Continue reading »]]> Quick note: Really sorry I haven’t blogged for a while – been busy with other things! Will try and keep a vague schedule for posts going.

I read in the news recently that Microsoft are stripping back some of the built in features that will be included in Windows 8. Windows 8 is Microsoft’s new flagship operating system that is expected to reach computer screens in the last quarter of 2012.

Two things came to my attention as I read these two (one & two) blog posts by Microsoft.

• First of all, Windows Media Center is going to be an extra add-on to Windows 8. This means, unlike Windows 7, you’ll have to pay for it on top of the price of the core OS if you want – no matter whether you have the home or pro version of Windows 8. Whilst this won’t bother most people, for anyone using TV tuners on their computer (ie me), this could be a huge downfall. Media Center has a fantastic interface for TV and the EPG is great too – so I’ll be rather peeved if I have to pay for Media Center.
• Secondly, Windows 8 will not be able to natively play DVDs or Blu-Ray discs. Why, you ask? Well, I’m not sure, but it does make some kind of sense to an extent. The key idea of Windows 8 is that it will be usable on tablets – which, in most (if not all)  cases, won’t have a DVD or Blu-Ray drive – so Microsoft are probably thinking they don’t need to waste money on licensing codecs to decode the discs. However, this is no good for anybody who is planning to use Windows 8 on a laptop or a desktop.

I fear that Microsoft are going to fall into the same trap with Windows 8 as they did with Windows Vista/7. Windows 8 will be fantastic on new devices that have it preinstalled, but Microsoft will face the backlog of people using their existing machines with Windows 7. Then, years after Windows 8 has launched, there will still be a vast majority of people on older operating systems that are still supported.

At the moment, I can’t see any huge reason to upgrade to Windows 8. There’s nothing in it for me that stands out and makes me think “I really want that”.

Ah well, Windows 7 is going to be supported until 2020, so I think I’ll stick with that for now.

Continue reading »]]> HTC have launched a price-crash rental weekend for lucky Brits. With a selection of 50 films (many of which being new releases), anyone with a recent HTC device can grab a lovely selection of films to watch for just 5p each.

I’ve never used the service before, so I was keen to get started. You simply open an account with them (it doesn’t use your Google account or any other account you have with HTC) and then browse through the store. It’s marked “Easter special” on the opening page. Then, make your selection and enter your card details.

As soon as your card payment is accepted, the film will start downloading. You get 30 days to start watching the film and then 48 hours to finish once you’ve started – just like iTunes.

If you’re travelling in the car over Easter or just need a film fest, give it a try!

Continue reading »]]> Ok, so I’ve only had ICS on my phone for around a day – so it’s hardly the time to be too judgmental about it, but I thought while I have half an hour spare I’d share my thoughts so-far.

Overall, I love it – it is so much faster than Gingerbread was. It really is like getting a brand new phone six months after buying it. The interface is faster than ever, memory management is decent, apps load quickly and power consumption isn’t too bad either. The actual interface design hasn’t actually changed hugely – you get a new homescreen, new menu and new settings interface – but most other things are reasonably similar. The lock screen has barely changed at all – but for the fact that notifications now show a contact image and you can use face unlock, it’s all the same.

In terms of functionality, I’ve found a couple of minor niggles but otherwise it’s pretty decent. My first problem is that I’ve lost HTC’s autocorrect functionality on the keyboard in many third party apps such as Twitter – this is a nightmare and causes a lot of problems when writing half-hearted tweets. There are also a couple of spelling mistakes within the software – and whilst this really isn’t a problem it is something I’m very OCD about. This, for example. Somebody at HTC must have forgotten how to spell.

Put the minor niggles aside and there’s nothing you won’t like about Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s always been a question to me whether the new update would mean better battery life, and whilst I haven’t had the chance to test that out many people are reporting much better standby time. I’ll see how it goes – I’m too much into the habit of leaving the phone on charge for half the day so I’ll need to creep out of that habit a bit.

The update is available now for all unlocked, unbranded HTC Sensation and Sensation XE phones in the UK so grab yourself the download if you’re ready to upgrade. It’s around 300MB and you’ll need to do it OTA so make sure you’re connected to a wi-fi network if you haven’t got unlimited data. The upgrade took me around 20 minutes, but I ended up doing a factory reset after I’d upgraded. I sort-of wish I hadn’t really reset it – many people recommended that you do but after doing so I don’t think it’s actually made much of a difference. Other than the fact I’ve wasted hours of my life putting it all back together, it hasn’t really done me or the phone much good!

Still, go get it if you’re phone can. You won’t regret it – just make sure you do a backup of your phone just incase anything goes wrong.

Continue reading »]]> An update to my previous post – Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now also available (as of 13.00 BST) for the HTC Sensation XE. HTC released ICS for the Sensation yesterday – but not the XE.

To get the update, simply go to Settings, About, Software Updates and then click Check Now. It’s around 300MB in size so unless you have unlimited data I’d suggest using wi-fi.

FINALLY!

Continue reading »]]> Reports are starting to flood in to the official HTC UK facebook page that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now available as an OTA update for stock (unbranded) HTC Sensation handsets in the UK – at last!

I haven’t got anything on my Sensation XE at the moment so I can only assume that right now it’s only rolling out for the Sensation but stayed tuned for more info.

If you have an HTC Sensation phone in the UK, check for updates now!

Update 2.21pm: A whole bunch of others have also said they can now see the update on their UK Sensation phones.

Update 03/04/2012: The update is now also available for the Sensation XE.

Continue reading »]]> We have a winner for our £20 Amazon.co.uk competition we ran back in February. Congratulation to Vicky Haddock who scooped up the prize. Enjoy your spending spree!

Stay tuned to GEEK! over 2012 for more competitions and, of course, the usual tech news and reviews. Thanks to everyone who entered this time – better luck next time it wasn’t you who won!

Continue reading »]]> This week has brought a whole load of important Ice Cream Sandwich news. The Samsung Galaxy S II has apparently started getting updates today, and earlier this week brought ICS to the Sensation XE is some European countries such as Germany.

HTC has said that they’re expecting the roll out to spread to the rest of Europe in the coming weeks – and we sure hope it does as they promised it would arrive on our phones before the end of March.

I’m frequently checking my phone for updates and also regularly keeping up with the news online to make sure I’m one of the first in line!

All I can say is that if it is set to arrive with us before the end of March, HTC should issue it within the next two weeks. We’ll update you as soon as we have more news!

Continue reading »]]> I know this card has been out for some time now – but I don’t really ever need state-of-the-art graphics cards for my gaming needs. To be honest,  most of the games I play are at least a year old and aren’t stupidly power hungry. However, my ATI Radeon HD4550 was really starting to show its age a bit, so I decided to fork out a bit and move up the scale.

So I found this card. It looked good to me – it’s the Asus model which has a 900Mhz processor clock with 1GB GDDR5 memory, which seemed like a huge step up from my previous card. I found it for around £85 from the good people at CCL (I’ve used these guys frequently before – very good company), so I went for it!

I’m pretty impressed with it, to be honest. It’s no rocket launcher, but it can do ~30fps in GTA IV on full settings at 1440×900, which is plenty for my needs. It also seems to be quite happy with Test Drive Unlimited 2 at full settings – which is another game I do play when I get the chance.

Generally, I’d say it’s a mid range card – it’s not capable of today’s games at full settings but it’ll certainly achieve good mid-range settings and it does have good specs to play with. If you’re looking to build a mid-range machine that needs to play high quality, full HD video then this won’t bat an eyelid. My only real issue with it is space consumption – my micro ATX case is now full to the brim, and the card has also covered one of my PCI-E x1 slots up, which is a nuisance. Think I’m going to find myself buying a new computer case soon!

Continue reading »]]> Well, HTC have told us recently that we should expect Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the HTC Sensation XE (as well as many other HTC phones) by the end of this month. This is great news for me as I’ve been looking forward to it since I got my phone back in November last year. But what are you to expect? Here’s a round up.

• New(ish) home screen - HTC haven’t really changed it massively themselves, but with ICS some changes have been brought in. The famous rounded bar that shows at the bottom of the screen in Gingerbread (with the big phone button) has been replaced with the ICS equivalent. You can now set four shortcuts on the bottom bar. You can also specifically set how many home screens you want (up to 7), rather than being stuck with empty home screens.
• Face unlock - the new software brings in face unlock – so you can use your camera to unlock the phone. Handy, I guess.
• Updated web browser  - the web browser has got a couple of minor new features – like being able to force websites to load desktop pages.
• Other new stock ICS features - Whilst some ICS features aren’t added in (probably for compatibility reasons), there are some new things like data cap settings which could come in handy. You can tell the phone how much data you get per month, and the phone will moderate itself accordingly.
• Better app organisation – you now get app folders (finally). In addition, the recent apps feature has been overhauled to give you a much better preview of what is going on in the background.
• Access to notifications from the lock screen - pretty self explanatory, but this will be useful.
• Updated Google apps - some Google apps like Gmail and Google Maps have been updated somewhat.
• Sense 3.6 - An update to HTC’s Sense software.

That’s the main key feature update. I’m looking forward to it – but I would have liked to have seen HTC working on some of their own apps – such as the Music app which, I feel, needs some fixes and updates!

Continue reading »]]> It crossed my mind a few days ago that GEEK! hasn’t run a single competition since the site was launched in 2008. Well – today that’s going to change! This is our first ever competition – and there’s £20 to spend on Amazon.co.uk up for grabs!

To enter, simply like GEEK! on Facebook (go to the page and click ‘Like’ or use the ‘Like’ button below) and then fill in the form underneath.

This competition has now ended. Stay tuned for more throughout 2012.

The competition rules are below. This competition closes at 23:59 on March 16th (Friday!) – entries after then will NOT be counted. Good luck!

Competition rules:

1. To have a chance of winning, you must like GEEK! on Facebook (click the link above or the “like” button on the sidebar) and then fill in the form above.
2. You must be a UK resident and at least 13 years of age to enter this competition. There are no other exclusions.
3. You can only enter this competition once. Multiple entries will not be counted and may result in disqualification.
4. No purchase is necessary.
5. The competition closes at 23.59hrs on Friday 16th March 2012. The winner of the competition will be notified by email within 14 days of the competition closing.
6. Each entry will be assigned a number and random.org will be used to find and verify a winner. Our result is final – no discussion or debate will be made.
7. By entering, you agree that, if you win, your name may be published on GEEK!.
8. If the winner does not claim their prize within 72 hours of being alerted, a new winner will be found with random.org.
9. If for any reason the prize becomes unavailable, it will be substituted with another prize of equal or greater value. No cash alternative will be offered.
10. GEEK! will not use any information gathered from this competition for any reason other than finding a winner to the competition.

Competition also listed on ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions