Month: February 2012

Cheap Blackberry Playbook Gets Facelift

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Blackberry Playbook TabletLast month, we reported that Blackberry’s 7 inch tablet device had been slashed in price, down from £399 to just £169.

This nifty little tablet is still on offer at that massively reduced price, and has just got even more attractive thanks to a free software upgrade.

Blackberry Playbook Summary

Rather than running the Apple iOS system, or using the increasingly popular Android OS, this uses Blackberry’s own interface and software, although as we’ll explain in a bit, the updated Playbook can now run Android apps too. Here’s the highlights of the Playbook Proposition:

  • 7″ touchscreen
  • Front and rear cameras
  • Wi-fi and Bluetooth connectivity
  • Available with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of memory
  • Micro USB
  • HDMI Out, handy for presentations and not seen on other tablets
  • GPS (location and sat nav)
  • For gamers, there’s a built-in Gyroscope and Accelerometer
The Blackberry Playbook, at a knock-down price

The Blackberry Playbook, at a knock-down price

Playbook OS2 Upgrade

On Tuesday the 21st of February, a free upgrade to version 2 of the tablet’s operating system was launched. Here’s a summary of what’s new:

  • Dedicated e-mail, calendar, and contacts apps (oddly, missing from the first version)
  • Better Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn integration
  • An Amazon Kindle eBook App (although this was pulled shortly after release whilst a few bugs got ironed out)
  • Support for Android applications with the Android Player.

The addition of support for Android apps is huge, and could make all the difference for the Playbook, although it’s important to note that not all Android apps are available. Developers have to make some tweaks to get the apps to run, and the Playbook-ised apps need to be approved by RIM before the can be added to the Blackberry App Store. Expect to see a large amount of new apps on their way now that OS2 is out.

If like the sound of the Playbook , then they’re still around at this awesome price – The 16GB is in stock online at Currys at the time of writing: Blackberry Playbook 16GB at Currys

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o2 SIM Card: Vouchers and Headsets

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o2 SIM CardNews of two top offers on SIM cards, but only for a limited time… Here’s a look at two offers released today:

Free SIM Cards

O2 have a fantastic Free SIM card offer on for the next few weeks. Order a free SIM card with free unlimited calls and texts to o2 customers when you top up £15 a month.

If you’ve not picked up a free o2 PAYG SIM card before, get one between 15th February and 15th March , and you will automatically be entered into a competition to win one of 200 sets of Beats headsets. To qualify for the competition, you will need to top up at least £10 before the 28th April 2012

This competition is only open to new customers taking an O2 free sim between these dates.

To get your free SIM card, go here: Free SIM card from 02

SIM-Only Vouchers

That’s Pay As You Go… but what about if you’re looking for a SIM-only contract? Here’s offer 2: O2 is offering a free £25 voucher with a £15 and over 12 month Simplicity contract.

If you sign up to a 12 month tariff (with 600 minutes or more), you’ll be sent a  free £25 voucher for Argos, ASDA, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s or B&Q. The £25 voucher offer runs until the 1st of March 2012.

Looking for a Simplicity SIM? Get a SIM from o2

Need some SIM help?

We have answers to lots of common SIM card questions… For more on SIM Cards, see our UK SIM Cards page

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Evi for Android Set To Rival Apple’s Siri

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Evi Icon on AndroidFancy the idea of getting Siri on your mobile phone, but don’t have an iPhone 4S? Well, move over Siri, as Evi is here, and she runs on a much wider range of smartphones and tablets.

Evi, created by developers True Knowledge, is a credible rival to the voice recognition service for iOS, known as Siri. Evi, with her cyclops single-eye icon, makes good use of the microphone on many smartphones to listen to commands, send them over-the-air for processing, and returning text.

Testing Evi

We’ve been testing Evi here on a Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet computer as well as on an HTC Desire smartphone, and although a little slow, it’s still pretty usable, and returns some sensible answers. You can also say a few silly phrases to Evi, for some largely amusing answers. Whilst we’re not saying that this rivals Siri for speed or slickness, it’s an app worth trying, and it has the advantage of being a freebie.

Also, don’t expect the smooth integration with Android that you get with Siri. You won’t be able to get Evi to send a text message, or add an entry to your diary – It’s limited to performing online searches – although in a rather stylish way, without Siri’s “here’s a webpage” cop-out.

If you want to give Evi a test run, download her from the Android Marketplace. Here’s a shot of Evi in action:

Screenshot of Evi on a Galaxy Tab

Screenshot of Evi on a Samsung Galaxy Tab

Evi for iPhone?

Yes! Evi is also available for Apple devices, and currently has the advantage for those of us in the UK in that it: a) supports UK business lookup (e.g. “Find my nearest coffee shop”), and b) has a female voice, rather than the male voice us in Britain get by default.

Although free on the Android platform, the developers have opted to make Evi a paid app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch – however at a measly 69p, it’s hardly going to break the bank. Download Evi from iTunes

We’ll continue playing with what appears to be the best rival to Siri, and report back if we uncover anything interesting.

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