The Gadget Show

Basically a thread to talk about gadgets, big or small, wacky or useful, weird or wonderful...

So my contract is nearly up and am looking for a new phone (smartphone). Will defo not be going for a contract, over the 2 years it works out much cheaper to go on a sim only plan and to buy the phone separate.

What are the best phones out there, heard many good things about the Galaxy SII, I refuse to go for an apple product. How long will I have to wait til the SIII vs I5 war starts, any other contenders out there?

Regarding contracts, has anyone used giffgaff before? Havent seen a better deal around

I have a giffgaff sim, excellent service, great value for money. They piggyback on the 02 network though, so if your area doesn't get great 02 reception, might want to avoid.

As far as phones go, Android OS, with an Arm11 processor, and you are pretty much set. Once you root them, all the phones in a price range are pretty much the same.

edit: also mate if you want a giffgaff sim, order it from my order page, you get £5 for everyone who signs up with your link, either as credit, or once you have £10, paypaled to you

http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/johnwashing

Durrell wrote:I have a giffgaff sim, excellent service, great value for money. They piggyback on the 02 network though, so if your area doesn't get great 02 reception, might want to avoid.

As far as phones go, Android OS, with an Arm11 processor, and you are pretty much set. Once you root them, all the phones in a price range are pretty much the same.

Are you in the US or UK? For my usage, I'll not be using more than £10 every 3 months which is amazing.

Whilst the performance on phones might be the same, the functionality may not be. Rumblings that the SIII might be quad core and/or 3D and/or flexi screen... then again the battery may be gash

Also, Giffgaff to giffgaff is free once you've topped up (and runs out later than your goodybag/credit does). For instance my goody bag runs out at the beginning of February, but I'll be able to make free giffgaff to giffgaff calls until April. Pretty handy that if you run out of credit and desperately need to ring someone

So wait if you run out of free goodybag mins you need to have a prepay balance on your phone too?

Chris Chan wrote:

Are you in the US or UK? For my usage, I'll not be using more than £10 every 3 months which is amazing.

Whilst the performance on phones might be the same, the functionality may not be. Rumblings that the SIII might be quad core and/or 3D and/or flexi screen... then again the battery may be gash

London.

Functionality is normally fairly similar. If you buy a phone that has a much faster processor, and a brighter screen, and any number of fancy bells and whistles, it will kill your battery incredibly quickly (unless you undervolt, but that carries its own risks). To all extents and purposes, a quad core Arm cpu will not make your phone massively more useful because it will either be underclocked as to not make a massive difference, or eat battery.

Chris Chan wrote:So wait if you run out of free goodybag mins you need to have a prepay balance on your phone too?

if you run out of minutes while it's still active, you won't be able to make calls. Everything else still applies, so the free texts/internet is still free. alongside your goodybag though you can top up (don't think it lets you phone 0845 numbers or abroad with goodybag minutes). When I said credit, I meant your goodybag running out, not a prepay balance.

I still have a few months to wait anyways so Ill wait for the SIII launch at the World Mobile Congress. At the end of the day I like what I've seen from the SII anyways so that could always be a fall back

I text the US every so often, but the international rates look pretty good as well. Ill go on the £10 goodybag + some sort of pre paid balance. can't go wrong there.

Cheers for the help... Now to find a good watch, anyone know good watches between £200-600?

I would not recommend the HTC Sensation. Battery hardly lasts 6 hours, so I find myself looking for somewhere to recharge it by 1pm each day.

Chris, what kind of watch? If you are going for a 'proper' watch, cannot go wrong with TAG. Fabulous things they are.
If you want something a little bit different, Tokyo Flash have some amazingly clever bits of kit. The Kisai RPM is a particularly pretty watch

Yeah I am looking for a 'proper' watch as you say, nothing majoly flashy, just well built and fairly nice to look at. TAGs are a little out of my price range at the mo. Looking at a couple of Hamilton watches.

The Kisai looks pretty cool and pretty reasonably priced too, but not what Im looking for.

edit: having watched the video, I can see the Kisai being a pain in the ass having to press a button 4 times to be able to tell the time

Anyone know how to root a SE xperia neo?

Jason Morrison wrote:Anyone know how to root a SE xperia neo?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1276

there'll be a guide in this forum somewhere. XDAD are root when it comes to softmodding android devices

Ended up going for this.



Simple, but I like it

Liking the look of this tokyo flash actually
The Kisai On Air

Chris Chan wrote:Liking the look of this tokyo flash actually
The Kisai On Air

It looks cool, but is hard to tell the time with IMO.

easier than some of the other kisai's! I think it's fairly self explanatory though, minutes in digits and hour where it points. Just having a window shop neways, not something I would drop £120 on

Heard some good things about the Asus Memo 370T.

7inch tablet for $249 although wont get released over in the UK for a while

A tablet for 250USD is daylight robbery. If you are willing to spend more than £100 on a tablet, go all out and get the Archos 9, runs Windows 7

question for my ps3.how much bandwidth you need on your internet connection to play multiplayer on psn?

You'll need at least a 1MB connection to not have masses of lag.

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:I would not recommend the HTC Sensation. Battery hardly lasts 6 hours, so I find myself looking for somewhere to recharge it by 1pm each day.

It depends how you use it though. I'm using Incredible S for nearly a year now and so far no problem with the battery. Could last a full day, but I don't use my phone for internet much because I'm always at home. Try minimizing your animation and wallpaper etc etc, kill all running programs which you don't use, minimize the display brightness and all. Works wonders.

Samritpal Singh wrote:

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:I would not recommend the HTC Sensation. Battery hardly lasts 6 hours, so I find myself looking for somewhere to recharge it by 1pm each day.

It depends how you use it though. I'm using Incredible S for nearly a year now and so far no problem with the battery. Could last a full day, but I don't use my phone for internet much because I'm always at home. Try minimizing your animation and wallpaper etc etc, kill all running programs which you don't use, minimize the display brightness and all. Works wonders.

alternatively pick a phone with a decent battery

Chris Chan wrote:

Samritpal Singh wrote:

Jonathan Prendergast wrote:I would not recommend the HTC Sensation. Battery hardly lasts 6 hours, so I find myself looking for somewhere to recharge it by 1pm each day.

It depends how you use it though. I'm using Incredible S for nearly a year now and so far no problem with the battery. Could last a full day, but I don't use my phone for internet much because I'm always at home. Try minimizing your animation and wallpaper etc etc, kill all running programs which you don't use, minimize the display brightness and all. Works wonders.

alternatively pick a phone with a decent battery

Yeah true. The thing I like most about Androids is the battery. You cannot change iPhone's battery because it's built in so if that is fucked, you will have to send it to Apple and if your warranty expired it will be expensive. Android batteries are removable so it's easy to get a new one and plug it in.