Minibyte »

  • Nintendo partners with the Louvre

    April 11, 2012 @ 11:19 am | by Ciara O'Brien

    If you visit the Louvre museum these days, you might be surprised to see a new addition – the Nintendo 3DS.

    (more…)

  • The new iPad

    March 8, 2012 @ 1:35 am | by Ciara O'Brien

    So you wait, and you wait and finally, two iPads come along at once.

    Ok, not really.

    Apple announced an updated iPad at its event earlier, but also said it would continue to sell the iPad 2 – at a reduced price. So the iPad range has been expanded to two instead of a single model.

    (more…)

  • The phones of MWC: HTC

    March 1, 2012 @ 9:48 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

    HTC’s big announcement at Mobile World Congress was the HTC One family. The new range of phones come with Android’s latest version, Ice Cream Sandwich, and the new version of HTC’s  Sense interface.

    (more…)

  • That awkward moment when…

    February 28, 2012 @ 10:15 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

    Microsoft is continuing its Windows Phone face-off at Mobile World Congress. If you haven’t heard of it before, Microsoft offers €100 to anyone whose smartphone can beat Windows Phone in certain tasks.

    The challenger picks the task and they do it live in front of an audience.

    (more…)

  • Mobile World Congress 2012

    February 27, 2012 @ 7:48 am | by Ciara O'Brien

    It’s that time of year again. Mobile World Congress is kicking off this morning in Barcelona for what looks likely to be an interesting few days.

    20120227-084827.jpg

    We’ve already seen some decent announcements. Chinese mobile firm Huawei is touting what it claims is the world’s fastest phone, the quad core Ascend D, while LG is also showing a new quad core Optimus. More on these later, with some photos.

    Telefonica Digital, meanwhile, has just announced a partnership with Mozilla to develop new smartphones on an open platform based on HTML5. At the moment, many apps already use HTML5 features, but the new platform will give it access to core phone APIs. Messaging, web browsing, media players, games etc will all be developed as HTML 5 apps.

    The good news? Cheaper smartphones because the open platform has lower hardware requirements. Good for markets where smartphones haven’t taken off due to the high cost of the handsets.

    Also, it means that users have a truly open platform. So it’s easier for developers to deploy their applications And reach a wider audience.

    There’ll be many ways to access to apps, but there will also be an official marketplace for apps.

  • The PlayStation Vita: tempted?

    February 22, 2012 @ 10:41 am | by Ciara O'Brien

    Sony’s latest handheld games device, the PlayStation Vita, went on sale today in Ireland, just over two months after it debuted in Japan.

    (more…)

  • The last minute gifts: Smartphones

    December 23, 2011 @ 3:04 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

    It may be only one shopping day until Christmas, but I’d be willing to bet money that some people are still frantically working their way through their Christmas lists. So in the spirit of the season, here’s a few last minute gift ideas for the smartphone addict that might cross a few people of your lists.

    (more…)

  • What’s the meaning of life?

    October 28, 2011 @ 3:08 pm | by Ciara O'Brien

    If you’re to believe Siri, it’s something to do with chocolate.

    Yes, the iPhone 4S has gone on sale, and contrary to popular belief, it does come with smart-mouth digital assistant Siri included.

    Yes, the app is in beta, so there is no support for Irish customisation as yet. And there are some functions that won’t work here just yet, or so Siri tells me occasionally – usually when you’re trying to search for a business.

    But so far today I’ve been told what the weather is like, dectated an email, asked Siri some stupid questions and been told off for my language. So it’s safe to say it recognises exactly what I’m saying.

    I think I love this a little.

  • Phones, phones everywhere

    October 21, 2011 @ 11:48 am | by Ciara O'Brien

    Today’s Tech Tools column showed off the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray, which is one of Sony Ericsson’s latest smartphones. It’s one of pile of phones that SE has released lately.

    (more…)

  • It’s not the iPhone 5, but it’ll do. For now.

    October 5, 2011 @ 9:52 am | by Ciara O'Brien

    Well, that was a bit disappointing. No iPhone 5, just an updated version of the iPhone 4. There had been warning signs that the 4S was all we were going to get, but we still hoped that maybe, just maybe, Tim would do “One more thing…” and pull it out of the bag at the end.

    But no.

    So the iPhone 4S it is. And when you take out the expectations for an brand new iPhone, it’s not actually a bad upgrade.

    (more…)

Next Page »