Hasta La Gadget!

Windows 8 has built-in search tools for apps, but a tweak in the June update to Xbox Music is making that feature more accessible. The media player now lets you search for songs on both your PC and Xbox Music through an in-app button. If you don’t have any local tunes, you won’t have to sign in to start listening — Music now lets you stream 15 tracks through Xbox Music’s ad-supported free tier without using an account. While other bug fixes and UI enhancements are minor in nature, what’s here is enough to justify a trip to the Windows Store for the new version.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

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Source: Windows Experience Blog

No, there’s no new Yoga. You’ll have to keep waiting on that. For now, Lenovo is undertaking a much more modest project: refreshing its existing notebooks with Haswell. First off, the current IdeaPad U310 Touch and U410 Touch are now the U330 and U430 Touch. Other than the difference in screen size (13 inches vs. 14), both will be configurable with up to Core i7 fourth-generation Core processors, along with optional SSDs and a max of 8GB of RAM. While the U330 will be offered with either 1,366 x 768 or 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, the U430 comes with a 1,600 x 900 screen (you can upgrade to 1080p there, too). Oh, and the 14-incher can be had with a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 730M GPU. Both will be available in the third quarter, with the U330 priced at $799 and up and the U430 going for $899. Moving on, the Y410p is the new, 14-inch companion to the Y510, with up to a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and dual 2GB NVIDIA GeForce 750M GPUs arranged in an SLI configuration. Screen resolution is limited to either 1,366 x 768 or 1,600 x 900, however. That’s available now on Lenovo.com starting at $799.

Finishing up with the entry-level S series, we’ve got the 11.6-inch S210 Touch, the 14-inch S400 Touch and the 15.6-inch S500 Touch. One thing to keep in mind is that both of these have Ivy Bridge processors instead of Haswell, as it was an easy way for Lenovo to keep the cost down. Other than that, you’re looking at Core i3 or i5 processors, up to 8GB of RAM, touchscreens with 1,366 x 768 resolution and hopefully some decent battery life (the batteries are so big here they create a hump around the hinge area). Additionally, the S400 and S500 will have optional discrete graphics, with AMD in the S400 and NVIDIA in the S500. Look for those in Q3, with pricing as follows: $429 for the S220, $449 for the S400 and $579 for the S500. Anyhow, since the designs here haven’t changed, we didn’t give these laptops the full hands-on treatment, but we did include some spec summaries in the gallery below, if you’re partial to bulleted lists.

Filed under: Laptops, Lenovo

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Source: Lenovo (IdeaPad Y410p product page)

The products keep coming. The latest announcement from Samsung is a new addition to its ATIV range and it’s a hybrid in more ways than one. Similar to the ASUS Transformer Book Trio, announced earlier this month at Computex, Samsung just introduced its own dual-OS portable. It’s called the ATIV Q, and it combines Android 4.2 and Windows 8. Under the hood, the device is powered by a Haswell-series Intel Core i5 processor and manages to fit a 13.3-inch, 3,200 x 1,800 touchscreen into a 1.29kg package that measures just 13.9mm thick. Other notable specs include an S Pen with 1,024 degrees of sensitivity. There’s space for the stylus to be stored in the bottom corner of the device. Hardware considerations have also been folded into the design, with the processor housed inside the ATIV Q’s hinge. Samsung says that this ensures that heat dissipates from the back of the device.

A software highlight from this particular Windows 8-Android team-up is the ability to share files (photos, documents… seemingly anything that can be opened with programs on the other OS) and share folders across the operating system divide. We can certainly see the usefulness in this approach — sharing images to your favorite Android social app and generally unifying how you use the hybrid, regardless of OS. The ATIV Q will launch globally in Q3, and we’ve been told “in time for the back-to-school season”, which sounds like sooner rather than later. We’ve managed to spend a bit of time with the new multi-talented slider: check out some first impressions after the break.

Update: We just added some video.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Samsung, Google

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Samsung’s long since decided to rebrand its Series 9 series as ATIV Book 9, but it’s only now that it’s got some new Ultrabooks to show off. While the ATIV Book 7 unfortunately jumped the Haswell gun, the higher-end ATIV Book 9 Plus is happy to benefit from those impressive battery savings we’ve already seen from Intel’s next-generation chips. In fact, Samsung is promising 12 hours of usage — and that’s despite the Plus model arriving with an eye-watering 13.3-inch, 3,200 x 1,800 qHD+ display. In addition, there’s up to 256GB SSD storage and 8GB of RAM, two USB 3.0 ports and mini-VGA and micro-HDMI sockets. The screen is protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass and, alongside adding touch functionality since the previous Series 9 Ultrabook, Samsung has crafted a new hinge for its latest flagship, offering two stop-points. Moving the screen through to a standard 105- to 110-degree pitch, the screen strongly resists. Better still, there’s really not that much give as we tapped our way through Windows 8. However, give it more of a sustained push, and the screen bends down to a flat 180-degree position, making it easier to show the screen around a table.

It’s joined by the humbler Book 9 Lite, with a lower (though unspecified) price. Powered by an unnamed 1.4GHz quad-core processor and housing up to a 256GB SSD drive, it promises a cold-boot time of eight seconds, or two seconds from sleep. It’s the same size screen (13.3 inches) as the Plus model, but resolution drops down to 1,366 x 768 — a noticeable difference when you observe the two side by side. Turn them off, however, and the interiors of the two machines are so similar that even the most hardened Samsung exec might be fooled (excepting for that Intel sticker on the high-end model). On the outside, though, the systems remain noticeably different. The Book 9 Plus gets a moody, matte finish to its aluminum unibody, while the Book 9 Lite has a glossy plastic surface. The cheaper Lite model reminds us of the finish on Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone series, but it’d be great to see Samsung bring this other, cooler finish to more products. Both Ultrabooks are expected to land in the US (and elsewhere) in time for back-to-school season. Check out the gallery below, and follow past the break for more impressions.

Filed under: Laptops, Samsung

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Portables aren’t the only ATIV devices Samsung has in store today: Samsung’s DJ Lee unveiled the ATIV One 5 Style this afternoon, an all-in-one PC with a slim 4.5mm metal frame and a Galaxy-style white bezel. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s clearly a Windows 8 PC, and it’s all screen (of the touch variety). Samsung European PC business director Patrick Povel calls it, “The perfect home entertainment device.”

But you’ve already seen the ATIV One 5, you wanna know what’s inside it — we’ve just learned a load more about its specs. The ATIV One 5 features an AMD A6 quad-core processor (which also handles graphics duties), and has 4GB of RAM. The 21.5-inch display has a 1920 x 1080 resolution — we’re still not sure what type of screen that is, sadly, but we’ve asked. The ATIV One 5 Style arrives in the UK “later this year” for an unknown price.

Filed under: Desktops, Samsung

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