Want to try out ROCKI ? Look out for an exclusive London event coming soon

Now ROCKI has already hit 25% funded on Kickstarter and the likes of Engaget have started to give the device some coverage too - we thought it would be an awesome time to reveal a secret London event for a limited few to try out ROCKI and also have a chance to get involved with helping us shape ROCKI's future.


"I Have a Gadget" will be hosting the event and we hope to be joined by some ROCKI staff too. 

If you want to take part then head over to our Facebook, or our Google+ page and let us know you are interested - alternatively email us at IHAG.ROCKI.Party@gmx.us with your name and contact details. We will be in touch in due course, with when and where !

We hope to do many more of these events in the future but for now, we would like to invite you to get involved.

ROCKI goes live on Kickstarter - The best $49 you will ever spend !

ROCKI goes live today, and we hope you will join us in backing this most awesome project on Kickstarter. If you don't know what ROCKI is then check out the video below after this short explanation.

The ROCKI device attaches to your hifi, you and your friends can connect to the ROCKI via direct wifi or over the local network via your phone.

You can have more than one phone controlling the music and create a music queue together. 

Invite your friends to connect to ROCKI and let them add their tunes to the playlist and free their music too! Head over the kickstarter today http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rocki/rocki-wifi-music-system-from-every-phone-to-all-sp?ref=live or goto http://www.myrocki.com/

Maybe the best $49 you will ever spend - keep an eye on our blog for more exciting news on ROCKI.

ROCKI - free your music from Harro Heijboer on Vimeo.

XBMC Wizard for OUYA and Android Xunity

Since there has been some changes to XBMC Hub over the last few months, I thought I'd update those asking where the best repo and Wizard are now, namely Xunity.

You can follow the instructions as before but rather than using the source "xbmchub" you replace it with "http://xfinity.xunitytalk.com"

Our original item on XBMC (for OUYA) was here

If you want some visual help, see the below You Tube.

SPIGEN Glas.tR SLIM 9H Premium Tempered Glass for Sony Z1

Having not used tempered glass on a handset before I was keen to see how good and how much of a difference the experience is over and above a regular screen protector.

In this case, the Sony Z1 comes with a protector which applies very well and has impressive performance, after several months of use it didn't have many marks on but it did love finger prints. 

When the screen was off you could see the marks all over the show. I've always just shrugged and thought that's part of the joy of owning a touch screen smartphone, sure you hear of screen protectors which use technology you never heard of to stop grubby mits marking your darling - but I'm always skeptical to these claims.

Now the fitting of the screen isn't easy because the screen is so ridged, and after my first attempt I ended up with a bubble that just wouldn't go way, no matter how hard I tried it just remained. I had left the case on to give me guidance for placement and that was a good plan - position placing was easy. 

So after a second attempt it went on great, although a small bit of dust did get in just under the screen by the bottom bezel but to be honest it doesn't show on the screen so - who cares. 

Once on, the screen protector shows its quality, its super sensitive and a far cry from the plastic of the default screenie - very happy with that. 

Finger print issues are greatly reduced, no idea how it works but it just doesn't mark - well nowhere near as easy that's for sure, munch on a bag of crisps (chips) and I'm sure it would show up though after a few handfuls of Doritos.

The light passes though well and while the camera on the front is covered by the glass rather than a hole for it, it doesn't effect performance at all. The sensor in the top left works great too and not impacted, the only gripe would be while the edges are smoothed so it doesn't get chipped. The weakness here would be around the top sensor, I think it would be very unlucky you got a chip there but I guess it should be pointed out non the less.

The protector is premium that's for sure, a large enough improvement to warrant an investment but I guess only once your current one has started to let you down. Its super sensitive, and very clear, in fact you hardly notice its there post install; I highly recommend this item to protect your Z1. If you haven't got a screen protector on right now, then seek this one out, high and low, and buy it. Make sure you have a case that has a screen lip on it to protect the glass though.

While we were very lucky to be sent one to try out, there is no stock of this Z1 version in the UK just yet. So you have to import but we hope to see this appear from Amazon soon - once we know we will post a link up here for you to buy.

Bald ? like music ? get iGrow

Yes, as mad as it sounds, this device helps your hair regrow* while you listen to music of your choice. Wow cool, and how much is said hair regrower ? A bargain at £665 or $1000 depending on your location of course. 

Its mooted as easily portable, so we wonder if we can use this in the car, train, bus, plane !? The down side is the obvious finger pointing and laughing thrown at your direction by various children and adults.

Anyway to get your very own iGrow, head over to http://www.currentbody.com and order one today.

* IHAG do not confirm or deny this product works.

Xbox One having plenty of problems at launch

Microsoft are having their name pulled through the mud yet again, not content with screwing users over on the Xbox 360 RRoD, the update to the Xbox One has been bricking consoles, with other issues being mooted too.

Various issues from a broken Blu Ray drive, to a Green Screen of Death as seen on You Tube today, and now the update is causing issues, this update remember is not optional. Seems odd that these reports are hitting social media so quickly so it must be a fair few in number having the problem.

Sky News have been reporting on the topic here

Worlds Thinnest Tracking Device for your Wallet, Luggage and more

Since we backed Chipolo (and the failed Gear Tag) a while back on Kickstarter we have started to see a few more variations of a bluetooth tag for locating your belongings.

However the new kid on the block is very thin, and can be used for many applications too. The app that's going to be launched alongside the card for both iOS and Android (and we hope there isnt a delay on the Android version) has a large range of features. 

Used with the free Find’em Tracking mobile app, this innovative tracking device uses Bluetooth 4.0 technology to alert the user when they are about to leave valuable belongings behind - so attached to your keys or slipped into your wallet you wont forget those important items at the pub.

The mobile app is integrated with Google Maps to help you locate the last place you left your baggage or wallet giving you the exact location of where they last were, assuming the bluetooth has been enabled we guess. You can flag the range of alerts from 20-40ft away, of course you can customize this to however you like.

Gary Nazarain had this to say about his new project

“Leaving your valuables behind is a problem that people face in their daily lives and can be avoided with the Find’em Tracking device and app,“ said Find’em Tracking CEO Gary Nazarian. “Since our product is the thinnest Bluetooth tracking device out there, it easily fits into a wallet and allows you to never leave your valuables behind ever again. And if you never loose your valuables in your wallet, your identity is that much safer.”

Of course not just your wallet can be protected, could be handy for luggage - get an alert your baggage is about to hit the carousel is a good example of its usage.

Want to know more ? than head over to http://www.findemtracking.com/ and order yours for a very reasonable $24.99 however this is a time dependent offer so act soon.

Find’Em Tracking Features:

·      Instant Loss-Prevention Alert – Set the distance from 10-150 feet and get an instant alert once out of range.

·      Reverse Tracking – Find’em Tracking card has a button to make your phone ring if users can’t find their phone.

·      Find’em Tracking Radar – Precise radar will indicate the radius between the user and their valuables and guide the user to find their valuables.

·      Google Maps GPS – If for any reason the user doesn’t notice the alert go off or their wallet is not within tracking distance, use integrated Google Maps to find the last specific GPS location.

·      Luggage Tracker – Alerts users when their luggage is ready to be picked up from the baggage claim terminal.


We will review the device once we get one, which is pegged for an early 2014 release. We are very excited about this product, as a traveler (not in the caravan white trash sense) and also forgetful it will be good knowing I'm not going to leave my stuff behind - which I sometimes do.

Review coming soon so, stay tuned.

Google : Moto X news coming soon, official

Could this be the the biggest hint we have had so far on the Moto X coming to Europe ? When asked about the Moto X coming to the Euro zone anytime soon we got this response.

Take that as it comes folks, however we are sure that this is the biggest hint yet, with an actual update, like soon.

Thanks to Lior for getting back to us so quickly too.

Nintendo goes Android ? Rumor in full swing

According to Android Headlines, Nintendo are working on an Android Tablet, however when we tried to look at the twitter account of the named "Nando Monterazo", who apparently spoke about this Android tablet over on Twitter earlier today. We got an error message on his account saying it didn't exist, so we may have to take this with a pinch of salt.

If true and the kid friendly tablet is in the pipeline would we see Nintendo releasing some of the older SNES games onto the platform ? Or maybe some of the more educational titles seen on the DS handheld, being ported over.

I'm sure that Nintendo are worried about an open platform affecting sales of games, or indeed if Nintendo 'fork' Android in the same way Amazon have done with the Kindle. Either way they will need to address pirate apks all over the show, and alternate app stores from appearing on the device. 

Could this start a race to get some cheaper gaming devices from Sony maybe creating their 'forked' version onto a Sony Z clone ? Of course Sony already have a mobile division and its no secret that Playstation Mobile Store sucks, so the same applies to Sony and to some extent Microsoft too.

Anyway back to Nintendo, I think this is a long shot, but it wouldn't be a shock. It would be a cheap way for Nintendo to kickstart some sales after the lackluster Wii U, which is still stalling. After all a small change to a free OS to fork it, put it onto a tablet with second generation hardware and stamp Mario and Nintendo on the tablet and you could find it sells like hot cakes.

I guess we should all wait and see .... consider the rumor flamed.

Curved displays are rubbish, but everyone will want it

While LG and Samsung battle it out for who has the most bendy screen award, has anyone stopped to think about how practical they are ?

The LG Flex which doesn't really flex, does bring an interesting idea to handsets. The phone will sit much better round your face and look very Star Trek like - not to mention the microphone will be much better positioned to pick up even the smallest whisper on an airport forecourt or any other loud environment.

So it may look good and have good technical points. However firstly what about watching a film, plenty watch them on their handsets, taking the LG as an example, wont that curve kinda ruin some aspect of the film ? maybe some optimization might help but then your not watching a film as it was intended - the same goes for games, the amount your finger travels across the screen will be 'faster' assuming a distance to glass ratio is the same as it is towards the end of the screen. Sound crazy ? Maybe so, however they are technical issues that need to be looked at. 


The Samsung effort takes a different stand point, it has curves at the side rather than having a big bend in the middle, like a weak boomerang. 

Humm so can you touch the screen here, on those curved sides, if not wouldn't that be a complete waste ? Will this mean a new set of headaches for the average dev who wants his apps out on Android. Maybe there would be apps that use this extra screen estate for hiding 'tabs' or using it as a way to park apps for later use. Who knows. Yes it opens up interesting possibilities but again are LG and Samsung thinking practical ? Wouldn't this also cause some fragmentation in screen estate.

Both handsets have the same issue, how do you protect them ? The LG will be difficult to hide in anything else than a jacket pocket. Putting it into your jeans or trousers will cause an unwelcome bulge (ok children stop laughing), not to mention how on earth do you find a screen protector for it - that would be a right bitch to fit, as would a case. Sure there are innovative products out there but how would 'ottercase' make a decent shield for the LG Flex ?

Talking for cases, the Samsung would even have a more horrible experience in regards to protecting your lovely investment. How would you stop those sides from hitting the floor and shattering the screen, at the same time keeping the sides useful and accessible to your fingers. 

Again that brings up a whole host of issues that need plenty of innovation to work round the issue. Expecting someone to come up with some ideas for a phone case that has a limited market outside a few geeks is a bridge too far, the case cost would be ridiculous. The only way round this would be going back to the nasty slip on cases from the 1990s, remember the Nokia 5320 cases ? Yuck. Again a screen protector that wraps round would be prone to pealing off quickly, a slightly different issue to the LG but still an issue that needs to be over come. 

So while they look great, and they might sell, the craze will pass quickly when the screens have taken some abuse, videos look strange and mobile phone insurance for these handsets will be expensive. 

Sometimes the tefal heads that come up with these ideas should think about how the regular Joe would live with their curved screens / phones. 

My bet is - not long.

Living with the LG G2 - Final Part

I haven't given our final thoughts on the long term test of the LG G2, which we started to review a while back.

Since the last time we looked at the LG G2, the Nexus 5 was released which we reviewed, and that's why we have struggled to finish the LG G2 review because we had see how that stood up against its cousin. The conclusion IHAG came to there was that the G2 is a better phone for many reasons, have a read of what we found here. When the Nexus 5 was released we compared camera samples, which some struggled to guess which was which despite the difference in quality.

So to update fully, despite all the UI problems we initially found on the G2, we can come to love it. It really is one of the best Android phones on the market today, if not THE best. Having used the phone daily for over a month now, the love is still growing. 

Having tried to find faults with the display of which we couldn't find any, its perfect, and over long term we have started to see the difference between that and its Samsung, HTC and Sony counterparts. The colour balance is great.

Battery often returns 6hrs screen time, plenty of Twitter, Google+, Email and phone called thrown in, on what we would consider a large amount of usage. 

One very nice feature in the contacts list is you can call the default number by pressing the phone icon, many other android OEMs force you to open the contact then choose a number. LG have made it simple to dial out quickly. 

The UI does have some smart features, yes there are loads I have hidden, removed or disabled, but the good few I use all the time are brilliant. Quick Memo which you can access by flicking the home icon diagonal right and upwards - meaning you can screen grab and add notes real fast. 

I love the way we can make note screens, address book, the phone dial-er, browser, into mini screens which you can move round ala "windows", brilliant for those times when you need to see more than one screen - such as pass information between screens or copy a phone number from a PDF or such. It really is a great user experience. However you have to weed out the good features from the chuff, of which there is plenty. You can hide the apps you don't want to see, and thankfully you can uninstall alot of the LG stuff you don't need as well, so you can keep bloat down to a minimum.

One feature I did like though was the emergency app called Safety Care, which you can get the phone to notify you if the phone goes out side of a designated area, or if a call is unanswered the phone will report a location of the handset, or when a phone has been left in standby for a long time again it can notify you of its location. Seriously good feature. If you call 999 or 911 the phone can auto report your location too, while you or the phone user calls emergency services. 

As I have said many times about the G2, stick a case on it, those plastics wont last long bouncing around, plus protect that rear button. LG G2 SPIGEN Slim Armor is a superb option.

The only gripe(s) I have about the handset is the location of the camera, it really didn't need to be so close to the volume up button. If my finger doesn't hit it once, its 100s of times a day, which could be very annoying but you do get better at finding the buttons over time. 

Camera could be a little better, hopefully that will be addressed, low light is ok but outside its just a 'class' standard. Focus takes an age, something we have seen in the N5 too.

Having looked at three of the best Androids on the market right now in recent weeks, the G2 is the best. Call quality, Audio output via high bit rate, awesome screen thrown in with superb battery life, really gives this a premium package. Plus LG are relevant again by making a top notch phone.

If LG can deliver on updates and stop the bad habits of old then maybe just maybe, they could knock Samsung off their perch, and become King of Korea...wouldn't that be something !?



Note: the Snapgragon Battery Guru also works on the LG G2, giving exception stand by performance.

UK PS4 pre-sales craziness

Almost all UK retailers have now sold out of PS4 pre-orders and only the larger bundles seem to be available at a high premium.

Game using their normal console release stupidity and "wanting" over £500 for their smallest bundle. 

Very have sold out of PS4s until February however the Xbox One is still on pre-order for Xmas delivery (although Very use Yodel Delivery possibly the worst delivery company in the world, so I doubt they will actually manage to deliver on time)

Not sure if that says more about stock levels or pre-orders levels, one thing is certain though. Demand is strong and if Europe follows the US in terms of sales, then Sony could have seriously dented Microsoft's plans for domination this generation. 

Its worth pointing out that the PS4 has sold 1 million on launch day alone in the US, thats Xbox's home turf. In Europe, PlayStation has always been king. Could we see Sony return to form after PS3 had a very tricky time, only of late has it outsold the Xbox on a global scale. 

Has Google found Big Foot on Google Earth ?!

A YouTuber has uploaded a video of a strange shape in the woods, could it be Big Foot ? Or maybe just someone playing Lord of the Rings in a costume. Maybe its just your casual everyday axe wielding nutter - who knows !

Take a look and let us know what you think :0)

Link to You Tube Video

The Fiesta-Five

Some crazy and wild projects have come and gone on Kickstarter and Dragon Innovation over the years, many are copies of items already on the market or they really are ground breaking. 

Now this item is truly unique.

While its not really electronic, it only has one button and supplies instant fun. 

Introducing ... The Fiesta-Five

The Fiesta-Five is a new product that lets you blast confetti from your hands whenever you give a high-five. It's re-loadable and shoots biodegradable confetti, adding color and noise to this classic celebration.

It's high-fives on steroids!

Sounds like fun right ?

Backing this project is only £12/$20, and should be completed just in time for New Years Eve, a time of high five a plenty. 

Want to know more !? Head over to Dragon Innovation to find out more - we have backed it, just for shits and giggles. Find out more here.

SPIGEN Slim Armor for LG G2

Since the SPIGEN Slim Armor for our Nexus 5 was such a great product, I thought we would take a look at the LG G2 version in the same range. 

The Nexus 5 version has a lovely matte finish, which doesn't attract finger prints, scratch resilient and doesn't reflect light. I chose the white version over the black as it makes it easier to see in photos of the product. Does the LG G2 version stack up just as good ? Any good ?

Yes, its fantastic is the answer however there are some drawbacks. Taking the case in its own merit, it fits like a clove, a good tight fit. The case feels very premium and safe guards the rear buttons and camera very well indeed, infact it makes it much easier to find that power, and volume buttons in a snap. I still wish LG had moved the camera away from this area as I still put my finger right on the lense but thats a different issue. 

There is a cut out in the top left corner of the rear of the phone (top right if you look from the front) we can only assume the aerial is up there some place. The cut out need to be a little 'deeper' as I think it could be exposed if the phone is dropped. 

SPIGEN have done a great job to make this feel non slippy, feels solid and confident it would survive a fall of any kind, again I'd worry a little about the cut out, but the lip around the screen is sufficient to protect it in the event of a pocket jump.

Drawbacks, IHAG you said drawbacks... Yes there are but I have to compare to the Nexus 5 to spot them, firstly the Nexus 5 has a matte finish, the LG G2 is glossy. Hummm if a case is in the same range then surely they would be made of the same plastics and rubber packaging, no not at all. Its a real shame because the N5 version really is the best case on the market for any handset right now. By contrast the glossy finish reflects light and shows up finger prints, certainly a pet hate of mine, I cant think of the Sony handset which was a finger print magnet with the same kind of rear, I think it was the Xperia Play......

The back of the N5 version of the case has 4 very slightly raised bumps, one in each corner, so the case isn't on the deck the whole time, that's also missing from the LG G2 version, again a simple detail you would think would be a feature on all cases.

Slim Armor on LG

Slim Armor on Nexus 5

I really like the case, and as I have said, taking the case on its own merit, for the LG G2 no case comes close, superb protection and feels good. Great quality and seriously recommended.

However you can help but think its a slight substandard version of the Nexus 5 case, despite it still being a top notch case. 

SPIGEN LG G2 Slim Armor is available on Amazon for £19.99

You can enter our competition for the Nexus 5 SPIGEN Ultra Hybrid case here

Google Now Website Updated

If you are new to Android 4.0 and beyond then you may not have played with Google Now just yet or guessed what its all about. 

Well Google have finally updated their website to help those that haven't quite got a handle on its abilities. 

Take a look over at http://www.google.com/landing/now/#

Both iOS and Android version are explained in detail.

They don't really cover the fact you can get Google Now to read you GMAIL, the benefit here is if you get a flight or booked a movie the confirmations are read by Google Now and you get a timely reminder, plus boarding cards post check in. 

However it does give a great explanation on everything else.

Remember the new version also supports "OK Google" commands, assuming you leave the voice in US English rather than proper good old fashions UK English. 

Mobile signal on Euro Flights - The final frontier

With the news that LTE and 3G maybe allowed to work above 3,000 meters (10,000ft) as well as using your device during take off and landing on European Flights, we feel a little disappointed, and we will explain.

Flying was maybe the only place you could not get a signal for an extended amount of time, quiet time if you will, during which you could use the time to keep your thoughts to yourself. Talk to the person next to you before realising that they are actually very annoying, listen to music, watch films - sleep, read a book, you know that kind of thing. 

By contrast train travel brings some horrendous experiences with regard to mobile phones. Nobody talks to each other these days - especially on commuter trains which are dead quiet, only for the silence to be broken 100s of times over by someone shouting in to the handset one of two things. 

"Yes hello darling Ill be home on 20 mins, I'm two stops away" - 

Maybe the most over heard telephone call of all time. When the train is on time and the commuter obviously uses this service daily, would there actually be any need for that call ? No there isn't. Second most regular thing, 

"Hello, Hello Hello.......Hello, I cant hear you, hello. I'll call you back can you hear me.........shit " repeat to fade.

Now with that in mind, doesn't that make flying just that bit more pleasurable !? Throw into the mix you can charge your phone on most flights now, we could be looking at a horrible situation where our fellow passengers could be barking orders at some poor soul thousands of miles away while the rest of us have to listen to that dross for hours on end, maybe there will be no end.

How would this change first class travel ? Where the more affluent or higher paid business people sit regularly and enjoy the quiet. I cant imagine a spreadsheet error going down well while I'm trying to sleep on a £2,000 seat while Gordon Gekko is trying to resolve said situation.

Thankfully this isn't possible on transatlantic flights, so there is a saving grace of not having to listen to Gordon on any flight to JFK anytime soon. 

Sometimes change is good, although this is purely about generating more cash to the airlines in some shape of form, and of course the mobile phone carriers. Customer experience for those of us that like to fly quietly, will be degraded.

"Would you like LTE enabled for European flights sir / madam ?! Sure that's £50 extra a month please." - Said a mobile operator in the not so distant future.

Lets hope the cost is prohibitive to the general public, or there could be riots in the air.

OUYA Exter­nal USB Stor­age Beta has arrived !

Yes, you read correctly, the OUYA external beta has arrived here at IHAG, we hope to give it a test drive shortly. 

If there is anything you want us to try out, we are happy to do so, post a comment below and we will get on it as soon as we can.

The details from OUYA HQ....

• Probably obvious, but just in case: connect your drive using the USB port on the back of the OUYA.
• L3 from the main menu safely ejects your drive. There may be bugs if you yank the drive without ejecting first (but if you want to be a maverick and do it anyway, feel free to report issues you see).
• Right now we only recognize 1 external drive at a time, so you won’t be able to put a bunch of drives on a hub and see them all.
• 
  
• We support FAT32 and NTFS, but not formats like exFAT.
• Games on external storage are currently associated with the OUYA they were downloaded from (so you can’t use the storage to transfer a game from one OUYA to another).
• 
  
• We expect that you’ll be receiving more system updates as we fix reported issues.
• We expect USB storage to be fully functional.  You can download games to it, move games to it, play games from it… just use it like a user!

Awesome !

Googorola Moto G - $179 mid-market phone that hits the sweet spot

The Googorola Moto G goes live, a very well priced handset aimed at those second tier market buyers. 

The 'G' includes Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 1GB of RAM, Android 4.3 - Kit Kat to follow in January. 8GB or 16GB models with a $20 additional for the double size storage. 4.5 inch 720p 330+ppi screen, and muti colour backs for the posers among us.

UK prices are the 16gb model runs out at £149.95  and the 8gb model is £119.95.

Shame the internal RAM couldn't be 2Gb, but the price is pretty eye catching regardless - especially if you have kids. 

You can re-live the launch here, complete with technical hitches, and Googorola showing off the Moto X - which is very helpful if you live in the US :/  thanks for that Googorola

Phones 4 U already have this on sale in the UK, Click here

Googles' Computer Says No

As some of you know I'm in the process of moving to the US from the UK. While the various logistical hurdles to overcome just require a bit of planning and of course some removal of money from my bank account, you would expect moving an account (in this case Google) from one country to another to be painless....

All I want to do is have a US registered address and access to the US Play Store with music and apps intact. 

Easy huh ?!

Wrong.

After spending an hour on the phone to the mild manned people at Google HQ, their response was of shock and ore, and of course they couldn't give a hoot with the answer of "computer says no"

Google Play Music - Mess Up #1

Firstly all those 22,000 music tracks I uploaded to Google from the UK, plus the purchases I have made, of which there are 100s - what happens to those !? 

Well get this, I have to download the music I purchased, and then re upload them to a new US registered account, along with my huge music collection. Then revisit all the Album covers that Google Play Music misses, painstakingly changing and refreshing covers. Not to mention a re-subscription to Google Play Music All Access, which I will lose out on my initial $7.99 outlay.

It took almost a week to upload my original collection, and now I'm faced with a longer upload time to my US account. 

Isn't there such thing as a cloud at play here ? What a waste of my time, when the technology is there to do this kind of thing far quicker than a manual process.

Google Play Apps - Mess Up #2


Secondly apps, yes as you can guess from the state of Google Play Music, the same story is here. Although I cant download the apps I purchased, and since Ill be connecting to a different store....yes you guessed it, a further kick in the nuts is coming. I will need to repurchase the apps on my new account. 

I could add my old account, download, then switch once downloaded (assuming this process does actually work) but shit we are in the year 2013, not 1999. What a massive ball ache. 


Google Drive - Mess Up #3

Left with switching between accounts, oh and Id lose the additional storage I pay for because I no longer can pay for it via the UK. 


So there you have it, just three examples of a basic customer service, forgotten, and not cared about. At least Google can make a floating barge showroom, balloons that relay the internet to a redneck in Texas and have a self driving car. 

Moving my account to the US is somewhat beyond them. 

Tizen to Destruction or Destruction of Android ?

Samsung are gearing up to put its OS onto the worlds mobile market, yet another market place and yet another eco system along with it. 

We are sure Samsung will gain some traction in the eastern markets, but is it just too late in a space that's seen RIM die because they couldn't get it right in a space that has three other platforms gagging for your dollars, pounds, rupee, whatever ?

While Samsung's Android based handsets sell by the bucket load, expecting current customers to leap over to another OS could be a bridge too far for some, although the possibility of dual boot has been kicked about behind closed doors but if Google will like that remains to be seen. It sure would take the risk out of signing a two year deal on a handset which could end up a Dodo. Essentially Samsung are forking their customers, in some ways Samsung having control over their OS means they can get updates quicker to handsets - which is a good thing, but other vendors might not be as keep to get involved - HTC were burnt badly from Windows phone sales, and Nokia were (are) looking at Android based handsets, something they should have done 2yrs ago. Motorola clearly wont make the leap, and Sony would watch with interest but would they want their hardware competitors OS on their kit ? 

We are not sure many will make the leap from Android, especially if they have been on that Eco system a long time, yet Google may still support their apps on Tizen, so making the leap might not be too bad. Although you may have a long wait to rebuy the apps you bought via Play Store, something Windows struggles with in its app portfolio, a long wait for popular apps to appear.

Google have updated their iOS apps before the Android counterparts many times and they have YouTube and Chrome on just about every platform there is, would Tizen be any different ? After all Google are mostly interested in the advertising revenue in search and apps, which is the core of the business. 

There is no doubt Samsung are playing a good hand here, they threaten to take some market share away from Google's Android, of which Samsung are the biggest OEM. However if they do convince their customers to buy Tizen over Android, they will be essentially giving up their place as #1 OEM in a larger market. That's a very high risk strategy, assuming Tizen doesn't catch on and it burns, would you go back to the same OEM who just ditched your money in a venture designed to disrupt the market ? No we know we would either. 

Enable Battery Percentage (Android 4.4) Nexus 5

You probably want to know exactly how much power you have left in your Nexus 5 (or any other Kit Kat enabled device) Its a bit frustrating not knowing how much power you have left, right ?! Be good to see that magic number displayed.....

Well the smarty pants over at XDA have an apk which can do just that, no root is required for this to work.

Install the apk using the QR code, or visit the website XDA post here. 

Once installed open the app, and check the box for allowing the actual % to be displayed inside your battery icon.

Reboot

Shazam, you now how the % displayed in your icon, you can uninstall the app if you wish but make sure you reinstall and reverse the procedure if you dont like it.

Results should be as below.

SPIGEN Google Nexus 5 Case give-a-way time !

We have a nifty SPIGEN Ultra Hybrid case for the Nexus 5 to give away, it has a clear back and thick rubber sides, its official title is 

"SPIGEN Google Nexus 5 Case ULTRA HYBRID [Black] Bumper Case with Anti-Scratch Clear Back Panel"

Bit of a mouthful all that, however the case is very nice, comes with some custom backings for the rear of the phone too.

All you need to do to enter is share this page either on facebook, retweet from our @ihaveagadget twitter account, or reshare from our G+ page. 

We can not verify direct linking :(

Open to US, UK and Western Europe only, get resharing and the winner will be announced here on December 15th ! 

• Combination of TPU and Polycarbonate = Full protection all around the device
• Advanced Shock Absorption Technology: Air Cushioned 4 corners
• Scratch-Free Design: The lips on both front and back protect the screen and the back panel from scratches
• Slim and stylish bumper case with the back protection to keep the original look of iPhone
• Compatible with Google Nexus 5 (2013)

Where ART thou Google

Google have placed a sneaky enablement of ART into Kit Kat, if you don't know what ART is, its the replacement for the ageing run-time in Android, which promises to be faster in running your apps, and being lighter on your battery. 

ART, which is short for Android Runtime, aims to replace Dalvik (which has been around since Gingerbread) and will change the way your Android- handsets executes apps, to explain.....

"Dalvik" is the compiler responsible for running apps on Android. Its runtime uses the Just-In-Time compiler to interpret bycode, which is in part a version of the original application code. ART uses the AOT process (Ahead-Of-Time) and basically pre-compiling the bycode into machine code (which runs real fast) the moment an app is installed, making them in essence native apps.

However this has been in development for two years and would have thought that Google would have been keen to get this out into full production by now. 

Anyway its worth checking it out, you can do this by heading to your development options in your Kit Kat device by going to Settings > Developer options > Select runtime. 

Please note this may render some apps useless or buggy, use at you own risk.