David Gilson
David Gilson is the newest writer on the team, having joined All About Symbian in 2009. David’s reviews centre around productivity and gaming. His editorials usually take a consumerist point of view, and he shares his tips and tricks in how-to guides. On the rare occasion that Steve isn’t around, David steps in to fix all the typos. David maintains his own blog, and writes for various other tech sites. You can email him on david@davidgilson.co.uk, and follow him as @davidgilson on Twitter. He’s also on Google Plus and Facebook.
You can also contact David via the contact page.
Recent Content by David
Astrophotography with the Nokia N8 and Lumia 925
While the N8 is ancient in the smartphone world, it still has an impressive camera, with native 12MP output. So much so, that it's still the benchmark by which we at All About Towers judge all other cameras. Even though media attention on phone cameras looks at the Lumia 1020 or HTC One, the N8 still stands up favourably against these modern phones. With that in mind, I took my N8 out to look skywards, with the help of a telescope, and photographed The Moon. Read on to see how well it did and how it stacks up against modern phones like the iPhone 5 and Windows Phone-powered Lumia 925 too.
Review: Qi Wireless Charging Pad and Stand
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Nokia has been one of the front runners in bringing products using the standard of Qi wireless charging to the consumer market. However, it's by no means alone. In this review, we take a look at the M-Cloud wireless charging station. On first impressions, it looks like a charging plate, very much like the DT-900. However, it can be flipped open to act as a desktop stand, just like the DT-910. In our review of the latter, we found that it did not work well with non-Nokia devices, so read on to see how well a third party charger works with Nokian Tech.
How to install Portico on your Lumia 920, DIY style
These days we all take Over The Air (OTA) firmware updates for granted. However, there was a time when firmware updates had to be done manually. It's a useful skill to have, especially when just sometimes even contemporary devices can find themselves left out in the cold when it comes to manufacturers spreading the firmware love. The course of DIY updates never run did smooth though, so not only do we discuss how to apply an upgrade, but we look at how you should approach restoring your device to its former state.
Review: Fuse
If your smartphone has replaced the newspaper, you're probably looking for the best app to catch all information you can get. There are plenty of apps for Windows Phone for specific sources of news, such as BBC News Mobile and our own AAWP app, although there are not so many that collect news from numerous sources. Other platforms, for example, have Flipboard and Google Currents. Fuse is an app for Windows Phone that provides curated news feeds and presents them in an attractive, dare I say glossy, format for your reading pleasure.
Review: Nokia DT-910 Wireless Charging Stand
Following on from our review of Nokia's DT-900 wireless charging plate, we now turn our attention to the DT-910, which takes the charging plate design and turns it into a desk stand for your Qi enabled phone. Before you read either review, you should check out our discussion on how wireless charging and the Qi standard actually works. Read on to see whether a desk stand that wirelessly charges your phone is worth the hefty price tag.
David's Windows Phone 8 live tile arrangement and app list
Following on from Steve's and Ewan's live tile tour, it's my turn to show you how I have my Windows Phone 8 tiles set up. While Steve went for the most optimal set up, and Ewan went for a much more active set up, mine is now somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, you missed my very elaborate v1.0 set up, but now I'm on v2.0 with plenty of live tile activity, even though I've scaled things back as my needs have changed.
Review: Robotek
Robotek is an unlikely mix of cuteness, post-apocalyptic futures and fruit machine gameplay. See, told you it was unlikely. Not only that though, it throws in a dash of strategy too, forcing you to use your grey matter rather than just how well you can time stopping the spinning symbols to activate your various activities. Besides the fun factor of Robotek, it's also a title that shows signs of the future of the Windows Phone ecosystem, as this game was recently released on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, which, of course, is the promise of the common kernel between Microsoft's desktop and mobile operating systems.
Switching from iOS to Windows Phone 8
Windows Phone needs to tempt users away from other platforms if it is to survive in the long-term. While Android is now the biggest smartphone platform, iOS still has a massive user base, and remains a status symbol despite showing its age. Is Windows Phone 8 a viable alternative for iOS users? In 2012 I went from Windows Phone 7 to iOS6, to, by the end of the year, Windows Phone 8. Things went rather smoothly, here are my experiences.
Review: HDR Photo Camera
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is one of those specialist photography areas that 'captured' popular acclaim as software automated the process, making it accessible to hobbyists and casual users. A well-known mobile HDR app is HDR Photo Camera, which is available for the iPhone and Symbian (see our review on All About Symbian here). The company behind it (Intellsys) have now published a Windows Phone 8 version, which I now put through its paces.
Review: Veho 360 M4 Bluetooth Speaker
Smartphone speakers are a mixed bag, but most of us make the best of what we have. While more and more people seem to be audiophiles and are making their audio opinions known online, there comes a point where you might say a smartphone speaker isn't enough. The question is then which are the best external speakers? Nokia are keen to push NFC paired Bluetooth speakers which come with hefty price tags. Today's review looks at the more affordable Veho 360 M4 Bluetooth speaker.