Category: Mobile Computing

The giant bunny does a better space game than Angry Birds

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Big Bang is another entry in the scattershot Rabbids franchise. It’s hard, you play with a single life, and it’s an arcade game where a knowledge of orbital mechanics, and  Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, comes in useful. Naturally I love it: I loved the concept and game mechanics of Big Bang when I first played it just before Christmas, and my time with the game since then has increased my appreciation of the title. No, it’s not for everybody, it can be frustrating and orbital mechanics is not as easy a concept to grab as ‘lob a bird at

Gmail on your Windows Phone

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While Windows Phone 8 does work well with Gmail, I get the feeling that it still works on the IMAP model. MetroMail is a third-party client that provides a more Gmail focused inbox for WP users: While Windows Phone’s email application does handle Gmail in a way that fits in with the UI, there are some areas where it can be lacking (including label support, filtering, and multiple accounts). Does the third-party client MetroMail address these issues and, if so, is it worth Googlers switching to it? That’s a finely balanced decision. My full review is over on All About

In Jolla the hackers finally have a smartphone they can fiddle with

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Arriving just before the holidays, I’ve finally had some time to sit down with the Jolla I ordered as part of the first batch of FInnish smartphones are write a proper preview of the handset. Given I can spend a decent amount of time with it, a full review is going to take another week or two, but here are my first thoughts: Differentiating in hardware is not Jolla’s goal – it’s all about the software and specifically about Sailfish OS. Sailfish OS is based on the Mer project, which was built on the MeeGo project, which itself was a

Forget the howls of ‘it’s just an iPhone 5’, just review the iPhone 5c

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I would love to see the breakdown (eventually) on the iPhone 5c sales. I suspect that all the geekerati jumped on the 5s initially, and the 5c will sell on a ‘slow burn’ to everyone else. I’m not one to dismiss it out of hand, and I’ve given it a full review this weekend over on Forbes. Replacing the iPhone 5 has coloured the online viewpoint of the iPhone 5c, making it a cheaper iPhone 5 with the plastic case replacing the metal covering of the earlier models, while retaining the majority of the internals. In fact the iPhone 5c

Some thoughts on the Pebble smart watch

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Four weeks on the wrist, and I’m all set to go Charlton Heston on you if you try to pry it off. The Pebble smartwatch cracks the challenge of the smartwatch, and while it’s not the final iteration of the wearable technology, the Pebble reminds me of the promise of the early Psion and Palm devices I used. The Pebble reminds me of the early days of the PDA, with many limitations in the hardware and software being overcome by smart hacking. The limitations of size and interface are obvious, while others are down to the hardware design (the Pebble

Would anyone turn down an iPad Air?

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Yes, there are other tablets with individual apps, and every tablet’s base line functionality means that you can use Android, iOS, Windows 8, or any other flavour and get your work done…. but for that final little push, that bit of shine, is there any other choice other than an iPad Air? … but the iPad Air is more than an iteration on Apple’s successful product line. It feels like the synthesis of everything that has come before, allowing Apple to create a tablet that can fit into your life without you having to compromise any of your expectations. And