It’s Ace it is

I’ve always lived in Hertfordshire, so naturally I don’t have an accent.  But I’ve got family in the West Country so a few times a year we’d bundle into the car and drive to visit my Aunt in her big house in the country.

I always loved the West Country accent, listening to the locals talking I’d hear them say stuff like “Oh I love that film I do, it’s ace it is”, the tone bobs up and down like a yoyo and the of course there’s that three-letter word… Ace.

That word is used a lot, everything is ‘ace’, not good or OK or alright, but ace.  There is even a farm shop in the local town called Ace Farming Supplies…

I think there’s a designer at Samsung from the West Country, and the only reason I can tell is by the name of one of their smartphones.  It’s called the Samsung Galaxy (you guessed it) Ace.  Picture the scene;
                “Right people, we need a name for this smartphone, if you could sum it up in one word what would you say?…”  You see where I’m going with this?

Released in February 2011 the Ace soon became a firm favourite with many small businesses, and the main reason for its likeability is that it’s a good, cheap, Android smartphone.  Great functionality combined with excellent value, made it an instant hit.

Now however, Samsung have released a new version called the Galaxy Ace Plus, it’s a natural progression from the original with some improved features like the processing chip for example upgraded from 800MHz to 1GHz, which is good because the screen is also slightly bigger at 3.65 inches from 3.5.

The internal memory has also had a significant boost from 158MB to an “ace” 3GB (the most in its class), and there’s a Micro SD memory card slot so it can be expanded to up to 32GB as well.

For business purposes this fantastic smartphone could be ideal.  Whether you need a fast connection to the internet, a good 5MP camera or your favourite social media sites right in your pocket, the Galaxy Ace Plus covers them all. 

Another upgrade from the original Ace is the addition of Adobe Flash support.  So now when you’re browsing the web and you come across an embedded flash video, you can simply watch it instead of getting the rather annoying message “You cannot currently view this media”.

So if you want a good Android phone but don’t want to fork out a load of money, we highly recommend the Galaxy Ace Plus, it’s a really really good smart device.  It’s so good it’s… what’s the word?  It’s on the tip of my tongue…

Buy the Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus here.  Or call us for more details on 0800 999 0900.

Also watch this space for news on the Galaxy Ace 2

All-In?

In many ways, business is like a game of poker.  You calculate risk based on percentages, make important decision, keep your cards very close to your chest and frequently use the words “All-in”.

But instead of it meaning cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best, in business all-inclusive means hassle-free, you get everything with no risk.

Many companies are now offering these sorts of deals, look at the current Peugeot ‘Just add fuel’ deal for example.  Small businesses love it because they get a new car and all they have to worry about is keeping it topped up with petrol.  The warranty, insurance, MOT, road tax, servicing, and roadside assistance is all taken care of for 3 years, by which time, they’ll probably want a new one.

T-Mobile knows the benefit of an “all-in” deal as well.   They’ve recently released a new 12 month business tariff which includes unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and unlimited data all for just £35 per month (ex VAT).

That seems pretty amazing, and especially since it’s only on a 12 month contract, in a time where 24 and 36 month terms rule the roost, the return of a 12 month term will be a pleasant sight for many.

There are also a range of handsets that are likely to be available for free including the Samsung Galaxy XCover tough phone, and the Nokia C1 and C2 ranges.

And if you don’t mind spending a little there are plenty of Android and BlackBerry smartphones available which are purposely priced at the lower end of the market, which still offer fantastic functionality.

Just to pick a few, there’s the BlackBerry Curve 9300, the HTC Wildfire S and the Nokia E5 all of which are very reasonably priced.

So if you’re interested in this fantastic tariff from T-Mobile why not contact us today by calling 0800 999 0900.

Dare to be different?

Remember at school, there was always one kid in the class that was…well…a bit different. One that didn’t follow the crowd. Maybe they dressed differently, or didn’t have the same gadgets as everyone else. Whatever, they were different. Do you ever find it’s the same when it comes to business mobile phones? Let’s be honest, you go into the meeting, and everyone puts their mobile handsets on the desk and let me guess, they’re pretty much all BlackBerrys and iPhones, with maybe the odd Nokia thrown in?

This is the challenge facing the Taiwanese manufacturer, HTC. It wasn’t so long ago that HTC were not considered serious contenders in the mobile handset market, but since their shift in focus to the Android operating system in 2009, they have gone from strength to strength, with internet friendly smartphones, that dare we say it, some even rate higher than iPhones. And I’ll be honest here…I know a few HTC handset owners, and I’ve never heard any of them complain about their phone.

HTC One series

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) was held at the end of February in Barcelona, and HTC took the opportunity to announce their new range, the HTC One. As seems to be the trend in the industry, this is bound to cause a little bit of confusion, as the HTC One is actually…three handsets. The One X, One S and One V. Still with me? Good.

Starting with the V, which we’re told is the essential smartphone for those on the go, it carries the familiar HTC form factor, with a large 3.7 inch screen, and slightly curved body – why curved? Well if you drop it, it means the screen is never going to hit the ground. And smartphones with touchscreens are pretty hopeless with a cracked screen. Also included in the 115g package are a 5MP camera, and 4GB memory which can be expanded with a MicroSD card. For those international business trips, the phone is quad band so will work pretty much everywhere. All this, and if you spend more than £30 a month on your tariff, the phone will probably be free.

Next in line is the S, and with this model, you get “beauty and brains”. HTC are very much focussing on the camera capabilities, with HD video recording, an 8MP camera, and a 4.3 inch screen. The travelling businessman is again looked after with quad band, an impressive 1.5GHz processor, and the ability to stream media wirelessly from the phone to a laptop.

Finally, the X, which has a quad core processor, meaning it’s likely to be one of the fastest phones on the market. The internet experience will be further improved by a huge 4.7 inch screen, and anyone needing to take the odd photo will again be very happy with an 8MP camera and HD video recording. The phone also includes the wireless streaming capability, plenty of storage with 32GB on board, and also has Near Field Communication included which is rapidly being adopted by many businesses as a way to advertise or pay for products.

It’s an exciting range, and the new handsets will be coming to us over the next couple of months. For the business person who requires internet on the move, they are highly desirable handsets. Why not be the different one at your next business meeting and have one of these beauties on the desk?

The new iPad 3G

This evening, or should that be this morning, as it was AM in this part of America, Apple held an event that was widely expected to include the launch of the new iPad – you might have heard one or two stories about it?!

Being the geeks we are at Connecting Business, we weren’t going to miss out on the fun, so grab a cuppa as we take a look, after all the gossip and speculation, at what is actually coming our way from our friends in Cupertino.

The presentation came from Apple CEO Tim Cook, and as is quite often the case at these events, started by listing some more staggering statistics to confirm the electronics giant is real industry leaders. Cook spoke of a “Post-PC” era, where “the PC is no longer the centre of your digital world”, and that the iPad is “reinventing portable computing”.  In this era, or more specifically, in 2011, Apple sold 315 million “Post-PC” devices – that’s iPods, iPhones, and iPads to you and me. These sales made up more than three quarters of Apple’s revenue. Cook also went on to disclose that 110 million people had visited one of Apple’s 362 worldwide retail stores, just in Q4 of last year.

Things then moved on to the services side of things, and the much anticipated launch of Apple’s updated operating system, iOS 5.1. Cook started with Siri, Apple’s answer to Kit from Knightrider (for those old enough to remember).  One of the issues with Siri was it was fine…if you were in America. Not any more, with demonstrations of an Australian Siri, French, German, and Japanese. Apple had also made an announcement on their website recently of their 25 billionth App download, which was apparently by a user in China. Cook then moved on to iCloud, which allows a user’s content to be synced across all of their devices. Apparently, there are now more than 100 million users of iCloud. The update here is that iCloud now supports not just music and applications, but video content as well. Not only that, but it will be in High Definition quality. This moved things nicely on to an update of Apple TV, the new product being available next week – this clever little device allows users to stream movies through their TVs, and also allows music and other content on your Apple devices to be played through your TV or home stereo as well.

Naturally, the hot topic of the event was next – the iPad. Apple sold 15.4 million of these devices in Q4 of 2011. Cook claimed this was more than any PC manufacturer had sold PCs, an incredible statistic, and a sure sign of things moving in the direction of tablet devices, and in particular those made by Apple! After such a subtle dig at the competition, the question was then asked, who could come out with a product better than the current iPad 2. There weren’t many in the room that couldn’t guess what was coming.

So let’s take a look at the new iPad, who’s title was eventually revealed as “the third generation iPad”. Firstly, a new “retina” screen, with a massive 3.1 million pixels – the most ever in a mobile device, and that’s more pixels than on an HD TV. A new quad core processor as widely anticipated making the device lightning quick.   The camera is now 5MP with lots of other updates, including HD video recording and stabilization software for those with an unsteady hand. The device also allows voice dictation, and can be now be used with our aforementioned friend Siri. The previous iPad had a 3G version, whereas there is a version of the new one which is 4G LTE enabled – this will mean little to the UK at the moment, but once the networks are upgraded it means quicker mobile data speeds on the device. Also introduced, as per the iPhone, is the ability to use the iPad as a personal WiFi hotspot.   All these extra things, so surely it’s going to run the battery down? Not at all, the battery has been improved to ensure the same amount of time before you have to charge the device. And it’s only slightly heavier as a result.

Is that it? No there was more!

We then moved on to software, some great games for those quiet moments during the working day (when the boss isn’t around), and also other applications such as Sketchbook Pro for those artists among us, and updates to the music software Garage Band, iMovie for video editing, and finally, the introduction of iPhoto for, you’ve guessed it, photo editing.

All good stuff, so surely our battered old iPad 2’s are now redundant? No, you will still be able to buy the old fossil, at a cheaper price too. And if you decide to go for the upgrade, all the docking stations etc will still fit, which is good news.

Pricing? It was revealed that the new iPad would be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions, and again in both Black and White. Prices announced were the same as the current iPad, and the new product will be available in a number of countries on March 16^th  (including the UK). Time to get pre-ordering, and you will be able to do so from tomorrow at connectingbusiness.com.

No exaggeration…

Today I want to talk about exaggerations.  Quite frankly, I think I’ll die if I hear another one. 

It seems we can’t even go 30 seconds without someone over exaggerating something or other, and in our efforts to bring the latest up-to-date news and reviews on new business products, it’s seems like sometimes we have to spend weeks skating around the exaggerations to pick out the truth to report to you good people.  So let’s stop all the exaggerations right now!

We’ll be the first to start…

This week, we’ve found a newly released Smartphone that is so powerful, so compact, and that looks so good; it could probably run your business for you. 

The MOTOLUXE

Enter the Motorola Luxe, also known as the MOTOLUXE, and it’s flush with features that business users will adore.  Complete with a Quad Core processing chip, 1GB of ROM and an extremely impressive 16-day battery standby time (even on 3G); it means there’s probably enough power on board to launch a NASA shuttle into space. An 8MP camera with auto focus and flash will enable you to take pictures as big as a house, and the photo editing capabilities and Google integration (including Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube and Google Talk) will allow you to share them with whole world.

Combine all of that with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system, and a 4 inch edge-to-edge high resolution touch screen display and you’ll be performing business tasks like there’s no tomorrow.

It also has a rather intriguing Lanyard groove which also glows different colours when you have notifications. 

The internet browser supports HTML5 and Adobe Flash which means your browsing experience will be practically exactly the same as on your PC, also allowing you watch flash video clips, unlike a lot of other Smart phones.

Of course, it includes all the usual suspects such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a Micro SD card slot to expand the memory, and a Micro USB port to connect to your computer. 

That certainly is an impressive array of features which any business would surely love in their arsenal, but before you start thinking “That’s all great but it’ll probably cost the earth”, we can reveal that this amazing business handset will only set your business back £185 + vat. 

So there we have it, the new Motorola Luxe; your new business partner.  No exaggeration….

Click here for more information and info on how to buy.

What do you believe?

There are some things in this world which I absolutely believe to be true.  For example, I believe that anything is possible, maybe over a period of time and with a lot of practice, but anything can be done.  I believe that time travel is possible, that books are better than films, that Santa Claus is real, that Ferrari will rule supreme once again and that personal computers are destined for extinction.

For any new business starting up now who needs a computer for internet access, emails, or to create and edit excel spread sheets, they might as well buy a tablet computer over an “old fashioned” tower computer or laptop.  There are so many reasons why they’re more beneficial; like the fact that they’re more portable, lighter, and as tablets become more advanced, they’ll be faster, more powerful, will last longer on battery than a laptop, look nicer, and generally be more convenient.

This means one thing; personal computers will no longer be needed, and as such, will no longer be made.  Maybe not right now, but one day certainly. 

And if the new iPad 3 is anything to go by (or rumours we’ve heard anyway) it’ll take a strong will and a serious dislike of the Apple brand to reject the fact that it would be great as a business device.  It’s rumoured to have a faster processor, better battery and sharper “Retina” display than the current model, which if we’re honest weren’t too shabby anyway. 

Due to be announced in San Francisco on March 7^th 2012 10AM their time (6pm here in the UK), it’s already caused much hype and excitement, and was briefly trending worldwide on Twitter.

With new business apps which are constantly being released, like the new Photoshop Touch app which is essentially Photoshop on your iPad, iDesign which enables you to create Vector images exactly like Adobe Illustrator, and tonnes of productivity, creative, and financial apps which are already available, we believe that there really is no reason why you couldn’t just use it instead of your current work PC, but the question is; what do you believe?

Nokia 808 PureView; All agreed on 41?

Often, I look at the label on a can of peas.  I count the peas on the label … 36, 37, 38, 39 … I wonder if there was a meeting between all the bosses at the pea-making company … 41, 42, 43, 44 … to decide how many peas should be on the label.  “47 is too many, 45 is not enough, all agreed on 46?  OK yes, 46 it is.”

I expect Nokia had the same such meeting recently to decide how many megapixels should be on their new handset, the 808 PureView.  “42 is too many, 40 is clearly not enough…  All agree on 41?”

Nokia 808 PureView

Due to be released (State side at least) in May, this new Smartphone from Nokia will include a mind blowing 41 Megapixel, Carl Zeiss optics camera lens.  That’s quite difficult to comprehend, forty one… 41, 40 plus one…  However you say it, it’s a lot.

The word is that it will also be able to let in five times more light than the standard lens, so capturing those low light images will be even easier than ever before. 

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  How many 41MP pictures can I take before I’m out of memory?  And that’s a good question.  One which we don’t yet have the answer to, but we do know that the device will come with 16GB of inbuilt memory, and will also have an SD card slot to add a further 32GB if required.  So there will be plenty of space available to keep you snapping for a while.

As it can record video in 1080p (at 30 frames per second) and the audio quality is said to be on a par with CD recordings, we think this handset will also be great for businesses.  News teams could probably use it instead of massive on-the-shoulder cameras, the police could use it to record interviews, and estate agents could use it to picture houses for sale.  Heck, astronomers could probably use it to photograph the night sky and get close ups of the big dipper.

It’s also rumoured to feature a 4x loss less zoom, which basically means that when you zoom in on a picture after it’s been taken, the visual quality will not be lost.

Operating on Nokia’s Symbian Belle platform, this exciting new device is certainly “capturing” a lot of attention, and seems to be “snapping” at the heels of its competition rather fiercely.

We can see many businesses that need to use a camera on a day-to-day basis ditching their old digi cams in favour of this 808 PureView instead; with its large bright display, massive camera, well known operating system, and lets not overlook its stunning good looks.   To be honest there’s more reasons for any business wanting one than even we can count, but we’ll certainly try…