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Tag: smartphone

BubbleScope Takes 360° Pictures and Video at The Gadget Show

Posted by Andrew at 11:31 PM on April 18, 2012

The BubbleScope is an optical attachment for smartphones that takes 360° pictures and video called “Bubbles”. The BubblePix smartphone app is used to capture, view and share online the Bubbles, which can be hosted free at bubblepix.com. The pictures below gives you a feel of wraparound nature of a Bubble but when it’s in the BubblePix app, it joins up seamlessly. Here’s one in a fountain - the effect is amazing.

Gadget Show Bubble

Rollercoaster Bubble

Shaped a bit like a periscope, the BubbleScope attaches to the to the smartphone and uses the phone’s built-in camera to record the imagery. The optical part of the scope pops up and down to keep it clean and undamaged. Available initially for the iPhone 4 & 4S, it will be on sale this summer for £64.99. Versions compatible with other leading smartphones (Android) will be released shortly afterwards.

BubbleScoppe

In the interview at the Gadget Show Live, I talk with Tom Lawton, the inventor of BubbleScope about the device and how it took ten years to turn it from idea to product.

This is my favourite interview from the Gadget Show Live, so if you only listen to one of these, listen to this one.

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Posted in Accessory, Android, Apple, google, Interview, iOS, iPhone, Photography, smartphone, Special Media

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Sonos Streams at The Gadget Show

Posted by Andrew at 12:06 PM on April 14, 2012

Sonos Play 3 Sonos are well-known for their innovative audio products which integrate together to build highly controllable wireless hi-fi systems. Simplistically, you can start with one or two units and build-up over time until you can play music in any room in the house. The Sonos system can be controlled via smartphones and tablets with apps available for both iOS and Android devices.

I chat to Ian about Sonos’ latest developments including Spotify streaming, their entry-level unity the Play 3, and the larger Play 5.

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Posted in Android, Apple, google, Interview, iOS, IPAD, iPhone, radio, smartphone, Speakers, Special Media, Streaming, tablet

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IDAPT Universal Multichargers at The Gadget Show

Posted by Andrew at 4:14 PM on April 12, 2012

The need to charge today’s mobile gadgets on an almost daily basis is one of the downsides of faster processors and bigger screens. Although companies like Palm have tried to introduce inductive charging, most gadgets need to be simply plugged in. This leads to the proliferation of wall chargers and a mess of cables.

IDAPT‘s solutions bring order to the chaos with multi-device chargers that have interchangeable charging tips to suit the device being charged – smartphones, portable game consoles, tablets, digital cameras, even rechargeable batteries.

The i4 can charge three devices on top with a fourth on the side (right) and the i2+ takes two on top (bottom left). The i1 eco is a portable charger (middle) and only charges one device but is made from recycled plastic.

IDAPT Charging Units

The bright yellow IDAPT S1 Universal Speaker is shown below with an iPad but it’s device agnostic and uses Bluetooth rather than the device connector to transmit the music. I’ve been looking for a decent speaker dock that works with something other than an Apple device so I’ll be taking a hard look at this one.

IDAPT Loudspeaker Dock

I chat with Myles Pomfret, IDAPT’s country manager at The Gadget Show Live to find out more about these versatile chargers.

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Posted in Bluetooth, Gadgets, Gear, Interview, smartphone, Special Media, tablet, USB

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Fitbit Ultra Counts Those Steps at The Gadget Show

Posted by Andrew at 3:39 PM on April 12, 2012

Fitbit UltraMost of us could do with being a little bit fitter and shedding a few pounds. Fitbit wants to help us achieve that goal by combining technology with peer pressure and our natural competitiveness.

The Fitbit Ultra wireless tracker is the 21st century equivalent of a pedometer, recording the steps taken during the day for later upload to your home PC. It’s tiny and can easily be clipped to a waist band or left in a pocket. In addition to recording physical activity, it can also record your sleep – how long were you in bed, were you restless, did you have to get up?

The second gadget is the Fitbit Aria, smart scales that measure weight, BMI and % body, and wirelessly transmits the information on to your PC.

Fitbit Aria

The Fitbit combines all this information with smartphone apps (iOS & Android) and dietary information to create a personal portfolio of your lifestyle. Of course, you can also tweet your successes to friends and family, though you might want to keep it quiet when you pile on the pounds.

You can find out more from their website or you can listen to this interview with Peter Groom, Fitbit’s UK Country Manager.

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Posted in health, Interview, smartphone, Special Media, tablet

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Screen Cleaning with Stickems at The Gadget Show

Posted by Andrew at 3:37 PM on April 12, 2012

Keep Calm and Drink Tea StickemIf you have a smartphone, tablet or other fingerprint magnet, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve also got something to clean your screen, whether it’s a microfibre cloth or carbon-based wiper. However, these all suffer from the same problem….you never have it when you want it. Stickems solve this problem by sticking to the back of your phone or tablet, ready for use at anytime.

Coming in a good range of sizes and patterns, Stickems have ultra fine microfibre cloth on one side to clean the screen of dust, fingerprints, ear smudges and make-up, with a self-cling backing on the other side. The Stickem simply peels off for use and sticks back on when done. Prices range from £2.99 to £4.99.

I caught up with Alex from Stickems at The Gadget Show Live and he told me more. I suspect he hasn’t actually wiped 10,000 times and I don’t think there’s really a guarantee….

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Posted in Gadgets, Gear, Interview, smartphone, Special Media, tablet

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Proof of Insurance – Coming Soon to Smartphones?

Posted by JenThorpe at 1:40 AM on March 9, 2012

Drivers who get pulled over by police might soon be reaching for their smartphones, instead of their glove compartments. A bill has been introduced in California by Assemblyman Mike Gatto. If the bill becomes passed into law, it would allow drivers to present their proof of auto insurance to law enforcement by showing the police officer their smartphone.

Other states, including Arizona and Idaho, have made some efforts towards creating similar laws. At this time, there aren’t any states that have officially approved this change to the way proof of insurance is presented. The California version of the bill will go before the Assembly Insurance Committee later this month. If this bill becomes a law, it could set a precedent for other states to create similar laws.

The exact details about how this all would work are a bit fuzzy at the moment. There is the potential that an app could be created that was specifically designed to display a person’s proof of insurance. Right now, there are plenty of apps that have been introduced by insurance companies that display customer information. However, none of them currently will show proof of insurance.

It seems that to make this work, it would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide registration papers to consumers electronically. Right now, this is not something that the DMV in California will do. They do not provide scanned copies of documents to customers.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto notes that this could work without the creation of new app. He points out that drivers could scan their own insurance forms into their smartphones themselves. When a traffic stop occurs, the driver could easily bring up that information on their smartphone, and hand the device to the police officer.

There are some advantages to being able to present a digital copy of your proof of insurance. You wouldn’t have to dig frantically through your glove compartment, searching for those important papers, while a police officer waits. It would be harder for you to accidentally lose your proof of insurance. If your car gets stolen, the thief wouldn’t be able to find your insurance card, and learn where you live.

On the other hand, some are fearful that handing your smartphone to a police officer could open you up to revealing more than you really wanted to. There would have to be privacy laws in place that would prevent officers from looking through your smartphone for more information about you, that you did not consent to give out.

Image: Traffic Stop by BigStock

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Out of the Shadow of the iPhone

Posted by Andrew at 4:42 AM on March 7, 2012

Samsung Galaxy BeamAt this time of year the technology circus does its tour of the world….CES in Las Vegas, MWC in Barcelona and CeBIT in Hanover, Germany. Interspersed are product launches by major companies like Apple.

When Apple and subsequently Microsoft decided to move away from the industry events and do their own mini-shows, many commentators noted that it was disappointing that the market leaders weren’t going to be attending and predicted the death of the big show. From all the evidence I see, it’s been the best thing that ever happened.

Take Mobile World Congress last week – it was a great show with Samsung, Nokia, HTC, RIM all putting out great phones and tablets. With the figures showing Android well ahead of iOS in the US new handset market and the absence of Apple at the show, it really felt like smartphones had come out from under the shadow of the iPhone. Companies were daring to innovate and be a bit different because the competition is no longer simply about being better than the iPhone, it’s about being better than Android competitors.

HTC’s One line-up might not be earth-shattering but there’s a progression from entry-level to top-end. Samsung continues to produce different sizes and integrate other technologies, such as pico projectors (Galaxy Beam), and Nokia supports its long-term plans in the Windows Phone market while still introducing a bonkers megapixel camera on the older line.

In comparison, Apple would have produced largely the same phone as the last one, only a bit faster, yet would have stolen all the headlines. Great products for sure, but Apple isn’t innovating, it’s perfecting.

The smartphone market is in rude health and it’s great to see genuine innovation and competition rather than the predictable progression of a near monopoly.

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Posted in Android, Apple, blackberry, google, HTC, iOS, iPhone, Market share, RIM, smartphone, tablet

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