Facebook thinks slow and steady will win the social race
Facebook may be one of the most dominant social networks of all time, but the company has struggled to find its footing beyond the confines of the world wide web.
It's strange to think of Facebook Home having 1 million users being a bit of a disappointment, but when you consider more than one billion members comprise Facebook globally, the disparity is hard to ignore.
That doesn't seem to bother the executives at the social network though, as they see the adoption and growth of Facebook Home as a long haul effort.
Homeward bound
Speaking at the D: All Things D conference on Wednesday, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg talked a bit about the network's vision for Home.
"I think it will be a long road. [The smartphone is] an incredibly powerful device and social device," Sandberg said.
"We believe that the phone will get reorganized around people — Home is the first iteration of that."
Even those who have been brave enough to make the jump to Home have a fair share of complaints, but Sandberg promised those voices are being heard.
"We consider [Home] a v.1, a very early version," Sandberg said. "We would love if we could put out a v.1 version and get everything right."
Home is supposed to be updated monthly, and time will tell if Sandberg and the rest of the Facebook team are right in believing Home has what it takes to survive amidst the rapidly changing smartphone landscape.
"The important thing to remember about WWDC is that it is a developer conference," The Loop wrote.
The event is Apple's annual opportunity to catch developers up on the company's software plans for the next year. As such it's expected to focus on announcements concerning OS X and iOS 7.
"[The iPhone and iPad] are Apple's flagship products and they demand separate events," the site continued. "Entire industries watch these products because they shape what will happen in the mobile space. They are that important."
How about a new Mac?
While The Loop predicted that WWDC 2013 will focus on iOS 7 and changes to OS X, the blog also suggested that a new Mac announcement is not out of the question.
"The Mac is still an important part of what Apple does, but I don't know that Apple would hold a special event specifically for a Mac product anymore," the site wrote.
"If they did, it would have to be quite a spectacular product."
OS upgrades incoming
There may be some big changes headed to Apple's mobile OS with the impending reveal of iOS 7.
English designer Jony Ive is known to be redesigning iOS, and his input could result in a massive overhaul.
Then again, it could remain largely the same - we'll have to wait until it's revealed to find out.
Meanwhile, just because the iPhone 5S and iPad 5 won't be revealed at WWDC doesn't mean they aren't coming eventually—Apple is just staying secretive for now, like it always does. Who knows, maybe all these predictions are wrong and we will see a new iPhone and iPad next month.
EE has given Brits the opportunity to experience the joys of 4G mobile speeds without signing up for a lengthy contract for the first time.
The new 30-day SIM-only contracts allow users to sign up month-to-month from just £23 with 500GB of data and unlimited texts and minutes.
For £28 a month its possible to sign up for 1GB of data, while £33 will give users a little more piece of mind with 3GB data.
The deals range all the way up to £63 a month, but for that EE is offering the luxury of 20GB a month, which'd be tough for the most avid video and music streaming enthusiasts to exhaust.
Getting 'em hooked
EE is offering the deals in the hope that users will try the no-strings approach and be so amazed with the difference over 3G that they'll sign up for a one or two year contract.
The company, which pioneered 4G in the UK, will also be mindful that competition from the likes of Vodafone, O2 and Three Mobile will arrive later this year, so will want punters to try its offering first
Will you be more likely to sample 4G under the contract-free terms? Let us know in the comments below.
It seems a long time ago that LG was helping dominate the mobile market, with phone offerings such as the LG Chocolate. In reality, 7 years is more than a long time in tech, with LG's more recent mobile offerings often failing to hit the same mark they did before.
That said, LG's partnership with Google created not only the latest (and possibly last) Nexus 4 device, but also one of the hottest pieces of mobile tech that easily rivalled the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5.
Much like Samsung, LG is banking on its Optimus range, now equipped with the Optimus G Pro and Optimus 4XHD, to take on the world. Aimed at the budget end of the market, LG created the L Series, now in its second iteration, packed with the LG Optimus L3 2, Optimus L5 2 and the upcoming Optimus L7 2.
LG is hardly reinventing the wheel with the design of the Optimus L5 2, with a very square all glass front and prominent home button sat front and centre, just below the screen.
We can't help but feel a tiny bit disappointed with this kind of design, as we love design innovation, but the Optimus L5 2 is a very smart piece of kit.
Measuring in at a 117.5 x 62.2 x 9.2mm, and weighing in at 103g, LG has created a slim and light device. The Optimus L5 2 sits very comfortably in the hand and the pocket, and at only 66 per cent the weight of the Ascend G510 is a lot less noticeable. Despite the weight, or lack of it, the build of the Optimus L5 2 still feels sturdy.
As we said, LG's L Series was designed to be the budget range, with the Optimus L5 2 sitting right in the middle of the Optimus L3 2 and L7 2.
With this in mind, we weren't expecting mind blowing specifications, and the 1GHz single-core processor alongside 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage seem to fit with the pricing, although LG has seen fit to equip the L3 2 with the same specs.
Interestingly, the LG Optimus L5 2 seems to have near identical specifications to the lower powered Huawei Ascend G330.
This is more than a little confusing. LG does equip the Optimus L5 2 with Android Jelly Bean, with a basic overlay. In the form of camera sensors , the Korean firm have interestingly only given the L5 2 a 5MP rear facing sensor.
Whilst disappointing, given that the aforementioned Ascend G510, Xperia J and Galaxy Ace 2 all have a front facing snapper, we can be a bit forgiving as the low resolutions that were on offer almost made them redundant.
LG has also graced the Optimus L5 2 with a 4-inch screen at 480 x 800 pixels, so by no means the HD definition that we've become accustomed to on flagship powerhouses, yet still clear enough for day to day use. Elsewhere, the L5 2 comes with 3G, Bluetooth and NFC.
We said that L5 2 sits comfortably in the hand, and the 4-inch screen is easy enough to hit with one hand. Thankfully, LG has placed all the standard buttons in familiar (unlike on the Huawei Ascend G510) and easy to hit places, with the power/lock button on the right hand side, with the volume rocker sat on the left, just below a customisable quick key (more on that later).
Just below the screen sit the almost traditional backlit soft keys, replacing the need for Android's on screen controls.
We only mention the backlighting as we found that its exclusion on the Ascend G510 meant that the buttons were a little hard to see. The back and menu key sit either side of a physical home button.
The home button has a nice LED light behind it, that illuminates whilst charging, during calls and alarms as well as for notifications and missed events. Downloaded apps can also make use of the light.
In the way of ports, the Optimus L5 2 comes with the obligatory 3.5mm headphone jack (on the top) and the microUSB data/charge port in the base.
We're big fans of the placement or the microUSB as it makes using the L5 2 easier whilst charging, as for the headphone port, the positioning debate will continue long after this review.
The back cover is smart and fully removable, wrapping around the sides of the L5 2. The plastic has a brushed metallic look, and whilst completely smooth, provides a decent level of grip so you don't drop it. Along with the LG logo, are the loud speaker, camera sensor and LED flash.
With the back cover wrapping around to the front of the L5 2, there is no set place with which to work the cover off. That said, we found it pretty easy to work our short finger nails under it at any corner, or buy using the gap for the microUSB port.
The ease of removal left us a little worried about dropping the Optimus L5 2, but on the one occasion we did drop it (on carpet), we're pleased to say it stayed on.
Behind the back cover there is access to the 1700mAh battery, the standard SIM slot, as well as the fiddly, hot swappable microSD slot.
First impressions of the LG Optimus L5 2 are pretty promising. The plastic feel, and standard layout match the price tag, but being light and easy to use one handed show LG may have hit a sweet spot.
We're expecting Samsung to lift the lid on the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini box at its June 20 event, but as for the specifics inside, most of it has been a lot of guess work until now.
Now German blog All About Samsung claims the Galaxy S4 Mini will be powered by a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor. We'd previously heard that the Mini would arrive with a Snapdragon S4 processor, so if true, this is good news.
The diminutive device will also have 1.5GB of RAM with a 8-megapixel rear camera, 2.1-megapixel snapper on the front, and a 540 x 960p qHD resolution display. We're also expecting the S4 Mini to arrive with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
Nice and snappy
Of course, the Mini won't be as beefy as the older S4, but we're still impressed with that Samsung will be packing into the phone if these benchmark results are true.
