Hasta La Gadget!

2012 was quite a huge year for Android. We saw the jump from Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and then to version 4.2. Ice Cream Sandwich was a solid operating system, but Jelly Bean made it even better, adding new features like Google Now, better notifications, and even Photo Sphere. However, the software was merely just a vehicle for the hardware to ride on — the devices themselves were what really shined this year.

It was a huge year for Google, who completely revamped their Nexus lineup, and Samsung released more Galaxy devices than we can count on two hands. We also saw some new devices from HTC, Motorola, LG, Sony, and of course, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Let’s recap all the fun stuff that happened over the past 12 months in the world of Android.

Google

The Nexus line of Android devices from Google saw the biggest change this year. The search giant introduced their first ever tablets, the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, and also released a successor to last year’s Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus 4. The Nexus 7 has already proven to be one of the most popular Android tablets of all time, and the Nexus 10 features the world’s highest-resolution display of any mobile device with a whopping 2560×1600 resolution, resulting in 300 PPI.

At Google I/O 2012, the company also announced and later released the Nexus Q, a unique home entertainment device that integrates with Google Play and streams media to televisions and speakers from several different devices at once. However, the Nexus Q was eventually discontinued after only a few months due to lack of interest.

Samsung

2012 was also a huge year for Samsung. Their flagship Galaxy S III sold over 30 million units, thanks to its availability on most of the major carriers, including AT&T and T-Mobile. Samsung also released the Galaxy Note, a unique 5-inch, phablet-style handset for those wanting a large screen for increased productivity. They later released the Galaxy Note II with an even larger 5.5-inch display and an enormous battery.

Due to the success of the Galaxy S III, Samsung released the Galaxy S III mini in Europe, a smaller version of the company’s popular flagship handset. They also released several other specialty products, such as the projector-equipped Galaxy Beam, the Android-powered point-and-shoot Galaxy Camera, and the iPod Touch-esque Galaxy Player in both 3.6-inch and 4.2-inch flavors.

As far as their tablet business, Samsung didn’t make a lot of noise, but they released several solid Android tablets, like the Galaxy Note 10.1, and the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and 10.1.

ASUS

Other than partnering with Google to manufacture the Nexus 7, ASUS released a couple more Android tablets of their own, the Transformer Pad TF300 and the Transformer Pad Infinity — both are 10.1-inch tablets running quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processors with 4-PLUS-1 technology, and both received upgrades to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The Transformer Prime, while released towards the end of 2011, didn’t make a huge impact until 2012 rolled around, and it was the world’s first quad-core processor-toting tablet.

Be sure to check out our official [Tegra Hub] to see the full impact of NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 throughout 2012.

Amazon

This year from Amazon, we saw the company improve on their original Kindle Fire tablet by releasing the Kindle Fire HD in two form factors, 7 inches and 8.9 inches. Both are loaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Texas Instruments OMAP dual-core chipsets. The biggest upgrades from the original Kindle Fire, however, are the screens, which received a high-definition boost to as large as 1920×1200 on the 8.9-inch model (1280×800 on the 7-inch model).

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble also implemented upgraded versions of their NOOK Tablet in order to compete with Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD. Both the NOOK HD and the NOOK HD+ are 7-inch Android-powered tablets and run off of Texas Instrument OMAP dual-core chipsets, with the HD+ running a slightly faster processor, increased storage, and a higher-resolution display of 1920×1280.

HTC

HTC had a big 2012. They released the DROID DNA, which comes with the first 1080p display in a smartphone and is the densest display in the world currently, with 440 PPI on a 5-inch screen. The company also released a brand new line of smartphones, known as the One series, that includes both top-tier handsets, as well as budget-minded devices. The company released the One S, One V, One X (and its successor, the One X+ — it and the HTC One X international version being the first smartphones in the world to carry the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core SoC), One XL, and the budget-minded One VX, as well as the mid-range One SV that was released in Europe.

Other handsets that HTC released in 2012 include sequels of the company’s Incredible and EVO line, the DROID Incredible 4G LTE and EVO 4G LTE, respectively, as well as the Desire C, Desire V, and Desire X — all three of which are budget-friendly devices that sport a lower-clocked processor, less RAM, and a smaller screen.

LG

LG outed several impressive devices this past year. They were the sole manufacturer behind Google’s Nexus 4, and while that was one of their most popular devices (and their most important for 2012), they also had a few others that stood out. The Optimus G is one of them, and it’s a powerhouse of a smartphone, with a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chip, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. The company also released some pretty stellar mid-range devices as well. The Spectrum, as well as the Spectrum 2, featured solid specs and performance at a lower price, and the company’s latest L-series phone, the Optimus L9, saw a sizable improvement over the L7 and other L-series devices released in 2012, such as the L5 and L3.

Other LG handsets released in 2012 include the phablet-esque Intuition, which sports a 5-inch display and an odd 4:3 aspect ratio that we’re not used to seeing in the mobile market. LG also outed the Lucid, a small budget-minded 4G LTE device that sports a dual-core Qualcomm processor and an impressive IPS LCD display.

Sony

We didn’t see a lot from Sony this year, but they did out a few of Xperia-branded smartphones and tablets that kept them in the spotlight throughout the year. The Xperia TL was Sony’s first-ever smartphone built upon Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chip, and it’s the same device featured in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall.

Other smartphones that we saw this year from Sony included the Xperia ion, Xperia S, and the Xperia U. The Xperia S was launched at CES 2012 and was the company’s first Sony-only smartphone after acquiring Ericsson’s stake in Sony Ericsson at the beginning of the year. The Xperia ion was also launched at CES 2012, and it features a 4.55-inch display running Qualcomm’s last-generation Snapdragon S3 chip.

As far as tablets, Sony outed the Xperia Tablet S and the Tablet P. The Tablet S packs in a NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip and runs off of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The Tablet P, however, is one of Sony’s most unique offerings, featuring a clamshell form factor, making it easier to slide in out of a pocket, but it ended up suffering from flimsy build quality, lack of software support, and ultimately lacking a lot of gaming options.

Motorola

Motorola picked up where they left off at the end of 2011. They improved on their DROID RAZR handset by introducing several new versions of the device. The DROID RAZR HD featured a larger, higher-resolution display, while the DROID RAZR MAXX HD included almost-identical specs, but sported a much larger battery for those wanting to go longer without having to plug into a wall.

The company also outed a budget-friendly and smaller DROID RAZR M that featured a 4.3-inch display, but stuffed it into a small form factor for those who still favor the smaller devices of yesteryear. Other notable devices that Motorola released in 2012 include the Atrix HD, DROID 4, and the mid-range and oddly-named MOTOLUXE.

Android Hardware Rundown: 2012 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A lot of companies had a big year – Apple released the highly anticipated iPad mini and iPhone 5, Samsung found a smashing success in the Galaxy S III, Nintendo launched the Wii U, while Google delivered Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and released a number of impressive Nexus devices. Despite all of that, Microsoft arguably had a bigger year than all of them. 2012 was huge with Microsoft, with the release of Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, and Windows Phone 8 all happening in a high-energy span of just a few weeks. It wasn’t so much that these new operating systems and products were released this year either, but rather the fact that Microsoft was taking so many risks with the launch of each and every one.

As the follow up to the wildly successful and much-loved Windows 7, Windows 8 made plenty of enemies before it even released. This was thanks to the consumer preview that had every chattering well before Windows 8′s launch. Throughout all of 2012, we were hearing about what people liked and what they hated about Windows 8, with debate springing up all over the place and anticipation for Microsoft’s new version of the Windows OS riding high.

Then, at the end of October, it was finally time to launch the beast. Windows 8 was released to the world on October 26, garnering plenty of criticism and praise alike. We liked Windows 8 quite a bit, and while it isn’t perfect, we’re excited to see what Microsoft does with this news direction for the OS in the future. Others didn’t exactly share our enthusiasm though, bemoaning the new user interface at every chance. Some PC manufacturers even blamed perceived low demand for Windows 8 for their lagging sales, so Microsoft definitely made some enemies by releasing this very different version of Windows.

Whether you like it or not, that doesn’t change the fact that we saw some really impressive Windows 8 machines springing up shortly after launch. The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 was one of them, leaving Windows RT in the dust in favor of the fully featured Windows 8 and a sporting a 360-degree hinge that lets you fold the laptop into all kinds of orientations. The Samsung ATIV Smart PC is another Windows 8 device worth checking out, though in a rather strange turn of events, we were only able to review half of it. Acer has been putting out some solid Windows 8 products as well, launching the attractive Aspire 7600U All-in-One and the excellent Aspire S7 ultrabook. In other words, it’s been a good few months for those who are enthusiastic about Windows 8 and want some good hardware to run it on.

Despite all of the doom and gloom surrounding Windows 8, the simple fact of the matter is that we won’t know just how well it’s doing with consumers for a while yet. Microsoft announced a little earlier in the year that it had sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses, which certainly doesn’t seem to mesh with the idea that Windows 8 is off to a bad start, but there are plenty of retailers and PC partners who are quick to say that Windows 8 has been underperforming.

Make no mistake, Microsoft changed a lot with Windows 8. While the Windows we’re used to is still mostly intact, it’s hiding behind an all new Start screen, which serves as a replacement to the Start menu that was introduced with the release of Windows 95 all those years ago. Windows 8 signals an entirely new direction for the Windows brand, but Microsoft embraced that change as a company, revealing an all-new logo in 2012. This new logo is a lot cleaner than the old one (some might say “boring” rather than “cleaner”), featuring the live tiles that have been so controversial among lifelong Windows users. With this new logo, Microsoft showed us that it’s ready for an all-new era of Windows.

Of course, 2012 wasn’t all about Windows 8. Microsoft launched its new Surface tablet alongside Windows 8, and with it comes Windows RT. In our review, we declared that Surface was a solid start for Microsoft’s tablet business, though there may be a few sticking points with consumers. We won’t really get to see what Microsoft can do in the tablet space until the Surface Pro launches next month, but unfortunately, Surface Pro still doesn’t have a solid release date despite its January 2013 launch window.

In the meantime, Surface has been causing some controversy of its own. Some love it, some can’t stand it, and we’ve heard plenty of rumors that claimed Microsoft was scaling back on Surface production. Those rumors implied that Surface wasn’t as big a hit as Microsoft was hoping for, but then the company surprised us all by announcing that it had ramped up Surface production and would be offering it through a number of third party retailers. Not only that, but it also announced that a number of the temporary retail stores it had opened for the holiday season would become permanent fixtures, so at least in that respect, it would appear that Microsoft has found success.

While Surface will need some time to grow into a tablet that can challenge the likes of the iPad and the significant number of quality Android tablets, there was one new Microsoft release in 2012 that everyone was excited for: Windows Phone 8. Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform had failed in the past to capture a sizable portion of the smartphone market, so Microsoft poured a lot of resources into Windows Phone 8.

That effort shows, too. In our review of the mobile operating system, we said that Windows Phone 8 was much improved over previous installments, and that it was a mobile OS that everyone – Windows Phone veteran or otherwise – could enjoy. However, we also pointed out that regardless of how good Windows Phone 8 is, it’s quality hardware that will ultimately bring people to the platform.

Windows Phone 8 is still very young, but already we’re seeing a bunch of really solid WP8 devices. HTC is entirely on board with the platform, releasing the Windows Phone 8S and Windows Phone 8X. Nokia is naturally there too, giving us plenty of handsets to get excited about with the Lumia 920 and Lumia 810. It’s too early to tell if Windows Phone 8 can perform well enough to keep Apple and Google on their toes, but if these early handsets are any indication, then the future is bright indeed.

In fact, if there’s one thing Microsoft’s 2012 encourages, it’s looking toward the future. Windows 8 and Surface may be off a relatively shaky start, but they lay the groundwork for some truly exciting releases in the future. On the other hand, Windows Phone 8 is off to a great start, but good initial reaction doesn’t mean anything if the OS can’t perform in the long run. Ultimately, Microsoft set the stage for years to come in 2012, so even though it’s difficult for us to label the year as a success or failure, we should be seeing some very interesting things as time goes on.

Microsoft’s 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple CEO Tim Cook promised a 2012 to remember, and with sweeping changes across the iOS and Mac ranges, new software and services, and more than a few courtroom battles, the Cupertino firm delivered. The new fourth-gen iPad with Retina display and its iPad mini sibling, along with the iPhone 5, cemented Apple‘s position as the benchmark against which new tablets and phones are measured. Yet it wasn’t all smooth sailing, and the past twelve months saw Apple forced to wake up to a new position in the consumer electronics marketplace.

The iPad’s share of the tablet segment has been jostled by capable entrants from Android vendors, but Apple’s slate remains the go-to model, and the breadth of tablet-specific software in the App Store continues to put Google’s Play market to shame. Apple in fact managed two full-sized iPads in 2012, the third-gen debuting Retina technology on a tablet back in March, and then promptly replacing it with the fourth-gen iPad in November.

After Steve Jobs’ oft-repeated comments about “tweener” tablets, however, it’s the iPad mini which caught the imagination this year. Apple needed to take a new approach, given the founder’s very public criticisms of the form-factor, and it did that with a combination of slick design along with a little compromise. Waifishly thin, the iPad mini gets us closest to the Star Trek fantasy of a futuristic PADD computer to-date, but by borrowing the core specifications of the original iPad’s display, Apple ensured compatibility with all of the tablet software already in the App Store. Undercutting the full-sized iPad in price – which has evolved into something of an iPad “pro” for power users – and having no shortage of software has seen the iPad mini instantly carve a niche in a segment Apple was late to.

Check out our iPad mini review for all the details

On the topic of lateness, Apple eschewed its yearly refresh cycle by pushing the iPhone 5 back until mid-September, rather than the mid-summer launch of previous models. Adopting 4G LTE for the first time, and dropping the glass body of the previous two generations in favor of more resilient aluminum, the biggest change for the iPhone 5 was an increase in screen size: stepping up to 4-inches from the 3.5-inch panels of all previous models. The elongated iPhone looked a little stretched at first glance, but Apple made a convincing argument that a longer device of the same width made one-handed navigation just as easy as before, while developers would have less work to do getting their apps up to speed.

Apple’s decisions around its Mac range have been more controversial. In portables, the new MacBook Pro with Retina followed the slick displays of the iPhone and iPad with a high-resolution panel first for the 15-inch (in June) and then the 13-inch (in October). A trimming of the unibody form-factor for the first time in some generations, meanwhile, made both thinner and lighter, prompting some split-decisions for potential MacBook Air buyers suddenly faced with the new 13-inch Pro.

Thin was in for the iMac, too, with the all-in-one going on a diet thanks to some visual sleight of hand and condensed internals. No Retina display – such large-scale panels likely being in short supply and at too great a price premium right now – but still space for the Fusion Drive, a combined traditional hard-drive and chunk of flash storage for a relatively affordable balance of cost, capacity, and speed.

Check out our iMac 2012 review for all the details

With slimmer form-factors, however, has come reduced flexibility in user repairs and upgrades: of the new-design iMacs and MacBooks, only the largest iMac supports memory upgrades. None of them are amenable to storage upgrades, and even if you do manage to crack open the chassis without damaging it along the way, non-standard flash storage and other components reduce the potential for easy updates. That decision hasn’t apparently dampened consumer spirits, but the impact may well not be seen until a few years into the life-cycle.

Meanwhile, Apple’s computing behemoth, the Mac Pro, remains largely untouched, prompting concerns by pro-users that the company intends to either “consumerize” the desktop or, worse still, phase it out altogether in favor of higher-spec iMacs. A minor processor bump in June also saw maximum memory support doubled, but Thunderbolt is conspicuous by its absence, as is USB 3.0. Exactly what the upgrade path for Mac Pro users is today is unclear.

The controversy didn’t end with hardware. iOS 6.0 launched alongside the iPhone 5, running into mixed opinions as to whether the platform’s consistency with the very first generation OS was admirable consistency or a sign that things were getting stale at Cupertino. Any real conversation on that front was squeezed out by Apple Maps, however, a new service to replace the ousted Google Maps and one which quickly met with derision.

Out-of-date business data, misplaced locations, nonsensical directions, and a complete lack of public transportation assistance quickly soured initial positivity about the new interface, turn-by-turn driving directions, and 3D “Flyover” graphics. Apple was even forced to publicly apologize, a mea-culpa from Tim Cook quietly followed by the resignation of Maps chief Scott Forstall. Server-side polish continues, but a standalone Google Maps for iOS app almost instantly shot to the top of the App Store free downloads chart when released in December.

Apple’s move to narrow the gap between desktop and mobile continued with the release of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, hitting new Macs and old in late June. Borrowing features like Notification Center from iOS, and fettling the UI to be more similar – and, some criticized, more simplistic and at the cost of easily-accessible advanced features – to what iPad and iPhone users might be familiar with, it nonetheless became Apple’s most successful Mac OS release to-date, with 3m downloads in the first four days.

2012 wasn’t all business-as-usual for Apple, however, despite a product range that for the most part has been successful. The first full year without any input from Steve Jobs, after his death in late 2011, has seen Tim Cook and Co. face a more critical audience. It’s managed, for the most part, to adjust its position while putting a distinctive spin on each launch: following the smartphone industry with its progression to bigger displays, for instance, while opting for a panel aspect that still fits with one-handed use demands.

Still, where once the company might have been able to rely on brand, reputation, and some degree of Jobsian legacy to carry its decisions with sheer momentum alone, the Apple of 2012 and beyond has to adopt a more balanced position in the marketplace. That’s involved legal tussling with Samsung (among others) as the phone industry as a whole tries to get to grips with what’s generic functionality, what’s unique to a brand, and what’s legal homage. Meanwhile, the Apple-faithful – and Apple consumers in general, greater in number as the company’s sales increase – have become more vocal in their support and in their complaints.

That’s new territory for Apple, in recent years at least, but it’s arguably better for the brand and its products. Just as you might not trust your friends’ compliments about your new haircut, questioning their objectivity, so a groundswell of automatic applause every time you launch a product is a good way of losing sight of what the mainstream market thinks. Not so comfortable day to day – especially when the reaction to services like Apple Maps is so vitriolic – but better in the long term, and boding interesting times ahead for 2013.

You can keep up to speed with all the Apple news in our hub

Apple’s 2012 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Much like many Chinese smartphone brands these days, ZTE sub-brand Nubia had prematurely given away the main selling points of its Z5 ahead of its Beijing launch today, but there were still some surprises. As you probably already know, here’s yet another five-inch 1080p Android phone featuring Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz quad-core APQ8064, 2GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage, along with a 13-megapixel F2.2 main camera (with five-element optics by Konica Minolta, plus separate touch focus and touch exposure in the app) and a two-megapixel front-facing camera. For multimedia consumption, the Z5 supports WiFi Display and MHL output should you wish to beam content to a larger screen; whereas on the audio side you are spoiled with either Yamaha or Dolby Digital Plus. But wait, there’s more!

Continue reading Nubia Z5 unveiled in China with quad-core chip, 5-inch 1080p display and 7.6mm thickness

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Nubia

It’s time to jump in on one of the most impressive mech-based first person shooters to have come along for quite a while – Hawken – released for Beta gameplay for the masses this week. This game is developed by Adhesive Games and published by Meteor Entertainment, designed by Khang Le, Christopher Lalli, and John Park, and based in the Unreal Engine 3 universe. In a nutshell it’s a battle game where you’re in a giant one-person machine that blows up other machines for fun – simple concept, fabulous execution.

The set of multiplayer modes you’re working with here in [free beta mode] is currently set at 4 – two basic modes, a Missle Assult mode and a Siege mode. The first two modes are Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch with experience given based on accomplishments through your battle against either your opponent’s team or every single other player in the game. Missle Assult mode has you capturing a set of three missle silos and defending them until they destroy the enemy team’s base.

But it’s really all about the Siege mode when it comes down to it. This undeniably fantastic bit of gameplay is still in Alpha Mode – that being an alpha mode in a beta game, certainly not guaranteed to have a perfect gameplay experience by any means – but, spoiler, it really is rather top-notch even here in its early public stages. In Seige mode your goal is to collect enemy energy units that will launch a battleship for you that’ll move ever-so-gradually toward your enemy’s base.

When your ship is launched, you control the anti-air to attack your enemy’s ships and protect your own ship until your ship has reached its goal – and the enemy is massacred. This and the rest of the modes all exist in a fantastic set of environments the likes of which we’ve only otherwise seen in the highest quality first-person-shooters for high-powered PCs in the past. That and Total Recall or Blade Runner – and the detail is surprisingly deep.

NOTE: It should be made clear here that we’re using an Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M packing Alienware M17x R4 gaming notebook to play this game – we’ve not yet tested the game with much lesser machines than that.

Gameplay controls are rather standard and extremely responsive – WASD and Shift-hold to dart one way or the other, holding down the space bar makes you take off and fly, and holding down the letter C sits your mech down so your back-up helper bot can fly around and repair your broken bits. Communication between players online seems to be up to par as far as both microphone chat and on-screen type, and we’ve experienced no noticeable (or otherwise bothersome) lag in any respect and load-times have been, again, surprisingly quick.

If this game as excellent or better than we’ve seen here in Beta, we’re more than pumped up for the final release. Have a peek at the last time we spoke about the producers of this game and see why we’re pumped up about their hard-hitting future as well. Get ready to be smashed!

Presenting Hawken: free multiplayer mech combat in beta mode is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.