Hasta La Gadget! Page not found

Oct 30

iPad Review (4th Gen): Big tablet, Bigger speed

Apple’s new iPad with Retina display played a bit-role at the iPad mini launch, presenting a familiar face to the crowd and packing a potent new chipset inside. The 9.7-inch tablet has already cornered much of the market, with the late-2012 polish basically pushing the slate to the pinnacle of Apple’s processor development, and outfitting it with a Lightning connector to match the iPhone 5. Read on for our full review.

Hardware

You have to look closely to spot the differences between the third-generation iPad and this new fourth-generation model. In fact, from all angles but the very bottom, it’s the same as before: the only outward difference is that the old, 30-pin Dock Connector has been replaced with the new Lightning port as on the iPhone 5 and latest iPods.

That means compatibility with new accessories moving forward, but not with any old docks or gizmos you might have already bought for previous iOS devices. iPad docks are less common than those for iPhone or iPod touch, though there are still some out there, but Apple is shifting to prioritize AirPlay for streaming audio and video and you’ll need a $29 adapter if you want to use your old, 30-pin add-ons.

Inside, though, it’s a different matter. Apple has thrown out the A5X chipset and replaced it with a new, A6X version, which the company says is it’s fastest yet. On paper, it’s up to twice as fast as the A5X, in both graphics and CPU, as well as including updated image processing technology for better results from the iPad’s 5-megapixel camera.

That’s the same camera as before, but the front facing iSight gets an HD update, stepping up from VGA resolution to 1.2-megapixels and now capable of 720p video. The Wi-Fi also gets a polish, supporting dual-band 802.11n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) for better range and speed with compatible wireless routers.

Overall, though, it’s the same slick tablet we’ve seen before. You still get the beautifully crisp, bright, and responsive Retina display, sturdy construction with glass and aluminum sandwiched together neatly, and the same three options for storage: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

Software and Performance

With iOS 6 being pushed out this summer to update the third-gen iPad, it’s no surprise that the iPad with Retina Display runs the same. That means you get all of the usual apps and services – Safari, Apple Maps, Messages, Game Center, the App Store, Siri, and more – it’s just that they’re running on a faster processor.

Day to day, there’s not a significant difference in usability. By its third generation, the iPad was already smooth and showed little in the way of lag, and that same polish is evident here on the A6X powered model. There isn’t the obvious swell in performance that we’ve seen before in, say, stepping from the first-gen iPad to the second, however.

That doesn’t mean the power isn’t there, of course. In Geekbench, which benchmarks processor and memory performance, the 1.4GHz A6X iPad scored 1,768, more than double the A5X iPad’s score of 751. By way of comparison, the iPhone 5 – with its A6 chip – scored 1,616, while the iPad mini, which uses the same A5 chip as in the iPad 2, scores 757.

One place you do get a useful boost is in the browser. We turned to the SunSpider test of JavaScript performance, and were mighty impressed by the iPad 4th-gen’s score of 879.2ms (faster is better); that’s near desktop browser level (286.1ms on MacBoook Pro 13” Retina core i5), and a significant leap ahead of the iPad 3rd-gen’s score of 1,688.9ms.

We then looked to iMovie HD video processing, which is a solid test of CPU and GPU performance. Apple has gradually massaged the video crunching workflow with each generation of iPad, to balance speed and video quality, and the output from the latest model is the best – to our eyes – so far.

In terms of raw speed, the iPad 4th-gen crunched through a 1 minute 720p video in 48.1 seconds and a 1 minute 1080p video in 51.3 seconds. In contrast, the iPad 3rd-gen managed a 1 minute 720p video in 45.0 seconds and a 1 minute 1080p video in 48.2 seconds.

The updated processing abilities became something of an advantage for the iPad 4th-gen when dealing with longer videos, however: a 5 minute 720p clip processed in 3 minutes 57 seconds and a 1080p version in 4 minutes 17 seconds. The iPad 3rd-gen did its 5-minute 720p video in 3 minutes 40 seconds, and its 1080p version in 4 minutes 56 seconds.

With the iPad with Retina, there’s the sense that you’re paying for potential. The current level of apps simply don’t take advantage of the improved chipset – save, perhaps, the browser – but you’re getting the newest connector and the reassurance that your tablet will keep up with whatever App Store developers throw at it over the coming months.

Battery

Apple promises the same 10hrs of browsing, media playback, or music over Wi-Fi from the newest iPad with Retina display, or up to nine hours if you’re doing that over a cellular data connection. In practice, we saw no difference from our iPad 3: that is, in excess of 10hrs of general use from a full charge, suggesting there’s no real penalty for opting for the A6X chipset.

Wrap-up

The third-generation iPad arguably didn’t need refreshing; in fact, if Apple hadn’t opted to change to Lightning, it could realistically have held off changing its largest tablet until early 2013, as per its typical yearly refresh cycle. That makes for a reasonably straightforward upgrade decision if you’re a 3rd-gen iPad owner. Unless you’re desperate for Lightning – perhaps you’ve also got an iPhone 5, and want to use all the same accessories rather than buy the adapter dongle – then we’re yet to see apps that really demand the potent A6X chipset.

On the other hand, it widens the distance between the iPad 2 – which remains on sale as the “budget” full-sized iPad – and the iPad with Retina display. Tomorrow’s battle is the decision between the speed and glorious graphics of the iPad with Retina display, or the portability and convenience of the iPad mini. The incredible, high-resolution screen was already enough to justify the $100 premium over the iPad 2 to our mind; the future-proofing of the speed increase (and the new iPad mini, undercutting the iPad 2 by $70) is simply the coup de grâce.

iPad Review (4th Gen): Big tablet, Bigger speed is written by Vincent Nguyen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 30

iPad mini Review: Apple aims for the everyman

Posted in: Today's Chili

It’s an iPad, but smaller. Boiling down the iPad mini to its core premise may not tell you everything you need to know about the 7.9-inch tablet, but it does set the scene: Apple’s legendary build quality, iOS and the hundreds of thousands of tablet apps in the App Store, and a guarantee that it’s going to polarize consumers. Steve Jobs memorably dismissed smaller tablets, and yet Apple couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about its mini model at the launch event last week. Read on to find out whether, for a small slate, the iPad mini is actually a big deal.

Hardware

At first glance, the iPad mini’s familial resemblance is obvious. Available in white and black finishes – with matching aluminum rear shells, unlike the full-sized iPad with Retina display, which only changes bezel color – it’s considerably reduced in size, down 23-percent in thickness at 0.28-inches deep, and down 53-percent in weight, at 0.68-pounds for the Wi-Fi-only model.

It’s the width and length which are most notable, however. Held in portrait orientation, the 5.3-inch frame is easy to grip in a single hand, your fingers tucked around the edges without feeling stretched. It makes the iPad mini a legitimate alternative to a Kindle or other, similarly-sized e-reader, light enough and scaled the right way to grip for extended periods in bed. The 7.87-inch length, meanwhile, makes for a tablet that’s great for thumb-typing when held in landscape orientation, the iPad mini cradled in your hands.

Inside, there’s a dual-core 1GHz processor, the same Apple A5 dualcore as in the iPad 2, along with a choice of 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of storage. All versions have the same Wi-Fi a/b/g/n – with dual-band 802.11n support, for improved range and speeds with compatible routers – and Bluetooth 4.0, while Apple also offers Wi-Fi + Cellular models that support LTE on select networks (and HSPA+/DC-HSDPA on others). The cellular iPad mini also has true GPS and GLONASS, while the Wi-Fi-only makes do with assisted-GPS.

Both variants use Apple’s new Lightning connector, and have a mono speaker and a stereo headset jack that, with a wired hands-free kit such as comes with the iPhone 5, can be used for voice calls such as over Skype. The cameras are carried over from the full-sized iPad, with a 1.2-megapixel front-facer above the display that supports 720p HD video recording as well as FaceTime calls over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections.

On the back, there’s a 5-megapixel camera with a backside-illuminated sensor, five-element lens, hybrid IR filter, and autofocus; the size of the iPad mini makes it a far more comfortable device to actually use to take photos with, unlike the 9.7-inch iPad which can feel somewhat unwieldy and seems more suited to the occasional, impromptu shot when your smartphone isn’t immediately to hand. Panoramic shots benefit from the smaller size of the iPad mini, which makes it easier to hold still and steadily pan across the scene.

Display

Given Steve Jobs’ well-known attitude toward 7-inch tablets, Apple was never going to launch an iPad of quite that size. Instead, the company opted for a 7.9-inch screen for the iPad mini; while that 0.9-inch extra on the diagonal may not sound like much, it actually makes for a panel that’s 35-percent larger than a 7-inch screen on, say, Google’s Nexus 7. In total, you get 29.6 square inches of display, versus the 21.9 square inches of a 7-inch panel.

The screen itself is an LCD IPS panel running at the same 1024 x 768 resolution as the iPad 2. It’s bright and clear, with great viewing angles no matter which way round you’re holding the tablet; as with the larger iPad, the iPad mini’s UI will flip to suit any of the four orientations. What you don’t get is “Retina” resolution, Apple’s shorthand for a display where the pixel density is so great that, at a typical operating distance, the average human eye can’t differentiate the individual dots.

Higher-resolution displays of a similar size to that of the iPad mini are available; Apple’s compromise, however, is to maintain compatibility. By sticking to one of the two established resolutions – either 1024 x 768. or 2048 x 1536 as on the iPad with Retina display – it means all of the applications intended for existing iPads will fit properly on the iPad mini.

Had Apple opted for a halfway measure with the ambition of increasing the pixel density from its current 163 ppi – picking a display somewhere between the resolution of the iPad 2 and the Retina version – it would have delivered smoother visuals but at the cost of simple compatibility. Developers would have to update their apps to suit a third resolution; as it stands, even though it’s a different size, the iPad mini has access to the near-300,000 iPad-friendly App Store apps out of the box.

To accommodate that particular 4:3 aspect ratio panel, and achieve that all-important fit in the hand, Apple has dramatically shaved away the bezels on the longer edges. It can leave the iPad mini looking a little unusually proportioned at first glance, compared to the thicker frame of the full-sized 9.7-inch iPad, but it’s a decision that makes sense after a little time with the tablet. As for whether the 1024 x 768 resolution itself has an impact on usability, while it’s lower than 720p HD, video playback still looks solid. Webpages at minimum magnification in the browser inevitably require at least a little zooming in order to make the text a comfortable size for reading, though that’s more down to the sheer size of the text on a display of this scale, than it is the resolution it’s rendered at.

One of the little-recognized reasons for the 9.7-inch iPad’s wider bezel is that it helps keep your thumbs away from the edges of the display when holding it. That avoids mis-touches or swipes, which can be particularly frustrating when they change page in an e-reader app like iBooks or Kindle for iOS. For the iPad mini, Apple has replaced the physical grip-space with software cleverness: the thumb-rejection system promises to differentiate between the touch of a typical grip on the body of the tablet, and a specific point of contact when selecting an app or control.

Not all apps support thumb-rejection, at least initially, and we noticed around 10- to 15-percent of the time it didn’t work as expected. However, the remainder of the time it’s surprisingly effective: you can hold the iPad mini with the edge of your thumb resting along the border of the display, without it being recognized as a touch or swipe. Apple says the number of compatible apps will increase in time, as well.

Apple offers both AirPlay Video for streaming up to 1080p Full HD to an Apple TV, or an optional video output dongle. The Lightning to Digital AV Adapter is compatible with the HDMI port found on most current TVs, while the Lightning to VGA Adapter hooks the iPad mini up to a computer display.

Software and Performance

iOS 6 on the iPad mini may be smaller than we’ve seen it on an Apple tablet before, but it’s a familiar platform and we were quickly up to speed despite the diminished scale. All of Apple’s regular apps are present – Safari, Mail, FaceTime, iTunes, Game Center, Maps, and more – along with Siri, which expanded to the iPad line over the summer. iBooks isn’t preloaded but is available free from the App Store, and now supports auto-scroll for touchless reading; again, it underscores the iPad mini’s suitability as an e-reader alternative.

The iPad mini may not have the A6X processor of the new flagship fourth-gen iPad, but the A5 is sufficient to keep things moving smoothly without making a huge dent in battery life. Navigation around iOS shows no real lag or delay, and apps load quickly; the A5 doesn’t have to drive all the pixels involved in a Retina display, after all, and so it’s overall a satisfactory experience. For those particularly curious about raw benchmarks, the iPad mini scored 757 (higher is better; the iPad with Retina display scored 1,768 in comparison) in Geekbench and completed the SunSpider test of browser JavaScript performance in 1,698.9ms (lower is better; the iPad with Retina display managed an impressive 879.2ms).

One of the more taxing challenges Apple’s tablet faces is video editing, and with its 5-megapixel camera and Full HD video capture, iMovie performance is an important metric. We tested the smaller tablet with both 1 minute and 5 minute video clips, each at both 720p and 1080p resolution. It processed the 720p short clip in 56.8 seconds, and the 1080p short clip in 1 minute 2 seconds. As for the 5-minute clip, that took 4 minutes 31 seconds for the 720p version and 4 minutes 56 seconds for the 1080p.

They’re unsurprisingly slower than the iPad with Retina display managed, but not outlandishly so, flattering to the iPad mini’s potential. Video clips can also be imported using the Lightning to SD Card Adapter or Lightning to USB Camera Adapter, making the whole thing a competent portable movie studio. Opt for a 4G version and you could shoot, edit, process, and upload your entire movie while on the move, without ever having to plug the iPad mini – or your camera – into a computer. Compatibility with Bluetooth keyboards, meanwhile, means entering text is more straightforward, in effect turning the iPad mini into a tiny workstation.

Battery

Apple quotes up to 10hrs of wireless browsing over Wi-Fi for the iPad mini, or up to 9hrs if you’re using the tablet’s cellular connection. In practice, with a mixture of browsing, some video playback, games, music – both locally-stored and streaming – and messaging, we comfortably exceeded Apple’s estimate. In fact, we exceeded 11hrs of use before encountering a battery warning.

Accessories

With the same Lightning connector as on the iPhone 5 and the iPad with Retina display, the iPad mini has access to the same range of accessories as elsewhere in Apple’s range. In addition to the external display adapters for HDMI and VGA, and the SD Card and USB Camera import cables, there’s also a new iPad mini Smart Cover.

The premise is the same as the existing Smart Cover Apple has been offering for its full-sized iPads: a flexible, rollable screen protector that both covers the display when not in use and wakes the tablet from sleep when opened. It can be folded into a stand to prop the iPad mini up at angles suited either for typing or for watching video, and attaches to the side of the slate magnetically.

Unlike the metal bar hinge of the larger Smart Cover, the iPad mini gets a new, fabric-covered design, which is sleeker and doesn’t make the tablet bulky. On the inside there’s a microfiber lining, gentle to the touchscreen, while the outside is available in a choice of six colors: dark gray, light gray, blue, green, pink, and (PRODUCT) RED.

iPad Mini vs Nexus 7

Wrap-up

As the pre-launch rumors proliferated, some questioned whether Apple really needed a product that slotted in-between the 4-inch iPhone and iPod touch, and the 9.7-inch iPad. Others questioned what sort of price bands Apple would target: whether the iPad mini would be a budget option to directly take on the spray of low-cost Android tablets.

Instead, the iPad mini is a product that’s resolutely “Apple”: it distills the essentials of the 9.7-inch iPad – iOS app compatibility, multimedia functionality, premium build quality, and comprehensive connectivity – without diluting them to unnecessarily meet a budget price point the company has no real interest in achieving. The iPad mini isn’t a cheap tablet in comparison to $199 Android-powered options, but it feels better in the hand, has a huge number of applications specifically intended for tablet use, and delivers what it promises to in a cohesive and predictable way.

What it also means is that the iPad mini isn’t the iPad you buy simply because you can’t necessarily afford the larger iPad with Retina display. There are legitimate arguments for the smaller model, not undermined by flimsy construction or compromised capabilities. If you spend much of your time mobile, the iPad mini is easier to transport; if you’re a keen reader, the iPad mini is easier to hold and navigate through. If you’re addicted to the internet and don’t want to view it through the 4-inch window of the iPhone 5 or iPod touch, Safari on the iPad mini delivers more size at a scale that’s still bag or purse-friendly.

In the end, it’s about an overall package, an experience which Apple is offering. Not the fastest tablet, nor the cheapest, nor the one that prioritizes the most pixel-dense display, but the one with the lion’s share of tablet applications, the integration with the iOS/iTunes ecosystem, the familiarity of usability and, yes, the brand cachet. That’s a compelling metric by which to judge a new product, and it’s a set of abilities that single the iPad mini out in the marketplace. If the iPad with Retina display is the flagship of Apple’s tablet range, then the iPad mini is the everyman model, and it’s one that will deservedly sell very well.

iPad mini Review: Apple aims for the everyman is written by Vincent Nguyen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 30

Star Wars Episode 7 scheduled for 2015: yes, really!

Posted in: Today's Chili

George Lucas has taken the opportunity here in his lifetime to make a deal with Disney this week to sell his company Lucasfilm and all rights to the Star Wars empire, this ushering in news that nearly as large: a new Star Wars movie will appear in 2015! The Lucasfilm company is being transferred to Disney for an agreement in cash and stocks for $4.05 billion USD, a number strikingly similar to the total amount of cash the Star Wars franchise has earned in box office cash to date: $4.4 billion. Don’t get those two numbers mixed up – meanwhile, get pumped up for Star Wars Episode 7 in less than three years!

The next Star Wars movie has no real details surrounding it at the moment other than the fact that it will, indeed, be housed in the same Star Wars galaxy (of course), and that it’ll almost certainly be made with real-world actors. By 2015 though, there’s no knowing what that could entail – having seen the advancements in movies like Tron: Legacy, we wouldn’t rule out Mark Hamill and Carrie Fischer coming back for another jaunt. As the official release on the subject goes, the episode will expand the universe “well into the future.”

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

With the visual effects in films advancing at an exponential rate, by the time 2015 rolls around, we’ll have a new Star Wars film that’s advanced beyond our wildest imagination. George Lucas will continue to help with the process, but from there the sky is the limit. New directors can be brought in, and as Lucas has made clear:

“It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products.” – Lucas

The next generation is coming, Star Wars fans! This is good news unless you’re one of those in love with the original trilogy – classic forever. If you haven’t let go of the idea that everything outside that first set of three is sacrilege, now would be a good time.

Star Wars Episode 7 scheduled for 2015: yes, really! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 30

Live at Microsoft Build 2012 for the dawn of Windows Phone 8!

Posted in: Today's Chili

This week Microsoft is holding their yearly developer conference with Windows Phone 8 at the forefront right here at the start of the mobile OS, but the desktop OS Windows 8 and tablet OS Windows RT as well – and we’re here all week to bring it to you live! Build is essentially the Microsoft equivalent of Google’s own Google I/O and Apple’s WWDC – it’s Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and Windows RT’s turn now. This Build is unique in that it comes immediately following the release of Microsoft’s new fave

Jordan Rudess, keyboardist for the musical group Dream Theater stood on stage at the beginning of the first keynote this week to show off some apps that his group developed. He’s not just a musician, he’s a developer as well. Using a Surface RT and a giant Lenovo touch-capable All-in-One PC to make it happen with Windows 8, he set the tone for the whole conference: multi-touch, multi-use, cross-platform action. His app Tachyon (which you may have heard of before) brings on a lovely musical bit of madness for the masses.

We’re expecting not just one whole heck of a lot of new information from Microsoft this week other than developer-specific details. If you’re interested in the guts of the system, [stay tuned to our Microsoft hub.] It’s time to see what Microsoft has in the insides of this next-generation release!

Also have a peek at the timeline below to see some more Windows Phone 8 action as it came on down over the past couple of weeks. This weekend is the big drop internationally, and Microsoft stores across the earth will be bringing you every phone in every color in the very near future – get pumped up to the max! And don’t forget to check out our full Windows Phone 8 review as well!

Live at Microsoft Build 2012 for the dawn of Windows Phone 8! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 29

Scott Forstall and John Browett set to exit Apple as “Collaboration” efforts commence

Posted in: Today's Chili

It would appear that Apple has some relatively major internal changes coming up as both their head of Retail John Browett and SVP of iOS Scott Forstall are announced to be exiting the company in the very near future. Forstall will be leaving in 2013 and will be serving as advisor to CEO Tim Cook until that time, while John Browett will be out without a timeframe – immediately, we must assume. This announcement is joined by assurances that Apple will be making changes that involve Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi adding more responsibility to their plate and that Tim Cook will be in charge of Retail until a new head of Retail can be found.

This update has Eddy Cue taking on additional responsibilities inside the universes of Siri and Maps. This change has all of Apple’s online services put in one group, a group that’s overseen items such as iCloud, the Apple Store, and the iTunes Store. Jony Ive will be adding Human Interface to his plate, this added to his giant role of leader of Industrial Design which he’s held for some time. As Apple says, “His incredible design aesthetic has been the driving force behind the look and feel of Apple’s products for more than a decade.”

Mister Craig Federighi will be taking charge of both OS X and iOS at once. This will have both systems – mobile and desktop – seeing more integration than ever, making one user experience key for those that work with both. Bob Mansfield will be leading a brand new group called Technologies. This Technologies group will be covering Apple’s wireless teams across the entire company into one organization.

Technologies will also include the semiconductor teams and will be “fostering innovation in this area at an even higher level” than ever before. Expect big things to continue to come from Apple, but that this change of the guard in a couple of yet areas to have a real effect on the innards of the company. Now we must wait to see what’s next for Browett and Forstall – or who will be lucky enough to attain their talents!

[via Apple]

Scott Forstall and John Browett set to exit Apple as “Collaboration” efforts commence is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 29

Nexus 10 detailed as “highest resolution on the planet” tablet

Posted in: Today's Chili

This morning Google has gone through with announcing their full set of devices and software even without the accompanying event – hitting it all off with the Nexus 10, a tablet with a rather sharp display. This device has a 10.1-inch display with 2560 x 1600 pixel resolution (300ppi by Google’s count) and a battery they say will last 500 hours on standby – or 9 hours playing video. This unit works with a front-facing set of stereo speakers not unlike the Galaxy Note 10.1 or Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and is indeed made by Samsung.

This device is what Google calls the “first truly sharable tablet” as its using Android 4.2 which works with multiple users that can be switched from the lockscreen. Each user has his or her own email, apps, bookmarks, and settings. Your own home screens, music, and gaming scores, too! This unit will be appearing on the 13th of November for a set of different prices depending on the internal storage in the USA, UK, Australia, France Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan.

Also note that the Nexus 10 has a PLS display – that meaning plane-to-line switching. It’s both absolutely bright and sharp as a tac. We’ll certainly be getting more hands-on time with this device as well as the Nexus 4 and its wireless charger soon. Google will have this device ready for the wi-fi seeking market first, then 4G LTE sooner than later – no word on exactly when quite yet!

Prices will be $399 for the 16GB version and $499 for the 32GB version, and inside with the newest version of Jelly Bean (that being essentially Jelly Bean+,) it would appear that Google has created another rather interesting value proposal, right alongside the Nexus 7 – also updated in price and specifications today – and the Nexus 4. Stay tuned for more via our Android portal! (Update: UK pricing is £319 for the 16GB model and £389 for the 32GB)

Nexus 10 detailed as “highest resolution on the planet” tablet is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 29

Google LG Nexus 4 official: $299 unlocked from November 13

Posted in: Today's Chili

Google and LG have officially announced the Nexus 4, the latest Android smartphone, running 4.2 Jelly Bean on a quadcore processor. The LG-made smartphone has a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 True HD IPS+ display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset running at 1.5GHGz paired with 2GB of RAM; Google plans to sell it unlocked for use on GSM/HSPA+ networks worldwide, as well as via T-Mobile USA with a contract. However, there’s no LTE support, which will disappoint many.

Instead, you get regular 3G and HSPA+, along with a choice of 8GB or 16GB of storage. There’s also an 8-megapixel main camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, a 2,100 mAh battery good for up to 15.3hrs talktime or 390hrs standby, and all squeezed into a 139g device measuring 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1mm.

Google has included NFC, unsurprising given it wants to push adoption of Google Wallet, along with wireless charging. The update of Jelly Bean adds Swype-like Gesture Typing in an update to the keyboard, and Photo Sphere, which allows 360-degree images to be shot and shared on Google+ or embedded into Google Maps.

The Nexus 4 will be available at $299 for the 8GB and $349 for the 16GB, unlocked and SIM-free from November 13. It’ll be offered via the Google Play store in US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada. Meanwhile, the 16GB version will also be offered through T-Mobile USA, priced at $199 with a new, two-year agreement.

Update: UK pricing is £279 for the 16GB, unlocked model, and £239 for the 8GB.

Google LG Nexus 4 official: $299 unlocked from November 13 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 29

Sandy stops Google (but new Android news was hardly a mystery)

Posted in: Today's Chili

It would appear that the force of nature named Sandy did not want her good friend Microsoft to be washed out by Android news just one week after the fact, as today’s Google event was cancelled on account of her rapid approach. That’s all well and good, and Google is certainly going to have a replacement event, but what we know already of the event is… well… more than likely basically everything. Start your journey down this path of explosive news with the release – regardless of a lack of announcement – of the 32GB version of the Nexus 7, out in stores right this minute if you know where to look. From there it’s all software and a few surprises in the Nexus universe, too.

For those of you ready for a whole new tablet environment, have a peek at the Google Nexus 10 in a short hands-on video. This device will have a 10.1-inch display, the same processor we saw in the Series 3 Chromebook we love so well, and will be running Android 4.2. We’ve seen this device snapping photos on a beach as well as in several hands-on photos from all angles.

The LG Nexus 4 has been leaked several times and has appeared quite likely to be taking on many of the features of the LG Optimus G (see our review here). This device has been left at a bar as well as in a full user handbook and specifications layout. This device will have a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor under the hood and more than enough juice to last you a day or two – with Android 4.2 under the hood once again.

We’ve not actually heard one whole heck of a lot about Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean+), believe it or not, other than a few feature points. We’re expecting multiple users to be able to log in on an Android device, different user accounts depending on who is using the phone – separate file systems for each, and some enhanced usability features for the tablet environment. This release of both the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10 is more than likely about to bring about wireless charging as a standard for the whole Android-toting world, too.

It will likely be less than a week before we see these items all come to fruition, but it’s hard to say how Google will run this show now that the initial event has had to be cancelled. Stick around SlashGear as we catch Microsoft’s second show in the meantime – Windows Phone 8 starts today!

Sandy stops Google (but new Android news was hardly a mystery) is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 29

Philips hue iPad-controlled LED lightbulbs hands-on

Posted in: Today's Chili

Colored LED lighting that could be remotely controlled used to take professional installation and thousands of dollars; now, Philips’ new hue system makes it as easy as screwing in a bulb. On sale on Tuesday – initially exclusively through Apple Stores – the hue bulbs screw into a regular ES fitting and are remotely controlled from iOS or Android apps over a ZigBee connection, either locally around the home or (handy if you’ve left the lights on while you’re on holiday) anywhere with an internet connection. They’re hardly a cheap replacement to a standard incandescent bulb, though, so we spent some time with Philips to find out why hue is special, and how the system could actually make us happier or more productive.

The starter box – containing three bulbs and the base station – is priced at $199/£179, while individual bulbs are priced at $59/£49. That might seem expensive on the face of it (though Philips has high-end white LED bulbs in its range that are $50-60 alone) but, in comparison with the LivingColors lamps which come in with an RRP of £159 apiece, it starts to look more reasonable. If you’ve already bought any LivingColors models, incidentally, you’ll be able to use them with the hue system too (with one or two limitations).

Installation is simple: screw in the bulbs, plug the ZigBee base station into a spare ethernet port on your router, and hook it up to the mains. A pairing button on the base station allows you to link up any other hue bulbs, while three LED lights show system status including whether there’s an internet connection for remote access. Since ZigBee is a mesh system, each hue bulb can talk to each other: bulbs can be a great distance from the base station itself, just as long as there are other bulbs spanning the intermediate distance (though lag increases the more mesh-points the signal needs to hop through).

Philips hue official demo:

The bulbs themselves use 8.5W at most, and – at 600 lumens – are equivalent to 50W traditional bulbs. They also use a special internal coating that, coupled with the shape of the glass, projects light more evenly around the bulb, meaning there isn’t a dead-zone to your lamp. Officially, up to 50 can be paired with a single base station, though Philips told us that in fact that’s more of a quality-assurance guarantee; in fact, the company has had 250+ bulbs paired with test systems, and had no real issues with them. Bayonet fitting versions are in the pipeline.

Control is via smartphone and tablet app, with iPhone, iPad, and Android versions available at launch; up to ten devices can be linked to control any one base station. The software itself is surprisingly comprehensive. At its most basic, you can adjust the color of any one bulb across the spectrum, including adjusting brightness and color temperature, from a rich red, deep blue, bright white, or anything in-between. You can link up two or more bulbs into a group, and control them all simultaneously, and create preset scenes which each have their own icon on the app’s homescreen.

However, there’s also color sampling to be played with. Philips includes a number of photos in the app – scenes like beaches or mountains – and by dragging pointers linked to each lamp, you can recreate the color of that point in the image. Again, custom setups of multiple lamps tied to different points can be saved, or you create a random arrangement by physically shaking the tablet or iPhone.

You can alternatively pick out a photo from your own photo gallery – or take a new photo, within the Philips hue app – and select colors from that instead. Each of the scenes, whether basic colors or based on photos, can be set to timers, either turning them on or off; you can also have them gently fade in or out over a period of several minutes, helping you to gently wake up or drift off to sleep. Of course, you can also shut off all the bulbs with the tap of a single button.

Finally, though, comes Philips’ splash of science. The company preloads four “LightRecipes” – relax, read, concentrate, and energize – which adjust lighting to specific shades and brightness levels based on research into how those scenarios affect the human body. Philips says testing in schools showed students did better in tests, were calmer, or read faster and more accurately, depending on the different setting active at any one time. It’s worth noting that older LivingColors lamps won’t work with these new LightRecipes, as they don’t have the settings baked in like the new hue bulbs do.

There are some sensible tweaks and decisions Philips has made along the way to the hue system overall. An override feature automatically lights the bulbs up to a regular white “lamp light” default if the physical power switch is used, just in case of emergency, and you can easily deactivate a phone or tablet from the control group in case it’s lost or stolen (or if your kids insist on triggering a mini disco in your room at 2am every day). At launch, the Android app will lack the out-of-house remote control feature, though Philips says it’s coming; if you have any existing remotes from the LivingColors line-up, the company confirmed to us that they, too, would still work, useful for the less tablet-savvy in the household.

Perhaps best of all, it’s all designed to be open. Philips’ base station works as a regular ZigBee hub, and so will function with any other ZigBee devices that conform to the standard, while the individual bulbs are compliant with the ZigBee Light Link standard and so can be integrated with wireless home automation setups you might have already. The company is also opening up its app to third-party developers, in the hope that they’ll step in and augment the functionality. Suggestions included flashing the lights when you get a VIP email, synchronizing color changes with musical playlists, or geo-location so that the lights automatically turn on when you get home, and off when you leave. Individual users will be able to use the site to swap color scheme presets.

At sixty bucks apiece, hue bulbs aren’t cheap. However, the popularity of recent Kickstarter campaigns for WiFi-enabled bulbs such as Lifx – which raised more than 13x of its goal – has shown that there’s a consumer interest for more flexible, smarter lighting. Unlike fund-raising projects, though, Philips’ hue system ships from tomorrow, not sometime next year, and comes from a company with a long history in lighting. We’ll be putting hue through its paces soon, to see if the promise lives up to the price.

Oct 27

MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina Review

Posted in: Today's Chili

Apple finally gave ambitious road-warriors with excellent vision the Retina MacBook Pro they’d been demanding, a 13-inch model to join the existing 15-inch Pro at the pinnacle of the company’s mobile range. Promising the same eye-watering visuals with the sort of processing power the Pro line-up is known for, the 13-inch version also makes some concessions so as to slim down to suit more frequent travelers. Is this the perfect notebook for your bag? Read on for our full review.

Hardware and Design

Side by side, the two Retina-class notebooks are almost identical in their thickness. The 13-inch model is actually slightly thicker – we’re talking a millimeter’s difference, mind – but the disparity in weight (3.57 pounds versus 4.46 pounds), width (12.35 inches versus 14.14 inches), and depth (8.62 inches versus 9.73 inches) are the most noticeable changes. If the original Retina MacBook Pro is a long, thin slice of computer, then the smaller model is a tiny powerhouse that can easily be dropped into a bag without demanding the sort of performance compromise of, say, a MacBook Air. Next to the old-style 13-inch, meanwhile, the differences are considerably more obvious. The new Retina model is thinner, lighter, narrower, and even less deep.

Still, there are some compromises to be made for reducing bulk (and for starting $500 less) from the 15-inch Retina Pro. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina loses the discrete graphics option of its 15-inch sibling, making do with Intel HD Graphics 4000, though you can still power two external displays – via a combination of the two Thunderbolt ports and the single HDMI – and run the notebook’s own display simultaneously.

Storage starts off at 128GB of flash, with 256GB, 512GB, and 768GB options; the default processor is a 2.5GHz Core i5 dualcore, whereas the 15-inch model heads straight to Core i7 quadcores. You can pay extra for a Core i7 chip on the 13-inch, but it’s the dualcore, not the quad. Memory is a fixed 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L, with no option to change that.

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina: Hands-on and comparisons:

All the ports, wireless connectivity, and 720p webcam are the same as we saw on the 15-inch, as is the backlit keyboard and sizable trackpad. That means you get a pair of Thunderbolt connectors (which can double as Mini DisplayPort), two USB 3.0, a headphone jack, SDXC memory card slot, and an HDMI output. Inside there’s WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, and a pair of microphones are on the left edge.

Apple’s industrial design continues its gradual evolution toward thinner, pared-back computing, and the new MacBook Pro is no different. From the side, it’s like the old model but flatter; you can also glimpse the new “side gill” vents which are part of the reworked cooling system. In use, it’s quiet, with the fans only rising to a concentrated hum during the heavier moments of our benchmarking. The compromise to be made is one of repairability and room for improvement: the memory is soldered to the logic board, so as to shave away bulk, as is the processor, and the flash storage uses a proprietary connector so it’s sensible to buy the biggest drive you can afford initially.

Display

The 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina display is, at 2560 x 1600, slightly lower than the 2880 x 1800 of the 15-inch, but because of the smaller size its pixel density is even higher: 227 ppi compared to 220 ppi. With both in front of you, though, you don’t see any difference – the whole point, after all, is that the pixels aren’t supposed to be individually identifiable – only the mesmerizing detail and smoothness of the graphics that leave other notebook displays, no matter how bright or colorful, looking crunchy and jagged. Viewing angles are broad enough that you might have to worry about those next to you on the plane glancing over and seeing what you’re working on.

As before true Retina mode on the MacBook Pro doesn’t actually give you 2560 x 1600 resolution. Instead, you get a simulated lower resolution which is smoother all round, since each pixel is in fact a cluster of smaller pixels.Yyou can optionally switch out of Retina mode and pick a higher effective resolution, though the 13-inch misses out on the 1920 x 1200 of the larger machine; instead, the maximum is 1680 x 1050, still impressive (and impressively detailed) for a relatively small notebook. Third party applications are available which will force the display resolution even higher, though are not officially supported by Apple.

Apple is quoting a 75-percent reduction in glare from its new Retina display, versus the previous MacBook Pro 13. In practice, there’s certainly fewer reflections, which adds up to more flexibility in where you can use the notebook. It’s not a true matte finish, mind, though by ramping up the brightness you can use it outdoors and still see what’s going on.

Performance

We actually have two new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina models on our test bench: the 2.5GHz Core i5-3210M dualcore (3MB L3 cache) and the 2.9GHz Core i7-3520M dualcore (4MB L3 cache). Each has 8GB of memory and supports Intel Turbo Boost, up to 3.1GHz and 3.6GHz respectively, and is running Mac OS 10.8.2.

We started with Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. The Core i5 machine scored 6507 overall, while the Core i7 pushed that to 8238. It’s worth noting that the increases weren’t solely in the processor categories: the Core i7 model also recorded better memory scores, suggesting that it makes better use of the 8GB it has. Still, each is a fair step behind the 15-inch Retina model, which scored 12,970 with its 2.6GHz quadcore Core i7-3720QM and 8GB of memory. Performance was roughly on a par with the mid-2012 13-inch MacBook Air.

MacBook Pro 13 with Retina – Core i5 – Geekbench:

Benchmark Score – MacBookPro10,2

Section	Description	Score	Total Score
Mac OS X x86 (64-bit) – Mac OS X 10.8.2 (Build 12C2034)
Integer	Processor integer performance	5081	6507
Floating Point	Processor floating point performance	8755
Memory	Memory performance	4979
Stream	Memory bandwidth performance	6691

MacBook Pro 13 with Retina – Core i7 – Geekbench:

Benchmark Score – MacBookPro10,2 i7

Section	Description	Score	Total Score
Mac OS X x86 (64-bit) – Mac OS X 10.8.2 (Build 12C2034)
Integer	Processor integer performance	6545	8238
Floating Point	Processor floating point performance	11131
Memory	Memory performance	6500
Stream	Memory bandwidth performance	7516

We then turned to Cinebench, which benchmarks processor and graphics performance with a mixture of 3D rendering and OpenGL testing. It’s a good way of examining how a system will handle intensive tasks such as video processing, or gaming.

The Core i5 model scored 2.12 CPU points, while the Core i7 scored 2.81 CPU points, or roughly half the result you’d expect from a quadcore processor. Unsurprisingly, with no discrete GPU, graphics performance showed the biggest hit, with the Core i5 managing 14.81fps and the Core i7 squeezing out 19.69fps.

By way of comparison, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina’s NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M GPU saw it record a score of 34.30fps in the same category. The MacBook Air managed 16.41fps.

If you’re planning use your new Mac for serious graphics or video editing, our suggestion would be to stick to the larger Pro, as the standalone GPU pays dividends. Of course, it also requires more power, though it includes the same Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip for more everyday use.

Battery

While the battery in the MacBook Pro 13 Retina may be smaller than before – 74-watt-hour, or versus the 95-watt-hour of the 15-inch – the fact it’s driving a smaller screen and less extreme components means Apple rates it for the same runtime: up to seven hours of wireless web browsing, or 30 days standby. However, the 60-watt MagSafe 2 power adapter is slightly smaller and thus continues the theme of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina being easier to transport.

In practice, with a mixture of web browsing over WiFi, some music playback, a couple of YouTube videos and some emailing, and the display set to a usable half brightness, the Pro lasted just over six hours. Scaling that back to solely browsing and we broke past Apple’s seven hour estimate by a couple of minutes. In contrast, a more ambitious use of the notebook for video playback and some brief video processing in iMovie saw the battery expire in around four hours.

Wrap-Up

The $2,000 mark is an important mental barrier, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina’s $2,199 starting price put it out of consideration for many. In contrast, the 13-inch version starts at $1,699 with the 128GB flash drive, rising to $1,999 for the 256GB model.

Increasing storage isn’t cheap – you can boost the entry-level model to 768GB, yes, but it’ll cost you more than a MacBook Air to do so – but the $200 extra for the Core i7 dualcore strikes us as a worthy upgrade given the impact it has on performance overall. Apple still offers the non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,199 with the same 2.5GHz Core i5 dualcore, though to specify the same memory and a 128GB SSD you’re looking at $1,499. You also get a gigabit ethernet port, FireWire, and an optical drive, though you miss out on the lighter chassis and far improved Retina display.

While the Air might be the smallest of Apple’s notebook line-up, the 13-inch Pro hits a more palatable sweet-spot for balancing power, performance, and functionality. At $1,699 and up, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display sits at the premium end of the notebook market ($500 less than the entry-level 15-inch model, mind, although you do get extra performance for that) but it does offer features that, right now, you can’t get elsewhere. Those for whom sheer power – particularly multimedia editing – is essential should probably opt for the bigger model, but those road warriors looking to pare back weight and bulk without unduly sacrificing usability will find a lot to love in the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.