Bear Lock: Keep prying eyes away (Review)
Overview
Keep your apps as safe as Pooh keeps his honey pot. That’s what Bear Lock does: keeps prying eyes away.
Developer: Bear Lock Applock
Cost: Free
Setup
Setting up is relatively easy. Jasper, your guide in the app, will walk you through this. He will ask you to put in your name, set up a pattern lock and fingerprint (if you have a sensor), and your email.
Once the initial setup is complete, you are free to pick which apps you want to protect. You are given the choice between two lists: sensitive and all. Select which apps you want to protect and that’s it. You’re set up. To remove the protection, simply tap which app to remove the protection from and you’re good to go.
Review
Bear Lock is a neat app lock app. Say that five times fast. It does exactly what it says, locks your apps so no one else can get into them. Jasper will let you in only if you type the correct code. If you don’t have the code, he will eventually turn his back on you.
The fact that you can use both a pattern or finger lock is nice 
since some people (me in particular!) don’t like to use fingerprint locks. I would like to see them add a numerical unlock code in the future, but, for now, this will work. If you forget your code, don’t worry, there is also the option to be asked a security question or get an email sent.
Bear Lock also lets you theme the app. It may not be the most important feature in an app like this, but it’s a nice touch. The themes are limited to only changing the colors, but it’s still a welcomed feature. There isn’t too much more they could do in this area.
Conclusion
You can’t get much simpler than this app. I honestly believe you could get a six-year-old to set this up. The best part? It’s free. Zero dollars. I can’t find any in-app purchases anywhere and there are no ads of any sort. I’m kind of surprised about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they added more features later for a premium. If you want a layer of extra security, and don’t want to spend any money, Bear Lock is for you.
Download and install Bear Lock from the Google Play Store.
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Honeywell Bluetooth Smart True HEPA Allergen Remover review
Every so often we get a chance to review products that fall outside the traditional scope of mobile accessories. Instead of Bluetooth speakers, mounts, or cables, we get to check out other items that tie in nicely with our smartphones. Today we’re reviewing the Honeywell Bluetooth Smart True HEPA Allergen Remover. Yes, an air purifier that can connect to your handset.
Now, before going much further, I’ll point out that I’ve not reviewed other air purifiers and allergen removers. To that end, you’ll find the following review will skew more toward the “every man” user and focus on the mobile-specific features.
First things first, this is a pretty sizable (about 20 inches tall) unit that sits on the floor or a medium-sized table. Big and black, it fits nicely with just about any decor and doesn’t draw much attention or distract from an environment. All of the buttons and controls are found at the top of the purifier. The purifier is constructed of plastic so it’s light and easy to move from room to room.
Upon taking it out of the box, you’ll be instructed to walk through a few steps with the Honeywell purifier. A plastic quick-start guide tells you the main settings, each with its own special use-case: germ (capture germs), general (everyday usage), and allergen (capture allergens). It’s not hard to get this one up and running at all as it is essentially plugging in and picking a setting.
The Smart Air Purifier comes with a pair of filters, one being an HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter and a carbon pre-filter. The latter is designed to capture odor such as smoke. The HEPA filter should be replaced annually whereas the pre-filter is once per quarter. In terms of warranty, this guy comes with a five-year plan for parts and labor.
As a novice to these, it was hard to see the differences in the first few days of testing. The Honeywell also offers up a turbo setting for quick odor reduction or power cleaning while the VOC (volatile organic compounds) is more of an automatic setting that moves from one mode to another. I felt safest going this route, understanding it likely knew my environmental needs better than I did.
You’ll find there are some LED lights that can be dimmed or turned off. Should you find yourself using the purifier in the bedroom you may wish to disable the lights as they can be distracting. Do note that the Bluetooth light and power indicator do stay on; you’ll have to put up with those. There are indicator lights to notify you when it’s time to replace the filter, a nice touch for those of us who simply cannot remember to do so.
In terms of sound, I found the Honeywell purifier to be quiet and provide a calm and non-distracting white noise. Turn it on and you’ll pay attention to it for a few minutes, but it’s quickly forgotten or pushed out of mind. Switching modes doesn’t seem to do much in terms of obvious, discerned sounds. if anything, the allergen setting was the only one we noticed over others.
The Honeywell Smart Air Purifier is designed to handle areas of 310 square feet so it’s perfect for most rooms. We liked setting ours in the hallway and shutting off doors to select rooms. This way it would clean the upstairs, steps, and a few small rooms at once. After that we would shut those rooms and repeat the process downstairs.
All in all, we had to rely on the purifier and app to qualify or quantify its effect. But, I can personally attest that the allergen option was very helpful this spring. There’s something about the air come March and April that really does a number on me. Sleeping was much easier this year as I kept the Honeywell in the bedroom.
Whereas the Smart Air Purifier works just fine on its own, things get extra useful and interesting when pairing to a phone. Connected via Bluetooth, the purifier can pair with most Android and iOS devices. Connecting is done by pressing a button on the phone and holding down the Bluetooth button on the purifier. Pair it once and you’re all set.
The app was easy to navigate and looked better than we expected for an air purifier. It’s pretty easy to cut corners and deliver an ugly UI with functions tucked away. Instead, we found a pretty modern and intuitive interface with fairly obvious settings. Also handy was a reminder at the bottom for when you’ll want to replace the filter.
Tapping on the app results in immediate changes on the Honeywell unit; there’s no lag in adjusting settings. Moreover, there are additional settings that don’t come with the standard purifier experience. Log your zip code and you’ll find the app can detect the allergens in your area. Doing so will tell you how grass, mold, tree, and ragweed pollens are. It’s possible to set alerts for thresholds so you can be notified when a particular pollen gets high.
The mobile app also provides cleaning schedules so you can pick a day or time that you’d like the purifier to work. Want a turbo cleanse before getting home? Sure you do. Make it happen.
As someone who suffers through spring with allergies, the Honeywell Bluetooth Smart Air Purifier HPA250B has been a pleasant addition to the home. I’ve come to appreciate the mobile app more than I anticipated, too. I like the idea of knowing the pollen levels for specific types of allergies. Additionally, I enjoy being able to adjust modes from the phone and having a constant reminder of when filters need replaced is just an icing on the cake.
If you’re in the market for a standard air purifier and don’t necessarily want or need the Bluetooth functions, you can definitely find other options for less money. But, if you’re suffering from allergies, live with a smoker, or like the notion of connecting your home, you’ll definitely come to like this Honeywell purifier. And if that’s not quite enough to convince you, don’t forget the five year warranty.
You can pick up a Honeywell Smart Air Purifier for about $250 through Best Buy. Currently, though, it’s on sale for $210. Amazon also has the unit going for about $208 as of the time of this review.
Inateck BH1105 Headphones: $10 headphones that you’re crazy not to buy (Review)
Trying to find a good pair headphones for the best can prove a task. Unless you are looking to buy a high dollar name brand that can afford to set up sample stations in big box stores, you have no real way of knowing the sound and quality. So you take a shot at those $7 earbuds from Walmart and they end up fitting poorly and breaking a month later. Luckily Inateck’s engineers have the solution in its wallet friendly BH1105s that sell for $9.99 on Amazon.
Design
These sleek headphones are in a class that is rare, beautiful and beyond affordable. One glimpse at these and it’s hard not to want to snatch up a pair. The earbuds are made from zebra wood, which aids in creating a full sound, really makes them stand out. Connecting the 3.5mm plug is a four-foot long cord that gives you plenty of movement.
The three different sized tips are made out of a flat black silicon that comes to a smaller point that makes it fit better in the ear. I have never been a fan of in-ear headsets as they typically are very uncomfortable and rarely stay in my ear, but these fit nicely inside my ear and didn’t fall out after a run test.
Sound
The way a product looks is one small aspect and as beautiful as the design is the sound it resonates is where it really counts. So how does this headset stack up? I tested these with various types of music including Hip Hop, Rock, Country, and R&B and the sound was amazing. It has a very rich sound where neither the highs or bass overpowers each other. I didn’t really expect too much and it’s always nice to be surprised.
An issue some people have with headphones is when you’re on a train, bus, or in some type of public venue the person next to you is listening to their music and you hear every word. Don’t you just hate that? If you’re listening at a reasonable volume, let’s say 75%, you don’t get that with these. Which is nice for all you undercover Taylor Swift fans.
Conclusion
As a person who is very….let’s say conservative when it comes to buying a headphones, I have bought many budget headphones and I got what I paid for, an uncomfortable, hollow sounding headsets that break within a month. For just $10 these are easily a no brainer pair of headphones to buy. The BH1105s have a high-end luxurious look and sound that makes you feel like you paid top dollar.
Buy BH1105 on Amazon
Best 360-degree aerial drone photos, hold your breath and expect VR awe
When photos made the jump from cameras to smartphones we got plenty more ways to see amazing sites all over the world. Then came the GoPro. Then the drone. But it hasn’t stopped, now there’s immersive 360-degree virtual reality photography.
So popular has this particular brand of photography become that it now has its own competition to find the best shots. SkyPixel specialises in just that task. As such it’s created a 360-degree aerial panorama contest and has had over 1,000 entries. Yup, there are plenty of people out there with the drones, the cameras and the skills to create virtual reality photography.
From beaches and forests to cities and olympic stadiums, this competition has photos from all over the planet. The gallery above shows off some of the best images that have been submitted to the competition. While these are not in virtual reality, you can follow the links on any you like the look of to view them in 3D. If you’ve got a VR headset that would be the time to get it out.
If drone photos are your thing, after checking out this taster, then click on through to the link below for even more mind blowing aerial photography.
READ: Best drone photos ever: Stunning images taken from up high
PlayStation E3 2016 Press Conference: How to watch it and what to expect for the PS4
E3 2016 is around the corner, with the main show starting on Tuesday 14 June.
However, the press conferences run over the couple of days beforehand and many eyes on what the big two, Sony and Microsoft, have to say before the conference starts proper.
That’s why you should make sure the Sony PlayStation E3 press event is in your calendar. If you’re up and about, you might even want to catch a livestream.
We’ve received an official invite, so will report from the briefing, so here’s what we’ll be looking out for and some of things to expect.
READ: E3 2016: All the launches, games and consoles to expect
Sony
When is the Sony PlayStation E3 press conference?
Sony will host its annual E3 press conference on Monday 13 June in a new location to usual, the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall that was used by Electronic Arts in former years.
Registration for the event starts at 4.30pm, but the press conference itself doesn’t start until 6pm (PT). That’s 2am in the UK, sorry.
It traditionally runs for two hours.
Is there a Sony PlayStation E3 2016 Briefing livestream?
There will be several places where you will be able to watch the PlayStation E3 conference live. We’ll be hosting it here on Pocket-lint, with a video embed appearing closer to the launch.
It will also be streamed on live.playstation.com.
For the first time, Sony will also be screening the event live in over 80 movie theatres in the US and Canada. You can get your tickets from playstation.com/e3experience, but we’re not sure how many will still be available in your area.
What hardware will be launched at the Sony PlayStation E3 2016 press conference?
PlayStation Neo
This is the biggy. It has been widely rumoured that the biggest reveal at this year’s Sony event will be an all-new version of the PlayStation 4 – currently dubbed by the media, the PS4.5 or PlayStation Neo.
It is said to have an improved graphics processor, that is capable of 4K video, along with at least one HDMI 2.0 output and HDCP 2.2 DRM decoding. That means it will at the very least be a capable 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, although talk suggests it will be so much more.
According to the rumours, there will also be more RAM on-board and an octa-core CPU, with some suggesting that this would allow for some games to offer more to those who have the beefier machines.
That’ll definitely be of interest to gamers who are willing to pay for a better experience, but surely alienates the 40 million plus owners of existing PS4s? We shall see during the event.
READ: Sony PlayStation 4K: What is PS4.5, when is it coming and how will it affect VR?
PlayStation VR
Considering it’s coming out in October, there will no doubt be a big focus on PS VR this year too – at the event and on the E3 show floor.
The hardware is already established so there might be more news on alternative controllers or the like.
READ: PlayStation VR preview: Affordable virtual reality for the gamers
What games will be announced at the Sony PlayStation E3 2016 press conference?
Like the Xbox Media Briefing earlier in the day, the Sony conference will have plenty of third-party publishers showing their games on stage exclusively.
There will also be a number of key PS4 exclusives and first-party titles.
Here is a list of the games we expect (and hope) to see elaborated upon, demonstrated or announced during the PlayStation presser. We’ll also update when we hear about others.
- Battlefield 1
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- DayZ
- Detroit
- Gran Turismo Sport
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- No Man’s Sky
- Skylanders Imaginators
- The Last Guardian
- The Last of Us 2
Samsung 4K HDR TV choices for 2016: KS9000, KS8000, KS7500 and KS7000 compared
Samsung announced a new generation of SUHD televisions at CES 2016 at the beginning of the year and now has a full selection of TVs for you to choose from, in a wide of sizes and prices.
The top-end screens use Quantum Dot displays meaning a layer of crystals over the usual LED panel that can change the blue backlight to pure white for a full spectrum of colour options. All that means higher brightness, better colours, higher dynamic range and truer blacks. All this and it can be manufactured far cheaper than OLED.
This year the Samsung TVs leading the way are the KS9000, KS8000, KS7500 and KS7000. Here’s what you need to know about each.
Samsung
Samsung KS9000 9 Series Curved SUHD Quantum Dot TV
At the top of the Samsung TV range is the 9 Series, which is almost identical to the 8 Series except the 9 is curved and the 8 is flat.
The 9 Series comes in 49-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch sizes and pack 4K UHD displays, HDR 1000 and, of course, a Quantum Dot 10-bit display. This offer 64 times the colour of LCD with 1 billion in total, SUHD remastering for upscaling, and Ultra Black Technology for clearly defined dark images plus auto dimming and an auto enhancer for depth. They also feature a moth eye to disperse reflections meaning minimal glare, for a better overall picture.
There’s Samsung Smart Hub for plenty of apps, easy smartphone control and home media access, plus big screen gaming thanks to built-in PlayStation Now for PS3 games. This sits in a refresh UI that gives quicker access to content and you’ll be rewarded with the likes of Ultra HD Netflix and Amazon Video.
The 9 Series has a Samsung PQI rating of 2400. This is a number made up by Samsung to give an overall image quality rating based on resolution, brightness, colour, contrast, motion, noise reduction and immersion.
Compared to previous years, these TVs are not only brighter, but more power efficient, and also have improved internal speakers, with the 9 series offering 4.1 channel speakers.
The Samsung KS9000 is available now and starts at £2,099 for the 55-inch model, £2,899 for the 65-inch model. We can’t find the 49-inch model available anywhere, so the price remains a mystery.
Samsung
KS8000 8 Series Flat SUHD Quantum Dot TV
Like the KS9000, the 8 Series sits at the top of Samsung’s range, but offers a flat panel, rather than the curved of the 9 Series.
However, there’s a crossover in the technology offered, with a 4K UHD panel offering Samsung’s HDR 1000, for some cracking visuals. It’s a 10-bit panel, again offering Quantum Dot technology meaning a wider range of colours, loads of brightness and plenty of detail. Although it offers the same technologies as the KS9000, the 8000 comes with a performance rating of 2300 PQI.
The KS8000 comes in 49, 55 and 65-inch sizes, with a slick minimalist bezel and a central stand. The idea of these stands is to give a floating look to the TV, as if the panel just hangs in the air. The 8000, like the other TVs on this list offer “360” design, so they look clean and attractive from the back too. It also offers 4.1 channel audio.
Like the other TVs on the list, it comes with a refreshed UI over 2015 models, meaning easy access to Smart functions to easily access content you might want, like 4K Netflix.
The Samsung KS8000 is also out now and starts at £1,499 for the 49-inch model, £1,899 for the 55, and £2,699 for the 65, so you get a lot of TV for your money.
Samsung
Samsung KS7500 Curved SUHD Quantum Dot TV
The 7 Series, which also offers curved and flat options, comes in more sizes than the top end TVs with 65-inch, 55-inch, 49-inch and 43-inch variants.
Everything else about the televisions’ specs are nearly identical with 4K UHD, HDR 1000, SUHD remastering, Ultra Black Technology and Smart Hub and the moth eye filter. However the Samsung PQI rating is 2200 for this range, which mostly comes down to a slightly different dimming system – the 8 and 9 Series offer Supreme UHD Dimming, whereas the 7 settles for UHD Dimming.
It also takes a step down in audio, offering 2.1 channel system for the internal speakers with 40W RMS compared to 60W for the 8 and 9 Series.
One thing to note on the design is that the feet are very wide on the 7 series, so you’ll need a wide stand, or have to wall mount it.
The Samsung KS7500 is available now, priced at £1,399 for the 49-inch model, and £1,699 for the 55, we can’t find prices for the other sizes.
Samsung
Samsung KS7000 Flat 7 Series SUHD Quantum Dot TV
Offering the flat version of the 7500 is the KS7000. This flat panel 4K UHD TV is a sub-premium alternative to the KS8000, offering many of the same technologies and specs, but in a slightly lower tier package. It comes in 49, 55 and 60-inch sizes.
Importantly this is still a 4K TV and offers Samsung’s HDR 1000, all the upscaling technologies and the moth eye filter, although the KS7000 carries a performance rating of 2100 PQI according to Samsung’s own rating system. That’s likely to be because it believes that curved is a slightly better performer, hence the higher rating on the 7500, and a minor enhancements on the 8 and 9 Series to improve performance at the top level.
However, the KS7000 offers a complete smart TV package with Samsung’s latest Tizen UI for easy access no matter what your source, like 4K HDR Netflix for example, so it’s skilled in all areas.
Again, like the KS7500 the design sees the feet near the edges, so you’ll need a wide stand, unless you’re going to wall mount this TV.
The Samsung KS7000 can be bought now for £1,299 for the 49-inch model, £1,499 for the 55, £1,799 for the 60 inch.
SLR camera quality photos on your smartphone, the metalens is coming
Strapping a massive lens case attachment to your smartphone still won’t have you snapping on the level of an SLR, but that soon may not be an issue. Something called a metalens promises to enhance smaller cameras with staggering quality.
The metalens has been developed by Harvard University scientists to change the way light is angled into a camera sensor. This new lens is the size of a grain of sand yet can compete with the expansive and weighty lens of an SLR, apparently.
At the moment optics, which control light entering a camera, need to be made to perfection in order to angle light correctly. This new discovering ditches the curved glass lens in favour of a 2mm construction from quartz and a tiny titanium oxide array.
So what’s the catch? The lens is still in early stage testing where not all of the colour spectrum can be manipulated, but that’s planned next. The key here is these beat a traditional lens in resolving details and are nearly as efficient, plus they’re potentially way cheaper to produce.
So once these metalenses are perfected we should already have full frame sensors in phones, we hope, meaning there’ll be nothing stopping us capturing SLR quality photos on our smartphones.
READ: Turn your GoPro into a 3D camera using this £35 Vitrima lens case
Analysts predict the end of the smartphone boom
Gartner’s latest research into the state of the mobile industry is a dire warning to all phone manufacturers. The financial analysis firm believes that the growth in smartphone sales will fall to a single digit, half the rate it was in 2015. It’s hard to think that people buying 1.5 billion devices in a calendar year is a bad thing, but for companies who make profit on scale, it’s a nightmare. Last year, LG made just 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold, and you need to sell a lot of phones at that cost before you can consider yourself a big deal.
The issue here is the same that it’s always been, which is that almost everyone in the world who can afford a smartphone already owns one. For years, China was held up as a beacon of hope for companies struggling to wring more profits out of the US and Europe. With its enormous population and emerging middle class, a desire for smartphones would be impossible to satisfy, or at least that was the theory. By 2015, that country had become saturated with devices, helped by local players Huawei and Xiaomi selling devices almost at cost.
Another problem is that most people are still feeling the pinch of the various financial crises that have rocked the world since 2001. People in the west are pulling out of the 24-month upgrade cycle, preferring to hold on to their perfectly working devices for up to 30 months at a time. After all, it’s not as if the Galaxy S5 magically turns into a piece of garbage 730 days after you buy it.
But Gartner throws some shade at smartphone manufacturers themselves, saying they’re not doing enough to woo customers into buying new devices. As the technology updates have “become incremental, rather than exponential,” there’s little reason to rush out on launch day to grab the latest handset. Smartphones are something that you replace when they wear out, not something desirable in themselves.
The firm says that India is the next great hope for smartphone companies to make a profit, but even now it may be too late. The country still buys feature phones more than smartphones, and the average selling price for a device is $120. That means that only devices that come in under that price is going to make a profit, although Google’s Android One initiative may eventually prove its worth here. But local players like Micromax are mounting a stern defense, teaming up with Cyanogen to appeal to more affluent customers.
Buried at the end of the report is a note of optimism, saying that companies will still try to enter the “complex and competitive” phone business. But nestled alongside is the warning that some of the established players will “exit the market.” It mentions no names, but we can already think of one company that’s struggling to stay afloat after being undermined by ultra-budget Chinese competition.
Gartner ends by saying that at least one “nontraditional phone maker” could become a top five player in China by 2018. With the cost of low-end smartphones plummeting and the market becoming saturated, it’s not unreasonable to see that. For instance, a giant like LeEco or Tencent could offer almost free handsets much like Amazon does with its Fire tablets: as a trojan horse to hook you in to its other businesses.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Gartner
Swarm brings back Foursquare’s real-world perks
Foursquare is continuing its quest to bring back all the things you liked from its old check-in app. Swarm now offers real-life perks depending on where and how often you check in. You’ll get a discount if you swing by certain stores, for instance, or enter to win a prize if you complete a challenge across multiple shops. Only some locations will have these benefits, but Foursquare is promising “hundreds” of prizes ranging from cruises to drones to VIP concert tickets.
The first challenge is already underway, and it’s a big one: you can win a $10,000 vacation to anywhere you want if you check into three “summertime locations” (think beaches or movie theaters) no later than June 19th.
It’s a relatively small move, but it could do a lot to help Foursquare draw in users who might have drifted away. While it’s fun to get bragging rights for a mayorship, part of the allure of the original Foursquare app was getting that discount at the coffee shop you visit every day. If Swarm offers enough perks in the right places, you’ll have a good incentive to keep using the app regardless of how competitive your friends might be.
Source: App Store, Google Play
Tiny ‘metalens’ could bring SLR camera quality to your phone
Your smartphone’s camera quality is limited for a number of reasons (sensor size, for example), but one of the biggest factors is optics: you need a lot of glass to deliver the pin-sharp photos of a DSLR or mirrorless camera. That’s where Harvard researchers might help. They’ve developed a “metalens” that substitutes the usual glass with quartz plates full of microscopic titanium oxide structures, whose patterns guide light toward the camera sensor. The technology not only leads to a much smaller lens (it’s just 0.08 inches across in testing), but focus that beats even the better lenses you find in stores — it can resolve details 400 nanometers wide, or smaller than a wavelength of light.
It’s much more affordable, too, since you don’t need carefully polished, difficult-to-manufacture glass. You could make the metalenses in the same factories that produce semiconductors.
This doesn’t mean that you’ll be shooting gallery-worthy photos with your phone in the near future. While this is a breakthrough in using the technology for visible spectrum light, Popular Science says that the metalenses used in testing were only designed to refract light in specific colors. You’d clearly need a much wider color gamut for this to work. Still, it’s a start. The scientists see a day when your phone camera can take professional-grade photos, and where dedicated cameras don’t need big, heavy lenses to achieve top-notch results.
Via: Popular Science
Source: Harvard, Science
AIVAnet 