Thursday, 29 December 2011
Google upgrades Earth
Google's bringing a number of changes to its Earth service courtesy of version 6.2, including Google+ integration and improvements to search. Most notable here, however, is a new method of rendering that stitches aerial photos together in a manner less patchy than before, making for "the most beautiful Google Earth yet," according to the company. The new version is available now for download -- more info in the source link below.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Verizon-bound ZTE V66
It wasn't long ago that we first crossed paths with the ZTE V66 tablet, though at the time we were unfortunate to only meet its dull black-and-white renders. Those of you unfamiliar with the tab won't have your jaws dropped by its innards, which are expected to be missing out on the Ice Cream Sandwich treatment. Aside from the OS letdown (still, it's not as bad as shipping with Gingerbread), the V66 is pretty standard fare for a modern tablet. It'll be running on Verizon's speedy LTE network, sporting a 7-inch (1,280 x 800) display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery will help keep it chugging along. We've yet to hear an official word from the Big Red about price and availability, so we'll let you know how deep into your wallet you'll have to dig as soon as we find out.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Sony reveals new 3G/WiFi PS Vita
Sony's PlayStation Vita hasn't exactly sold like hotcakes over in Japan, so the company has sweetened the pot for the portable's potential Stateside buyers. Those who placed pre-orders will get a couple of extra goodies for their $350. To go with the previously promised limited edition case, 4GB memory card and copy of Little Deviants, you'll also receive 250MB of data from AT&T and a PlayStation Network game gratis as soon as you activate 3G on the device. Furthermore, folks buying a Vita on launch day can look forward to the same free data and PSN game, plus an 8GB memory card in exchange for their $300. So, that enough to get you on the handheld's bandwagon? Sound off in the comments below.
Sunday, 25 December 2011
BookPlace DB50 sports a TFT-LCD screen
If you're gonna be late to a party, you should at least be fashionably late. That's the mindset behind Toshiba's entry into the dedicated e-reader space with its new 7-inch BookPlace DB50. Toshiba hopes adding an e-reader alongside its existing AT200 and Thrive tablets will push more eyeballs towards the 100,000 or so titles in its BookPlace online bookstore. The ¥22,000 ($284) BookPlace DB50 sports a TFT-LCD screen with an LED backlight, a 1GHz Freescale i.MX535 processor, 8GB of internal flash memory and a microSD slot. The device also measures 120mm wide, 190mm tall, 11mm thick and weighs 330 grams (11.6 ounces), with battery life rated at up to 7.5 hours. Toshiba did not mention the operating system in its release though the hubbub in the Interwebs is that it will use customized versions of Linux and Android Gingerbread. The Japanese debut is pegged for February 10th and the company is apparently considering a release outside the country, too.
Friday, 23 December 2011
Google Chrome review
Pros
Super-fast browsing performance, now with hardware acceleration. Excellent security through sandboxing and malware warnings. Instant site prediction and loading. Easy installation. Excellent tab implementation. Extensions for customization. Bookmark and preference syncing. Tab process isolation. Strong support for HTML 5. Built-in Flash player and PDF reader.
Cons
No built-in "do not track" feature. Still some occasional minor site incompatibilities.
Bottom Line
Chrome Instant means your Web page is ready to read before you finish typing the address. This, its speed, minimalist design, and advanced support for HTML5 have been attracting more and more users to the browser. New for version 14: Native Code, Audio API support, and Mac OS X Lion compatibility.
As it increases in popularity, Google Chrome is becoming more and more a conduit for Google services. With this release, Chrome 15, the Internet search leader has changed just one user-facing feature—the new tab page, which has been tweaked to give more prominence to the Chrome Web app store. Though this isn't a huge improvement, Chrome remains your best Web browser, thanks to blazing speed, and ground-breaking features. It boasts unique features like Chrome Instant, built-in Flash and PDF display, leading Web standards support, and a minimalist application window that lets Web pages shine unimpeded.
Despite the lack of exciting new eye candy or super-duper capabilities in Chrome 15, the competition–Firefox 7 (Free, 4 stars), Internet Explorer (Free, 4 stars), Safari 5.1 (Free, 4 stars), and Opera 11.50 (Free, 4 stars)–still struggles to equal Chrome's sparse user interface and speedy operation. For this, Google Chrome remains our Editors' Choice. Its recent expansion of graphics hardware acceleration, which previously trailed that in Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox, renders Chrome's performance unrivaled on all scores.
Previous releases have brought major new features, such as bookmark syncing, a bookmark manager, a built-in PDF reader, and extensions, though others have just added speed, stability, and new standards support. The remarkable Chrome Instant loads pages before you even finish typing their addresses or titles. And in an homage to IE9, Chrome now includes graphics hardware acceleration. Its fine design, compatibility, and especially the speed have impressed the Web community enough to make Chrome the fastest growing browser in terms of market share. On this measure, it's nearing 25 percent, and poised to overtake Firefox as the number two browser. Let's take a look at what makes this browser so special.
Swift Setup
Even the setup process shows Chrome's commitment to speed: Just click the Install button on the Chrome Web page, and you'll have the browser up and running in less than a minute, with no wizard to go through and no system restart. The browser's available for Mac OS X and Linux, as well as Windows. In each platform the browser's up and running before you realize it, and it updates itself automatically in the background.
Super-fast browsing performance, now with hardware acceleration. Excellent security through sandboxing and malware warnings. Instant site prediction and loading. Easy installation. Excellent tab implementation. Extensions for customization. Bookmark and preference syncing. Tab process isolation. Strong support for HTML 5. Built-in Flash player and PDF reader.
Cons
No built-in "do not track" feature. Still some occasional minor site incompatibilities.
Bottom Line
Chrome Instant means your Web page is ready to read before you finish typing the address. This, its speed, minimalist design, and advanced support for HTML5 have been attracting more and more users to the browser. New for version 14: Native Code, Audio API support, and Mac OS X Lion compatibility.
As it increases in popularity, Google Chrome is becoming more and more a conduit for Google services. With this release, Chrome 15, the Internet search leader has changed just one user-facing feature—the new tab page, which has been tweaked to give more prominence to the Chrome Web app store. Though this isn't a huge improvement, Chrome remains your best Web browser, thanks to blazing speed, and ground-breaking features. It boasts unique features like Chrome Instant, built-in Flash and PDF display, leading Web standards support, and a minimalist application window that lets Web pages shine unimpeded.
Despite the lack of exciting new eye candy or super-duper capabilities in Chrome 15, the competition–Firefox 7 (Free, 4 stars), Internet Explorer (Free, 4 stars), Safari 5.1 (Free, 4 stars), and Opera 11.50 (Free, 4 stars)–still struggles to equal Chrome's sparse user interface and speedy operation. For this, Google Chrome remains our Editors' Choice. Its recent expansion of graphics hardware acceleration, which previously trailed that in Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox, renders Chrome's performance unrivaled on all scores.
Previous releases have brought major new features, such as bookmark syncing, a bookmark manager, a built-in PDF reader, and extensions, though others have just added speed, stability, and new standards support. The remarkable Chrome Instant loads pages before you even finish typing their addresses or titles. And in an homage to IE9, Chrome now includes graphics hardware acceleration. Its fine design, compatibility, and especially the speed have impressed the Web community enough to make Chrome the fastest growing browser in terms of market share. On this measure, it's nearing 25 percent, and poised to overtake Firefox as the number two browser. Let's take a look at what makes this browser so special.
Swift Setup
Even the setup process shows Chrome's commitment to speed: Just click the Install button on the Chrome Web page, and you'll have the browser up and running in less than a minute, with no wizard to go through and no system restart. The browser's available for Mac OS X and Linux, as well as Windows. In each platform the browser's up and running before you realize it, and it updates itself automatically in the background.
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet
hough tablets are growing more and more popular among mainstream consumers, they have yet to prove themselves as viable replacements for laptops when it comes to productivity. With the 10.1-inch ThinkPad Tablet ($499,16GB; $569, 32GB; $669, 64GB; direct), Lenovo puts forth a tablet aimed at business users, but it lacks reliability and performance that has made the company's ThinkPad line so successful in the corporate world. The most intriguing aspect of the ThinkPad Tablet is not the tablet itself, but its stylus and keyboard folio accessories, which cost an additional $140. There's some good design and functionality here including a full-size USB port, and an option to add 3G connectivity, but frustrating app crashes and some unresponsiveness hold this Lenovo tablet back.
Design and Accessories
Those fond of the classic yet staid ThinkPad aesthetic will appreciate this tablet, but much like its laptop counterparts, it lacks the slickness and wow factor of many of its competitors. And at 10.3 by 7.2 by .6 inches (HWD) and 1.6 pounds, the ThinkPad Tablet is chunky. The iPad 2 ($499, 4.5 stars) is nearly half as thick and shaves off 0.3 pound. The rear panel is covered in rubberized black plastic, typical of the ThinkPad moniker, making the tablet easy to grip. There are physical Orientation Lock, Browser, Back, and Home below the screen; as well as a plastic volume rocker and Power button along the top right corner. I found the physical buttons a bit redundant given the on screen navigation buttons, but they were also less susceptible to accidental presses than capacitive buttons included on other tablets. Below the physical navigation buttons, there's a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, a mini HDMI port, a micro USB port, and a proprietary dock connector. Next to those ports, hidden behind a plastic flap, is slot for a SIM card, as well as a 3-in-1 media card reader. The card reader can be used to expand the storage on the tablet using SD, SDHC, or MMC.
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Lenovo also included a full sized USB port, which can directly access external hard drives. This is a nice feature that we've only seen in the Toshiba Thrive ($429, 3.5 stars), but it also adds to the tablet's heft. The bezel also houses a 2-megapixel front-facing camera on the top right corner, with a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera on the top left corner of the back.
For connectivity, you get 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, and there's that aforementioned SIM slot to add cellular connectivity. Lenovo says the tablet will work with AT&T and Sprint's 3G networks here in the U.S., and also supports global GSM roaming.
The 10.1-inch, 1280-by-800-pixel IPS display is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass, which is also used in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 ($499, 3.5 stars). Though both screens share the same glossy sheen, I found the Galaxy Tab's display brighter and colors were more vibrant. Viewing angles were comparable on both. The big problem with the ThinkPad Tablet's screen; it was occasionally unresponsive. I found myself tapping multiple times before input would register, and swiping through home screens and the lock screen was often delayed. This wasn't a huge deal, but it was frustrating to have to repeat gestures so often.
Lenovo offers two marquee accessories that really take the ThinkPad Tablet to the next level in terms of productivity. The first is the keyboard folio case, which connects via the full-sized USB port and can prop the tablet up for a laptop-like experience. The second is a ThinkPad branded stylus pen, which fits nicely into the top of the tablet. The keyboard folio case costs an additional $99.99 and the stylus adds another $39.99, but honestly, you want to use both of them to get the most out of your ThinkPad Tablet.
The optional keyboard appears small, but, like most ThinkPad keyboards, it's a pleasure to type on. There is some delay between typing and text appearing on screen, but it is still far better than the on-screen keyboard experience. I initially thought the keyboard also included a traditional ThinkPad TrackPoint nub, but was disappointed to find it is actually an optical trackpoint. It is more of a tiny touch pad that you wipe your finger across, rather than a nub you push in any direction to move the cursor. The folio case converts the tablet to a near-laptop form factor, but it is much more comfortable on a hard, flat surface; I had less luck using the Thinkpad in my lap. It also folds flat and serves as a carrying case, but full 1.25-inch-thick package is bulkier than many netbooks. The pen input works well, though there is a slight delay while writing. The handwriting recognition is accurate, especially considering my questionable penmanship. My one gripe is that pen-optimized apps, like the included Notes Mobile, recognizes touches from your hand while it moves across the screen, causing stray strokes. Pen input was generally responsive, though I did find tapping on icons often required multiple tries to register. Aside from Notes Mobile, there are a few available pen optimized apps, like SketchBook, that are useful for drawing quick sketches or diagrams.
Design and Accessories
Those fond of the classic yet staid ThinkPad aesthetic will appreciate this tablet, but much like its laptop counterparts, it lacks the slickness and wow factor of many of its competitors. And at 10.3 by 7.2 by .6 inches (HWD) and 1.6 pounds, the ThinkPad Tablet is chunky. The iPad 2 ($499, 4.5 stars) is nearly half as thick and shaves off 0.3 pound. The rear panel is covered in rubberized black plastic, typical of the ThinkPad moniker, making the tablet easy to grip. There are physical Orientation Lock, Browser, Back, and Home below the screen; as well as a plastic volume rocker and Power button along the top right corner. I found the physical buttons a bit redundant given the on screen navigation buttons, but they were also less susceptible to accidental presses than capacitive buttons included on other tablets. Below the physical navigation buttons, there's a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, a mini HDMI port, a micro USB port, and a proprietary dock connector. Next to those ports, hidden behind a plastic flap, is slot for a SIM card, as well as a 3-in-1 media card reader. The card reader can be used to expand the storage on the tablet using SD, SDHC, or MMC.
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Lenovo also included a full sized USB port, which can directly access external hard drives. This is a nice feature that we've only seen in the Toshiba Thrive ($429, 3.5 stars), but it also adds to the tablet's heft. The bezel also houses a 2-megapixel front-facing camera on the top right corner, with a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera on the top left corner of the back.
For connectivity, you get 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, and there's that aforementioned SIM slot to add cellular connectivity. Lenovo says the tablet will work with AT&T and Sprint's 3G networks here in the U.S., and also supports global GSM roaming.
The 10.1-inch, 1280-by-800-pixel IPS display is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass, which is also used in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 ($499, 3.5 stars). Though both screens share the same glossy sheen, I found the Galaxy Tab's display brighter and colors were more vibrant. Viewing angles were comparable on both. The big problem with the ThinkPad Tablet's screen; it was occasionally unresponsive. I found myself tapping multiple times before input would register, and swiping through home screens and the lock screen was often delayed. This wasn't a huge deal, but it was frustrating to have to repeat gestures so often.
Lenovo offers two marquee accessories that really take the ThinkPad Tablet to the next level in terms of productivity. The first is the keyboard folio case, which connects via the full-sized USB port and can prop the tablet up for a laptop-like experience. The second is a ThinkPad branded stylus pen, which fits nicely into the top of the tablet. The keyboard folio case costs an additional $99.99 and the stylus adds another $39.99, but honestly, you want to use both of them to get the most out of your ThinkPad Tablet.
The optional keyboard appears small, but, like most ThinkPad keyboards, it's a pleasure to type on. There is some delay between typing and text appearing on screen, but it is still far better than the on-screen keyboard experience. I initially thought the keyboard also included a traditional ThinkPad TrackPoint nub, but was disappointed to find it is actually an optical trackpoint. It is more of a tiny touch pad that you wipe your finger across, rather than a nub you push in any direction to move the cursor. The folio case converts the tablet to a near-laptop form factor, but it is much more comfortable on a hard, flat surface; I had less luck using the Thinkpad in my lap. It also folds flat and serves as a carrying case, but full 1.25-inch-thick package is bulkier than many netbooks. The pen input works well, though there is a slight delay while writing. The handwriting recognition is accurate, especially considering my questionable penmanship. My one gripe is that pen-optimized apps, like the included Notes Mobile, recognizes touches from your hand while it moves across the screen, causing stray strokes. Pen input was generally responsive, though I did find tapping on icons often required multiple tries to register. Aside from Notes Mobile, there are a few available pen optimized apps, like SketchBook, that are useful for drawing quick sketches or diagrams.
iPad 2 Tips, Tricks
While some might argue that it can almost replace a full-fledged computer, the iPad was designed to be simple. Even if you have very little tech savvy, you can probably pick up Apple's latest tablet and master most of the basic features in a matter of minutes. And the longer you spend swiping your way around the touch-based iOS operating system, the more you'll learn. Like it is with any OS, though, there are just some things that aren't obvious. You could (gasp!) pore through the 22-chapter iPad 2 User Guide (it's got three appendices too), to make sure you're not missing out on anything, but where's the fun in that?After a couple of months of testing and using the iPad 2, we've learned some cool tricks and we want to share them with you. In the slideshow, you'll find general tips that apply to multiple applications, along with those specific to Safari, Maps, iPod, and Photos. Whether you're a seasoned Mac or iOS user, or even an Apple newbie, there's something here to help you get the most out of your iPad 2. (Actually, come to think of it, a lot of these tips also apply to the original iPad.) Have a tip, trick, or shortcut of your own to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Internet Explorer 9
nternet Explorer 9 uses the full power of your PC, through Windows 7, to help create a faster, richer experience on the web.
Performance
With Internet Explorer 9 and Windows 7 together, your websites perform like the programs that are installed on your PC. High-definition videos are smooth, graphics are clear, colors are true, and websites load faster and are interactive and responsive like never before.
Pinned Sites
By pinning a site, you're able to get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar without having to open Internet Explorer first. Pinning a site takes seconds: click the tab for the website, and then drag it to the taskbar. That's it! Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate from Internet Explorer.
Each site you pin to the taskbar has a Jump List. What you see in each one depends on the website, but all of them include InPrivate Browsing, opening the site, unpinning the site, and closing the window. Some also have thumbnail preview controls, like playing or pausing a video, which you'll see beneath the thumbnail preview. And some pinned sites have icon overlays, giving you information about the status of the website, such as the number of new messages in your inbox.
Performance
With Internet Explorer 9 and Windows 7 together, your websites perform like the programs that are installed on your PC. High-definition videos are smooth, graphics are clear, colors are true, and websites load faster and are interactive and responsive like never before.
Pinned Sites
By pinning a site, you're able to get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar without having to open Internet Explorer first. Pinning a site takes seconds: click the tab for the website, and then drag it to the taskbar. That's it! Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate from Internet Explorer.
Each site you pin to the taskbar has a Jump List. What you see in each one depends on the website, but all of them include InPrivate Browsing, opening the site, unpinning the site, and closing the window. Some also have thumbnail preview controls, like playing or pausing a video, which you'll see beneath the thumbnail preview. And some pinned sites have icon overlays, giving you information about the status of the website, such as the number of new messages in your inbox.
Kindle Fire stops blocking Android Market
Some of you may have noticed, when perusing the interwebs on your Kindle Fire, that a certain Google-branded Market refused to load in the slate's Silk browser. In fact, it automatically redirected you to the Amazon App store in an unsettling bit of URL hijacking. Well, with the latest update to the tablet, that slightly befuddling restriction has been lifted and the questionable behavior rectified. Presumably this was originally intended to save customers confusion and support staff headaches when trying to install an app from the Android Market failed. But, actually intercepting and redirecting a user isn't becoming of a company that expects us to trust it with our data -- especially our browsing and financial info. Thankfully now, you can visit the Market in all its glory on your Fire
Google Voice for iOS
it's about a month and a half behind its Android counterpart (and what feels like decades behind the web interface), but the iOS Google Voice app finally (finally!) has support for multi-recipient texting. Version 1.4.0.2372 adds few other nice tweaks, including one touch copy and paste on the dialpad and a larger text entry field with a character count but, obviously, the mass texting capabilities here steal the show. So hit up the App Store to update now and start spamming all your friends.
Firefox 9 for Android
It's been a busy week over at Mozilla. Between releasing a new version of its desktop browser and then re-upping its search agreement with Google, we almost didn't notice a new version of Firefox for Android. Version 9 of the mobile browser marks the first time a tablet interface makes the jump from beta to the release channel, a scant four months after first seeing it in mockup form. For those unaware, that means a layout with tab previews when in landscape, which swap to a more traditional setup when rotated into portrait. Rounding out the update is a new action bar, quick access buttons and a faster start-up time, amongst other things.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FNcgXMW3_0M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FNcgXMW3_0M
Dell delivers Gingerbread ROM
Although we wouldn't go as far as saying the Streak 5 is coming out of its grave, we can tell you that Dell is making an effort to help it regain consciousness -- which is great news for those of you who own the device. Don't mind that ICS is here, or that it's been 12 months since we first met Android 2.3, what's important is that the smartphone / tablet is ready to get its first (official) taste of some Gingerbread goodness. Needless to say, we know you're thrilled to make the OS transition, but before you do so, hit up the source link for all the nitty-gritty from the XDA folks to help guide you in your quest.
BBC moves towards HTML5 , Flash still be friends
Even the British occasionally have to change with the times. Following a study stating that 80 percent of all web video is now compatible with HTML5, the BBC has formally adopted the standard for videos on the desktop and mobile versions of its website. The full roll-out across BBC.com follows a pilot program in which the broadcaster tested HTML5 on the the Health section of the site. According to Electronista, the BBC has been working with HTML5 delivery systems throughout 2011 to build its iPlayer apps for the iOS. In other news, the BBC has just texted Flash and said it's totally open to staying friends and meeting up for coffee sometime.
Fusion A-Series APUs
Just in time for the holidays AMD is fleshing out its lineup of Fusion A-Series APUs. The chips, which only got official in June, already saw their laptop-loving Llanos get a minor spec bump. Now their desktop brethren are catching up. The two stars, though, are clearly the A6-3670K and A8-3870K, which feature unlocked CPU and GPU clocks for the avid overclockers out there. Both are 100W quad-core parts with 600MHz Radeon graphics cores, but the A8 runs its CPU at 3GHz while the A6 starts at a more modest 2.7GHz. The 3870K also has the edge in GPU cores -- packing a grand total of 400 to the 3670K's 320. Head on after the break for the complete PR and all the nitty gritty details of the latest AMD APUs.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Buy tablet experience
First Off: Do You Even Need a Tablet?
Simply put, tablets aren't really filling any true need right now—they are neither replacements for full-fledged computers nor smartphones. A tablet is a touch-screen media device that is actually most similar to a very advanced portable media player—or an MP3 player with a much larger screen. Yes, many of them have mobile service features, but currently none of them make phone calls via a traditional mobile provider. And while you can tackle productivity tasks on a tablet, you won't get a desktop-grade operating system, like you'll find on a PC. Tablets are basically lightweight versions of laptops in every sense—they weigh less, and they're lighter on features. Plus, since we're talking about slate tablets here, you won't get a hardware keyboard. So if you're planning on doing any heavy-duty text input, you'll want to pick up a Bluetooth add-on keyboard. Still, the advantage tablets offer over laptops is an easy, portable way to check email, browse the Web, video chat, consume media, and play games, but with a much bigger screen with more real estate than your smartphone can provide. The bottom line is, you probably don't need one, but if you want a tablet, read on.
Pick an Operating System
Apple's iOS is the mobile platform used by the iPad, as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. On the iPad, iOS works very similarly to the way it does on the iPhone, with certain tweaks made here and there to take advantage of the tablet's larger 9.7-inch screen. The built-in iPod app on the iPad, for instance, has an extra side menu for additional navigation options that wouldn't fit on the iPhone's screen. Generally speaking, the great strength of Apple's iOS is twofold: it's incredibly intuitive, and the wide selection of iPad apps—more than 90,000 tablet-specific titles at the time of this writing—work uniformly well with very few exceptions.
Google's mobile OS, Android, is a more complicated story. Besides having your choice of hardware from several manufacturers, there are a few iterations of Android floating around right now, but only one—Android 3.0, Honeycomb—is designed specifically for tablets. This year, we've seen plenty of Honeycomb tablets, but some manufacturers are still making tablets with previous versions of Android that are meant for phones with much smaller screens, which doesn't provide the best tablet experience. Also, some Android tablets don't include access to the Android Market on the device, which means you have to sideload apps, which is less than ideal.
Google's forthcoming Android revision, Ice Cream Sandwich, promises to merge Gingerbread (the phone OS) with Honeycomb (the tablet OS), for a single operating system for all Android devices. Ice Cream Sandwich is expected soon (this October or November), but if you're buying an Android tablet today, you want a Honeycomb tablet with the Android Market preloaded. The good news is that we're hearing from various tablet manufacturers that Honeycomb tablets will be upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich when the OS is released.
Android 3.0 has its benefits, including configurability, an excellent notification system, Adobe Flash support, and seamless integration with Google applications like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Talk for video chat. For more, check out our Honeycomb review.
Lastly, there's RIM's QNX operating system, which runs on the company's BlackBerry PlayBook. Despite having a top-notch user interface with some promising features, like tight integration with BlackBerry smartphones, the PlayBook was released before it was ready, and five months later is still missing major features, like native email support. Until RIM gets its act together on the PlayBook, we can't recommend the tablet or the OS.
Ultimately, the operating system you choose will largely depend on your comfortability and personal preference. If you're unsure, get some hands-on time with a few tablets before you commit to one.
What About Apps?
Android lacks a strong selection of apps. It's tough to say exactly how many tablet-optimized Android apps are available, but it's in the low hundreds, and there are even fewer BlackBerry PlayBook apps than that. If you want lots of apps for your tablet, right now, nothing out there beats the iPad with its 90,000+ apps designed specifically for the tablet. Apple's App Store is well-curated and offers a deep selection—no competitor can come close to claiming this right now, partially because apps made for Android tablets have to work across multiple screen sizes, while iPad apps are designed for a single tablet. It sounds simple, but the variation in size (and manufacturers) complicates things greatly. Eventually, one hopes, the other app stores will catch up to Apple, but if a wide range of compelling apps is your main priority, Apple is currently your best bet.
Screen Size and Storage
This consideration is a bit obvious, but size—both screen real estate and storage capacity—is important to consider. First things first: When you hear the term "10-inch tablet," this typically refers to the size of the screen, measured diagonally, and not the size of the tablet itself. Apple continues to offer the iPad in one size only (9.7-inch screen) and the BlackBerry PlayBook comes in a single 7-inch screen size, which RIM argues gives it the advantage of pocketability. Samsung, for one, wants you to have a choice, so it offers its Android Galaxy Tab tablets in multiple screen sizes (7, 8.9, and 10.1 inches).
The weight of a tablet is one definite advantage it has over a laptop—but let's be clear, at around 1.3 pounds (in the case of the iPad 2) it's not cell-phone light—even a 7-inch model. After you hold one on the subway for ten minutes, your hand will get tired. Setting it flat in your lap, rather than propped up on a stand, can also be a little awkward. And, again, a 10-inch tablet doesn't fit in many pockets.
As for storage, the more the better—all those apps, when combined with a typical music, video, and photo library, can take up a lot of space. Right now storage tops out at 64GB of flash-based memory, with many of the quality tablets we've seen available in 16, 32, and 64GB varieties. Larger capacity models can get as expensive as full-featured laptops, especially when you factor in cellular service plans. (The top-end 64GB iPad with Verizon or AT&T wireless service will run you $830 plus a monthly fee.)
Wi-Fi-Only vs. Cellular Models
Many tablets come in a Wi-Fi-only model or with the option of always-on cellular service from a wireless provider. If you want to use your tablet to get online anywhere, you should opt for a model with a cell radio like the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the AT&T Acer Iconia Tab A501. Of course, this adds to the device's price, and then you need to pay for cellular service. Generally, though, you can purchase data on a month-to-month basis, without signing a contract, and charges typically don't exceed $30 monthly, as long as you stay within data-usage limits.
Another way to get your tablet online: Use your 3G or 4G phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for your tablet—this won't work with every phone/tablet combo, so you should check with the carriers before you buy in.
Finally, before you buy, head to your local electronics store to get hands-on time with some different tablets, so you can see which feels and works the best for you. And for the latest lab-tested tablet reviews, hit our Tablet Product Guide.
Simply put, tablets aren't really filling any true need right now—they are neither replacements for full-fledged computers nor smartphones. A tablet is a touch-screen media device that is actually most similar to a very advanced portable media player—or an MP3 player with a much larger screen. Yes, many of them have mobile service features, but currently none of them make phone calls via a traditional mobile provider. And while you can tackle productivity tasks on a tablet, you won't get a desktop-grade operating system, like you'll find on a PC. Tablets are basically lightweight versions of laptops in every sense—they weigh less, and they're lighter on features. Plus, since we're talking about slate tablets here, you won't get a hardware keyboard. So if you're planning on doing any heavy-duty text input, you'll want to pick up a Bluetooth add-on keyboard. Still, the advantage tablets offer over laptops is an easy, portable way to check email, browse the Web, video chat, consume media, and play games, but with a much bigger screen with more real estate than your smartphone can provide. The bottom line is, you probably don't need one, but if you want a tablet, read on.
Pick an Operating System
Apple's iOS is the mobile platform used by the iPad, as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. On the iPad, iOS works very similarly to the way it does on the iPhone, with certain tweaks made here and there to take advantage of the tablet's larger 9.7-inch screen. The built-in iPod app on the iPad, for instance, has an extra side menu for additional navigation options that wouldn't fit on the iPhone's screen. Generally speaking, the great strength of Apple's iOS is twofold: it's incredibly intuitive, and the wide selection of iPad apps—more than 90,000 tablet-specific titles at the time of this writing—work uniformly well with very few exceptions.
Google's mobile OS, Android, is a more complicated story. Besides having your choice of hardware from several manufacturers, there are a few iterations of Android floating around right now, but only one—Android 3.0, Honeycomb—is designed specifically for tablets. This year, we've seen plenty of Honeycomb tablets, but some manufacturers are still making tablets with previous versions of Android that are meant for phones with much smaller screens, which doesn't provide the best tablet experience. Also, some Android tablets don't include access to the Android Market on the device, which means you have to sideload apps, which is less than ideal.
Google's forthcoming Android revision, Ice Cream Sandwich, promises to merge Gingerbread (the phone OS) with Honeycomb (the tablet OS), for a single operating system for all Android devices. Ice Cream Sandwich is expected soon (this October or November), but if you're buying an Android tablet today, you want a Honeycomb tablet with the Android Market preloaded. The good news is that we're hearing from various tablet manufacturers that Honeycomb tablets will be upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich when the OS is released.
Android 3.0 has its benefits, including configurability, an excellent notification system, Adobe Flash support, and seamless integration with Google applications like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Talk for video chat. For more, check out our Honeycomb review.
Lastly, there's RIM's QNX operating system, which runs on the company's BlackBerry PlayBook. Despite having a top-notch user interface with some promising features, like tight integration with BlackBerry smartphones, the PlayBook was released before it was ready, and five months later is still missing major features, like native email support. Until RIM gets its act together on the PlayBook, we can't recommend the tablet or the OS.
Ultimately, the operating system you choose will largely depend on your comfortability and personal preference. If you're unsure, get some hands-on time with a few tablets before you commit to one.
What About Apps?
Android lacks a strong selection of apps. It's tough to say exactly how many tablet-optimized Android apps are available, but it's in the low hundreds, and there are even fewer BlackBerry PlayBook apps than that. If you want lots of apps for your tablet, right now, nothing out there beats the iPad with its 90,000+ apps designed specifically for the tablet. Apple's App Store is well-curated and offers a deep selection—no competitor can come close to claiming this right now, partially because apps made for Android tablets have to work across multiple screen sizes, while iPad apps are designed for a single tablet. It sounds simple, but the variation in size (and manufacturers) complicates things greatly. Eventually, one hopes, the other app stores will catch up to Apple, but if a wide range of compelling apps is your main priority, Apple is currently your best bet.
Screen Size and Storage
This consideration is a bit obvious, but size—both screen real estate and storage capacity—is important to consider. First things first: When you hear the term "10-inch tablet," this typically refers to the size of the screen, measured diagonally, and not the size of the tablet itself. Apple continues to offer the iPad in one size only (9.7-inch screen) and the BlackBerry PlayBook comes in a single 7-inch screen size, which RIM argues gives it the advantage of pocketability. Samsung, for one, wants you to have a choice, so it offers its Android Galaxy Tab tablets in multiple screen sizes (7, 8.9, and 10.1 inches).
The weight of a tablet is one definite advantage it has over a laptop—but let's be clear, at around 1.3 pounds (in the case of the iPad 2) it's not cell-phone light—even a 7-inch model. After you hold one on the subway for ten minutes, your hand will get tired. Setting it flat in your lap, rather than propped up on a stand, can also be a little awkward. And, again, a 10-inch tablet doesn't fit in many pockets.
As for storage, the more the better—all those apps, when combined with a typical music, video, and photo library, can take up a lot of space. Right now storage tops out at 64GB of flash-based memory, with many of the quality tablets we've seen available in 16, 32, and 64GB varieties. Larger capacity models can get as expensive as full-featured laptops, especially when you factor in cellular service plans. (The top-end 64GB iPad with Verizon or AT&T wireless service will run you $830 plus a monthly fee.)
Wi-Fi-Only vs. Cellular Models
Many tablets come in a Wi-Fi-only model or with the option of always-on cellular service from a wireless provider. If you want to use your tablet to get online anywhere, you should opt for a model with a cell radio like the Verizon Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the AT&T Acer Iconia Tab A501. Of course, this adds to the device's price, and then you need to pay for cellular service. Generally, though, you can purchase data on a month-to-month basis, without signing a contract, and charges typically don't exceed $30 monthly, as long as you stay within data-usage limits.
Another way to get your tablet online: Use your 3G or 4G phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for your tablet—this won't work with every phone/tablet combo, so you should check with the carriers before you buy in.
Finally, before you buy, head to your local electronics store to get hands-on time with some different tablets, so you can see which feels and works the best for you. And for the latest lab-tested tablet reviews, hit our Tablet Product Guide.
Monday, 19 December 2011
The 10 Best Android Tablets
When it comes to tablets, it's been an interesting year for Android. Since Google released its tablet-specific operating system, Honeycomb, we’ve seen a steady flow of high-quality Android tablets. (Pre-Honeycomb Android tablets were another story.) This is a good thing, since they provide viable alternatives to the Apple iPad, which has dominated the tablet market since its first release in early 2010. One of the major benefits of Android over the iPad, the dearly departed HP TouchPad, or the dead-on-arrival BlackBerry PlayBook, is that instead of a single hardware choice, you can access the OS on a number of different tablets.
Overall, the Android tablet experience is a very good one. But not all is perfect, even in the land of Honeycomb. The biggest problem with the platform continues to be the lack of third-party apps. We're coming up on a year after the OS release, and tablet-specific Android apps are still in the low hundreds, while apps designed specifically for the iPad continue to climb into the hundreds of thousands. Given its Google roots, though, Android is the most configurable tablet operating system you’ll find. It's a master multitasker with an excellent notification system, and top-notch integration with Google services like Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Maps. Plus, you get Flash video support.
Turns out that the most compelling Android tablet we've seen so far doesn't even run Honeycomb. Amazon's Kindle Fire uses a modified version of Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, which is meant for phones. It's not perfect, but the smaller 7-inch screen, and Amazon's OS tweaks, along with its own high-quality content ecosystem and on-board Appstore make for one of the best tablet entertainment experiences you can find. And its $200 price, in a market where most tablets cost around twice as much, means Amazon has a real chance to steal some market share from Apple. If the Kindle Fire doesn't do it for you, though, check out the slideshow for a look at our other top-rated Android tablets or compare these tablets side by side.
Overall, the Android tablet experience is a very good one. But not all is perfect, even in the land of Honeycomb. The biggest problem with the platform continues to be the lack of third-party apps. We're coming up on a year after the OS release, and tablet-specific Android apps are still in the low hundreds, while apps designed specifically for the iPad continue to climb into the hundreds of thousands. Given its Google roots, though, Android is the most configurable tablet operating system you’ll find. It's a master multitasker with an excellent notification system, and top-notch integration with Google services like Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Maps. Plus, you get Flash video support.
Turns out that the most compelling Android tablet we've seen so far doesn't even run Honeycomb. Amazon's Kindle Fire uses a modified version of Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, which is meant for phones. It's not perfect, but the smaller 7-inch screen, and Amazon's OS tweaks, along with its own high-quality content ecosystem and on-board Appstore make for one of the best tablet entertainment experiences you can find. And its $200 price, in a market where most tablets cost around twice as much, means Amazon has a real chance to steal some market share from Apple. If the Kindle Fire doesn't do it for you, though, check out the slideshow for a look at our other top-rated Android tablets or compare these tablets side by side.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Dual-core A5 chip
The most powerful iPhone ever.
Two cores in the A5 chip deliver up to two times more power and up to seven times faster graphics.2 And you’ll feel the effects. Fast. iPhone 4S is quick and responsive, which makes all the difference when you’re launching apps, browsing the web, gaming, and doing just about everything. And no matter what you’re doing, you can keep on doing it. Because the A5 chip is so power-efficient, iPhone 4S has outstanding battery life.
This just might be the best camera ever on a phone. And with all-new optics, it just might be the only camera you need. Because behind every shot, you’ve got 8-megapixel resolution and a custom lens with a larger f/2.4 aperture. Not to mention an improved backside illumination sensor, excellent auto white balance, advanced color accuracy, face detection, and reduced motion blur. It all means that no matter how many people, how much light, and how much action you capture, everything looks exactly as it should. And just wait until you see the photos.
Two cores in the A5 chip deliver up to two times more power and up to seven times faster graphics.2 And you’ll feel the effects. Fast. iPhone 4S is quick and responsive, which makes all the difference when you’re launching apps, browsing the web, gaming, and doing just about everything. And no matter what you’re doing, you can keep on doing it. Because the A5 chip is so power-efficient, iPhone 4S has outstanding battery life.
This just might be the best camera ever on a phone. And with all-new optics, it just might be the only camera you need. Because behind every shot, you’ve got 8-megapixel resolution and a custom lens with a larger f/2.4 aperture. Not to mention an improved backside illumination sensor, excellent auto white balance, advanced color accuracy, face detection, and reduced motion blur. It all means that no matter how many people, how much light, and how much action you capture, everything looks exactly as it should. And just wait until you see the photos.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
BlackBerry smartphones
It may not exactly be the good news RIM fans have been hoping for, but those committed to the company's products do now at least have two more big-name apps at their disposal. First up is Spotify, which is now out of beta and available for GSM-based BlackBerry smartphones including the Bold 9780, Bold 9700, Curve 9300, Bold 9000, and Curve 8520. The app itself is free but, as with the company's other mobile apps, you'll need a $10/month Spotify Premium subscription to take advantage of mobile streaming. While there's no word on it hitting the PlayBook any time soon. BlackBerry smartphones
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Apple iPod touch (2011) Review
Design
There's a new white model, which is white on the front face and mirrored on the back, but the touch retains its 2010 dimensions: 4.4 by 2.3 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and 3.6 ounces. Apple's custom A4 chip powers the device, and the super-sharp Retina display remains 3.5 diagonal inches and 960-by-640 pixels (at 326 pixels per inch). The touch's left-hand panel houses two Volume buttons. A headphone jack, a speaker, and a 30-pin connector for USB computer syncing are on the bottom of the player. The Power button sits up top, and the Home button remains below the display on the front panel. There are two camera lenses—one toward the top of the display, and one on the back, in the top left corner, which is accompanied by a mic. The mirrored back panel is excellent for checking your teeth on the sly, but it picks up fingerprints very easily.
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More
In the box, you'll find a Quick Start Guide, a proprietary USB cable for connecting the touch to your computer, and a pair of Apple signature earbuds. It's a good idea to upgrade those bass-deprived, ill-fitting earbuds to earphones, and our Ultimate Guide to Headphones is a good place to start your search for the right pair.
User Interface
With the inclusion of iOS 5, the iPod touch now becomes a messaging device. It can also use the new iCloud function, which features iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, and Documents in the Cloud, so you can share content wirelessly between your computer, your iPod touch, your iPhone, and your iPad. Another useful new feature is Notifications, which works with just about any relevant app to keep you informed about updates and friends' responses. For more about what iOS 5 can do, check out PCMag's full review, or read on here to discover some of the nuances that improve the iPod touch's performance.
Audio and Video
Navigating the music menus on the iPod touch is completely intuitive. First off, there are so many ways to do it—using CoverFlow, searching Artist or Song, or perusing playlists. Apple has made everything fast and easy—scroll song or artist lists by dragging a finger or skip ahead to a letter on the scrollable alphabet on the right side of the screen. The Now Playing view is a showcase for album art, and you can play music while you surf the Web, view photos, or even play games.
By itself, the iPod touch is a fine audio device—plug in a pair of good-quality headphones and you won't be disappointed with the frequency range and overall audio quality. To my continuing disappointment, Apple still offers its stock, subpar earbuds. Audiophiles listening to Lossless tracks on the touch will be best served by leaving the EQ off. The settings Apple provides are presets; there's still no user-customizable EQ. Extra features like Shake to Shuffle, Volume Limit, and Sound Check can all be enabled or disabled easily.
The iTunes Store can be accessed via Wi-Fi for on-the-spot music and video purchases. Video looks fantastic on the Retina display. YouTube and Netflix will not look as sharp as video purchased from the iTunes Store, of course, but the speed with which video can be cued up without stuttering is impressive. Again, this is dependent on the strength of your Wi-Fi signal.
The touch integrates Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, though 802.11n only operates on the 2.4GHz band. Nike+ iPod support is also included for those who want to use the touch to help keep in shape.
Camera
The rear-facing camera records video in HD (720p), up to 30fps, capturing audio through the rear panel mic. Still photos max out at 960 by 720 pixels. This amounts to less than a megapixel, and compared with the iPhone 4S ($199.99-$399.99, 4.5 stars) and its 8-megapixel rear camera, the quality in images is stark. (See the slideshow for a side-by-side comparison.) The front-facing camera, intended for FaceTime video chat, offers lower resolutions: VGA-quality for photos and videos, again, up to 30fps.
Camera operation couldn't be more intuitive. An onscreen slide control toggles between still and video camera modes, and an icon in the lower left takes you to your gallery, where you can peruse your photos and videos. Video footage plays back onscreen with a scroll tool that shows a thumbnail timeline of your footage, making skipping to a certain spot easy. You can trim your footage on the player by dragging your finder over the thumbnail timeline of the footage and selecting segments to cut.
Capturing video is achieved by pressing the red Record button onscreen when in video camera mode, and tapping it again to end recording. The screen acts as your viewfinder and everything moves along in real time without stuttering. Low-light situations will make for some noisy footage, but in well-lit scenarios, the touch's video looks colorful and crisp. Uploading your video to YouTube or sending it as an email attachment, provided you have a Wi-Fi connection, is made easy with a button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen that walks you through a streamlined process to do either.
Unlike the iPhone 4S's camera, the iPod touch's has no flash, which makes low-light—particularly back-lit—scenarios rather challenging. You get 5x digital zoom for photos, which is activated by moving the slider on the screen above the on-screen shutter button, but zooming in creates noticeable artifacts. Landscape shots in adequate lighting look decent for a camera built into a player, and well-lit portraits look sharper than you'd expect, provided you don't zoom in too far. Like videos, photos can be sent out immediately via email, or you can assign a photo to be your new wallpaper or a friend's contact photo, all by pressing the lower left-hand button when viewing your image.
iMessage and FaceTime
iOS 5 brings iMessage to the iPod touch. If you use an iPhone, the difference between an iMessage and a text message is pretty much undetectable—they appear the same in your Messages app. However, iMessage uses Wi-Fi rather than a carrier's signal, which means that Wi-Fi devices, like the iPod touch, are invited to the party. Not invited: Devices not running iOS 5. Still, any friends of yours with an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad can now be sent virtual texts via iMessage—all you need is a wireless signal. This means you can send them photo and video straight from your iPod touch, too.
FaceTime still works quite well—images are fairly crisp and clear, aided by the smaller screen, and it's easy to understand what your chat partner is saying. Of course, this is contingent on your Wi-Fi signal being strong, but in ideal scenarios, it's not much different than video chatting on a laptop. However, Google Talk has a bit of an advantage over FaceTime, in that it works across multiple operating systems. You can, for instance, chat on Google Talk between a Motorola Xoom ($599, 3.5 stars) and an Apple laptop; FaceTime, like iMessage, only works between iOS devices and some Apple computers. But what began as a portable media player with no camera now has video chat and virtual text messaging capabilities—even with its iOS 5-only limitations, that is quite impressive.
Gaming and Apps
In 2010, Apple introduced Game Center, a feature that encourages you to find a friend—either someone you know or a stranger with an iPod touch or an iPhone—to play real-time games. Your success (or failure) earns you a ranking you can use for bragging rights or to seek out opponents with similar skill levels. With iOS 5, Game Center gets a few new features, like the ability to purchase new games from within the app and add photos to your profile.
Meanwhile, the App Store, which is accessed via Wi-Fi, is loaded with single-player, accelerometer-driven games like Zombie Highway, that look fantastic on the Retina display. There are more than 500,000 apps with a range far too wide to detail here. If you're familiar with the iPhone or iPod touches past, you know the possibilities are endless.
Web, Email, and Notifications
Surfing in Safari on the iPod touch is a great experience. Now that the Zune HD (4.5 stars), which was also a strong Internet device, is officially a relic, the iPod touch offers the strongest Web experience on any device this size that isn't a mobile phone. Still, there are some annoyances. Given Apple's stance on Flash support, you shouldn't expect it on any iPod or iPhone anytime soon, and that's the single advantage competing mobile browsers can offer.
Email remains easy to customize and use—AOL, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Exchange, and mobileMe remain options in the mail section, where you can also add an iCloud account. Multiple accounts can be synced via Exchange.
With the new notifications features in iOS 5, email notifications appear on-screen, as well as app notifications—say, when your opponent makes a new play or a friend comments on your Facebook post. Notifications appear on the Lock screen (Alerts), at the top of the home screen (Banners), just over the app's icon (Badges), and you can choose between various combinations of the three for each app—or to turn them off completely.
Battery Life and Conclusions
Apple rates the battery life for the iPod touch at an impressive 40 hours for audio and seven hours for video. We ran two different battery rundown tests. Playing music with Wi-Fi off and Auto-Lock set to one minute, we got a great result: 47 hours and 25 minutes. Playing video with Wi-Fi on and the screen set to full brightness, we got 5 hours, 32 minutes of video playback. At half brightness, we got more than eight hours. That's enough for a good day's worth of use.
There's a new white model, which is white on the front face and mirrored on the back, but the touch retains its 2010 dimensions: 4.4 by 2.3 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and 3.6 ounces. Apple's custom A4 chip powers the device, and the super-sharp Retina display remains 3.5 diagonal inches and 960-by-640 pixels (at 326 pixels per inch). The touch's left-hand panel houses two Volume buttons. A headphone jack, a speaker, and a 30-pin connector for USB computer syncing are on the bottom of the player. The Power button sits up top, and the Home button remains below the display on the front panel. There are two camera lenses—one toward the top of the display, and one on the back, in the top left corner, which is accompanied by a mic. The mirrored back panel is excellent for checking your teeth on the sly, but it picks up fingerprints very easily.
View SlideshowSee all (20) slides
More
In the box, you'll find a Quick Start Guide, a proprietary USB cable for connecting the touch to your computer, and a pair of Apple signature earbuds. It's a good idea to upgrade those bass-deprived, ill-fitting earbuds to earphones, and our Ultimate Guide to Headphones is a good place to start your search for the right pair.
User Interface
With the inclusion of iOS 5, the iPod touch now becomes a messaging device. It can also use the new iCloud function, which features iTunes in the Cloud, Photo Stream, and Documents in the Cloud, so you can share content wirelessly between your computer, your iPod touch, your iPhone, and your iPad. Another useful new feature is Notifications, which works with just about any relevant app to keep you informed about updates and friends' responses. For more about what iOS 5 can do, check out PCMag's full review, or read on here to discover some of the nuances that improve the iPod touch's performance.
Audio and Video
Navigating the music menus on the iPod touch is completely intuitive. First off, there are so many ways to do it—using CoverFlow, searching Artist or Song, or perusing playlists. Apple has made everything fast and easy—scroll song or artist lists by dragging a finger or skip ahead to a letter on the scrollable alphabet on the right side of the screen. The Now Playing view is a showcase for album art, and you can play music while you surf the Web, view photos, or even play games.
By itself, the iPod touch is a fine audio device—plug in a pair of good-quality headphones and you won't be disappointed with the frequency range and overall audio quality. To my continuing disappointment, Apple still offers its stock, subpar earbuds. Audiophiles listening to Lossless tracks on the touch will be best served by leaving the EQ off. The settings Apple provides are presets; there's still no user-customizable EQ. Extra features like Shake to Shuffle, Volume Limit, and Sound Check can all be enabled or disabled easily.
The iTunes Store can be accessed via Wi-Fi for on-the-spot music and video purchases. Video looks fantastic on the Retina display. YouTube and Netflix will not look as sharp as video purchased from the iTunes Store, of course, but the speed with which video can be cued up without stuttering is impressive. Again, this is dependent on the strength of your Wi-Fi signal.
The touch integrates Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, though 802.11n only operates on the 2.4GHz band. Nike+ iPod support is also included for those who want to use the touch to help keep in shape.
Camera
The rear-facing camera records video in HD (720p), up to 30fps, capturing audio through the rear panel mic. Still photos max out at 960 by 720 pixels. This amounts to less than a megapixel, and compared with the iPhone 4S ($199.99-$399.99, 4.5 stars) and its 8-megapixel rear camera, the quality in images is stark. (See the slideshow for a side-by-side comparison.) The front-facing camera, intended for FaceTime video chat, offers lower resolutions: VGA-quality for photos and videos, again, up to 30fps.
Camera operation couldn't be more intuitive. An onscreen slide control toggles between still and video camera modes, and an icon in the lower left takes you to your gallery, where you can peruse your photos and videos. Video footage plays back onscreen with a scroll tool that shows a thumbnail timeline of your footage, making skipping to a certain spot easy. You can trim your footage on the player by dragging your finder over the thumbnail timeline of the footage and selecting segments to cut.
Capturing video is achieved by pressing the red Record button onscreen when in video camera mode, and tapping it again to end recording. The screen acts as your viewfinder and everything moves along in real time without stuttering. Low-light situations will make for some noisy footage, but in well-lit scenarios, the touch's video looks colorful and crisp. Uploading your video to YouTube or sending it as an email attachment, provided you have a Wi-Fi connection, is made easy with a button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen that walks you through a streamlined process to do either.
Unlike the iPhone 4S's camera, the iPod touch's has no flash, which makes low-light—particularly back-lit—scenarios rather challenging. You get 5x digital zoom for photos, which is activated by moving the slider on the screen above the on-screen shutter button, but zooming in creates noticeable artifacts. Landscape shots in adequate lighting look decent for a camera built into a player, and well-lit portraits look sharper than you'd expect, provided you don't zoom in too far. Like videos, photos can be sent out immediately via email, or you can assign a photo to be your new wallpaper or a friend's contact photo, all by pressing the lower left-hand button when viewing your image.
iMessage and FaceTime
iOS 5 brings iMessage to the iPod touch. If you use an iPhone, the difference between an iMessage and a text message is pretty much undetectable—they appear the same in your Messages app. However, iMessage uses Wi-Fi rather than a carrier's signal, which means that Wi-Fi devices, like the iPod touch, are invited to the party. Not invited: Devices not running iOS 5. Still, any friends of yours with an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad can now be sent virtual texts via iMessage—all you need is a wireless signal. This means you can send them photo and video straight from your iPod touch, too.
FaceTime still works quite well—images are fairly crisp and clear, aided by the smaller screen, and it's easy to understand what your chat partner is saying. Of course, this is contingent on your Wi-Fi signal being strong, but in ideal scenarios, it's not much different than video chatting on a laptop. However, Google Talk has a bit of an advantage over FaceTime, in that it works across multiple operating systems. You can, for instance, chat on Google Talk between a Motorola Xoom ($599, 3.5 stars) and an Apple laptop; FaceTime, like iMessage, only works between iOS devices and some Apple computers. But what began as a portable media player with no camera now has video chat and virtual text messaging capabilities—even with its iOS 5-only limitations, that is quite impressive.
Gaming and Apps
In 2010, Apple introduced Game Center, a feature that encourages you to find a friend—either someone you know or a stranger with an iPod touch or an iPhone—to play real-time games. Your success (or failure) earns you a ranking you can use for bragging rights or to seek out opponents with similar skill levels. With iOS 5, Game Center gets a few new features, like the ability to purchase new games from within the app and add photos to your profile.
Meanwhile, the App Store, which is accessed via Wi-Fi, is loaded with single-player, accelerometer-driven games like Zombie Highway, that look fantastic on the Retina display. There are more than 500,000 apps with a range far too wide to detail here. If you're familiar with the iPhone or iPod touches past, you know the possibilities are endless.
Web, Email, and Notifications
Surfing in Safari on the iPod touch is a great experience. Now that the Zune HD (4.5 stars), which was also a strong Internet device, is officially a relic, the iPod touch offers the strongest Web experience on any device this size that isn't a mobile phone. Still, there are some annoyances. Given Apple's stance on Flash support, you shouldn't expect it on any iPod or iPhone anytime soon, and that's the single advantage competing mobile browsers can offer.
Email remains easy to customize and use—AOL, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Exchange, and mobileMe remain options in the mail section, where you can also add an iCloud account. Multiple accounts can be synced via Exchange.
With the new notifications features in iOS 5, email notifications appear on-screen, as well as app notifications—say, when your opponent makes a new play or a friend comments on your Facebook post. Notifications appear on the Lock screen (Alerts), at the top of the home screen (Banners), just over the app's icon (Badges), and you can choose between various combinations of the three for each app—or to turn them off completely.
Battery Life and Conclusions
Apple rates the battery life for the iPod touch at an impressive 40 hours for audio and seven hours for video. We ran two different battery rundown tests. Playing music with Wi-Fi off and Auto-Lock set to one minute, we got a great result: 47 hours and 25 minutes. Playing video with Wi-Fi on and the screen set to full brightness, we got 5 hours, 32 minutes of video playback. At half brightness, we got more than eight hours. That's enough for a good day's worth of use.
Google Chrome stable channel hits version 16
Subscribers to the beta and dev channels of Google's browser have been enjoying the fruits of the company's syncing labor for sometime now. But, with the stable release of Chrome 16, the Mountain View crew is finally bringing those features to less adventurous users. An entry in the wrench menu offers you the option to "sign in to Chrome," automatically syncing your installed apps, extensions, bookmarks, browsing history and settings. But, if you've got more than one user sharing the same PC, you can keep your experiences separate and customized by adding new users from the "Personal Stuff" page in the options menu. Then you're just a couple of quick clicks on the user menu (that new icon in the upper left- or right-hand corner depending on your OS) away from alternating between sets of synced data. Head on after the break for a quick video demo.
Samsung NX200 lens camera
Hardware
The established commitment to high-quality images may bring return customers, but it doesn't sell cameras like an attractive design. And the NX200 has the looks it needs to drive sales -- it'd be tough to argue that this is an unattractive cam. The sleek black housing is curvaceous and smooth, but doesn't come without a few quirks. The most peculiar design element is the NX lens mount, which extends beyond the front face by roughly half an inch, and is level with the front of the rather generous camera grip. In an age where sleek and flush designs have become the gold standard, including a mount that juts out this far from the body is a rather bold move.
The camera is comfortable to hold, with a textured patch just below where you'd rest your fingers and a curved design that feels natural in hand. There's a large Samsung logo positioned in the center of the grip -- it's covered completely when you're holding the camera, so there's no need to worry about eager Samsung fans approaching you on the street with a bevy of questions about your purchase. There's also a standard lens release button up front, along with a green focus lamp -- there's no built-in flash here, though a compact external strobe is included in the box.
Flipping to the back of the camera, you'll find a 3-inch AMOLED VGA display -- perhaps our favorite component on the NX200. In playback, images look fantastic, with accurate color and sharp details, though white balance in preview occasionally differs from what you'll see in instant playback after capturing an image. While the sensor is ultimately the most important component in any camera, the display clearly plays a critical role in verifying exposure and sharpness, and we really have few complaints here. To the right of the screen, there's a dedicated record control for activating 1080p video capture, along with exposure compensation, menu, function, playback and delete buttons. There's also a selection wheel, and a four-position button with dedicated options for display, speed, ISO and AF modes, along with an OK button in the center.
Up top are stereo microphones, a small speaker grill and a full-size hot shoe that's slightly recessed in order to maintain a near-flush top casing (we would have liked to see Samsung employ a similar design with the lens mount). At the far right is a mode dial, with direct access to manual, automatic and scene modes, a combination power slider/shutter release, and a wheel for zooming into images during playback. Flipping open a solid plastic cover on the right side reveals mini-HDMI and micro-USB ports, while the bottom of the camera includes a tripod connector, and a single compartment housing both the 1030 mAh battery and SD card.
The included 18-55mm optically stabilized kit lens has a maximum aperture of f/3.5-5.6, and a rather large 58mm filter size. It's a standard manual zoom/focus rig, but with a twist -- a customizable function button just above the AF/MF switch provides direct access to aperture, exposure compensation, ISO and white balance settings. It won't have a significant impact on your workflow, but it's a welcome feature nonetheless.
Performance and battery life
Sadly, focus is one critical area where the NX200 doesn't shine. The camera will eventually bring your subject into focus, most often with perfect accuracy, but it can be sluggish at times -- naturally in low light, but it was even slow in bright sunlight, where cameras like the
The established commitment to high-quality images may bring return customers, but it doesn't sell cameras like an attractive design. And the NX200 has the looks it needs to drive sales -- it'd be tough to argue that this is an unattractive cam. The sleek black housing is curvaceous and smooth, but doesn't come without a few quirks. The most peculiar design element is the NX lens mount, which extends beyond the front face by roughly half an inch, and is level with the front of the rather generous camera grip. In an age where sleek and flush designs have become the gold standard, including a mount that juts out this far from the body is a rather bold move.
The camera is comfortable to hold, with a textured patch just below where you'd rest your fingers and a curved design that feels natural in hand. There's a large Samsung logo positioned in the center of the grip -- it's covered completely when you're holding the camera, so there's no need to worry about eager Samsung fans approaching you on the street with a bevy of questions about your purchase. There's also a standard lens release button up front, along with a green focus lamp -- there's no built-in flash here, though a compact external strobe is included in the box.
Flipping to the back of the camera, you'll find a 3-inch AMOLED VGA display -- perhaps our favorite component on the NX200. In playback, images look fantastic, with accurate color and sharp details, though white balance in preview occasionally differs from what you'll see in instant playback after capturing an image. While the sensor is ultimately the most important component in any camera, the display clearly plays a critical role in verifying exposure and sharpness, and we really have few complaints here. To the right of the screen, there's a dedicated record control for activating 1080p video capture, along with exposure compensation, menu, function, playback and delete buttons. There's also a selection wheel, and a four-position button with dedicated options for display, speed, ISO and AF modes, along with an OK button in the center.
Up top are stereo microphones, a small speaker grill and a full-size hot shoe that's slightly recessed in order to maintain a near-flush top casing (we would have liked to see Samsung employ a similar design with the lens mount). At the far right is a mode dial, with direct access to manual, automatic and scene modes, a combination power slider/shutter release, and a wheel for zooming into images during playback. Flipping open a solid plastic cover on the right side reveals mini-HDMI and micro-USB ports, while the bottom of the camera includes a tripod connector, and a single compartment housing both the 1030 mAh battery and SD card.
The included 18-55mm optically stabilized kit lens has a maximum aperture of f/3.5-5.6, and a rather large 58mm filter size. It's a standard manual zoom/focus rig, but with a twist -- a customizable function button just above the AF/MF switch provides direct access to aperture, exposure compensation, ISO and white balance settings. It won't have a significant impact on your workflow, but it's a welcome feature nonetheless.
Performance and battery life
Sadly, focus is one critical area where the NX200 doesn't shine. The camera will eventually bring your subject into focus, most often with perfect accuracy, but it can be sluggish at times -- naturally in low light, but it was even slow in bright sunlight, where cameras like the
Next-generation GPS satellite inches space
Kvetching about your PND's inability to get a proper lock could soon become a thing of the past, thanks in large part to a fresh breed of GPS satellites designed by the whiz-kids at Lockheed Martin. The program -- which is estimated to eventually cost around $5.5 billion to complete -- is set to hit its prototype phase by 2014, with a pathfinder being recently delivered to the same Colorado facility that we toured earlier this month. The Block III prototype (more accurately known as the GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed), won't actually be hurtled into space, but the Air Force is slated to launch 32 of the final versions over the next few years. The aforementioned birds should improve power, reliability and accuracy, while also promising to be "harder for enemies to jam and easier for receivers to tune in, especially in urban canyons or under thick tree canopies." Moreover, they're expected to enable both denizens and military users to grab a position within three feet, compared to ten feet using today's technology. In other news, they're sure to cause LightSquared all sorts of new headaches.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Embed Music file, Audio Player, Video to your Blog
Step 1: First, upload the music file to any free file hosting servers on the net. Once you upload, they will provide you with a direct link to that music file.
http://sample-server.com/uploads/from-the-moon.mp3
Step 2: Here is the code you need to add music to your blog
<embed width="250" height="50" autostart="false" src="MUSIC FILE URL"/></embed>
Step 3: You can add the music player anywhere you want in your Blogger blog..
Sidebar: If you want to add in sidebar, go to Design --> Add a gadget --> HTML / JavaScript --> and paste the code and save it.
Blog Post: If you want to embed music file to any specific blog post, Paste the code in 'Edit html' mode and save it.
Blog Post: If you want to embed music file to any specific blog post, Paste the code in 'Edit html' mode and save it.
Step 4: Done / Enjoy
clarification code above:
width: width of the music player
height: height of the music player
autostart: values : false or true
MUSIC FILE URL: the direct link to your music file
height: height of the music player
autostart: values : false or true
MUSIC FILE URL: the direct link to your music file
Sunday, 11 December 2011
How to install a Blogger Blogspot Template
8 steps as follow:
1. Click in Download button and save file in PC [hard drive].
2. File that you have downloaded is .ZIP file so need to be extracted. Extract / Unzip it.
3. Log in Blogger dashboard
4. Click Template (or Design > Edit HTML > Upload) and look at the top right corner, you will see Backup / Restore button
5. Click Manage and on pop-up windows Browse button and look for folder that is created after extracted file that you have downloaded.
6. Folder has a XML file and TXT file or Internet shortcut, you select only XML file.
8. Click Upload button.
9. Confirm and Save.
1. Click in Download button and save file in PC [hard drive].
2. File that you have downloaded is .ZIP file so need to be extracted. Extract / Unzip it.
3. Log in Blogger dashboard
4. Click Template (or Design > Edit HTML > Upload) and look at the top right corner, you will see Backup / Restore button
5. Click Manage and on pop-up windows Browse button and look for folder that is created after extracted file that you have downloaded.
6. Folder has a XML file and TXT file or Internet shortcut, you select only XML file.
8. Click Upload button.
9. Confirm and Save.
Deezer added a few notches to its music streaming
added a few notches to its music streaming belt yesterday, with the announcement of it . Users in Canada and Latin America can expect to receive the French service by the end of January, Australia and Africa should see it by the end of February, and everyone else by the middle of next year. Conspicuously absent from that list are the US and Japanese markets, both of which have been passed over "due to market saturation and low growth forecasts," as well as the fact that the two countries comprise "only" 25 percent of worldwide music consumption. Le sigh.News magazin template for blogspot
NewsMagz
NewsMagz its a new magazine Blogger template with a stylish look, and 2 right sidebars. Its a great theme if u have lot of things to put on it.Features: 3 columns with right sidebars, widgets ready, social icons, featured posts, search box, ads ready.
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Wen Professional Temp
WebPro its a stylish Blogger template, with a professional look, and beautiful header gradient, recommended for tech blogs.
Features: 3 columns, right sidebar, widgets ready, social icons, pages enabled, search box.
Features: 3 columns, right sidebar, widgets ready, social icons, pages enabled, search box.
Dream Shop Blogger Template
Dream Shop its a cute template for Blogger, for shopping related blogs. This template has featured posts enables and social icons, enjoy it for free.
Features: 2 columns, right sidebar, widgets ready, social icons, pages enabled, search box.
Features: 2 columns, right sidebar, widgets ready, social icons, pages enabled, search box.
College Years Theme
Instructions: How to use this template
Template author: Buy My Themes
Designer: WP Themes Expert
Description:
College Years is a free blogger template adapted from WordPress with 2 columns, right sidebar and rounded corners.
Excellent layout for blogs about education.
Download College Years for free.
Template author: Buy My Themes
Designer: WP Themes Expert
Description:
College Years is a free blogger template adapted from WordPress with 2 columns, right sidebar and rounded corners.
Excellent layout for blogs about education.
Download College Years for free.
Financial Blog Deluxe Templates
Instructions: How to use this template
Template author: Deluxe Templates
Description:
FinancialBlog is a free blogger template with 2 columns, right sidebar, fresh look, exclusive design for Blogger, slideshow, twitter support, geometric motifs and vectorial elements.
Excellent layout for blogs about business, education or science.
Template author: Deluxe Templates
Description:
FinancialBlog is a free blogger template with 2 columns, right sidebar, fresh look, exclusive design for Blogger, slideshow, twitter support, geometric motifs and vectorial elements.
Excellent layout for blogs about business, education or science.
Media Online Blogger template
Instructions: Template Settings / How to use this template
Template author: Dhe Template
Description:
Media Online is a free blogger template with 2 columns, right sidebar, magazine-styled, minimalist, exclusive design for Blogger, space for ads, footer columns, slideshow, twitter support, neutral colors, posts thumbnails, tabs and drop down menu.
Template author: Dhe Template
Description:
Media Online is a free blogger template with 2 columns, right sidebar, magazine-styled, minimalist, exclusive design for Blogger, space for ads, footer columns, slideshow, twitter support, neutral colors, posts thumbnails, tabs and drop down menu.
Grunge Yellow
Instructions: How to use this template
Template author: Splashy Templates
Description:
Grunge Yellow is a free blogger template with 2 columns, right sidebar, rounded corners, grunge style, exclusive design for Blogger and vintage style.
Excellent layout for blogs about desktop.
Download Grunge Yellow for free
Template author: Splashy Templates
Description:
Grunge Yellow is a free blogger template with 2 columns, right sidebar, rounded corners, grunge style, exclusive design for Blogger and vintage style.
Excellent layout for blogs about desktop.
Download Grunge Yellow for free
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