February 2016 - Alex Kidman

MWC Wrap, New Facebook Likes and The Crazy World Of VR: Vertical Hold Episode 64

Mobile World Congress brought us new smartphones from Samsung, LG, Xiaomi, Sony and Alcatel, but whose devices stole the show? Virtual Reality was another heavily-hyped topic at MWC, but is it all talk and no substance? Will anyone “like” the new Facebook Like options? We’re joined by three special guests this week, with News Limited’s […]

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Telstra: Unlimited plans unlikely

Leave a Comment / News / Alex

Many Australian telcos are switching to plans with unlimited call and text provisions. Telstra is by far the biggest player not to have largely switched to that model — so I asked them why.

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Samsung: Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge and Gear 360 Camera

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Samsung’s latest premium phones are refinements of the existing Galaxy designs, but they’re joined by a cute little 360 degree camera as well.

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LG reveals LG G5

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It wasn’t exactly a secret that LG had a smartphone in the wings to reveal at MWC. It turns out that it had a bit more besides.

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Telstra announces 1Gbps hotspot, Wi-Fi calling and LTE video calling

Leave a Comment / News / Alex

Telstra’s busy at Mobile World Congress, announcing a new very fast hotspot, as well as plans to implement Wi-Fi calling and Video over LTE calls by mid-year.

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Mobile World Congress preview and three strikes piracy flop: Vertical Hold – Episode 63

Leave a Comment / Opinion / Alex

Things are hotting up at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with a great lineup of new gear. Meanwhile content owners are cooling on the idea of a three strikes policy for Aussie pirates, as no-one wants to foot the bill. Elsewhere, Apple has backflipped on the deadly Error 53.

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Counterpoint: Is there anything actually wrong with Apple's software QA?

Leave a Comment / Opinion / Alex

About a week ago, I wrote a piece about Apple’s seemingly slipping software standards. Not everyone agrees on this, however.

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Facebook Instant Articles: Free exposure or another trap for small publishers?

Leave a Comment / Opinion / Alex

Facebook’s “Instant Articles” platform promises to pay small content creators for the articles they publish to Facebook. That’s got to be a win, doesn’t it? Not quite.

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Unlimited calls, texts and 5GB of data… for $5 a month?

Leave a Comment / News / Alex

If you ever wanted proof that there’s some serious competition in the budget prepaid space, Lebara’s latest set of deals should serve your needs nicely.

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What's up with Apple's software quality control?

Leave a Comment / Opinion / Alex

Apple is rolling in buckets of money, so you’d think it could spend a little more on making things “just work”. Instead, users are getting apps that are growing worse, or devices that seem hell-bent on killing themselves.

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