We've moved!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the new and the improved Alistair’s Tech Blog website! As you may be aware of, our domain name has changed now being: alistairstechblog.co.uk and we no longer post at this (alistairstechblog.blogspot.com) URL. We have also moved blogging systems and hosts. Migration from Google’s Blogger service to the highly acclaimed WordPress platform is almost complete. Our new blog is now hosted on a dedicated server provided by Novux, a company that specialises in SEO consultancy and affordable webhosting packages for personal/corporate use.

For any older content previously available on our site, please revisit this site to access the archives.

Thank you for a year of support; let there be many more to come,

Alistair Baker
Founder & Managing Director

Best Buy UK prepares to shut up shop, closing down sale starts tomorrow

Christmas is fast approaching and everybody is searching for that cash saving deal. Attention savvy savers! Look no further than the soon to be closed Best Buy UK website (www.bestbuy.co.uk) or one of their stores to find your great Christmas bargains. Just as the company announced a few months back, the UK branch of the franchise will be closing down very soon. Tomorrow the company is selling off their remaining products at discounted prices between 10%-30%. Good luck and happy shopping!

My thoughts on Amazon's £89 Kindle e-reader

Pictured above is the 2011 revision of the immensely popular Amazon Kindle e-reader. On Friday, I had the opportunity to use my friend's Kindle and experience the device first hand.

Below are my unbiased opinions about the e-reader:

1. The Amazon Kindle has seen a design change in 2011, no longer does it sport the extra dimensions of previous revisions. The device has a slim profile; easily able to fit into a large pocket yet robust enough to stand up to the odd knock or bump.

2. Amazon revolutionised the e-reader market with the invention of the "E-ink" display. Before you actually experience the quirkiness of the screen, you can't really imagine or describe it. It looks identical to paper; except its not, it is truly something magical.

3. The Kindle is of a nice weight too; not too heavy, as if your carrying a brick, and not too light, as if your reading on air!

4. The Amazon Kindle is fantastic for reading in well light environments but when it gets dark; forget it! Amazon, why didn't you put a backlight in the screen?!

5. You can now surf the web on your Kindle using the included experimental web browser. This is a great idea if you quickly need to check your emails before or during travel.

That's a rap! Overall I think that Amazon's Kindle is a must-have for book lovers this holiday season.

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket receives 2.3.6 update OTA

AT&T's LTE Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket is now being pushed a new OTA update boosting its Android software version to 2.3.6. The update changelog is unknown although the usual bug fixes are to be expected. Maybe it will fix the Google Voice Search issue that some users are experiencing; only time will tell.

To grab the update right now, head into the Settings menu and then select the Software Updates option. The update is OTA so be sure to have an adequate data connection (WiFi if possible) and enough battery charge left to complete the process.

Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Nexus is coming, priced at $200?

Sometime in the future (hopefully!) the world's first Android 4.0 ICS handset, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, will be hitting the Verizon Wireless network sporting their cutting edge 4G LTE cellular radio bands. Currently, the network nor Google or Samsung have confirmed or denied a specific release date for the 4.65" device dispite the high demand for the handset in the US market. Today we have fresh news to present (and no, its not the release date that we've all been waiting for), a leaked ad has confirmed the 2-year-contract price for the SGN to be $200 (well $199,99).  This price is considerably lower than previously rumoured and is much lower than the current Verizon price plans for other high end smartphones. At the time of publishing, the "Learn More" button doesn't point to anywhere; only time will tell whether or not the ad is genuine.

Erratic volume issue arises on European Galaxy Nexus Handsets (Update 23/11/11)

The world's first Android 4.0 ICS handset is encountering it's first problems.The XDA Developer forums are exploding with the amount of users complaining about the issue portraying that this is a serious problem for the Samsung made handset. Basically the problem involves the volume control seeming to have a mind of it own, flitting at random between mute, full blast and anything and everything in between! So far the problem has only been reported on handsets using the GSM 900MHz band intensifying as the cellular modem either boosts itself in a low reception area or when switching between 2G and 3G data connections. A user poll on the XDA Developer forums indicates that around 60% of all European Galaxy Nexus devices suffer from this issue.

The video below demonstrates the issue:

Update 23/11/11: Google are officially acknowledging the issue say that "We are aware of the volume issue and have developed a fix. We will update devices as soon as possible." indicating that the problem lies within the ICS code rather than in the Galaxy Nexus hardware.

6 hours remaining until the start of the “Lets talk iPhone” keynote

Yes Apple fans the day is finally here! The day you get to see Apple’s latest iPhone being announced live at the “Let’s talk iPhone” keynote. In just a mere 6 hours time, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO will take to the stage to unveil the 5th generation iPhone handset.

The keynote will goes live at:
07:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (October 5th)
(Times courtesy of Endgadget.com)

Be sure to follow @alistairbaker98 on Twitter.com, I will be tweeeting out news regarding the event. If you wish to contact me via Twitter regarding the event, please use the hashtag #letstalkiphone.

Who will be pre-ordering the next iPhone? Let us know in the comments below.