Once upon a time, glass was a fragile thing; now, thanks to toughening tech, ASUS can splash a slab of the stuff across the top of its new Zenbook Infinity notebook. Topped by a sheet of Gorilla Glass 3, the same toughened material as we’re used to seeing fronting smartphones and tablets, the Zenbook Infinity uses that extra rigidity and strength to drop a dress size, metaphorically speaking, and trim things down to just 15.5mm at its thickest.
That’s a roughly 14-percent cut versus the last-generation of Zenbook models, ASUS says, suggesting that the Gorilla Glass 3 treatment isn’t just an aesthetic one. Not to say it needn’t look good, though; ASUS has sandwiched some graphics inside, and the whole thing shimmers and shines like you’d expect a glass lid to.
Inside, and there’s a 13.3-inch display which is also a full touchscreen, for those moments you want to stab at Windows 8. Gorilla Glass 3 gets a second outing around the keyboard area, too, and the keyboard itself squeezes in backlighting.
Underneath meanwhile, there’s one of Intel’s 28W Haswell dualcore processors, while connectivity includes two USB 3.0, a micro-HDMI, and a Mini Display Port. The ultrabook also gets an SD card slot and a headphones socket.
Look at it from the side and you could be forgiven for thinking of a certain Apple ultraportable, with the wedge profile not dissimilar to the MacBook Air. That’s an accusation that is probably going to haunt ASUS to the market and beyond, though it’s worth noting that the company has managed to make a thinner machine than Apple.
The big deciding factor is likely to be pricing, and that – along with when the Zenbook Infinity will reach shelves – is still unclear.
ASUS will bring its new ultrabook, the Zenbook Infinity, to Computex 2013 the company has confirmed, a slimmer, lighter, and – so the company promises – more attractive update to its previous Zenbook models. The new Infinity version will trim its bulk by 14-percent, with thickness down to just 15.5mm, fusing Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on the lid to the aluminum frame.
That Gorilla Glass 3 also features around the keyboard, lending its extra toughness to the lower half of the notebook. Corning and ASUS claim it makes for an ultrabook which is near impossible to scuff or scratch, with the third-gen glass three times as scratch-resistant as its predecessor.
Unsurprisingly, ASUS isn’t giving out much in the way of hardware specifications beyond the design hints. The notebook is more than likely to use Intel’s next-gen Core processors, based on Haswell architecture, just as we’re expecting to see crop up in new MacBook models from Apple tipped for a WWDC 2013 reveal.
One other possibility, however, is that ASUS could offer a high-resolution display, at least as an option. The company has already begun to quietly list a Retina-besting notebook in Europe, running at a hefty 2880 x 1620, though it’s unclear if it has access to a similar-resolution screen suited to the more-ultrabook-likely 13.3-inch form-factor.
Such a high-resolution screen would demand a high-performance graphics chip, however, and it’s unclear if ASUS could fit a standalone GPU into the 15.5mm-thick form-factor. So, more questions than answers right now, but we’ll know more in a few weeks time.
I am quite sure by now that most of us who are familiar with touchscreen mobile devices would have heard of Gorilla Glass by now, where it has been claimed that this glass is capable of some pretty rough treatment through everyday use without breaking. Well, Corning says that the strength of sapphire phone screens might not live up to your expectations, despite being naturally strong, highly scratch resistant, and has the ability to withstand flexing with the added bonus of transmitting light very well – or at least, according to popular opinion.
Corning, the maker of the Gorilla Glass material which sees action across a wide range of smartphone displays, has this to say. After testing the strength of sapphire claims in-house, they claim that sapphire is a poor choice in taking in abuse for large smartphone displays, although they work fine in offering protection to watch faces and camera lenses. So far, no detailed report of its test results have been shared just yet, and there has been no plans as at press time to work alongside an independent testing outfit to confirm its findings. What you hear here are results from Corning’s own in-house test, which was run in Corning’s own lab. Sapphire did well in resistance to macro-scratches, but failed in a tumble test as the device spun close to an hour, picking up scratches that weakened its structure, before it succumbed to a ring-on-ring pressure test.
Corning announced its quarterly results today, and the company beat Wall Street expectations despite a drop in quarterly earnings, thanks in part to a 14 percent year over year increase in sales. Sales for Q4 2012 topped $2.14 billion, with sales of Corning’s Gorilla Glass, the ultra durable material used in the construction of many smartphones and tablets including Apple’s iPhone and iPad exceeding $1 billion for the year.
Corning said the strength of Gorilla Glass sales helped drive its “Specialty Material” sales up 68 percent when measured year over year, and up 10 percent from the previous quarter. Corning reiterated that this reflects the over 1 billion consumer and IT devices that are now using Gorilla Glass as a key component. Corning is prepping new ways to exploit the success of its Specialty Materials division, including Gorilla Glass 3, which got a very dramatic debut at CES 2013 thanks to some stress testing that showed just how much stronger it is than previous iterations and alternate materials.
Another innovation from Corning is its work making new optical Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 cables that actually deliver on the promise of extremely long cable sizes that suffer no negative effects in terms of throughput speeds for data transfer. The optical cables aren’t powered, but they can do 10 Gbps (up and down, simultaneously) on Thunderbolt, and 5 Gbps for USB 3.0. These will likely be big sellers for professionals and advanced consumers who need to network an office or house but don’t want to the sacrifices in data transfer speeds that Wi-Fi entails.
Corning may face competition down the road from Samsung’s flexible displays, but it’s likely to see its fortunes continue to grow for the foreseeable future as mobile computing continues to trend upwards and more devices come to market.
Corning is unveiling the newest iteration of its popular Gorilla Glass line of scratch- and crack- resistant screens at the Consumer Electronics Show tomorrow but we were able to get an early preview of just how tough GG3 really is. And boy is it. More »
Okay, I made that part about gorillas up, but it’s easy to forget the usefulness of Gorilla Glass. A lot of the smartphones and tablet people use everyday are covered in this durable material. That’s one of the reasons that the screen on your phone won’t break if you drop inadvertently. Granted, it won’t protect your phone from any drops, but I’ve been quite happy at how scratch-resistant it is.
And while it’s not actually shatterproof, Gorilla Glass is far more durable than ordinary glass. Now, Corning has revealed that a new version, simply called Gorilla Glass 3. The new glass will be unveiled at CES 2013 and it’s supposed to be even more durable than the previous generation.
There are already many devices covered in Gorilla Glass 2, and I’m hopeful that most of the ones I use next year will be covered in Gorilla Glass 3, assuming that it really does make them less likely to crack and shatter.
[CES 2013] We first heard of Gorilla Glass from Corning some years back, and while it is not shatterproof or could be used to deflect a punch from the Incredible Hulk, Gorilla Glass is said to be far tougher and more rigid than the standard issue display that you find on portable devices such as smartphones, tablets and the like. Well, it seems that Gorilla Glass has received a sequel since then, and at CES 2013, we would be privy to the new generation of super-tough Gorilla Glass that will be formally known as Gorilla Glass 3. How creative, huh? Perhaps all the bananas that the team had eaten during its development had stunted the naming part.
Corning promises “a new glass composition with durability enhancements” which would mean your consumer electronics devices that feature Gorilla Glass 3 will be able to withstand even more abuse than ever before. Well, what is next for Gorilla Glass 4, something that even Wolverine is unable to slice through? [Press Release]
The benefits of having a phone outfitted with Corning Gorilla Glass are already well known, but the company is about to kick it up a notch with a new iteration of the tough-as-nails glass. That’s right – Corning has an all new version of Gorilla Glass ready for the new year, and it will be making its debut at CES 2013. As you might imagine, Gorilla Glass 3 offers a number of improvements over its predecessor, with Corning boasting some particularly impressive statistics to CNET.
Gorilla Glass 3 is not only the thinnest iteration yet, but it’s also Corning’s most durable. Of course, it isn’t going to do much if your device takes a spill onto a hard surface like concrete, but it’ll do quite a bit to keep your display scratch-free. That’s especially handy considering that scratches inevitably happen with everyday use, so if Gorilla Glass 3 can cut down on the frequency of those scratches even more than Gorilla Glass 2 did, then we have a lot to look forward to.
One benefit of making the glass thinner is that your display will be sharper, which is always welcome. Corning says that it has improved Gorilla Glass on a molecular level, improvements which the company is calling Native Damage Resistance. With everything tallied up, Corning says that Gorilla Glass 3 will be three times stronger than Gorilla Glass 2, 40% better at preventing scratches and hiding the ones that do show up on your screen, and 50% stronger once the display becomes flawed. That’s especially important, since deep scratches can lead to shattering later on.
Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing devices outfitted with Gorilla Glass 3 for a little while. Corning says that there won’t be any Gorilla Glass 3 devices available to check out at CES 2013, and they actually won’t begin popping until a couple of months after the show wraps. We’ll see if we can’t spend a little time with Gorilla Glass 3 at CES, but in the meantime, be sure to check out our hands-on with Gorilla Glass 2 for a bit of a refresher.
Corning has made it known that next week, the company will tell us all about its latest ultra tough gadget glass. Details about Gorilla Glass 3 are scant right now, but here’s what we do know: It’ll be tough stuff. More »
The difference between the Google Play Nexus 4 and the T-Mobile Nexus 4 is neither in the hardware nor in the software, but in the cost and agreement you’ll be making with T-Mobile – but that doesn’t mean we can’t give some more time to Google’s own smartphone hero for Android 4.2 Jelly Bean – for science! First be sure to take a peek at our original full Nexus 4 review as done by our own Vincent Nguyen, then have another dive in with the slight differences between it and the T-Mobile edition – must be something for the massive difference in price, right?
Hardware
I had major reservations about the LG Nexus 4 after having experienced the strangely slippery hardware of the LG Optimus G (see our full review here). I’m not talking about any sort of slipperiness in an ephemeral sense – I mean the plastic and glass that makes up the bulk of the device is literally slick. As it turns out here with the LG Nexus 4 though, any little bit of grip friendliness lost is more than made up for by the fabulously well-crafted curved edges of the front-facing panel.
Both the front and back panels on this device are made of Corning Gorilla Glass 2, the newest in undeniably tough glass action from the biggest name in reinforced glass panels for mobile devices today. Under the back panel you’ll find the same Crystal Reflection pattern that the LG Optimus G has, many different squares of reflective material creating an ever-changing pattern of light and dark. The name “NEXUS” sits on the back in big clear letters so you know what you’re using, too.
The display on this device is a lovely 768 x 1280 pixels across 4.7-inches of IPS PLUS LCD. That’s 320 PPI, just above Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus at 316 PPI (PenTile* in that case), and the Nexus S which was all the way back at 235 PPI. For comparison purposes: the iPhone 5 (and 4/4S) sit at 326 PPI and the highest sharpness on the market today exists on the HTC DROID DNA at a massive 440 PPI (across 5-inches of display, no less).
The Nexus 4′s display is as bright, sharp, and vibrant as your eyes can handle – so says DisplayMate. Touch sensitivity on this display has been nothing less than top-notch, and viewing angles are essentially perfect. This device works with an RGB subpixel arrangement rather than the PenTile we’ve seen on several recent device including the Galaxy Nexus. LG’s choice here means that that any pixelation you might have noticed in the Galaxy Nexus is gone here and the display experience is easily one of the best you’ll find on any smartphone or tablet out today.
This device also works with not just wireless mirroring in the near future with Miracast, but SlimPort as well. With SlimPort accessories you’ll be able to mirror your display via full-sized HDMI while your device charges at the same time – quite similar to what the HDMI converter accessories for MHL-compatible devices do. Here though you’ve got compatibility with HDMI, VGA, DVI, and DisplayPort too – though just the HDMI accessory exists at the moment.
Also note that the Miracast standard wireless technology exists on several devices at the moment, also including the Samsung Galaxy S III. You wont find so much as a peep from this technology in the Nexus 4 at the moment, though – we must assume that it’ll show itself once more accessories working with the Miracast standard hit the market. It is strange that Google would market the device as having said abilities without them being utilized right out of the box – isn’t it? Have a peek at a column by the name of Miracast Accessories: don’t jump in head first just yet for more information on the future of this technology – the imminent future, that is.
Camera
The camera is a vast improvement over the Samsung Galaxy Nexus’ clunky 5-megapixel shooter, and not just because you’ve got a few more megapixels to toss around here. It would appear that LG, Qualcomm, and Google have come together to create a camera experience here that’s sharp and clear. It’s not perfect, and we’re not quite ready to say it beats out the Samsung Galaxy S III, Nokia Lumia 920, or iPhone 5, but it’s certainly a contender.
The panorama mode as well as Photo Sphere create images that are impressive to behold, but again, are not perfect. While the stitching of images together to create a whole are rarely done without error, the final product is almost always worth keeping. Have a peek at a couple of Photo Spheres in action in the following: [Mall Parking Lot], [Gas Station], [Arcade] – each are posted to Google+ in full-on exploration mode so you can see them in their natural state. Google cross-promotes their social network and the software here as Android 4.2 Jelly Bean+ will bring on this Sphere ability to all devices that run with it from that point onward – fun stuff!
Initial Cost and Data Plans
Once again, let’s not forget that you literally get the same device from T-Mobile that you’d get from Google here, packaging and all. That said, the off-contract price for the T-Mobile-sold Nexus 4 is up at $499, that being approximately $150 more than the off-contract model you can buy from Google Play. Considering the fact that the Google Play online store is completely sold out of the device right now, with a 4 week wait (for some) before device delivery, you might want to drop that $150 to get it sooner.
The device is available from T-Mobile attached to a 2-year contract for $199.99 (this being that $150 less than the Google Play $349.99 price), which you might as well go for if you’re planning on working with T-Mobile one way or another. T-Mobile has a large collection of monthly plans for data, text, and talk, with the largest being a lovely $124.99 per month for unlimited action for all services with 10GB of data working at full speed (with throttling after that). This plan also includes hotspot abilities so you can share data from your smartphone to your other devices as well as 10GB of cloud storage.
Though T-Mobile does have several unlimited data plans, its worth mentioning that you will be “throttled” after the specified amount of data is used each month. Throttling data speed means you’ve got significantly slower data delivery than, in this case, T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ network normally delivers. You’ve also got a $79.99 per month plan that includes unlimited data, text, and talk, this time with 2GB of high-speed data before throttling.
Wrap-up
The LG Nexus 4 is just as awesome a Nexus device as any that’ve come before it. Google continues to bring forth stronger and stronger devices, amalgamations of power here in addition to standardization for developers. With this generation comes one of the most powerful processors on the planet along with one of the strongest cameras on the market and a rather top-tier experience for not just the expert Android user, but the average smartphone lover as well.
The only thing you’ll want to keep your eye on is the fact that this device does not work with 4G LTE – if you need data speed in a mobile way, this isn’t your best bet – not yet, anyway. If you’re in the shade of the great wi-fi gods on the regular: no worries. Outside of data speed, this is easily one of the most fabulous smartphones on the market today.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
I am quite sure by now that most of us who are familiar with touchscreen mobile devices would have heard of 
[CES 2013] We first heard of Gorilla Glass from Corning some years back, and while it is not shatterproof or could be used to deflect a punch from the Incredible Hulk, Gorilla Glass is said to be far tougher and more rigid than the standard issue display that you find on portable devices such as smartphones, tablets and the like. Well, it seems that Gorilla Glass has received a sequel since then, and at CES 2013, we would be privy to the new generation of super-tough Gorilla Glass that will be formally known as Gorilla Glass 3. How creative, huh? Perhaps all the bananas that the team had eaten during its development had stunted the naming part.
