Weekly Roundup

Berlin and IFA, a busy week and more

I had a great time in Berlin, Germany while covering IFA for Coolsmartphone.com. When I say covering IFA, there was a lot more going on around the trade show as there always is.

IFA 2016

IFA 2016

IFA 2016 - #IFA16

IFA is the world's leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances. Held in the beginning of September each year in Berlin, it's a trade show that sets up the scene nicely for the global trading period in the run up to the holiday trading period.

50 Shades Of Mockodile

50 Shades Of Mockodile

I arrived in Berlin the day before the madness of press week started and covered a series of press conferences over the next few days: Acer, Samsung, Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE and others. As well as press conferences, I visited many stands of brands more or less well known to the general public. There was a decent amount of mockodile to cover too. How could I not cover beautiful mockodile?

Beauty Makeup!

Beauty Makeup!

In the midst of this busy IFA week, I found time to catch up with friends old and new. We discussed the announcements and wares on show, consumed much beer and cocktails and when in more philosophical states put the consumer electronics product world to right.

For the first couple of days I paired up with Peter Holden of TalkAndroid.com. Peter is a top chap with a sense of humour who also has a great in-depth knowledge of the tech industry. We survived an Uber Taxi ride with a maniac driver who was actively trying to crash the Prius we were in. Having survived that we then went on to cover more press conferences with significantly more adrenaline to burn off.

It was cool to hang out with Bryan Burnett of TWiT. He was over in Berlin from the other side of The Pond with Padre SJ covering IFA before he headed off travelling around northern Europe. I'll be catching up with him in Petluma later this month when Candice and I are on vacation.

I'm a fashion blogger now, thanks to the Huawei Nova Plus Beauty Makeup 2.0.

I'm a fashion blogger now, thanks to the Huawei Nova Plus Beauty Makeup 2.0.

To sum up IFA and the surrounding press conferences and announcements: big tech companies have reached the point where they speak to the end users, often not needing the tech press as much as they needed to. Just looking at Huawei and Samsung's events, the highlights were a selfie masterclass and watch bros on stage talking about emotions of watch design. The advent of the fashion blogger or instagram celebrity on the tech scene is here. Maybe that's why they invite me to these events: I'll find a mockodile angle on anything shiny.

iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2

It is difficult to ignore the media frenzy that ensues when the fruity phone company announce their new devices. This time Tim Cook took to the stage to announce the Apple Watch Series 2 and the iPhone 7 (in its two variants).

This is waht the iPhone 7 should have been able to do. Thanks Oatmeal!

This is waht the iPhone 7 should have been able to do. Thanks Oatmeal!

As we called it at Coolsmartphone, the devices now lack 3.5mm audio jacks. Some of my legwork at IFA confirmed this as many vendors were very active in selling their new wares.

Coming Up

This week at IFA was pretty crazy, and my two main mobile devices I used to cover the trade show deserve honourable mentions.

Xiaomi Mi Max

Xiaomi Mi Max - Big Phone with Big Sandwich

Xiaomi Mi Max - Big Phone with Big Sandwich

I purchased this device specifically as a workhorse to cover IFA. The massive battery, big screen which makes two thumb typing easy and reasonable 16MP camera made it a success. If you travel a lot or really need all day battery life I would recommend this device.

Honor 8

Honor 8 - So Shiny!

Honor 8 - So Shiny!

The Honor 8 is my cameraphone of choice now. the snaps it takes are to my liking and with Google Photos sync it made managing the content I was creating simple. I love the way the Honor 8 feels in my hand though I live in terror of it slipping out. Battery life got me through the day

I'll be on vacation with Candice in the US of A and Canada from late next week, but before I leave I plan on publishing my full review of the Honor 8 on Coolsmartphone and starting the Huawei Nova Plus review. As usual any feedback is welcome, please do let me know what you would like to see in the upcoming reviews.

What a week! Nougat, All About Android & Honor 8

It's been quite a week! I'll focus on the geeky positives here, because quite a lot happened.

Nougat

On Monday evening I updated my Nexus 6P and Nexus 9 to the public release of Android 7.0 Nougat. A pretty painless experience, the update weighed in at between 40MB and 50MB. There was no app optimisation process which sped things up considerably. There was no major change for the Nexus 6P, testament to the fact that the final beta was pretty much production ready. The NExus 9 on the other hand improved further. No lags or slowdowns yet, so I'm now happy to use the HTC made device again.

All About Android 280

On Tuesday (Petaluma Mean Time), early Wednesday morning here, I was a guest on All About Android. It was great fun being on and discussing the week's latest Android news and hardware, and it was the first time I was on the show with Flo. As usual I brought some bad puns, some goat and mockodile and my rampant opinionism to the table. 

This was the first episode of All About Android in the new TWiT Studio in the East-side of Petaluma. It was very thoughtful of Lisa, Leo and the rest of the TWiT crew to choose that location as the hotel Candice an I stay in when in Petaluma is across the road and it is within walking distance from the Lagunitas Brewery. I plan on being in Petaluma at the end of September and the end of October, so keep an eye on TWiT.tv for my future appearances.

Honor 8

Not long after All About Android finished, I went to Edinburgh Airport and to Paris from there. In Paris I was a guest of Honor for the launch of the shiny new Honor 8.

Honor8

The Honor 8 is Honor's new flagship and is definitely an eye catcher. With its shiny glass design, impressive spec sheet and awesome camera setup it has immediately placed itself in my current top 4 smartphones for everyday use. Leigh was great support for Coolsmartphone coverage from the UK, and yesterday I published a sample camera gallery to show off how awesome the Honor 8 camera is. I'll be passing my Huawei P9 on to Candice who will no doubt do great things with it. Expect my review of the Honor 8 after I've been using it for IFA.

#ShotOnAndroid #ShotOnHonor8 #Honor8

#ShotOnAndroid #ShotOnHonor8 #Honor8

Coming Up

Speaking of IFA, I'll be covering the consumer electronics show in Berlin for Coolsmartphone next week and the one after. I'm excited by all the WiFi connected LED bulbs I'll see there. Or maybe not...

Oh well, keep an eye on my Interknight presence (that one is for you Alex Dobie) in the coming week for IFA coverage and my other ramblings. Expect to see the #honor8 and #ShotOnHonor8 tag used a lot, I'm enjoying the shiny new blue smartphone.

This Week On The Internet

This has been a busy week for me. As well as a productive week in my day job at Skyscanner, I appeared on All About Android and the Coolsmartphone Podcast, and published my review of the Meizu M2 Note.

I thoroughly enjoyed being on All About Android, it is always a pleasure to be on the TWiT.tv show with Jason and Ron, and this week I was a guest with the excellent Gina Trapani.

Later in the week John and I engaged in blatantly reminding everyone of Coolsmartphone.com on the Coolsmartphone Podcast. We touched on various tech subjects, including my review of the Meizu M2 Note and the news that I am now officially on the organising committee of March Of The Droids 2016.

In case you hadn't noticed, this morning I also updated the template to matteodoni.com (this site). I've added a Pixel Density Enthusiasm page and am playing around with some new technologies which I will reveal more about soon.