calls the i Pedelec.

Aside from having a three-speed 42-volt electric hub motor that’ll help push you along, the more unique feature about the iPedelec is that it can fold up. This makes it much easier to transport between locations; two of them can reportedly fit in the back of the BMW i3 Concept EV. Even when folded up, the wheels can maintain contact with the ground. This means that you can push it along when you’re in a subway car, for example.

You get a motor assist of up to 16mph using the 14.75 ft-lbs of torque. There’s an effective range of 16 to 25 miles per charge with a full charge taking about four hours. If you use a quick charge station, a full recharge can take as little as 90 minutes. The 44-pound bike was announced in celebration of BMW open its first iStore on July 25, opening next door to its BMW and MIni stores on Park Lane in London.

There’s no word on pricing or availability on the i Pedelec folding pedal-electric bicycle, but being a BMW product, I can’t imagine it being terribly cheap.

[Source]

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