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Techradar |
- Kinect for Windows SDK announcement coming today
- Facebook's Project Spartan to 'bring HTML5 apps to iOS'
- Chinese men jailed over iPad 2 leaks
- Apple Store employee secrets revealed
- Sony launches Music Unlimited app for Android
- Google Nexus 3 specs detailed
- AMD: 'We're blowing by our competition'
- HTC Sensation to land on O2 and Orange on 8 July
- Opinion: HTC Gingerbread farce is undermining Android
- Hands on: Nintendo Wii U review
- Updated: Android 2.3 release date: when will you get it?
- HTC: Actually, we WILL bring Android 2.3 to Desire
- MoD takes to YouTube to stem social networking leaks
- Official: Wii U not compatible with DVDs or Blu-rays
- Updated: Top 200 best iPad apps 2011
- Updated: 20 best iPad 2 apps
- Nokia to close UK online shop
- LulzSec hits gaming sites in Titanic Takeover Tuesday
- WIN! A Teufel Impaq 3000 Blu-ray surround system worth £619
- iOS 5 code hints at Retina Display for iPad 3
- Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
- Review: Microsoft Lifecam Studio
- Review: Sennheiser CX880i
- Microsoft hints at Windows 8 release date
- Review: Unison Research Unico CDE Twin
| Kinect for Windows SDK announcement coming today Posted: 16 Jun 2011 01:51 AM PDT Microsoft looks set to roll out its first official Kinect for Windows SDK at around 5.30pm today, with the popular motion sensor for Xbox 360 being opened out to developers for the PC platform. Micorosoft has been open about its plans to roll out a software development kit for Kinect that would allow it to become a peripheral for its Windows platform, and an announcement on the SDK now looks likely to be made today. Stream in An email from Microsoft site channel9 invited people to tune in to an event at 9:30am Pacific Time, or 5:30pm in the UK. "You are invited to tune into a press announcement tomorrow (Thursday 6/16) 9:30-10:00am PT for an important message from Microsoft Research regarding the Kinect technology," said the email. "Following the announcement, we will continue with Ch9 Live broadcast starting from 10:00am-2:00pm PT." The site to watch the announcement is at http://channel9.msdn.com/live with a countdown clock currently being shown. The potential for motion sensor and voice control for PC are clear, although the proximity of the sensor is something that could be problematic; it works better with a good metre of distance between the sensor and the person on the Xbox 360. However, developers have already being suggesting some novel uses for the technology, and there is little doubt that this could be an exciting stepping stone for user interfaces for Windows. 
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| Facebook's Project Spartan to 'bring HTML5 apps to iOS' Posted: 15 Jun 2011 08:50 PM PDT Facebook is hoping to break the App Store's stranglehold on the iOS app-sphere by launching its own store within the Safari mobile browser, according to reports. The ambitious plan, codenamed Project Spartan, would see Facebook begin to peddle HTML5 browser-based applications, meaning it and not the App Store would take a cut from the sales. According to TechCrunch, Farmville creator Zynga and the Huffington Post are already on-board with Facebook's cheeky scheme, along with 80 other developers. The report claims that the project has been in development for two months, with the company aiming to launch the service in the next few weeks. Android plans also afoot TechCrunch also reckons that Facebook plans to replicate the service for Android users, although that is a secondary concern at present. Speculation suggests that Facebook's brazen offensive comes as a result of Twitter's agreement to be the single sign-on partner for iOS 5. Back at WWDC Apple revealed that Twitter would be deeply integrated within iOS 5. Is this Facebook's way of ensuring it gets a piece of the pie too? Source: TechCrunch 
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| Chinese men jailed over iPad 2 leaks Posted: 15 Jun 2011 02:45 PM PDT Three men have been jailed in China after being convicted of stealing unreleased information about Apple's iPad 2. The conspiracy involved the sale of images of the iPad 2's back cover from Apple's Foxconn supplier to enable a manufacturer to produce protective cases for the device. The Chinese court said ruled that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of MacTop Electronics had paid $3,000 to former Foxconn employee Hou Pengna, in exchange for the top-secret images. Pengna then enlisted the help of Foxconn R&D worker Lin Kecheng, who assisted in obtaining the images in September of 2010. Accurate design The images allowed Chengsong to begin selling cases in December 2010, which accurately predicted the position of speaker grill and camera on the device, which was not officially unveiled until March 2nd. The cases saw Foxconn officials become suspicious and a police investigation was launched. Changsong has been sentenced to 18 months in prison while Kecheng received a 14-month term and Pengna was given a year behind bars.Each of the guilty party was handed a sizable fine for their troubles also. Perhaps iPad 3 and iPhone 5 leaks might be a little harder to come by from now on... 
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| Apple Store employee secrets revealed Posted: 15 Jun 2011 01:45 PM PDT Apple retail store workers are bound to strict codes of conduct relating to how they interact with customers, a report in today's Wall Street Journal has revealed. The financial bible has interviewed several current and former employees about how they are trained to understand customer needs rather than push products on the punters. Former employee David Ambrose told the WSJ: "You were never trying to close a sale. It was about finding solutions for a customer and finding their pain points." The report also pointed-out that the philosophy means Apple Store employees do not receive commission or bonuses based on the sales they make. Training manual In a 2007 training manual obtained by the paper Apple Store employees are informed that: "Your job is to understand all of your customers' needs - some of which they may not even realize they have." The manual also offers insight into a "steps of service" APPLE acronym that employees are encouraged to use when dealing with visitors to the store: "Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome," Unfortunately In one slightly humorous revelation, workers at Apple's tech support 'Genius Bars' are not allowed to use the word 'unfortunately' to customers as it is considered to have negative connotations. Instead they are encouraged to use phrases like "as it turns out." One former employee interviewed by the WSJ says that he was forbidden from correcting, and hence patronising, customers when they mispronounced the names of Apple products. Meanwhile, employees who don't sell enough Apple Care service packages with products sold are retrained or shipped out to another department. Pay Genius Bar employees at paid around $30-an-hour in the US, while sales staff earn between $9 and $15.The former are regularly retrained and retested on their knowledge. One Apple employee has recently set about trying to arrange an Apple Store employee's union and is demanding higher wages. There's plenty more interesting insight into the Apple Store world and it's worth heading over to the WSJ to check out the rest. 
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| Sony launches Music Unlimited app for Android Posted: 15 Jun 2011 11:48 AM PDT Sony has launched its cloud-based Music Unlimited service for all Android phones, bringing unlimited subscription streaming and access to your own music library. Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity is a free app now available to download from the Android Market and will offer over 7-million tracks that can be instantly streamed to any Android device over Wi-Fi and 3G. As well as the all-you-can-eat Spotify-style model, users can also upload their own tracks to the web-based service and stream them to the device. Subscription The Music Unlimited service offers two price tiers, with the £3.99 option offering a Pandora-like, ad-free radio experience, while the Premium offering is £10 a month and allows you to listen to any song whenever you like and create your own playlists. Both plans allow users access to their own music on-the-go, while the Premium service allow offers access to a host of radio channels tailored to your musical tastes. Best of both The app seems to offer the best of both worlds, with subcription-based access to music you don't own, like Spotify, and cloud-access to your own music like Music Beta by Google and Apple iCloud. For UK Android owners, with phones rocking the 2.1 Eclair OS and above, it's a great option considering Google Music is yet to become widely available on this side of the pond. If you don't feel like committing to a subscription plan right now, Sony is offering a free 30-day trial to its Premium offering at Music.Qriocity.com 
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| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 09:06 AM PDT Specs for what could be the Google Nexus 3 have surfaced, revealing a dual-core behemoth running Ice Cream Sandwich, with a "monster-sized" screen. The leak comes by way of BGR, whose source revealed that the handset, dubbed the Google Nexus 4G for the Yanks, will come with a dual-core 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz OMAP 4460 or Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. That "monster-sized" display will be a 720p HD affair, along with 1080p HD video capture through the 5MP rear-mounted camera with superior low-light capabilities. Bye bye buttons It's goodbye to buttons on the next Nexus superphone though, as the sources revealed that navigation on the handset will be purely software-based. There will be a 4G version of the handset, although we're unlikely to see that here in the UK where we're still at least a year away from a viable 4G network; we will be able to enjoy the 1GB of RAM and Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) though. All this is set to be crammed into a slinky ultra-thin handset, which may or may not be Google Nexus branded; BGR suggests that it could be a reference device like the Motorola Milestone was for Android 2.0 and 3.0. With the US supposedly set to get the handset by Thanksgiving (November), it shouldn't be all that long before the official Google Nexus 3 reveal; we'll keep you posted. 
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| AMD: 'We're blowing by our competition' Posted: 15 Jun 2011 08:32 AM PDT "Gone are the days of running hot," proclaims Rick Bergman, head of AMD's products group. It's undoubtedly a soundbite but he's right about one thing – power frugality and battery longevity is the new battle ground for the budget laptop. Bergman was speaking at an AMD press briefing ahead of yesterday's launch of its new AMD Vision A-Series processors and the Sabine laptop platform. As well as four CPU cores, it also boast up to 400 Radeon cores for graphics processingand has some impressive power-saving features.
NEW BRANDING: The A-Series will be marketed under the AMD Vision brand AMD says that 10.5 hours of battery life is achievable in notebooks running A-Series processors. In our AMD A8-3500M review, we achieved over six hours of battery life while running a 720p HD video continuously. That's impressive, though it's worth noting that our testing took place on a whitebook sent to us by AMD rather than a third-party system. Hot no more "We just haven't caught up with our competition, we're blowing by them," boasts Bergman. "[Llano] has the best battery life in the industry. If you look at Ontario [AMD's 40nm first Fusion processor, which it sold out of] we hit a home run and we have done with Llano." "We can power gate individual cores, remove all the power from the core. Anywhere from 1 to 4 CPUs can be independently power gated. We've got very good granularity on our block level power gating." AMD also has technology, known as Turbo Core, to digitally measure your computing activity and estimate power usage. This ensures you get the maximum from the battery or performance per Watt, to put it another way. Turbo Core changes the performance state to stay within the thermal operating limit (or Thermal Design Power, TDP) of the processor. If the GPU is idle, there's increased capacity for the CPU cores to get a performance boost.
GPU IDLE: So more power is made available for the CPU "We're pretty good at getting the system level power management right," says Bergman. "This generation we've taken a really hard look at the silicon… we've been really focused about what we've taken out and only having things on when you need them [to be]"
FULLY LOADED: More power is sent to the GPU when required "We could choose to go lower with TDP… we have a good spread from 9W to 45W in notebooks. It all goes down to 'what are the platforms OEMs are going to build?' – if they have a 35W platform, they don't want a 25W part. " In our review, the AMD A8-3500M processor had an idle power draw of 15W, with peak CPU use of 44W and peak gaming use of 61W. "Systems based on AMD technology have long been criticised for having a shorter battery life than systems based on competing technology," said Godfrey Cheng, head of AMD's client technology unit. "This is no longer the case with the Sabine platform. In fact, internal testing demonstrates our Sabine platform will yield as good or better battery life than our competitor's current platforms. This battery life performance handily surpasses a competing platform that was purchased at retail."
POWER FRUGAL: AMD's Godfrey Cheng pits Llano against Core i3 Here's a video of the Sabine platform in action where a competing system and the AMD whitebook go head to head when rendering intensive graphics. The AMD results shown here were carried out on exactly the same spec whitebook as we reviewed. The AMD Vision A8-3500M up against an Intel Core i3-2310M with Intel HD 300 Graphics "This will be a shocker to many people including the competition," surmised Cheng. "As if the nearly 500 Gigaflops or Quad Core x86 combined with a Discrete Class DirectX 11-capable GPU wasn't enough, Llano has exceeded expectations in reducing our idle power consumption and increasing our power efficiency." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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| HTC Sensation to land on O2 and Orange on 8 July Posted: 15 Jun 2011 07:56 AM PDT Vodafone may have enjoyed a couple of months' exclusivity on the HTC Sensation, but it's finally making its way to other networks on 8 July. Although no networks have independently thrown their hats into the ring, Phones 4U has revealed that it will start selling the Sensation on O2 and Orange contracts. Deals through the retailer will start at £30 a month which nabs you a free handset, 500 minutes, 3,000 texts and 500MB of data on a 24-month Orange contract. Making sense But that is £5 more a month than Vodafone's £25/month two-year contract, which also gets you the Sensation for free. You can pre-order the Orange and O2 HTC Sensations from Phones 4U today for delivery on 8 July. Vodafone will continue to sell the sensational handset as well, with all the dual-core 4.5-star Android goodies that it offers. 
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| Opinion: HTC Gingerbread farce is undermining Android Posted: 15 Jun 2011 07:31 AM PDT Apparently, HTC's engineers were schooled at Hogwarts - the phone manufacturer has managed to create a secret stash of memory on every HTC Desire in the world in less than 24 hours. That's the only explanation I can come to after watching the Android 2.3 car crash on HTC's Facebook page. Yesterday's news that the HTC Desire, one of its most popular phones and the handset that propelled it (and Android) to the forefront of the smartphone game, wouldn't be getting Android 2.3 was devastating to many that were waiting for all the goodies the new version would bring. But I was willing to accept the explanation: HTC discovered there wasn't enough memory on board, and it would be the stupidest move conceivable to tout an update that it knew couldn't ever be delivered, so it made sense to own up sooner rather than later. Of course, it IS possible to get Android 2.3 on a Desire... just ask the thousands of custom ROM users that have been rocking the upgrade for months. It's the Sense overlay that sucks the additional power, so I assumed that in a bid to make sure it didn't offer any kind of poorer experience, HTC took the safe option. Then today, hours after the first Gingerbread admission, we get the news : 'Oh, sorry, it turns out we CAN bring Android 2.3 to the Desire. Our mistake'. Did an engineer hold a Flyer upside down when reading the results of a test? Was this the biggest Frape of recent times? Or is HTC just so naive that it thinks it can upset a whole boatload of consumers and then happily show it was bluffing at the merest hint of unrest? HTC needs some more Sense Usually, I'd label this a climb down - a manufacturer making a decision and then reneging due to the unexpected backlash. But there's no way that HTC could have thought that consumers weren't going to care about the lack of an upgrade, so I am totally and utterly baffled by this decision. HTC MUST have seen the pain networks went through last year with the delayed Android updates - consumers getting increasingly irate on forums at perceived idiocy and apathy and in extreme cases leaving the network altogether, so I assumed it was a lesson learnt and brands would know not to mess around with mixed Android messages again. And what's worse is that the upgrade isn't that important in the grand scheme of things. Sure, there are some fancy new tricks for your phone with the Android 2.3, but most users won't even be aware there's an upgrade in the ether, let alone be able to appreciate any benefit it may bring. So HTC, for the sake of Android's advancement and to stop consumer outrage at the Google mobile platform, please work out whether one of the phones YOU designed for an OS YOU were instrumental in creating is capable of running an update before you decide to make a big announcement about it. 
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| Hands on: Nintendo Wii U review Posted: 15 Jun 2011 07:02 AM PDT Nintendo gave up doing things by the book a long time ago. This goes for hardware, and it goes for hardware reveals. Announcing the Wii's successor a month before the games industry gathered in LA for E3 2011 gave their conference a real buzz: undercutting earlier Microsoft and Sony events with a murmur of speculative excitement. But when Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime took to the stage last Tuesday he was not armed with the machine itself, but a controller and a radical proposal for a new framework of play. Our colleagues at T3 were at E3 and have put a video together of their first impressions of the Nintendo Wii U: The Wii U controller introduces a second screen into the traditional gaming setup. A 6.2-inch resistive touchscreen mounted in the shell of a wireless dual analogue stick controller. A hybrid of traditional pad and tablet PC. Unlike a tablet, however, content is streamed from the Wii U base unit.
For the gamer, it is both TV supplement and replacement. A second screen for displaying maps, inventories and objectives, or a place to continue the game should the TV be needed by someone else. Make the call and the game streams to your hands, lag-free. More interesting is the potential for the two screens to work in direct tandem, an extension of ideas tested on DS. A touchscreen interface enables play types that have escaped buttons and analogue sticks.
Likewise, inbuilt gyroscopes and accelerometers act as a third set of analogue control inputs, allowing gamers to physically move the device to adjust their aim or orientation on screen. This is a gaming experience selfishly honed for the holder; explaining the addition of a loner 'U' to the pluralistic 'Wii'. The spirit of Wii lives on in more than name. Wii U is compatible with all former Wii software and hardware: the remote, nunchuck, balance board and classic controller. Some are obvious fits: controlling a Wii Fit weigh-in session with a handy touchscreen makes more sense than the rigmarole of setting up the living room.
Others, more experimental. The potential for novel multiplayer experiences - four pals sharing a TV as a fifth creates mischief on the tablet screen - are explored on a following page. But if Nintendo are forthcoming about *how* we'll play, they're less open on *what*. Bar a 25 GB proprietary disc format and HDMI output supporting 1080p, little is known of the base unit itself. An ambiguous IMB Power-based multi-core CPU and AMD Radeon GPU continue Nintendo's hardware relationship with the two companies, but neither suggests how Wii U stacks up against 360/PS3.
Leaving memory to SD cards and USB HDDs is a typical Nintendo move, continuing their Wii/3DS approach to cost cutting. Cost is a similarly murky issue, with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata hinting Wii U will be priced higher than 20,000 yen when it goes on sale next year (Wii U will hit shelves by the end of 2012). In many ways, Wii U's debut raised more questions than answers. What is the range of the wireless pads? How will Nintendo tackle online gaming? What will the games look like? We await Nintendo's answers.
If the controller is a mess of features and bulky design on the page, the idea unifies once in the hands. It's lighter than it looks, for one, about the weight of an iPad, and sits comfortably in the hands thanks to ridge on the back designed to rest on clasping fingers. If anything, the bulkiness reinforces that Nintendo is a toymaker first and foremost. It is a sleek screen encased in a chunky toy block of smooth plastic. Wii U suggests hi-tech fun without straying too far into the tablet territory where it simply can't compete.
Face buttons, analogue pads, triggers and bumpers are all within easy reach. It's a shame Nintendo opted for the cheap feeling components of Wii's Classic Controller. And the absence of analogue triggers (they are buttons) will upset third party developers used to 360/PS3 pads. We'd also question the decision to pick circle pads over sticks; while they are more than up to the task in our hands-on demos, they were designed as a space-saving measure for 3DS, not a satisfying successor to the trusty stick. The screen itself is crisp and bright, comfortably running even the most hardware intensive tech demos with no visual disadvantage to the television feed.
Pumping such a tiny screen with visuals intended to fill 42-inch flatscreens obviously helps disguise a low resolution. Some may find a single-touch screen a tad archaic in the modern iWorld, but this is Nintendo sticking in their DS comfort zone. Having taught 146 million users to handle a stylus, they're not going to back out on plastic prongs anytime soon. The cleverest stuff stems from the pairing of motion controls and screen. We were able to look and move around 3D environments by physically moving with the controller. Spin 360 on the spot in a virtual garden demo and you spin 360 degrees in the game.
The sensation of lifting the controller and peering at light filtering through the tree canopy above is a magnificent trick. Best of all, it's responsive and sensitive enough to become a viable control scheme for first person shooters; analogue sticks controlling movement, pad tilts perfecting the aim. Like Nintendo's last two innovations - motion controller and glasses-free 3D - the Wii U only makes sense once you've played it. Nintendo complicated matters with a confusing reveal - some attendees left the conference thinking it was another Wii peripheral - but got their show back on track with simple, satisfying hands-on demos. Needless to say, dissenting voices had all but disappeared by the last day of the E3 show, and the queues for demo pods never appeared to shrink. With the concept proven, we turn now to Nintendo for hard Wii U specs.
Hardware-wise, there's little threat of Wii U kicking off the next generation of consoles. Industry talk has it at parity with 360/PS3, maybe a little more powerful. The worry is that Nintendo has positioned itself between two generations - the same graphical stopgap that did for the Dreamcast. If Microsoft announce a new Xbox at E3 2012 (as is rumoured), could we find Nintendo coming full circle and sitting on the weakest machine on the market? There is a hint of stubbornness in Nintendo's refusal to lift the hood, as if the graphics game is a mud fight best left to Microsoft and Sony.
What they announced at E3 wasn't a console, but a concept, one backed up with attractive demos. In a way, it is the Wii reveal run in reverse: there, the silly name and baffling controller arrived to stir up a rather conventional GameCube update. Can we expect a conventional console to settle Wii U's controller hoo-hah? Baffling, daring, goofy and cool; Wii U is Nintendo design through-and-through.
Each hands-on game was designed to demonstrate a particular function of Wii U. They are as follows: Chase Mii Four players with remotes attempt to catch a fifth player armed with the Wii U controller. The twist? His screen reveals the whereabouts of his four pursuers, letting him run circles around them. Using the screen to identify safe passage is a brilliant power trip, rendering you a potent mix of Sam Fisher, Solid Snake and Jason Bourne. The demo is simple, painted in chunky primary colours, but it's easy to imagine how such an omnipotent view could be implemented into stealth games. A single TV can only offer so much perspective. Battle Mii Like Chase Mii, Battle Mii pitches one all-powerful Wii U controller against two Wii remote-wielding saps. Sorry, *contestants*. Armed with remotes and nunchucks, the two TV-dwelling players try to shoot down a UFO viewed on the Wii U controller. Wii U does what fans of local multiplayer had wished for years: it physically splits split-screen multiplayer. If only Wii U had been around for those long nights of GoldenEye 64. We're also very impressed with the accuracy of Wii U's motion controls. Aiming our UFO's cannons with tiny controller shifts is responsive and accurate. New Super Mario Bros Mii The most complete game shown is Wii U's most disappointing. An HD reworking of New Super Mario Bros Wii, we struggled spotting Wii U's extra horsepower. The action is crisp and the screen zooms out further than it could on Wii, but the distinction would be lost on all but the keenest Mario fan. That said, swivelling our eyes down to the controller feed reveals no loss of visual quality or lag between the action on TV. In fact, it's easy to forget it's even being broadcast nearby, until you hear crowds sniggering at your fifth pitiful death in a row. Shield Pose This piratical rhythm game asks you to defend yourself from arrow barrages by physically raising the controller in the direction of attacks. The controller screen acts as an extension of the television screen. While one pirate ship bobs on the TV before you, the others can only be spotted by physically panning the handheld screen left or right. Turn 180 degrees and you're starting at the back of your own virtual ship. The illusion of peering through a window into a virtual world hidden beyond our reality is quite mesmerising. Zelda HD A hands-off tech demo, Zelda HD offers the best taste of what Wii U is capable of visually. Although based on Wii's Twilight Princess, it is smothered in such detailed textures that it is hard to recognise at first. Smooth depth of field transition and reflective marble and water are beyond Wii's capabilities, particularly how rippling ponds distort the light. Switching between day and night reveals rich, reactive lighting, with flaming torches spotting the hide of a giant spider with neat flashes of colour. Whatever the final specs, no Nintendo game has ever looked this good. 
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| Updated: Android 2.3 release date: when will you get it? Posted: 15 Jun 2011 06:47 AM PDT Android 2.3 has been announced by Google, and now owners of smartphones such as the Nexus One and the HTC Desire are eagerly awaiting the update. Tthe first phone to go on sale with Android 2.3 is the successor to the Nexus One, the Google Nexus S. Google Nexus One Android 2.3 update The Nexus One has already been confirmed as getting the Android 2.3 update in early Q1 2011. The following announcement over on the official Google Nexus Twitter page confirmed the upgrade: "The Gingerbread OTA for Nexus One will happen in the coming weeks. Just hang tight!" UPDATE: As of 23 February 2011, the Google Nexus One Android 2.3.3 update is rolling out. Google Nexus S Android 2.3.3 update UPDATE: The Nexus S is also getting its update to Android 2.3.3 as of 23 February 2011. HTC Desire Android 2.3 update First it was on, then it was off and now it's back on again. Despite networks previously saying they were looking to push the Android 2.3 update out to HTC Desire handsets, on 14 June 2011, HTC said that it will not be able to offer a Gingerbread update for the HTC Desire. "There isn't enough memory to allow us both to bring Gingerbread and keep the HTC Sense experience on the HTC Desire," HTC said. But just 24 hours later, on 15 June 2011 HTC changed its mind and said "Contrary to what we said earlier, we are going to bring Gingerbread to HTC Desire." It seems the phone which HTC originally said lacked the memory to run Sense and Gingerbread is suddenly, miraculously capable of doing so. We'd previously contacted HTC during December 2010 to ask about an HTC Desire update to Android 2.3 (and one for the HTC Desire HD and the HTC Desire Z). HTC responded on 7 December 2010 to confirm that a number of its phones will be receiving Android 2.3. "We are excited about the OS update coming for Android, and while HTC will definitely have some phones running this OS, we do not have a specific timeframe for new phones or updates at this time. Please stay tuned for more details," said an HTC spokesperson. Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update We also contacted Samsung to ask about the Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update. Samsung replied with the following statement: "In case a new version of Android operating system is publicly announced and released, Samsung will review the possibility of implementation of such new version to the existing Samsung products with Android operating system ("Update"). "Such a review will be based on various factors including, without limitation, the overall effect of such Update to Samsung products, the system requirements, the structural limitations, and the level of cooperation from the component suppliers and the software licensors. "If Samsung decides to make the Update available to the users after such consideration, Samsung will use its efforts to develop such Update, which may be released to the users upon successful completion of such development." In other words: we'll check it out and make a decision then. UPDATE: As of 16 May 2011, the Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.3 update is being rolled out. LG Optimus One and Optimus Chic Android 2.3 update At first it looked like this one wasn't going to happen. In a post on Facebook, LG said: "The Optimus line won't be getting the Gingerbread update because they have a 600MHz processor, and the minimum requirements for Gingerbread require 1 GHz processor. In other words: it's not possible to update the processor, unfortunately." However, on 10 December, LG changed its mind, saying: "LG will upgrade all Optimus One smartphones currently using the Froyo OS to the next version of the Android OS, Gingerbread. Details of the upgrade schedule will be announced locally in due course." LG Optimus 2X Android 2.3 release date The 2X has been officially announced as a UK release, and while it will ship with Android 2.2, the Android 2.3 update will be winging its way to the handset soon. Stay tuned. We'll bring you more release dates as we get them. 
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| HTC: Actually, we WILL bring Android 2.3 to Desire Posted: 15 Jun 2011 06:37 AM PDT HTC has changed its mind again and confirmed that it will be bringing the Android 2.3 update to the HTC Desire. Just 24 hours after delivering the grim news that it wouldn't be able to upgrade the popular Desire to Gingerbread, the Taiwanese manufacturer has posted this on its Facebook page: "Contrary to what we said earlier, we are going to bring Gingerbread to HTC Desire." Confusion This has obviously brought relief to the many, many users of the top-selling HTC phone who thought the promise of 18 months support for Android upgrades wasn't going to be upheld, but has understandably caused confusion for customers. TechRadar has contacted HTC for further information on how the phone, which yesterday was deemed to have 'too little memory' for Android 2.3, has suddenly got the necessary specs to run the OS version. There's still no word on when the HTC Desire Android 2.3 update will be coming, but we'd imagine if there's this much to-ing and fro-ing from within the organisation, it can't be too long now. 
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| MoD takes to YouTube to stem social networking leaks Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:53 AM PDT The Ministry of Defence has published a set of YouTube videos warning of the dangers of loose social networking lips. Aimed at military personnel and their friends and family, the videos warn that anyone could be tracking their status updates, including "the enemy". Harking back to wartime propaganda warning Brits that 'careless talk costs lives', the 21st century version warns that careless tweets, status updates and FourSquare check-ins could prove equally dangerous. Loose lips sink ships New recruits will also be taught how to use social media safely so they don't give away their location or restricted information without realising. "It can be simple to collate information from various sources in order to build up a picture of who a person is. Similarly it might only take one careless comment, or posting a picture without checking what's in the background to put friends and colleagues at risk," reads the MOD site. While 'Think before you share' is not quite as catchy as the '40s slogans the MoD hopes the YouTube message will curb social networking leaks, which have been known to happen. 
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| Official: Wii U not compatible with DVDs or Blu-rays Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:53 AM PDT Nintendo has decided to go down the proprietary route with the Wii U, deciding not to make the next-gen games console compatible with DVDs or Blu-rays. This is according to an investor Q&A which was held by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata and had just been published into English. Considering many use the Playstation 3 as their home entertainment system of choice, due to its Blu-ray functionality, it seems a little odd that Nintendo has decided to go off and create its own format – but cost has been put down as the contributing factor. In the Q&A, Iwata explained the lack of DVD and Blu-ray compatibility as: "We feel that enough people already have devices that are capable of playing DVDs and Blu-ray, such that it didn't warrant the cost involved to build that functionality into the Wii U console because of the patents related to those technologies." Wii U going social The investor Q&A also highlighted that the Wii U will link up with social networks. "After examining the penetration and adoption rate of social networking services like Facebook, etc, we've come to the conclusion that we are no longer in a period where we cannot have any connection at all with social networking services. "Rather, I think we've come to an era where it's important to consider how the social graph of the social networking services can work in conjunction with something like a video game platform." Another area that Iwata tackled was the mobile gaming market, where he said was not threatening Nintendo's livelihood in any way. "I don't feel that there is competition or threat from mobile games for our video game business from the sense that, even before mobile games appeared, it's always been the nature of our job to continue to offer new experiences that players can't have on other devices, and that, as long as we can continue to do that, the consumer will want to play our games, but what we are sensitive to is the notion of the sense of value and what consumers are willing to pay for games." The Nintendo Wii U was the undoubted talking point of E3 2011, even if Nintendo didn't actually give that many details of its new console away. 
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| Updated: Top 200 best iPad apps 2011 Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:20 AM PDT Whether you have an iPad or iPad 2 that means deciding which apps you should purchase and download right away. We tested the launch apps when the first iPad became available in the US and we ranked them below based on how they test out, if they make use of the larger screen, and any added perks. When the iPad became available in the UK, we trawled the UK App Store to pick our favourite free iPad apps, paid-for iPad apps, free iPad games and paid-for iPad games. You'll find links to all those round-ups at the end of this article. 1. Kindle for iPad Why list a free e-book reader as the top pick when Apple's own iBook is included? Ask anyone who owns a Kindle - with this free app, you can download every book and magazine you have ever purchased for free and read them on the iPad. The Kindle reader doesn't have the annoying grayscale book spine of the iBook reader, and books through Amazon are cheaper. There's also a much wider selection. And, one of the best ways to use the iPad is for reading books, mags, and newspapers.
2. Blackboard Mobile Learn The second free app that tops our list, Blackboard Mobile Learn is a classroom learning tool where teachers can make assignments, interact with students, write blogs, and post grades. It requires a backend infrastructure. Currently available only for higher-ed schools, Blackboard will add K-12 support by June.
3. Scrabble Scrabble is another app that is just an ideal fit for the iPad. The classic word-cross board game is well-designed with wooden tiles that look realistic. With the accurate touchscreen control, it is easy to slide tiles around on screen.
4. Groovemaker Groovemaker is like having a DJ on your iPad. There's an easy to way to record and mix loops, add drum parts, and adjust sound levels to make a song. Samples clips sound great, especially on earbuds. The app is ideal for live music at parties as well.
5. Things We know all about Things - the well-regarded task manager for iPhone and Mac. On the iPad, once again the app just has a new life because it's like carrying around a clipboard with all your to-do items in one easy-to-access bucket.
6. Fieldrunners Fieldrunners - the classic tower defense game for iPhone where you drop cannons to shoot advancing armies - has always needed some extra screen real estate. On iPad, the game looks crisp and colorful, but most importantly there is more room to plan out your strategy and divide up your units in a logical array.
7. Netflix Netflix is on so many devices it is becoming a legitimate standard for streaming movies over the internet. (It's on the Roku player, Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-Ray player, and many others.) Now, it is on the iPad, and it works: you can even set up a movie queue and search for films and shows, unlike other embedded devices that force you to add instant movies to your queue on your PC only.
8. Pianist Pro MooCowMusic got an early jump with its iPhone port of this useful piano tool. On the iPad, the keys are large enough to actually play a real song. There's plenty of sampled piano sounds - even a church organ - and a quick way to record.
9. WeatherBug Elite WeatherBug Elite is a perfect example of why the iPad is changing computing: it shows a well-detailed map of your exact location, forecasts, video, and even camera feeds from your area. There are even contour maps for wind speed and temp.
10. FlightTrack Pro This iPhone port works exceptionally well on the iPad, mostly because you can see a large map that shows your flight departure and arrival. Pop-ups after you enter the flight info remind you about when the flight is ready to take off.
11. Pages Apple knew full well that Microsoft would not move an inch to support the iPad, so Pages is the best (and only!) word processing app. Combined with the iPad Dock with an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, it is possible to do real work on the iPad, even if Pages lacks some key features - such as HTML mark-up support.
12. Tweetdeck Another brilliant port to iPad, Tweetdeck shows you the feeds of your Twitter friends, your own mentions, and your direct messages. It works well because there is enough screen space to actually read all of this content.
13. Keynote Keynote is worth the price of admission if only because you can set up an attractive slideshow - using Apple's templates and stock artwork - and run it on the iPad's crisp screen - which is viewable from side angles during a meeting.
14. Mirror's Edge The PC and console versions of Mirror's Edge never really caught on due to minimalistic gameplay mechanics. On the iPad, the story is still confusing (is she running from enemies, trying to collect info about them?) but the action is better. You flick and jump to avoid obstacles in a side-scrolling window, and there's a few interesting additions - such as tilting the screen to run faster.
15. ABC Player The ABC Player on the iPad is a must download - it provides the best way to watch TV shows from the US network for free. Most importantly, it works quite well over a Wi-Fi connection without some of the latency problems on the desktop.
16. Labyrinth Lite HD More than just a simple wood-block puzzle where you move a marble from one end of the box to another, Labyrinth Lite HD has expanded to provide a tougher challenge with switches, rotating dials, and other obstacles. The iPad version is just right: it really feels like you are playing the classic puzzle game.
17. Yahoo! Entertainment We were surprised to discover this colorful, well-designed app - which shows you TV listings for your area as well as video snippets and news.
18. SketchBook Pro We're big fans of SketchBook on the iPhone, and this high-def version just makes it even easier to sketch out an artistic image. The tools are amazingly advanced, mirroring what you might see in Photoshop or in a real artist's shop.
19. OmniGraffle OmniGraffle has never quite fit a device like it fits the iPad. This diagramming tool - which you can use to create flowcharts, sketch out ideas, and even plan an office floorplan - is just pick-up-and-go easy on the smooth touchscreen.
20. AIM AOL still exists? Yes - in theory. On the iPad, this instant messaging client looks great and, coupled with the responsive soft keyboard, is actually one of the best ways to communicate with friends, short of a video chat in a future iPad version.
Best iPad apps for UK buyers Top 50 best free iPad apps Many great free iPhone apps cost 59p or more in their iPad incarnations, and the quality level of what's still free is often ropey. But among the dross lie rare gems - iPad apps that are so good you can't believe they're still free. Of those we unearthed, here are our favourites.
Read Top 50 best free iPad apps Top 40 best paid-for iPad apps We worked our way through the App Store and furiously tested a huge (digital) pile of apps, before coming up with our 40 best paid-for iPad apps.
Read Top 40 best paid-for iPad apps Top 40 best free iPad games The App Store offers plenty of iPad gaming goodness for the (unintentional or otherwise) skinflint. Our pick of the 30 best free iPad games are below.
Read Top 30 best free iPad games 30 best iPad games worth paying for With the iPad, the larger screen and extra clout from Apple's A4 chip creates a gaming experience markedly superior compared to that on the iPhone, and already there are plenty of fantastic titles for the system. Here are our current top 30 paid-for iPad games.
Read 30 best iPad games worth paying for 20 best iPad 2 apps If you've been fortunate enough to get your hands on a new iPad 2, you'll know that it's a very powerful piece of kit. But what apps should you get to show it at its best?
Read 20 best iPad 2 apps
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| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 05:16 AM PDT If you've been fortunate enough to get your hands on a new iPad 2, you'll know that it's a very powerful piece of kit. But what apps should you get to show it at its best? Yes, the iPad 2 is very slim and all, but what actually matters is that Apple A5 dual-core processor, improved graphics and new gyroscope - meaning that developers have been rushing to update their apps . So here are a few of the best apps for iPad 2 - both new apps and older ones that run better on the new iPad. 1. PhotoBooth - Free (included with iPad 2) A staple of the iPad 2's starter apps, PhotoBooth takes advantage of the iPad's dual cameras to bring you stupid pictures of yourself. Yes, it is a novelty app, but it's one that might make you smile. Or, more probably, make young'uns chuckle at the sight of themselves with silly effects applied. You can share photos or save them to the Camera Roll. Even though it's a funny little app, there's still some hefty graphics processing involved, not to mention the requirement for the iPad 2 cameras.
2. iMovie - £2.99 Since you can shoot 720p video on the iPad 2 too, it makes shooting and publishing quick-fire family movies a real doddle. It might cost, but it's a steal - iMovie has been completely reinvented for iPad 2 and it really is a top app. It does need the intensive dual-core A5 processing of the iPad 2 -it's far more powerful than the iPhone 4 version, for example.
3. RealRacing 2 HD - £5.99 The follow up to Real Racing and RealRacing 2, RealRacing 2 HD is seriously good - and seriously absorbing. Control with the iPad 2's gyro is excellent and we really like the responsiveness when you get used to it. And then there's the enhanced graphics - and this is where the iPad 2 really plays its part. The app can be used with the iPad 2 HDMI connector to support 1080p HD out with an HD TV. What's more, while you can see the racing on your TV, the iPad 2 will also show you real-time telemetry and your position on the track. Simply ace.
4. GarageBand - £2.99 Like iMovie, this is another cracking app direct from Apple. The best thing about using it on iPad 2 is the performance, while the look of the instruments is fantastic. However, it does work great on the original iPad. Many seasoned GarageBand users actually prefer using it on iPad than the original Mac version. The Smart Instruments are pretty cool, while you can also export music to iTunes.
5. Jenga HD - £0.59 Jenga HD is available at this price - 80 per cent off - for a "limited period" so you have our apologies if the app's pricing has risen by the time you read this article. Jenga on the iPad is seriously absorbing and comes complete without the real-life Jenga problem of spilt drinks. Jenga HD has gyroscope control for greater accuracy on the iPad 2.
6. Pages - £5.99 Why Pages? Simply because it works like a dream on iPad 2. It's already a great app for the original iPad, but the A5's clout means it feels faster and more efficient on Apple's latest tablet, and the app's interface is surprisingly powerful.
7. Pocketbooth HD - £1.19 As the original iPad doesn't have a camera, Pocketbooth HD is a version of the iPhone app for the new iPad. It enables you to take a strip of photos with different effects and then email them off, publish them on Facebook or Twitter or just save them to your camera roll. If you have AirPrint enabled, you can print them off, too.
8. Infinity Blade - £3.49 If you thought sword-fighting game Infinity Blade looked good on the original iPad, it's even prettier on the iPad 2. Textures are clearer and smoother, and enemy armour shines. The game also has superior performance and faster loading times, and, of course, it's just as playable as it ever was.
9. SketchBook Pro - £2.99 Autodesk's fantastic drawing and painting app SketchBook Pro has fairly subtle changes on the iPad 2 that nonetheless showcase the extra power under the tablet's hood. The number of available layers and undo/redo are both doubled (to 12 and 20, respectively), and there's an optional high-resolution canvas (2048-by-1536, with four layers).
10. Dead Space for iPad - £5.99 EA's horror shooter Dead Space, like Infinity Blade, has a subtle upgrade on the iPad 2, centring on polishing up the already impressive graphics. Lighting effects are the most noticeable amendments, assuming you notice them while you attempt to avoid being torn apart by an all-out Necromorph onslaught.
11. Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD - £3.99 More like trying to coax a missile around corners than a racing game, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD seriously ramps up the visuals on the iPad 2: cars get real-time reflections, textures and surfaces are richer, shadows are more realistic, draw distances are deeper, and, 'helpfully', your crashes look nicer, due to blur and particle effects.
12. Twitter - Free The iPad 2 is far from the best device in the world for photography and video, but it's fine when you're tweeting away and want to blast a quick visual of your surroundings to your followers. The official Twitter app now happily supports the iPad 2's cameras (as, to be fair, do many third-party clients).
13. djay - £5.99 Virtual deck-spinner djay is one of relatively few apps that's using the iPad 2 as a means to launch new features, taking full advantage of the device's extra power. If you've Apple's latest tablet, you get access to key lock and time-stretching (changing a song's tempo without affecting its pitch) and loop/cue-snapping (auto-aligning to beats).
14. Yahoo! Messenger - Free FaceTime's all very well, but not everyone owns shiny Apple kit. For your chums and pals who use Yahoo! Messenger, the universal Yahoo! Messenger app now supports voice and video calling on the iPad 2, rather like how the app works on the iPhone and iPod touch.
15. Vtok - Free At the risk of pretty much copying and pasting the previous entry: FaceTime's all very well, but… Vtok is a client that works with Google Video and Voice Chat, and, like Yahoo! Messenger, takes advantage of the iPad 2's cameras to enable such functionality.
16. War Pinball HD - £1.79 War! What's it good for? Inspiring movies that then in turn inspire Gameprom to create a three-table pinball compilation for iPad, apparently, instead of 'absolutely nothing', as you might have instead claimed. On the iPad 2, War Pinball HD's performance is improved, and you get full HD TV output. Lovely.
17. Google Earth - Free Google Earth hasn't been updated specifically for the iPad 2, but we've included it to showcase how even existing apps can benefit from the extra grunt in the revamped tablet. Google Earth is faster and has better redraw on the newer device.
18. Star Walk for iPad - £2.99 Vito Technology's Star Walk app was a favourite with iPad-owning star-gazers before the iPad 2 arrived, but the newer tablet's cameras move the app to another level. Now, you can hold your iPad 2 skywards and the app will superimpose details of constellations and other information.
19. QuickPix - 59p QuickPix is a universal camera app that's embracing the iPad 2 and also using its extra power to boost a feature. In this case, it's 'burst mode' that benefits: while the iPhone 4 only manages two shots per second, the iPad 2 can take 14. See, that lower camera resolution is at least good for something!
20. Evernote Peek - Free Here's a novel app that's specifically for the iPad 2 and the Apple Smart Cover. The idea behind Evernote Peek is to improve your memory - you peek under the cover to get a question and then peek under the next fold to see the answer. Close and open the cover to get a new question.
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| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:49 AM PDT Nokia is closing its British online store by the end of June 2011, following similar closures in other European countries. The Nokia affiliate team broke the news in an email to its affiliate network, stating that no payments will be made to partners after 30 June. "This message is to inform you that Nokia is closing their affiliate programme… in keeping with a strategic business decision to close down the Nokia UK online shop," the email reads. Nok nok noking on heaven's door (some more) Nokia UK told TechRadar: "We are planning to close the current UK online store to simplify our channel structure and focus our resources on our key trade customers." But Nokia Spain told it like it was when its online store closed last month: "Prices are too subsidised by the carriers and sales were low, so they will keep providing support." With networks offering deals that can nab customers a "free" phone as well as freebies like games consoles and TVs, it's easy to see why direct handset sales from Nokia at full market price would be fairly low. Rest assured, you'll still be able to buy Nokia phones from other retailers and networks – for now, at least. 
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| LulzSec hits gaming sites in Titanic Takeover Tuesday Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:24 AM PDT LulzSec, the online hacking collective, targeted a number of gaming sites this week in what appears to have been a systematic attack on the gaming community. Branded Titanic Takeover Tuesday, hackers under the LulzSec banner managed to mount a DDoS attack against a number of sites, including online magazine Escapist (whose users had been angrily commenting on LulzSec's previous attack on Bethesda), as well as Eve Online, Minecraft, League of Legends and FinFisher. Hack attack As always, LulzSec kept everyone updated on its Twitter page and even asked people to phone in and request a target to be hacked. "And that concludes our DDoS party: Escapist Magazine, Eve Online, Minecraft, League of Legends + 8 phone requests. #TitanicTakeoverTuesday," said one Twitter post. Within an hour the LulzSec Twitter account also posted: "Now accepting calls from true lulz fans - let's all laugh together at... gamers." This is the latest in a long line of hack attacks administered by LulzSec. Just last week, the group targeted the NHS just to show it has security problems. 
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| WIN! A Teufel Impaq 3000 Blu-ray surround system worth £619 Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:00 AM PDT TechRadar is teaming up with home cinema experts Teufel, Europe's leading direct seller of audio equipment and loudspeakers, to give one lucky reader the chance to win the Impaq 3000 Blu-ray surround sound system worth £619. The Impaq 3000 is the perfect solution for setting up your first 5.1 home cinema system. The centrepiece of the system is the IP 3000 Blu-ray receiver, which as well as delivering great quality images also pumps out a potentially ASBO warranting 600 watts of power. Teufel have over 30 years experience as a loudspeaker manufacturer and this is where the system really comes into its own. Each of the five satellite speakers houses two 80mm midrange drivers and one 19mm tweeter and are capable of producing rich detailed sound afforded by the Blu-ray format's uncompressed audio. The satellite's are complemented with plenty of low end rumble provided by the the system's sub-woofer which can comfortably handle frequencies as low as 38Hz. Teufel was founded in 1979 and is one of the most well respected loudspeaker manufacturers in Europe. All Teufel speakers are precision engineered in-house at their Berlin headquarters. Teufel loudspeakers come with an unparalleled 12 year guarantee and, as a direct seller, any Teufel system can be tried out at home for up to 8 weeks – if it's not right for you, simply return for a full refund. Visit www.teufelaudio.co.uk to check out the full range. Click here to enter the competition ----------------------------------- Please note that competition is open to UK residents only. Under 16s must obtain parental consent to enter this competition and be able to demonstrate this to TechRadar's reasonable satisfaction. 
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| iOS 5 code hints at Retina Display for iPad 3 Posted: 15 Jun 2011 03:48 AM PDT It's been a while since we've had a good Retina-Display-for-iPad rumour but iOS 5 is here to save the day – devs tinkering around with the SDK code for the OS discovered that the Twitter.framework features an 1536 x 2048 pixel icon. That's double the current size needed for the iPad 2's icons and these mammoth image dimensions also show up in Apple's magazine app, Newsstand, leading us all down the Retina Display path leading to the iPad 3. But this proves nothing as the same dimension options were also spotted for some iPad app icons back in January, and the Retina Display-less iPad 2 has launched since then. Resolution pollution The iPad 2 was left to languish with the same IPS LCD display as the original iPad, while the iPhone 4 and iPod touch enjoy all the crisp high definition goodness that Retina Display brings. Rumours have continued to swirl that Apple simply couldn't get the displays ready to go in time or for a low enough price, suggesting we'll see the next iteration rocking the dense display. And just when will that arrive? Plenty of 'anonymous sources' and pontificating analysts have suggested we'll see the iPad 3 release date in September, around about the same time as we're expecting iOS 5 (and the iPhone 5) to hit. 
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| Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Posted: 15 Jun 2011 03:35 AM PDT Welcome to the top spot, Samsung. The outstanding Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Honeycomb tablet is lighter and a hair thinner than the Apple iPad 2, and has a smaller footprint than either the Motorola Xoom or the Acer Iconia Tab A500, which are heavier and bulkier than most tablets. Other than a paltry app selection, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a major contender. We reviewed the short-lived Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1V already, but that thicker and heavier device has since been discontinued (It looked as if Vodafone might pick up the 10.1V tab but it is now waiting to release the newer 10.1 model). The only other important players in the tablet market, are the brilliant 10.1-inch Asus Eee Pad Transformer as well as the BlackBerry PlayBook and the HTC Flyer, which are both so-so 7-inch models. Oh, and keep your eye on the HP TouchPad which goes on sale in the UK next month.
So what sets the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 apart? For starters, this is one light and thin tablet. At just 8.6mm, it is 0.2mm thinner than the iPad 2. And you know what? At 565g it's also 36g lighter. It's as though someone at Samsung sat down and demanded that the 10.1 have world-beating raw system specs.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a marvel of engineering, given its size. Holding one in your hand, you might mistake it for a truncated version of a Samsung LED HDTV, which are also market leaders. There's a slight edge around the screen that is not touch enabled, a silver edge, and an all-white back.
The device just feels right. Unlike the Acer Iconia A500 and the Motorola Xoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 finds that ideal balance between a pick-up-and go e-book reader such as the Amazon Kindle 3 and a 10-inch tablet that's perfect for watching movies on a long car trip. By including Android Honeycomb (version 3.1 to be exact) Samsung has also one-upped the competition (though 3.1 has also already landed on the Transformer). The point release includes a few new additions. You can resize widgets and scroll through open apps in the pop-up thumbnails for the "recent apps" list.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't have a USB port, so it doesn't take advantage of the new Android 3.1 feature to support USB-connected peripherals which is a shame, but that's not the direction Samsung is going with this tablet. This is all about pick-up-and-go functionality and portability. Samsung actually downgraded the built-in camera on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 compared to the Galaxy Tab 10.1V, which had an 8MP rear camera. Still, the new model has a 3MP rear camera, which is three times higher than the Apple iPad 2's camera. There's also a front-facing 2MP camera. There are quite a few interesting perks and additions on this tablet. Some may seem underwhelming at first, but as a whole they give Apple a good run for the prize.
One subtle change is that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a 7000mAh battery for all-day tablet use. In our tests, it lasted about nine hours for everyday tasks. The Apple iPad 2 battery is 6600mAh. The 10.1 also has a four-way accelerometer and gyro (the Apple iPad 2 uses a three-way accelerometer and gyro - starting to see a pattern here?). That may seem like a minor upgrade, but most of the games we tested on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 responded faster to quick turns and screen rotations, and generally worked better for controlling games. It also has great side speakers for playing music and movie audio, and plays smooth 1080p video. And of course, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 matches the features of other Android tabs: built-in GPS, support for Adobe Flash in the browser (you still have to download it on your own), 1290 x 800 screen resolution, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor and Android tablet app. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a smart buy for anyone who wants a light and portable Android tablet. Google still has a ways to go on apps for Android – there are only a few dozen that are seriously worth downloading, compared to thousands of worthy iOS apps. The ecosystem for media is a bit underdeveloped on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as well. Sure, you can watch movies stream on the web, but for downloads you're mostly on your own. Samsung told us it will release a Media Hub app for buying and renting Hollywood films shortly after launch, so that app may address one of our usual Android tab gripes. A point release will also include an app called Social Hub for aggregating social network feeds, email, IM, calendar and contacts. It will also add a Samsung e-book reader and DLNA support for streaming media to and from the tab. In the box Samsung includes a charger, USB cable and earbuds, but no case or docking stand. Price We still don't know how much the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is going to cost. Rest assured though, as soon as we find out we'll be updating the review.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 uses a brilliant, portable form-factor that beats every other tablet on the market. It's smaller and lighter, easy to grasp and not as bulky as a few of the other Android 3.0 tablets. On the top, the power and volume controls are easy to find. On the top-right you'll find the 3.4mm headphone jack. There are no buttons on the side; instead, Samsung put the speakers on the side for good, clear audio. On the bottom, there's just a 30-pin connector for the USB cable.
There's no slot for adding more memory or a 3G card on the version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 we tested, which has 16GB of RAM. There's also no USB port like there is on the A500 Or Transformer for using an external keyboard. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has an incredibly bright and clear screen, too. That's where our comparison to a Samsung HDTV comes in – this is the first tablet we've tested where a movie actually looked as bright as what you might enjoy in the living room.
It's brighter and clearer than theXoom, and about the same brightness as the Apple iPad 2. At 1280 x 800 resolution, it's a hair clearer than the iPad 2, too. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't offer the same sound fidelity of the Acer Iconia Tab, though, which benefits from Dolby technology in improving audio clarity. Instead, it uses side speakers (as opposed to putting them on the back) so the tablet is actually a better audio device if you skip the earbuds. We're not going to say the speakers are so good you can watch a movie from across your desk; for that, you'll want to use real powered speakers. Yet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 beats other Android tabs for good, clear sound.
With the four-way motion sensors, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 responded faster and more accurately when we tested several games, including the brand new Nvidia app Pinball HD and the flying game Archipelago. Unlike the Apple iPad 2, which tends to be a bit fussy about screen rotations, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 would stay in position when we turned it into landscape mode without trying to clip back and forth. Eventually, Samsung will add a media streaming service called Allshare that will let you stream content to and from supported DLNA devices such as an HDTV, set-top box and digital cameras. We weren't able to test this as it hasn't launched, but the DLNA option will be a welcome addition.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 uses more or less the same interface as the other Android 3.0 tablets. There's a Home button on the lower-left, app icons fill the centre of the screen and alerts and settings are on the lower-left.
That may be an adjustment for those used to the pull-down menu on Android smartphones, but the Android 3.0 interface provides intuitive control over the device that rivals and in some ways surpasses the Apple iPad 2.
That said, we still prefer the BlackBerry PlayBook UI over Android 3.1 in terms of swiping quickly through open apps. And, from early demos of the HP TouchPad, the card interface for Palm webOS 3.0 may be worth the wait since cards can be grouped together even when one is from an email and another is from a web page. We like the way the TouchPad and PlayBook move well past the iPad paradigm of selecting an app icon and not really having a good way to glide easily between open apps.
Most of the interface enhancements on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 have to do with Android 3.1, although none of them are radical improvements over Android 3.0. When you drop a widget onto a home screen, you can now grab a handle and resize it. A pop-up menu on the lower left of the screen next to the Home button shows all open apps. You can now scroll up and down to view them and pick the one you want, which is more helpful than having just a few open apps.
For now, Samsung is following the cookie-cutter approach to apps and relying mostly on the Android Market. There is a Samsung app store on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 but the apps mostly repeat what you will find in the Android Market. Which is to say: not that many apps. Even though the Motorola Xoom was first out of the gate in early March, the app selection is still not that great. You can install many of the Android apps designed for phones, but many of them won't make the best use of that 10.1-inch screen. And one good thing here is that if your device is just plain incompatible with a certain app, it won't let you install it.
You will find a few new additions in the 'specially designed for Honeycomb- app selection, though: a Twitter client called TweetComb, a few new games including Pinball HD, the new Google Music app that adds cloud storage for your audio files and a few extra newsreader and news aggregator apps. That makes the app selection for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 slim now, with the possibility of being slightly better in the future. However, Android tablet apps are few and far between compared to the wide selection of Apple iPad apps.
You won't find many video chat services (other than Google Talk), a Skype client, a wide selection of games beyond the dozen that are currently available or anything like a slideshow or page layout app. There's no music recording apps, few notetaking or journaling apps and only one Twitter client.
There is an HD version of Angry Birds, a good flight tracking app, an RSS aggregator called Pulse and a Dropbox client. This is apart from the standard Google apps for Gmail, calendars and some funky additions such as Google Body (search for body parts), Google Sky Map and Google Earth.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is easier to use than any other tablet except the iPad 2. We had no trouble finding the power button on the top left. (With the Motorola Xoom, the power button is located behind the device, which is OK but not where you'd expect to find it.) Volume buttons on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 were also easy to find. Samsung went the Apple route of "less is more" in offering only three buttons. There is no hardware switch to lock screen rotation and no other buttons.
This means all of the usability of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 rests on Android 3.1. In general, this means the tablet isn't that different from other Android models. It's easy to select icons, swipe left and right on the home screen, access the Home button and the button to access open apps and to find settings. Android 3.1 was supposed to include an enhancement to the browser app where you can use a pop-up menu wheel to go forward and back, bookmark sites and control other options. Samsung may have hidden this feature, at least on our Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 model, because it wasn't available.
Importantly, the Android 3.1 release is also intended to address delays in swiping between home screens – it's supposed to run faster. However, other than the motion sensor working better for games, we didn't notice any major differences in swiping between the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and other Android tablets. Screen Cranked up to the highest brightness level, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 outshines every other tablet. It is exceptionally bright and clear, especially for movies we loaded onto the device. The screen resolution runs at 1280 x 800 WXGA, which provides a few more pixels than the Apple iPad 2, at 1024 x 768. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1's screen runs at 149 pixels per inch and is highly viewable from a side angle. In several tests – games, checking Twitter feeds and browsing the web – the screen refreshed quickly.
Like every other tablet except the Apple iPad and iPad 2, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tends to accumulate fingerprints and grime faster than a glass door at a kindergarten classroom. The bright screen offsets this problem somewhat because you might not even notice the grime in daily use, but dark movies and photos will show the grime more than brightly coloured images. The side bezel also collects dust and grime, but no worse or better than any other Android tablet. Give us a tablet that has the same grime-reducing agents as the iPad without any bezel (as with the rumoured iPad 3) and we'll be much happier. One complaint with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is that the touchscreen tends to chug a bit at times. We noticed this when typing emails but even more so in the browser, especially when visiting content-rich sites. In several cases, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 would cause delays between what we typed and what appeared on screen. Also, when we tried to position the cursor by pressing the screen to make an edit, the cursor icon would appear in the wrong part of a sentence.
In some ways, Samsung shot its own foot off by not including the Media Hub on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and stating that this app will be available in a future update. The app was one of the differentiators on the original Galaxy Tab because you could download TV shows and movies and watch them when you were offline. The main way to watch movies and shows is through the browser, which supports Adobe Flash. We were quite impressed with how often a website would work for both music and movies, though.
You can also plug the Tab into your computer using the bundled USB cable and transfer the usual file types and most will play - Xvid, DivX etc are all compatible with the Android 3.0 OS. We tested one music streaming service from the SubPop record label and it worked smoothly in the browser, playing audio clips without any stuttering or errors. YouTube also worked flawlessly. As expected, Hulu didn't work, just as it hasn't worked on other Android tablets. Using the Google Music service and playing songs from the cloud, playback was consistent without any stuttering. The side speakers are better than any other Android Tab we've tested, mostly because of where they're located on the side instead of the back. Playback using Ultimate Ears earbuds on the 3.5mm headphone jack sounded just as good as any other Android phone or tablet. Only the Acer Iconia A500 gets a slight advantage, using Dolby technology for sound clarity.
As we've said before, a tablet is not a great camera device. The 3MP rear-facing camera on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 does provide some handy extra features, but overall the quality of the pictures looked a bit washed out and, in some cases, overly blurry. That's partly due to the fact that the tablet is hard to hold steady and is not meant to be a camera replacement by any means. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has some basic effects such as black-and-white and sepia for photos. You can adjust white balance for certain lighting conditions, and set a timer. There's a way to raise or lower exposure for lighter or darker pictures, and you can add GPS coordinates. None of these features really go beyond the basic Android offering for taking pictures. You can also shoot 720p videos with the rear camera.
The front camera is designed for video chats, and we tested both Adobe Mobile Connect (which supports video chat) and Google Talk to test the video quality. As expected, the 2MP camera beats the Apple iPad 2 in terms of video quality, but is still more like what you'd expect in an instant messaging session than anything close to the quality of a real videoconferencing app or even Skype. The rear camera is superior, and has an auto focus and a flash. However, the focus took a second or two to work. Like the A500, we had a hard time positioning the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a shot, because we had to wait for the focus. Often we'd press the button to snap a photo, but the tab would focus and then click. That makes it hard to take good photos – you want to focus on your subject and then get the result. There are very few effects for shooting video. You can add an effect such as sepia or black-and-white, change the resolution and adjust exposure, but that's about it. The gallery app does offer a few options for sharing photos and video including email, YouTube and Dropbox. The slideshow for photos uses a cool zoom effect to liven up what you see. Samsung does offer an HDMI cable for connecting your Galaxy Tab 10.1 to an HDTV but we didn't receive a test cable in time to see how it works.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1How it rates against the rest - higher is better
How we testTechRadar aims to produce the most helpful tablet reviews on the web, so that you are able to make a more informed buying decision. Part of this testing process includes benchmarking. It's a good way of measuring the overall performance of a product's internal hardware components. We use Antutu System Benchmark to test tablets. It's a comprehensive Android benchmarking app and produces consistent results. Antutu measures an Android device's CPU performance, 2D and 3D graphics performance, memory speed and internal and external storage read/write speeds. It combines the results for each test and gives the device a final score. We test each device three times and take an average.
In the final analysis, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the best Android tablet yet. While the brilliant Asus Eee Pad Transformer offers something equally compelling, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a tablet in it's purest sense and it's brilliant. In just about every way, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is just as capable as the Apple iPad 2. It's smaller, thinner and lighter. It runs just as fast for games (if you can find them) and works better for motion control. The screen rotates faster and more accurately than the iPad 2. And, the screen is just as bright and a bit clearer. We liked: This is the lightest and thinnest tablet on the market. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is perfect for quick e-reading sessions using Amazon Kindle or Google Books apps. You can load the device with plenty of movies using the Dropbox app, and they'll look crisp and colourful. Battery life was excellent at about nine hours, and that even includes movie-watching and playing games. We disliked: Android is still well behind the iPad 2 in terms of apps, the eco-system for movies and TV shows, and has only promised at some first-party apps including the upcoming Media Hub and Social Hub. Samsung has also promised a new UI enhancement that really should have been ready at launch. A few minor issues also influenced our rating: the screen collects grime quickly, there's no syncing app available, and no way to stream to the device using DLNA... yet. We also had a few typing problems on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 when there was a delay from pressing a key and text appearing on the screen. Verdict: There is still one question remaining - how much is this tablet going to cost? If Samsung is sensible and price-matches the likes of the iPad 2 and Eee Pad Transformer, then this tablet will fly off the shelves. When that UK price emerges, we'll update the review. But until then, we've awarded the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 a high mark: it sits beside the Apple iPad 2, and beats every other Android tablet on the market. If you're not into the locked down app store mentality of Apple, where only the saintly apps are approved, or just prefer the Android OS to anything out of Cupertino, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is your best choice in an increasingly crowded market. 
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| Review: Microsoft Lifecam Studio Posted: 15 Jun 2011 03:30 AM PDT Microsoft's LifeCam Studio looks like a CCTV camera from a dystopian nightmare – forget the eye of Sauron, this feels like the eye of Microsoft, and it's pretty terrifying. Perched on top of our monitor, we were frightened to use our iPads and iPhones while in its gaze, lest a warning light went off in Steve Ballmer's office and Microsoft employees swept into our office to force Zunes into our trembling hands. Of course, looks aren't everything, and underneath the LifeCam Studio's rather austere surface is a very decent camera. With a maximum resolution of 1080p, the detail and quality of the video it produces is exemplary. The Truecolor technology included with the device makes subtle changes to lighting and colour that help improve the overall quality of your footage, and can be tweaked to produce the best looking video for your environment. There are also some fun video effects and augmented reality objects that can be added to the live video. All of this comes at a price. If you're recording at full 1080p HD resolution with effects turned on, your PC's CPU usage will spike, and if your machine isn't powerful enough to cope, your footage will more closely resemble a slow PowerPoint slideshow than smooth, DVD quality video. It performs perfectly well as a webcam for video chats at lower resolutions, but unless you and your contacts have fast internet connections and no data caps, broadcasting at full HD is out of the question. The LifeCam Studio is much more suited to video blogging. 
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| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 03:00 AM PDT The CX880i is a new model from Sennheiser that includes an i-thing remote control in the lead and a microphone too, so you can make and receive phone calls via your mobile hi-fi . The earpieces quote an unusually wide frequency range, right down to 17Hz – we've no reason to question that, though every time we look at a headphone frequency response specification we are reminded how far ahead of most loudspeakers even quite modest headphones are in that particular respect. We do find it a little bizarre that Sennheiser seems to have omitted to mark the earpieces for left and right ear, but otherwise we've no complaints. Three sizes of earbud are provided and the fairly generous cable is one of the least noisy in terms of friction noise. Sound quality Having identified the best earbud, we settled down to enjoy some of the best in-ear sounds we've heard in a while. Balance is excellent from the upper bass up: there is a little deep bass enhancement, it seems to us, but not enough to be really distracting. Treble sounds quite mellow compared with most in-ear models, but that's a good thing as the breed is justly renowned for brightness. Perhaps because of that mellowness, detail can seem a little underwhelming at first, but in the longer term, it is very good indeed; natural and unforced but really delightfully lifelike. Add to that the natural musicality of these 'phones and their success is assured. 
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| Microsoft hints at Windows 8 release date Posted: 15 Jun 2011 02:51 AM PDT It's far from official, but Microsoft corporate vice president Dan'l Lewin, who handles strategic and emerging business development, has hinted at the Windows 8 release date as likely to be early next autumn, making much the same calculation TechRadar did. Speaking at the start-up LAUNCH event at the Microsoft Silicon Valley campus Lewin suggested "we will be in market - if you look at the crystal ball and just say what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be and just speculate - we've made the point about having a developer conference later this year, and then typically we enter a beta phase, and then in 12 months we're in the market, so let's make that assumption." Asked why moving Windows to the ARM chip had taken Microsoft so long after other tablets had come out, he acknowledged Vista had slowed the Windows division down ("we got a little behind on that, I would say") but said Microsoft had to take into account the large number of people using Windows already. "We have a commitment to our installed base. With Windows 7 on a huge number of devices, we have a very sound and terrific baseline. Given the scale, we have a very strong belief system about that commitment, and a very large customer base that thinks about managing these systems; so systems management, enterprise infrastructure, all those kinds of things." Tablet security Consumers are also going to care about tablet security, he believes, and that's why it makes sense for Microsoft's tablet OS to be Windows rather than Windows phone. "Our strategy is a statement about phones and tablets being more or less the same thing. I think tablets are big phones, more or less and I think they will want, over time, some of the capabilities that PC architectures have. "They want the security, they want the manageability - especially if you are an enterprise buying large volumes of these things, but I think consumers over time want to know about those things as well. Our approach with the tablet play being based on PC architecture, rather than [adding to] the phone architecture, I think is the right one." Can Windows tablets can catch up with iPad and Android sales after that long? "I think it will just be a race once we get in the market." The design of the Windows tablet interface started before the iPad came out, he said: "We knew where we were going, we just have to get there faster. We're executing as fast as we can." Lewin also hinted at multiple tablets from PC makers rather than the single Microsoft tablet we've heard rumours about. "Clearly there will be a great installed base of iPad and other tablet devices but it will be incumbent on us and our hardware partners to prove those form factors and use cases, and the battle will be on in the market for what the consumers want to use." 
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| Review: Unison Research Unico CDE Twin Posted: 15 Jun 2011 02:30 AM PDT Italians seem to love valve equipment. As a nation they produce a broad array of stylish glass-powered electronics; it must be something to do with the romance that valves bring out in music! Unison Research makes a number of amplifiers and three CD players, of which the Unico CDE Twin is the top dog. In fact, it's slightly higher than that because it's the upgraded DAC-OP2 version of the Unico CDE. This is an optional upgrade to the standard CDE that costs £150 if you fit it yourself, but adds £175 to the price of the normal player. It replaces a single Crystal DAC with a pair of Wolfson convertors, albeit leaving the Crystal in place (which allows you to switch between the two via the front panel), a unique if not entirely essential feature. The CDE runs a TEAC transport through a Crystal digital interface to the Wolfson 24-bit/192kHz DACs, which run in dual-differential mode.
The glass can be found in the output stage, which has four ECC83 double triodes in a parallel cathode-follower arrangement. There is little chance, therefore, of running this thing in standby with less than a Watt. On/off switching is placed on the right hand side of the case which seems perverse but keeps the bead-blasted facia minimal and with only four buttons, it's hardly busy. What gives it a bit of sparkle is the large backlit LCD display, which can be switched off if required. Lab report Having to keep voltages on the valves means this unit consumes a lot of power, even when it's not in use; 30 Watts are consumed while idling and up to 46 Watts during playback. There is no standby option and the power switch is in an awkward location on the side of the unit. A 30-second 'valve warm up' timer on power-up is a nice touch, though the manual recommends allowing 10 minutes for the system to warm up to its optimum operating conditions. On investigating the better-than-expected distortion results we see a predictable second and fourth harmonic making up the majority, giving that 'analogue warmth' is so desired by analogue's fans. This, at the cost of the dynamic range, it seems. The third harmonic measured nearly as high as the sixth, so under gain the sound may become rather rough. Sound quality The Unico clearly exerted its charm on the listening panel, two thirds of which were very taken with it, while even the most critical managed to find something positive to say. It's valve complement undoubtedly inspired comments such as "very musical - more sense of ambience" and "good sense of liveness and atmosphere". The bass is usually where such designs come undone, but even here it found a lot of favour, the panel noting that the, "bass is light but not low on energy" in one case and "good bass, tight but not the deepest" in another. About the most critical point raised was that it's "not exciting" and "controlled yet timid", but that seemed a unique view as there were more comments along the lines of, "piano sounds like a piano" and "good projection into the room with a big 3D image". Further sighted listening generally backed this up; the Unico has a very natural presentation that suits acoustic instruments to a tee, thanks to a very transparent midrange and a generally musical style. It lacks the precision of the some other CD players in both detail and imaging terms, the latter seeming quite vague by comparison and the bass is clearly not as well extended, but these factors have little or nothing to do with its remarkable degree of vividness. The Unico is a fairly expensive player, but it combines exotic build with an engaging and revealing sound that most music-lovers will have difficulty resisting. 
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