SYNAPSE CIRCUIT IFA 2014

LG: G3 Stylus

  SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

IFA 2014
Good evening, Synapse Circuit Readers. I hope you had a great day! My day has been odd! I just hate it when tech does not work as expected and this means that a certain gadget will be on its way back to the store first thing in the morning! I hope you are having better luck with your tech!

Are you looking forward to this year’s IFA? I certainly am!

#IFA #IFABerlin2014 #SamsungGalaxyNote4 #ASUS #Huawei #LG

TECH BONANZA = IFA
I am very, very excited about IFA 2014 as there will be an obscene amount of tech that we can look forward to! I keep saying that I am after a tablet and I have been ever since the Nexus 7 came out but I have been, admittedly, hanging back to see how the tablet market develops and it looks like the time is right!

I am also in the market for a couple of upgrades later on this year and at the moment the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is high on my list of the most wanted handset! But will I wait for the Galaxy S6 or go for one of the many challengers to Samsung’s throne! We’ll have to see about that!

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY
I am expecting more wearable tech in the form of smartwatches. Hmmmm... To be honest I think that the smartwatch is in its infancy and if I were to go for one I’d like to get a pretty decent one. By all accounts the Moto 360 could be the one to go for and it is said that it will be announced at IFA; I am very curious! Will it be all that it’s cracked up to be? Or will LG’s round smartwatch usurp the Moto 360? It wouldn’t surprise me if ASUS got in on the act too... I know ASUS have got a few handsets and tablets on offer this year but I am surprised that they haven’t announced or leaked a smartwatch.

I guess that the main smartwatch to look out for it is Samsung Gear Solo that is said to contain a SIM; “Hello, Dick Tracy...” This I’ve gotta see! It’s supposed be round also! I have to say that I am at a loss as to why none of the bigwig manufacturers haven’t come up with a large rectangular screen on a wristband instead of these odd looking small watch faces! Hmmmm... Oh, well... I guess when one of those smartwristbands come out it could make the handset obsolete. But there again, these tech-glasses have yet to take off in a big way... I think people are still afraid of these things! Lol! One day, one day... The price has a way to go for such smartgoggles to enter the mainstream!

TABLETS
Yes, I told you that that the new phablet is the 7 inch tablet with either 3G or 4G built into them! We should be seeing quite a few of those – I think I may have outed one such tablet / phablet by ASUS. It is unclear if they are going to produce similar tablets but with a slimmer bezel so that it looks more like a handset – just like the Samsung Q!



Now, would Samsung release a 7” version of the Galaxy Tab S that has 4G as a standard? Hmmmm... I guess that will take away from the Galaxy Note 4.

Archos have announced a number of tablets to hit the market this year and one of them is the 8” tablet, 80 Helium 4G! It features a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB RAM and 8GB storage expandable by microSD card up to 64GB! You can make and take calls on it! And it only costs £199.99! Gosh! Oh, it has a 5MP main camera and 2MP front-facing for video calls! Sweet!
HANDSETS
Yes, just before the iPhone 6 is announced there will be so much competition from IFA alone that it is so very interesting to see if the iPhone market will grow or shrink even further! Having been in some serious shall we say “discussions” with iPhone fans it is a tough one to call! I would imagine that those that use the iPhone as a productivity tool may stick with it but those that just want a fancy handset the iPhone may have outlived its usefulness. Huawei is going to show off its Ascend P7 handset with a sapphire display! Nice!

Check out the ASUS ZenFone 5 (A501KL) is a 2GHz quad-core handset with a 5” (Gorilla Glass, 720p) display that features 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, 8MP main camera, 4G and Android 4.4 (KitKat) with ZenUI costs £199.99! Yes, it is expandable via microSD up to 64GB RAM! Wow! Should ASUS get the marketing right this handset could fly!



LG will show off the G3 Stylus that could be a budget alternative to the tripped out Galaxy Note 4! We’ll see! The G3 Stylus is not like the G3 in terms of the QHD 1440 x 2560. Uh-uh! The G3 Sylus features a 5.5” screen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels and a pixel density of 200 ppi. So, the G3 Stylus is looking to take the budget end of the phablet market! But the Galaxy Mega 2 could pour cold water on that challenge.

We can expect the Sony Xperia Z3 and its mini variant. For some reason I am not yet convinced by Sony handset designs. I am hoping to see a better design from them. I think the square design is getting a little long in the tooth! What I appreciate about LG designs is the round edges and the very slim bezel on it.

Motorola could be showing off the Moto G2 and X-1. From what I have seen of the “leaks” I do like the design with the rounded edges. I don’t fancy speculating on the components within as I’d rather weigh them with the competition when I learn what they are. I personally find creating articles on spec a little tired. I think now that the superphones are here there’s not that much to build upon when it comes to the brilliant premium handsets that we have come to expect from the Android stable at the middle range of the market. The thing with Android is that we are getting some great efforts in at the lower end too! I think it has gotten to a point where the markets of high, middle and low are starting to blur. One day we’ll be purchasing handsets from a dispensing machine! Lol!

OBSERVATIONS
Has the camcorder become obsolete? Sure, I see them in stores but it appears as if there is no longer a great interest in the camcorder and I guess this is thanks to the superphones from Samsung, LG, Sony, etc. There was a bit of an interest in 3D camcorders but the interest in that seems to have fizzled out. By the looks of things the camcorder has ported over to the digital SLR market which by all accounts is still going strong. Mobile phone photos are good but not quite up to the quality of the digital SLR.

TV
I am expecting announcements of 4K televisions – I may be getting one this Christmas to watch my Galaxy Note 4 footage! I am expecting some announcements from companies we’ve never even heard of looking to get inexpensive 4K televisions into the European market and this should drive the prices of 1080p televisions down even more! The large hypermarkets are selling these 1080p TVs by the truck load so it seems; every time I visit my local 24hr hypermarket I see at least a couple of people walking away with inexpensive HD TVs. Come October to December this year there will be some level entry 4K TVs.

VISION
What I see is Android gaining more ground in terms of more handsets and tablets towards the end of this year and throughout 2015 we’ll be seeing the Android tablet invading the streets all over the world! My American friends tell me that Android tablets are commonplace on the streets and it is only a matter of time before London and UK-wide streets have people walking around with Android tablets as they do with their handsets. It is going to be a great thing! We should also be seeing some Android based TV boxes / gizmos; since ceasing Virgin Media I am keen on developing my Android set-up!

I also expect to see more on automated home systems for both Android and iOS. I thought the last two years was an exciting time for technology and we have so much more to look forward to!

I hope to bring you some news / facts on what I think is the best of IFA 2014!

THANKS FOR READING...
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