Sponsored
Techradar |
- Android Market adds books to webstore
- Ubisoft outs saucy We Dare game trailer
- Google introduces Recipe View
- HTC Incredible S UK release date announced
- Mac OS X Lion unleashed to developers
- Motorola Atrix UK price briefly revealed
- FaceTime for Mac costs 59p
- Gary Marshall: How Thunderbolt could power up the iPad
- Review: Asus E35M1-M Pro
- Exclusive: HP TouchPad UK release date confirmed for June
- Exclusive: HP TouchPad UK release date confirmed for June
- In Depth: Intel Thunderbolt in Apple MacBook Pro explained
- HTC Incredible S UK release date tomorrow?
- Sony Ericsson: Xperia Play is 'cooler' than iPhone
- Review: Epson Stylus SX425W
- New MacBook Pro line-up confirmed, Thunderbolt technology inside
- Exclusive: Samsung: smart TV isn't just apps, it's 3D too
- Exclusive: Samsung: 3D Blu-ray exclusives are good for the industry
- Nokia says Symbian is here to stay
- Apple e-wallet icon spotted in patents, NFC coming to iPhone 5?
- Review: Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG
- In Depth: iPad 2 launch: what to expect
- Hands on: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 UK release model
| Android Market adds books to webstore Posted: 24 Feb 2011 04:40 PM PST  Android phone owners can now buy and download books from the Android Market webstore. The Books portal appeared today on the new Motorola Xoom's Market app and has hence become available for those who didn't rush out to buy a new Honeycomb 3.0-loaded tab. The new page is already live in the United States, but at the time of writing hasn't yet appeared to UK-based Android-fanciers. Like the app portion of the webstore, users will be able to browse categories, the top selling, new and free titles as well as the chance to research reader and critical reviews before buying. Naturally, the download process is seamless, enabling you to download the book to your device directly from the webstore. Titles will then appear in your Google Books library on your Android Phone. Movies and Music to follow? With Books now on-board, the big question is whether they'll be joined by new Movies and Music portals? Earlier this week, three new URLs showed up on the Android Market webstore domain: market.android.com/movies; market.android.com/music and the newly live market.android.com/books. The other two currently divert users to the homepage. The waiting continues for the other pair in that trifecta, but it seems that Google is hell-bent on making the Android Market a portal to service all of our entertainment needs in one place, App Store style. 
| ||
| Ubisoft outs saucy We Dare game trailer Posted: 24 Feb 2011 02:14 PM PST  Ubisoft has released a risque trailer for its forthcoming We Dare adult party game that promises to spice up parties with sexy challenges. We Dare will be released for Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 on March 11th and will require gamers to use the Wiimote and Move wand to complete a host of kinky challenges. Ubisoft also used the YouTube trailer to provide links to further short teaser clips which tells viewers in no uncertain terms that playing this game could and probably should result in a full-on sexual orgy. The slightly uncomfortable trailer features bum-spanking aplenty, tag-team bobbing for Apples, strip-teases and the suggestion of a lot more... UnWii-like We Dare, which promises 'flirty fun for all' is a massive departure from the usually child-friendly Wii gaming environment and surprisingly has passed with a PEGI-12 rating which deems it suitable for 12-year-olds. The game is a Europe only release, planned for March 11th. Have a look at the trailer for yourself and let us know if you'll be splashing out on the game for your next 'couples night.' If you follow the links to the three videos offered at the end of the trailer, you'll know what we're talking about. 
| ||
| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 01:54 PM PST  Google has made it easier to find cooking ideas online by launching a new Recipe View search portal. Recipe View allows users access to a huge array of recipes from across the web, just by searching for keywords based around ingredients, style of food or special occasions like St Patrick's Day. One the results are returned you can filter out different ingredients, cook times and even calorie counts to find the perfect meal for you and yours. Search results display ratings from other users, a picture of the finished dish and the cook time all in the preview box before visiting the website hosting the recipe. Leftovers While searching for, say, "Mexican recipes" in Google will still bring you similar content, but the new Recipes tab offers the benefit of including or excluding certain ingredients or adjusting calorie counts. Another example of how Recipe View may come in handy is for those occasions where payday is approaching and the ingredients you have to play with are thin on the ground. Searching for "Cheese Potato" for example. will return a host of ideas that you can tailor depending on what you have at your disposal. Check out the Google Recipe View landing page for a video on how one top chef is using the service 
| ||
| HTC Incredible S UK release date announced Posted: 24 Feb 2011 10:09 AM PST  The Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy will be the first in the UK to offer the new HTC Incredible S, with first deliveries coming this weekend. The retailer has just confirmed that it will be stocking the new phone, and has begun pre-orders from its website. The first phones ordered today have been given a UK release date of 26 February, making it one of the first phones to be released after launching at MWC 2011. The HTC Incredible S will then go on wider sale from The Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy from 3 March, from over 800 outlets around the country. Jumping the gun? The new HTC Incredible S was announced by online retailers to be coming from 25 February, which was met with some ridicule given its proximity to its announcement earlier this month. But HTC told TechRadar it was coming with Android 2.2 to get to the market quicker, and it looks like that promise has led to a very quick turnaround. The HTC Incredible S is rocking a 4-inch screen, 8MP camera with dual LED flash and connection to HTCSense.com, as well as allowing you easy linking with DLNA connected TVs and computers. 
| ||
| Mac OS X Lion unleashed to developers Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:01 AM PST  Apple has quickly followed up the announcement of a new line of Intel Thunderbird-powered MacBook Pros with the news that it is nearing the release of its next operating system, Mac OS X Lion. The new Mac operating system is expected to arrive at some point later this summer, with Apple releasing a developer preview of the new OS this week. Devs catch the early Lion As of today, devs will be able to get hold of Mac OS X Lion, providing they are members of Apple's Mac Developer Program. This will give developers a bit of time to familiarise themselves with Apple's new operating system before it arrives later this year. With new multitouch gestures, full-screen app control options and more, Apple promises that Mac OS X Lion "takes some of the best ideas from iPad and brings them back to the Mac." Mission Control calling "The iPad has inspired a new generation of innovative features in Lion," said Philip Schiller, Apple's SVP of worldwide product marketing. "Developers are going to love Mission Control and Launchpad, and can now start adding great new Lion features like full screen, gestures, Versions and Auto Save to their own apps." Expect lots more on Apple's new Mac OS X Lion features such as Mission Control and Launchpad over the coming months as we approach release. 
| ||
| Motorola Atrix UK price briefly revealed Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:51 AM PST  The Motorola Atrix UK release date was briefly revealed by Expansys, with the handset sneakily listed on the retailer's website with a UK price of £474.99. Expansys, which previously listed the Motorola Atrix release date as July, has since taken the price and release date down. Of course, Expansys has been known to guesstimate delivery dates and pricing of handsets with no official figures released, but since it's been whipped back down quite quickly, we wonder if it was a little too close to the truth. Either that, or the claims were so outlandish that Motorola couldn't allow them to stay online. Not exactly a bargain, but… A £474.99 price tag would be an amazing price for the dual-core Atrix, which we were pretty giddy about when we saw it in January – two 1GHz processors, an incredible high-resolution display and 1GB of RAM, what's not to like? It would mean that we could expect networks to come in with contract tariffs around the £30-£35 mark. Only Orange has thrown its hat into the Atrix ring at present, which is good to know, as Motorola has struggled to pick up network tie-ins in the past. Unfortunately there's no word from either Orange or Motorola on an official UK release date or Motorola Atrix UK price yet. 
| ||
| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:49 AM PST  Apple has announced that current Mac users will need to pay a whole 59 pence to download the new version of FaceTime for Mac, although those buying the new MacBook Pro laptops will get it for free. 59p is hardly going to break anybody's bank, and if you are parting with the best part of a grand or more for a new MacBook Pro, then you surely would expect to get Apple's latest version of its video-calling software bundled in! 59 pence to vid-call "FaceTime is included with all new MacBook Pro models and is available for other Intel-based Macs from the Mac App Store for £0.59 (99c)," Apple joyfully says in its launch press release for the new MacBook Pros. Apple iPhone 4 and (latest model) iPod touch users are still able to use FaceTime for free, which means that you will now be able to share your face over the internet with any Mac user, or any new MacBook Pro owner rocking Apple's new "FaceTime HD camera." We will be sure to test out the high-def versions of Apple's latest FaceTime offering between new MacBook Pro laptops as soon as we can. For now, if you have a Mac, you can grab the app over at the Mac App Store to give it a whirl. 
| ||
| Gary Marshall: How Thunderbolt could power up the iPad Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:46 AM PST  Whenever Apple announces anything new the press just loves to moan about something, so let's get the "boo sucks" bit out of the way first: 59p for FaceTime? Did I miss something and Apple's suddenly skint? On a happier note, though: how good do those new MacBook Pros look? I'm writing this on an MBP, one of the early Core 2 Duo jobs, and while I think my Mac's a pretty good-looking beast the new Pros have done to it what it did to my trusty Powerbook G4: made it look like a relic from an earlier, chunkier age. But there's more to the new MacBook Pros than a mere speed bump, improved battery life and a slightly different case. The big news is Thunderbolt, Intel's name for Light Peak technology that doesn't have the "light" bit yet - the promised fibre-optic connections are currently copper. But even on dull old copper Apple's right when it calls the technology the fastest, most versatile I/O ever in a notebook: it makes USB 2.0 look like two tin cans connected with a bit of string, and gives the much-hyped USB 3.0 a good kicking to boot. Speed aside, there are two good things about Light Peak: one, it supports daisy-chaining, so you don't have to muck about with hubs or - like me - constantly plug and unplug things from your computer whenever you want to do anything. And two, it's multi-protocol, so you can connect a whole bunch of different things at once: a display, an external hard disk or RAID array, a video capture box... whatever you fancy. If Thunderbolt lives up to its potential, the MacBook Pro could be the central part of some serious computing power, with Thunderbolt essentially making it the core of a much more powerful computing set-up. And then there's Lion. The Lion King? OS X 10.7 Lion is designed to bring iPad ideas "back to the Mac", with Launchpad offering iPad-style program integration and launching, OS X apps getting system-wide full-screen support for a more immersive experience, more gesture support and the not-inspired-by-DropBox-honest-guv AirDrop. OS X is getting simpler and friendlier, with features such as Auto Save, Resume and Versions taking more of the grind out of everyday tasks. It's very iPad-y, and so is the MacBook Pro. The new Macs look like iPads with keyboards. They're clearly the latest iteration of Apple's current design language, but what if they're more than that? What if the iPad-ification of OS X and the iPad-like design of the MBPs are a sign of where this is all heading? We've seen how quickly mobile processors are progressing, and it won't be long before it's possible to put the specs of today's MacBook Pros into a MacBook Air-thin iPad. Quad or six-core processors, oodles of RAM and a couple of Thunderbolt ports in an iPad could produce something really interesting. Remember I said Thunderbolt meant a MacBook Pro could be the core of some serious computing power? What if the core Apple has in mind isn't a MacBook Pro, but an iPad? 
| ||
| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:37 AM PST  The wait is over. AMD's first Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit), the AMD E-350, has finally arrived courtesy of the Asus E35M1-M PRO motherboard. Exciting times, but this isn't quite the chip we were expecting. Wind back the clock a couple of years and we thought a processor based on AMD's exotic new Bulldozer core would be the first CPU-GPU Fusion model out of AMD's gate. Instead, the AMD E-350 is an ultra low-power chip and the Asus E35M1-M Pro is a compact Micro-ATX board designed for low-profile systems. That said, the AMD E-350 APU is certainly all new. Prior to its arrival, all of AMD's PC processors were effectively derivatives of a single architecture. In terms of power consumption, the range was large kicking off at 9W and extending all the way to 140W. Likewise, there are all kinds of configurations available up to and including six-core processors. But the future of computing is all about low power and small form factors including everything from smartphones and tablets to netbooks and embedded devices. AMD needs something that can at least form the basis of the quest for the fabled 1W CPU. Admittedly, AMD's main rival Intel has been ahead of the curve with this trend with the Atom, a processor that was met with confusion when it appeared nearly three years ago but now seems increasingly prescient. Whatever, for AMD that low-power something is Bobcat, the first properly new AMD core since the Hammer architecture of 2003 and designed from the ground up for maximum efficiency. Our first look at a Bobcat-based processor is itself codenamed Zacate, a dual-core chip with on-die graphics. It's not designed for the very smallest mobile devices such as smartphones, but it could well appear in just about every other class of device, including tablets and slates. On paper, Zacate should be significantly stronger than Atom. Granted, it lacks HyperThreading, but in terms of instruction handling, it's a pukka out-of-order design. That should give it a clear advantage regards work done per clock cycle compared to Intel's simpler in-order Atom. Of course, the new Bobcat core aside, the other key element with the Zacate processor die in general and the AMD E-350 model tested here is its status as AMD's first CPU-GPU "Fusion" processor. Intel got there first with 'Fusion' though with the Westmere and now Sandy Bridge cores. But AMD has traditionally been stronger in graphics and also first to do a low power Fusion chip. Moreover, there's no getting round the fact the Intel Atom platform's performance has been lame in both CPU and particularly graphics terms. Zacate brings a full DX11 graphics core to the ultra low power space for the first time and just as importantly a complete set of 2D video acceleration features. One of the most disappointing aspects of many Atom-powered netbooks is their inability to handle high definition video. With Zacate, AMD is promising to bring HD support to new price points and form factors. It really is all to play for.
Although the AMD E-350's status as the first low-power Fusion APU is what makes it so interesting, it's the new Bobcat core that makes it all possible. Crucially, it's an out-of-order design, an instruction handling feature that first appeared in the Intel Pentium Pro way back in 1995 and has since been the calling card of every PC processor that aspires to truly high performance. In simple terms it allows more instructions to be handled and more work done per clock cycle. It's a processing paradigm that's even beginning to appear in the latest smartphones thanks to the new Cortex A9 core from ARM. Intel's simpler in-order Atom is being left behind. That said, it's worth noting the Zacate die that forms the basis of the AMD E-350 remains a modest architecture compared to the best desktop CPUs. It can issue just two instructions per cycle compared to four for Intel desktop processors, for example, and its two cores are clocked at just 1.6GHz. That's half the frequency of the fastest full-power desktop CPUs. Of course, this is a Fusion APU and that means graphics, too. The graphics core is branded Radeon HD 6310. Architecturally it's really a Radeon HD 5000 class GPU with 80 stream processors in the VLIW-5 idiom. In other words, it doesn't have the new four-way shader setup that debuted with AMD's Radeon HD 6900 series. Still, the 80 stream processors are double the number seen in any previous AMD integrated GPU and theoretically put the AMD E-350 in roughly the same ballpark for 3D performance as Intel's much more expensive Sandy Bridge chips. Perhaps even more significant, however, is the E-350's 2D video decode performance. Intel's Atom platform is notoriously feeble for video decode and typically makes for netbooks barely able to cope with DVD-quality Flash video much less HD content. In the past, this left the door open for the likes of NVIDIA's Ion chipset to add decent video chops. Fortunately, the E-350 brings AMD's NVIDIA Ion-busting UVD3 engine including full 1080p h.264 video decode support to a simpler, cheaper platform. However, remember the performance of the UVD3 engine in any given AMD graphics core is a function mainly of clockspeed. The Radeon HD 6310 is clocked at 500MHz and thus much slower than a typical discrete AMD desktop graphics card like, say, the Radeon HD 6850. Still it's an impressive overall feature set, especially when you consider the size and power profiles. Those two cores and 80 stream processors, along with PCI Express connectivity, a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller and more fit in just 75mm2. To put that into context, a quad-core chip like an Intel Core i5 760 is fully 296mm2 without graphics. Power and thermals, meanwhile, come in at 18W for the E-350 plus another 3W for the SATA, USB and ethernet hub chip. That's a little more than a similar Intel Atom platform but lower than an Atom-plus-NVIDIA-Ion solution. As for the Asus E35M1-M PRO motherboard that's giving us our first taste of AMD Fusion, it's a Micro-ATX mobo but slightly shallower than the full 244mm x 244m maximum. Despite that, it's extremely well specified. Asus has added 5 SATA 6Gbps ports and a pair of USB 3.0 sockets. The video outputs include HDMI, VGA and DVI ports. But beware the latter is single-link, limiting resolution to a maximum of 1,920 x 1,200. There's even a PCI Express x16 port for discrete graphics. However, the Zacate Fusion architecture only sports four external PCI Express lanes. Electrically, then, the Asus E35M1-M PRO is not the full x16 Monty. Rounding out the spec list is ethernet, eSATA, Firewire, PS2 and optical SPDIF. You even get a fancy graphical EFI firmware interface and support for overclocking.
AMD's new Fusion APU purports to be a solid all round performer thanks to its pukka out-of-order architecture. So how does it stack up against a range of well known CPUs? One of the more intriguing comparisons is with the Intel Celeron SU2300. That's a low voltage dual-core Intel Core 2 class processor. It's also worth noting just how much more performance comes with the step up to a cheapo dual-core processor like AMD's own Athlon II X2 250. As for a proper quad like the Intel Core i7 860, much less one of Intel's new Sandy Bridge chips, it's an ugly comparison. CPU Rendering performance
CPU Encoding performance
Memory bandwidth
CPU power
CPU graphics performance
When we first heard AMD was doing a low power Atom killer with an out-of-order CPU core architecture, we were seriously excited. The power of Atom's processor cores has always been disappointing and much of the finger pointing has involved its relatively simple in-order architecture. Turns out, the in-order versus out-of-order distinction may not be so crucial after all. Despite sporting a pair of out-of-order cores, for instance, AMD's new E-350 Fusion APU can only just crack three frames per second in the x264 HD video encoding test. That's a fairly feeble result that makes it only slightly quicker than an Intel Atom chip and much, much slower than even AMD's cheapest dual-core chip based on a full-power processor like the Athlon II X2. A cheap multi-core processor like an AMD Athlon II X4 absolutely blows the E-350 away. In really heavy duty tests of CPU performance such as Cinebench R10, things hardly look any better. The AMD E-350 takes over seven minutes to complete the task. Even the cheapest dual-core Athlon processor will be three or four times faster. Despite 80 stream processors, the E-350 isn't much of a gaming chip, either. That's as much to do with the weakness of the CPU cores as it is with the Radeon HD 6310 graphics core. But this little Fusion chip does have something to offer. Where it really delivers and Intel's Atom fails is the internet experience and particularly Flash video. Admittedly, the E-350 requires software support – you'll need to make sure you have the right version of Flash installed to enable hardware accleration. Even then, you'll probably find acceleration support isn't always absolutely flawless. But it's infinitely better than no acceleration, which is what you get with a standard Atom platform.
So, what do we reckon about AMD's first Fusion chip? For starters, the branding is awfully confusing. The new family of chips is known as Fusion, but this first APU actually goes by the name AMD E-350 with further models receiving similarly anonymous E and C-Series monikers. It's a bizarrely bland naming scheme for what should be an exciting new product and it's hardly going to enthuse buyers at the point of sale. Assuming you're not technically minded and actually understand the architectural differences, what would you go for – Intel Atom or AMD E-350? Intel, of course, regularly commits it's own brand-related atrocities. But at least its low-power CPU has a snappy name. The branding issue is doubly important given that there's currently so much buzz around the whole topic of Fusion processors. In theory, there are many advantages to combining a CPU and GPU on one chip and therefore creating an APU with both powerful serial and parallel data processing. One day that hypothesis will deliver tangible performance benefits. Fusion is most definitely the future of computing. In fact, the whole market is heading inexorably one step further than mere CPU-GPU designs – full system on a chip. But right now, the performance benefits are effectively slim to none. It's about cost and power consumption. In that context, the E-350 certainly looks interesting. As a desktop chip plugged into the Asus E35M1-M PRO board for an all-in price around £110, we think it's too expensive. For similar money you could pick up a cheap 760G motherboard and a massively more powerful triple-core Athlon II CPU. As a netbook processor, however, AMD's new Fusion chip is much more promising. OK, we're disappointed to find that Zacate's out-of-order CPU cores are only slightly quicker than those of an Intel Atom. There's still no substitute for a full-power CPU if you demand solid all round performance. But the biggest problem with Atom has always been 2D video and here AMD's APU is a killer thanks to its full UVD3 engine. If you're in the market for a cheap portable and want to give yourself the best shot at smooth playback of all kinds of video, whether streamed online or stored locally, AMD's new Fusion chip is an easy choice over Intel's videophobic Atom processors. We liked: Intel's Atom chip is great in theory. The reality of the end user experience has always disappointed, however, and much of that is thanks to feeble graphics performance. That's precisely where AMD's E-350 APU steps in with its DirectX 11-class integrated GPU complete with 80 shader cores and more importantly the full UVD3 2D video engine. As a CPU, the E-350 may be less than stellar, but it will put pressure on Intel and that should make for lower netbook prices for everyone. We disliked: We had high expectations of this Fusion processor, especially when AMD changed its initial sales pitch and suggested Fusion APUs would take aim at lower end Intel netbooks based on the Core i3 processor. However, despite out-of-order instruction execution, the AMD E-350 is not dramatically more powerful than Atom. As a desktop product, therefore, the E-350 and the pricey Asus E35M1-M PRO motherboard struggle to make sense. Instead, we look forward to the mobile variant of this first Fusion chip delivering netbooks with serious HD video chops. Final word: Little more powerful than the Intel Atom and struggles to make sense as a desktop product. Related Links
| ||
| Exclusive: HP TouchPad UK release date confirmed for June Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:30 AM PST  There's been a number of rumours as to when the HP TouchPad will launch in the UK. Dates such as 'early 2011' and 'September 2011' have been bandied about, and today DigiTimes suggested that it would launch in April. TechRadar has had it confirmed, however, by sources close to the matter, that the HP TouchPad UK release date will be June, and mid-June at that. Stiff competition An April release would have seen the tablet competing directly with the iPad 2, so it seems HP is giving Apple's machine a wide berth. That is if the Apple iPad 2 launches soon after its official announcement. Running webOS, the much-loved operating system developed by Palm and now owned by HP, the tablet also offers a 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a front-facing camera for video calling. When it comes to HP TouchPad's UK pricing, it's understood that for the Wi-Fi 16GB and 32GB models at least it will be in the same league as the Apple iPad. 
| ||
| Exclusive: HP TouchPad UK release date confirmed for June Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:30 AM PST There's been a number of rumours as to when the HP TouchPad will launch in the UK. Dates such as 'early 2011' and 'September 2011' have been bandied about, and today DigiTimes suggested that it would launch in April. TechRadar has had it confirmed, however, by sources close to the matter, that the HP TouchPad UK release date will be June, and mid-June at that. Stiff competition An April release would have seen the tablet competing directly with the iPad 2, so it seems HP is giving Apple's machine a wide berth. That is if the Apple iPad 2 launches soon after its official announcement. Running webOS, the much-loved operating system developed by Palm and now owned by HP, the tablet also offers a 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a front-facing camera for video calling. When it comes to HP TouchPad's UK pricing, it's understood that for the Wi-Fi 16GB and 32GB models at least it will be in the same league as the Apple iPad. 
| ||
| In Depth: Intel Thunderbolt in Apple MacBook Pro explained Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:25 AM PST  Apple's new MacBook Pro is the first computer to include a new connectivity technology called Thunderbolt. But what is it? The answer, is that it's actually a rebrand of Intel's long-talked of Light Peak technology – Light Peak, it appears, was a codename. Thunderbolt is a new cable interface enabling you to connect up compatible devices – and, crucially, existing devices too. Thunderbolt also supports electrical cables as well as optical and it's this version of Thunderbolt that's in the MacBook Pro. And, if adopted across the industry, should lead to lighter and thinner laptops from all manufacturers. As Apple says, "Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adaptors."
THUNDERBOLT CABLES: Apple's cabling for Thunderbolt The tech also supports DisplayPort for HD displays and can, through more adaptors, connect up HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. So it's a connector that can replace literally all other connectors on your PC. Wow. If you're a peripherals manufacturer, you should be making Thunderbolt adaptors for everything, right now. So how fast is it? There's massive bandwidth available with Thunderbolt – up to 10 Gbps, which could grow by up to 10 times that by 2020.
Thunderbolt means you can now transfer an entire Blu-ray disc in 30 seconds or a year's worth of back-to-back MP3s in 10 minutes. And it's dual-channel, which means information can flow both ways, as you can see here:
Thunderbolt can also power bus-powered devices over the connections while Intel promises that files can have highly accurate time synchronisation too. Intel demonstrated the technology inside a laptop nearly a year ago when it sent two HD video streams across a single Light Peak connection. You can also daisy chain devices, seemingly without performance loss – there's a video of that in action here.
Of course, Light Peak is intended as a replacement for current connectivity standards including USB and eSATA – in fact, it could be a replacement for all storage and display standards. Suddenly the MacBook Air, with its single USB port, doesn't look so limited. Surely MacBook Air 2011 means you'll be able to connect up everything via a single port. It clearly shows Apple also believes in Intel's new technology. Of course, that doesn't automatically mean it will be a success. Apple also put the ExpressCard into the MacBook Pro a while back and, due to the rise in wireless connectivity and USB mobile broadband, that has died a death.
HOW IT WORKS: A block diagram of Thunderbolt However, because this looks to be such a groundbreaking technology, it surely will seep into competing laptops and netbooks before long – depending on the duration of Apple's inevitable exclusivity deal of course. Despite the huge potential for connecting to legacy display and storage standards, Thunderbolt will also need mass adoption inside PCs for external display and storage devices to use it natively. One thing's for sure, if Intel and Apple can force the connection to permeate through the industry, it could be have interesting consequences for USB 3 and eSATA, which are still struggling to get a foothold in the market.
CONTROLLER: The Thunderbolt controller chip 
| ||
| HTC Incredible S UK release date tomorrow? Posted: 24 Feb 2011 07:12 AM PST  Rumours have surfaced that a retail site in the UK is set to sell the HTC Incredible S from tomorrow, 25 February. Electric Pig is reporting that Mobiles.co.uk is set to begin selling the smartphone, which would be much earlier than anticipated. However, it's not outside the realms of possibility that a launch for the Incredible S is imminent; after all, it's going to ship with Android 2.2 instead of holding out for Gingerbread (that update will come later). Mobiles.co.uk seems quite confident that it will have stock from tomorrow, and customers who buy the Incredible S on Friday should expect delivery on Saturday. Tenuous The site says you'll be able to nab the handset for free on two-year contracts with O2, Vodafone and Orange starting at £30 per month. That'll get you a 4-inch LCD screen, 8MP camera with dual LED flash and HD video recording, all backed up with a 1GHz processor. There's no word from HTC about this and the company hasn't unveiled official HTC Incredible S pricing or release dates. In short, we'd advise you to take the rumour with a bucket or two of salt. 
| ||
| Sony Ericsson: Xperia Play is 'cooler' than iPhone Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:49 AM PST  Sony Ericsson's forthcoming new gaming mobile, the Xperia Play "is cooler than iPhone" and "probably not as expensive" according to Sony Ericsson exec. But then, of course, David Hilton, MD of Sony Ericsson UK would kind of be expected to say that! Consumers define 'cool' Consumers will decide whether or not Sony Ericsson's latest phone will or will not be as cool as Apple's iPhone when the Xperia Play finally arrives on the market this coming April. The UK exec recently said that the new Xperia Play was likely to cost "the same or probably a little bit less" than Apple's latest iPhone 4. "The first thing this does is put Sony Ericsson firmly back in the game of smartphones," said Hilton. "It puts our smartphones out there with the latest Android technology, the benefits of that coupled with the best of Sony technology that make using a Sony Ericsson much more satisfying, much more enjoyable and frankly much more cool than using an iPhone." Yet gamers are really only wanting to know more about Sony's PSP successor, the NGP ('next generation portable') right now. "If someone wants the ultimate gaming machine and is prepared to wait until later in 2011, then the NGP might be for them," the Sony Ericsson exec admitted. "But they would have to carry another smartphone and many people don't want to do that." You can pre-order a sim-free, unlocked Xperia Play right now from Play.com for £519.99 which should arrive on your doormat on 28 March. 
| ||
| Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:13 AM PST  Buy a 'cheap' inkjet printer for around £50 and you know what you're in for – massively expensive running costs to help the manufacturer claw its money back. Sure enough, a full set of four high-yield cartridges for the SX425W costs a couple of pounds more than the printer itself. To be fair, though, the mono ink cost of about 3p per page is pretty much the same as for the much-vaunted Canon MG5150 and MG5250 printers. However, colour printing is pricier than average at about 10.5p per page, compared with between 5p and 8p per page for most of the latest Canon, HP, Kodak and Lexmark inkjets. At only half the price of some wireless all-in-one printers, such as the Canon MG5250, the Epson SX425W looks like an attractive proposition, bolstered by a pleasingly curvy design and smart piano black finish. But its main claim to fame is hidden away under the covers. Running on Epson's resin-based DuraBrite inks, the SX425W creates prints on which the ink is completely dry by the time the page hits the output tray, even when you're printing with standard plain paper. Better still, pages printed on plain paper are brilliantly smudge-proof, unlike those from practically every other kind of inkjet printer. The trade-off is that the resin-based inks are less than ideal for photo output on glossy paper, and the results look a little dull and lacklustre. Having only four inks, the SX425W's colour range is also quite limited, so it's not a great choice for photo printing. On the plus side, if you need to print photos on plain paper – for example, in newsletters or adverts – the results tend to look rather bolder and more vivid than from most inkjet printers, which use dye-based colour inks. Hardware and print speeds A neat range of control buttons runs down the left side of the printer's top panel, enabling quick access to stand-alone photocopying, scanning and photo printing from SD, MemoryStick or xD memory cards. You can also run printer maintenance functions such as nozzle checks and print head cleaning in standalone mode, and the onboard Setup facilities include hooking into Wi-Fi networks. The printer includes a USB port for conventional connection to a PC or Mac as well. Onboard control is driven via a 3.8cm colour LCD, which works out to just 1.5 inches in old money. Compared with the large, lavish touchscreens of printers such as the Lexmark Interact S605, which has a 10.9cm (4.29-inch) LCD, or even the 8.9-inch (22.6cm) touchscreen fitted to the HP Photosmart Plus, the Epson's LCD is very much a poor relation. It serves the purpose but isn't exactly easy on the eye. Mono text printing is reasonably nippy at about 10 seconds per page. Mixed text and colour graphics pages are a little sluggish at 35 seconds, while photo printing is downright slow. At just over two minutes, the Epson takes over four times as long as the HP Photosmart Premium or even the Epson P50 to print a 6 x 4-inch photo in standard photo quality mode. The Canon iP4850 and MG6150 are over six times as fast. In top-quality photo mode, the SX425W slows to a crawl, taking over nine minutes to output a single borderless A4 print. If you're only really interested in document printing, though, the SX425W performs well at the price. That said, you'll have to forego little luxuries like auto duplex printing. Or, indeed, the ability to stack paper neatly into an input tray cartridge, since there's only a single upright sheet feeder mounted on the back of the printer, which can hold about 100 sheets of 80gsm A4 paper. In our tests, the SX425W also proved quite a lot noisier in operation than most competing printers. The SX425W ticks most of the right boxes for a low-cost all-in-one printer. Print quality is pretty good on plain paper and running costs aren't especially high for mono, although colour inks are a little pricey. We liked Wireless connectivity at this price is a bonus and the set-up procedure is easy. It's nice having the option of standard-yield or high-yield cartridges for a printer at this price point too. However, while the high-yield cartridges last more than twice as long, they're also more than twice as expensive, so actual running costs are only marginally reduced. Smudge-free output on plain paper is a major benefit for document printing too, with colours looking very bold and well saturated. We disliked There's no auto duplex facility, which is a shame, because the super-fast drying time of the printer's pigment-based inks would be ideally suited to one. Meanwhile, print speeds are a bit on the sluggish side for colour document printing and dreadfully slow for photo output, both in normal and top quality photo printing modes. Finally, the colour LCD is tiny at just 3.8cm, and the SX425W is also quite noisy in operation. Verdict Considering its budget price tag, the SX425W is attractively styled and immaculately finished. Performance and quality are more than acceptable for document printing, but while mono running costs are reasonable, colour inks are a bit expensive. Smudge-proof printing is the printer's stand-out feature but Wi-Fi is another bonus at the price. Related Links
| ||
| New MacBook Pro line-up confirmed, Thunderbolt technology inside Posted: 24 Feb 2011 06:00 AM PST Apple has confirmed the existence of its new MacBook Pro line-up, with the 13, 15, and 17-inch models coming with next generation processors and graphics, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technology and a new FaceTime HD camera. Available now from the Apple Store, the new MacBook Pro range is the company's greenest line-up ever and is up to twice as fast as the previous generation. Speaking about the new range, Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said: "The new MacBook Pro brings next generation dual and quad Core processors, high performance graphics, Thunderbolt technology and FaceTime HD to the great design loved by our pro customers. "Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro." The new MacBook Pro line-up prices begin at £999 for the 13-inch version. Specs for the 13-inch model include either an Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors up to 2.7 GHz and Intel HD Graphics 3000. The 15-inch screen and 17-inch screens feature quad-core Core i7 processors up to 2.3 GHz and AMD Radeon HD graphics processors with up to 1GB of video memory. Thunderbolt from the blue And what of this Thundebolt I/O magic Apple speaks of? Well, this ups transfer speeds of data, with the two bi-directional channels clocking up to10Gbps each. Apple is calling this technology "a new standard for high performance I/O". The MacBook Pros also have FaceTime, feature Apple's aluminium unibody chassis, Multi-Touch trackpad, LED-backlit widescreen display, illuminated full-size keyboard and 7-hour battery. Price-wise, if you wanted the 15-inch model, then this starts at £1549, while the 17-inch model is available from £2099. For more details go to www.apple.com/uk/macbookpro. 
| ||
| Exclusive: Samsung: smart TV isn't just apps, it's 3D too Posted: 24 Feb 2011 05:19 AM PST  Intel may be leading the way with branding any device with its CE4100 chips as Smart TV enabled, but Samsung sees this categorisation as a whole new step in the evolution of televisions – one which encompasses both connected tellies and 3D. Speaking to TechRadar about Samsung's latest TV range (the D8000 Series being the flagship), Russell Owens, general manager, CTV & AV marketing, said: "Smart TV is a whole new category of product for Samsung, in much the same way that a smartphone is different from other mobile phones. "We had to create this category for TVs so people would understand this, because consumers get the concept of 3D, but when it comes to connected televisions there is less of an understanding. "3D is still very important to Samsung; it is part of our smart TV venture." Smart Hub showcase Samsung is pushing both its Smart Hub internet service and 3D in its 2011 TV line-up, but Owens believes that it is the internet side of things that will need to be demoed the most in shops. "With 3D you had the slight challenge of showcasing the content with the glasses, but there was no real setup needed. For connected TV, 600 retails stores are restructuring with broadband - this has been a gradual process. "It is not just about having Wi-Fi in the store, we need to set up a seamless experience." It is not just in shops that Samsung wants to show off its smart TVs, but there are plans to take the technology on the road. "One of the ideas we have is setting up a mobile truck and showing off the Smart TVs in shopping malls," said Owens. "This is for consumers to see the televisions but also for us to see how people use things like smart TV. "Smart TV is a product that can be personalised; it will be a different product to different people." 
| ||
| Exclusive: Samsung: 3D Blu-ray exclusives are good for the industry Posted: 24 Feb 2011 04:39 AM PST  Last week Panasonic revealed that its deal with Twentieth Century Fox to stock Avatar with its 3D TVs was a one-off and that we wouldn't see any more 3D Blu-ray discs coming exclusively to the company. Samsung has spoken to TechRadar about its situation – it too has an exclusivity on certain 3D Blu-rays and the rights to the Shrek films – and it is a little more reticent to say goodbye to any partnerships it has, explaining that they are good for the 3D industry. "Partnerships are a good thing for 3D," explained Russell Owens, general manager, CTV & AV marketing. "Samsung has global relationships with filmmakers and our partnership with DreamWorks goes beyond offering exclusive 3D Blu-ray content. "The partnerships we have are influencing how the content will be made." 3D's high hopes Owens does believe, however, that the 3D situation in 2010 is quite different from what we'll see in 2011. "Last year was unusual because there was limited 3D content for the home," said Owens. "This year there will be around 60 Blu-rays and our sources tell us that in 2013 50 per cent of homes in Europe will have a 3DTV. "Our aim isn't just to give away 3D accessories, but we want to create a value added proposition – something our partnerships achieve." 
| ||
| Nokia says Symbian is here to stay Posted: 24 Feb 2011 04:19 AM PST  Nokia's decision to partner with Microsoft and manufacture Windows Phone handsets may not mean tolling the death knell for Symbian after all. Despite promising to keep selling and updating current Symbian-based handsets over the next year, Nokia had said that it would not be making any new Symbian phones. Basically, it sounded as though Symbian was going to go gentle into that good night with no raging against the dying of the light, except perhaps from the true fanboys. Down but not out But Vlasta Berka, General Manager of Nokia Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, spoke at the launch of the Nokia E7, saying, "Just because we're changing our direction in terms of smartphone platform, it doesn't mean that the existing platform is completely broken. "We still have obligations to our users, developers, business partners, and customers. Symbian is here to stay. Symbian will still be around, but it's just going to go somewhere around the corner." So Symbian will be kept hidden somewhere around the corner like the slow, clumsy child of which Nokia is secretly ashamed. We wonder which corner – possibly the one that HP kept Palm around. We're not as convinced as Nokia that Symbian will last much longer into the millennium. 
| ||
| Apple e-wallet icon spotted in patents, NFC coming to iPhone 5? Posted: 24 Feb 2011 03:02 AM PST  An Apple patent has revealed an e-wallet icon which could be set to become a staple of the iPhone 5's homescreen. The unassuming little icon isn't seen in all its colourful glory, but its presence in the patent strongly suggests that we'll see NFC built in to the iPhone 5. This is no new rumour, however. Inklings of NFC for the iPhone 5 have been felt since Apple hired Benjamin Vigier as Product Manager of Mobile Commerce last summer. Playing catch-up to Android With NFC on board, users will be able to use their handsets to make contactless payments by swiping your phone instead of an Oyster or credit card. The Android Gingerbread-toting Google Nexus S already comes with NFC on board, and the latest update has upgraded it to be able to write information as well as read it, so it can now also provide e-wallet-type capabilities. Of course, the presence of the e-wallet icon confirms nothing and could all be the patent application team's idea of a hilarious joke. Still, the signs do seem to be pointing to a NFC-toting iPhone 5 – we should find out for sure in June. 
| ||
| Review: Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F4EG Posted: 24 Feb 2011 03:00 AM PST  Samsung may not be the first name that springs to mind when you think about hard drives, but it has an extensive range of drives for the desktop market. Not only that, it can also claim a world first with the SpinPoint F4EG, as it was the first to market (a claim that may well be disputed by Western Digital), with the best areal density of any drive in its class (5,400rpm). In plain English, this means it only uses three 667GB disks to achieve its 2TB capacity instead of the normal four 500GB ones. Using just three discs improves the power consumption of the SpinPoint F4EG over that of its rivals, as well as providing better performance than its four-platter competition. While SSDs currently take all the plaudits for speed, the platter technology in Samsung's SpinPoint F4EG proves there's life in the old mechanical dog yet, and there will be for quite a while longer while the cost per gigabyte is firmly in their favour. The SpinPoint F4EG uses the latest formatting technique called Advanced Format Technology (AFT) or as other companies call it, Advanced Sector Formatting (ASF). Either way, the technology does away with the old legacy 512 byte per sector formatting, and introduces 4kB per sector formatting in its place. This closes the gaps left by the old style of formatting, meaning better data integrity and, more importantly, larger capacities per disc. In the case of the SpinPoint F4EG, each platter (disc) has a 667GB capacity. This is fine in Windows Vista and 7, but XP users will need to find a partitioning utility that supports the technique for best performance. Related Links
| ||
| In Depth: iPad 2 launch: what to expect Posted: 24 Feb 2011 02:55 AM PST  The iPad 2 launch has been confirmed by Apple and is taking place on 2 March. To keep you as informed as possible we've picked through the bones of all the internet rumours and speculation to come up with what we reckon the iPad 2 will be like. First the details of the announcement: TechRadar has been invited to the UK relay of the event, which kicks off at 1800GMT at BBC Television Centre. Why there? It's a satellite relay and the BBC have some pretty big satellite dishes. The corporation isn't anything to do with the event, it's just renting out its studio space (that makes your TV licence cheaper, don't sweat it). As is usual with many Apple events, there probably won't be a live stream of the event online, so keep checking TechRadar for the latest news from the keynote. We would expect there to be kit so we'll be able to get our hands on: iPad 2 review in under a week from now. But Apple being Apple, this isn't guaranteed. However, if it goes to the trouble of having a UK event there probably will be kit there. Could it be a red herring, and not the iPad 2 launch at all? Well, the invite clearly shows the iPad and it could even be the iPad 2 - the peel isn't peeled far enough to see the middle of the device - more specifically, it isn't peeled back enough to see the inevitable front-facing camera. New iPad UK release date Of course, the real iPad 2 UK release date, specs and price are still closely guarded secrets, but it's clear that Apple reckons the new iPad will sell well. Some rumours coming out of Asia suggest that Apple has ordered nigh on six million units of the new iPad per month - this compares to four million of the older iPad which have been produced on a monthly basis. We'd expect we're now looking at a late March or early April iPad 2 UK release date although that doesn't mean you won't be able to order one before then. We'd expect the new iPad to be available for pre-order right after next week's event. Well, Apple wouldn't want you plumping for an Android 3.0 tablet instead, would it? iPad 2 features As we've already said, the main difference to the front has to be a front-facing camera. And that means the inevitable FaceTime support. We also reckon the new iPad will have at least one key physical advantage over the old one. It'll surely be lighter (the original iPad was criticised for weight) and perhaps even thinner too. Perhaps it'll have a true unibody, like Apple's laptops, though, we can't quite see how this can be done. However, the thing that will make the most difference has to be the new display. Expect a retina display iPad to blow away the competition. Then again, such a screen would massively increase the number of pixels, increasing the demand on the iPad 2 battery life. A nine-inch Retina Display is a challenge. But if Apple has solved it, the new iPad will be stunning. Also expect beefed up key specs. Could Apple take the A4 into dual-core territory? We'd expect so, especially since almost every other key tablet will be dual-core this year. Apple won't want iPad 2 to be inferior in any way. The new Apple processor design, like Nvidia's Tegra 2, will be based on ARM's Cortex A9, the 1GHz dual-core processor that you'll find in the BlackBerry PlayBook. iPad 2: what else? We also reckon there will be a three-axis gyroscope like there is in the iPhone 4 for improved gaming performance. The rumour is that the iPad 2 will have a USB port for importing photos and the like, though we'd be surprised if this happens - it doesn't seem like a very Apple thing to do. And, after all, it already provides the dock connection kit for uploading photos from a camera. What would make more sense is for the device to have an SD slot. We're undecided on this one. It would be a dramatic move for Apple to go with such expandable memory, but a clever one if true. Could the new iPad also be compatible with CDMA networks like Verizon as well as GSM? It's possible and would certainly streamline production. But it's unlikely we reckon - it would require both radios to be in the unit, which would increase weight and cost unnecessarily. One thing's for sure, we'll find out on Wednesday... 
| ||
| Hands on: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 UK release model Posted: 24 Feb 2011 02:43 AM PST  We're sure you've all seen the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the Korean firm from our Hands on: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review, but we've just had a little visit from the UK version too. The new Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a massive overhaul from the original version, rocking Android 3.0 and a much larger 10.1-inch screen (if you're not seeing the reason for the name, we're worried about you). The front of the device, with a big ol' bezel around the edge, still has huge Apple overtones, but the presence of a front-facing camera and an 8MP rear snapper show that it's very much a next-gen beast, at least until the iPad 2 rolls around.
The rear of the tablet is something that Samsung is looking to replicate across its line - a mesh-style material that makes the unit easier to hold and is less sweat-inducing on the palms.
The outer casing also uses metallic styling to create the industrial effect - it feels nice on the hand, and the ports are at a slight premium (although,irritatingly,there's no room for a microSD slot).
The UK version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is very similar to the first model we saw at MWC - Vodafone is bringing it out on our fair shores and promises not to mess with the internal software, so the only obvious difference is the presence of a logo tying it in with Google on the back.
We're still devoid of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 release date, so keep checking back to find out exactly when you can get your hands on this mesh-backed marvel. 
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from techradar To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment