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Techradar |
- Review: Onkyo TX-NR5008
- In pictures: Sony PSP2 - codenamed NGP
- PlayStation Suite for Android devices revealed
- PlayStation Suite for Android devices revealed
- Sony PSP2 - Next Generation Portable handheld announced
- Orange and T-Mobile to debut NFC mobile payments this summer
- Facebook to use friends' faces as a security measure
- BBC iPlayer iPhone app imminent
- 100 P2P users responsible for '66% of illegal uploads'
- Updated: 15 best Android tablets in the world
- Gary Marshall: Black-Eyed Peeves
- Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook fan page hacked
- MSI WindPad: what you need to know
- Twitter given a $4 billion price tag
- LG Optimus 3D outed in press invite?
- HTC Flyer tablet specs leaked
- HTC to launch Facebook-branded phones at Mobile World Congress
- Firefox 4 Beta 10 arrives with added stability
- Samsung Galaxy Ace detailed in video
- Review: Samsung SF310
- Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc gets UK price
- Review: BK Electronics XXLS400DF
- Review: Sanyo PLV-Z4000
- Increased TV sales, but LG's latest results disappoint
| Posted: 27 Jan 2011 01:32 AM PST  When Europe's biggest AVR brand unveils a new flagship, it's time to take your head out of the popcorn bucket and pay attention. Not only has it outsold pretty much every other brand in the UK (and Germany) since 2009, but the Japanese marque has also consistently been first to market new AV receiver technology. As I write it sounds as if cars are being lobbed into each corner of my viewing room. Onkyo's latest heavyweight, the TX-NR5008, is in full flight. The heavy metal objects landing around me are Iron Drones, dropping down to square-off against Shellhead and War Machine, for their climatic face-off in Iron Man 2 on BD. What follows is 360˚ of bedlam, with ordnance panned every which way. The big NR5008 handles the DTS-HD Master Audio multichannel mix with thrilling precision. The wife complains that it sounds as if the house is being demolished. Welcome to home cinema sound on a devilishly large scale. Feeling familiar If you're looking for a radical form factor to usher in 2011, then you won't find it here. The TX-NR5008 is a cookie-cutter battleship, indistinguishable from last season's TX-NR5007. Unlike rival Marantz, which has applied an entirely new design aesthetic to its latest AV receiver range, there's no fresh ground being trod here. Connections are extensive. There are eight HDMI inputs (including one under the fascia flap for a quickie console or camera hook-up), all of which are 3D capable (one of the key differences between this model and last year's NR5007 iteration).
Also new is a PC VGA/mini-jack audio input that helpfully outputs over HDMI, and with a view to family friendly integration, you get HDMI pass-through for those who want to play a disc without utilising the AVR. A pair of HDMI outputs is provided to feed both a display and a projector, simultaneously if you like. Other niceties include Onkyo's Universal Port jack for iPod and peripheral accessories, Ethernet and USB (one on the rear, another under the fascia flap). Basically, if you need a connection, it's probably there. Setting up shop Room calibration is achieved via a small supplied pyramid mic, using Audyssey 2EQ algorithms. In my experience, these systems tend to have unpredictable results, but are usually worth a shot. The AVR pulses out test tones so that the room response can be analysed. The number crunching employed here is actually very good. The Audyssey system ironed out some lumpy mid-bass introduced by my listening room to give a better overall balance. I still felt the urge to tweak (the LFE output was too low for starters), but generally I felt the calibration effort provided a good starting point. Codec support is class leading. In addition to Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, there's Dolby Pro-Logic IIz, which creates a seven-channel soundstage from any stereo source. There is also plenty of DSP, plus extra height/ width processing options in the form of Audyssey DSX and Dolby Pro-logic IIz. Personally, I can't get too het up over height channels – at least not hard-wired ones. I suspect for the vast majority, they are just too problematic to implement; the front heights need to be placed about 100cm above the main stereo pair to be effective. My listening room just doesn't have that kind of ceiling height (users of smaller standmount L/C/Rs might have more options). Unless it's possible to extend the soundfield virtually, I'm not inclined to experiment. Audyssey's DSX width processing is more intriguing. It's based on the premise that an extremely wide front soundstage with two rears is more immersive and realistic than you'll get from a conventional 7.1 system with four surrounds. Whatever configuration you prefer, there are plenty of options you can deploy. With the NR5008 sporting nine channels of amplification, you can even have your cake and eat it, running extra height and width plus side and rear back channels (9.2). For the bulk of my audition I ran the receiver in a 7.2 format. The NR5008 is undeniably versatile. If you don't want to fill your living room with loudspeakers, you could choose to run 5.1 multichannel in your main room and stereo in two other zones. I'm not sure that too many UK enthusiasts have needed multiroom audio from an AVR (our homes are just not as big as those in the US) and looking ahead, wireless solutions such as Air Play seem a far more sensible option if the concept floats your boat. Curiously, Air Play is not part of this Onkyo's arsenal. Are we seeing the brand slip behind some of its rivals for the first time in years, when it comes to introducing technical innovations? THX and beyond Half the fun of any listening session with the NR5008 involves juggling sound modes. Of course, there is the usual selection of DSPs available, the best of which are Orchestra (which emphasises the surround channels and adds extra reverb), Unplugged (which does the reverse and stresses front stereo) and All Channel Stereo (basically a full-on party mix). The unit is THX Ultra2 certified, and courtesy of a dedicated THX chipset offers re-equalisation, bass management, adaptive decorrelation and timbre matching to pretty much anything that makes a noise. THX post-processing used to be fairly straightforward, but now it comes in a bewildering array of flavours. I remain a fan of the standard THX Ultra Cinema mode, and find THX Surround EX (aka Dolby Surround EX) a great processing embellishment for 5.1 TV material, like Fringe (Sky One HD). Included as part of the Audyssey suite is Dynamic EQ with Dynamic Volume. This seeks to maintain bass response and dialogue intelligibility at lower volume levels, and evens out variances in source volume. THX appears to have an equivalent, THX Loudness Plus, but it's actually a somewhat different proposition, having been designed to protect the integrity of the soundfield when listening at less than reference levels, by goosing the surround channels and frequency response in a way that keeps the spatial cues and depth of the mix intact.
This is not a Night mode. Unless you're very fortunate and have a totally isolated cinema, I'd wager it's unlikely you'll be listening at Reference level too often, so it's worth switching this on as standard. One of the big surprises offered by this Big Onk is Neural post processing, of which there are two variants: Neural Digital Music and Neural Surround. The former is designed to take two-channel compressed audio and expand it out to whatever multichannel configuration you're running. Neural Surround does much the same for uncompressed sources. Developed by THX and now owned by DTS, Neural Surround also allows broadcasters to transmit high-quality multichannel via low-bitrate, two channel. Putting aside its role as an encode/decode tool, I found it astonishingly effective doing post-processing duties on twochannel source material. The stereo track Seraphim, by Digitonal (a Studio Masters release by Linn Records) gained space and scale using Neural Surround processing. A FLAC 970kbps 24bit/44.1kHz recording, the needlesharp electronica curled gorgeously around my listening position. Obviously, not everything works as well. Beethoven's Fifth (Studio Masters Linn Records) just didn't need to be posted about the room in the same way. The AVR preferred this FLAC (2496kbps 24bit/96kHz) recording in its original stereo format, and I agreed. Similarly, the title cut from Steve Steven's Flamenco.A.Go. Go. (DTS DVD-Audio) ended up having half the band dumped in the rear channel. But the mode scores more hits than misses and is well worth playing with. Controls and networking Navigating the NR5008 is not massively intuitive, but to save you digging into the Setup menu every five minutes (which snatches you away from any source selected), there is now a simple Home overlay which offers basic video, audio and listening control. The NR5008 offers a good selection of networking audio tools. You can pull your MP3s from networked NAS devices, PCs and USB media, or stream audio from the internet. A range of music formats are supported, including FLAC, AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA and Ogg Vobis. The 'net radio option comes pre-loaded with subscription services Last FM and Napster, while VTuner internet radio makes Japanese rockhouse Someya Junkie Station just a few clicks away. You can add other 'net radio aggregators by accessing the NR5008 via a browser. Moving around the receiver's net/USB environment feels a little shoddy. You can't call up the Home overlay over the net playback screen; it flips away to a blue-screen. And occasionally, for no apparent reason, the transport keys became nonresponsive when playing back a track. Still, hooking up my iPod to the front USB allowed the NR5008 to perform a neat trick: displaying album art. However, while the AVR found all my networked music servers, disappointingly, it was unable to display album art from them. This is a receiver that rewards high-quality sources. A Studio Master recording of Subbuteo, by Admiral Fallow (Linn Records), brought the Glaswegian indie rockers stomping into my living room. The 24bit FLAC recording, played from USB Flash drive, offers three-dimensional vocals and raw, nuanced guitar. The NR5008 will also accept a DSD stream from a Super Audio CD player over HDMI. I hooked the AVR to Sony's BDP-S570 and was amazed at just how precise the imaging was. Emi Fujita's melodious vocal work on the SACD Camomile Best Audio (Leafage) had a tangible sense of air and space, while her unplugged version of Walking in the Air reveals just how refined the AVR can sound when not wound to the wick. Shining star
An effective update on an already well-regarded AV receiver design, the TX-NR5008 does almost everything with élan. As a movie machine, it's a West End theatre capable of throwing a sonic envelope wide and loud; but it's also a sophisticated musician, at home with hi-res source material. While integration of new media sources could be a little more seamless, it's well worth an audition Related Links
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| In pictures: Sony PSP2 - codenamed NGP Posted: 27 Jan 2011 12:50 AM PST  Sony has unveiled the Sony PSP2 – codenamed NGP for Next Generation Portable and we have already written it down on our wishlist and underlined it three times in red ink. The latest handheld features an ARM Cortex-A9 processor, a 5-inch OLED touchscreen, accelerometer, 3G, WiFI and GPS as well as a rear mounted touchpad. And, joy of joys, it also has two proper analogue sticks. So without further ado, here are the official pictures of the device in all its glory.
Sony PlayStation - PSP2 - NGP - Next Generation Portable: we'll call it whatever it likes as long as we get to take it home and fondle its analogue sticks.
Sony PlayStation NGP: Looked at from straight on, you can see that the layout of the analogues, buttons and D-pad should make using it very similar to using a traditional PS controller - though your hands will obviously be further aprt to accomodate that gorgeous 5-inch OLED touchscreen.
PSP2 NGP-The OLED screen:The OLED screen is the literal centrepiece of the PlayStation NGP, offering OLED brightness, touch capability and a 960x544 resolution. It's likely to offer one of the best portable screens around - and its five inches in size.
Rear-mounted touchpadThe back features a touchpad - something we've seen on mobile phones in the past but now brought here to give an entirely new handheld user experience. Gimmick or useful addition? Time will tell.
NGP in hand: Thickness wise - the Sony PSP2 looks to be realtively similar to the original PSP back when it launched. This probably isn't going to feel comfortable in your pocket, but we're prepared to put up with this inconvenience...
Shoulder buttons: The shoulder buttons also look similar to its predecessors.
Side on: The side view gives a proper view of the analogue sticks rather than nubs. The prominence of the buttons is also clear.
Underneath: This gives us a glimpse of the ports. 
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| PlayStation Suite for Android devices revealed Posted: 26 Jan 2011 11:41 PM PST  Sony announced the successor to the PSP, codenamed the NGP (Next Generation Portable), at a conference in Tokyo today and also revealed that the PlayStation brand is going cross platform. This is all to do with something called PlayStation Suite. This service will bring PlayStation-like gaming to Android devices, according to Sony, which means that the PlayStation Phone must be around the corner. "Today, we are announcing PlayStation Suite," said Sony's Kaz Hirai at the event. "It extends the PlayStation experience beyond. It's our first cross platform and it will offer PlayStation content for Android. "It will also ensure PlayStation quality across various devices." PlayStation, sweet! While this is all very well, the service isn't looking to cannibalise its own portable gaming market, as the quality of the games will only be to a "first gen PlayStation" standard. TechRadar is unsure whether this means PSP or PSOne, however. Bringing a hardware agnostic game framework to mobile phones is an interesting one for Sony and paves the way for 'with PlayStation' handsets – much like some current handsets have the 'with Google' moniker. There is no UK release date for the PlayStation Suite but it is meant to come within the next calendar year – which give Microsoft some time to sort out its Xbox-like game offerings for Windows Phone 7 devices. 
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| PlayStation Suite for Android devices revealed Posted: 26 Jan 2011 11:41 PM PST Sony announced the successor to the PSP, codenamed the NGP (Next Generation Portable), at a conference in Tokyo today and also revealed that the PlayStation brand is going cross platform. This is all to do with something called PlayStation Suite. This service will bring PlayStation-like gaming to Android devices, according to Sony, which means that the PlayStation Phone must be around the corner. "Today, we are announcing PlayStation Suite," said Sony's Kaz Hirai at the event. "It extends the PlayStation experience beyond. It's our first cross platform and it will offer PlayStation content for Android. "It will also ensure PlayStation quality across various devices." PlayStation, sweet! While this is all very well, the service isn't looking to cannibalise its own portable gaming market, as the quality of the games will only be to a "first gen PlayStation" standard. TechRadar is unsure whether this means PSP or PSOne, however. Bringing a hardware agnostic game framework to mobile phones is an interesting one for Sony and paves the way for 'with PlayStation' handsets – much like some current handsets have the 'with Google' moniker. There is no UK release date for the PlayStation Suite but it is meant to come within the next calendar year – which give Microsoft some time to sort out its Xbox-like game offerings for Windows Phone 7 devices. 
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| Sony PSP2 - Next Generation Portable handheld announced Posted: 26 Jan 2011 10:44 PM PST  Sony has finally shown off the successor to the PSP, with what it is currently calling the Sony Next Generation Portable. Announced at a Tokyo press event, the NGP (hasn't quite got the same ring to it as the PSP2) has Sony SixAxis controls (which means dual analogue sticks) and two cameras, front and rear. There's also much bigger screen on the device than than PSP - a 5-inch OLED screen with 960 x 544 resolution. There's a touch pad on the front and rear of the device and it has been given Flash memory. Couple this with 3G and WiFi, the NGP looks like a killer device.That's not all, Sony is saying the NGP has graphics to rival the PS3 and all of its games will be PlayStation 3 compatible. Game demos To prove this Kaz Hirai from Sony showed off Uncharted on the NGP, as well as LittleBigPlanet and Resistance. In the Uncharted demo it was shown how the innovative touch panel will work. Essentiallly, you can use this for more detailed parts of the game, like climbing up mountains, and you can touch the panel to move the character around. The Sony Next Generation Portable also has something called LiveArea UI - this is and interface for gamers that logs them into downloadable content from the PSN. Worldwide studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said about the NGP: "You can tilt the console and you can see the images clearly from every angle. "The most frequent request from PSP users was to add a right-side analog stick. "We developed this 'micro analog stick'. Despite its small size, it delivers a Dualshock experience" There's no PlayStation Next Generation Portable UK release date as of yet and pricing is to be announced. Sony has also announced that there will be a number of PlayStation Certified devices coming out, which makes the brand platform agnostic. This points the way for the much rumoured PlayStation Phone, which is based on the Android OS. 
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| Orange and T-Mobile to debut NFC mobile payments this summer Posted: 26 Jan 2011 04:01 PM PST  Orange and T-Mobile, under the joint banner of Everything Everywhere, will be rolling out NFC-enabled SIM cards this year for mobile payments in association with Barclaycard. Customers will be able to use their mobile phone to simply swipe and pay for items at a range of outlets, which already number over 40,000, from Q2 2011. This will include Pret a Manger, EAT, Little Chef, McDonalds and Co-Op, and Everything Everywhere has confirmed to TechRadar that more outlets are likely to be announced by the time the technology rolls out. No touching, can't get mad A spokesperson said: "Outside of payments, we also support the vision of mobile contactless lifestyle services. "We see a future where a consumer can use the mobile phone to spend on the high street, get discounts and redeem in store as well as use the phone as a ticket for the bus, train or access to a sports or music venue." As the payment system is SIM based, customers won't need to have a high end device like the Google Nexus S, although the technology will be handset dependent. TechRadar was also told a range of devices from prominent names will be rolled out over the coming months to support the technology used. Orange has long been a staunch supporter of getting NFC technology onto the high street, and it's not surprise it's finally doing so under the Everything Everywhere brand, which will mean more customers can get behind the scheme. The finished plans for the roll out haven't been finalised as yet, so expect to hear more about how 2011 will be the year contactless payments comes of age in the near future. 
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| Facebook to use friends' faces as a security measure Posted: 26 Jan 2011 09:44 AM PST  Facebook has revealed it is working on a new and rather innovative security measure for the site, which involves the identification of your Facebook friends. Facebook has been looking at ways to add an extra layer of security to your Facebook account Inception-style, which will stop would-be hackers taking over your profile. While security protocols, rather embarrassingly, didn't work this week for a Mark Zuckerberg fan page, Facebook is hoping that 'social authentication' will bring more security to the site. Knowing who your friends are "Instead of showing you a traditional Captcha on Facebook, one of the ways we may help verify your identity is through social authentication," said Facebook in a blog. "We will show you a few pictures of your friends and ask you to name the person in those photos. "Hackers halfway across the world might know your password, but they don't know who your friends are." It's true that hackers don't know who your friends are, but do you? Some people will have procured a number of hangers-on in their friends list, so it will be interesting just how many legitimate people get stuck on trying to name their friends. Social authentication is still in the test stage at the moment, but it could well be the thing to deter hackers from getting to your profile – especially if they don't like the look of your mate's ugly mug. 
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| BBC iPlayer iPhone app imminent Posted: 26 Jan 2011 09:13 AM PST  The BBC iPlayer app for iOS devices, including the iPod, iPad and iPhone, is nearing launch and should be in the App Store for February. This is according to PaidContent who have been given the nod by an unnamed source that Apple users will soon be able to watch the iPlayer on their portable devices without having to go through the laborious task of viewing content through a web browser. It's been a long time coming for the BBC iPlayer app to enter the App Store. Announced way back in February 2010, the app was meant to be in place before 2010 was out but never actually made it to market. This was because the BBC Trust had to look into whether the iPlayer app, alongside a dedicated news and sports app, were the right thing for the BBC to release. It turns out apps were part of the company's raison d'etre, which promptly brought on the release of the hugely successful BBC News app and gave the greenlight for the iPlayer on the App Store. No Android Unfortunately there is still no word as to whether Google Android will get an official iPlayer app. Considering Erik Huggers is departing at the end of February to snuggle up next to Will.i.am at Intel, and massive job cuts have been announced for the web arm of the BBC, it's unlikely we will see an Android version of the iPlayer anytime soon. 
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| 100 P2P users responsible for '66% of illegal uploads' Posted: 26 Jan 2011 07:35 AM PST  A new study carried out by students at the Carlos III University of Madrid, have found that it is an extreme minority of P2P users that make file-sharing services tick, with as few as 100 people responsible for 66 per cent of illegal uploads. After taking a look at the 55,000 files that found their way on to two of the biggest P2P networks - Mininova and The Pirate Bay – they found that the majority of traffic to these files was done by the minority. Now, this research does need to be taken with a pinch of salt – especially considering Mininova has recently 'gone legit' – but the findings are interesting, given the researchers claim to have "developed a tool that facilitates the gathering of relevant information related to thousands of files that are shared through the BitTorrent application." Minority v majority "The success of BitTorrent is due to the fact that a few users make a large number of contents available in exchange for receiving economic benefits", explained Professors Rubén Cuevas, Carmen Guerrero and Ángel Cuevas in a statement. As well as "around 100 people" being responsible for 66 percent of the content that is published, they are also responsible for "75 percent of the downloads". The information in the study could be important to copyright owners looking to nip P2P traffic in the bud, given that the study concludes that most of these 'top publishers' seed material on to the web for monetary gain. "If, in the future, these users lost their incentive, either because of a decrease in advertising income or due to having to pay very expensive fines, BitTorrent would very likely cease to offer these contents," says the study. 
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| Updated: 15 best Android tablets in the world Posted: 26 Jan 2011 06:45 AM PST  Our list of the best Android tablets in the world - regularly updated If you're looking for a tablet and don't fancy an iPad, then Android is the way to go: while Windows tablets are on the horizon, Android ones are here, they work and they've usually been tweaked to include finger-friendly interfaces too. We've gone from zero Android tablets to stacks of the things in a very short space of time, and inevitably some are better than others. Some have ten-inch screens, others seven and some just five, and there are big differences in battery life, processing power and on-board RAM. So which tablets are the most tempting? Let's find out.
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Gary Marshall: Black-Eyed Peeves
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 06:19 AM PST
For the finale of last month's Paper Clips and Metal Fastenings 2011 show, they wheeled out the pint-sized popstress Pixie Lott.
"All the paper clips, they've got it going on," she sang to a crowd of chubby middle-aged men, tears visible in the corners of her eyes.
"And when you clip that paper the feeling in your bones," she added, dancing awkwardly, looking for all the world like someone praying for an early death.
No, not really. But it's not that far from the truth. Like a rubbish Rutger Hauer, I've seen things you wouldn't believe.
I've seen the Pussycat Dolls gyrate on poles to raise awareness of the improved standards support in the latest release of a web browser.
I've seen Queen Latifah pretend to find Bill Gates funny while promoting a new kind of DRM.
And I've seen Will.i.am lend his considerable talents to Intel. At last, the world of cutting edge processor manufacturing will benefit from the expertise of the man who co-wrote the immortal My Humps, which was, of course, about "lovely lady lumps".
Celebrity endorsement is nothing new, of course. U2 did an iPod. Gwen Stefani teamed up with HP six years ago to market printers - something Polaroid resurrected last year with Lady Gaga.
I understand it. I really do.
It's just all a bit crap.
Lipstick traces
Gettting Will.i.am to babble about tech is no different from getting Katie Price to open a supermarket or Kimberley Walsh to endorse a lipstick: something that isn't particularly newsworthy or even interesting suddenly becomes exciting due to the presence of celebrity.
In some cases, the celebrity even brings something to the table, so for example Dr Dre's made HP happy by bringing his Beats Audio to the firm's line of laptops.
In many cases, however, it's just an excuse for the firm to trot out some desperate PR bullshit that makes you feel a little bit embarrassed for everybody involved.
Here's Polaroid's blah about Lady Gaga: "This collaboration between two cultural icons reflects Polaroid's long standing tradition of innovation tracing back to founder Dr. Edwin Land and Lady Gaga's mission to deliver products that enable creativity for all, celebrate artistry and make sharing instantaneous across the physical and digital."
Translation: Gaga's signed a camera, a printer and a pair of magic glasses.
And here's Intel's blah about its Black Eyed Pea: "He's not only a brilliant artist and producer, but also an innovator pushing the bounds of technology professionally and personally… Will.i.am will collaborate with Intel on many creative and technology endeavors across the "compute continuum" that may include such devices as laptops, smart phones and tablets… Will.i.am is also already working on music expressly for Intel."
In other words, Will.i.am will do a few ads and bash out the odd bit of music. That's great. Do we really need all the PR nonsense, too?
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Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook fan page hacked
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 05:16 AM PST
As the CEO of Facebook, you'd think Mark Zuckerberg's fan page on the social network would be the safest of all; but today saw it hacked by parties unknown.
The fan page, which has nearly three million 'likes', seemingly posted a message calling for Facebook to transform into a 'social business'.
However, it was neither Zuck nor his PR team who posted the status, which was swiftly removed (but not before over a thousand people 'liked' it).
Bad zuck
The status update was hashtagged '#hackercup2011', an annual competition in which hackers compete to solve puzzles for "fame and glory".
It looks like one hacker certainly deserves a special commendation for the act, although it's not really in the spirit of the thing.
The hack raises serious questions about Facebook's security, particularly as we store more and more information about ourselves on the networking site. It comes after recent concerns prompted Facebook to back down over sharing users' data with advertisers.
The password is password
While it's unknown whether the hacker actually did anything more sophisticated than guess the password for Zuckerberg's fan page, the fact that such a prominent user can be hacked is worrying to all Facebookers.
Facebook has declined to comment thus far; probably busy trying to think up a new password.
Via Facebook and TechCrunch
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MSI WindPad: what you need to know
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 05:00 AM PST
MSI is one of the most prolific netbook makers, so it's not a huge surprise to see it muscling into the emerging tablet market too.
What is surprising is that it's taking an eternity: despite months of news releases and artfully shot images, you still can't buy it.
So what's going on? It looks like the WindPad models we first saw last January weren't quite ready for prime time, because the WindPad specifications MSI is talking about now include Menlow and Tegra processors, Windows 7 and Android 3.0.
The MSI WindPad software is Windows - and Android
According to MSI's press release there will be two versions of the MSI WindPad. The MSI WindPad 100A will be running Android, and the MSI WindPad 100W will run Windows 7 Home Premium.
The MSI WindPad software includes MSI's WindTouch
Not content with Windows 7's touch features, MSI has added its own touch overlay to make the WindPad more finger-friendly. It's not clear whether the WindTouch software will also appear on top of Android.
The MSI WindPad UK release date might be just after March
MSI says the release date will be "Q1 2011", but others are more specific: Engadget says the WindPad tablet release date will be February, or March, and Journal Du Geek reports that the Windows version will go on sale in France in February. We'd expect a UK release date either simultaneously or shortly afterwards.
The MSI WindPad specifications are pretty hefty
The Windows WindPad, the 100W, will pack a 10.1" screen, an Intel Menlow Z530 processor, a 32GB solid-state hard drive, 1024x600 resolution and an HDMI output. It all sounds rather netbook-y, doesn't it?
The Android model, the 100A, will have a dual-core Tegra 2, more dots in its 10.1" screen - 1280 x 800 this time - and Android 3.0 if it's finished in time.
The MSI WindPad specifications include gravity sensors
MSI promises "gravity detectors", but sadly they just mean that the MSI WindPad can tell if it's hurtling through the air en route to a close encounter with the ground. The MSI WindPad specifications also include an ALS light sensor to adjust screen brightness, a compass and GPS, Wi-Fi and optional 3G.
The MSI WindPad will run Gingerbread if Honeycomb isn't ready in time
The WindPad is a year late, and all of a sudden MSI's worrying about deadlines? Apparently so. It's a funny old world.
The MSI WindPad UK price hasn't been announced yet
Are you surprised? We're not. MSI prices tend to be reasonable rather than dirt-cheap or super high, so we'd expect the WindPad UK price to be competitive with other similarly specified Android tablets.
For the Windows model, think high end netbook prices: Asus's Windows tablet, the EP121, looks set to be £800-plus, but it's considerably more powerful than the MSI WindPad. MSI has announced US pricing for the 100W of $499, and Journal Du Geek says the price in France will be 550 Euros. At current exchange rates and taking VAT into account, that means a UK price of around £500 to £560.
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Twitter given a $4 billion price tag
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 04:46 AM PST
Twitter may not be up for sale or even a public company, but that hasn't stopped SharesPost announcing that it thinks the micro-blogging site is worth $4 billion (c£2.5 billion).
SharesPost is a bit of an oddity in stock market circles. Founded in 2009, it allows you to buy bits of a private company that is yet to float.
Out of the 100 or so companies on the secondary market, there are many technology sites you can buy into including Google, Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn and now Twitter.
Sharing Twitter
Because of the way the market works, prices for companies are usually built on a lot of rumour, speculation and a smattering of hype.
Twitter has had a whole lot of the above because of its heady rise through the social-networking ranks, and this has led SharesPost to value Twitter, according to Mashable, at a whopping $4 billion.
To put into context how changeable the value of a company can be, in the spring of 2010 SharesPost valued Facebook at $1.6 billion.
Fast forward to Goldman Sachs investing a reported $1 billion into the company for a one per cent share and this value has now been inflated to $50 billion with some even saying £75 billion.
Whatever the price of Twitter, its revenue is set to grow massively in 2011. Website eMarketer is reporting that the service will earn around £95 million this year, which is triple what it made in 2010.
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LG Optimus 3D outed in press invite?
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 04:37 AM PST
LG looks almost certain to announce a 3D-enabled phone at Mobile World Congress 2011, after press invites emerged of a mystery new device.
TechRadar was sent the invite to attend LG's press conference in Barcelona next month, with the enigmatic device sitting stop the words 'Into a new dimension' - it doesn't take a genius to figure out that riddle.
Combined with news that Dutch site AllAboutPhones put up a placeholder for the LG Optimus 3D recently, only to swiftly remove it, the phone in the picture seems very likely to be that handset.
Coming soon
LG showed off a 4.3-inch 3D autostereoscopic display at CES this year, and that would fit perfectly with the phone shown here - although it would be one of the larger handsets on the market.
LG is also likely to announce the world's first 3D-enabled tablet at MWC 2011 too after a French spokesperson was reported to let key details of the forthcoming LG Optimus Pad slip.
TechRadar will be at MWC this year to sample the delights on offer from LG, so keep checking back for our hands on LG Optimus 3D and LG Optimus Pad reviews.
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Posted: 26 Jan 2011 04:24 AM PST
Specifications of the upcoming HTC Flyer tablet have been leaked to a Norwegian mobile site - at this rate, there are going to be no surprises at Mobile World Congress 2011.
Although there's been some consternation over the name of HTC's first Android tablet (HTC Scribe is also in the mix), it looks like the HTC Flyer could be the real deal.
No one is quite sure what version of Android the tablet will ship with. Some reports suggest Android 2.3, but if that's the case then we're sure an update to the tablet-focussed Android 3.0 will be imminent.
Skype hype
The new specs tell us to expect a 7-inch 1024x600 resolution screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (on a par with that of the Desire HD – no dual-core goodness here) and HDMI with DLNA enabled for wirelessly streaming videos and music.
It's no surprise that video calling looks to be a key feature given the 1.3-megapixel front-mounted camera.
However, the source claims that no calls will be carried out over GSM (despite super-3G being present); rather, there'll be a dedicated Skype app through which all calls will take place.
The rear-mounted camera is better quality, with a 5-megapixel sensor and LED flash.
HTC Sense and sensibility
HTC Sense has also received a minor makeover, with some small tweaks apparently giving it a "desktop feel" more appropriate to the tablet form; no word on whether or not it will be renamed HTC Sensation though.
If the source is to be believed, HTC is also beavering away on a 10-inch slate intended for a release in the second half of the year.
It's looking very much like we can expect HTC's Android tablet to make an appearance at Mobile World Congress 2011, where we'll bring you the official specs and a hands on review.
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HTC to launch Facebook-branded phones at Mobile World Congress
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:48 AM PST
HTC is about to unleash two Facebook-branded phones on the world at Mobile World Congress 2011.
City AM is reporting that it "has learned" that HTC has an official partnership with the social network and is planning to reveal the handsets at the Barcelona trade show, although it doesn't cite an actual source.
The handsets, described as high-end smartphones, will be the first to bear the Facebook branding and colours, beating INQ's rumoured Cloud Touch handset to the punch.
Android revisited
It looks like HTC has re-jigged a version of Android to fully integrate Facebook, incorporating what seems to be an extended address-book tie-in and prominent home screen alerts.
Whether Facebook features like chat and social applications will be available remains to be seen.
With no official information yet on the loose, UK availability and UK pricing are unavailable; but we'll be sure to bring you the news as it breaks at MWC 2011 next month.
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Firefox 4 Beta 10 arrives with added stability
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:43 AM PST
Mozilla has unveiled the latest beta for its upcoming Firefox 4 browser, which comes just nine days after the last beta update and brings some minor changes and a whole lot more stability.
Mozilla is in the final stages of its beta releases for the fourth iteration of Firefox, with the company saying that it will have just one more beta before the big arrival of Firefox 4.
The biggest change for the latest beta is that Mac OS X users now have better Flash support.
Less bugs
As with all the beta releases, Mozilla is hoping to get comments from users about the browser, so that it can translate this information into new features and iron out any niggles in the process.
What Mozilla will be hoping with the release of Beta 10 is that Firefox 4 has become faster and less buggy.
With Chrome currently winning most speed tests and Internet Explorer 9 being, well, more like Chrome and nothing like its previously criticised iterations, Firefox has to work hard to stand out in the browser wars. So this beta testing is essential for the company to pick up tips.
To download Firefox 4 Beta 10, head over to Mozilla's website.
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Samsung Galaxy Ace detailed in video
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:26 AM PST
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The Samsung Galaxy Ace has been detailed on video by UK network Three - complete with a cheeky look at TechRadar.
Three's blog spends a few minutes walking through the main features of the Galaxy Ace, with the browser, music player and apps all on show.
Three is touting the Galaxy Ace as packing 'Froyo+'... which in reality is simply Android version 2.2.1, a very incremental upgrade to the OS that fixes a few bugs and generally keeps everything running ship shape.
Flash and it's gone
It seems the Galaxy Ace won't be packing a Flash-enabled browser from the outset, as Three recommends you download SkyFire to perform that function, so it looks like this might not be the fully-functioning handset you might hope it will be.
The Samsung Galaxy Ace has been given a UK release date of March, and will be coming on Three's The One Plan - so it should land between £25 and £30 a month on that theory.
We'll be looking to get our hands on: Samsung Galaxy Ace review to you as soon as possible when it's shown off at Mobile World Congress 2011 - so stay tuned for that one.
Check out the video for yourself if you want to see how the new phone looks in the hands of a real live human - and keep your eyes peeled for a sneaky TechRadar cameo!
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Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:23 AM PST
Any new thin and light weighing in at £750 has a lot to prove in a crowded market. It needs to stand out stylistically, yet still offer strong value for money.
It's not an easy task, because on one side you'll find Apple's impossibly thin MacBook Air redefining style, while on the other you have the ever-expanding glut of netbooks, typified by the likes of Samsung's own N230 proving that a little cash can go an incredibly long way if the right components are used.
What hope is there for the likes of the SF310 then? What can it do to raise more than a passing interest?
First impressions are positive – a run-down of the components list used in the Samsung SF310 will placate the techno savvy.
The presence of an Intel Core i5 processor, Nvidia discrete graphics, LED screen and good storage options all quickly put to bed any notion that this is a trumped-up netbook. No, the Samsung SF310 is a fully fledged laptop, and it just so happens to be wrapped up in a delightly designed shell.
The sculpted curves on displays may not be quite to Apple's Macbook Air levels, but this is a machine that celebrities won't be embarrassed to be seen holding.
The Samsung SF310 is a 13.3-inch 'thin and light' laptop, although at over 2kg the 'light' part may be pushing things a little. You do get a healthy chunk of components for your cash, though, not least of which is the Core i5 processor beating at its heart – specifically, the 460M running at 2.53GHz.
In turbo, you can expect this to hit 2.8GHz when the dual-core processor is put under pressure.
The Core i5-460M is a powerful processor, although the recent introduction of the next generation Core i5 chips under the Sandy Bridge codename conspire to make this feel dated already.
Samsung has equipped this chip with the right tools to do its job, though, with 4GB of DDR3 system memory (complete with a 64-bit OS to make the most of it) and a healthy 320GB providing plenty of storage space. You're even given the option of backing up to DVD if needed.
Wireless 802.11b/g/n networking comes as standard, and Samsung claims that the six-cell battery is good for nearly eight hours of use. Bluetooth 3.0 support makes an appearance in the SF310, along with a rather natty USB 2.0 port that can power your devices even when the machine is off (as long as you have power, of course).
The big star of the specification list has to be the discrete Nvidia GeForce 310M GPU, which packs 16 CUDA cores (DirectX 10.1 compatible) and 512MB of RAM to call its own.
This GPU supports Optimus too, which means the graphics engine is only used when needed – gaming and any 3D work – which in turn means means you get more out of the SF310's battery.
In practice, the Samsung SF310 isn't quite as impressive as it looks on paper. The Nvidia 310M is an improvement over the integrated Intel graphics, but only just – it lags behind true gaming power by a considerable margin.
The Alienware M11x certainly has nothing to fear here as far as its ultra-portable gaming niche is concerned.
3DMark06 returned a score of 3,805, while the more serious test, Cinebench 11.5, had the OpenGL performance at 8.57fps.
Neither score is particularly strong, although if you're looking for a machine that can play the odd game at lower settings and resolutions, this may just about get by (as a reference, World of Warcraft managed 17fps at medium settings at the default screen resolution of 1,366 x 768).
When it comes to real world use of the battery, you'll undoubtedly get more out of the SF310 than our punishing video playback test delivers, but at 187 minutes we were left feeling disappointed.
The promised eight hours may just be possible, but only if you're not really doing much with the machine at all. Those looking for a machine with serious stamina should check out the likes of the Asus UL30A.
Where the Samsung SF310 does impress, for now at least, is in the raw grunt on offer from the Intel Core i5 at its heart – encoding HD video at 12fps is nothing to be sniffed at.
The fact that the CPU boasts hyperthreading, and therefore can handle four threads at once, means that it's surprisingly punchy at handling several applications simultaneously. The PCMark05 score of 6,023 is certainly helped by this.
We found that the keyboard offers plenty of space for comfortable typing, although the narrow travel doesn't make for a particularly rewarding experience for prolonged bouts of work.
The touchpad is truly horrible, though, varying from unresponsive to simply skittish. The button-less design makes it prone to errors and it's huge size is annoying when typing. Turning it off and attaching a quality mouse is the only way to maintain any level of sanity here.
The Samsung SF310 is a machine that offers as many positives when using it as it does negatives. It's a little too heavy to compete with the netbooks, but not quite punchy enough to deal with the full-size laptops. It's not awful, it just struggles to define a place in the overcrowded market.
We liked
The screen is bright and vivid, and the native resolution of 1,366 x 768 works well on the 13.3-inch LED panel, making for a great way to work and enjoy movies (although the vertical viewing angle is narrow, so you'll need to get the screen angle just right).
The sculpting of the chassis certainly puts it above its often drab peers; while the raw processing power on offer could put many a desktop machine to shame. The inclusion of Windows 7 64-bit is a definite positive too, making the most of the 4GB of RAM present.
We disliked
While Samsung has done a lot right with the SF310, there are enough little niggles in its design to prevent it being a must-buy piece of kit. The touchpad is simply horrible to use. The Nvidia GeForce 310M graphics core is uninspiring and the battery life doesn't do enough to make it stand out from the crowd.
Verdict
The issues above, coupled with the high price tag and the recent release of the second generation of Core i5/i7 chips from Intel, seem to conspire to work against an otherwise beautiful and well thought-out laptop. Not a howler by any means, but just not good enough.
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Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc gets UK price
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:22 AM PST
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc has gone on pre-order over at Play.com, with a UK price of £459.99.
The pricing puts it on a par with other smartphones like the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S, and it's not far off what we predicted back when the handset was announced.
With Android 2.3 on a massive 4.2-inch screen, a sleek design, video calling, HDMI-out, 3D-gaming, an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash all with zippy performance thanks to the 1GHz Qualcomm processor, you get a lot of tech for your money.
Network deals
The handset will come SIM-free and unlocked, so you'll have to sort out a SIM-only deal alongside the Arc.
No doubt we'll see some UK network deals announced closer to the release date, meaning you could pick up the handset for a subsidised price - although buying it SIM-free may prove more cost-effective in the long run.
Play is listing the UK release date as April 2011; meanwhile, whet your appetite with a peek at our hands on Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc review.
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Review: BK Electronics XXLS400DF
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:13 AM PST
This subwoofer has a classic sweet-sounding, 'hi-fi' analogue class AB amplifier in its guts, plus the suddenly trendy driver from Peerless called the XXLS 12. (The very same driver was used in the XTZ subwoofer).
In this far smaller enclosure, the honest paper pulp-coned woofer is sealed in rather than differentially ported like the XTZ, and is far easier to set up as a result. It is a downfiring design in a box that would suit a 10-incher. It's certainly priced like a product of this size, with its rivals list having to be drawn from competing subs of up to £200 more in price!
Our sample came in a shiny black finish and with not only a nicely made Speakon plug-on-a-wire to hook to your speaker outputs, but also a high-quality mono phono cord with plugs that are clearly handmade.
The feet that hold the woofer boundary-loaded off the floor can have either PTFE studs or spikes fixed into their bushings, and the sub's controls are brilliant. For one, you get a separate gain pot for each of the high and low level inputs, because you are meant to use both. Use of a simultaneous speaker level input makes sure you get to amplify all the bass.
Also, you can switch the lowpass crossover filter out of circuit just for the phono or low-level input alone. This means you can use pure direct mode and feed the woofer with LFE you filter at your decoder/AVR, while the full range stuff sent to the speakers can feed bass into your woofer, unimpeded by mids and highs.
In action, BK's sub is deliciously musical. It is tight and tracks a bass line with taut precision and almost no overhang. The opening sequence of the Blu-ray of Hancock was handled brilliantly, too: gunfire, big American trucks crashing into cop cars and helicopter rotor blades scything the air. But cut to Hancock drunk on a bench and the BK still delivers the bluesey bass line behind him, even deeper.
Accurate and authoritative, this punches way beyond its weight and, bizarrely, out of its price point, too
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Posted: 26 Jan 2011 03:12 AM PST
Sanyo's Z Series LCD projectors have given us some cracking 1080p models at aggressive price points – and now there's a new flagship. The Z4000 keeps to the formula and packs in high-end features like optical lens shift, while the price hits a new low.
The most exciting area for home cinema projection is the entry-level full HD arena, for it's here that you'll find the hottest competition between brands and projectors, with 1080p resolution and 100Hz processing changing hands for little more than a grand.
Sanyo has competed strongly here in the past, and the new Z4000 wades right in with its 3LCD technology and motorised lens cover. What you're getting is a full HD 3LCD projector with a bright 1,200 lumens lamp and features such as optical lens shift and 100Hz motion processing that you won't find on a sub-£1,000 model.
The dynamic iris also enables it to boast a 65,000:1 contrast ratio, while its operating noise level of 19dB is as quiet as projectors get.
Variation on a theme
But it's nothing new when compared to the outgoing PLV-Z3000's spec sheet. In fact, the only changes beyond the cosmetic are a reworking of the optical components and power supply to ensure it uses less than 1W in standby. If it's not broke, don't fix it, seems to be the philosophy.
At least the recommended retail price is a little lower than the Z3000 at launch. The finish is now a light absorbing, matt black, so in a dark cinema room, it all but disappears with just a little light leakage from the side vents. It has the same form factor as previous Z models, which is very plain, but quite compact, so that it cuts a very unobtrusive profile when mounted on the ceiling.
It's fairly well connected with two HDMI sockets at the rear, two component inputs and a PC interface. Sadly, there are no extras such as an SD card slot or USB port.
The lens collar offers manual zoom and focus and it feels slightly loose, which means there is a tendency to defocus over time and you'll find yourself making adjustments before each film.
Yet the vertical and horizontal lens shift at the side is a godsend when it comes to lining up the picture, especially as the lens in this unit is mounted slightly off-centre. These controls also have some play in them, but at least you have a lock switch to stop your whole image drifting off the screen.
The accompanying remote has brightly backlit buttons and lots of them, so you'll find shortcuts to all of the main picture adjustments and keys for each source input. Combined with the useful lens shift feature, it all adds up to a very quick and easy installation procedure.
Calibration, on the other hand, takes a little longer, as there are no helpful test patterns provided and the scales for each parameter jump in big steps, so you'll be tinkering for some time before achieving an optimum picture.
There are also six preset picture options to choose from with varying degrees of overly-pumped colours or washed-out black levels, but 65,000:1 Natural provides a decent balance and makes a good first impression of this projector's abilities.
The lamp is no brighter than the previous model and as per the Z3000, it needs a really dark room to get anywhere near its claimed contrast ratio. With daylight banished, though, you can achieve quite dark blacks, vivid colours and reasonable greyscale definition.
More impressive, however, is the overall effect, which is rewardingly filmic. This is down to the way the sharp 1080p resolution of the 3LCD chipset is tempered with image processing that hides the panel structure of the LCD chips, giving a smooth, but highly resolved image.
It is helped here by the 100Hz processing, which ensures there is no judder during camera pans and no jerky movement on screen.
California dreaming
Using Kick-Ass on Blu-ray as a test disc shows off the projector's vivid detail and snappy colours perfectly. This excellent disc from Universal Pictures has production values that really kick ass, too, and the polished sheen of the film is reproduced faithfully here with pooling light and reflections that look almost as glossy as they did in the cinema.
Most of the film is shot in cheery Californian sunshine and the colours look suitably vibrant on screen. When the film cuts to darker scenes, such as the night time capture of Big Daddy, the projector struggles a little to resolve detail in the black areas. Buttons on black suits that are plainly visible on an LCD TV are invisible here, for instance.
To pick out more detail you need to completely black out the room and tweak the PJ's brightness. And while the bold colour palette is appealing, I found I couldn't achieve a perfectly natural colour balance.
You can manually shift the red, green and blue levels independently within the menu, but the skin tones always look a slightly sickly yellow whatever the setting. We're not talking The Simpsons hues, but white skin always has a golden glow. It's difficult to achieve pure whites and realistic reds and blues at the same time.
Instead, you'll find yourself opting for warm, pumped up colours and getting used to the whole, slightly yellowy, proceedings.
Fan-tastic
Something that this Sanyo deserves credit for is its fan noise, which is almost inaudible with the lamp in cinema mode, and it's only when you turn it up or switch to dynamic in a lit room that you can hear the fan change up a gear.
It's also easy to achieve a very large image thanks to the short throw ratio and wide zoom range of the lens assembly. That means you can either plonk the Z4000 on a coffee table in front of you, or wallmount it behind your head to beam an image up to a maximum of 300ins.
The only limiting factor here is the brightness of the lamp, which demands complete darkness if you plan to throw an Odeon-size image.
Verdict
A whole new model from Sanyo that really pushed the technology to a higher level would have been very welcome, but what we have here is simply another incarnation of a good projector. The price feels right for this high-spec full HD unit and it has a good selection of key features, so I have no reservations in recommending it.
The optical lens shift, 100Hz processing and incredibly quiet fan are all big plus points, while the automatic sliding lens cover is a nice touch. What it can't do is compete with the similarly priced DLP projectors in terms of natural colour response, and until Sanyo can fix that, it remains a reliable rather than remarkable projector
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Increased TV sales, but LG's latest results disappoint
Posted: 26 Jan 2011 02:46 AM PST
Strong sales of televisions spared some of LG's blushes, but the Korean giant's latest financial results do not make happy reading.
LG posted increased consolidated revenues of KRW 14.7 million (c£8.3bn), but a net loss of KRW 256.4 billion (c£143 million) in the last quarter of 2010, a record quarterly loss.
"Overall operating profit fell but losses at the company's mobile division also declined and a reduction in inventory resulted in improved cash flow," explained LG's statement.
TV sales
"LG Home Entertainment Company sales increased 15.8 percent in KRW quarter-over-quarter with record-high quarterly flat panel TV sales due to strong seasonality and product leadership in developed markets," added LG
"The company shipped 8.7 million flat panel TVs, reflecting a 33.0 percent increase from the same period the previous year.
"However, due to ASP decline as a result of intensified competition in the TV industry, earnings declined compared to the third quarter and posted an operating loss in this quarter."
LG has indicated that it will look to smartphones and tablets to help it return to profitability in 2011, but admitted that the it had suffered a 'soft' performance in the mobile phones sector in the quarter.
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