Alexis Philippides

Email: alexis@stuff-review.com

Profile: Alexis is the founder of Stuff-Review and the primary editor. He's a blogger, an engineer and a web entrepreneur. Alexis has been building and managing websites for over 12 years. An eternal sufferer from gadget lust, he tries to keep his passion in check by writing overly lengthy pieces on technology and consumer electronics. Soft spots include digital cameras, high-end audio separates and portable devices. At times, his electrical engineering background peers out in technically convoluted articles, but otherwise he provides down-to-earth reporting.

Latest posts by Alexis Philippides:

Facebook Messenger for Windows leaked (downloads)

News

December 29, 2011 at 3:37 pm

While slowly taking over the world, Facebook has also been busy in getting people to chat on all sorts of platforms. There are already official Facebook messaging apps for Android, iOS and BlackBerry and now a Windows 7 standalone application has leaked.

The Facebook Messenger app for Windows obviously has chat but also a ticker, standard notifications and friends requests. You can dock the Messenger window to the right of your screen for continuous 24/7 distraction from whatever else you are trying to do on your computer.
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Samsung Galaxy S III could launch at MWC in Barcelona this February

News

December 29, 2011 at 10:17 am

Samsung Mobile has had a good year, mostly because of the success of the Galaxy S II, the biggest selling Android smartphone to date. Samsung was also a launch partner for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, as the manufacturer for the Galaxy Nexus (read our complete review here), while even the company’s mammoth 5.3-inch Galaxy Note has managed to ship one million units in two months.

Running on a potent Samsung Exynos chip, the Galaxy S II, still is the fastest smartphone out there, at least according to benchmarks. It makes sense that the company would want to maintain a good tradition, and of course sales figures, with a successor. Word on the street is that we will soon be seeing the Samsung Galaxy S III (SGS3) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, which opens its doors on February 27, 2012. Note, the image above is just a fan concept render, and not the actual Galaxy S III.
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Ice Cream Sandwich based CyanogenMod 9 pieces begin making their appearance

News

December 29, 2011 at 7:44 am

We’ve included Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as one of our favorite pieces of tech for 2011. The main reason Android made it to our shortlist and into our hearts is that because it is an open source project, third-parties are able to use it and build on top of it. If there is something more you want from you mobile OS, or you want to get rid of some annoying feature, chances are there is either an aftermarket ROM, third-party launcher, or an app to do that.

One of the most popular aftermarket ROMs comes from the CyanogenMod team, with support for a huge number of devices.The team has promised to release the updated CyanogenMod 9 (CM9) based on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012, and pieces of ROM are already finding their way to devices, showing us what CM9 will look like and be able to do.
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1 million Samsung Galaxy Note devices shipped, US release in 2012

News

December 29, 2011 at 5:16 am

Samsung has had a lot of success shipping its Android devices en masse. The Samsung Galaxy S II has broken all kinds of sales records and we are pretty sure the Galaxy Nexus is flying off the shelves now too. An unlikely win for the company, however, is the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note which falls somewhere between the being a smartphone and tablet.

It seems that the mantra ‘bigger is better’ is working out for Samsung, which has shipped over one million Galaxy Notes since its release in late October. Sales have been going well and are on the rise in Europe and Asia. US consumers have been importing the Galaxy Note from other markets but the announcement mentions that the device will launch officially on the other side of the Atlantic in 2012. No mention yet if it bring support for LTE however.
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Unannounced Motorola Driod 4 makes a cameo appearance on Best Buy website

News

December 29, 2011 at 4:31 am

Verizon is mum about the Motorola Droid 4, nevertheless the still unannounced handset has made an informal appearance on Best Buy’s website. The Android smartphone will launch, hopefully sometime soon, on Verizon’s 4G LTE network and as far as we know it will run Gingerbread on launch, though Ice Cream Sandwich is a possibility.

It will be sporting a 4.0-inch qHD (960×540) display, a Droid RAZR styled front body with tapered edges and a QWERTY slide-out keyboard. This will be Motorola’s first LTE slider. A 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM will help the Droid 4 to chuck along.
Expect a rumored 1785mAh battery and 8MP camera to complete the package.
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LG announces 84-inch Ultra Definition QFHD 3D TV

News

December 29, 2011 at 2:58 am

Manufacturers just love to shout largest, and LG is certainly in a record breaking mood today. LG Electronics has just unveiled the world’s largest 3D Ultra Definition (UD) TV. By Ultra Definition the company suggests a Quad Full High Definition (QFHD) resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, which doubles the number of pixels of 1080p on each axis. That’s equivalent to four 1080p TVs stuck together, though not up to a full 4K resolution (which would mean at least 4,000 pixels on the horizontal axis).

The 84-inch behemoth is promising an immersive 3D experience, which we are inclined to believe, and something that LG will be happy to demonstrate at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. The TV will have access to LG’s Smart TV ecosystem with over 1,200 apps and some video content. It’s also set to come with a new Magic Remote with voice recognition and magic gestures. Well, there’s only two weeks left to CES 2012 where we will know more.
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HTC Flyer 7-inch tablet now retailing for £200 (deals)

News

December 28, 2011 at 5:42 am

HTC’s Flyer is quite a capable 7-inch Android tablet. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.5GHz processor, weighs 420 grams (14.82 oz) and comes with a digital pen for creativity on the go. The Flyer has recently been updated to Android Honeycomb, and together with today’s price cuts, it has become quite a bargain.

The 16GB Wi-Fi only HTC Flyer now retails for £200 in the UK; you can grab one either from Amazon UK (make sure it’s directly from Amazon) or Dixons. The 32GB 3G/Wi-Fi version is showing as £250 from Dixons, but we are having issues accessing the item’s website, maybe it’s a temporary problem.
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Our favorite gadgets from 2011

Editorials Featured

December 27, 2011 at 6:41 pm

The holiday season is a period for introspection and some quality time with our favorite gadgets. As a gadget blog, looking back into what we have covered during 2011, there are a few pieces of tech that really stand out. These are the gadgets that got us excited because they were pushing new boundaries, or they instantly became an integral part of our lives because they perform their task really well. Here are our favorite pieces of tech for 2011, they might not be the most obvious choices, but if you read through you’ll find out why they earned a place in our hearts.
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Android Ice Cream Sandwich finds its way on the Kindle Fire, melts into our hearts (video)

News

December 27, 2011 at 3:31 am

It had to happen. Someone was bound to get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich running on Amazon’s budget conscious 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet. Thanks to the Android developer community a pre-alpha version of Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) can now be seen running on the Fire and if you are feeling extremely adventurous you can go ahead and download the test ROM to start tinkering.

The pre-alpha ROM is based on the public Android Open Source Project (AOSP) release of ICS, and judging from the video, things are going well on the development front. Main issues are with audio and video not always working properly. The video and download link are after the break.
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Panasonic Lumix GX1 shipping now

News

December 25, 2011 at 4:53 am

If you’ve been holding off for the latest high-end Micro Four Thirds compact mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC), a.k.a. the Panasonic Lumix GX1, we’re happy to let you know that it’s in stock and shipping now over at both Amazon US and UK.

You can grab either the body-only black and silver versions of the GX1 or the standard 14-42mm zoom lens kit. Unfortunately the 14-42mm X power zoom lens kit is still on pre-order, because of delays shipping the new X-series collapsible power zoom lens.

While you are pondering gifting yourself a brand new shooter, why not checkout our comparison between the Panasonic GX1, Sony NEX-7, Fujifilm X100 and Olympus E-P3. We’re personally salivating already over the GX1 and yeah the roasted turkey scent isn’t really helping. Better make up your mind before all that eggnog clouds up your head. Unhelpful video after the break.
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Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Google and Android (video)

News

December 25, 2011 at 4:24 am

An interactive Google Doodle is up on the giant’s main search page celebrating Christmas. Clicking each button under a letter in the Google logo switches it with a symbol and when you’ve gone through all the buttons you’ll be greeted with a familiar tune and a typical gaudy light show. We’ve able to access the Doodle over at the UK search page google.co.uk, but we’re pretty sure it will go up in the US very soon too.

The Android team has also been pretty active and with the help of some free Galaxy Nexus’s being distributed to employees and tons of snow being sprayed at Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters, they really got into the holiday spirit and have created the video below. As you would expect, there is a lot of Ice Cream Sandwich plastered all over.
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Could porn beat Christmas these holidays?

News

December 23, 2011 at 10:02 am

There is a repeating pattern each year. According to Google Trends, apparently, a lot of people search for “porn” throughout the year. The pattern has been that for the past seven years “Christmas” eclipses “porn” for the short period every year when we actually celebrate it.

The interesting part is that the popularity of porn as a search term has been on a rising trend, whereas the popularity of Christmas as a search term has been going down. So, could the pattern be broken this year? According to our latest check of Google Trends on the two terms, Christmas is lagging way behind for now, though we are hopping for a quick comeback.

Leading the search for porn is Ireland followed by the United Kindgom and then Greece. Interestingly Greek speakers also lead the search for porn in general!
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Surprise, people are more likely to lie over text messages

News

December 23, 2011 at 5:41 am

When are people more inclined to lie? A study performed by the University of British Columbia suggests that text messaging is the preferred mode of communication for all long-nosed liars. The study was performed on 170 students using face-to-face, video, audio and text messaging communication.

Students were divided into brokers who had to sell stocks and buyers of the stocks. The brokers were told that the stock was set to lose half of its value while the buyers were only informed of this after the role-playing transaction had taken place. Buyers then reported to the researchers whether and how often they had been lied to by the brokers. The results showed that brokers would lie 95 percent more when texting than on video.
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