BlackBerry Z10

From the ashes of a dark and disconcerting year, BlackBerry has risen up and attempted to deliver innovation and beauty in the form of their debut BB10 device – the Z10. 

For those of you who don’t know, BB10 is more than just an operating system; it’s a movement intended to recreate BlackBerry as we know it by retaining and enhancing the features that diehard fans love to see, and icing the cake with some brand new ones. That was the general idea, at least, but have they succeeded…

Hardware & Design

The first thing you’ll notice is that the Z10 has about four buttons to its name, none of which have anything to do with typing. That’s right, just like the long-forgotten Storm, it’s a full touchscreen creation. It boasts a 4.2in, multi-touch LCD display, with 1280 x 768 resolution (at 356 ppi) and 24-bit colour depth – perfect for you on-the-go media consumers. The device itself measures 5.11 x 2.58 x 0.35in and weighs in at approximately 136g which is a fair bit larger than the BlackBerrys of yesteryear, as well as the iPhone 5, but it’s still quite light and slips nicely into the average hand. The simplicity of the front design is perfectly in keeping with the business image that BlackBerry portrays, and the glass weave back crested with their signature seven-dot logo makes for a nice, slick finish.

Under the hood, you’ll find that the removable battery option is still intact, so if you have any problems it won’t be a hassle to replace. It has an average standby time of up to 312 hours and an average talk time of up to 10, which is a subtle improvement but nothing to write home about. The Z10 also includes 16gb of built in storage complimented by an expandable MicroSD slot (up to 64gb), a monstrous 2gb RAM and a dual core 1.5Ghz processor. Chuck in the 2g, 3g and 4g capabilities and that about wraps up the face value features of this pocket companion.

Blackberry 10

With Android app support, BlackBerry World is looking a lot fuller on this OS, but BB10 is so much more than applications. It is centred on seamless performance and superlative task-management on a level too high to ignore; a concept nicknamed BlackBerry Flow. In the absence of buttons, the phone is controlled entirely by a series of gestures which the initial setup kindly demonstrates. Swipe up and right to “peek” into the all new BlackBerry Hub, the home of conversations – from email to Facebook, everything can be accessed here without closing (or even leaving) the page you were on originally. Swiping down allows you to switch between work and personal mode thanks to a unique idea called BlackBerry Balance, which separates and protects anything you deem to be business-related. Impressed so far? Well, that’s just the beginning.

BB10 takes the term “smartphone” very seriously with its predictive capabilities. The incredibly detailed calendar app uses knowledge from your previous events, conversations and social updates to aid you in creating new events with minimal effort. The virtual keyboard also benefits from this, making relevant suggestions as you type which can be selected by simply flicking them into your sentence.

For all the neat freaks out there, there’s a hidden gem known as BlackBerry Remember; this is an advanced organisation system which contains a series of folders and is integrated throughout the device, so if you see something you like or can’t afford to forget, you can file it away effortlessly with a few simple taps.

Camera

Along with the introduction of the 2mp front-facing camera comes BBM video chat, complete with the option to screen share. Screen share lets you ditch your average print screen app and, instead, show your contact exactly what you’re doing on your screen in real time as the call continues behind the scenes.

The rear-facing camera is a healthy 8mp and comes with Time Shift, a well-received function that snaps several photos at once. It gives you the option to move between the burst of shots to select the best moment; in other words, no more perfect pictures ruined by unwelcome blinking. Once selected, you have a range of photo-editing tools to play with and the opportunity to share with any social network you choose.

Finally, let’s not forget the 1080p HD camcorder which records high quality clips that can be played back on a HDTV with ease via the micro HDMI port on the side.

Conclusion

The Z10 has definitely done well in showcasing BlackBerry’s new OS and has paved the way for its future successors – it’s business meets pleasure in the palm of your hand and there’s a little something in store for everybody. If there’s one thing I can fault, it’s the decision to retain Blackberry’s signature, everlasting start up sequence. The ridiculously lengthy security wipe process could’ve gone a miss too, but neither issue affects the phone as a whole. Its unrivalled efficiency has me head over heels in love, but I get the feeling that it may have a somewhat Marmite effect on the nation. Using this device without truly knowing what it’s capable of isn’t a fraction as enjoyable and, since many of people don’t take the time to fully explore, this worries me greatly. Nevertheless, hats off to CEO Thorsten Heins, daresay I’m very impressed.

Rating: 9/10 

Defiance

You are now entering a world of consistently entertaining blandness and emptiness.

When I was younger and was let off from school for the summer I used to jump for joy and couldn’t wait to get home to spend two whole months doing as little as possible, though by the end of the period I had scratched down through hundreds of layers of skin out’ve sheer impatience and ennui.  This led to me craving school, and genuinely enjoying the first few days back, even when I was talking to people I would normally turn down the opportunity to spend time with in favour of eating raw meat and dying of food poisoning. This presumably was because interacting with people I normally detest and performing seemingly meaningless tasks over and over was fantastically more exciting than what could be diagnosed as life threatening boredom.

Meet Defiance a post apocalyptic run around fest MMO. I must lighten the following rant with a disclaimer, I flipping love this game, I just don’t know why.

After a mere ten hours of gameplay I came to realise that both the side missions and the main missions mostly consist of one hundred and fifty different versions of “run over to this generic looking box and press a button”. I’m not well versed in MMO’s so maybe this is a standard that I’m just not used to, however, despite its many faults I practically bound home like Ferris Bueller just to get another quick half an hour darting towards these boxes and pressing each button with genuine glee and vigour.  I even made friends with some genuinely helpful people, as it is my practice to play these games by dying over and over again they willingly became my own personal paramedics for a number of hours every night for the past week. (If you have a similar playing style my advice is to play under your girlfriends account, because all the guys on there seem just dying to help an e-Damsel-in-distress much more than when my character was under a male pseudonym).

Apart from the usual installing and set up times niggling at you, you have to become painfully frustrated constantly by the infrequency of hints. I’m not talking about how to defeat bosses, how to best win races or how to make the female characters breasts jiggle by waving your controller about à la Dead or Alive 5, I quite simply mean hints to what the hell is going on. The tutorial level does explain some of the more important and obvious things that make this game different, with a very interesting and customisable ‘class system’ for example, but simple things like how you are supposed to change menus, figure out what you’re supposed to be doing, what side you’re on or what the plot is are left entirely up to you to figure out.  I really think it would be easier to do a six-foot Sudoku Rubik’s cube. In the Dark. With your buttocks.

What I’ve gathered so far is the game is basically about a post-apocalyptic dystopian San Francisco where aliens who look a bit like humans, and mutants who look a bit like humans, and hell bugs which are bugs but hellishly human-sized, all disagree with who should be allowed to live there.  Throw in a character who is nothing more than a stubbled jaw line, a mad scientist, who is a salacious pain in the ass and two of the most irritating female archetypes they could throw together and you have Defiance. I think. Maybe. I had to wikipedia some of that.  One of it’s main selling points for me is the fact that it is going to cross over with a TV show of the same name, the first episode of which should have aired a few hours ago.  Being able to play side by side with the stars of a show, in an open MMO dystopia that they too have to live in, is a fantastic idea that makes me clap my hands and sing a merry tune. I cannot wait for these events to occur and I hope it blossoms into the masterpiece it is destined to become.

You may have heard that this game has it’s bugs and glitches, and it does have a number of them at the moment (though apparently there will be a large patch on it’s way by the time you are reading this). Saying that, I haven’t had too many problems that really affected me, though I did once end up getting stuck behind a bit of scenery in the crouch position with my character roughly resembling a senile old man looking for a recently dropped boiled sweet in a supermarket, until I had to escape by throwing a grenade into my pants.

Do not get me wrong at all, though I have forced you to endure some cynicism and grumpiness, I really can’t stop playing this game, I genuinely love it.  Perhaps it’s because after the amount of time I have put into it, it is almost like my character is my child, something I am forced to love despite not liking.  Or perhaps it is the opposite, a-four-cheeseburgers-for-a-pound idea, where despite them tasting terrible and having no nutritional value I enjoy regardless.

This may all seem quite confusing on where I stand, and that’s because I have no idea, but I insist that you give it a go, as it’s damn entertaining whatever the reason and multiplayer wise I haven’t had so much fun in ages.

David Roberts.

Video Review - HTC 8X

Check out our CeX Vlog - HTC 8x review on our brand spanking new YouTube Channel.

"This phone plays it comfortably. HTC plays it safe. Gives you what you want & what you'd expect - I found it rather bland & boring!" 

What do YOU think? Love of your life or will you be trading it in? www.webuy.com

HTC 8X at CeX

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CeX India store no. 10 - Namaste, Nagpur!

Oh happy day, we now have TEN CeX stores in India!

We are overjoyed at the stupendous love & support to make this happen. 

It seems like only yesterday that CeX was a Central London geek secret just off Tottenham Court Road with a passion for gadgets & games. We've always striven to combine a better way to shop with the fastest, friendliest & fairest way to find a new home for your old stuff - while giving you the most cash or CeX exchange credit in return. That was just over 20 years ago, but time flies when you're having fun.

So say Hello to our friends in Nagpur at G-17F, Empress City, Opposite Raman Science Center, Nagpur 44008. They have a whole heap of goodies for you to buy, sell, exchange & huge beaming smiles to boot.

Here are some of the CeXy crew who help make this dream come true!

http://in.webuy.com/stores/store_details.php?id=2012

Luigi’s Mansion 2

“Luigi casts Mario aside and grabs adventure head on in this spectacular sequel to one of the GameCube’s most popular titles. He may not be the bravest guy but Luigi proves once again why he is the perfect protagonist for a comical horror game.”

The gameplay:

Luigi’s Mansion 2 may be on Nintendo’s handheld device but that doesn’t stop it from being in every possible way, a bigger and better title than the original on GameCube. Once again Luigi is paired up with Professor E-Gad to clear an assortment of spooky mansions and collect all the fragments of the Dark Moon that’s making all the ghosts angry and violent. 

Luigi does this of course with some very nifty contraptions courtesy of the young looking professor. The Poltergust-3000 is your main tool serving as a Ghostbuster like vacuum that sucks up any ghosts in your way. However, you can only capture them after you’ve stunned them with your trusty flashlight. This combination of stunning enemies then vacuuming them up proves to be incredibly addictive and tremendously satisfying, especially when there are multiple enemies present forcing you to cleverly manipulate both Luigi and the ghosts across the environment. 

The final piece of gameplay comes in the form of an illumination device strapped to your flashlight that uncovers hidden objects like doors, devices or even items. Luigi’s Mansion 2 forces players to scour absolutely every nook and cranny across all the areas you explore to find every single goodie and the elusive Boo Ghosts that must be found to unlock a special level in each mansion. This alongside a ranking system from 1 to 3 stars means you’ll be replaying levels over and over for that perfect 3 star + Boo score. 

The presentation:

Luigi’s Mansion 2 is a beautiful looking handheld title that is supplemented well by the 3D effects. While the later are not crucial to enjoy the game, some particular moments really shine in 3D. Luigi himself is the absolute star of the show – he’s just so funny and the bravery he displays despite being so unbelievable terrified all the time is amazing. 

I can’t help but feel it’s a tad shame that this wasn’t a WiiU title because the combination of high performance graphics and the WiiU GamePad could have really brought even more out of this franchise, nevertheless it’s still very impressive all things considered. 

Luigi’s Mansion 2 also really shines in terms of replay value – not only is your first playthrough particularly long to begin with, but if you’re a perfectionist then prepare to invest considerable hours to get the best scores on each level. On top of that there’s a really enjoyable multiplayer mode that allows players to team up and complete levels by finding and capturing all the ghosts.

The verdict:

Luigi’s Mansion 2 is a must have title for any Nintendo 3DS owner. It’s funny, it’s witty, it’s entertaining and all the while challenging from beginning all the way to the end. There’s lots of clever puzzles and ideas implemented here and almost none of which seem to repeat themselves or become old – this is Nintendo at their finest. 

Gameplay – 9 out of 10

Presentation – 9 out of 10

Replay value – 9 out of 10

Verdict – 10 out of 10

Igor Kharin.

Wowza. CeX opens in Warringah!

It seems like only yesterday that CeX was a Central London geek secret just off Tottenham Court Road with a passion for gadgets & games. We've always striven to combine a better way to shop with the fastest, friendliest & fairest way to find a new home for your old stuff - while giving you the most cash or CeX exchange credit in return. That was just over 20 years ago, but time flies when you're having fun.

We are super happy to announce our new Australian CeX store in Warringah!

Come say "G'day" at Warringah Mall - Shop 194, Warringah Mall, 145 Old Pittwater Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100.

They have a whole heap of goodies for you to buy, sell, exchange or donate & huge beaming smiles to boot.
Thanks to the superstar team who made it happen.

Find your local CeX here.

CeX at London Comic Con

Here's some images from 2012's show for you to enjoy. Are you in any of the?

Nexus 4 2nd Opinion

Google has teamed with LG to get mighty Nexus 4 collaboration onto the market. And what a treat its been! It has been a little over a month that I've got my hands on this phone. Since then its been a joyride all the way.

Quad-core  

One of the best hardware feature of Nexus 4 is its ultra fast processor. With the speed and power of four processors combined into one, the phone is super smooth to use. The response time is instant and you're left admiring the power of the processor.

Hardware

This Google-baby boosts a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 and 1.5 GHz Processor.?Although it is equipped with 2100 mAh battery, the battery easily exhausts itself within a day, but with most Android phones this is common. The 3G, NFC Beam, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wireless Charging all get a definite thumbs-up!? The wireless charging dock look very handy with nifty magnets that hold the handset and the dock together. Its a disappointment that its not available to buy as yet?

Software 

Since it's a Google phone, all the Android updates come to this phone first. Imagine bragging about having the latest updates while your friends are still talking about how great these updates will be when they get it! It's equipped with latest JellyBean 4.2.2 version - ultimate deal maker! Google Now is another pleasant surprise. It's pretty smart and lets you set your home and work locations. You want to know the current traffic scenario on your trek into work? Google Now is your Bible. I would rank it above Siri!

Design

Nexus 4 is a single sealed unit and this makes it more sturdy compared to a Samsung S3. There is no access to the battery and at 139g it's heavier than many other smart phones in its league. At first glimpse the phone seems pretty bland, but a more closer look revels a uniquely designed back. Little glittering pixels change color as you twist the phone. Flashy, ain't it??Here's a word of caution if you have butter fingers or are too careless with your phone - the phone has a glass cover at the back too. This makes it a delicate and handle-with-care phone. The glass at the rear makes it slippery at times on some surfaces. Would be silly to not get a bumper case for this badboy.

User Interface

Swype addicts will have a gala time with this one as it comes with a built-in Swype like keyboard. Five lock screens are pretty decent, although it will leave you asking for more!?One finger drag lets you access the notifications. A top-tip trick is  the two finger drag that gives you access to most of the settings like Wifi, Bluetooth and the recently used ones.?You will be very impressed to see that you can now reply to a missed call or hang up a call from the notification screen itself. The onscreen application tray at the bottom takes up a lot of space and there is still a debate if virtual onscreen buttons are a good thing.

Exceptional Camera

The phone has a 8MP rear and 1.3MP front camera like most other smart phones available on the market but if you compare the quality of pictures taken  from Nexus and the other phones, you'll see Nexus reigns supreme due to the crisp detail. Also the Photo-sphere mode on the camera is a hit! The inbuilt editor in the camera helps you take pictures and immediately edit them. Another Thumbs-up! The 360 Panaroma is a great feature but take a few tries to get it spot on.

Memory

Non-expandable 8Gb and 16Gb options are available to choose from. Expandable memory would have been splendid. But is it asking for more?

This is a definite must for anyone who loves trying out new technologies. Get it while its hot!

Sapna Khanna.

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch 2nd Opinion

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch 2nd Opinion (PS3)

Best JRPG ever made or more of the same fiddly time wasting nonsense? “Final Fantasy seven, eight and nine mixed with pokémon” That’s how Ni No Kuni was first described to me.  If you are a fan of Japanese Role-Playing games this sentence alone is enough to force your drooling glands to kick in so hard you could drown or at the very least ruin a good shirt.

Life is aways full of decisions...

As you first turn this game on you are greeted with a plethora of colours, enough to make technicolour dreamcoats for everyone and anyone, and lots of cutesy characters appealing to the inner child of even the grumpiest old man.  Don’t let this confuse you into thinking this game is for children alone however it has some fantastic elements making this a genuinely enjoyable game. Your protagonist is ‘Oliver’ a likeable floppy-haired 10 year old boy, with a questionable taste in friends and a very relaxed attitude to plush dolls coming instantly to life. Initially a very simple plot line, the first thing you are asked to do is simply run from a building to another building, with food in your hands.  At first glance it feels more like you are being allowed to make minor decisions influencing an animated film than actually playing a game but the whole world opens up pretty quickly.

The game really gets off the ground after the first few minutes when ‘Allie’, a single mother to Oliver suddenly drops dead after a wee swim in a pond.  This causes Oliver to weep uncontrollably onto his favourite stuffed toy, which then comes to life and tells him to follow him to a magical ‘other world’ as he is to save it and this in turn will bring his mother back to life.  Phew.

What I like about the whole thing is the fact that there is such an emphasis on helping people, leaving you with a lovely feeling of having done good in a real way.  Sure you probably ignored homeless people and dying animals on the way to and from the video game shop when you bought this, but this is good enough to wash away the guilt.

The fighting system, as my colleague pointed out, is like an old school turn based JRPG with dashes of Pokémon thrown in.  Except instead of Pokémon, you have Familiars.

As the game progresses you get more and more opportunity to realise your potential as a wizard as every person on the street seems to have a missing page from a book of spells that you own and collect as many Familiars as possible, all with their specially designed ways of  knocking turds out’ve the enemies.

Ni No Kuni is probably the best JRPG on the ps3 and probably one of the best in years on any platform, it’s only downfall is that it is excruciatingly Japanese and if JRPGs aren’t your thing you’ll just keep vomiting on yourself until you can force someone in your house to turn it off.  If you’ve always wanted to experiment with one and not known where to start this is the place to be.  Cutesy, plot driven, beautiful and challenging, Ni No Kuni is a great idea, though not massively original.  If you see a friend who is not a JRPG enthusiast covered in their own sick make sure to get their copy before they throw it out.

David Roberts

Bioshock: Infinite

"Bioshock returns with its traditional and atmospheric gameplay in a brand new and extravagant world. An in depth story and terrific character development make this not only the most intriguing instalment of the series but quite possibly one of the best told sci-fi narratives of recent memory.”

The gameplay:

Bioshock: Infinite doesn’t diverge far from its predecessors and remains a first person shooting and vigor (spells) casting adventure. Players accumulate various weapons ranging from shotguns to RPG’s while also acquiring the ability to summon ravenous ravens, command lightning from their hands or even absorb enemy attacks and hurl them right back from where they came. 

It’s important to note that above all else Bioshock: Infinite’s priority is to tell it’s wonderful story, so don’t expect a really advanced shooting experience here, in fact the gun-play itself is the weakest section of the game. That’s not to say it’s not fun albeit a little too easy at times, but the story is just so gripping that by the end you’ll be able to see the argument that ideally the developer would have merely wanted to walk you through the story and omitted the gameplay altogether, however crazy that idea sounds now. 

Gone are the days of Big Daddies, Big Sisters and Little sisters, now a strange female protagonist called Elizabeth follows you throughout your adventure. Elizabeth is not only crucial to the story, but also to gameplay with her special ability to open tears in time and bring helpful goodies over from different dimensions like cover, extra ammo or new weapons. This is a terrific addition to gameplay as Elizabeth feels welcome and helpful at all times throughout your journey. 

The presentation:

Bioshock: Infinite is set on the flying city of Columbia in the early 1900’s where traditionalist American values are upheld. This is a game that demonstrates exceptional vision and the resulting city will have you ooh’ing and ahh’ing at the gorgeous architecture and sheer depth of detail. 

Bioshock: Infinite’s strongest suit is of course the story, which is not only absolutely incredible but it also finally explains the entire universe that encompasses the predecessor city of Rapture. In fact the story is so well written that it opens up Bioshock’s Universe to unlimited sequels but unfortunately I can’t go into anymore detail without revealing spoilers. 

Some of you may be frustrated that the terror and creepiness that was associated with the series and Rapture, is almost completely gone. Bioshock: Infinite has very few scares and almost none in comparison to Bioshock 1 & 2. In fact you might find it immediately strange that Columbia is entirely populated full of sane people going about their daily lives – something that’s not been seen in the series yet.

The verdict:

Bioshock: Infinite has enjoyable gameplay, especially when played on higher difficulty levels. It also holds one of the most interesting stories of this generation, really getting you to think and commanding players to replay the game to experience it again with the knowledge you attain at the end that is bound to explain many dialogues and references throughout your adventure. All this being said, is it better than the original Bioshock? After all this praise, I can’t seem to say those words. As special as this is, Rapture was simply out of this world. To conclude, if you enjoyed the original, there is plenty of fun to be found here. 

Gameplay – 7.5 out of 10

Presentation – 10 out of 10

Replay value – 8.5 out of 10

Verdict – 8.5 out of 10

Igor Kharin.

CeX opens Inverness, World's most Northerly CeX

Great news, the most Northerly CeX in the World has just opened!

Find CeX in Inverness at 53-57 High Street, IV1 1HT. We're open 7 days a week so why not pop down and see us. Better still sell us something for a fist full hard cash.

Some of the team that brought you CeX Inverness

Inverness CeX and some strange fellows outside

Why donate to Muscular Dystrophy Campaign when selling to CeX?

Muscular dystrophy is a condition that can affect anyone, irrespective of age, gender or race. It causes muscles weaken and waste away. Currently there is no known cure. Some children with muscular dystrophy die in infancy while others live into adulthood with only moderate disability.

In the last quarter of 2012 donations to Muscular Dystrophy totalled just under £3500.  You can help us grow this, by donating when selling to CeX. If you donate 100% of the value we’ll top it up by 10% and we pass on all donations to CeX Charities in full.

The Charity

The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign is the leading UK charity fighting muscle-wasting conditions. We are dedicated to beating muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions by finding treatments and cures and to improving the lives of everyone affected by them.

MDC's work has five main focuses:

- we fund world-class research to find effective treatments and cures

- we provide practical information, advice and emotional support for individuals with muscle-wasting conditions, their carers and families

- we campaign to bring about change and raise awareness of muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions

-  we award grants towards the cost of specialist equipment, such as powered wheelchairs

-  we provide specialist education and development for health professionals.

MDC rely almost entirely on voluntary donations fund their work.

Find you nearest CeX store or donate when selling to CeX online now.

Thank you for your support!

Google Nose

Google takes the next step and reinvents search. We're not talking about the much hyped Google Glasses. Try it now and give Google Nose a sniff!