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:

The universal translator is one step closer, Google Translate for Android can now do speech-to-speech translations in 14 languages

News

October 13, 2011 at 4:53 pm

Although it can’t yet translate any alien languages (we’ll have to find some aliens first), Google Translate for Android can now do speech-to-speech translations in 14 languages. That’s right, you can talk to your Android phone, it works in the background and in turn speaks out the translation in the desired language.

The function, called Conversation Mode, had been available in English and Spanish and has now expanded to Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Russian and Turkish.

The technology is still in alpha, so performance can be sketchy; at least you can’t unintentionally start an intergalactic war, yet. The accuracy of the translations will improve as more people use the software and provide feedback.
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Google and Samsung Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich event on October 19 in Hong Kong

News

October 13, 2011 at 3:08 pm

The original event on October 11th was cancelled, which certainly created a lot of disappointment and anxiety to all those who can’t wait to get the official word on Google’s latest and greatest Android release, Android 4.0, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich.

Google and Samsung have just sent invites to a joint event to take place in Hong Kong on October 19 (October 18 in the US).

As with all previous big Android releases, we’re expecting a new Nexus device to be the first to carry the new operating system, and well, Samsung is the lucky manufacturer this time around. The Nexus Prime (or Galaxy Nexus) is expected to be a killer device, with a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display sporting an HD 1280×720 resolution.

You can get a good look of both the Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich right here.

On the launch day, you will be able to get a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich directly from Google as the event will be streaming live at youtube.com/android. The event starts at 10am HKT, 3am London time on the 19th, and 10pm on the 18th EST.

When a smartphone becomes art: the making of the HTC EVO 3D mural (video)

News

October 13, 2011 at 12:54 pm

HTC decided to take a more original approach in promoting the EVO 3D in Poland. The smartphone company commissioned a huge ‘promotional’ graffiti on a wall in the capital Warsaw.

Curious onlookers watched as the mural of an EVO 3D with buildings popping out of the screen — to remind us of its 3D abilities — slowly took shape. What can we say, great looking phone, and great looking street art. Definitely a 10 for HTC on creativity.

The video of the full escapade is after the break.
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Stuff-Review giveaway: win a B&N Nook Color, leather case and 4GB microSD card

PSA: AmazonWireless has all Verizon phones up for a penny

News

October 12, 2011 at 2:06 pm

AmazonWireless is running a sale on all available Verizon phones. All phones can be had for only a penny, including free two-day shipping, for a new line of service. The offer is valid until October 17 and while supplies last.

Phones on sale include the Motorola DROID BIONIC 4G, Motorola DROID 3 and the HTC Rhyme. Of-course there is no iPhone in sight, as AmazonWireless is not currently offering it.
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iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 now available for download

News

October 12, 2011 at 12:49 pm

We’ve been expecting this day to come and you can now finally update your iOS devices — iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, all iPads, 3rd and 4th generation iPod Touch — to iOS 5. This is a major update to iOS with over 200 new features, including Notifications (at last), iMessage, Newsstand, Reminder and of course iCloud integration.

As we warned you yesterday, you will need to be running iTunes 10.5 to update your devices. So if you haven’t done already, check out our coverage.
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Motorola ATRIX 2 announced, gets a bigger screen, to be released Oct 16 on AT&T

News

October 12, 2011 at 7:24 am

Why mess with a good thing, that’s what Motorola must have though when it was designing the ATRIX 2. The update to the ATRIX Android handset maintains the same recipe as its predecessor, running on a dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage and the same candy-bar design. The biggest update in the ATRIX 2 is its bigger 4.3-inch (from 4.0-inches) screen with a qHD 960×540 resolution. The latest handset is also being released with Android 2.3 Gingerbread (although its older brother, is still stuck on Android 2.2). The ATRIX 2 has an 8MP back and VGA front cameras and can capture 1080p HD video.

It’s rumored that the ATRIX 2 carries a faster TI OMAP processor, ditching the NVidia Tegra 2 processor of the original ATRIX. Motorola has taken a step back with the battery, donning the new phone with a 1785mAh compared to 1930mAh for the ATRIX.

The ATRIX 2 will be available in the US on AT&T on October 16th for $99.99 with a two-year commitment. The phone touts AT&T’s HSPA+ for theoretical download speeds of up to 21Mbps. It shouldn’t take too long for the handset to travel to European shores as well.
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iTunes 10.5 up for download, becomes part of iCloud, paves the way for iOS 5 and iTunes Match

News

October 11, 2011 at 2:53 pm

The latest update for iTunes is now available for download, and it should make iTunes fans very happy, especially those anxious to update their iOS device(s) (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) to iOS 5 tomorrow.

Version 10.5 brings Wi-Fi syncing for all iOS devices and iTunes in the Cloud, which means that all your Apple Store music and video purchases will be available on all your computers running iTunes. Most importantly the latest update paves the way for iOS 5; if you want to update your device starting tomorrow, you must be running the latest version of iTunes to do so, so our advice is to get downloading.

Finally the update should allow you future access to Apple’s $25 a year iTunes Match service, coming by the end of the month. iTunes will scan your library and give you access to high quality copies of your local music stored in Apple’s servers, accessible anywhere.

If you already have iTunes installed, click on “Check for Updates” within iTunes or the ‘Apple’ logo and “Software Update” on a Mac. You can also get it from this link.

Just a heads-up, that tomorrow is a big day for Apple related services and software with the, as mentioned, release of iOS 5, iCloud and an update to OS X Lion 10.7.2.
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Apple iPhone 4S tops over 1 million pre-orders in first 24 hours

News

October 10, 2011 at 8:27 am

Despite the lackluster reception by the tech community, the iPhone 4S has managed to break all previous pre-order records at Apple. The new smartphone has exceeded 1 million pre-orders in the first 24 hours since it went on sale. The record trumps the previous record set by the iPhone 4, which recorded 600,000 pre-orders in a single day. Though bear in mind that the iPhone 4 was carried only by AT&T on release, while the iPhone 4S now has AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint on-board.

The iPhone 4S will be available at Apple stores starting 8:00 a.m. on October 14, but based on previous experience, expect huge lines and stock to run-out quickly. Best to order it online, in our opinion, though this now entails a 1-2 weeks delay. You might want to spend that time constructively by reading on the iPhone 4S’ new features, like Bluetooth 4.0.

Full Apple press release after the break.
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The Zune HD portable media player is no more

News

October 10, 2011 at 6:42 am

We first reported that Microsoft would stop development of new Zune devices, although it would continue producing existing devices, back in March, together with our thoughts.

Well, after a bit of a roller-coaster ride, with Microsoft pulling the Zune HD from its website but then reinstating it, official word has come from the “Windows Phone Radio” podcast, that Microsoft will stop making the Zune HD. At around the 12:35 mark of episode 45, the comment made is: “we have the announcement that we’re not going to be making the Zune HD anymore”. We agree with the rest of the comment, it’s a bummer as there are a lot of fans out there.
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iPhone 4S to be the first smartphone with Bluetooth 4.0, opening the doors to a host of new applications

Editorials News

October 9, 2011 at 8:13 am

You can count the number of devices supporting the Bluetooth 4.0 standard right now on the fingers of one hand. These include the 2011 Mac Mini and the MacBook Air, while the iPhone 4S is the first phone to support the standard. So what does Bluetooth 4.0 offer over the earlier versions.

Bluetooth 4.0 has two major advantages over earlier standards, first is BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), a low-energy and low-latency mode, second is that it can wake up other Bluetooth 4.0 devices and do no-code pairing. Nevertheless, it remains backwards compatible with all earlier standards, so you can still connect all your legacy devices.
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Fujifilm X10 digital camera November release date and price revealed

News

October 8, 2011 at 7:46 am

The X10, Fujifilm’s new high-end point-and-shoot camera, was announced in September with a possible October or November release date and unknown pricing. Well, we now have some more concrete information for you. The X10 will be priced at $600 in the US, with an early November release date — both B&H and Adorama agree on the date and pricing. The price is quite steep if you consider that the Canon S95 and the Panasonic LX5 now retail for around $350-380. Nevertheless the X10 is quite unique as it features an optical viewfinder, 7 blade aperture system, a host of manual controls and shares the X100‘s retro looks and build quality (real world review of the X100 here).

The UK release date is more specific, with Amazon UK listing the X10 to ship on November 11th for £500.

If you are pondering on adding Fuji’s new compact to you camera arsenal, check out this 16 minute video and our initial coverage of the Fujifilm X10.
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Amazon Kindle Fire vs. B&N Nook Color spec showdown

The Lab

October 8, 2011 at 5:49 am

It’s no secret that the upcoming Amazon Kindle Fire tablet has B&N’s Nook Color (NC) in its sights. The two have a lot in common, both have books and magazines deeply embedded in their DNA and both run a very customized Android experience, they are also two of the cheapest 7-inch Android tablet offerings out there. It might not be completely fair to compare the two though, as the Nook Color is a year older, but until B&N comes out with a Nook Color 2, it remains the Kindle Fire’s main competitor.

The Fire wins in terms of processing power and initial reports state that the experience is very smooth, the NC can get a bit slow at times, showing its age. Amazon has a huge cloud presence and its putting it to work with the Fire, which lacks on storage options, Amazon envisions your music and videos stored in its cloud. The Fire also utilizes Amazon’s cloud with its Silk browser which will offer an accelerated browsing experience.

Neither tablet has access to the official Android Market, but the Fire wins in this regard, because the Amazon app store simply has more apps than the Nook. On the other hand the Nook Color is one of the most ‘hackable’ devices out there, so if you get bored with B&N’s customized experience you can quite easily run standard Android with the full Android Market. The Nook Color also wins on looks; the Fire is a standard all-black rounded affair.

For the full spec lowdown between the Fire and the NC head after the break. Be sure to also read our very extensive review of the Nook Color and how much we like its magazine app.
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Fujifilm prepping new ‘premium’ X-series interchangeable lens mirrorless camera system

News

October 7, 2011 at 4:20 pm

The Fuji Guys might be our favorite tech spokespersons pair; you might remember them from their video of the new X10, going over every detail. The official voice of Fujifilm Canada, has ousted, over a couple of tweets, the company’s intention to release a new mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) system under their popular X-series.

The Fujifilm X100 showed to the world that compact low-light performance is achievable, however you are stuck with just one focal length, for better or worse. It seems that Fujifilm will try to maintain the same premium design and performance but give you the option of switching between zoom and prime lenses.

Information is very scarce at the moment; the Fuji Guys’ tweets (which you can find after the break) mention that, it will be a premium system, and not Micro Four Thirds — we would guess bigger sensor, perhaps the same APS-C sensor as the X100 — and that the system will be unveiled at CES 2012 in January.

We will definitely keep you posted in the meantime, as these things do tend to leak out.
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