CoolTech | Everything about gadgets

January 30, 2015 admin 0

Sony Bravia W605 60″ W60 Review

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The Sony 60″ W60 screen has a good display quality with a high contrast and accurate color display without the need to calibrate. The sound is good too and because of the low input lag the tv is a good choice for games. The Sony W60 TV has a cheap case, it’s made of shiny plastic and is slightly fat. It is incapable of displaying 3d graphics but otherwise the tv is very complete. The tv is 60 inch (152,5cm) in diameter. Because of the thick case it is difficult to attach it close to the wall. It is a big TV with few features.

The TV has a power cable of only 1.5 meter, which is short if you want to attach the tv to the wall. Most of the connections are on the back, making attaching to the wall even more difficult. There connectors on the back are: antenna (1x), satellite (1x), HDMI (3x), USB (2x), headphone. On the side are a few buttons, which make the tv useable without a remote.

The TV can be controlled with the buttons on the case, a remote and a smartphone. On a smartphone you need to install the app called Son’y TV SideView. This app is available for Android and iOS but not for Windows Phone. All controls on the remote are available in the app, making the app a complete replacement for the traditional remote control.

The interface on the TV is similar to others of this model. It is very logical and simple. There is a Smart TV option available in the TV which is a little slow sometimes. The Smart TV has only a few apps available. Other models of this series have the same problem. The TV has an internal media player which can play photos and videos.

On the highest settings the TV uses 139W. That is a high usage, but this high brightness is often not necessary. On average settings, the device uses 63W. The colors stay the same in any angle. From the side, it does reduce brightness but that is likely not a big problem. The screen quality is good if you look at it from the front. The maximal brightness of the TV is 319cd/m².

Positive: High contrast, accurate color display, good sound.
Negative: Cheap case, Thick/fat case, no 3D.

Specifications:

Category	Televisions
Brand	Sony
Series	Bravia
Product	Sony Bravia W605
Type	60″ Black
Diagonal	60″
Refresh-rate	60Hz
HD-specification	Full HD
Shape	Flat
HD-specificatie	Full HD
Angle	176°
Screen ratio	16:9
Signal	NTSC, PAL, SECAM
Type	LCD
Height	846mm
Width	1.37 m
Backlight	Led: Direct led
Resolution (TV)	1920×1080 (Full HD 1080p)
Smart-tv	Yes
Chat	Skype
Social media	Facebook, Twitter
Tuner type	Analoog, DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T, DVB-T2
Number of tuners	2
Common Interface	CI+
Video in	Component Video, Composite, 4x HDMI, Scart
DLNA	Yes
Audio	Audio (3,5mm), Audio Digital (S/PDIF)
Ethernet	Ethernet 100Mbit/s
USB	2x USB 2.0
WiFi	Yes
Wlan	802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
5GHz	Yes
Speakers	Internal Stereo
RMS	10W
Energy usage	95W
Energy usage (stand-by)	0,45W

January 26, 2015 admin 0

Motorola removes fingerprint recognition from Nexus 6

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Motorola has removed its fingerprint recognition system because it was not suitable for market yet. That is what a former topman Dennis Woodside has said in an interview. The finger printer scanner was planned to be on the back of the phone. The prototype was working using a swipe movement, which would be less user-friendly than a push button. Other companies such as Apple and Samsung did integrate a fingerprint scanner in their products (Galaxy S5 and the Note 4).

January 25, 2015 admin 0

Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 has problems with high memory use

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Users of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 tell there are problems when using more than 3.5G of memory. The GeForce GTX 970 has a total of 4G vram but according to users this cannot be fully used. One of the users told:

“Going beyond 3.5GB vram usage … severely degrades the performance, as if the last 512mb is actually being swapped from the RAM.”

980 works fine in comparison.

The computation power quickly declines when this much memory is used, which is visible while playing games.

It is unknown where the memory bug is. Nvidia has said it will look into the issue but it is unknown if it will be resolved.

Sources:
http://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/2s2968/gtx970_memoryvram_allocation_bug/
https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/2s333r/gtx_970_vram_allocation_bug_xpost_rpcgaming/

January 25, 2015 admin 0

Nokia Lumia 735 Review

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The design fo the Nokia Lumia 735 is compact and easy. The battery has a longer charging time than most in the Lumia series. Both cameras can take pictures that are great for this price. The camera apps start slowly and are slow in taking pictures. The phone runs on Windows. The phone is 13,4×6,8cm and 8,9mm thick. The phone supports wireless charging, which is rare for these series and price. The display has a resolution of 1280×720. The screen is comparable to the Samsung S3.

The phone has both a front and back camera. Photos taken with the front camera are better than others in the Lumia series. Android phones have however, also improved their hardware. The camera has a theoretical maximmum of 6,7 megapixels. Photos are generally taken with 6,1 megapixels on a 2848×2144 pixels resolution. You can take videos on 1080p with 20fps and monoaudio. The device has 1GB memory. The phones battery was full for 9 hours.

The phone is for sale for 230 euro, or about 260$. The main advantage of this phone is the duration of the battery. The phone runs Windows Phone. Many games are not available for Windows Phone compared to Android or iOS.

Nokia Lumia 735 specifications.

Network and platforms:

SIM Card Support	:	Nano-SIM
Network Band	:	GSM
GSM 2G Bands	:	GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
GSM 3G Bands	:	HSDPA 850, HSDPA 900, HSDPA 2100
GSM 4G Bands	:	LTE 800, LTE 1800, LTE 2600
Operating System	:	Windows OS
OS Version	:	Windows 8.1, With Lumia Denim
Chipset	:	Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
Processor	:	Quad Core Processor
Processor Speed	:	1.2 GHz
GPU	:	Yes
Flight Mode	:	Yes

Memory

Internal Memory	:	8 GB
RAM Size	:	1 GB
Memory Card Slot	:	MicroSD
Memory Support	:	Upto 128 GB

Body & Design

Form Factor	:	Monoblock, Touch
Dimensions	:	135 x 70 x 9 mm, Exactly 134.7 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm
Weight	:	134g
Sensors	:	Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer, Ambient Light, G-Sensor, Magnetometer
Orientation Support	:	Yes
Torch Light	:	No
Keypad	:	Touch
Dedicated Keys	:	Volume, Lock, Camera, Power
Device Security	:	Device Password Lock, Slide Lock

Screen & Display

Display Type	:	TFT capacitive touchscreen, (OLED Display, Sunlight Readability)
Screen Protection	:	Corning Gorilla Glass, 3
Display	:	16M Colors
Pixel density range	:	301 to 400 ppi, (~316 ppi pixel density)
Screen Size	:	720 x 1280 pixels
Display Size	:	4.7 Inch
Touch Mode	:	Super Sensitive Touch
Multi Touch Support	:	Yes

Call Management

Speakerphone	:	Yes
Voice Recognition	:	Yes
Voice Mail	:	Yes
Text-to-speech	:	Yes
Picture Caller ID	:	Yes
Phonebook Memory	:	Unlimited
Call Records	:	Dialed Numbers, Call Duration, Call Log, Received Calls
Ringtone or Alert Type	:	Vibration, MP3 ringtones, WAV

Camera & Features

Primary Camera	:	6.7 Megapixels, 3088 x 2152 Pixels
Primary Camera Type	:	Digital
Camera Flash LED	:	Yes
Secondary Camera	:	Yes
Secondary Camera Type	:	5.0 Megapixels, (Full HD Camera, F2.4 aperture)
Geo-Tagging	:	Yes
Hd Video-Recording	:	With 1080p
3G or Video Call	:	Yes
Camera Zoom	:	4X
TV Output	:	Yes
Video Quality	:	1080p 30 FPS
Panorama	:	Yes
Camcorders	:	Yes
Camera Features	:	Video recorder, Video streaming, Video player, Video Sharing, Autofocus, Scene Modes, Camera Effects, Image Viewer, F/1.9 aperture,BSI sensor,1/3.4 inch sensor size,Photo sharing,Zeiss optics lens

Multimedia (Audio / Video)

Loudspeaker	:	Yes
Audio Format	:	ASF, AAC, AMR, MP3, M4A, WMA, MIDI, MP4
Video Format	:	3GP, MP4, WMV, AVI, 3G2, MOV, H.264, H.263, M4V
3.5mm Headphone Jack	:	Yes
Voice Recording	:	Yes
FM Radio	:	Yes
Streaming Support	:	Yes

Data Connectivity & Internet

GPRS	:	With GPRS
EDGE	:	With EDGE
Data Speed	:	HSUPA 5.76 Mbps, HSDPA 42 Mbps, LTE 150 Mbps DL / 50 Mbps UL
Browser Name	:	Internet explorer, (version 11)
Browsing Support	:	WAP, HTML
WiFi Support	:	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
Hot Spot	:	Yes, (share up to 8 devices)
Map Support	:	HERE Maps
Bluetooth Support	:	Bluetooth 4.0, With A2DP
USB-Support	:	microUSB 2.0
PC-Sync Support	:	Yes
NFC (Near Field Communication)	:	Yes

Application Support

Office Tool Support	:	Office 365, PDF Viewer, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Document Editor
Adobe Reader	:	Yes
Flash Support	:	Yes
inbuilt applications	:	Recorder, Google Street View, OneNote, Clock, Organizer, World clock, Wallet, Alarm clock, To-do list, Reminders, Phonebook, Calendar, Calculator, Stopwatch
Inbuilt Games	:	XBox-Live Hub, DirectX 11
Social Applications	:	Google Talk, Google+, Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, Windows Live Messenger, Facebook chat, Twitter, WhatsApp
Java Support	:	No

Communication & Tracking

Messaging	:	SMS, MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
GPS Tracking	:	with A-GPS support

Battery & Power Usage

Battery Model	:	Li-Ion 2220 mAh
Stand-by Time	:	600 Hrs
Talk Time	:	22 Hrs
3G Stand-by Time	:	600 Hrs
3G Talk Time	:	17 Hrs
Music Playback	:	Up to 60 Hrs
Video Playback	:	Up to 9 Hrs
WiFi Browsing Time	:	10 Hrs, Up to 10.5 Hrs
Mobile Browsing Time	:	10 Hrs, Up to 8.5 Hrs

January 24, 2015 admin 0

Samsung Gear VR – Virtual Reality for early adopters

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Virtual Reality (VR) has been a dream for many decades. It hasn’t been long since Oculus awakened the market. Then there’s Sony with Project Morpheus. But, the VR set that will reach the shops first is the Samsung Gear VR. It’s different from the other headsets in that it contains a Samsung Note 4 as screen.

The Samsung Gear VR glasses cost 200 euro (224$) if you already own the Samsung Note 4. Technically, the Samsung Gear VR is a holder for the Note 4. There are two lenses on the inside which divide the screen for both eyes and can be used to create a 3d effect. The total device is attached to a head belt. There is no incoming light from the outside when wearing the device. It is very light to carry. Even after watching tv series the device is not heavy.

In addition to holding the phone, the device contains several movement sensors. These kind of sensors are also inside the Samsung Note 4, but they are less accurate and not accurate enough for a VR experience. The core of the device is the Samsung Note which has advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that you are not attached to any cables. The disadvantage is the limited computational power in the Samsung Note. It is a fast smartphone, but for an 60 fps VR experience it is not that powerful. The screen has a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels.

The device can be used to play video games. Because the Samsung Note runs on Android, all of the gamesfor this device run on the Android operating system. They have special games in the Gear VR store, such as a specially modified version of Temple Run. There are some space shooters and a few platform games. Sadly, there are currently only a few games available. The video below gives an idea:

An impressive feature are watching 360 degrees videos. These videos permit you to see anywhere around you. Because you can look everywhere it is much more impressive than a flat video. There are 360 degree videos of concerts and landscapes.

This version is the ‘Innovators Edition’. It is a device for the gadget lover and cool to have. But, the market is still very small.

January 24, 2015 admin 0

Trezor, a bitcoin hardware wallet that fits on your keychain

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It has been only a decade ago since mobile phones were very rare. It may well be that a decade from now we will carry all kinds of digital devices, one of them being a digital hardware wallet. We are seeing some of the early hardware wallets coming around, mostly in the bitcoin space.

Trezor is a hardware bitcoin wallet to use secure transactions on the bitcoin network. The Bitcoin system works by sending signed notes of payment across the Internet. In order to sign a Bitcoin transaction you need to have a special key or password. The Trezor wallet holds that key. You can use the Trezor to send bitcoins to any country of the world. Transactions are instant and confirmed within ten minutes.

The interface is very simple: there are only two buttons, to confirm or to deny the action. If the device gets stolen, thieves cannot use it to spend your bitcoins. There is full support in Windows, OS X and Linux. Support for using your TREZOR with Android will come in the future. Since there are only two buttons, you may wonder how to send it to a receiver address?

The Trezor bitcoin wallet works in combination with a bitcoin software wallet. The Trezor bitcoin wallet can be used in combination with the software wallets myTrezor, Electrum, GreenAddress.it. Support for Armory and BitPay will come in the future. A video on using Trezor bitcoin wallet in combination with an Android phone:

Trezor has an 128×64 pixels OLED screen, enough to hold six lines. It has a 120 MHz embedded ARM processor (Cortex M3 to be precise) with a custom developed system. Its approximately 60 x 30 x 6 mm so easily slides into your pocket. The screen itself is about the size of a dollar and the whole device could easily fit onto your key chain. The Trezor hardware wallet is water resistant. The device costs 119$ or 0.4981 BTC.

Links:
http://www.bitcointrezor.com/