Samsung Galaxy Tab price guide

Our guide to getting the best value Galaxy Tab on offer

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At launch, Samsung's Galaxy Tab is available across all five of the UK's major networks. But it doesn't exactly come cheap, with prices starting at around £499, which makes it more costly than the entry-level iPad.

Currently just about the best Android tablet out there, the Galaxy Tab appears the only serious option for those keen to try Google's mobile OS on a tablet computer. Its pricing, however, could mean that only true Android fans buy one.

"Pricing the device so close to the iPad could be a parlous decision," says Jonathan Leggett, an expert at comparison site Top10.com. "Had Samsung substantially undercut Apple, the Tab could well have found a mass market audience prepared to make room for it in their range of devices somewhere between their smartphone and laptop. As it stands, the Galaxy Tab is just too expensive for what it is."

The two best value packages appear to be from Three and Talk Talk, with O2, Orange and T-Mobile making relatively similar deals. Importantly many of the networks are offering different data allowances, some granting 1GB of use for the same price as 500MB on another. For those of you who are heavy users, or enjoy streaming music or watching videos, this could be a crucial factor.

Most of the network contracts also offer the Galaxy Tab without free minutes or texts, despite its ability to make calls. Opting for a data-only deal could mean things are cheaper initially but you are in danger of running up large bills once you get into the habit of making calls.

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Remote video monitoring of a site without broadband or electricity

I am a member of a fly fishing club and we lease a private lake stocked with trout and a number of very large carp. Unfortunately, the predation of poachers is becoming a real problem. We try to patrol the lake in the evening and at night but some of our members are elderly or live some distance from the lake so our patrols tend to be rather patchy. Is there any way we could monitor the lake from a distance?

The main problem is that there is no mains electricity. I wondered about the feasibility of mounting a motorised web cam on a small island in the middle of the lake and monitor it wirelessly from a distance of a few miles. If so, what equipment would be needed?
Gerald B. Gill, by email

It can be done but it is going to be a challenge. Your options are limited by the lack of power and, presumably, a phone line. Without those two essential ingredients the only way to send live images to a remote location over a distance of more than a few hundred metres is via a 3G/4G mobile broadband connection, assuming that the site isn’t too remote and a good phone signal is available.

Professional kit is available but this can be very expensive. There are a handful of simple consumer remote surveillance cameras, with built-in 3G connectivity. Just pop in a pay-as-you-go SIM card and dial up the camera on your smartphone or PC to view the image. They’re not that expensive either and prices start at under £150.

The downside is that they are fairly basic fixed cameras with limited alarm and low light capabilities. You will also have to provide a source of power, though a car battery, with a simple solar charging system should suffice.

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Samsung announces Galaxy Tab 3

Although the Tab 3 is a competitor to Google's Nexus 7, the new tablet from Korea lacks the latest edition of Android Jelly Bean, released in November 2012, which features gesture typing and multiple user accounts for tablet devices.

With a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and a 3G model available from June, the Tab 3's main advantage over its predecessors and competitors appears to be video calling, which manufacturers continue to embrace with greater enthusiasm than consumers. A Wi-Fi-only option for the Tab 3 will be available next month.

Compared to the Tab 2, the screen resolution has not increased but the weight has decreased, down from 345g to just over 300g. Battery capacity has remained the same at 4,000mAh, and there is the addition of a microSD slot.

The comparatively low screen resolution is however encouraging rumours that Google and Samsung will soon announce an updated version of the Nexus 10, possibly with LTE connectivity and an octo-core, which would be a world first for a tablet. With their broad range of products competing in nearly every recognised division of the mobile smartphone/tablet market, Samsung is expected to continue to challenge the dominance of the fully-featured iPad with retina display.

No pricing information has been revealed yet, but it is probable that Samsung will try to undercut the Nexus 7 and iPad Mini.

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Xbox One: gamer backlash over 'fee' for pre-owned titles

For many gamers, swapping among friends is a free and legal way of experiencing more games for less hard-earned cash. But for Xbox users, that may be all about to change.

Microsoft has outlined details of its plans for pre-owned titles played on Xbox One, and the future looks gloomy.

Upon purchase of a game, a unique code linked to Xbox Live is issued that can only be used once and is verified online. Other users wanting to play a game will then have to buy the right to play the game – at full price.

The code "sits on your hard drive and you have permission to play that game as long as you’d like," Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison told the Kotaku tech site.

"The bits that are on that disc, you can give it to your friend and they can install it on an Xbox One," he said. "They would then have to purchase the right to play that game through Xbox Live."

"Let’s assume it’s a new game, so the answer is yes, it will be the same price," Harrison said.Microsoft has long sought a way of capitalising on the hugely profitable pre-owned games market.

With popular titles often retailing for £40 or more when new, gamers with large appetites have sought to cut costs by buying or sharing games that have been played by other users first, often halving the price.

Larry Hyrb, Director of Programming at Xbox Live, issued a carefully worded statement on his Major Nelson blog.

"We have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail.

"Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios.

"Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house – should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile."

This only confirms that games attached to your profile can be played anywhere, but not that your friends can play them on theirs.

The move could push Sony to look at its own treatment of pre-owned titles when the PlayStation 4 is released later this year.

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Sony Xperia Tablet Z review

Sony Xperia Tablet Z reviewFrom £399

Can a tablet ever be too thin? Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z is the companion device to its (xcellent) Xperia Z mobile phone, and both use a slimline design that is stylish, angular, waterproof and dustproof. The Tablet Z is a lightweight 495g and just 6.9mm thick, yet it gave me a great battery life of more than seven hours. It feels more futuristic even than the iPad simply because it is so implausibly thin and lasts so long.

And while I must confess I had no need or urge to test out its waterproof features, that addition is a useful thing to have too. It’s the tablet you could take into the bath if you really can’t put down that book or magazine.

Unfortunately, however, the Tablet Z doesn’t quite live up to its lovely styling and clever gimmicks – in part that’s because its corners make it slightly uncomfortable to hold for long periods, and also because its screen lacks the sharpness and brightness of its main Android rival, the Samsung-build Nexus 10. The 10” display boasts 224ppi, but with a resolution of 1920x1200 it doesn’t offer the quality of the iPad (admittedly 150g heavier) or the Nexus 10.

Sony has built in a remote control, but when I tried to programme it for my LG television it invited me simply to work my way, hit and miss, through the 70+ different standards LG has used across its ranges over the years. Universal remote manufacturers such as Logitech do this much better.

Sony’s own apps, such as Walkman, Album and Movies, add a little bit to the experience, but this is a tablet that needs better Android apps to really shine, and a better screen to display them on. Although I didn’t find the performance sluggish, the processor is a mere Snapdragon S4, which puts the device outside the top of the range.

MicroSD support is a great boon, the 8.1MP camera is fine – but this isn’t a tablet with a stand-out feature other than its lovely looks.

Specifications:
Dimensions 266 x 172 x 6.9 mm (10.47 x 6.77 x 0.27 in)
Weight 495 g (1.09 lb)
Display 1200 x 1920 pixels, 10.1 inches (~224 ppi pixel density)
Memory: Card slot microSD, up to 64 GB; internal 16/32 GB, 2 GB RAM
Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
NFC Yes
Camera Primary 8.1 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus
Video Yes, 1080p@30fps, HDR
OS Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), planned upgrade to v4.2 (Jelly Bean)
CPU Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait
Colors Black, White
Battery Non-removable Li-Po 6000 mAh battery
Stand-by Up to 890 h
Talk time Up to 10 h (multimedia)
Music play Up to 110 h

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Blackberry

Blackberry launches BBM for Apple and Android

 

iPhone and Android users will gain access to mobile giant BlackBerry's popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for the first time this summer, the company has announced.

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OKSU Digital Data Printer

<< OKSU Digital Data Printer >>
Oksu is a digital data printer concept taps into this level of sharing by making it possible to instantly “print” a tangible copy of a song, article, link or file that can be physically shared between individ...See More

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One Pen, One Phone Concept

**<< One Pen, One Phone Concept >>**
ONE is a mobile phone fashioned as a pen. It hosts a flexible 6-inch display that relies on cloud computing for memory. The design basically satisfies the needs of consumers who are looking for a lighter phone without compromising on the size of the display screen or applications.

-::P.V::-

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BlackBerry Windows Phone Pro`

```BlackBerry Windows Phone Pro```
Windows Phone Pro, which has the possibility of including all things good from BB tools and MS Office apps. The potential of the BlackBerry Wind concept sounds too good, imagine the ultimate professional phone bearing the security and agility of BlackBerry along with the competence of MS Office.....

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Facebook Phone

Facebook Phone!
Blue Experience is utterly fascinating and an odyssey of newly developed Facebook Apps that work beautifully on a dedicated FB phone. Love the instant Instagram button and minimal tech-specs. Enclosed in a blue saturated aluminum casing (17.5 cm x 5.5cm) and designed in as a wedge, the display is easily viewable even when the phone is flat on a table.

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:Pea Speaker Concept

:::Pea Speaker Concept:::
A playful way to share music. Each pod holds 7 wireless bluetooth speakers. Only one possesses the one ring to rule them all because it controls global volume. Each sphere is powered by a lithium ion rechargeable via induction when placed in the pod.

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MagicMouse

New magic mouse...!
This new Magic Metal Mouse is quite an innovative thought. Slim and only 4.3mm thick, the mouse is like a second skin in the palm of your hand. Flat when left alone and eager to please when you cup it, the mouse is highly portable and easy to fit within the pages of your book!

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Moving Parts Of A Computer.....!

Moving Parts Of A Computer.....!
Here is a thought, why confine portability to a laptop, why not have portable desktops? I know for a fact that if I had the chance, my 27-inch iMac would travel with me everywhere. Coming out of dreamland an...See More

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Paper Cup Speakers

Paper Cup Speakers

One of my fondest childhood memories is using paper cup telephones and even using them to amplify the songs playing on the radio. Based on similar lines is the RingIng Bluetooth Speakers. Crafted from flexible materials, lightweight and small in size, the design consists of two parts: Loudspeaker + Rubber Lens Hood. Simple and sweet

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Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 could offer more advanced camera

Will the successor to the Galaxy Note 2 beef up its camera?

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 could see some major enhancements to its onboard camera.

Due out in the second half of 2013, the next Note may sport a 13-megapixel camera with an anti-shake feature designed to capture higher-quality pictures. Citing "industry insiders," Korean site ETNews claims that Samsung's mobile communications team is developing technologies to bring OIS (optical image stabilization) and shutter functions to the Note 3, putting it more on par with traditional digital cameras.

An official from the communications division reportedly told ETNews that "we are pondering various technologies at this stage -- for example, OIS and shutter functions. But, nothing has yet to be confirmed, so we cannot conclusively say that those functions will be added to the Galaxy Note 3."

Samsung is also eyeing a 3x optical zoom but concedes that packing such a camera into the Note would be challenging given the phone's thin design.

Asked about the Note 3's potential camera specs, a Samsung spokesperson told CNET that "nothing has been publicly announced."

Updated 8:40 a.m. PT with response from Samsung.

Topics:

Smartphones,

Samsung

Tags:

camera,

smartphone,

Galaxy Note 3,

Samsung

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini to debut at June 20 event -- WSJ

Samsung's Galaxy S4 could get a smaller brother next month.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Samsung could take the wraps off the Galaxy S4 Mini at a launch event scheduled for Thursday, June 20.

Citing "a person with knowledge of the matter," The Wall Street Journal said today that the S4 Mini will likely be one of several new products taking the stage at next month's event in London. Announcing the event Monday, Samsung highlighted its Galaxy and Ativ lineup but was mum about which devices would be featured. The Ativ line includes PCs and tablets that run Windows 8, as well as smartphones outfitted with Windows Phone 8.

Related posts

• Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 could offer more advanced camera
• Redditor says Galaxy S3 caught fire, burned his finger
• Samsung dominates China's smartphone market in Q1
• Samsung to unveil new Galaxy, Ativ devices on June 20

Samsung may have accidentally spilled a few beans about the Mini's forthcoming debut. On Sunday, the company's U.K. Web site for mobile apps listed the Galaxy S4 Mini with a photo and product number, Engadget discovered. The appearance was brief, however, as the listing was eventually removed.

Details about the S4 Mini remain a mystery. But some reports say it will be a smaller 4.3-inch version of the 5-inch S4 with a 1.6GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera, and likely a lower price tag.

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(CNN)

(CNN) Change.org was hacked late Friday by someone who made "cosmetic" changes on the popular petition website, officials said.

No personal information was stolen, spokesman Benjamin Joffe-Walt said in a written statement. He added that none of the 12 petitions targeted had its number of signatures affected.

The modified petitions included one calling for officials to end the prosecution of a Florida teen charged in connection with a same-sex relationship with a 14-year-old; a petition to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay; and a petition to allow gay Boy Scouts leaders, said Brianna Cayo-Cotter, a spokeswoman for Change.org.

Change.org officials believe the petitions were selected because they were all in a featured section of the website and weren't picked because of the causes they represent, she said.

Expert: Hackers targeting Twitter more

Joffe-Walt said the hacker exploited a "minor vulnerability" and made changes to text and photos on the petitions. The flaw was fixed while the website was offline, he said.

Change.org, based in San Francisco, California, says it has 35 million users in 196 countries.

Successful Change.org campaigns have included one in which a petitioner asked Bank of America to rescind a $5-per-month fee on bank cards. The petition received more than 300,000 signatures and helped to spark wide media coverage.

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The word technology

The word technology refers to the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of organization, ...

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Future Technology

1. Future Technology is one of the High Tech Solution Providers in Pakistan with focus on the cutting edge information technologies leading to effective information ...

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   • Our Mission:

     To become the leading provider of innovative and modern technology equipment systems in Pakistan, and delivering superior quality and customer satisfaction in our product, service &support.
     

     Philosophy:

     Future Technologies focuses on maintaining the leading edge in technology and providing the highest value to its customers. Future Technologies provide state-of-the-art technology at an affordable cost to our customers. Future Technologies strives for simplicity of design, maximizing safety, ease of operation. Future Technologies aims to provide the optimal customer satisfaction.
     

     Profile:

     Future Technologies is located in Lahore Pakistan partnering with customers for more than 3 years.
     Major Products include panther fuel saving devices. Genesis Energy Water Filter, and Kristal Bond liquid glass coating, and restorlite.
     Future Technologies is committed to assisting customers with their unique needs by providing them with comprehensive, value-added Products and solutions.
     Future Technologies is committed to delivering premium levels of service to our customers in order to help them achieve cleaner, healthier, and safer surroundings in cost-effective ways that enhance their sustainability.

   The reliability of the Future Technologies is based on high-level technological power and R&D activities that have been ongoing since the company's establishment.

   Here we highlight Future Technologies from various perspectives, such as Panther, Kristal Bond and Genesis, helps to make our lives more convenient and comfortable.

   Since its inception, the company has always been contributing towards the advancement and development of the innovative sector in Pakistan by introducing a range of quality inventions.

   We welcome you to be the part of Future Technologies, join hands to explore the new era of advancement.

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Lighter Yikebike

Lighter Yikebike

Big changes seem inevitable in the global transport infrastructure over the coming decade, with mankind facing significant mobility challenges. The drastic need to conserve energy, reduce emissions, and move efficiently around the cities where more than half of our seven billion citizens live must inevitably lead to significant change.

The realization that current public road infrastructure cannot accommodate everyone having a full-sized car appears to have finally dawned on the governments of the world.

Expanding public urban road infrastructure is very difficult and very costly because new roads need to go where existing public roads or land is available, or above it. Hence, any changes to the transport infrastructure that enable it to become more efficient will need to be made within essentially the same footprint we have now.

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Flight testing the Seabreacher X – the 300 horsepower bionic shark

Though it fails to fit into any traditional man-made watercraft category, the Seabreacher X is remarkably comfortable in the water, turning quicker than anything made by man and happily skipping across the tops of the waves at 50 mph. This is not surprising given that it's based on a shape refined over 420 million years at the top of the ocean food chain – the shark. Give it more horsepower than Valentino Rossi's MotoGP bike, make it so light that it has the power-to-weight ratio of a Bugatti Veyron and you get the Seabreacher X. Its semi-pressurized hull enables it to tickle your adrenalin glands both above and below the waves, and it rates as the most outrageous boy's toy I have ever sampled.   The ONE we got to try was fitted with a 255-horsepower Rotax engine from a Sea-Doo RXP-X.

Now, to really put the Seabreacher in perspective, let's first look at its performance relative to some things you might know.

The essence of really usable performance is not how much horsepower a vehicle has, but how much weight each horsepower has to push around – it's simple Newtonian physics.

Newton's Second Law of Motion states that force = mass multiplied by acceleration (F = M x A).

So acceleration equates to force divided by mass, which is why performance enthusiasts prize a high power-to-weight ratio, because it is essentially an indication of a vehicle's acceleration potential.

The table below gives you an idea of some of the hardest-accelerating road-going vehicles in existence, and how they compare with the best racing machinery from the world's premier car and motorcycle race series:

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Gizmag Features

Have you ever been in a situation where a certain situation, or a certain person's voice, has made you slip into a super-relaxing trance? Have you ever felt your scalp or neck tingle as a result of some visual or auditory stimulus? If so, you're among the unknown percentage of people capable of experiencing ASMR, or the Autonomous Sensory Meridien Response. There's no science out there to confirm that the effect even exists, but for those of us that feel it, there's an emerging community of YouTube artists producing a huge array of content specifically designed to bring on scalp-tingling pleasure and extreme relaxation. Check out some of these videos to see if you're one of the lucky ones.  

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K900 SMARTPHONE

With the release of its K900 smartphone in China, Lenovo confirms its determination to face high-end smartphone manufacturers head on. Despite being only 6.9 mm thin, this Jelly Bean beauty boasts the latest Atom processor from Intel, a 5.5-inch Full HD display and a 13-megapixel camera that lies flush with the stainless steel alloy and polycarbonate unibody housing.

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