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• Windows 7 overtakes XP globally, Vista found weeping in a corner
• HTC Amaze 4G review
• Mobile Miscellany: week of October 10, 2011
• Motorola Lapdock 100 hits Sprint October 21st, earns employees extra scratch
• Girl Scout merit badges get a 21st century facelift, focus on science and technology
• Nintendo sells over 50 million DS units, 3DS sales fall flat in comparison
• Seeser laser pico projector is always in focus, powered by Android
• Siri ported to an iPhone 4, old phone learns a new trick (Update: Better performance!)
• Motorola teaser counts down to ICS event date, ends a few hours early (video)
• Samsung's Korea-bound Galaxy S II HD LTE pops up in FCC filings
• NVIDIA intros 3D Vision 2 glasses with brighter field of view, comfier design
• Verizon pricing, release windows for Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound revealed
• CubeStormer II rocks a Samsung Galaxy S II, makes CubeStormer I look downright slothful (video)
• MSI infuses more gaming juice into its G Series notebooks with processor refresh
• Sprint says the iPhone 4S, 4 add up to its best 'device family' launch ever (Update: AT&T too)
• iPhone 4S welcomed by AT&T activation delays, iCloud stumbles out of the gate
• iPhone 4S review
• Flight sim bubble offers 360-degree view, makes earth seem round
• Microsoft doles out the dough to Nokia and Samsung, plans Mango marketing bonanza for year's end

Windows 7 overtakes XP globally, Vista found weeping in a corner Posted: 15 Oct 2011 10:23 AM PDT According to StatCounter, it's taken roughly two years for Redmond's latest to surpass XP and become the world's most popular operating system. October 2011 marks the first time that Windows 7 has overtaken XP globally, with a 40 percent share of the market versus the latter's 38. As for Vista, it's been holding steady at around 11. Not that it's much of a surprise, as in North America, Windows 7 took the crown back in April of this year. Rounding out the top five, are OS X (though it's not clear whether that captures all of Cupertino's beasts) and Linux, which come in at 7 and 0.82 percent respectively. But don't take our word for it, hop on over to the source links and get your interactive chart on. [Thanks, Pipera]

HTC Amaze 4G review Posted: 15 Oct 2011 09:00 AM PDT What do you do when you've already created a Sensation? If you're HTC, you repackage that lightning in a slightly different chassis, turn the volume (read: speed) up to 11 and borrow a bit of optical wizardry to add that new smartphone smell. All key elements that can be found in the DNA of the company's latest imperatively named product offering -- the Amaze 4G. Clearly, HTC's throwing caution to the fickle consumer winds here, raising the bar for Android users' expectations and mixing in just enough razzle dazzle to win over those hard earned geek dollars. So, what's the hook this time 'round? No, not Beats -- that's for its Euro stepcousin, the Sensation XE. Here, the main attraction is this handset's ability to surf along T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42Mbps network. That's right, Magenta's tiptoeing into LTE speed territory and you've got Sense 3.0 to help pilot that wireless ride. Join us after the break as we peel back the layers of this unibodied mobile onion. HTC Amaze 4G review Hardware Right out of the box, there's no denying your first impression will be one of shock. The Amaze 4G bucks the 'thinner is better' trend that we've seen the likes of Samsung and its Galaxy S II variants adopt in favor of a large and in charge 5.1 x 2.58-inch design philosophy. Though the handset may not be much thicker than its competitors, at 0.46 inches (11.7mm) thick, its 6.1-ounce (0.17kg) heft certainly gives off the opposite impression. With a similar 4.3-inch qHD super LCD display, the phone picks up right where the Sensation left off, although in this iteration that Gorilla Glass-coated screen spills out of its aluminum confines a tad too much for our tastes. It's an odd design flaw that HTC could have easily remedied by tapering the edges down into the phone's frame, rather than subjecting users to indented palms. Still, as the majority of your usage will most likely have everything to do with data consumption and less to do with carrying on an actual phone call, you'll hardly be bothered by this discomfiting quirk. One of the first things we noticed when booting up the Amaze 4G was the minute pixelation on its qHD display. It's not terribly obvious, nor is it particularly irksome, but when compared to the similarly super LCD-equipped Droid Incredible 2, this screen is simply dull. Colors on the device appear washed out, and viewing angles take a dramatic hit at 45 degree tilts. It's a far cry from the crisp images and vivid hues achieved by its current competition, the Galaxy S II. And while it would've been nice to see HTC outfit the phone with a Super AMOLED Plus display, we're sure the sheer expanse of the screen will override any of your resolution-centered grousing. There's no denying it -- the Amaze 4G is a handsome handset. We've seen other past and present high-end smartphones (e.g., the Nexus S and Droid Charge) belie their internals with cheap-feeling, scuff-prone frames, but that's not the case here. HTC's wrapped this HSPA+ present in a unibody mixture of metal and soft touch plastic that not only inspires confidence in the device's durability, but also goes a long way towards justifying its on-contract $260 price tag. Embedded throughout its metallic perimeter are the usual array of inputs and controls. Down at the phone's base, you'll find both a microphone and battery door latch -- the latter of which makes accessing the phone's guts an absolute breeze. Up top, a power button and 3.5mm jack preside, with the volume rocker and dedicated camera buttons over to the right. On the left-hand side, a lone micro-USB port breaks up the device's otherwise unblemished chrome trim. Nestled between the HTC and T-Mobile branding at the very apex of this 960 x 540 screen is the admittedly underpowered earpiece which houses an embedded notification LED. Flanking it on either side are a front-facing 2 megapixel camera and proximity sensor. Around back, we find a speaker grill directly adjacent to an 8 megapixel shooter with dual LED flash, and lurking below that soft touch back is an NFC chip -- the first for an HTC device, although there isn't much use for it yet. Moving on to the exposed internals, we have the requisite SIM card slot, accompanying 1,730mAh battery and vacant microSD card reader. The handset comes packed with an ample 16GB of onboard storage, but if you're looking to load it up with an abundance of audiovisual goods, you better plan on supplying additional capacity. Performance and battery life Let's not beat around the bush, though. In the rush to get this 42Mbps capable device to market a few rough edges were overlooked -- namely, battery life. Consider the Amaze 4G a kind of Thunderbolt redux: both phones unleashed into the market ahead of their time, destined to bear the torch of heretofore unseen speeds (well, for HSPA+, at least) at the heady sacrifice of daily usage. It could be the dual-core architecture or the demands of the "4G" network, but whatever the culprit, expect a good three to four hours of action before hitting a productivity ceiling and plugging back in to your nearest outlet. A three-hour charge should get you back up to 100 percent and running -- until the next three hours, that is. In our short time with it, we've found the phone will consistently drain from fully juiced to about 30 percent after just three hours of light to moderate use -- that's with Twitter, Google Reader and two email accounts synced. Toss in some casual web browsing, a YouTube video or two and a half an hour GTalk session, and the aforementioned four hour limit is easily reached. Power users should heed this warning and turn a blind eye to the Amaze 4G's tantalizing promise of next-gen wireless wonderment, as the oft-recommended need for an extra battery would here be multiplied by two. You want benchmarks, you say? Well, we've got 'em by the loads. In the name of a fair fight, we've lined up these various CPU / GPU stress tests against Magenta's own Galaxy S II variant. For Quadrant, Sammy's beastie beat out the Amaze 4G, scoring 2,576 vs. 2,514. Linpack averaged about 51MFLOPS, easily topping the GSII at 42MFLOPS for single thread and, again, yielding 77MFLOPS vs 70MFLOPS in multi scoring. And the benchmark dominance continued on, with our handset's Neocore score inching over the GSII's 57fps at 59fps. How does all of that translate into real-world performance? Truth be told, you won't even notice the dual-core chipset chugging away beneath that rapidly warming back. In fact, an average consumer coming from a single-core 1GHz device would be hard pressed to spot an appreciable speed boost. The real vim and vigor becomes apparent when running several apps at once, a feat commonly known as multi-tasking. We ran Pandora in the background while responding to emails, running Google Talk and Maps, browsing the web and scouring the New York Times app for the latest on Occupy Wall Street. To HTC's credit, the Amaze 4G stood up to the test and passed with uninterrupted flying colors. Network speed and call quality By now, you're most likely wondering what sort of downlink pizzazz is in store if you do choose to claim this phone as your own. Well, in our jaunts around New York City, we've recorded inconsistent HSPA+ network speeds. That's not to say T-Mobile's service around the farther reaches of the Big Apple is spotty. On the contrary, 4G signal strength was surprisingly strong, dropping down to 2G only twice to our knowledge. But when that 15Mbps / 1.7Mbps magic did happen, it was primarily on the outskirts of the city. Within Manhattan's crush of people and buildings, download speeds hovered in the 6Mbps to 8Mbps range, only occasionally topping out at 10Mbps down -- nothing to sneer at, but certainly nothing to applaud either. If you absolutely insist on using your handset to make (gasp!) phone calls, get set to dig that earpiece and the edges of the screen deep into the side of your head. Even with the volume cranked up to the max, we had a hard time hearing our callers, who sounded distant and muffled. On the upside, loudspeaker performance is quite robust, and should enable you to move freely around while carrying on that gossip fest. Reception, too, was relatively strong and our voices came across crisp and clear on the other end. Software Of course, this is the Android show -- 2.3.4, to be exact -- but you wouldn't know if from the Sense 3.0 smothering at play. It appears as if HTC didn't want to load up the Amaze 4G with an accompanying suite of freshly updated software, and instead saddled prospective owners with an outdated version of Gingerbread and its penultimate UX. Perhaps the company needed to reserve the Sense 3.5 fuel for its gimmicky stab at mobile fashion, a.k.a. the Rhyme. No matter, the Amaze 4G's 1GB of RAM and dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 CPU handily beat out any further OEM embellishments or flashy plum-colored finishes. We have to tip our hat to that beefy Qualcomm chip, as not one iota of lag cropped up in our testing. Transitions between Sense's carousel of homescreens were fluid and devoid of hiccups. Web pages on the inbuilt browser rendered swiftly, capably handling the demands of Flash and other various plug-ins. And equally as impressive was pinch-to-zoom, which responded immediately to our touch with nary an instance of checkerboarding. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be an Android device if it didn't come bogged down with an array of carrier-installed bloatware. For the Amaze 4G, however, the pre-loaded shenanigans don't quite incite frustration the way Verizon's crapware-heavy devices normally would. Here, the operator-inserted apps like 411 & More, Adobe Reader, Lookout Security, More for Me, Polaris Office and Qik Video Chat are arguably useful, though definitely not essential to the experience. To get a real sense of the newly bestowed powers of 42Mbps HSPA+, you need go no further than T-Mobile TV HD. The app, which offers a mix of live and on demand content, has been around since the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, and gets a real jump start from Magenta's new wireless threads. A live MSNBC program played back almost instantly, however the quality of video stretched across the device's 16:9 dimensions was noticeably poor, and undeserving of the HD labeling. As for that on demand content, a full episode of ABC's Happy Endings downloaded in its entirety within seven minutes -- all thanks to T-Mo's zippy (at times) 4G network. Curiously enough, on both the streaming and downloaded video, audio was noticeably out of sync, rendering the couch potato on-the-go viewing experience a trifle annoying. Camera HTC Amaze 4G sample shots No doubt, T-Mobile intends to lure willing customers in with the promise of super network speeds, but the true crown jewel of this HTC flagship device is actually its camera. The Amaze 4G borrows the same backside-illuminated 8 megapixel module found on the myTouch 4G Slide, and unsurprisingly, it performs just as well here. It's clear the company intended this phone to be a replacement for your point-and-shoot, tacking on camera shortcut keys and bundling it with user-friendly photo software. We put the 3.69mm lens and its various scene modes to the test and came away mostly convinced -- this might be all the camera you need. That's not to say we don't have our gripes. While the incessantly autofocusing sensor definitely has it perks, we struggled on more than one occasion to get the focus ring to settle and let us snap a clear shot. Additionally, low light shots, even when taken in Night mode, often resulted in grainy, oversaturated pictures. As for video, recordings made in full 1080p HD came off largely without a hitch, displaying good contrast and sharpness of detail, although we did note an occasional decrease in frame rate from time to time. Keeping the camera tech fresh for amateur photogs are two new HTC-added features -- SmartShot and PerfectPics. Despite its promise to sample multiple shots and deliver a smile-laden composite photo, SmartShot is essentially a useless and ineffectual mode. After dozens of failed and frustrating attempts, we were only able to procure five successful images, with the rest being a blurry mix of happy / sad faces. As for PerfectPics, well that's less of a mode and more of a smart gallery. Using an algorithm, the software parses through your photo collection and deposits your Avedon-worthy series of still lifes in a separate gallery. It may just be our artistic bias, but we're inclined to believe PerfectPics' critical eye is all a bunch of hooey. Bizarrely enough, many of our least favorite photos made their way into this A.I. curated collection, leaving our vastly superior photos lumped in with the rest. HTC Amaze 4G PerfectPics sample shots HTC Amaze 4G SmartShot sample shots We have to hand it to HTC on this one: the zero lag shutter and constantly autofocusing f2.2 sensor lend themselves well to fits of sudden photographic inspiration. If you see something that catches your fancy, all it takes is a drop of the camera app into the lockscreen ring and, voila!, you're right there, finger on the shutter, capturing the moment you thought would slip by. This ease of use gradually becomes addictive and, in time, you're likely to take it for granted. As you can see in the galleries above, our tour of Central Park gave way to fleeting moments of filmic brilliance that would otherwise have been lost with a lesser-equipped phone. Wrap-up So, does HTC's new flagship manage to live up to our high expectations and its hyperbolically named state of awe? We'll put it this way: a better moniker for this girthy handset would've been the Kind of Awesome 4G. As a daily driver, the Amaze's bound to leave you high and dry a few short hours into your day, critically hampering your busy work / social schedule with its power-hungry demands. Sure, you can obsessively monitor your screen's brightness, manage syncing and hold off on the mobile video consumption until you're close by to an outlet, but the name of this industry game is wireless, and T-Mo's Galaxy S II's already out of the gate. Ignore this phone's battery life shortcomings, and you're left with an elegant camera module and T-Mobile's just out of reach 42Mbps HSPA+ dangling carrot. Simply put, it's just not practical to opt in for a high-end device that will, sporadically, treat you to downlink speeds that are half of what's been promised, and desert you in the process. At the end of the day, the purchase choice is yours to make, but for our money, we'd hold out for something packing a wee bit more milliampere-hours. The Amaze 4G XL with Beats, anybody? It's inevitable, and you know it.

Mobile Miscellany: week of October 10, 2011 Posted: 15 Oct 2011 08:18 AM PDT This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of October 10, 2011: US Cellular launched the BlackBerry Curve 9350 this week, and is now available for free (after rebate) with new activations, and $50 with upgrades. [Unwired View] That wasn't the only smartphone added to US Cellular's lineup this week: the HTC Hero S has also finally made it into loving hands. [US Cellular] O2 unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Ace, a Gingerbread device with an 800MHz CPU and 5MP camera, in purple this week. [EuroDroid] MetroPCS debuted a couple new basic feature phones, the Kyocera Presto and LG Beacon. The former is a candybar with the standard numberpad, while the latter is a 2.8-inch touch screen device with a full slide-out QWERTY. The two phones retail for $30 and $70, respectively. [CNet] Research in Motion may be planning to launch an all-white BlackBerry Bold 9900, according to a few shots taken in Dubai. [Electronista] Motorola Mobility is sponsoring the NFL internationally in the UK, and is launching an extensive marketing campaign to highlight it. [Motorola] We've heard about the LG myTouch and myTouch Q a few times so far, but this is the first time we've seen the two devices in the wild. [TmoNews] Nokia's announced the winner and runners-up of its ringtone contest. Sadly, the Great Marvelous didn't make the cut. [SlashGear] Samsung announced a new group messaging service called "ChatON." Sammy's definitely not the first to come out with a group messaging service, but it does offer the functionality across the board -- iOS, Android and Windows are all present and accounted for. [TheNextWeb]

Motorola Lapdock 100 hits Sprint October 21st, earns employees extra scratch Posted: 15 Oct 2011 06:24 AM PDT Ready to play PC with your smartphone? If you aren't picking up a Lapdock 100 from AT&T on the 17th, you won't have to wait very long -- Motorola's faux-laptop phone dock has been outed for a October 21st launch date for Sprint via an employee rewards email. Passing the Lapdock 100 Sprint Rewards Me training quiz nets employees $10 in Sprint scratch and the opportunity to sell you a rig that lets a handful of devices play netbook. The laptop shell gives users a full Firefox browser, Quick Office, Google Docs, Adobe Flash, a PC-like File Manager and a luxurious 10.1-inch screen. Still no word yet on just how much this ultra-portable peripheral will set us back, but we'll keep hoping that it's cheaper than the Atrix 4G's axed lapdock. [Thanks, David]

Girl Scout merit badges get a 21st century facelift, focus on science and technology Posted: 15 Oct 2011 04:29 AM PDT Think only Boy Scouts can earn badges in bad-ass activities like robotics and video games (whatever happened to wood carving and fire building)? Well you are wrong sir (or ma'am). The Girl Scouts of America are giving their merit badges a 21st century makeover, adding high-tech accomplishments like Computer Expert and Digital Movie Maker, as well as more esoteric points of pride like Locavore. Even old standbys are being reinvented for the modern age like the Fashion, Fitness and Makeup badge, which is now known as the Science of Style and focuses on how things like sunscreen work and making your own perfume. The update sounds like the sort of thing that strong, tech-savvy women like Lady Ada might approve of and we're all for it, why should the Boy Scouts be the only ones to learn about nuclear fusion? Just make sure our Thin Mints still arrive on time... seriously, we're starting to go through withdrawal over here!

Nintendo sells over 50 million DS units, 3DS sales fall flat in comparison Posted: 15 Oct 2011 02:23 AM PDT Nintendo's twin-screen wonder has seen almost as many reinventions as Lady Gaga, so it may not come as a huge shock to hear that the DS (in all its guises) has now sold over 50 million units in the US. The home entertainment maestros are still chasing similar success for its three-dimensional sibling, the 3DS, however. Nintendo has managed to sell almost half a million three dee units units after its weighty price cut, but there's now some very potent competitors seeking their own slice of the (portable) gaming pie. Good luck, Nintendo, you're probably going to need it. Show full PR text NINTENDO DS CROSSES 50 MILLION UNITS SOLD Oct. 13, 2011 The best-selling video game system in U.S. history reached another milestone in September: Lifetime sales of the Nintendo DS™ family of systems have surpassed 50 million units, according to the NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. "The Nintendo DS forever changed the gaming landscape, and the fact that consumers continue to embrace the platform is a testament to its value and mass appeal," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Our hand-held story continues with the Nintendo 3DS system, which just had its second consecutive month of growth and enters its first holiday season with a monster lineup of games, including Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7." Other Nintendo milestones reached in September include: Nintendo sold more than 260,000 Nintendo 3DS™ portable entertainment systems, an increase of more than 10 percent from the previous month. Nintendo has sold nearly 450,000 units of Nintendo 3DS following a price reduction on Aug. 12. The Legend of Zelda™: Ocarina of Time™ 3D became the first Nintendo 3DS title to surpass 500,000 total units sold in the United States. Nintendo sold more than 647,000 total hardware units in September, including 240,000 Wii™ systems and more than 145,000 units of the Nintendo DS family. The 273 million software units sold for the Nintendo DS family equates to more than 107,000 games being sold per day, every day for almost seven years. More than 273 million units of software have been sold for the platform in the United States, including 24 of the top 25 and 43 of the top 50 best-selling portable games in this hand-held generation.

Seeser laser pico projector is always in focus, powered by Android Posted: 15 Oct 2011 12:36 AM PDT We've seen our fair share of pico projectors, so takes a bit to actually get us excited about one, but the Seeser from ESPlus is showing a lot of potential. Inside the tiny black box is a laser-based projection system which, unlike traditional lamps, doesn't need to be focused and can output a 25-lumen, 800 x 600 image up to 100-inches in size. There's an SD card slot around the side, which appears to be of the micro variety and it has an integrated 1seg tuner for pulling in broadcasts. All of this is powered by a 1GHz processor running Froyo -- so there's no actual need to hook up an external content source. Sadly it doesn't appear that it boasts access to the Android Market though, without a touchscreen, you wouldn't be able to make good use of the apps anyway. The Seeser should be available in Korea soon, but there's no word yet on how much it'll cost.

Siri ported to an iPhone 4, old phone learns a new trick (Update: Better performance!) Posted: 14 Oct 2011 10:38 PM PDT Apple's iPhone 4 may not have the fancy dual core CPU of its successor, but thanks to the efforts of developer Steven Troughton-Smith and the folks at 9to5 Mac, it may soon have Siri. The port of the sultry voice assistant was accomplished by using the 4S Siri and Springboard files, and some serious elbow grease, no doubt. As you can see in the video below, it's far from perfect, but it can recognize spoken commands without issue. Currently, the hack is missing an iPhone 4 GPU driver that keeps things running buttery smooth on the elder phone, and Cupertino won't authenticate Siri's commands coming from it either. So, it isn't quite ready for primetime, but it should only be a matter of time before all you iPhone 4 owners can tell Siri what to do, too. Update: And in the space of just a few hours, Mr. Troughton-Smith has already managed to improve performance of the app on the iPhone 4 significantly, although Apple's servers are still unreachable. Check out a newer YouTube video showing off some seriously smooth scrolling action after the break. [Thanks, Ramzi]

Motorola teaser counts down to ICS event date, ends a few hours early (video) Posted: 14 Oct 2011 08:41 PM PDT Motorola just unleashed a countdown clock for its Daft Punk-esque tease: Faster. Thinner. Smarter. Stronger. We already knew the Spyder was on its way, but we noticed that the clock stops dangerously close to the Google / Samsung Ice Cream Sandwich event set for this Tuesday, missing the mark by only seven hours. We can't say for sure that Motorola is trying get in on the Google magic, but if it wants to push its news during the same business day, it makes sense for them to reveal their goods ahead of the event's 10pm showtime. The teaser's epileptic flash of buzzword images doesn't tell us much, but it ends with a speedy bullet smartly slicing through the event date. Hit the break to see for yourself, we'll let you make your own connections between that date-slice happy bullet and the Droid HD's alternate names. [Thanks, Robert] This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Samsung's Korea-bound Galaxy S II HD LTE pops up in FCC filings Posted: 14 Oct 2011 08:14 PM PDT We'll have to brush up on our foreign languages to decipher the full battery label, but the Samsung SHV-E120L (aka the Galaxy S II HD LTE, thanks David_DK!)-- home to a 4.65-inch HD screen and dual-core 1.5GHz processor according to specs leaked last month -- has passed through its FCC testing. We didn't spot any indications it will bring that 1280x720 res display this way, but you can check for yourself at the link below.

NVIDIA intros 3D Vision 2 glasses with brighter field of view, comfier design Posted: 14 Oct 2011 06:30 PM PDT NVIDIA's 3D Vision is impressive and all, but one trade-off you'll have to accept when you put on those active shutter glasses is a markedly dimmer field of view than what you'd get if you settled for plain-Jane 2D gaming. Well, the outfit just unveiled the second generation of the technology -- appropriately named 3D Vision 2 -- and this go 'round it promises not to strain your vision quite so much. These shutter glasses have a lens that's 20 percent larger, promising a brighter experience. As an added perk, the frames have been rejiggered to be lighter and more flexible so that you can comfortably wear headphones without pinching your lobes. As for the newest 3D Vision monitors and laptops, those panels promise reduced ghosting, as well as 120Hz 2D gaming. In tandem with today's announcement, NVIDIA announced that a trio of products -- the Toshiba Qosmio X770 / 775, Toshiba Satellite P770 / P775 and ASUS's 27-inch VG278H 1080p monitor -- will support now 3D Vision 2. If a new rig's not in the cards, the company also assures us that these glasses will be backward compatible with older 3D Vision panels. Look for them this month in the form of either standalone frames ($99) or as part of a $149 kit. All those details and more in the PR tucked after the break. Show full PR text NVIDIA 3D Vision Vaults to New Dimension with Next-Gen 3D Glasses and Monitors New 3D Vision 2 Glasses, Brighter 3D Monitor Technology Immerse Gamers into Vivid 3D Worlds SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Oct. 14, 2011-NVIDIA today unveiled its second generation of 3D Vision products, designed to immerse gamers and enthusiasts in the ultimate 3D experience for games, movies and photos. NVIDIA® 3D Vision™ 2, the next generation of NVIDIA's award-winning 3D glasses, features a sleek new design and other features to enhance the immersive experience when playing 3D games, or enjoying 3D movies or photos. Among these is NVIDIA 3D LightBoost™, a unique new display technology that dramatically improves the 3D experience by delivering images that are up to twice as bright and colors that are far richer than those provided by other 3D display technologies. These features give gamers the ultimate 3D platform for this Fall's hot new titles, including Batman: Arkham City, LA Noire and more. In addition, through the 3D Vision Ready ecosystem, NVIDIA is delivering the industry's broadest selection of high-quality 3D content and supported displays. "Gorgeous, bright, crystal-clear 3D worlds are created by NVIDIA's 3D Vision 2 glasses with 3D LightBoost monitors and notebooks," said Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA's engineering team has made incredible enhancements in 3D on PCs, creating a breathtaking gaming experience that's better than the best Hollywood 3D movie." "NVIDIA 3D LightBoost technology makes 3D games, movies and photos more stunning and life-like than ever before," said David Wung, senior director of product management of Open Platform Business (OPBG) Group for ASUS Computer International. "With 3D LightBoost and our new full-HD monitors, colors are richer, textures and subtle image details virtually jump off the screen, and the overall quality of the experience is something to behold. We are thrilled to be the first desktop display manufacturer to bring this new level of 3D visual quality to our customers with the ASUS VG278H." NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 Glasses NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 glasses were designed specifically for gamers and 3D enthusiasts. They provide deeper immersion in games through lenses that are 20 percent larger than those in first-generation glasses, resulting in a wider viewing area and increased external light blocking. In addition, 3D Vision 2 glasses are made of soft composite materials for a more comfortable fit with gaming headphones. The glasses, which feature NVIDIA's advanced active-shutter and IR wireless technologies, allow gamers and 3D enthusiasts to access the broadest selection of high-quality 3D content available today, including more than 550 full-HD 1080p 3D games, more than 100 Blu-ray 3D movies and thousands of 3D videos and photos from YouTube and 3DVisionLive.com. In addition, 3D Vision 2 glasses are fully backwards-compatible with all existing 3D Vision Ready content and supporting products, including more than 70 different 3D Vision monitors, notebooks and projectors, video applications, and cameras. NVIDIA 3D LightBoost Technology 3D LightBoost is a new NVIDIA display technology that delivers up to 2X brighter 3D images than existing 3D solutions and improved color quality. It also dramatically increases environmental lighting, making gaming keyboards and mice more visible, and reducing 3D ghosting. The first 3D LightBoost-certified desktop display is the ASUS VG278H, a 27-inch LED full HD (1920x1080) monitor, featuring a 3D HDMI 1.4 input, as well as a Dual-link DVI input for full HD 1080p 3D gaming. ASUS' exclusive Trace-Free II Technology features 120Hz refresh rates and 2ms response times, resulting in vivid, ultra-smooth visuals. Expected to be available beginning in October 2011, the ASUS VG278H includes 3D Vision 2 glasses and is priced at $699 (USD MSRP). Additional 3D LightBoost-compatible displays from Acer and BenQ, are expected to ship in the coming months. 3D LightBoost compatible notebooks include several Toshiba models – Satellite P770/P775, Dynabook Satellite T572, Dynabook T572, and the Qosmio X770/X775 – with others expected in the coming months. 3D Vision 2 Pricing and Availability The 3D Vision 2 glasses kit, which includes one pair of 3D Vision 2 glasses and a wireless USB IR emitter will be available from the leading retailers/e-tailers worldwide in October for $149 (USD MSRP). It will also be available on the NVIDIA online store. Extra 3D Vision 2 glasses are available for $99 (USD MSRP). Visit www.nvidia.com/3dvision for more information.

Verizon pricing, release windows for Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound revealed Posted: 14 Oct 2011 06:11 PM PDT One of our tipsters has forwarded this info from Verizon, with pricing and advertising dates for the supposedly Ice Cream Sandwich-ready Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Rezound (aka HTC Vigor). According to the leak we can expect both to sport on contract minimum advertised pricing (MAP) of $299 when they launch. While their MAP period is pegged to start November 10th, as Droid-Life points out, they may not be released immediately. Still, it means you may have a couple more weeks to save up for one of these superphones and now that you have a target you can make sure your swear jar, piggy bank, or emergency slush fund is up to the task. [Thanks, Anonymous]

CubeStormer II rocks a Samsung Galaxy S II, makes CubeStormer I look downright slothful (video) Posted: 14 Oct 2011 05:08 PM PDT CubeStormer I was pretty cool, we guess, but that was way back in 2010. Now we're all about CubeStormer II. Built by Mike Dobson and David Gilday, the puzzle-cracking robot is capable of solving Rubik's Cubes at blazing fast speeds, shaving precious fractions of seconds off of human world records. The 'bot was constructed from four Lego Mindstorms NXT kits, with our old pal the Samsung Galaxy S II serving as the its "brain." CubeStormer will be making a public appearance at ARM TechCon 2011 in California, later this month (and really, the whole thing seems like a bit of an ad for ARM -- albeit a really awesome one). In the meantime, check out some video of it in action after the break.

MSI infuses more gaming juice into its G Series notebooks with processor refresh Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:58 PM PDT They may have barely finished component convalescence after being kitted out with NVIDIA's GTX 570M, but MSI's GT780DXR and GT683DXR are getting yet another technical leg-up. This time, the processors are being nudged up to an Intel Core i7-2670QM, replacing the Core i7-2630QM we found on these gaming rigs last time we met. The ultra slim X460 series will also get the same CPU refresh. We'll admit, it's a pretty gentle update, but it should help keep MSI's latest offerings close to the bleeding edge of high-end laptops. Show full PR text MSI Showcases Refreshed G Series Performance Gaming Notebooks at NVIDIA GeForce LAN 6 Notebooks featuring Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM Processors on display from October 14 to 16 on Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet in Alameda, California "Light'em Up" Giveaway headlines celebratory events with MSI GT780DXR as grand prize City of Industry, Calif. – October 13, 2011 – MSI Computer Corp, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, exhibits the refreshed G Series gaming notebooks upgraded with the latest generation Intel® Core™ processors during NVIDIA GeForce LAN 6. Available in the recently launched GT780DXR and GT683DXR gaming notebooks, as well as the X460 ultra slim models, the new Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processors provide 6M of Cache at 2.20 GHz, resulting in increased power and performance. On display during the NVIDIA GeForce LAN 6 event from October 14 to 16 on Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet in Alameda, California, MSI laptops will also be accompanied by some of the latest gaming components, including video cards and peripherals. Hosted by NVIDIA, GeForce LAN is a legendary BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) event featuring around-the-clock tournaments, contest for prizes, and an exhibit area showcasing the latest in gaming. "MSI aims at providing users with the latest technology, giving them the ability to take their computing and gaming experience to the next level," said Andy Tung, Vice President of Sales for MSI US. "By incorporating the latest Intel® Core™ processors and NVIDIA© GeForce© GTX 570M graphics card, we are arming users with cutting edge technology and the reliability and reputation of world class companies." As part of MSI's celebration of GeForce LAN 6 and the heralded processor upgrade, MSI is giving away a GT780DXR gaming notebook valued at $1749.99 as part of their "Light'em Up" giveaway. Additional prices include three MSI N560GTX-TI Hawk Graphics Cards valued at $259.99 each, and 50 SteelSeries Kinzu Mouse valued at $34.99 each. For more details and to participate on the giveaway, visit: event.msicomputer.com/LIGHTEM_UP/ Furthermore, from October 14 to November 13, MSI will be offering a limited quantity of free SteelSeries Gaming Headset and Mouse with the purchase of any MSI gaming notebook featuring NVIDIA's GTX 570M graphics card. Participating models include GT683DXR, GT780DXR and GT780DX. For more information, please visit MSI mobile website.

Sprint says the iPhone 4S, 4 add up to its best 'device family' launch ever (Update: AT&T too) Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:53 PM PDT After ignoring and teasing the iPhone, Sprint has its own Apple handsets to sell and apparently its customers have responded to the iPhone 4 and 4S. A press release just went out calling this Sprint's "best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family" -- hopefully they double checked the numbers this time -- in the company's history, as of 1PM ET. Predictably, Sprint's unlimited data pricing compared to other carriers is being credited for the (unspecified) new high water mark in sales. Check the release itself after the break for the rest of the victory lap, but we'll wait for actual numbers before deciding on the big winner of today's launch. Update: AT&T just couldn't let Sprint hog the moment, sending out its own missive claiming the company "activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day". It's included after the break, and of course we'll let you know when / if Verizon fires a few shots off in celebration. Show full PR text Sprint Statement on Launch Day Sales of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Oct. 14, 2011 – Sprint (NYSE: S) began selling iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 in Sprint retail stores nationwide this morning at 8:00am local time. Sprint is the only U.S. carrier to offer new and existing customers the iPhone experience with unlimited data plans starting at just $79.99 per month. Fared Adib, Sprint Product Chief, issued the following statement: "Sprint today reported its best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history with the launch of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4. We reached this milestone at approximately noon CT/ 1pm ET. The response to this device by current and new customers has surpassed our expectations and validates our customers' desire for a truly unlimited data pricing plan." Show full PR text Oct 14, 2011 17:48 ET AT&T Statement on Record iPhone Activations DALLAS, Oct. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As of 4:30 pm ET today, AT&T had already activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day. *AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

iPhone 4S welcomed by AT&T activation delays, iCloud stumbles out of the gate Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:38 PM PDT If you've unboxed a shiny new iPhone 4S from AT&T today, you've most likely had an experience similar to many others who made the same purchase: frustration. It seems that the surge in activity from the release of Apple's new handset has reduced activation traffic on Ma Bell's network to a crawl. This isn't the first time the carrier has had issues on launch day -- but back then, it didn't have any competition. Now that Verizon and Sprint have joined the iPhone party, the pressure's on and AT&T's not looking good compared to the other carriers who don't appear to be having issues. As if that weren't enough for the folks in Cupertino, iCloud had a rocky debut this week as well -- from absent verification emails to an inability to backup data. Apple has documented all five of the new service's foibles via the coverage link below, but it appears everything's been peachy since early this morning. So, have you been waiting for your new iPhone to be more than a shiny new paperweight? Leave a comment, and let us know. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPhone 4S review Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:15 PM PDT This isn't the iPhone 5. No matter how badly you wanted something slim, sleek and wedge-shaped, this isn't it. If you went ahead and got your hopes up ahead of Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event, hopefully you've gotten over the pangs of discontent by now, because this device pictured front and center is the iPhone 4S. It's a new spin on an old phone that will shock none, but give it half a chance, and it will still impress. The iPhone 4S comes with a faster processor, a better camera, a smarter virtual assistant and twice the storage of its predecessor -- if you don't mind paying for it. Like the iPhone 3GS did before to the 3G, the 4S bumps the iPhone 4 down to second-class status, leaving those Apple fans who must have the best aspiring to own its decidedly familiar exterior. Apple says this is the most amazing iPhone ever. Is it? Yes, of course it is, but read on to see whether it's really worth an upgrade. Apple iPhone 4S review Hardware Familiar is a good term for the exterior of the iPhone 4S. When the 4 was unveiled in the summer of 2010 it was a strikingly different design from anything else on the market -- glass on the front and back, exposed screws holding together a deliciously clean ring of stainless steel. It was kind of chunky and industrial, like a tastefully refinished factory loft -- a big contrast to the smooth and nondescript models that came before. The iPhone 4 was something truly new and, for the days and weeks after its release, just spotting one in the wild caused a sensation. It was so different that people wanted to touch and hold the thing, to see how it felt in the hand. Few are going to go out of their way to touch and hold the iPhone 4S, but that's not to say it isn't very nice to grasp. The iPhone 4 felt like a finely crafted piece of machinery and there's no doubt this one walks in those very same footsteps. Compared to your average modern Android wunderphone the 4S feels small, dense and heavy, a very different sensation than the occasionally lighter but frequently more plasticky competition. The 4S does actually have slightly more heft than the 4, but only by carefully holding one in each hand can you notice the increase from 137 grams (4.83 ounces) to 140 (4.94 ounces). Save for a few tweaks that even the most dedicated Appleista wouldn't be able to spot at a distance, the 4S is identical from the exterior. A few of the controls have been shifted by fractions of a millimeter and this uses the same exterior antenna layout as the CDMA iPhone 4 that hit Verizon earlier this year. Rather more significantly, though, how it works with those antennas has changed. The iPhone 4S can now intelligently and instantly switch between those exterior antennas, in real-time, even while you're in the middle of a call. Will this successfully put to rest the iPhone's reputation as a call dropper? That we're not able to say conclusively at this time, as you really need masses of people hammering on a device to bring out its worst. ("Antennagate" didn't come to light until a few days after the iPhone 4's release.) But, in testing a Vodafone 4S against a 4 we found the 4S to be consistently one bar higher, and did a far better job of holding on to 3G data. Here in the States, our Sprint 4S kept right up with another device we had handy from the same carrier: the Nexus S 4G. There have been a fair number of other tweaks on the inside. In fact it's safe to say Apple threw out the lot of the iPhone 4's guts and stuffed in a whole new batch, starting with the A5 processor. Yes, it's the same dual-core chip that powers the iPad 2 and, while Apple isn't saying, it's running at 800MHz -- a bit of a step down from the 1GHz it's clocked at in the tablet. RAM unfortunately stays the same, at 512MB, but maximum available storage has doubled, matching the iPod touch by maxing out at 64GB. The other major change to the internals comes in the wireless network support. This is a quadband UMTS / HSDPA / HSUPA (850, 900, 1,900, 2,100MHz) and quad-band GSM / EDGE (850, 900, 1,800, 1,900MHZ) device, while also offering dual-band CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (900, 1,900MHz). All that naturally means you'll be getting 3G data on nearly every carrier in these lands and abroad, though those providers are still being cagey about just how much success you'll have at porting the 4S from one to another -- at least until the unlocked model shows up in November. There's no 4G on offer, though AT&T's 14.4Mbps HSPA+ service will leave you feeling a bit less out of touch. Up front is the same 3.5-inch, 960 x 640 Retina display that wowed us 16 months ago on the iPhone 4. That 326ppi density is still quite a lovely thing to behold, surely one of the highest quality panels currently available today in a phone, but in nearly a year and a half the world has moved on. Smartphones are bigger than they were in 2010 and 3.5-inches seems on the small side of average. It's a great size for those with moderately proportioned hands, and opinions certainly differ when determining what is the optimal girth for a smartphone (if, indeed, there is such a thing as optimal) but, after living with a 4.2-inch or larger device, looking at the digital world through a 3.5-inch portal feels just a bit... narrow. Software (Siri) Though it comes a few days after its release, the iPhone 4S ushers in the world of iOS 5. This latest revision of Apple's mobile operating system helps to clean some of the dust off of what was starting to feel a bit dated without actually changing any fundamentals. iOS 5 introduces a slew of improvements and enhancements, some minor and some rather more major. We've already posted a particularly comprehensive iOS 5 review, so we won't blather on about it any longer here except to say it's a very solid update that will make your smartphone an even more seamless, integral part of your life. The one thing we will blather on about quite a bit more here is Siri, your own digital helper. Siri is an evolution of the Siri Virtual Assistant, a spin-off of a DARPA project called CALO. Apple bought the company in early 2010 and now that functionality is baked right into the OS. Sort of. Siri can only be found on the iPhone 4S, a curious and seemingly arbitrary shunning of the other iOS devices. We've heard that's due to the processor demands required for voice recognition, but since you need an active data connection to use Siri we have to imagine that the heavy lifting for voice recognition is happening somewhere inside Apple's massive data center, which would seemingly allow lower-spec devices to do the same. And, since the iPad 2 is running the A5 at an even higher clock speed, there's just no good reason we can think of for putting Siri exclusively on the 4S. Let the poor girl out, we say. Should you find yourself owning the requisite hardware to give Siri a shot, you'll probably be pretty impressed with what she can do. Of course, "she" is a characteristic bit of anthropomorphism that we'll apply to the same voice you've probably heard in a half-dozen GPS devices in the past, but still, calling her an "it" just seems a little wrong. Siri herself, though, wouldn't mind. Ask her "Are you a man or a woman?" and her response is a curt "I was not assigned a gender." We think she's just playing hard to get. Siri can do a huge number of things, from sending texts and emails to finding restaurants and getting directions from one place to another -- things that, it must be said, could largely be done before by voice on other devices and platforms. It's really the enhanced ability to understand casually spoken English mixed in with the notion of context that sets this apart. Let's talk about the context bit first. Say you want to send a text to your wife to remind her to pick up the dogs from boarding on the way home from work. You can just say, "Tell my wife don't forget the dogs." Siri will send your wife a message saying, "Don't forget the dogs." How does Siri know who your wife is? Well, she doesn't at first, but she'll ask, and once you tell her she'll remember -- until the end of time. That context works in other situations, too, like receiving a text message from someone, asking Siri to check your calendar, and then just saying "Reply, I'll see you then." You don't need to say who to reply to, Siri will remember. For the first time we feel less like we're giving stiff commands to a device and more like we're actually having a conversation. That said, you can still be as commanding as you like. Siri won't mind. And then there's the other part that makes Siri good: you don't have to remember the commands. At least, not as much as you do with Android. If you want directions on Google Navigation you have to specifically say "Directions to X." With Siri you can say "Get me directions to X," or you can say "Tell me how to get to X," or even "Directions to X." It's a minor difference but it feels more like Siri is smart enough to figure out what you want, whereas the voice recognition elsewhere feels more like you have to be smart enough to remember to say what it wants. (Even so, we'd certainly prefer to use the far more polished Google Navigation than IOS's Maps to get around.) Still, this isn't exactly unprecedented, apps like Vlingo do similar things elsewhere. Also, it should be noted that Siri isn't necessarily any more accurate than other offerings. We did a side-by-side comparison of the dictation abilities of iOS 5 vs. those built into Android and Windows Phone and found them to be similar. Android's dictation services, though rather less friendly than Siri and requiring a few more taps on the display, were every bit as accurate. Windows Phone, however, struggled to provide consistently accurate transcriptions, often missing words and getting more complex statements wrong. For example, the spoken text "Kurt Vonnegut lived near Schenectady, New York," one time resulted in the message "Could I get laid in your Schenectady New York." An interesting message that Mr. Vonnegut would have likely approved, but wasn't exactly what we had in mind. It's in going the other way that Siri has even more potential, saying that you have a new message and then promptly reading it to you -- then letting you reply by voice. The biggest issue here, though, is that you can't have emails read to you, which means you can't fully reply by voice. (You can do voice dictation, but you'll need to trigger that with your fingers.) This potentially could be a boon for people who would rather listen to their inbox than NPR on the commute home from work, and indeed it is, but the functionality here is a little more limited than we'd like. For example, you can tell Siri to look up something on Wolfram Alpha, and that she'll dutifully do, but she won't read you the response. You have to look at the phone, likely thanks to Wolfram Alpha rendering its results as images rather than plain text. Apple iPhone 4S screenshots A truly good assistant will look up whatever you ask and promptly tell you the answer -- not print it out and make you read it. Having to still fish your phone out of your pocket for some things makes Siri rather less wonderful than she could be, but she's very impressive nevertheless. And, more importantly, this signals that Apple is taking a real interest in improving voice recognition and hands-free device interaction. That should mean some amazing progress from here, and we can't wait to talk to the next generation Siri. We also hope that Siri's siblings will be able to run offline, because today's girl requires a 3G or WiFi connection to do anything. Even the simple voice commands that were available in iOS before no longer work offline, and if you happen to be one of the few who actually used those commands to change tunes while offline, you're sadly going to have to find another way. We also hope that she broadens her horizons a bit, as much of Siri's functionality (directions, looking up businesses) doesn't work in Europe. Battery life and performance The teardown of the iPhone 4S revealed a new battery pack that's just a wee bit bigger than that found in the 4 (5.3Whrs vs. 5.25) so the promised increase in longevity found here must come from more efficient internals. And that's a very good thing -- we'd prefer to see phones get more frugal than simply progressing on to bigger and heavier batteries. Apple promises up to eight hours of battery life on an active 3G connection, which is up one hour from the 4. Curiously, though, standby time has dropped from 300 hours on the 4 to 200 on the 4S. (This phone is, apparently, something of a restless sleeper.) Other stats remain the same: 14 hours on GSM, 10 hours of video watching and 40 hours of listening to tunes. Alas we've not yet been able to complete our full suite of battery tests (we'll update this when we do). When you're less concerned about longevity and more concerned about outright speed, the 4S won't disappoint when compared to its predecessors. On the SunSpider 9.1 JavaScript benchmark, a good test of overall ability to render the best the web has to offer, the phone scores a 2,200ms on average. That's well lower (quicker) than the 3,700 the iPhone 4 manages and faster than any other smartphone we've tested. In fact it ranks right up there with tablets like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (2,200), but still the iPad 2 leaves it behind with its score of 1,700. But it's not all about the benchmarks, and we've been overall quite impressed by the performance of the 4S in general tasks. We remain continually impressed by the performance of the iPhone 4 -- despite its aging assets, it still performs like a young smartphone in its prime. In other words, we're not seeing a particularly strong difference between day-to-day usage of the two devices. Yes, your apps will load a little more quickly and react more responsively and your webpages will render more snappily, but Apple already did such a good job of ensuring solid performance on the 4 that this upgrade seems rather less than necessary. Of course, that could all change when we start to see some games able to make use of the extra firepower the iPhone 4S has at its disposal. At the phone's coming out party Epic showed off Infinity Blade 2 and wowed us with very impressive graphics. The problem is, that game isn't due out until December, and we're not aware of other similarly eye-popping 4S-exclusive titles in the pipeline that will be dropping before then. The final aspect of performance is network speed and, as ever, your mileage can and will vary greatly depending on the relative strength or weakness of carriers in your area. But, regardless of carrier, the lack of LTE here is a definite disappointment. Top-tier phones on Android almost universally feature a fourth gee and, with Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T all finally onboard the LTE train to 4G Town, it's about time the iPhone hitched a ride too. Its omission surely helps battery life but hurts this device's status as a world-conquering wunderphone. We tested a Sprint version of the phone and found that, with full bars on 3G, download speeds were averaging about 1Mbps down and .9Mbps up, with pings hovering around 70ms. Comparing that to a Nexus S 4G (with WiMAX disabled), also running on Sprint, we found download speeds to be quite comparable. Signal strength between the two phones was comparable as well. Camera Apple is quite proud of the iPhone 4's status as the most popular camera on photo sharing sites like Flickr, and now the company is finally giving all those guerilla photogs something good to capture pictures with. As was long rumored, the iPhone 4S steps up to an eight megapixel, backside-illuminated sensor that sits behind a new lens array with an f/2.4 aperture (improved from the old phone's f/2.8). More megapixels certainly don't equate to better pictures, but it's safe to say the new camera package here impresses. But, what will impress you first is the speed. Apple is quite proud of the speed improvements for bringing up the camera app and taking the first picture, and it is a noticeable improvement over the 4 -- except when using the HDR mode that was introduced in iOS 4.1. Here it doesn't seem to be much if any quicker at all. Leave that off, though, and you'll be hopping from one shot to the next like someone who hasn't got time for shutter lag. In our initial camera testing, we put ourselves into tourist mode: walking around, taking random pictures of things that tourists would. The quality of the resulting shots is definitely good, among the top top tier of shooters we've tested. The phone doesn't seem to be bothered by big differences in contrast (like the Galaxy S II) and does a good job focusing quickly and accurately -- we only had one or two missed macro shots. Apple iPhone 4S review sample images Video quality is also top-notch. The iPhone 4S will record at 1080p30 and we found the footage to be clear and bright. Auto-focus happens quickly and we didn't detect any obnoxious focus-hunting. Overall the improvements on the camera are tangible and appreciated, but there's one thing Apple sadly failed to fix here: its location. The peep-hole for the lens is still too close to the edge of the device for our tastes, which resulted in many a stray finger sneaking into our shots. We'd have liked to see it sneak its way a little further toward the center of the phone. Wrap-up Is this the best iPhone yet? Yes, of course it is. The iPhone 4S takes the previous king, gives it some more pep and adds on a better camera to boot, all without really gaining any extra weight. This is, then, the best iPhone on the market, but that still leaves us with two unanswered questions: is it the best phone on the market, and is it worth the upgrade? The first question is hard to answer. If you're into iOS, have a wealth of App Store purchases you'd like to keep using and in general are down with the Apple ecosystem then, yes, this is the best phone out there. If, however, you've been shopping around, or are already tight with Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry or Meego (hey, the N9 is pretty great) then it's hard to see this as a truly forward-looking device. The 3.5-inch display and abject lack of 4G connectivity alone make this phone feel a little too conservative to really tickle the fancy of those looking for something a bit more progressive. So, then, is it worth the upgrade? Well, if your contract happens to be up and you want an iPhone and you haven't already jumped on the iPhone 4 then yes, this is the one you want. It does come at a $100 premium over its predecessor, but in the long run that premium will be worth it as the 4S will surely be supported by Apple for a good bit longer than the 4 (as the 3GS continues to be, while the 3G is now fading into obsolescence). But, if you're mid-contract or haven't quite yet been wooed by all that iOS has to offer, we'd recommend sitting this one out. The iPhone 4S does everything better than the iPhone 4, but it simply doesn't do anything substantially different. Zach Honig and Mat Smith contributed to this review. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Flight sim bubble offers 360-degree view, makes earth seem round Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:27 PM PDT You've got the yoke, you've got the ridiculously over-priced gaming chair, so now all you need is Barco's 360-degree display dome. It uses 13 separate projectors to create a hi-def simulacrum of paradise inside a 3.4-meter acrylic sphere. The pilot sits in the middle, suddenly remembers why he took up aviation, and then connects with up to seven other bubbles to practice complicated squadron missions. More desperately inviting pics after the break.

Microsoft doles out the dough to Nokia and Samsung, plans Mango marketing bonanza for year's end Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:05 PM PDT Know who loves it when other OEMs call him big poppa? Ballmer, that's who. So much so that he's opened up the company's coffers to Nokia and Samsung for a holiday blitz of Mango marketing. Hold onto your hats though, it's no carte blanche access to Redmond's Gringotts. According to a report on Mobile Magazine, inside sources claim MS has set aside ₤28 million (about $44 million) for the endeavor, with about ₤20 million of that reserved for Nokia's first Windows Phone 7.5 handset. This joint marketing effort is reportedly a broader extension of the cooperative agreements all parties agreed to, ensuring future WP devices get the media saturation they deserve. So, keep your eyes peeled this upcoming winter. We have a feeling you won't be able to escape the commercial onslaught, anyway.

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