The New HTC One M9

I always liked HTC phones due to their nice designs and build quality that can put most smartphones on the market to shame. The new HTC One M9 is still remarkable in many ways. its got good build quality and sleek design and also specs on par with most new smartphones on the market such as the iPhone 6 and Samsung S6.

Design

The phone design hasn't changed from its predecessor, M8 it will looks beautiful and sleek with its silver aluminium finish. The build quality is solid and is a lot heavier than a iPhone.

The BoomSound speakers at the top and bottom do add some length to the length and it doesn't pack the compact nature of other flagship phones HTC has on offer.

Screen 

The new phone's screen hasn't changed much, it still boasts a 1080p resolution, 5-inch but still look great at colour reproduction. 

Features, specs and performance

There are not many new features for the new HTC Once M9 and really doesn't innovate due to brand doing so much already with its previous models. The BoomSound speaker are still present and correct and now imbued with Dolby power to offer virtual surround sound both with and without headphones.

The new smartphone still has a impressive spec list; the de rigeur Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset offers a lot of power without killing the battery, 3GB of RAM allows the One M9 to feel super fast and there's a 32GB of storage with an option for expansion with a microSD slot.

The camera boasts a 20MP with Ultrapixel sensor on the front of the phone that offers better low light snaps for taking photos with your friends.

It is also capable of shooting in 4K but the performance is not at its expected best in terms of exposure. This should improve when the software gets finished.

Verdict

The HTC Once M9 certainly looks and feels like a premium device like the iPhone but the new model doesn't seem to have enough and difference in features and specs to convince owners with its predecessor, the One M8 to upgrade right away.

The Apple Watch is finally here!!! - date, prices and features

The Apple Watch finally has a release date that will see their latest gadget launch on the 24th April. During their recent Apple announcement event, the Apple Watch will brings us three different models - the Watch Sport, Watch and Watch Edition. The price range from $350 (£299) to $17,000 (£13,500). 

 

The three models will officially launch on April 24 in nine countries, US, UK, Austrialia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan. More countries will get the Apple Watch at a later date.

The Price - 

The lowest price for the new Apple Watch starts at $349 (£299) for the aluminum Sport edition that is a small 38mm version and the 42mm size will cost a bit more at $399 (£339). 

The mid range model with its glossier stainless steel, "Watch" collection will start at $549 (£479) and will cost up to $1099 (£949) depending on the Apple Watch size and band configuration.

Finally the top of the range gold "Watch Edition" would cost $10,000 (£8,000) to $17,000 (£13,500) which is incredibly expensive and will only be available in limited supply at Apple stores.

The Features - 

The Apple Watch will be able to do many things such as notifying the user of new messages, Facebook updates and texts without having to take our iPhones out of our pocket.

There will be more ways to interact with the watch, from recieving notifications, to feeling "taptic" feedback, to calling upon siri, according to the developer's WatchKit software.

Also some apps will work without the need of your iPhone including Apple Pay (only available in the US at moment) Passbook flight check-ins, listening to music during a run and tracking fitness metrics.

The watch will have a 8GB storage which will limit the amount of music and photos you can store on the device itself but it has double the space of its other competitor 4GB Android Wear watches and most content streams from the iPhone.

Exercise with Apple Watch

Competitors - 

The Apple Watch is not the first smartwatch in the market, there has been many new smartwatch getting release as the device becomes more and more mainstream to get consumer's interest in the new gadget. The Moto 360, Samsung Gear and the Pebble Time are pushing themselves into the market to become the best smartwatch available. In my recent post, I talked about the Pebble Time smartwatch and can be found here.

Would I buy Apple Watch? - 

I think the Apple Watch is very appealling and would be cool to have it link up with my iPhone to advantage of the apps that you can use and to check my notifications without having to take my phone out my pocket is great. For me I already wear a ordinary watch everyday to check the time,  I would not be in a hurry to purchase the new Apple Watch as I don't feel there enough features on the device to make me want to buy it on release day.

The pizza box shaped oven takes pizza cooking to a whole new level

Have you ever had leftover pizzas that doesn't taste quite as fresh and delicious when you reheat cold slice from last night?

CuiZen PIZ-4012 Pizza Box Oven

Well CuiZen have solved our pizza problems with it's pizza shaped oven made of stainless steel with a 1200-watt heatng that can cook us any 12inch pizzas on top and bottom. To ensure pizzas are cooked evenly, the pizza will be rotated slowly as it's getting heated and a pair of dials on the front lets users set a timer up to 30-minutes long, and a temperture as hot as 525 degrees Fahrenheit.

With a price of $60, it is not cheap as getting a pizza delivered straight to your door from your local pizza place but it's definitely a cool looking cooking gadget to have in your kitchen and more importantly you'll never have to eat cold pizza again.

 

Buy it now from Amazon - CuiZen PIZ-4012 Pizza Box Oven 

Xiaomi launches cheap action camera to rival GoPro

Xiaomi, the makers of smartphones such as Mi3 and the Redmi Note. They are a company based in China and are currently the world's third largest smartphone distributer. Their smartphones are selling like hotcakes in Asian countries as they have specs that can match Apple's iPhones and Samsung's S5 but for a fraction of the price.

But Xiaomi don't just sell smartphones. They have just launched their Yi Action Camera for a very low price of 399 yuan (£41) that to rival GoPro's cameras.

Yi Action Camera

The Yi action camera has pretty good specs that can match GoPros Hero camera specs which is more than double the price of Xiaomi's camera.

Both cameras share a few features they have in common such as built-in Wi-Fi for file transfers and remote control via companion apps. They both have similar battery capacity, identical waterproof depth of 40m, and a handy option of bracket-mounting the device on your chosen helmet, pet harness, or on a vehicle.

Yi Action Camera with pet harness

However when it comes to video quality, the Xiaomi's Yi camera wins due to the device being powered by an Ambraella A7LS image processor paired with Sony's back-illuminated Exmor R BSI CMOS image sensor, which enables it to shoot photos at 16 megapixels and record 1080p video at 60fps. Whereas the GoPro Hero can only shoot at a 5-megapixel resolution and record 1080p video at 30fps or 720 video at 30fps. The Yi camera is also weighs less than its rival at 72g versus the 111g GoPro Hero.

At the moment the device is only available in China but the company has plans to open an online store that will allow people from outside the country to purchase their products directly.

Xiaomi - Yi Sport Camera