Hasta La Gadget!

Sure, we tested the iPhone 5‘s camera in the well-lit streets of New York City, but if you’re wondering how Apple’s latest functions when used primarily as a shooter, TREK has a pretty remarkable look. Photog Austin Mann and a few of his closest pals took a pair of iPhone 5s to Iceland following launch weekend in a bid to test the unit’s durability, capability and image quality next to the 4S. After two days of geyser spray and admitted “drops in mud,” the uncovered 5 seemed to be a-okay, and when it comes to output from the sensor, that’s worthy of praise as well.

The low-light capabilities of the 5 are perhaps the most impressive upgrade compared to the 4S, with much less noise seen in shots from the former. He also gushed over the panorama mode, which admittedly churned out some pretty seamless results of the Icelandic countryside. As for shutter speed? That too has been “significantly” improved over the 4S. He interestingly noted that Snapseed was acting a bit wonky with iOS 6, but one has to wonder how much smoothing will be done by the Nik team now that Google’s calling the shots. Hit the source link below for the full rundown, comparisons included, and a video that shows how the iPhone 5 reacts after sunset.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile

iPhone 5 camera gets tested in Iceland, panorama and low-light comparison with iPhone 4S included originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TREK, Gallery of iPhone 5 images  | Email this | Comments

If you’re building or upgrading a budget gaming rig, it’ll be hard to ignore the GeForce GTX 650 and 660. Whether or not NVIDIA’s new chipsets are worth the glance is another matter, and early reviews suggest that a sale depends on just which market you’re in. The GTX 660, by far the darling of the review crowd, competes solidly against the Radeon HD 7850 by outrunning AMD’s hardware in most situations while undercutting on the official price. Only a few have taken a look at the lower-end GTX 650, but it’s not as much of a clear-cut purchasing decision — the entry-level video often slots in between the performance of the Radeon HD 7750 and 7770 without the price edge of its bigger brother. Either card is much better value for the money than the GT 640, however, and looks to be a meaningful upgrade if you’re trading up from equivalent prior-generation gear.

Read – AnandTech (GTX 660)
Read – Benchmark Reviews (GTX 660)
Read – Bit-Tech (GTX 660)
Read – Guru 3D (GTX 650)
Read – HardOCP (GTX 660)
Read – Hot Hardware (GTX 660)
Read – PC Mag (GTX 660)
Read – PC Perspective (GTX 660)
Read – Tom’s Hardware (GTX 650 and 660)

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 and 660 review roundup: hitting the sweet spot, sometimes originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

It’s hard to believe that the word “phablet” has now been in our vocabulary for exactly a year. Perhaps even more difficult to believe is that it’s still in our lexicon, but it doesn’t look like the term is going anywhere anytime soon. Today, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note II, a followup to the company’s S-Pen equipped sleeper hit introduced at last year’s IFA. But what does the sequel have that the original doesn’t? Head below with us as we take a closer look at how the two devices compare.

Note: We’ll continue filling out the chart as details surface.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Note II: what’s changed?

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note II: what’s changed? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The whispers and smoke and noise about the rumored iPad mini—an iPad that would be 7.85-inches in screen size—are definitely getting louder. It’s by no means real yet, but the iPad mini could very well be an actual thing. But what would it look like? Tweeter TrojanKitten points out that unlike the twinsies nature of the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire, the iPad mini would house a different form factor from its 7-inch contemporaries, with a different sized screen. More »