IT News Head Lines (Techradar) 17/04/2014

Get a grip on the Fuji X series with new accessory range

Fuji has introduced a collection of new accessories for two of its key X series cameras, the X-T1 and the X100/S.
For the X100S, Fuji is introducing a tele-conversion lens which attaches directly to the camera to multiply the fixed focal length lens by 1.4x, converting it from 23mm to a 33mm lens, which gives a classic focal length of 50mm in 35mm terms.
This is the second conversion lens for the X100/S cameras, following on from a wide-conversion lens. The new TCL-X100 is designed to retain the same optical quality as the original lens. Autofocusing speeds and macro focusing distance remain the same.
For the tele conversion lens to work, the X100/S must be updated with the latest firmware, which is available to download for free.

Wait, there's more!

Meanwhile, some additional accessories have also been announced for the Fuji X-T1 compact system camera.
Two new handgrips, a grip strap, an extended eyecup and a cover kit will also be available from the end of May.
The handgrips are available in large and small sizes, are constructed from aluminium and are designed to integrate perfectly to the X-T1.










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Microsoft Office 365 Personal launches for all the single users

Microsoft Office 365 Personal is now available for $89 per year or at a monthly rate of $9 per month.
The Office 365 Personal subscription allows for one PC, Mac or tablet to be connected to the service, and users will also receive an extra 20GB of storage and 60 minutes of monthly worldwide Skype calling time.
For families looking to connect multiple devices to the same subscription, you can opt for Microsoft Office 365 Home instead, which enables up to five devices to be connected to one subscription for $119 per year or $12 per month.
"By offering Office 365 Personal, in addition to Office 365 Home, we are better positioned to deliver the right Office to a broader range of households - whether it's an individual or a family of five," Microsoft said in a statement.

Recent activity

Microsoft recently made its online versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote available as Chrome Apps that can be launched from the browser's desktop-based App Launcher.
The Redmond-based company also launched Office for iPad last month. It also previewed Office 365 Personal in March.

• 4K laptops? Yes, please

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Updated: Amazon phone release date, news and rumors

Release dates, rumors, and more

With the runaway success of Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet - the media-happy device owns over half the Android tablet market - it seems only natural that the company would turn to smartphones next.
Amazon's strategy of putting all its media content directly into consumers' hands has worked out well so far, so wouldn't the Seattle company take the next logical step?
Like the Kindle Fire, an Amazon smartphone would be a veritable home-shopping network - replete with Kindle books, Android apps and Amazon Prime video - only as a phone, so it would be the only device users would really need.
Given the anticipation that's built up around a product that's not even certain to exist, we figured it wise to compile all the rumors and speculation in one place.

Feast your eyes on the Amazon phone!

A prototype, at least, if this leaked photo is to be believed. It's not official, but several sources are reporting that the 4.7-inch handset pictured here is Amazon's first smartphone. The display is reported to be 720p, with a Snapdragon processor of unspecified power, and 2GB of RAM.

The phone also has a whopping five front-facing cameras, possibly related to previously rumored features such as head tracking for 3D effects and gesture controls.
The codename for this device is said to be Duke. Duke is said to be the flagship model, with a cheaper budget option to come along as well. For software, Amazon is taking an approach similar to its Kindle Fire, running a heavily modified version of Android on its rumored phone.

Amazon phone will be dirt cheap, here in 2014

Rather come in at the top of the price tier, Amazon might clean up on the bottom. The latest rumors peg Amazon's phone as a budget device.
That doesn't mean it will be a hunk of junk though, Amazon's Kindles are all bottom dollar devices with great builds and peppy internals. Rumors also peg the budget Amazon phone for a 2014 release. There's still plenty of time to make that rumor come true, Amazon!

Will HTC make Amazon's phone?

Will Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC lend Amazon a hand with its upcoming phone? That's the latest speculation to hit the streets.
It's the kind of job HTC has been up for in the past, crafting the HTC First for Facebook. While that phone was a fizzle, HTC know how and Amazon clout could be a killer combo. This rumor has us intrigued.

Get this: Amazon will give the phone away for free

Update: no it won't. In an unusually concise statement, Amazon has said that it has no plans to release a phone this year, and if it does make a phone, it "would not be free." Sorry cheapskates.
We've heard of free shipping and low-priced phones on a two-year contract, but this is ridiculous. The latest rumor says Amazon will give its handset away for free.
Could it be true? Well, possibly. Amazon has a history of pricing its hardware dirt cheap, expecting to clean up on apps rather than the initial investment. It's not a bad plan, especially if the retail behemoth can get people signed up for Amazon Prime using the deal.

Amazon working on two phones, one of them 3D

We've debated whether it will be called the Kindle phone, Amazon phone or something else, but now it seems that Amazon is working on more than one device. That's the latest rumor coming in over the wire.
Beyond that, apparently one of the handsets will have 3D projection capabilities, sans glasses. That sort of technology has been a success for the Nintendo 3DS, but remember the LG Optimus 3D and HTC Evo 3D? We hardly do either, which makes us wonder what the online retail giant is planning.

Evi to be the Amazon Phone's Siri?

Back in January, Amazon acquired the startup behind a natural voice search engine similar to the Apple's Siri. Now the scent on the wind is that Amazon will be putting a chat-to app called Evi on its Amazon Phone .
It sounds logical, because Amazon would need this technology to be competitive, and it would be great on Kindle devices, too. Imagine yelling at those lock screen ads that you don't want Fifty Shades of Grey.

Amazon hires Windows Phone 7 head honcho

Amazon has added Microsoft's ex-Windows Phone General Manager to its stable of talent. Could this be a big name hire for developing the Amazon Kindle phone?
The former Microsoft man is named Kindel, Charlie Kindel, so we'd say he has the proper pedigree to help Amazon break into the market with an Amazon Phone or Kindle Phone, whatever the name ends up being. And despite the naming coincidence and the news breaking on April 1, we're confident there's nothing phony about this story.
"I'm building a new team going after a totally new area for Amazon. I'm hiring cloud and mobile developers and testers, program managers, and product managers," Kindel commented, immediately sending the internet into a flurry of rumors and sidelong interpretations.

Amazon phone to hedge its bets with a reasonable 4.7-inch display

According to Digitimes, so called "industry supply chain sources" have put a ruler to the Amazon Phone. They say the handset will have a 4.7-inch display, which would put it in between an iPhone 5 and a Galaxy S4 when it comes to visual real estate.
This supposed fact, combined with a rumored low asking price, suggests that Amazon is going for the casual smartphone user, one who does not want to spend a fortune and would like to be able to carry the phone in their pocket with ease.

Amazon phone will miss rumored Q2 2013 release date, still looking like a Foxconn product

It's all still the stuff of rumors, but previous rumblings pegged the Amazon Phone (or maybe Kindle Phone) as arriving in the second quarter of 2013. Now it looks as though that deadline will make a delightful whooshing noise as it blows past.
Somewhat infamous manufacturing mogul Foxconn is said to be on deck to produce the dirt cheap device. Its subsidiary Ensky Tech made the original Kindle Fire and now produces the Kindle Fire HD and the Kindle Paperwhite, so it would be no shock at all to see the two collaborate on the project.
As far as what's causing the delay, a report at Digitimes blames the "engineering verification test period due to issues related to its mobile platform," saying that the process, "has not been as smooth as expected."
This is surprising, given the great deal of experience Foxconn and its partners have in this field. It has us wondering what Amazon could have up its sleeve that's making the phone such a bother. As always, rumors are like cheap takeout; they just leaving you hungry for more.

Foxconn to manufacture Amazon phone for summer 2013 release date

This might be the most concrete rumor yet regarding the Amazon phone. Supposedly the online retail giant has inked a deal with Foxconn to manufacture its first smartphone. Industry insiders also expect a summer 2013 release.
According to the reports, the phone may also have a dirt-cheap asking price of $100-200 (around £60-120/AU$95-190). This would fall in step with Amazon's strategy with its Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Paperwhite line, devices sold at highly competitive prices in order to get customers investing in Amazon's media library.
While the involvement of Foxconn is not surprising, since the company has become a prolific manufacturer of all things electronic, it is somewhat troubling given its reputation for overworked, striking employees. Maybe the Amazon phone will be one of the first devices assembled in American Foxconn factories?

Amazon Phone rumors catch fire

Rumors of an Amazon Phone started to catch on in late 2011, when analysts began predicting the Amazon Phone's existence, despite a lack of hard evidence.
That hard evidence, by the way, still hasn't made an appearance, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning away.
Kicking things off, analyst firm CitiGroup reported that it discovered the existence of the then-unheard of Amazon Phone through its "supply chain channel checks in Asia."
Analyst Mark Mahaney led the Amazon Phone charge, proclaiming that the bookseller was in cahoots with infamous Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn to build the device.
Other analysts agreed: "A smartphone would be a logical next step for Amazon," ABI Research's Aapo Markkanen told Wired in May.
"The lock-in effect of a great content ecosystem shouldn't be under-estimated," he continued.
Bloomberg fed more fuel to the Amazon Phone fire in July, when its anonymous sources ("people with knowledge of the matter") confirmed that Amazon and Foxconn remained hard at work on the smartphone.
Further, the same report claimed that Amazon is busy hoarding as many wireless patents as possible to defend itself from the inevitable infringement suits that follow any modicum of success in the market.

Windows Phone executives board the good ship Amazon

The summer heat must have helped the Amazon Phone fires spread, as July gave birth to yet another bout of speculation when two Windows Phone vets joined Amazon.
First Brandon Watson left the Windows Phone team to become Amazon's director of Kindle cross platform, then Robert Williams, previously Windows Phone's senior director of business development, joined Amazon as its app store director.
Of course, the mere fact that the two previously worked on Windows Phone in no way proved that Amazon had brought them on to work on its own phone - but then again, it's not that far of a stretch, is it?
To further stoke the flames, it appeared toward the end of July that Amazon's innovation center - Lab 126 - had been hiring workers to develop new mobile devices that would run on wireless carriers' networks.
In other words: an Amazon Phone. Imagine that.

Amazon Phone release date

In CitiGroup's original 2011 report, the firm predicted that the Amazon Phone release date would fall in Q4 2012, though that's looking less and less likely the more time passes without a peep from Amazon.
That doesn't mean it's not going to happen, of course, but other rumors since then have been somewhat less optimistic about the Amazon Phone release date.
Less than a week after Bloomberg's report that Amazon and Foxconn still had their collective noses to the grindstone, another source (this one from Amazon's component suppliers) told the Wall Street Journal that the bookseller was already testing Amazon Phone prototypes.
That report claimed that the device could go into production during the second half of 2012, and that the Amazon phone release could fall in late 2012 or early 2013.

Amazon Phone price

From the beginning, speculators foretold that an Amazon Phone would hit the low end of the price spectrum.
In part, it's assumed that Amazon would sell the device wholesale (or maybe even at a loss) in order to further expand its digital content distribution.
Every pair of hands holding an Amazon Phone comes with eyes, ears and a wallet, after all.
CitiGroup analyst Kevin Chang said in 2011, "For a normal brand like HTC, they need to price the product at $243 to make 30 percent gross margin. If Amazon is actually willing to lose some money on the device, the price gap could be even bigger."
That means the Amazon Phone price could sink as low as $170 or even $150, though Amazon would surely make up the difference somehow - just like it does with the Kindle Fire.

Amazon Phone specs

There's been little speculation about the Amazon Phone's specific hardware features, considering there's yet to be any official word - or even a measly leaked prototype image - to go off of.
But the WSJ's source claimed that the Amazon Phone's screen size would fall somewhere between 4 inches and 5 inches, placing it right in line with top Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 andHTC One X.
The Amazon Phone would at least need to perform well enough to reliably stream content and be integrated with Amazon's various media and cloud services, and the better the resolution, the more attractive the device would be for streaming video.
Battery life will be another important factor, as nothing will turn the average consumer off faster than being interrupted in the middle of "Real Housewives" by a pesky low power warning.

Will the Amazon Phone run Android?

An Amazon Phone is almost dead certain to run on some variation of Android, as Google and Amazon, despite occasionally finding themselves at one another's throats, can just as often be found sitting snugly in one another's pockets.
According to some reports, the retail giant has even considered stocking Google tablets like the Nexus 7 in its stores, indicating that their rivalry can't really be all that heated.
Besides, Windows Phone is sat firmly in Nokia's camp, at least for the lifespan of Windows Phone 8 - Microsoft's not about to throw away years of build-up just to hop in bed with Amazon.
That leaves BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, who - to be fair - is rumored to be shopping the BlackBerry 10 OS around for a licensing deal.
But there's a chance BB10 will be more or less dead on arrival, and either way, an OS swap at this point would just be too risky for Amazon, who'll already be tossing the dice with a smartphone gambit in the first place.
Furthermore, Citigroup's initial Amazon Phone report from 2011 claimed that the bookseller would have to pay royalties to Microsoft, all but spelling out that the phone would be another Android device.

Amazon phone: 10 things we want to see

TechRadar's Amazon Phone wish list

We at TechRadar aren't immune to the charms of an Amazon Phone, even if it does only exist in the imaginations of analysts and tech bloggers at the moment.
That's where this wish list of Amazon Phone features came from, as well, after all.
On the list are such far-fetched notions as an at-cost Amazon Phone price point, something that's basically been assumed all along, as well as slick cloud and streaming integration, a refreshed app store, exclusive shopping discounts, and killer hardware features like NFC.
Whether any of that will actually come to fruition - or whether the Amazon truly even exists or really is just a figment of a thousand overactive imaginations - will be seen only when Amazon decides to step out of the shadows and into the firelight.
Here are 10 things we'd like to see in the Amazon phone, in order for it to make a dent in the smartphone space.

1. Discount the Amazon phone price

Amazon was willing to sell Kindles at a loss in order to grow the device's base from zero to hero.
Just how far is the online retail giant willing to go to cut the Amazon phone price in order to entice customers?
It's hard to justify a brand-new smartphone purchase at non-contract prices. What can Amazon do to sweeten the deal for upgraders and off-upgraders alike?

2. Tie in services

It goes without saying, but Amazon's going to have to do a superb job integrating its cloud storage, web-based MP3 service, and streaming video collection into a phone.

These service gems all sound like familiar offerings from Google, Apple, or Microsoft: To be different, Amazon has to raise the bar with what it offers (more storage!) or how it allows users to interact with its other services.

3. Play nice

We get it. Amazon wants to use Google's operating system as the base for its phone (or so the rumors go), but Amazon doesn't want to allow users to easily tap into Google's goods and services.
Competition is fair.
But, please, for the sake of usability - don't just throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Amazon might not like Google Play, but that doesn't mean it has to ditch every Google-branded app out there, especially if they exist in a market that Amazon doesn't play in (Maps?)

4. Update the appstore for Android

Sorry, Amazon. Your appstore leaves a lot to be desired.

Refresh the interface, quicken it up, allow users to more easily navigate through apps that they might want to try out, and consider adding some social features to help one's friends recommend diamond apps in the rough.
Or, feature weekly rotating lists of must-have apps that are worth downloading based on editor feedback, not just because they're inexpensive.

5. Integrated discounts

Free apps. Amazon's Gold Box. Shipping discounts for Amazon Prime members. Affiliates.
There's a lot of magic surrounding many of Amazon's core services and cold, hard cash.
Amazon, extend these options to your phone.
Court larger developers to offer better free applications.
Offer rolling discounts for apps (people actually want to use) in special time-limited sales that you tease throughout the week.
Allow users to make money by recommending apps to their friends, colleagues, and peers.
Bring the mercantile magic of Amazon dot com into Amazon Phone (or whatever it'll be called).

6. Primed for Prime

Here's the big one: What benefit do Prime subscribers get if they pick up an Amazon phone?
Big discount? Increased access to services (like streaming video)? More storage space?
Prime is Amazon's big change to sell its phone on the cheap and incentivize owners to pay more, annually, for a more exclusive slice of Amazon's pie.
Make the bonuses killer, and you've just locked in a user for an extra $160 (or so) over the course of a two-year contract.

7. Ignore exclusivity, choose and stick to a release date

Well, for carriers at least. Nothing would hurt Amazon more in its quest to establish a foothold in the smartphone market than allying itself with a single carrier - worse, a carrier that isn't the top in the market for good ol' 4G LTE service.
Amazon needs to capitalize on its brand recognition and, as the saying goes, "go big or go home."

Pick one chip that supports GSM and CDMA for non-4G LTE service and allow customers to switch carriers without hassle (unlock that phone!)
And as far as a Amazon phone release date, pick one and stick to it. Don't keep it pushing it back like other carriers.
Think worldly, Amazon.

8. Consider prepaid plans

The big buzzword today is "prepaid" smartphones, but the concept does come with a bit of hassle – the smartphones cost a bit more, might not be as good as some of the top-shelf items you can purchase, and prepaid providers just don't have as good of a reach as the cellular industry's big guns.
If Amazon were to somehow flex its clout and get the main carriers to work more harmoniously with prepaid service plans (or the smaller carriers that support them)… that would be quite an eye-opener, wouldn't it?

9. Amazon phone specs need killer hardware

It goes without saying (again), but Amazon might not want to slink into the smartphone market with a low- to medium-powered device.
You can't just Kindle Fire your way into the market from absolutely nothing. To make a dent, Amazon will have to make a splash.
It's unclear how Amazon would go up against some of the market's leading manufactures and their speedier, faster, larger, and more feature-packed devices (that release on a more consistent timeframe).
But there's a little thing called the iPhone 5 that's going to start capturing a lot of attention as we inch closer to the end of the year.
Amazon needs to capture the buzz with, quite simply, a "cooler" phone.

10. NFC for you and me

Amazon's an online shopping powerhouse.
So, turn the phone into a powerhouse shopping device: Give users a super-easy method for comparing what they're looking at against products in Amazon's database to determine whether they're getting the best possible deal.
Or, better yet, incentivize users who price match with their devices by giving them a small discount on Amazon.com purchases itself.

Help users remember what to buy and where to buy it (if not from Amazon).
Tie in Amazon's reviewing service so users can recommend, on the fly, Amazon-hosted alternatives for items they might want to buy.
And then there's the biggie: Tie NFC payments to one's Amazon account and allow users to pay for products using their phones, not their wallets.
Transform the offline shopping experience with a smartphone the same way you transformed the online shopping experience with Amazon's.









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Windows Phone 8.1's next trick? How about 2K smartphone displays

Microsoft might be in the process of unleashing Windows Phone 8.1, but it seems the Redmond company isn't going to stop at Cortana.
Nokia Power User has picked up on the scent of a new General Distribution Release 2 version of Windows Phone 8.1 on its way to hardware manufacturers. Supposedly the new software release is adding some oomph to Microsoft's mobile platform with support for 2K display resolutions and Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 805 processor.
Prior to this stealthy update, we've seen Windows Phone 8.1 support a maximum display resolution of 1080p and up to a Snapdragon 800 processor as seen on the Lumia 930.

High-octane specs

With this new software build, we could newer phones equipped with these bleeding edge specs. In fact, leaks are already starting to drip.
According to a GFX benchmark we spotted on April 2, a new Windows Phone handset christened the Qualcomm LiQUID boasts a 1440 x 2560 resolution and is equipped with a Snapdragon 805 processor.
And on January 20, there were rumors a Nokia Lumia 1520 Mini would feature a pixel rich 4.3-inch, 513ppi Full HD AMOLED screen.
With all the big phone shows and Microsoft Build out of the way, it's anyone's guess when these monster handsets will make it to the real world. We've got our fingers crossed it's soon, but stay tuned as we're sure to hear more before too long.

• 2K, 4K, what the heck is all this Ultra-HD business about?

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IT professionals are dissatisfied with file transfer processes, concerned about security

Sixty-three percent of IT professionals are frustrated with current file transfer processes and 40% believe manual file transfer processes are inefficient, according to a survey conducted by business software company Ipswitch.
When asked to relate file transfer processes to activities generally seen as unpleasant, 61% of respondents said manual file transfer was as enjoyable sitting in traffic.
Twenty-two percent of respondents said current file transfer issues prevented them from providing customer assistance more quickly.
"Ipswitch sees the market moving more towards systems with secure, manageable, scalable file transfer, at its core, of course," said said Ken Allen, Product Marketing Director at Ipswitch, via email. "But manual file transfer is more than just file transfer. Around that core, we see the need for tightly integrated transfer automation that allows IT to manage the exchange of any volume of transfers, while efficiently processing files to prepare them for the next step in a business process."
Thirty-five percent cited lost productivity as a significant side effect of file transfer processes, and nearly 32% had concerns over the security and potential for data loss.
"The challenge in getting managed file technology right is balancing the needs of collaborative file sharing versus integrated file-based system-to-system integration," said Allen. "End users demand simple file sharing solutions that are quick to get started while IT demands compliance to corporate and regulatory security standards. It's easy to focus on one end of this while ignoring the other."
To gather data for this report, Ipswitch conducted a survey of more than 100 IT professionals.

• Find out what an Ipswitch survey revealed about IT professionals and their New Year's Resolutions.

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Google's Project Ara could become much more than a smartphone

The first developer conference for Project Ara is going down at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. this week, and it sounds like the three-person team and its cadre of contractors are gaining some headway.
Ara is set to debut in January 2015 as a "gray phone" to allow for maximum customer customization. With the perpetual talk of customization, the question of whether a Project Ara product actually needs to be a phone at all came up during the conference.
Project leader Paul Eremenko noted that because Ara has been planned as a global device, carriers haven't been assigned to the phone. In fact, Ara's vast modular capabilities mean that there will be pieces devs and users can swap out that allow the "smartphone" to become whatever they want it to be.
David Fishman, a manager on the Ara team, further explained that a Project Ara device (which has been up until this point thought of as a phone), wouldn't need to have a SIM or Wi-Fi module and "still would be able to run an operating system and do what you'd want to do without a connection."
"What is a phone is challenged when you can pick and choose pieces on our platform," he concluded.

IoT and beyond

The notion of Ara being an "internet of things" device was also mentioned, and though Eremenko said the device could be anything, Google intended Ara to be "ultimately a great smartphone first and foremost."
"If it can be other things, we encourage that," he continued. He elaborated that Google decided to hone in on creating a smartphone so something was created, leaving "developers to explore different branches of that."
With Ara being modular, the company is completely open to the prospect of devs and users to explore all the opportunities presented.
"We want to be as helpful but as hands-off as possible for the ecosystem," Eremenko said.
Could we see Project Ara tablets, laptops, smartwatches and more? The opportunities seem endless.
The ambitious project will hold two more developer conferences - one in July focusing on software and another in September about hardware again.

• Google has been a treasure trove of innovation lately; read about its drones and Project Tango

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First Project Ara phone release settles on January 2015

The first phone from Google's ambitious modular device project could go on sale as early as January 2015.
That's the target coming out of the Project Ara Developers Conference, going on today and Wednesday in Google's hometown of Mountain View, Calif.
While the idea is to have a Project Ara handset be almost completely customizable, the phone that could go on sale in less than a year will be a $50 (about £29, AU$53) "gray phone," essentially a frame, screen and Wi-Fi radio.
The Project Ara team, lead by former DARPA member Paul Eremenko, had previously announced a target launch time frame of early next year, but this is the first time a release month has been pinned to a Project Ara device.

What's up with Ara

The conference is offering plenty of details on Project Ara, which will let users pick and swap the parts of their phone using various tiles, or modules.
For one, those who like a little extra sensory stimulation may be pleased to learn textured modules are planned. The team also described how personal photos could be turned into customized module skins.
During a Q&A break, the team was asked whether there will be any protection built into modules in case a user loses one. Eremenko answered, "to a large extent, that's a question for module developers."
"[It] seems like it would be a useful feature to have in a lot of modules, especially modules that store a lot of information," he continued. "We don't envision it as a platform feature. It would be on a module-by-module basis."
Google is opening up Project Ara hardware creation to developers, save for a few key components. Therefore, it would rest on developers' shoulders to decide what features and protections are built into their modules.
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2OEKL1w__4#t=32225
Longevity is one Project Ara's selling points since users won't have throw out an entire phone when it reaches the end of its life, instead swapping out parts as they fail. Eremenko said that as far as the "endo," or endoskeleton of an Ara device, goes, his goal is to have one last 5-6 years. The contact pads that connect modules to the endo are designed not to wear out, either.
Naturally Ara phones are meant to run Android, but there's still work to be done as the OS doesn't support the drivers found in the modular parts. The good news for the Project Ara team, which is beholden to a tight two-year deadline, is that it has the dynamic, problem-solving force of Google behind it.
And for those who were crying "copycat," Project Ara's David Fishman said Google had been working on a a modular phone before it saw what Phonebloks was developing. He said the Project Ara team and Phonebloks founder Dave Hakkens have worked together to create a community around modular devices.

• Should you be wary of Google drones?

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BBC iPlayer downloads now available on all recent Android devices

The vast majority of BBC iPlayer users on Android are now able to download content to watch offline after the corporation updated the app on Tuesday.
Following the initial roll out on 11 devices in September last year and a careful expansion since, the Beeb has now announced that all smartphones and tablets running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and above are in on the act.
That means 96 per cent of all current users will be able to grab episodes of Eastenders, Match of the Day, Panorama to view when Wi-Fi connectivity isn't available and without rinsing their mobile data allowance.
The updated app is now available to download from the Google Play Store.

Testing, testing

The opening up of the feature to practically all users goes against the Beeb's recent policy of testing it on every device before widening availability.
As such, with 5,000 phones and tablets now able to access the complete set of features, the Beeb says users of some devices may experience a few bugs.
"We believe that the vast majority of devices will enjoy a great video downloading experience. However, with more than five thousand different phone, phablet and tablet models able to install the BBC iPlayer Android app, there are likely to be a number of devices that exhibit bugs concerning download behaviour, wrote senior product manager David Berlin on the BBC Internet blog."

• On its fifth birthday, we looked at how the iPlayer sparked a TV revolution

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Hands-on review: Toshiba Satellite P55t 4K Ultra HD review

It's easy to clamor for 4K laptops, 4K TVs, 4K screens everywhere. But it's also important to ask, "Why do I need or want 4K?" Toshiba looks to answer that question with its Toshiba Satellite P55t 4K Ultra HD, a 15.6-inch clamshell with a popping 3840 x 2160 IGZO screen. That's a whopping 221 pixels-per-inch, for those counting.
But what use does a screen this sharp have? Photo slash video editing and design work, that's what.
The Japanese vendor has positioned this razor sharp laptop against the MacBook Pro 15-inch with Retina display as one designed for folks in industries or education tracks that rely heavily on these tasks and skills.

Backing up that pixel-packed panel is a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, an AMD R9 M265X graphics chip with 2GB of GDDR5 memory, 16GB of RAM and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. To store all of those 4K-sized videos and photos, Toshiba threw in a 1TB hard drive. Plus, four – yes, four – USB 3.0 ports to move those files as quickly as possible.

It's about content creation, not consumption

At least not yet, though with 802.11ac networking, this laptop is ready for the day when Netflix goes 100% 4K. Anyway, there are two aspects to the Satellite P55t that will perhaps instill the most faith that this laptop is geared toward quality, high-res digital media creation.

First up is that every P55t box will include a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5, arguably the most advanced photo editing software around. This move is essentially Toshiba saying, "Photographers, this laptop is for you." Whether it will work is another thing, but it's undoubtedly a powerful gesture.
Second is that this 221-ppi display has been Technicolor-certified using Chroma Tune, digital imaging company Portrait Display's color-correcting software. Essentially, the P55t's 4K display's color gamut is as true to life as Technicolor deems possible.

In collaboration with Toshiba, every P55t will come preinstalled with the app, which you can then use to calibrate the screen's color reproduction to your liking. You can even set color profiles to activate upon launch of attached apps.

Sharp on the inside, dull on the outside

That list of specs is undeniably top end, and 221 is one of the highest pixel-per-inch counts we've seen on a laptop, just a hair above the comparable MacBook Pro's 220 ppi. But numbers aren't everything. And while everyone will tell you that looks aren't either, they matter when you're spending more than $1,000 on a product.

Despite its brushed aluminum finish and chrome-lined clickpad, the P55t looks just like any other Satellite laptop in silhouette. It's a look that never really wowed me, and it's certainly nowhere close to Apple's trademark aluminum unibody construction.
That said, Toshiba did upgrade to a frameless, LED-backlit keyboard for this model, and to great effect. I just wish the overall design aesthetic and frame materials matched the premium components and software to make for a holistically luxury package.

Early verdict

While I wasn't wowed by the design of the P55t, those specs are undeniable. (Did I mention it also sports a Blu-ray drive?) And for such a sharp screen, it wasn't as bright as I would expect a pro-grade display to be. Perhaps that aspect of the panel was still under testing ahead of launch.
Despite this, I can't help but respect Toshiba's effort – it's one of the first out of the gate with a 4K laptop, and should be commended for that endeavor. And 802.11ac Wi-Fi sets this machine up for the next five years, at least.
Directly stacking up this 15.6-inch beast against the leader for designers, photographers and videographers is an audacious move, to say the least. At a starting price of $1,499 (about £896, AU$1,601) for its April 22 launch, the Toshiba P55t 4K Ultra HD could make quite the splash in Apple's pond.









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The Galaxy S5's fingerprint scanner can be tricked just like the iPhone 5S's

You'd think Samsung might have learned from Apple's mistakes when it comes to fingerprint technology, but you'd be wrong.
Just as the iPhone 5S's Touch ID fingerprint scanner was fooled by hackers mere days after the phone's release, the Samsung Galaxy S5's has already been tricked as well ... with the exact same method.
Just like the iPhone's sensor, the Galaxy S5's fingerprint-based security can be bypassed using a special rubber mold.
The delinquent who wants to create such a bypass key would need to first lift the phone owner's fingerprint and then stamp it onto rubber - no small feat.

Not quite Fort Knox

Does that mean there's nothing to worry about? As TechCrunch points out, you might have bigger problems if someone is going so far as to duplicate your fingertips just to get into your phone.
However, the particular implementation of the fingerprint reader in Samsung's Galaxy S5 makes this hack-around slightly more problematic, since unlike on the iPhone S5, owners of the latest Galaxy can use fingerprints to authenticate with PayPal.
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhLZZWBn5Q#t=24
So someone with access to your fingerprint could potentially also have access to your PayPal account, which is clearly not a good thing.
Of course, as has been said, either way the criminal will have access to your email accounts on your phone, but once that's done, they can do just about anything anything.

• You know what doesn't have a fingerprint scanner? The Samsung Galaxy S4.

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iTunes Radio UK launch may be imminent as Apple courts advertisers

Apple's iAd man in the UK has been briefing advertising agencies on the inner workings of the iTunes Radio platform suggesting a launch on these shores may finally be on the horizon.
According to a tweet sent by Hannah Allen, the head of marketing at OMD UK, her firm was paid a visit by Paul Wright who manages Apple's advertising platform from a London base.
She tweeted: "Great to see @paulwright66 back at @OMD_UK to take us through Apple's iAd and iTunes Radio - can't wait for that to hit UK!"
Despite calls from fellow Twitter users for her to reveal the precise launch date, Miss Allen is yet to follow up the tweet.

The wait goes on

The iTunes Radio launch in the UK has been awaited since Apple rolled out the free, ad-supported streaming platform to US users alongside iOS 7 in September 2013.
Apple had pledged an early 2014 launch across the pond, but aside from the occasional appearance on random devices in the UK, it is yet to make it's official bow.
Surely now we can't be far away. What price the announcement of a UK roll-out at WWDC in June?

• Is Apple planning a radical iTunes overhaul?

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PAX East 2014: PAX East 2014: our top 5 moments

Our favorite moments

We survived the writhing mass of costumed convention goers at PAX East 2014 to bring you previews of the latest in gaming hardware (and some software). Just kidding – we had a blast at the east coast's biggest and baddest video game show. In fact, it was so much fun that we'd like to highlight the coolest moments from the show:

But first: PS4 vs Xbox One vs PC

It's been six months since Sony and Microsoft started their next global battle for living room gaming domination. The Sony PS4 and Xbox One have been neck and neck in some ways, while the race has definitely been more one sided in others.
But there's no way we can forget the sneaking, silent 10-ton gorilla in the room: the PC. PAX East 2014 was our first chance to ask fans at such scale which is best since the launch of these sleek, miniature monoliths of gaming. (Plus, it was a lot of fun.) PC Gamer Editor-in-Chief Evan Lahti and I attempt the answer the "why" behind the overwhelming response you'll see below:
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h1vvYfFksA

MSI GS60 Ghost Pro

Gaming laptops no longer need be the hulking beasts we've known them as for years, but they're no less power-packed on the inside. Proof of that is the MSI GS60 Ghost Pro, a 15.6-inch gaming laptop that comes in at around four pounds. And behind its 2880 x 1620 screen lies the latest Nvidia mobile GPU and Intel Core i7 processors.
The best part? It played Metro: Last Light at 3K resolution with little issue – with the detail settings pared down a bit, of course. Now, imagine what it could do with less demanding games pushing that many pixels.
Read our hands on MSI GS60 Ghost Pro review

Steam controller gets a date

In perhaps the biggest scoop of the show, PC Gamer learned from an unnamed source that Valve's Steam controller is expected to launch between October and November of this year. If that's the case, it's reasonable to expect at least one Steam Machine to launch alongside the controller this fall.
But which will it be? And how much will the things cost? Well, we know that the Alienware Steam Machine will be "competitively priced" against the PS4 and Xbox One. It's bound to be hotter than usual this winter.

Astro Gaming A38 gaming headphones

The Astro A38 headphones are an extremely luxurious pair of Bluetooth headphones with a comfortable fit and topnotch audio quality, Kevin Lee says. They might not have the best noise canceling and isolating qualities, but that's to be expected with an open-ear design.
From afar, people will still almost immediately recognize the A38s as a pair of Astro headphones and that's part of the appeal. The gaming audio giant has taken its years of experience and made a great pair of regular headphones, but we'll have to wait until we can put some serious listening hours in before we can deliver our final judgment on the Astro A38. You'll be able to grab these cans for $229 (about £ 136/AU$ 243) after they exit "beta testing" – whenever that happens.
Read our hands on Astro Gaming A38 gaming headphones review

Titanfall goes road tripping

Respawn Entertainment, the folks behind the next big thing in shooters (do we really need to call it out by name?), held a panel for its first game and shared lots of details. A perfect way to cap off PAX East, the Titanfall makers shared the first-ever image of Titanfall: Expedition.
This is the first map pack for the "OMG I'm piloting a death machine!" simulator, and will introduce three new environments to the game. The most notable of which is Swampland, a tree-littered everglade that should make for interesting Titan-toppling traversal when the map pack launches this May.

Members of the team also spilled the beans on some upcoming features, like hashtags. Yes, just like the ones you use on Twitter, you'll soon be able to join fellow players by joining "hashtag" groups in the game. Just make a hashtag in the game, share it, and start a new community. A social network predicated on robots, lasers and explosions is the best kind.

PC Gamer predicts PC gaming's future

With an esteemed panel of PC gaming luminaries, PC Gamer Editor-in-Chief Evan Lahti discussed what's on the horizon for PC gaming. The promise of virtual reality was discussed with Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey, while early-access development was covered with Star Citizen creator Chris Roberts.

Sony Online Entertainment head John Smedley and Nvidia's marketing chief Tom Peterson were also on hand to chat online gaming and hardware's role in the industry, respectively. And we caught the whole conversation on video – check it out already!

• Missed GDC 2014? We've got you covered.

The best of the rest

These halls were bursting with costumed video game fans of all ages. This is PAX East, one of the largest, most popular gaming conventions on the east coast, and we've seen the latest in gaming hardware and software … but mostly hardware.
Looking to grab one of those new gaming laptops with Nvidia's latest GPUs? Vendors like Origin, MSI and Gigabyte all touched down in Boston to show off their latest wares. If you're hot on accessories, check out the freshest peripherals from Logitech, Astro Gaming and many more.

And here come the goods. Check out what we went hands on with at the show:

The hottest hardware

• MSI GS60 Ghost Pro
• Astro Gaming A38 gaming headphones
• Gigabyte P35W v2
• Logitech G502 Proteus Core gaming mouse
• Sennheiser G4ME ZERO gaming headset

The latest scoops

We also caught a few major bits of news from this year's chillier Penny Arcade Expo. Companies like Titanfall maker Respawn Entertainment and Civilization creator Firaxis hosted major panels with exciting announcements. Not to mention a serious scoop elsewhere from the show floor.

In an unexpected turn of events, an unnamed source revealed to PC Gamer that the Steam Controller will launch sometime between this coming September and November. In addition to that morsel of news, the source also told our PC Master Race overlords that we can expect at least 500 Steam OS games in time for launch this fall.
Another major announcement: Firaxis pulled the curtain back on Civilization: Beyond Earth. This marks the developer's first strategy game to take place outside the confines of our atmosphere since Alpha Cenaturi way back when. Naturally, PC Gamer has an in-depth interview with the upcoming game's lead designers.
To cap off PAX East in a way, Titanfall creators Respawn Entertainment held a panel looking back at the game's development and what's to come. In addition to the new map pack called Titanfall Expedition, which is due out this May with three new environments to stomp around in, the panel talked up a few new future features.
The team hinted at new play modes, which will be introduced for free. In particular, Respawn is interested in launching experimental variants on existing play modes, or "Rifts", for limited periods and keeping what sticks with the community.
"It's a very different way of playing the game," lead designer Justin Hendry said on the panel. "We look at it as The McRib. If it were super popular all the time, it would be a staple on McDonald's menu."

It's Storytime ... time!

Harmonix co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos already regaled us with tales during this year's Storytime panel. But Rigopulos also hinted at the future of music gaming. The Harmonix head talked up Fantasia: Music Evolved, an "explorative" music game based on the famous Disney film.
"In some ways, Fantasia is a return to our earliest routes," Rigopulos said of Fantasia. The Harmonix head was referring to the more PC software-like releases of the studio's past, like The Axe. Fantasia stands to sell plenty more copies, though.
"Another thing I want to talk about today, is just how fricking trippy it is," the CEO gushed before showing off a video detailing the scenes players will witness while playing Fantasia. He was not kidding. Fantasia, playable only on Xbox One and Xbox 360 with Kinect, will launch this fall.
Rigopulos also talked more about its first-ever early-access game, Chroma, a rhythm-based first-person shooter that looks as if Daft Punk pumped Call of Duty full of dubstep bullets. Players move around and fire their weapons to an overarching beat in this class-based, team-focused shooter. Want to land that sniper rifle shot? Better fire on the downbeat.
"We're working on a bunch of different axes of experimentation with this," the Harmonix chief said. "I think of [Chroma] as a package of experiments around an idea." Chroma has no release date yet, but has been launched in an alpha stage for select Steam users.
There's a lot to take in, and it's already been a fun, glorious ride. Join us right here or from our Twitter and Facebook channels for the best from PAX East 2014 and future events.









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Average UK broadband speed rises 3Mbps in just six months, but disparity reigns

The average speed of broadband in British homes has risen to 17.8Mbps, according to new figures published by Ofcom on Tuesday.
The speeds have jumped by 3Mbps in the six months leading up to November 2013 and are up from the average of 3.6Mbps when Ofcom began releasing reports six years ago.
However, while the UK's major towns and cities are enjoying unprecedentedly fast downloads, rural areas are still lagging behind, Ofcom bemoans.
In the same six months, the average speed in rural areas rose from 9.9Mbps to 11.3Mbps. That's a smaller increase and a much lower average speed.

Much to do

"The growth in superfast broadband and the rise in average speeds is testament to the investment in the sector. But the benefits are not shared evenly across the UK," Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said.
"There is more work needed to deliver wider availability of broadband and superfast broadband, particularly in rural communities but also in some locations within cities to enable wider access to fast internet."
Meanwhile, Virgin Media tops the pile in terms of the fastest speeds offered in the UK, through its 120Mbps, which averaged download speeds of 114Mbps over a 24 hour period.
The news comes on the day Sky and TalkTalk revealed it is working on bringing Google Fiber-like 1Gbps broadband to British homes.

• Did the government fail rural communities when dishing out superfast contracts?

Via Inquirer



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Video: PS4 vs Xbox One vs PC: PAX East 2014 takes a stand

It's been six months since Sony and Microsoft started their next global battle for living room gaming domination. The Sony PS4 and Xbox One have been neck and neck in some ways, while the race has definitely been more one sided in others.
But there's no way we can forget the sneaking, silent 10-ton gorilla in the room: the PC. It's been there since the beginning, transforming, experimenting and pioneering behind the scenes. The PC has been honed to an impossible edge since we started gaming on it 30-plus years ago.
On the other hand, consoles have transformed and evolved, succeeded and failed in the biggest – and arguably most bombastic – displays. One look at any E3 press conference will say as much.
But the Penny Arcade Expo is a different animal entirely. It attracts a certain kind of gamer, a more refined or devoted one, perhaps. (You know where we're going with this, right?)
Regardless, PAX East 2014 was our first chance to ask fans at such scale which is best since the launch of these sleek, miniature monoliths of gaming. (Plus, it was a lot of fun.) PC Gamer Editor-in-Chief Evan Lahti and I attempt the answer the "why" behind the overwhelming response you'll see below:
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h1vvYfFksA

• Now, it's time for PS4 vs Xbox One – Final Destination, no items

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Apple CarPlay headed to aftermarket cars via existing Pioneer receivers

Apple has confirmed that its upcoming iPhone-powered CarPlay dashboard features won't be limited to brand new cars.
Dashboard media receivers from Japanese electronics company Pioneer will begin supporting CarPlay beginning in early 2014
CarPlay support in these receivers will arrive in the form of a firmware update to Pioneer's existing line of 2014 NEX units, which range in price from $700 (about £420, AU$750) to $1,400 (about £840, AU$1,500).
Pioneer announced the upcoming CarPlay support update via press release, and Apple later confirmed the news to The Verge.

'Siri, take the wheel'

Apple CarPlay lets users control iPhone functions like media playback and navigation using Siri voice commands and touchscreens in their vehicles' dashboards.
The system is dependent on having an iPhone 5, iPhone 5S or iPhone 5C physically tethered to it.
Previous reports suggested that vehicle maker Mercedes-Benz was looking into aftermarket solutions for CarPlay support, but no one announced anything official until now.
CarPlay is being included right off the production line in 2014 vehicles including the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Ferrari FF and Volvo XC90 SUV.
Honda, Hyundai and Jaguar Land Rover are also expected to include CarPlay in new vehicles soon.

• Here's everything TechRadar knows about the iPhone 6

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Samsung, HTC pondering smartphone casing switcheroo

Samsung has been taking it on the chin from critics and customers alike for its flimsy plastic smartphone housings, but a new report claims the Korean company may soon switch places with HTC for a metal chassis.
DigiTimes had its ear to the ground in Taiwan today, turning up a pair of rumors straight from the supply chains of Android smartphone kingpins HTC and Samsung Electronics, who may soon be feeling a sense of déjà vu.
While the two manufacturers seem to have differing philosophies when it comes to what the casing of their flagship handsets should be made from, the report claims HTC could soon offer a version of the HTC One (M8) with a cheaper plastic housing.
Ironically, sources close to Samsung claim that company also appears to be considering a switch of its own, with a variant of the just-released Galaxy S5 that features a "metal-alloy chassis" instead of plastic - a rumor that has persisted since last fall.

Different strokes

The shift from metal to plastic appears to be purely economical on HTC's part as a move to target the "entry-level to mid-range" smartphone market in Asia, where devices costing $700 (about £419, AU$749) or more are considered an unaffordable luxury.
Supply chain sources claim HTC could reduce the contract-free price of its HTC One (M8) to as little as $400 (about £239, AU$428) in such markets, simply by switching from metal to plastic.
The report paints Samsung's own about face from plastic to metal as more of a defensive move intended to attack HTC at the higher end of the smartphone spectrum, even as they focus on devices further down the food chain.
Judging from the sparse details available, it appears buyers in the US and Europe won't have the option of buying a metal Galaxy S5 or plastic HTC One (M8), which is likely to disappoint some die-hard fans of each manufacturer.

• Will Apple go metal or plastic for iPhone 6? We've got the latest news.

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Here's our first look at the Amazon phone, apparently

Amazon's phone may have just made its first appearance for the camera, if these new pictures are to be trusted.
The pictures posted by BGR show a handset with five front-facing cameras which corroborates previous rumours that the phone will be able to track our heads in order to produce 3D effects.
There's also another camera on the rear, while the screen is reportedly a 4.7-inch 720p deal. Inside, we're told, is an unspecified Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 2GB of RAM.

Meanwhile, TechCrunch is reporting that Amazon's phone will only offer "limited 3D effects" out of the box, with the main features reserved for "just a few built-in gestures."
Amazon's said to be working on two different phones, but only the high-end flagship, codenamed Duke, will pack the fancy feature.

Duke it out

Duke will come with a heavily forked version of Android that uses parallax effects "similar" to iOS, but to a more extreme degree which should offer a glasses-free 3D illusion.
BGR says that the second, entry-level phone will follow "sometime after" the flagship and will have a "very competitive" retail price.
3D has been tried on phones before - we're looking at you, LG Optimus 3D - but has never quite taken off. So it'll be interesting to see how Amazon plans to change the game.
Word on the street right now is that Amazon's phone will make its big debut in June. Hold onto your hats.

• One thing we know definitely exists is Fire TV, and here's our review

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Video: You're going to want an iPhone 6 if this is what iOS 8 is like

We've already put together a pretty substantial wishlist of features we'd like to see in iOS 8, and with June's WWDC on the approach we're beginning to get a better idea of what to expect from Apple's next OS update.
Some features are simple yet much-needed tweaks that'll make iOS a more user-friendly experience, like a more cooperative Siri that can interface with third-party apps.
Apple is also expected to jump aboard the fitness bandwagon with the brand-new Healthbook app, although this has left us wondering where such an app would collect its data. Could the iWatch be an actual, real thing?
Here are eight features iOS 8 may be packing come WWDC 2014:
YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9K3OSRFgqw








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Hard drives: 25 best deals in the UK for April 2014

There's never a better time to buy storage. Be it external storage to backup your archive, internal storage for your games and files or SSD to boost your computer speed, they have never been cheaper and prices are so low that they now rival that of blank optical disks like Blu-ray or DVD.

Desktop hard drives

There are two types of external hard disk drives, those powered by USB and those that need a separate adaptor. The latter is known as the external desktop drive, is usually cheaper per gigabyte but also way bulkier. The flip side is that they carry significantly higher capacities compared to their smaller counterparts, reaching 6TB per drive compared to 2TB for the USB-powered ones.
Transcend 1TB 2.5 inch USB 3.0 Military-Grade Shock Resistant Portable External Hard Drive | £51.99 | Amazon
WD Elements Portable Hard Drive 1TB Black | £49.99 | PC World
Samsung M3 Slimline 1.5TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive | £49.99 | Amazon
Toshiba 1TB Stor.E Basics USB 3.0 2.5-inch External Hard Drive | £47.98 | Amazon
Seagate Expansion 1TB Mobile External Hard Drive | £47.96 | CCL Online
WD My Passport Ultra 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Drive with Auto and Cloud Backup | £85.99 | Amazon
WD My Passport Ultra Slim 1TB Blue | £55 | PC World
Hitachi Touro Mobile MX3 500GB Mobile External | £34.94 | CCL Online

Portable hard drives

These are becoming increasingly more popular thanks to a dramatic change in the computing landscape. Portable external hard disk drives in general use smaller laptop drives. Shipments of so-called 2.5-inch hard disk drives, which are more compact than their desktop cousins, have been significantly going up due to strong demand and ample supply, which has caused the price difference between 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives to shrink.
WD My Book 3 TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive | £90.99 | Amazon
Samsung 2TB D3 Station External Hard Drive | £58.98 | Ebuyer
LACIE Porsche Design P'9233 external hard drive - 2 TB | £94.07 | Pixmania
4TB Touro DX3 Desktop Hard Drive | £105.99 | Ebuyer
Seagate 2TB Expansion USB 3.0 Desktop Hard Drive - Black | £57.97 | Amazon
WD 4TB My Cloud Personal Cloud Storage | £159 | Amazon

SSD drives

The average price of SSD, which can be either internal or external, has been falling down significantly since the beginning of the year as new products pushed mature ones off the shelves and caused retailers to discount them down to about 33p per GB, the lowest SSD storage has ever been. It is still however about 10x more than what you'd pay for traditional hard disk drive storage.
HyperX 120GB SATA3 3K 2.5-inch Gaming SSD Drive | £55.99 | Amazon
Kingston Technology 240GB Solid State Drive | £80.99 | Amazon
Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5-inch Basic SATA Solid State Drive | £182 | Amazon
Seagate 600 Series 480GB 2.5inch SATA-III SSD | £159.99 | Ebuyer

Internal hard drives

Surprisingly enough, you might be better off buying external hard disk drives and taking out the disks to use internally. This is one of the quirks of demand and supply. As consumers move away from desktop PCs to tablets, laptops and other devices that are not traditionally upgradable, the demand for internal hard drives fell. Still, they tend to be the ones with the cheapest cost per GB and have the highest capacities around.
Toshiba 2TB Internal Hard Drive 7200RPM | £56.46 | Ebuyer
Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB SATA II 3.5" | £37.62 | CCL Online
WD 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive | £41.57 | Amazon
Seagate ST1000DX001 3.5 inch 1TB Hybrid Internal Solid State Drive | £59.98 | Amazon
2014 could well be the year when storage suddenly becomes more interesting thanks to a number of new technologies like SMR or helium-fillled. That in turn will bring down the cost of storage for end users.



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Twitter agrees to acquire data firm Gnip

Twitter has agreed to acquire social data technology provider Gnip. The acquisition will enable Twitter to provide enhanced user data to third-parties.
Boulder-Colo.-based Gnip was founded in 2008. Gnip was Twitter's first data partner and it was the first to gain complete access to Twitter's data archive.

What the acquisition means

"Together we plan to offer more sophisticated data sets and better data enrichments, so that even more developers and businesses big and small around the world can drive innovation using the unique content that is shared on Twitter," said Jana Messerschmidt Twitter's VP of Global Business Development & Platform, in a statement.
It is unclear whether Gnip will maintain its brand once the acquisition is complete. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.
Gnip has provided data services for other sites, including Facebook and WordPress. It is unclear whether the acquisition will impact those partnerships.
"We'll be able to support a broader set of use cases across a diverse set of users including brands, universities, agencies, and developers big and small," said Gnip CEO Chris Moody, in a statement. "Joining Twitter also provides us access to resources and infrastructure to scale to the next level and offer new products and solutions."

Gnip's history

Gnip raised $3.5 million in Series B funding after its first year, but struggled in 2009, when it laid off seven of its 12 employees.
Last year, Co-Founder and CTO Jud Valeski relinquished his position as CEO to Chris Moody, who had been serving as President and COO since 2011. It is unclear what will happen to Gnip's leadership once the acquisition is complete.
Twitter and Gnip declined to provide additional comment beyond the statement.

• Twitter also buys $36 million worth of IBM patents.

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Google eyes smart contact lenses with built-in cameras

Google's latest Glass-related patent sees the tech giant laying claim to the tech that puts tiny cameras into smart contact lenses.
The patent, supposedly coming out of the top secret leaks-on-pain-of-death Google X lab in 2012, outlines a pair of lenses that each incorporate a camera, capable of capturing images and analysing light, colour, patterns, objects, faces and motion.
Supposedly, these smart lenses would be controlled by blinking, and could also incorporate a zoom function giving you superhero style incredi-vision.

Eye caramba!

The patent also outlines a system that could be useful to those with visual impairments - by connecting up to a device that delivers voice alerts, the camera/phone combo can warn if it's not safe to cross a road, for example.

This isn't the first we've heard of Google eying up contact lenses - not only did Google's Glass product head hint that contact lenses are on the way, the last patent that surfaced detailed a pair of lenses that could analyse blood sugar and other biological data from your tears.

• But how about that Google Glass, then?

Via PatentBolt









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Review: Sony Alpha A6000

Introduction

It's been a few months since Sony took the decision to officially drop the NEX moniker from its E-mount compact system cameras, renaming all of its interchangeable lens cameras with the Alpha brand, regardless of whether it is an A mount or an E mount (those formally known as NEX) camera. This means that some Alpha cameras (such as the A6000) take E mount lenses, while others take A mount lenses.
Since then, the most exciting product to make its debut has been the Sony A7 and the Sony A7R, the company's full-frame E-mount cameras which have been causing waves. Although their prices compare well with other full-frame cameras like the Canon 5D Mark III and Nikon D800, they are still a stretch for many.
So – the solution? Sony has taken the decision to introduce what amounts to an APS-C version of the A7 in the shape of the A6000. As of now, two of the NEX lines will be discontinued – the Sony NEX-7, which was the camera aimed at the semi-pro audience, and the NEX-6, which sat at the top of the enthusiast range.

Sony expects NEX-7 customers will head in the direction of the A7, while NEX-6 customers will be catered for by the new A6000.
The A6000 has a similar look and feel to the A7. It features a newly designed 24.3 million pixel APS-C CMOS sensor. Like the device in the A7, the sensor has a gapless on-chip design, which is supposed to increase light collecting efficiency.
The sensor also has 179 autofocus points, of which all 179 are used for phase detection, but 25 are also contrast detection points for the camera's hybrid autofocusing system.
This autofocusing system facilitates Sony's claim that the camera has the fastest AF in the world, for those cameras with APS-C sized sensors at least anyway – and that claim stretches to DSLRs as well as other compact system cameras. With the A7 it also shares features such as Lock on AF, Eye AF and AF area settings.

The camera is also equipped with Sony's latest processor, the Bionz X, something which is also found in the A7/A7R. Sony claims this to be three times faster than the previous generation.
Along with a faster speed, the Bionz X processor facilitates a maximum sensitivity speed of ISO 25600.
On the back of the camera is a tiltable LCD screen, which is joined by an electronic viewfinder, which is the same 0.39 inch device as found in the recently launched RX10 bridge camera.

As well as ditching the NEX name, Sony is ditching the NEX menu system, unifying menus across the entire range of Sony cameras – taking the lead from existing Alphas. This should mean that anybody familiar with any type of Sony camera can easily pick one up from higher (or lower) in the range and be able to get started with it straight away.
As is starting to become pretty much standard, the A6000 comes complete with inbuilt Wi-Fi and NFC technology. Like other recent Sony cameras, it is also customisable with apps which can be downloaded to increase functionality – for instance, a time-lapse app is available.
Battery life for the A6000 is around 310 shots, which doesn't compare very favourably with a lot of DSLRs. The Nikon D3300, for instance, has a battery life of more than double that. Previous Sony cameras we have tested before (such as the A7R) have struggled to last a full day, so it will be interesting to see how the A6000 copes.
As standard, the A6000 comes with a 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 power zoom – the same lens that is packaged with the A5000. You can also buy it body only, with a large range of different E mount lenses now available. As it's a high-end enthusiast camera, perhaps the perfect all-round lens for this camera is the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 optic, but that comes with a much heftier price tag.

Sitting at the top of Sony's enthusiast range of CSCs, the A6000 competes fairly closely with the likes of the Fuji X-E2, Olympus OM-D E-M10 and Panasonic G6.

Build quality and handling

Taking a look at the A6000 there are a lot of similarities between it and the NEX-6 which it sort of replaces.
Those photographers which appreciate a lot of dedicated dials and buttons will probably enjoy using a camera like the A6000 which has plenty of these available.
The grip of the A6000 is ever so slightly more pronounced than on the NEX-6, making it easier to hold, especially when using the camera one-handed. There's also a nice texture to the camera, which helps with getting a good grip on it, as well as lending it an air of quality.

Where the NEX-6 had two stacked dials on top of the camera – one for changing the shooting mode (such as aperture priority, fully automatic or fully manual mode) and another for setting the aperture or shutter speed – depending on the mode you were shooting in, the A6000 has two dials next to each other on the top of the camera. While this takes up more room overall, it makes the experience of shooting easier and less prone to making accidental settings changes. The second dial (shutter speed or aperture) is very easily reachable by the thumb, which is handy for making quick changes.

As with most other Sony cameras of late, most of the buttons on the a6000 are customisable. Sony knows that users like to set for themselves their most commonly used settings, so it's nice to see that brought across here too. There's also a type of quick menu available by pressing the function button – again everything that appears in this menu can be swapped out for something you find you use more often.
A small custom button can be found on the top of the camera, useful if you want quick access to one particular setting often, such as wireless settings.

It's something we keep repeating, but we continue to be baffled by Sony's decision not to include touchscreens on some of its CSCs, especially given it definitely has the technology elsewhere in the portfolio. It seems especially odd not to use one here on the A6000, when the lower specced and cheaper NEX-5R does use one. Including a touchscreen would make it extremely quick and easy to set autofocus points and to navigate through menus, but perhaps the company believes that more experienced photographers are not in favour of touch-sensitive devices.
Setting the autofocus point on this camera is something I find to be infuriatingly laborious, especially if you're the type of photographer who wants to change AF point often. To speed things up slightly, I set the C1 button to control Focus Area, but this still requires you to press the button, set Focus Area to Flexible Spot, then use the directional keys to move around the screen.
There seems to be no way to cut out this middle point, so every time you want to change it, it takes far longer than it should. This frustration is made worse by the fact that you have the ability to get straight to the AF point selection on other cameras, such as the A7. For a camera of this level, it really should be available too and makes using the A6000 more difficult than it should be.

The menu, having been made uniform to other Sony cameras, is much easier to navigate, with a sensible arrangement into different tabs for camera settings, custom settings, wireless settings, playback settings and other general settings, such as date and time.
While viewing an image in playback, the Fn button becomes a dedicated Wi-Fi button allowing you to share images with your smartphone or tablet. You can either select a single image, all images or multiple images. Once you've set up the Wi-Fi connection with your phone or tablet once, you won't need to enter a password again and it's a reasonably quick process. If you have an NFC enabled device it's quicker still, as all you'll need to do is tap the two devices together to create a connection.

Performance

Sony is producing some of the most exciting and consistently well performing cameras on the market. Having been extremely impressed with the A7 and the A7R, I was very keen to find out how, what amounts to an APS-C version of those cameras, performs.
I'm pleased to report that the A6000 is capable of producing some fantastic images. Colours are wonderfully saturated, and although this can occasionally err towards over vibrance, generally, the effect is very pleasing.
If you want to experiment with how colours appear straight from the camera, you can adjust Picture Styles. There are a number of presets, such as Landscape, Vivid, Clear or Monochrome, which can be customised, such as by adjusting the contrast. The good thing about Picture Styles is that they can be shot in raw format, so you'll have a "clean" version of the image should you need it at a later point.

The A6000 renders detail very well. Image smoothing starts to become evident from around ISO 400, but only if you're examining at 100%, and only in some areas of the picture. Generally detail is kept well throughout the low-mid sensitivity range, only starting to become problematic for normal print size images from around ISO 6400. ISO 3200 is probably the highest I would feel comfortably shoot with if I wanted to make prints of A4 or below, but I'd go up to ISO 12800 for sharing images online at small sizes.
Examine images taken at ISO 1600 and you'll find areas of the image have a slight painterly effect, but it's not noticeable at smaller, or normal, printing sizes.
The camera's metering system does a good job in general at helping to produce accurately exposed images. However, I have found on several occasions, the A6000 is prone to underexposure, meaning you'll need to dial in some exposure compensation (if shooting in aperture priority or shutter priority) to get a balanced image. This is particularly problematic if you're shooting something with high contrast, and it can help to switch to spot metering.
The automatic white balance is decent at reproducing accurate colours, but some artificial light sources can confuse it slightly, causing it to produce warm or yellow toned images in some circumstances. If you're finding this to be particularly problematic, you can switch to a more appropriate white balance setting, such as Incandescent.

Sony has been very keen to push the fact that the A6000 has the fastest autofocusing speeds of any APS-C format sensored camera. Although I don't think the speeds match those of the smaller Micro Four Thirds format, it doesn't seem to be far off, and, especially in good light, focusing speeds are very impressive.
When light levels drop, the camera will hunt around a little longer, but it's rare for a false positive focus to be displayed on the screen, and generally I have been impressed with lower light speeds – it's definitely an improvement over the NEX-6.
Along with Picture Styles, you can also choose to experiment with Picture Effects. Unlike the Styles, you can't shoot using Effects in raw format, so you'll need to switch to JPEG only shooting first, and it also means that you'll be stuck with whatever filter you use. It's a shame that these can't be shot in raw format, or raw and JPEG format simultaneously, like you can with Olympus or Panasonic cameras. Nevertheless, there is a good selection available, and they're worth experimenting with to see if you particularly like any – my favourites are Toy Camera and High Contrast Monochrome.

As standard, the A6000 is packaged with a 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. It's a good all-round performer for your first optic, giving you a good range of different focal lengths, and you can also get some pleasing shallow depth of field effects while using it. If you can stretch to the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 optic, it's a worthwhile investment, as that extra reach can be useful, and generally images shot while using it are sharper. Other E-mount lenses, such as the 50mm f/1.8 optic, are also worth investigating, and it's nice to see such a wide range available now.
Battery life doesn't seem to be quite as bad as the A7/R, probably due to the smaller sensor size, which is positive news. You'll probably still need to purchase an additional battery if you're planning on taking the A6000 on any long trips though, just to be on the safe side.

Image quality and resolution

As part of our image quality testing for the Sony A6000, we've shot our resolution chart.
For a full explanation of what our resolution charts mean, and how to read them, check out our full explanation of our camera testing resolution charts.
Examining images of the chart taken at each sensitivity setting reveals the following resolution scores in line widths per picture height x100:

JPEG

Full ISO 100 image, see the cropped (100%) versions below.

ISO 100, Score: 30. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 200, Score: 30. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 400, Score: 28. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 800, Score: 28. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 1600, Score: 26 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 3200, Score: 24. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 6400, Score: 20. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 12800, Score: 20. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 25600, Score: 20 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

Raw

ISO 100, Score: 30. (Click here to see full resolution image)

ISO 200, Score: 30. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 400, Score: 28. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 800, Score: 28. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 1600, Score: 28. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 3200, Score: 26 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 6400, Score: 26 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 12800, Score: 24 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 25600, Score: 22. (Click here to see the full resolution image)

Noise and dynamic range

We shoot a specially designed chart in carefully controlled conditions and the resulting images are analysed using DXO Analyzer software to generate the data to produce the graphs below.
A high signal to noise ratio (SNR) indicates a cleaner and better quality image.
For more more details on how to interpret our test data, check out our full explanation of our noise and dynamic range tests.
Here we compare the Sony A6000 with the Fuji X-T1, Olympus OMD-EM1, Panasonic GX7, Sony NEX-6, and Sony NEX-7.

JPEG signal to noise ratio

The A6000 puts in a reasonably consistent performance in terms of signal to noise ratio, sitting at, or near, the top of the chart here. At the highest sensitivities, it beats all of the other cameras on test, while, at the lower end of the scale it is very closely matched by the Fuji X-T1. The A6000 performs fairly significantly improvement from the NEX-7, and a slight improvement from the NEX-6.

Raw signal to noise ratio

At first impressions, this graph appears to show that the A6000 is the worst performer from the group for raw signal to noise ratio performance. While it's true that it's the lowest on the chart, this indicates that the Sony is favouring detail reproduction over noise reduction. Shooting in raw format allows you to apply your own noise reduction, depending on what you prefer.

JPEG dynamic range

For JPEG dynamic range results, the Sony puts in a good, consistent performance across range, only dipping at the very highest sensitivities. It is not quite matched by the Olympus OM-D E-M1 across all but ISO 100. The Fuji X-T1 is technically the worst performer on this test, but, this is a reflection of the Fuji's tendency to producer warmer images, whereas the A6000's colours are colder, but more accurate.

Raw dynamic range

The A6000 puts in a less impressive performance in terms of raw dynamic range. Here we can see that it is beaten by every camera on the test, being closest to the Fuji X-T1.

Sample images

Click here to see the full resolution image
The camera's metering system generally does a good job of producing well exposed images, but sometimes you might find you need to dial in some positive exposure compensation.

Click here to see the full resolution image
Skies are represented well, not seeming to be plagued by inaccurate cyan colors.

Click here to see the full resolution image
Images appear bright and punchy straight from the camera.

Click here to see the full resolution image
You can change Picture Styles to give the contrast a boost, which works well for certain subjects. This has been shot with the Vivid Picture Style.

Click here to see the full resolution image
The A6000 is capable of resolving lots of detail.

Click here to see the full resolution image
The A6000 is ideally matched to the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 lens.

Click here to see the full resolution image
You can also shoot in monochrome using Picture Styles. When you shoot in Picture Styles, you can also shoot in raw format, meaning you have a clean version of the image down the line should you need it.

Click here to see the full resolution image
The A6000's metering system has done a good job of preserving the highlights and shadow areas of this image.

Click here to see the full resolution image
Out of focus areas are rendered beautifully by the A6000.

Click here to see the full resolution image
A wide range of lenses is now available for the Sony E-Mount. This was taken with a 30mm f/3.5 macro lens.

Picture Effects

A number of different Picture Effects are available - these can't be shot in raw format.

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Picture Styles

Alternatively, you can shoot using different Picture Styles, which are available when shooting in raw format, and can also be customized.

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Sensitivity and noise images

JPEG

Full ISO 100 image, see the cropped (100%) versions below.

ISO 100 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 200 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 400 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 800 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 1600 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 3200 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 6400 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 12800 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 25600 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

Raw

ISO 100 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 200 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 400 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 800 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 1600 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 3200 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 6400 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 12800 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

ISO 25600 (Click here to see the full resolution image)

Verdict

Once again Sony has brought something intriguing and exciting into the compact system camera territory. Those who spent the latter part of 2013 gazing longingly at the A7, balking at the high price tag, will probably be especially be tempted by the A6000.
This camera comes very close to being the perfect compact system camera. It's so close it's frustrating.
A big part of this is the fact that setting the AF point is just too laborious, especially for a camera of this calibre. While it may seem like a small issue, it can slow down the process of taking pictures, and, that's pretty much the most important thing. I remain hopeful that Sony might be able to correct this problem with a firmware upgrade, as it's much easier to set the AF point using the A7/R. Focusing speeds are excellent though, only dropping a little when shooting in low light.
On a more positive note, the other elements of using the camera are very good. It's nice to be able to customise the various buttons to control what you want them to, while the scrolling dial for altering aperture and shutter speed is nicely reachable by the thumb.
Although the screen is, annoyingly, not touch-sensitive (which would have helped with the AF setting problem), it is at least tilting, which makes it useful for shooting from awkward angles. The electronic viewfinder is also great, being bright and clear and with an eye sensor which makes using it a seamless transition.
It's great to see Sony has revamped the menu system, giving all of its camera a unified look. It's a simple and easy to use menu, with everything where you'd generally expect it to be – it's certainly a welcome break from the confusing, and frustrating at times, menu system of the NEX cameras of old.
Coming to perhaps the most important aspect – image quality. It's great in the majority of situations, with the A6000 producing detailed, vibrant images. Low light performance is also good, with low noise and high detail, and not too much evidence of image smoothing except at the very highest sensitivities.
The 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens is a great all-round performer too. This is the kind of camera that you'll likely want to buy additional lenses for, and happily, Sony has a great range available now.

We liked

There's a lot to like about the A6000, not least the tilting, high resolution screen and the excellent viewfinder. Aside from the excellent image quality, probably the best thing about the A6000 is the way that all of the buttons, and the function menu, can be customised to suit your needs. It's a great way to work and means you can dump those settings you never use, and have quick access to the ones you use often.

We disliked

It's pretty annoying, for a camera of this standard, that there's no quick way to set the AF point. It really shouldn't be that difficult, or time consuming, to change the point, and if you're someone who likes to do that often, it can quickly make you grow tired of using the camera. It's something we mention often, but the lack of a touchscreen makes even less sense here. Sony has this technology readily available in its portfolio, so it remains a mystery why it is insistent on leaving it off its high-end products, especially when its biggest rivals, including Samsung, Panasonic, Olympus and the newest Nikon CSCs, are all embracing it.

Final Verdict

Sony has come within touching distance of creating the perfect compact system camera, but it's not quite there yet. Fantastic image quality, a small and sleek system, customisable buttons are all great to have, but there are a couple of niggles keeping it from true greatness.









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TechRadar Deals: Save 33% on Roku LT and get Sony sports headphones for £9.99

This great little box from Roku lets you turn any TV you have into a smart TV, and right now it's down to just £33.50 at Amazon.
As well as Netflix and BBC iPlayer you'll also have access to a huge list of other Roku channels and apps including Spotify, Sky's NowTV and Plex.
Alternatively, these Sony sports headphones are a bit of steal at just £9.99. That's a huge discount on their usual retail price of over £25 - get them from Amazon while it lasts.









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Buying guide: Best phone deals of the week

Best phone deals of the week

It's an exciting week for phones as you can now buy or pre-order three of the biggest and best Android handsets of the year- the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One (M8) and the Sony Xperia Z2, and better yet our reviews for all of them are in, so you can make an informed decision.
Our deals have two elements for each phone we're featuring: the first is one of the most popular of the week, with the most interest from consumers all over the UK.
The second is the total cost of ownership, where we work out how much the combined total of handset plus monthly cost will hit the wallet over the duration of the deal.
It may not be the best-endowed in terms of minutes or data, but for a lot of people the thought of owning an iPhone 5S and a contract for two years without spending more than £600 is a rather lovely one.

Samsung Galaxy S5

So, let's begin with the phone that's got the most tongues wagging, and this week people are jumping at a 16GB version of the Galaxy S5 on O2, which if bought through Mobiles.co.uk comes with unlimited minutes and texts and 5GB of 4G data.
This can all be yours for £33 per month with a one-off charge of £49. That's a 24 month contract which comes out at £841 in total.

While that's certainly a good deal, you can get the Galaxy S5 cheaper if you're prepared to pay more upfront.

Cheapest Samsung Galaxy S5 deal

The cheapest overall cost of ownership right now is available from Mobile Phones Direct, which gives you the handset on Orange with 250MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts for just £11.99 per month on a 24 month contract.
The catch is that you've got to pay £399.99 upfront for the handset, but it still works out remarkably cheap at just £687.75 over the 24 months. Of course you'll also have to live with a lot less data and minutes than the previous deal.

HTC One (M8)

The most popular HTC One (M8) deal of the week is identical to the Galaxy S5 one. It's available on O2 with 5GB of 4G data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts for a reasonable £33 per month, though that includes paying £49 upfront for the handset. As with the Galaxy S5 that totals £841 over 24 months.

Cheapest HTC One M8 deal

The cheapest overall deal for it this week is from Mobile Phones Direct, where you can get the handset on Orange with 250MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts for a paltry £11.99 per month.
There's a steep upfront charge of £389.99, but that still only means a total cost of £677.75 over 24 months, which is £10 cheaper than the best Galaxy S5 deal at the moment.

Sony Xperia Z2

The most popular Sony Xperia Z2 deal this week involves buying it on O2 from Carphone Warehouse. It comes with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 5GB of 4G data for £33 per month.
So far so similar to the HTC One (M8) and Galaxy S5 deals, but there's a slight difference in that you have to pay £149 upfront for it.

But it's not actually any more expensive as you then get £100 cashback within 30 days of the contract starting, so once you factor that in it still only costs £841 over 24 months.

Cheapest Sony Xperia Z2 deal

The cheapest way to get the Sony Xperia Z2 right now is through Mobile Phones Direct, which offers the handset on Orange with 250MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts, for £11.99 per month with a £364.99 upfront charge.
That comes out at £652.75 over 24 months, making it cheaper to own right now than the Galaxy S5 or HTC One (M8).

Apple iPhone 5S

Apple's flagship might be getting on a bit but it's still good enough to go toe-to-toe with the Android heavyweights.
It also carries a similarly high price tag, with the most popular deal this week coming courtesy of Mobiles.co.uk, which offers the phone for £33 per month with a £49 upfront cost, coming out at £841 in total.

For that you'll get the 16GB version of it on O2 with 5GB of 4G data, unlimited texts and unlimited minutes, the same deal in other words as the Galaxy S5 and HTC One (M8) are on.

Cheapest iPhone 5S deal

You can get the Apple iPhone 5S very cheap over the course of the contract, but only if you're prepared to buy a pre-owned handset.
Mobiles.co.uk is offering a refurbished 16GB version on a 24 month EE contract with 500MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts for £13.99 per month, alongside a one-off charge of £244.99. In all it will set you back £580.75.

Apple iPhone 5C

The iPhone 5S's cheaper sibling is still a pretty slick handset in its own right and this week the most popular way to get it is through Tesco Phone Shop, which sells a 16GB version of the handset on T-Mobile with unlimited data, unlimited texts and 500 minutes for £27.99 per month.
That's with no upfront cost, so over 24 months it will cost you £671.76.

Cheapest iPhone 5C deal

The Apple iPhone 5C can be even cheaper if bought direct from EE. The network offers it in 8GB with 500MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts for £13.99 per month, alongside an upfront fee of £229.99, coming out at £565.75 over the life of the contract.
Be warned that the 8GB version doesn't give a huge amount of room for apps and media, but if you're not going to be permanently downloading movies, taking a few pictures and playing larger games then you should find this to be OK.

SIM only

If you want to keep your old phone, or just buy a new one outright, then you can currently get a decent SIM-only deal from Three, which has an 'Ultimate Internet SIM 200' deal with unlimited 4G data, 200 minutes and 5000 texts for £12.90 on a 1 month rolling contract, so you're not even tied into anything.

• In the market for a cheap tablet too? Check out our list of the best budget options.

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