Tag Archives: phone

New Wireless Power Bank from Anker: PowerCore 10K Wireless

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Anker Wireless charger, anker, phone charger, review

This wireless charger from Anker is sleek, stylish and does the job. You can even charge three devices at once. A great product.

PowerCore 10K Wireless

The Hybrid Wireless and Portable Charger

Charge Wirelessly On-The-Go

Leave your cables at home and still have all you need for charging. Just place your phone or other Qi-enabled device on the charging pad to get a 5W wireless charge—either in your palm or your pocket.

Charge Multiple Devices

Charge your phone wirelessly while charging up to 2 other devices at the same time via dual USB ports. (12W Total Max Output)

Wireless Pass-Through Charging

When connected to the wall, PowerCore continues to provide wireless-charging to your Qi-enabled devices while recharging itself, so you can wake up to a fully charged phone and pad every morning.

Non-Slip Design

Designed with a rubber coating that not only helps to keep your phone in place while charging but also feels great in your hand.

Wireless Compatibility:

– iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, Xs Max, XR, XS, X, 8, 8 Plus, AirPods pro, 5W Galaxy S20 S10 S9, Note 10 Note 9 Note 8

– Place your phone on the center of the portable charger to ensure stable charging while wireless charging.

– Cases made of metal and attachments such as magnets, cards, and grips will interfere with wireless charging.

– Does not support wireless charging for Apple Watch.

– Press the button to start the wireless charging function for devices.

The Anker phone charger is available here.

Avoid Waking up Next to a Sad Cracked Phone Screen This Festive Season

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Over a quarter of UK revellers aged 18-40 have damaged their phone on a night out. London named the clumsiest region (29%), and Newcastle the most accident-prone city (23%). Only 1 in 10 covered by insurance. Average amount spent on repairs is £49, roughly double the price of a protective case

Sound familiar? The Christmas party season is in full swing and we’ve all been there. A “get into the spirit” festive tipple turns into seventeen “IT’S CHRIIIIIISTMAAAAS” Jager bombs, or perhaps cocktails, and before you know it, you’ve a smashed phone screen staring back at you, accompanied by a hollow feeling of regret.

Ahead of ‘Mad Friday’, the last Friday before Christmas and most popular for office parties, it has been revealed that 27% of lumbering UK revellers aged 18-40 have damaged their phone on a night out. In the survey of 2,000 British adults, conducted by Griffin Technology, Newcastle topped the list of clumsy cities, while London is the region reporting most mobile emergencies.

As only 12% of damages were covered by insurance, our resident Griffin Gadgetologist, the brains behind the tough-as-nails Survivor phone cases, is on a mission to help the buttery-fingered amongst you.

So  here are some top tips to avoid having to fork out for a pricey repair, or even a new phone, come Christmas.

Avoid waking up next to a sad cracked phone screen this festive season

Resist the urge to take a bathroom selfie: tiled flooring and all that running water (amongst other things) spells disaster for your phone, both inside and out. Research shows water damage comes second only to cracked screens as the cause of smartphone failure, so do your phone a favour and protect them from the elements.

 

Watch out for office geeks in YOLO party mode: if you must grab that group shot on the dance floor, stand well out of the way of errant dancers. Christmas does funny things to people – we tend to get overexcited and fling our arms in the air like we just don’t care, cue phones being knocked out of hands left, right and centre.

 

Keep it zipped: the more barriers there are to your phone, the less chance it has of falling to its demise. Whether it’s a zipped compartment in a handbag or buttoned pockets, something to stop you reaching for it every 10 seconds can work wonders.

 

Invest in a super-sturdy phone case:if you’ve been known to hit the deck after a few shandies, it could be worth taking a good hard look at your phone’s attire to decide if it’s up to the job. Even if you’re the type to dance on tables, Griffin’s new Survivor Summit and Journey cases survive drops of up to 3 metres!

Avoid waking up next to a sad cracked phone screen this festive season griffins

Simplicity is key: everyone knows that nothing says it better than an emoji, but the tinier the buttons and more intricate your conversation, the longer it takes to text and the more likely your phone is to slip from your hand. Do everyone a favour and stick to the classic … “by the bar”.

 

Don’t drink too much: not a popular tip, but it works.


Finally, and perhaps the icing on the cake – try a tough case, and put your minds at rest: the toughest Griffin Survivor cases yet are available now from

http://bit.ly/GriffinTechnology

 

 

Samsung Gear VR

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Samsung VR

This is the Samsung Gear VR, a wireless virtual reality headset that marks the company’s first steps into the wearable future tech arena previously pioneered by Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus.

What makes this baby different? Well the headset houses the Galaxy Note 4 and uses that as the screen to create the 360 visuals. Samsung says with Gear VR people can ‘fully immerse themselves in a cinematic virtual reality environment’. Samsung says the Note 4’s quad HD screen provides ‘stunning and engaging visuals’. First testers likened the experience to sitting in the best seat of a theatre or being ‘on-stage at a performance with full 360 3D video’.

First impressions are that it looks state of the art and very cool, but what is it for? Playing virtual reality games and watching 360-degree videos of course. Questions also arise when you think of the technology, Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus have been years in the making and both products have individual screens; one for each eye. Project Morpheus uses the PlayStation Camera to maintain calibration. I don’t know about you but when using maps on my mobile phone it annoyingly repeatedly needs recalibrating so quite how it will work without this issue remains to be seen. However by turning the phone into a functioning VR kit one thing is clear and that is Samsung seems intent on making 360 experiences accessible as possible. It’s interesting too that given the Google Glass they have chosen to go in a completely different direction.

So how much does it cost? Well first views are that the headset may cost around the £250 – that is separate from the phone itself. However given the likelihood of different deals by various companies this may change.

Keep it tuned to Frost for more details.

 

A Boombox Speaker For Your iPhone? Hell Yeah!

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Us Frosties love this: A speaker for mp3 players and phones that is a wireless boombox.

This is the new ultra-modern take on the classic Boombox! No more jack leads, power cables or heavy docking stations, as here is the must-have Wireless Touch Speaker BoomBox.

iphonespeaker

There’s no need to plug in your phone or mp3 player to boost music anymore. This powerful gadget will amplify your sounds by simply touching it against your phone or mp3 player!

Sleek, lightweight and without wires it’s certain to be the first thing you take in your bag. It’s amazing battery lasts an a stunning 10+ hours before it will need charging again. Now if you can party for 10 hours we applaud you!

boomboxforiphone

The Wireless Touch Speaker BoomBox costs £24.95 from www.prezzybox.com.

Features:

Compatible with most smart phones and MP3 players with external speakers
Built-in rechargeable battery: charge via micro USB cable (included)
10 hours play time per recharge
Optional 3.5mm jack input (cable not included)
Speaker: 4 Ω/3W
Rating output: 100Hz-20KHz
Charging voltage: DC 5V
Battery Spec: 3.7V 850mAh lithium ion battery

iPhone 5c Review

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Upon receiving the iPhone 5c I thought two things; it’s pretty and it’s, actually, just a phone. The second comment upset my mother and fiancee, who were fast to tell me that the iPhone is certainly not ‘just a phone’. So with such passion inspired by this little smartphone I decided to give it a fair chance. I love Apple products myself and the only non-Apple piece of tech I own is my phone. Which is a Blackberry (don’t laugh), it is awful and never works. In fact, by the end of this review if I haven’t convinced you to get an iPhone I have absolutely no problem with that, after all this is only a review, but please, for the love of god, do not get a Blackberry. I don’t know a single person who is happy with them.

iphone5creview

So, to the iPhone 5c review.

It’s pretty and pink. It looks the part; cool, high-tech, slick, expensive. There is a lot of screen which I love. I have seen people watch movies on iPhones and you can do so and have a great viewer experience. It comes in bright colours (green, yellow, pink, blue, white) and is the lower cost version of the iPhone, a cheaper version of the iPhone 5s. This was the first time Apple released two versions of the iPhone at the same time. Not only is it gorgeous, but it is also not made with cheap plastic. It is made from steel-reinforced, machined polycarbonate, and then coated in a glossy finish. The craftsmanship, the colours, the design, is all stunning. Although the cheaper version it is not a cheap phone. It will cost less to make and Apple will get a high profit margin but that doesn’t come across in the phone. It also has a great 4-inch Retina Display screen.

It has a lot of features that the iPhone 5 had but comes with an improved front-facing camera and global LTE support. The minus with the iPhone 5c is that you are not getting a lot of new technology. It is a lot like the iPhone 5 when it comes to features, which means you are paying a lot of money for a phone without a lot of new features. You also don’t get the fingerprint scanner that the iPhone 5s has.

If you are not someone who needs the latest technology and features then the iPhone 5c is a really good buy. It is smaller than the iPhone 5, which was long and slim. It is chunkier too but I like the size and you still get a decent screen. It is certainly lovely to look at. It was hard to not feel happy when holding a hot pink iPhone. The ‘c’ could mean ‘colour’.

It comes with iOS 7 and runs smoothly. It has good battery life. Something that used to be a negative with iPhones, they needed charged half-way through the day if you were lucky. The iPhone 5c has a lot going for it, although I know a few people see it as an iPhone for poor people. In fact, there is no such thing. Poor people definitely cannot afford iPhones, but with the lack of new software on the iPhone 5c it is easy to see why some people see it as a lesser version. However, it’s not. It is a good phone in it’s own right and it is beautiful to look at. So just make your own mind up.

iPhone 5c (green/ blue/ yellow/ pink/ white) available for £19 on Vodafone Red 4G-ready plans from £42 per month

Toulouse City Guide | Travel

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Sometimes it is hard being a writer and editor, especially one with their own magazine. Going to the South of France to review Toulouse was not one of those times. In fact, it is now one of my favourite places in the entire world and I will definitely be returning. The Pink City of Haut-Garonne is called the pink city because of the brickwork of the buildings. It is the 4th largest city in France with 437,000 inhabitants and it is beautiful, dynamic and friendly.

toulouse

We flew with BMI Regional via Birmingham. We also had a great time in the No.1 Traveller lounge at Birmingham Airport before flying to Toulouse Business Class. The flight was incredibly enjoyable and included free food and drink. The service on-board was also great. Our air steward, Michael Love, seemed to know what we wanted before we did and kept us happy with Gin & Tonics and brilliant, yes it is possible, plane food.

BMI Regional plane

Toulouse is the birthplace of Concorde, the Ariane Rocket and the home of Airbus.Toulouse has also had a 100-year love affair with rugby. Stade Toulousain are one of the Northern Hemispheres best teams. 7 million passengers are transported via Toulouse Blagnac Airport every year.

Toulouse has more than 2000 hours of sun a year and more than 1000 restaurants. Sold yet? Whether the answer is yes or no, read on….

We arrived in Toulouse via Toulouse Blagnac Airport, a beautiful and stylish airport and made our way to our hotel, the Citiz Hotel, a modern four star hotel in the heart of Toulouse. It opened in 2010. The hotel has air-conditioning, free wifi and a car park near the hotel entrance. The hotel faces Wilson square and is only a 15 minute drive from Blagnac airport. My hotel room was incredibly stylish, the bed was large and comfy, the bathroom was elegant and the shower powerful. There was a minibar, safe and a flatscreen TV. I also had a balcony and a wardrobe. The hotel also does a great breakfast spread and the staff are very helpful.

Rio Loco, the world music festival that happens every year on the 21st of June to get all of France partying, happened while we were there. We had lots of fun listening to all of the different music and went to bed in the early hours.It was like one huge street party. Definitely recommended.

National Music Day in Toulouse

We went on a walking tour offered by the Toulouse Tourist Board.This was informative and very enjoyable, a great way to see the city. Great things to see include The Capitole (the City Hall), Saint-Sernin Basilica, The Jacobins Convent, The Hotel d’Assezat (built by Nicholas Bachelier for Pierre d’Assezat who made his fortune from Woad, a plant used in dyeing. More of which later), the river Garonne and The Augustins Museum, an amazing fine arts museum with beautiful pieces. It has a lot of 19th century sculptures.

J'GO Toulouse

J’Go, 16 Place Victor Hugo, 31000 Toulouse. Tel: 05 61 23 02 03. They accommodate people regardless of importance and budget and have authentic cuisine from the love of Gascon culture. The fruit and vegetables are grown by farmers in the South West and is in season. They also buy the whole carcass of animals from farmers in their region. The food we had was amazing and a brass band started playing outside while we were eating. The waiter also really knew his stuff.  Check the pictures out here.

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Cite de L’Espace. Avenue Jean Gonord – BP 25855 – 31506 Toulouse cedex 5. This wonderful space adventure theme park is dedicated to space. We went to Mars (Almost), walked on the moon thanks to the Moonrunner (I was six times less than my usual weight, which was great!), and saw a documentary on the Hubble Telescope in their glorious IMAX Big Screen 3D cinema. The theme park covers 5 hectares and receives 270,000 visitor a year, but it should be more, Globally, 50 million Euro has been invested into the Cite de L’Espace and it shows in the quality. They do tours in English in the summer and have had over 4 million visitors.

There is also a 53 meter high Ariane rocket, I am now one of the privileged few to go into Soyuz Vessel, the indestructible Russian spacecraft. There was authentic Moon Rock on loan from NASA which was brought back by astronauts during the Apollo 15 landing, rock from Mars, great photos which show how the earth looks from up close, to outer space, there is also exhibitions, a children’s area, a planetarium, restaurant and lots of experiments to test yourself on. Do not go to Toulouse and not go to the Cite de L’Espace. It is a must visit.

Cite de L’Espace is accessible to disabled people.

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Le Chai Saint-Sauveur, 30 rue Bernard-Mule- 31400 Toulouse. Tel: 05 61 54 27 20

This was a brilliant restaurant with a rustic, country feel. The food was amazing and so were the staff. Highly recommended. See the food here.

Terre de pastel

Terre de Pastel is a museum, boutique, spa and restaurant opened in June 2013 in Toulouse-Labege. The spa is amazing, with lots of different treatments, an idyllic swimming pool, sauna, Turkish bath, jacuzzi, herbal tea shop and a gym. The museum is informative, telling the story of the woad plant which is responsible for the pastel, the wonderful blue colour. You will learn about the history of blue, the symbol of blue, traditional applications and all about the woad plant, which grows in a field and looks like a rapeseed field; pretty and yellow. Sandrine Banessy, the owner and also author of books on woad, showed us how the woad dyes fabric. It was incredibly interesting and the woad will continue to dye the fabric blue until the fabric is dry.

The shop at Terre de Pastel made me want to spend all of my euros and go over my luggage allowance. There is a great selection of homeware, cosmetics, food, haberdashery and books. It is almost all blue. There is also a restaurant with great food and wine.

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Le Py-R. 19 descente de la Halle aux Poissons – 31000 Toulouse. Tel: 05 61 25 51 52. Chef Pierre Lambinon has won many awards and it was easy to see why, the food in his small gastronomic restaurant was amazing and unique. Pictures here.

victor hugo marketplace

The Victor Hugo Marketplace. This is the most prestigious marketplace in all of France. It has 5 small restaurants on its upper floor. I bought some great cheese here.

All of the above places are where you should go if you visit Toulouse. It is a wonderful city and everyone I know loves it. Frost loves….

For more pictures check out Toulouse in Instagram Pictures Part 1, 2 and 3.

Get the Toulouse en Liberte City Card at the Tourism Office to get more than 250 discounts on hotels, restaurants, museums, shops and tours.You can also explore by boat.

www.toulouse-tourisme.com

www.toulouse-visit.com

www.tourisme-midi-pyrenees.com

www.uk.toulouse-tourisme.com

Have you ever been to Toulouse? Make recommendations below.

About No.1 Traveller – fast facts

· No.1 Traveller specialises in premium hospitality and provides a complete ‘driveway to runway’ service – smart Chauffeur-driven airport transfers, express train tickets, airport parking, airport meet-and-greet and airport lounges (No.1 Traveller’s own collection, plus associate lounges abroad)

· It works with airlines, businesses and individuals to offer a convenient and comfortable service to take the stress out of going to and through airports – the smart traveller’s choice

· No.1 Traveller can be booked by anyone at www.No1Traveller.com or passengers can make their way to the reception of the airport lounge on the day

Airport lounge: Birmingham

· Opened October 2012; the first of No.1 Traveller’s lounges outside London

· Accessible to all passengers travelling through the airport

· Open daily from 0430hrs – 2030hrs; facilities include a range of seating areas across two levels, fully-tended bar, bistro area serving complimentary hot and cold dishes, complimentary newspapers, magazines and internet access

· Entry £27.50 per adult at reception, for up to three hours access (children £17.50 each), £22.50 if booked in advance (children £15)

BMI regional operates over 450 flights a week throughout the UK and Europe with one way prices starting from £59. bmi regional flies from Aberdeen, Antwerp, Bristol, Bremen, Billund, Birmingham, Bristol, Brussels, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Gothenburg, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Esbjerg, Frankfurt, Hannover, Hamburg, Lyon, Milan, Munich, Norwich, Manchester, Toulouse and Zurich. All flights include complimentary food & drink on-board, free 20kg hold baggage allowance and 30 minute check-in. bmi regional is the world’s most punctual airline having recently been crowned the title for the 8th consecutive year.  For more information, visit www.bmiregional.com.

Should You Read That Text?

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New phone app protects people’s moods

Computer scientists have developed the world’s first mobile phone app which automatically colour codes messages so people know before reading them if they’re likely to make you feel good or bad.

The development, for Android phones, could mean the end of people being surprised by an angry or hostile message, whether it’s from Twitter, Facebook or text.

It would also allow smart phone users to prepare for bad news and allocate time to receive it.

Master’s student Lorraine Chambers and her supervisor, senior lecturer Mohamed Gaber, both at the University of Portsmouth’s School of Computing, will present their breakthrough at a conference in Spain in September.

Dr Gaber said: “We are increasingly sending and receiving information via messages on mobile phones. The rate of growth in this area has never been witnessed – everything from Twitter streams and Facebook messages to direct text messages are coming straight at us all the time on our handheld devices.

“This information has an immense power, whether we are reading a worrying social media news story or a warning email from our manager, messages can upset mood and increase stress level, just as good news and encouraging emails can cheer you up.

“The ultimate objective of this application is to make the user aware of the negative contents they receive so they are able to manage their stress in the best possible way. For example, if most of what is received from social media websites by a user on a particular day was negative, it is important that the user attempts to take an action in order to not get stressed, especially if this may affect the individual’s performance at work and/or their behaviour at home.”

The app works by automatically colour coding incoming messages as green for positive, red for negative and blue for neutral so a user can see before opening any message whether it is likely to be worrying or encouraging.

The Portsmouth researchers were inspired to research and develop the app after a visit by their colleague Mykola Pechenizkiy at the Eindhoven University of Technology, in the Netherlands, who had developed a similar capability for emails on desktop computers, together with his Masters student Erik Tromp. Mykola and Eric have worked with the Portsmouth researchers, Lorraine and Mohamed using state-of-the-art technology for sentiment analysis to classify ‘on the fly’ any textual input received on the user’s handheld device.

The researchers tested the technology on a range of Android mobile phones and find it works faultlessly no matter what each phone’s computational power and memory were. The researchers are working on ways to make it freely accessible via Android Marketplace.

If there’s sufficient demand, it will be made available to users of iPhones and iPads.

The results of the project are reported in a research paper that has been accepted for presentation at 16th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, to be held in San Sebastian, Spain.

Who To Notify When You Move House

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Moving house is stressful at the best of times, so here is Frost’s guide to who to notify when you move.

Friends and Family.

TV Licence.
Your TV licence only covers you at your current address and won’t move with you automatically. Update it at tvlicensing.co.uk or by post.

Driving Licence.
Update it online at direct.gov.uk. Your Vehicle Registration documents will have to be returned to the DVLA. They will then send you a new one with your updated details.

Council Tax.
Tell your local council when you move out, and when you move into your new home. That way you will be billed correctly.

Mail.
You can get your mail redirected online at royalmail.com or by going to your local post office. It takes five working days so give the appropriate notice.

Doctor and Dentist
Search for practices near you new home by going to NHS.uk and entering your post code. You will have to register with the new practice

Financial Service Provider.
Banks.
Building societies.
Store Card companies.
Insurance companies.
Savings and investments.
Pension company.
Credit card company.
Do this as soon as possible. You don’t want your financial details going to strangers.

Magazine and other subscriptions.
Let them know as soon as possible. They usually need a month’s notice.

Utility Provider
Water
Gas
Electricity
Phone (and mobile phone)
Request a final bill before you move and tell them the date. Take a reading from your old home before you leave and at your new one when you move in. Just in case.

Cable/Internet providers.
If you are sticking with your provider let them know your new address straight away to minimise disruptions to your service.

Electoral register
You will need to register to vote in your new area. Go to aboutmyvote.co.uk and print off a form. Fill it in and send it to your local electoral registration office.

Finally, make sure you have signed the contract for your new home before changing things. Just in case things go wrong.