Monday
May292017

Google offering four free months of Play Music access to new subscribers

Google is giving away one extra month free for new subscribers to its Play Music service. It’s usually a 90-day free trial but they seem to be trying something different for now. There isn’t any indication this would be a permanent thing or it’ll be something temporary but if you’re thinking of using Google’s music subscription service, now might be the best time to try it out.

You can scan up to 50,000 songs from Google’s music library. There is a free tier of the service but it comes with ads. If you pay US$9.99 per month or $14.99 for a family account, you won’t be hearing ads and you get to listen to over 35 million songs, download these music for offline listening, and have access to YouTube Red.

Source: The Verge

Monday
May292017

Review: BlackBerry Mobile KEYone

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It’s mid-2017 and there’s a BlackBerry smartphone that’s turning heads and making waves. The Android powered KEYone brings BlackBerrys bag of tricks to a new form factor, and possibly, a new generation of users.

With sterling build and materials, legendary security and encryption, as well as a surprisingly capable 12-megapixel camera, this is a messaging tool that merits notice.

Like many, I approached the news of the KEYOne with great skepticism. BlackBerry, after all, no longer makes smartphones. They’ve licensed the brand and intellectual property to other companies and TCL's track record with the uninspiring DTEK smartphones cast doubt they could offer anything compelling. Earlier models from this licensee, after all, were rebadged Alcatel smartphones. BlackBerry handsets seemed to be all but lost.

Click to read more ...

Saturday
May272017

Canadian Reviewer Weekly RoundupĀ 05/21-05/27

Saturday
May272017

Chinese manufacturer Gionee makes smartphone with four cameras

The dual-camera setup is all the craze these days and it looks like one manufacturer from China is going above and beyond the norm. Gionee’s new S10 features four cameras all in all. It has a dual setup on both the front and the rear of the device. Gionee says one of the rear shooters comes with an f/1.8 aperture and this helps get better shots in low light. Other advantages of the dual-camera setup include an ability to catch 3D effects, measure distance better, and have wider angles, among other things. The rear camera has a 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel combo, while the front has a 20-megapixel and 8-megapixel combo. It’s obviously geared to take selfies with this setup.

Other specs of the phone look pretty promising, too. It runs on a Mediatek Helio P25 processor, 6GB of RAM, 64GB internal storage, and Android 7.0 Nougat. The S10 has a 5.5-inch 1080p screen and a 3,450mAh battery. Unfortunately, you might have a hard time getting your hands on the phone—unless you’re based in China. The phone costs 2,599 Yuan, which is around CA$500.

Source: Android Authority