Mobile – Page 2 – whatleydude.com

How to opt-out of auto-play videos in Facebook

If you hadn’t heard, Auto-play ~~ads~~ videos in the Facebook mobile app (and desktop) are on their way.

Good? Bad? Annoying? All three? Yeah, maybe. But look, here’s the bad news: on mobile, you can’t actually switch them off. What you can do however is prevent them from playing over your mobile network. In other words, make the videos only download over Wi-Fi only, and ostensibly opt-out of letting them auto-play on your handset.

Here’s how that works.

On iOS
Go to Settings -> Facebook -> Facebook Settings -> ‘Auto-Play videos on WiFi only’
On Android
Go to Facebook -> swipe right to the options pane -> App Settings -> ‘Auto-play videos on WiFi only’

The benefits of this are two fold:

If you’re hardly ever connected to wi-fi, you can pretty much ‘opt out’ of this auto-play media completely.
If you’re not on any kind of unlimited data plan with your network provider, this will prevent Facebook eating into that precious data.

Hat tip to he who spotted this,Â Charles Arthur.
Go give him a follow.

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet: is it a #betterway?

This is James Whatley, reporting to you from Milan…

That’s not me, that’s Ashton Kutcher. He’s just been on the screen to announce that he’s the new product engineer for Lenovo. No, really.

Fortunately, that’s not the only thing Lenovo were throwing a big shindig to celebrate. Tonight they announced the new Lenovo Yoga Tablet.

‘Ooooooo! Shiny!’

First things first: this tablet is THIN. Not completely, it has a bulb at the end, but we’ll come back to that, but it is THIN. 3mm at its thinnest end (and 21.5mm at its thickest). Available in two sizes, 8″ and 10″ respectively, this Android (4.2.2) tablet from Lenovo really is a lovely bit of kit.

It being part of the ‘Yoga’ range, the tablet comes with several different ‘modes’. Unlike its PC/laptop predecessor, these modes are actually quite useful. At only 605g for the 10″ model [single] hand mode is super comfy. There’s alsoÂ stand mode for consuming media, and tilt mode, is probably the mode I’d use it in most, is there for ‘desktop’ work, if you will.

The model I’ve got is wifi only, but I’m assured that the Tablet is also available with a 3G Micro SIM slot in case you want to get mobile data on the go. While we’re at it, the TabletÂ also comes with an expandable micro SD memory slot,Â a micro USB port (supporting OTG, worth its weight in gold on any mobile device), andÂ a 9000mAh battery (on the 10″ model, again) resulting in a stonking 18hrs of usage.

That is mental.

Screen-wise, you’re looking at an HD display of 1280×800 and a 178 degree viewing angle. That’s great but I’ll be honest, having been spoilt by both a retina MacBook Pro and iPad, the resolution on the Yoga Tablet is the only downside that I could find in otherwise outstanding piece of kit. Saying that, once I’d played around with the settings a bit and installed my own launcher, you’ll find youself getting over that minor issue quite quickly.

Finally, the Tablet is also available with a fairly snazzy magnetic Bluetooth keyboard that just so happens to double up as a cover. Very nice. I like that, a lot (although I can’t give you any feedback on how good it is quite yet as mine is still charging on the other side of the room).

It’s getting quite late here in Italy and I need to schedule this post for the embargo drop in about an hour or so. As I said, I’ve been given one of these beautiful things to have as my own and, having never had an Android tablet before, I’m very much looking forward to giving it a whirl.

Pics are up on Flickr, and go search ‘#betterway‘ on Twitter for more.

Whatley out.

_____________

UPDATE: Pricing has been released and the 8″ and the 10″ models are estimated to arrive at â‚¬229 and â‚¬299 respectively. The Bluetooth keyboard is an additional purchase and that’s estimated at â‚¬99.

UPDATE 2: UK pricing for the basic models is set to be Â£199 for the 8″ and Â£249 for the 10″.

Specs (PDF)
Press Release (doc)

What phone should I get?

Someone recently asked me:

A good pal in the pub asked what was the best phone apart from the iPhone. What do you think? James Whatley you know about these matters. What’s the best out there on balance?

My response?
_____________________________________

If you’re not looking for an iPhone. Then your choice is Windows Phone or Android. If you want amazing photos, look at the Lumia 925 or the Lumia 1020 (see yesterday’s post for more on that one). The latter outperforms the former in the photography stakes, however the 925 has a more aesthetically pleasing industrial design.Â

If photography isn’t your number one reason for having a phone (oh and if, like me, you can’t get on with the Windows Phone 8 OS) then it’s a tie between the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One – I own and adore the latter.

Finally, if budget is an issue, I’d look at the Google Nexus 4. It is, at the time of writing, Google’s flagship device and is merely an astonishing Â£159 SIM free on Google Play.

That’s all I got.

_____________________________________

Disagree with this? Let me know.

But while you’re at it, let me know which phones you recommend when people ask you this same question. Those of you that don’t reply with ‘Let me ask Whatley’, that is…

The Lumia 1020 does take GREAT photos

Captain Obvious I know, but still…

I’ve got a full review percolating around my skull for this device (kindly lent to me by the guys at Nokia Connects) but if you’re a regular listener to my podcast, The Voicemail, you probably know where I’m at with it already.

But after spending a couple of days with the device and irrespective of how I feel about Windows Phone, you can’t deny how incredible the camera on the Lumia 1020 really is.

Taking it with me on my recent Tough Mudder meant we had some fantastic photos to share when we got back. Good work.

If the only thing you’re looking for in a phone is a decent camera, you simply can’t look any further than the Lumia 1020. Full stop.

—
Kate Bevan’s piece on the Lumia 1020 in The Guardian is also worth a look.

Content comparison: @ThreeUK vs @O2, which is better?

I’m after your opinion folks, so get ready to hit that ‘Leave a Reply’ section at the bottom of this post.
_________________________________

This week I received a cake* in the post.

A cake with my face on it.

— yes, that is my actual face, on a cake —

This is piece of co-marketing material from both Three and Nokia pushing the unique selling point (USP) of the Lumia 925: the awesome low-light camera. The angle?

YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO. CARROTS DO NOT HELP YOU SEE IN THE DARK.
THE LUMIA 925 HOWEVER, DOES.

Why a cake? Well, it’s a carrot cake. Geddit…?

Anyway, the video that the leaflet directs you too is below, take a look –

OK, let’s park that right there.

Next up, we have this effort from O2. Their phone of choice is the Huawei Ascend P6. The USP? The super-slimness of the device. The angle?

MODERN DAY PHONES LOOK TERRIBLE IN YOUR POCKET.
THESE ‘VISIBLE MOBILE LINES’ OR ‘VML’ NEED TO BE NO GONE.

Check out the video below –

Strategically, the two briefs for these could be almost identical –

Drive conversation and engagement around the DEVICE NAME by creating a funny and shareable piece of social media content that will stay true to [the] OPERATOR’s existing online tone of voice, while also highlighting the USP of our hero device.

The execution is obviously very different (plus the former had the additional push of some ‘influencer engagement’ in the shape of aforementioned baked product) but, the question to you, dear reader, is – which one do you prefer and why?

Both are funny in thei rown right, both pushing the USP of a hero device, both deliver the same message but in a very different way. I’m intrigued on your take on it so please, leave a reply below and let me know.

*I also received a hand-carved carrot featuring the Nokia and 3 logo. No, really. I didn’t eat that, nor did I get a photo (EDIT: photo uploaded as requested by carrot-carving fans), however the cake was really quite nice, so thanks for that. Why was my face on it again?Â

Blogging about @O2 and #O2Refresh

So, this is interesting.

Last Monday night I was invited along to the launch of the new ‘Refresh’ tariff from O2. Not since Orange launched their animal range (remember them?) has anyone actually gone to any length to launch a [yawn] phone tariff before but, when you dig a little deeper on this one, you can kind of see why it’s such a big deal.

The killer pitch of O2 Refresh is that you can upgrade your phone whenever you like. So we’re clear on this, what that means is:

YOU CAN UPGRADE YOUR PHONE WHENEVER YOU LIKE.

Got that? Good.

‘But how?!’ you all cry. Well, it’s achingly simple. So simple in fact that it’s stunning that no one else has ever done it before. O2 Refresh is a 24mth tariff that separates your airtime bill from your handset bill, meaning that you get absolute clarity on what money is being spent where. On a Â£37pcm contract? Â£20 of that goes on the phone, Â£17 on the airtime (that Â£17 by the way gets you unlimited minutes, text messages, and a gig of data).

To quote directly from their press release:

‘For those customers who want a new handset before the end of their contract term, O2 Refresh enables them to pay off the remainder of their Phone Plan and end their Airtime Plan with no termination fee. To make it even more affordable to get the latest smartphone, customers can trade in their old mobile for cash using O2 Recycle, getting up to Â£260 to put towards their new phone.’

Magic.

Speaking of which, there was magic on show on the night too –

Mr Oliver B (on the right, above – clearly), was a fantastic entertainer and, amongst other things, managed to swap my HTC One for a Sony Xperia Z (both of which are funnily enough, available on Refresh) right before my very eyes*.

Amazing.

Thanks very much to O2 for inviting me along to their event and congratulations to them too for actually attempting to innovate in one of the most staid and boring areas of the entire mobile industry.

O2, I salute you.

*Oliver B will be out and about in London town tomorrow doing more of the same, so keep an eye out on the @O2 Twitter account if you want to know where you can see him in action.

The Nokia MD-310: a real-world NFC use-case

No, seriously.Â

Honest to God, I genuinely have found a piece of NFC kit that not only works really well, but also fixes a problem I didn’t know I had.

I was at Nokia’s fancy new London HQ recently and I spotted the above piece of tech hanging up on the wall in the lobby. ‘I want one of these!‘ I cried. And lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, one arrived in the post for me to review. Hurrah for the internets.

So what does it actually do?

The Nokia MD-310 is, in a nutshell, an NFC-enabled bluetooth receiver for your home stereo. How that translates into the real world is as follows:

That shiny circular thing in the photo plugs into my audio system and sits nicely in my front room. Whenever I get home from work, or from a run, and I want to carry on listening to the music on my handset, I just tap my device on the glowing circle and, two seconds later, my tunes switch from my headphones to my speakers.

Simple.

How is this a problem I didn’t know I had? Well I only really use my main music system for music these days. It’s a gorgeous Marantz surround sound set which only gets to stretch its legs when I watch a film or want to get super-immersed in an Xbox game.

It misses music, much.

Having the MD-310 (gotta do something about that name) to hand means that not only can I play music from my phone from a simple tap, but I can also share my music from my Mac via bluetooth too. This is nothing short of brilliant. And it’s this multi-platform compatibility that makes this an essential piece of kit for me.

It’s quite amazing to know that these things were launched over 18mths ago now but, with the prevalence of NFC increasing month on month, this accessory deserves the timely resurgence it seems to be having.

They’re just overÂ Â£40 on Amazon right now and, given some places have them up for nearly double that(!), I’d say the MD-310 is worth a look.

It’s useful, it’s kinda cool looking (I think I’d preferÂ a black one though) and my home stereo system has never been happier.

FUTURE: ENABLED.

Blackberry 10: seven things you should know

Count’em…

1. There are two phones.
One new handset comes with a keyboard (the Q10) and one does not (the Z10). The latter looks like a fairly traditional touchscreen slab and the former will not doubt speak to those day to day business men who actually miss the days of having a full keyboard.

2. It’s for one handers
Apparently RIM, sorry BLACKBERRY (we’ll come back to that) have got super-focused on their one-hand experience to help those chaps and chapesses who like to do things… one handed. TRUTH.

3. European MD, Stephen Bates, will probably never appear on the BBC ever again.
In an amazing interview on Radio 5 this morning Mr Bates was askedÂ ‘What did you learn from the iPhone?’ (in various forms) six times and not once did he address the question full on. Ouch.

Too much media training = painful interviews from hell.

4. It runs Android apps.
It really does. And if there’s any app that’s not in the store, you can convert it in 40 seconds.

Grab the APK file, upload it to the converter and… bish bash bosh… one BB10 app ready and raring to go.

5. According to sources: it’s actually quite good.
David Mannl, super mobile tech head and founder and creative director at mobile app generator, Mippin, had this to say:

I’ve been using BB10 on a final hardware device for two weeks. And I won’t go back to my Galaxy S3. And Whatley knows how much of and android fan boy I am. Just amazing! Mainly because it runs all my android apps as well. A complete no brainer.

6. No more RIM: Blackberry is it.
That’s right, Research in Motion is no more. Pursuing the ideal of ‘one brand, one promise’, from this day forth, the Canadian handset manufacturer will simply be known as ‘Blackberry’. Clean and simple, not unlike their new UI.

7. You can play with one on Feb 28th.
The new Blackberry 10 devices are available tomorrow! However, if you don’t want to splash out yourself – don’t worry! You can come along to #NotatMWC next month, hang out with some rather awesome mobile geeks, AND get your grubby mitts on one there.

We’ve been promised BB10 devices will be on hand, so if you want hands on, come to #NotatMWC!

#NotatMWC 2013

We’re baaaaack!

This coming February sees the cream of the world’s mobile industry all descend on Barcelona’s (thing?) for Mobile World Congress. But the thing is, attending the world’s biggest mobile conference isÂ notÂ cheap so many mobile geeks don’t get the chance to go.

But don’t panic, we’ve got you covered –

The original #NotatMWC event is BACK!

Are you having trouble making it to MWC?
Have you decided to say ‘BALLS!’ to Barcelona?
Do you have a slight obsession with all things cellular?

THEN JOIN US FOR BEERS AND GENERAL MOBILE MERRIMENT AT #NOTATMWC!

February 28th is the date you need to book in your diary and we’ve booked the upstairs at All Bar One on New Oxford Street for just over 70-odd people. If we over do it and loads of you turn up, no matter! We can just flood the ENTIRE PUB with mobile folk and have a jolly good time.

See you there?

PS. Tell your friends —-> “Feb 28th. NotatMWC. Be there”

PPS. Sponsorship options are also available.