Play To Brings DNLA Sharing to Nokia Lumia
A new treat is in store for Nokia Lumia owners as the company releases a video streaming app. Nokia has just released a beta app that is designed for streaming video content from a Lumia device to a TV.
Users can download the beta Play To app that will work with a Nokia Lumia 710 or 800 and link it with any device that is DLNA which means the Digital Living Network Alliance, so a TV, Blu-Ray player or a laptop. The connection means you can link devices wirelessly and it is designed especially for streaming media content.
DLNA is nothing new to the smartphone world. Many Apple and Android devices already have the capability. It is increasingly important for manufacturers to emphasise how a smartphone can sit within the rest of peoples’ technology, so a tablet or a TV, PC or Mac, as smartphones get more powerful it becomes more important to share data between different platforms. A big deciding factor for people buying phone contracts today is how easily a handset can interact, either for sharing work, transferring photos or accessing multimedia from other sources.
The Nokia Lumia 800 comes with an 8 megapixel camera with an f/2.2 camera lens and a dual LED flash. It is capable of 720p HD video recording. The camera app allows you to set automatic settings for different scenes as well as setting a white balance to achieve colour correction. The video app has been criticised in some corners for not having a zoom function while recording. However when you shoot video in the day there is a depth of colour as well as sound quality but it does take the app a few seconds to adjust to a change in light and brightness settings.
The Play To app can be downloaded straight to the device and can then be used to stream any videos or pictures straight from the handset. It does not yet support music streaming, but Nokia says that is planned for a future update.
As Play To is still in beta, Nokia says they are looking for responses and feedback from users to the app. Now that it is available in the Windows Marketplace they want to encourage feedback as it will make the app perform even better and reduce any glitches or problems with interactivity or performance.
For Nokia the app will be big news as people look for more from the Finnish firm’s first Windows Phones. The link with Microsoft, and the fact that there is already a Xbox Live licence that comes with the handset means there is great potential for linking up with a console. More and more Xbox and PlayStation users are streaming through their console, thanks to existing apps like Netflix and Love Film, so having a smartphone link up with a console makes it even more integrated than many existing DLNA enabled phones. Nokia says that as well as music they are hoping to plan functionality that allows the handset to act as a DLNA Media Server. That would be increasing link up with an Xbox 360 and other similar devices.
About Simon
Simon writes on behalf of Best Mobile Contracts - the best place to compare mobile phone contracts in the UK.
Read over 2,100 newspapers on your iPad 3 with PressReader
And not just on your iPad, but also your Blackberry Tablet, Windows and Android devices! If you love to read and you can’t keep away from your newspapers, then PressReader is one the best apps that you can download for this purpose.
PressReader is the only application that lets you read a growing list of over 2,100 full-content newspapers from 95 countries in 54 languages available through the world’s largest online newspaper and magazine kiosk PressDisplay.com.
Key features include:
- Flipping pages like you’re reading a real publication
- The ability to pan, zoom or rotate pages, articles and photos
- Navigating publications using thumbnails or table of contents
- Opening full articles in easy-to-read text views
- Listening to publications using on-demand audio
- Searching online across titles and selecting the titles you wish to download
PressReader offers various different subscription plans:
Pay as you go: Ideal for casual readers. You pay only $.99 per download of each issue. Ideal if you’re not a regular newspaper reader.
Personal: If you are a regular reader or if you plan on downloading over 31 issues in a month, you should consider this plan. Enjoy reading all your favourite publications whenever or wherever you want, all for just $29.95/month
Corporate plans: Ideal for small and large companies and available for $99 and $199/month
- Android
- BlackBerry
- iPad/iPhone
- Windows 7
About Ajay
A die-hard blogger, web developer, biker, singer, geek, non-stop talker, foodie, movie freak are just some of the words that begin to describe me.
Sony Xperia S – The First Phone without Ericsson
The grass is always greener, and we’re always looking to the next best thing. We evaluate our partners next to random lookers on the street, and we compare our dated phones with Sony’s sexy Xperia S. But is that so wrong?
Yes, it is, but the Xperia S is too desirable not to look twice at.
It’s sophisticated and beautiful, because Sony have put real thought into its design. From the transparent strip near the bottom of the phone to the off-colour lip – there are flourishes all over that make this one trendy little handset. Tan touch buttons control the phone, and are found on the front of the chassis. The whole feel of this model gives the impression of stability, so you won’t be dropping it anytime soon – well, until a younger model comes along…
But the most exciting features of the Xperia S are on the inside, not the outside. Well, apart from the impressive 12 megapixel camera – but we’ll get to that later. The display on the Sony Xperia S measures in at 4.3 inches, and comes with Reality Display. It’s considerably larger, and definitely clearer, than that of the iPhone 4S. The pixel count is also 1280 x 720, so you can stream media in all its glory. And if you want to watch movies on your television, simply plug the phone in via its HDMI port.
You won’t experience lag when you’re switching between media and applications either. The dual-core 1.5Ghz processor is pretty powerful, and twice as fast as that of the iPhone 4S. It’s also PlayStation certified, so you’ll have the entertainment of a PSP with a whole load of extras.
Having said that, the accessories and extras that you can run alongside the Xperia S are a little gimmicky. The SmartWatch is one such accessory – a splash-proof touch screen that streams Twitter and Facebook directly to your wrist. SmartTags are another useless addition, and Sony’s attempt at NFC (near field communication). The idea is that you buy two or three of these tags (at around £20 a piece – phew) and dangle them in random places to change profiles between the home, office and bedroom.
Sony seem to have forgotten that it’s quite possible to do this manually. Either that, or they’re out to make money from our laziness. Whatever the reason, we won’t be purchasing SmartTags.
But to end on a positive note, let’s go back to that camera. At 12 megapixels, the Xperia S will allow even the worst photographer to snap great shots every time. The addition of Sony Exmor R technology means that whether it’s dusk, dawn, or just plain dingy, you can capture pictures in every light condition. What’s more, the phone’s front-facing camera can even shoot HD video – it’ll show every spot or wrinkle when you call friends and family, but it’s an exciting prospect nonetheless.
Although it will originally run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Xperia S will have Ice Cream Sandwich before the year’s out. It’s due to be released in March 2012, so we suggest you get your wallets at the ready.
About Simon
Simon writes on behalf of Best Mobile Contracts - the best place to compare mobile phone contracts in the UK.
Full In-Depth Review of the Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 OS
The Android operating system has always been a powerful workhorse and a great choice for technical geeks; however, it lacked the fun aspect. Enter the latest in the line of Android versions, the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Reconstructed totally from the ground up, it is now packed with a host of features that none will find lacking. The system is not just a revision of previous versions, but is actually significantly different from the older gingerbread version.
(Courtesy of abulhussain)
The first most obvious change to strike one is the elimination of all the physical navigation buttons. They are replaced with virtual buttons that come alive under ones fingers by glowing and throbbing. Eye-catching animations moving slowly fill the home screen and there is a larger variety to choose from in the apps tray and if one desires, photo gallery.
Another cool convenience is that when a user reads an email message, the screen can be moved to the left or right of the message that is being read. This allows one to see the message that came before the current one or the one which comes after. This movement can be carried out by flicking the screen. The flick gesture is common throughout the new OS and can be used to get rid of alerts in the notifications list, browser thumbnails and in any application that was used recently.
(Courtesy of laihiu)
The home screen widgets can now be resized. A brand new calendar app allows cells to expand and collapse by just pinching; this allows the viewing of large or small time periods. The web browser is now considerably faster and includes a really handy feature that allows one to save material for offline reading. The Request Desktop Site is also found in this same menu, which allows one to navigate away from the mobile-optimized view of the browser.
Google has also improved the voice-controlled text input. It is more accurate, even if just by a tad bit. The feature controlling voice now reveals words being dictated at a very slow real-time pace. While not the most accurate of implementations, it does manage to get by and one does not have to hit “done” to see the material that has been dictated. The security hardware, too, has gotten a bit of an upgrade. Buried deep within the Settings menu, is the Face Unlock feature, which utilizes facial recognition technology to match the mug with the security system. It is set up by allowing the front-facing camera to scan the face and upon completion, one selects a secondary unlocking tool that acts as a fail-safe in case the Face Unlock does not work. The security system can be set up very easily, but it is easy to fool and fails fairly frequently. Additionally, it is not really very fast; entering a key code is much faster. This makes one wonder, why bother with it at all? What is more troublesome is the fact that it can be easily fooled. Cell phones using this feature can be unlocked by holding a photo of the phone owner in front of the locked screen.
A far more practical feature is the Data Usage tool, also located in the Settings menu. This allows one to see the amount of data one has accessed on a timeline over a number of days. It is possible to set a warning, so as one nears the limit of their plan they can cut back. There are also many photo and video functionalities packed in the system that allow one to edit their captured material. Additionally, there is a new People app that can roll up the contacts list and extend social media functionality in one place. All the contacts can be viewed through thumbnails. Just click on a thumbnail and one gets a nice contact profile, showing their email address and the most recent Google activity. Also, the profiles of these people will spring up throughout ICS. When one clicks on the image of someone from whom an email has come, the People profile pops up showing all the different ways of contacting them.
The Ice Cream sandwich is packed full of really brilliant features. The operating system immediately puts all cell phones using the ICS way beyond other Android competitors.
This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Cell Phone Expert where you can compare cell phone plans.
About Ajay
A die-hard blogger, web developer, biker, singer, geek, non-stop talker, foodie, movie freak are just some of the words that begin to describe me.
3 Disadvantages to Using a Broadband Dongle
The broadband internet market has grown significantly over the years, leading to a lot of new innovation and the ability to access the internet using a modem of your choice. One great device that was introduced over the years is the mobile broadband dongle, and it is currently one of the most popular devices used to access the internet due to its flexibility, the security it offers and several other advantages. Personally, I believe that using a mobile broadband dongle can be a smart decision, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have disadvantages and I think we all need to know about its disadvantages before deciding to use it. This article will be listing 3 major disadvantages to using a broadband dongle.
Speed is Limited
The number one disadvantage to using a broadband dongle is that the speed you get with it is limited. With other forms of broadband internet service you can easily get better internet speeds without having to buy a new modem or take any extra measure. This isn’t the case with the broadband dongle, and presently, the two major forms of broadband dongle provide internet speeds of 3.2mbps and 7.6mbps. What that means is that if you want faster internet access you still can’t get it with such a dongle even if your ISP is providing better speeds. If you don’t think you will need to use up to 7mbps data transfer in any given period then going for a broadband dongle might be a smart decision on your part.
You are Restricted to the Same Interface
One thing I really dislike about using a broadband dongle is that you are restricted to the same interface. For example, if you are to decide to tether your mobile phone with your computer, aside your phone PC suite, there are countless applications available online to help you with that. If you decide to change ISP and as a result use the dongle you purchased from your current ISP with a new ISP you will be forced to use the interface of your old ISP.
It Isn’t Easily Accessible
Another major drawback to using a broadband dongle is that it isn’t easily accessible. By this, I’m not trying to say you can’t get it easily, what I mean is that you can hardly get a broadband dongle that isn’t a 3.6mbps dongle or a 7.2mbps dongle. I believe people should be able to get faster dongles, or if possible, custom tailored dongles, but that isn’t possible at the moment.
Paul T is a broadband expert who helps people choose the best pay as you go dongle.
About Ajay
A die-hard blogger, web developer, biker, singer, geek, non-stop talker, foodie, movie freak are just some of the words that begin to describe me.
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