Samsung @ CES 2014

At CES 2014 Samsung unveiled a wide variety of devices that would be made available to consumers in the near future. Here’s a quick run through of what will be available from the Korean tech giant.

Samsung SMART Camera

Samsung also introduced a variety of professional cameras two of which caught our eyes were - the Samsung SMART camera WB1100F and WB2200F.

The Samsung WB1100F camera feature a 35x optical zoom lens, 25mm wide angle; 16.2 effective megapixels CCD sensor; 75.0mm (3.0inch) HVGA LCD screen; Including NFC and Wi-Fi connectivity. The WB1100F measures 124.5 X 86.5 X 96mm and weighs 462g without the battery.

Samsung WB1100F SMART Camera

The Samsung WB2200F camera also features 60x optical zoom lens, 25mm ultra wide angle; 16.2 effective megapixels 1/23” BSI CMOS sensor; 75.0mm (3.0inch) HVGA LCD screen; Including NFC and Wi-Fi connectivity. The WB2200F measures 119 X 121.8 X 35.5mm and weighs 608g without the battery.

Samsung WB2200F SMART Camera

Samsung ATIV

Samsung also unveiled its latest updates for its high-end personal computing offerings, the Samsung ATIV Book 9 2014 Edition and the Samsung ATIV One7 2014 Edition. 

The ATIV Book 9 is a high-end notebook computer more commonly known as an Ultrabook. The ATIV Book 9 is running Windows 8 on a Core i5/i7 ULV processor, with 8GB of RAM, 15.6” Full HD screen and 1TB HDD. It boasts a 14 hour batter life weighing at only 1.85kg and measuring 374 X 249.9mm.

Samsung ATIV Book 9

The ATIV One7 2014 Edition is a high-end desktop computer. The ATIV One7 is also running Windows 8 with a 4^th generation i3/i5 processor, with 8GB of RAM, 24” LED Full HD touchscreen, surround sound and 1TB HDD.

Samsung Galaxy NotePRO and TabPRO

Samsung also unveiled its latest upgrades to its tablet range, the Samsung Galaxy NetPRO and TabPRO. The Galaxy TabPRO comes in configurations of 12.2”, 10.1” and 8.4”, while the NotePRO is a 12.2” tablet which comes with an S-Pen. Here’s a brief breakdown and comparison of each tablet specifications.

Samsung Galaxy Pro Tablet Comparison

As an added bonus these devices will also have pre-installed the following apps; Bitcasa, Bloomberg Businessweek, Blurb, Cisco WebEx Meetings, Dropbox, Easily Pro, Evernote, Hancom Office, LinkedIn, LIVE SPORT.TV, NY Times, Oxford Advanced Learners A-Z, Remote PC and Schedule Pro.

Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2"

So that concludes our Samsung CES 2014 round-up. Which of these devices are you looking forward to this year? Don’t be shy let your voice be heard in the comments bellow!

Sony @ CES 2014

Sony Xperia Z1s and Xperia Z1 Compact Overview
It was only a year ago when Sony introduced its groundbreaking flagship mobile – the Xperia Z, this year is no different Sony introduces the Xperia Z1s and Xperia Z1 Compact.

Sony Xperia Z1s

The Xperia Z1s, exclusive to T-Mobile U.S. – it boasts a 5” Full HD screen powered by Sony’s TRILUMINOS HD display and X-Reality technologies; incorporates a quad-core 2.2 GHz krait 400 processor; award winning 20.7MP G Lens camera powered by Sony’s Exmor RS for mobile CMOS image sensor and BIONZ for mobile image processing engine with 1080p@30fps HDR video recording; running Android Jellybean (v4.3); 32GB Internal Memory, NFC, LTE and did I mention its water resistance too? IP58 certified – meaning it will withstand being submerged in fresh water at a depth of 1.50 meters for up to 30mins. Shame it’s only been announced for T-Mobile subscribers in the U.S. 

Turn that frown upside-down! Sony also announced a device for the masses (please excuse the expression) a little something that goes by the Xperia Z1 compact – see what I did there? What? WHAT!? Not entertained? Tough crowd, sadly that concludes the witticism for this article – but I digress.

Full Story: Sony @ CES 2014

CES 2014 Round-up

Out with the old and in with the new – It’s that time of the year again, the Consumer Electronics Show 2014 (CES 2014) is upon us and the True Tech Kings are here to give you a digest of the best bits from your favourite electronics brands. 

But what is CES you ask? Well I’ll tell you, CES is the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer technology and America’s largest annual tradeshow of any kind. CES reaches across global markets, connecting every major player in the tech industry also enabling the growth of consumer electronic innovations. So yea, it’s a big deal. Without any further a due let’s jump right in it!

Sony @ CES 2014 | Samung @ CES 2014

Ling Ling Français – Learn French in Just 10 months

Ling Ling Français is a free app developed by Hepilabs - that claims it will be able to teach French in 10 months. Well when I saw that bit, I couldn’t resist downloading it from the Google PLAY Store - I’ve been trying to learn French for years! Here are my thoughts on using the app for a few days.

Don’t be fooled by the app’s appearance though childish, it’s by far one of the most useful apps I’ve come across in a long time. Before you start, you have to pick the language you want to use to learn French and difficulty level. There are a wide range of Languages and three difficulty levels; beginner, intermediate and expert. I chose English for my Language and beginner for the difficulty setting (better safe than sorry) which took me to the very colourful title screen. To start your first lesson you tap the purple light bulb icon.

Ling Ling Francais - Main Menu

First Lesson

At first I was overwhelmed by the amount of words I don’t know and felt almost inadequate as I pressed the red button frantically. You press the red button when you’re unfamiliar with a word and the green button when you’ve memorised it. You can tap the French word to hear it pronunciation aloud. The app allows you to practice new French words over and over again with the audio prompting and soon you start to get it. You gleefully feel the words becoming second nature and the Ling Ling character on the screen does a little dance to celebrate with you as you make progress.

Ling Ling Francais - Lesson

Pop Quiz

Once you’ve ticked off all the words it’s time for a quiz. The quiz starts off quite slow but gradually increases from snail slow to how do you stop this thing! You have to match each word in your chosen language to the correct word in French. The quiz is based on the words you learn in the lesson and each day after a new lesson another 25 words (which you’ve just learned) are added to the quiz. When you get aconsecutive amount of answers right, you are rewarded with one of five very silly mini games.

Ling Ling Francais - Quiz

Here’s a quick warning for those of you who found Fruit Ninja unnerving, there’s cartoon violence against fruits i.e. smashing them to smithereens.

Ling Ling Francais - Mini Game

Extras

If you get bored, there’s a section that allows youto edit your Ling Ling character. You can also create a Ling Ling inspired wallpaper for your device here’s mine.

Ling Ling Franceis - Wallpaper

Conclusion

Overall I found the app quite educational and surprisingly also very entertaining. It makes learning a new language so much fun. There are other languages in the Ling Ling genre; Spanish, Chinese and so much more. I love the fact there’s a reminder in your notification bar everyday so it makes it harder to procrastinate. 

The audio prompts not only help you to remember the words but also teach you how to pronounce them. I’m also learning at an accelerated pace of 25 words a day. The quiz allows you to practice words and their meanings as many times as you would like in a day.I also find it important to point out that the quiz lets you practice all the words you’ve learned since you started using the app in addition to the words you learn each day. I wish the app would let you focus on the 25 words for the day before adding in the ones you’ve already been memorizing.
 

Overall it is a great app and I would definitely recommend it to a friend.  As for the ten months claim, it could be plausible but probably only if you use the app every single day quite studiously. Ling Ling Français is available for download now at the Google PLAY Store.

Infograph: What to do when the Internet is down

Living in Nigeria we have grown accustomed to the fact that things just don’t work. Irrespective when the for-mentioned inevitable occurs we still find ourselves asking, almost rhetorically – ‘Why?’

This leads me to that all important scenario every techie must deal with at some point in time.

So what do you do when the internet is down? Leave a comment below.