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- Engadget Podcast 300 - 07.06.2012
- EA opens SimCity Social on Facebook, really, really hopes you'll 'like' it
- Samsung Galaxy S III OTA update adds brightness widget to drop-down menu
- Google slips out YouTube Android Player API, third-party apps get full Nyan Cat experience (video)
- IRL: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Garmin Edge 200 and Otterbox's Universal Defender case, revisited
- Nexus Q review: Google's mysterious little social streamer
- Cisco climbs down another rung over unpopular Connect Cloud service
- FCC Fridays: July 6, 2012
- Motorola DEFY Pro heads to Brazil, offers tough and tactile Android action
- Nintendo debuts new 3DS variants in spicy summer colors
- Samsung Series 9 review (13-inch, mid-2012)
- Apple still trying for water damage indicator patent, drop-prone device owners twitch (update: granted)
- Corsair's Force GS SSD series offer its best speeds in its biggest capacities
- Samsung Galaxy Beam with built-in projector now up for grabs: £395 sim-free in the UK
- Windows Home Server takes its final bow, Windows Server 2012 Essentials passes the (pricey) casting call
- ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 with LTE stretches its legs on O2 in Germany (video)
- Sony LT30 is Bluetooth-certified: packs 720p display, Snapdragon S4, no name
- As others leave, Lenovo reportedly plans $30 milllion factory for Brazil
- Reuters cooks up remote camera rigs for 2012 Olympics, mounts them where humans can't tread
- SRK contest produces a 26-button Starcraft II arcade controller, probably won't stop Zerg rushes (video)
- HTC reveals Q2 2012 financial results: 57.8 percent net profit drop blamed on customs issues and weak sales
- Robotic legs simulate our neural system, lurch along in the most human-like way so far
- KeyPoint's Adaptxt keyboard enters beta for Android tablets, adds handwriting for that extra touch
- NZXT hosts rave in your PC case, charges $33 for entry
- Skype's latest update for Windows and Mac apps fixes bugs, improves stability
- Panasonic's P-08D Eluga Live tablet makes a quick splash at the FCC, keeps no secrets
- Blue Microphones Tiki USB mic now available at Best Buy, coming to Apple stores July 15th
- Bloomberg: Amazon is planning a smartphone
- Facebook and others invest in 6,214-mile Asia-Pacific undersea internet cable, friend request lag to plummet
- Samsung expects record earnings for Q2 thanks to all those Galaxy phone sales
- Microsoft applies for high-performance touchscreen patent
- CyanogenMod plans a quick leap to Jelly Bean for version 10, existing devices likely to tag along
- Nokia and Namco Bandai bring arcade classics to Asha Touch line
- Spam-happy iOS trojan slips into App Store, gets pulled in rapid fashion
- Apple aware of corrupt apps issue, working on a fix (Update: Fixed!)
- Artega fails to sell auto business, files for bankruptcy
- PSA: HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE lands in Verizon stores, gets us tongue-tied
- The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 4PM ET!
- Google confirms Galaxy Nexus was pulled from Play store due to injunction, will return next week
- Telefonica partners with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM for global carrier billing
| Engadget Podcast 300 - 07.06.2012 Posted: 06 Jul 2012 11:41 AM PDT  300 episodes ago, the Engadget Podcast existed, before podcasts themselves really even existed, amongst Treos, StarTACs, and O.G. RAZRs. This one is hanging out with Qs, 7s, and Beans. What hardware will 600 be accompanied by? Where on the time-space continuum will the hosts record from? Will their cortical stacks be podcasting for them? These are the questions of Generation Engadget Podcast. Hosts: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater, Dana Wollman 08:10 - Nexus 7 review: the best $200 tablet you can buy
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| EA opens SimCity Social on Facebook, really, really hopes you'll 'like' it Posted: 06 Jul 2012 11:13 AM PDT Sure, it may not have been the most, you know, explosive launch at this year's E3 -- but if Facebook "likes" are any sort of metric (which, granted, is debatable), EA's newly reborn and heavily-socialized SimCity has a bright future ahead of it. SimCity Social opened up shop on the Zuckerbergian social network this week, letting players plan and build cities, harnessing the site's massive user base to build friendly relationships or form rivalries between towns. The 800k or so likes the game has currently racked up clearly aren't enough, so EA is offering up exclusive content for those who click the friendly thumb. And seeing as how sitting in front of your computer wouldn't be complete without some fried breakfast pastries, Dunkin' Donuts is getting in the act, allowing players to gift coffee and doughnut "Boosts" in-game.
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| Samsung Galaxy S III OTA update adds brightness widget to drop-down menu Posted: 06 Jul 2012 10:47 AM PDT While we didn't have many complaints with what Samsung offered us in its 2012 flagship, several users noted that the auto-brightness setting wasn't really making the most of that 4.8-inch screen. The Galaxy S III's latest OTA update tries to fix this by throwing in a new brightness gauge and auto toggle within the drop-down notification menu. There's also a handful of stability fixes included in the 73MB update and according to SlashGear, the update can now be pushed to global models by hitting up the update section in the settings menu. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google slips out YouTube Android Player API, third-party apps get full Nyan Cat experience (video) Posted: 06 Jul 2012 10:23 AM PDT For all of Google's emphasis on integrating its own services across Android, playing YouTube videos outside of the official YouTube app has usually required losing some piece of the experience, whether it's backwards compatibility, mobile optimization or just keeping viewers in the same app where they started. As it turns out, Google was well aware of this problem during Google I/O this year and teased a solution while everyone else was still recovering from their Nexus 7-induced fevers. A new YouTube Android Player API will let third parties integrate a full YouTube player into their Android apps with adaptive streaming, orientation and other special tricks intact. Any Android 2.2 or later device (including Google TV boxes) can come along for the ride, and views will count towards producers getting paid. Full details are only coming in the next few months, but app developers who've been craving a chance to slip in some viral videos can get an early look at the API near the start of the session video below -- or just load the Google I/O 2012 app, which has the code baked in. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IRL: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Garmin Edge 200 and Otterbox's Universal Defender case, revisited Posted: 06 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.  If we've never explained where the idea for IRL came from, now might be as good a time as any. Our own Tim Stevens, a car nut in his own right and a one-time auto editor for Engadget, wanted to test gadgets the way auto mags do vehicles. That is to say, on an ongoing basis, over a long period of time. That mission rings particularly true this week: Jon's taken hundreds of test shots with Fujifilm's X-Pro1, Terrence has been commuting with the Garmin Edge 200 cycling monitor and Brian has owned the Otterbox Universal Defender case so long that he's actually taking back the praise he gave in a prior IRL. All that and more after the break. Fujifilm X-Pro1 I've had some time to shoot more leisurely with the X-Pro1 over the past few weeks, and the camera's limitations foster a definite love/hate relationship. Image quality, as you'd hope, is top-notch: it can produce beautiful street shots and macros when called upon. I've found that the 35mm f/1.4 lens is often the best for the job, letting me shoot reasonably close without having to go wide angle. It's surprisingly good in dim settings, and I can crank up the sensitivity higher than on some other mirrorless cameras. Autofocus can sometimes be a problem, but it's fine with reasonable light. And I'll admit that the faux-retro design and improved controls make it surprisingly pleasing to shoot with; that quick menu and quiet shutter particularly stand out. It's the lack of lens choice that drives me mad. That wasn't as much of an issue with the X100, but it also didn't cost $1,700 for the body only -- and when there's still no option for a zoom lens, you really feel that cost difference. There have been a few moments shooting with the X-Pro1 when I've had no choice but to hold off on a shot because I couldn't move any closer. The situation will change in the next half-year as Fujifilm brings in its first XF-mount zoom lens, but I'd still recommend buying a Sony NEX-5N (as I did!) if you want a current-generation mirrorless camera with a large sensor. Fujifilm's sensor and lenses eke out some advantages against Sony's NEX line if you compare them closely in similar situations. They're just not $1,000-plus better for casual photographers who want a wider pick of standard zooms and telephotos. Besides, at that price why not look into a mid-tier DSLR? -- Jon Fingas Garmin Edge 200 Last August, though, I got my hands on Garmin's budget-minded Edge 200, and it hasn't left my handlebars since. Sure, at $150 this GPS cyclo-computer isn't exactly cheap, but it's a cool hundred bucks less than similar options. The feature set is basic, but it does everything I need and it's dead simple to operate. The screen displays your current speed, distance covered, the amount of time you've been riding and your average speed -- pretty much all the most important data for the casual cyclist. And, of course, you can plug the unit into your computer and download maps of your ride. My only complaint about the maps is that the Edge spits out .fit files, which can't be imported by anything other than Garmin's software. Which means when I want to upload my rides to RunKeeper, I have to import them to Garmin Connect, then export them as .tcx files first. Obviously, I could just use the app on my phone, but if I'm going for a particularly long ride, the Edge's 13-hour battery life wins out over my quick-dying Galaxy Nexus. With a couple of hundred miles (and a few unfortunate spills) under its belt, the Edge 200 is still going strong. In fact, I'm not entirely sure I could break the rubber and plastic unit even if I tried, which is good considering my penchant for dropping things and leaving them out in the rain. The only feature I do miss is the ability to connect to ANT+ accessories like my Polar heat rate monitor or a cadence sensor. But, more often than not, biking is simply a mode of transportation for me, and distance and speed are more than enough to satisfy my inner number nerd. -- Terrence O'Brien Otterbox Universal Defender case (revisited) But while the Defender is a monster when it comes to protecting from shock, moisture and dirt, there's a fatal flaw in the armor: a silicone corner that tears after you open the headphone flap enough times. And as a heavy listener of music / podcasts, that flap got opened a lot, eventually destroying that side of the case and rendering the rubber bumper useless. Without the silicone sleeve, the Defender is just a cheap, plastic shell with a lot of prongs that tend to get caught on everything in your pocket. I've since moved on to an iFrogz Cocoon case. Wish me luck. -- Brian Heater | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nexus Q review: Google's mysterious little social streamer Posted: 06 Jul 2012 09:30 AM PDT When setting up a gadget for review, delicately unboxing and smelling the carcinogenic whiff of freshly molded plastics, we typically feel some amount of excitement and anticipation to see how it stacks up against the competition. It's either that or a resigned sense of duty as we run yet another iterative evolution of this or that laptop through the same benchmarks to see just how this year's model stacks up to the older model now being sold on discount. With the Nexus Q, though, we felt something different altogether: genuine curiosity. Why? Well, it's a high-end device with a $299 MSRP, a price that's multiple times higher higher than media streamers like the Apple TV, anything from Roku and, indeed, Google's own Google TV. And yet, the Q has considerably less functionality than any of them. Largely because of this, many who witnessed its unveiling at Google I/O were quick to write it off. Despite having our own doubts we pledged to give it a fair swing, a week of solid use at home and with friends. How did it do? Does this high-concept device with high-end componentry make up for some decidedly low-end capabilities? There's only one way to find out. Hardware
If you've ever been candlepin bowling then you know what it's like to cradle a Nexus Q in your hands. Coincidentally (or, perhaps, intentionally) the Q fills almost the exact same dimensions as one of those kid-sized rolling implements, weighing in at two pounds (923g) in weight and measuring 4.6 inches (116mm) in diameter. Yes, diameter. It's not too often we get to use such dimensional terminology when measuring things we review, but here we can as the Q is an almost perfect sphere. Its symmetry is betrayed only by a slight flat spot on the bottom, useful to keep it from rolling its way across your entertainment center, and by the selection of ports poking out the back. Those sockets are reasonably comprehensive, including micro-HDMI, micro-USB, TOSLINK, 10/100 Ethernet and, most importantly (and, perhaps, controversially) powered stereo outputs just waiting to accept your overpriced, low-impedance speaker wire.
Why are these controversial? Powering those outputs is an internal 25-watt amplifier, custom-built to work in harmony with the custom power supply also nestled within this near-sphere. That's no mean feat of engineering and it's surely responsible for a good chunk of the Q's high cost. That, we think, will be a problem for people who simply want to use the HDMI or TOSLINK output to get a clean digital signal out to their home entertainment center -- thus bypassing that amp altogether. Also inside is a trio of wireless connectivity options: Bluetooth, NFC and dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n. The NFC and Bluetooth are used for pairing with other Android devices, while the WiFi and Ethernet come in for the sucking of content down from the cloud. Some of it will be buffered to the 16GB of internal flash, but you don't have direct access to any of that storage for storing content. There's also a dual-core TI OMAP processor inside, the same as the one found in the Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus Q exterior is bisected by a ring of LEDs, 32 in total, each of the RGB variety and designed to dance together, providing a Technicolor representation of whatever groove you've channeled through. It's this ring that separates the metal bottom of the device from the plastic top, which spins freely and is a single, large capacitive touch section. Spinning the top acts as a volume dial and tapping serves to mute whatever's being played. Very limited controls -- but then you're meant to rely on your phone or tablet for everything else, as we'll get into below. Though the top is made of plastic it was given some internal metal weighting in an attempt to impart a higher-quality feel, and while that plan was mostly a success, the upper piece definitely feels more hollow than the bottom portion. That part is all metal, which adds weight to keep the contraption from toppling off your bookshelf and also acts as an integrated heat sink. That, as it turns out, is an important thing, as the Nexus Q gets quite warm whilst pumping out your hottest jams. Setup The Nexus Q's initial setup is incredibly easy -- trivial, even. Just run the skinny, two-prong power cable to the wall (no power brick here) and connect your favorite pair of bookshelf speakers. Google recommends a pair of Triad speakers, but as we didn't have any for testing we went with a few pairs lying around: some old Advents and a couple of slightly more modern (and rather more petite) Klipsch Quintets. Bookshelf speakers all, the sort we think people would be most likely to hook up here.
You'll need some banana plugs to make your connections, as the Q has no exposed posts and no way to accept raw speaker wire. So, we stripped some clean 16-gauge wire, threaded on four fresh connectors, popped them in the back of the Nexus Q and plugged the combination into the wall leaving us with a dimly glowing, ominous-looking and completely silent ball that can't do a damned thing. Not without a little external help, that is. To actually do something you'll need a device that can run the bespoke Nexus Q app, which advertises itself as being compatible with "any Android phone or tablet running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or later." That is, sadly, a terrible lie. The app exclusively works on Jelly Bean devices and, while we're told that will change before the Q ships later this month, for now the things that can actually control the Q are very few.
Thankfully, we had not one, but two compatible devices on-hand: the new Nexus 7 and a recently upgraded Galaxy Nexus. Tapping the 7 on top of the sphere brought up the Q application in the Google Play store and, a few moments later, we had it installed. To pair with the Q, the app must use Bluetooth -- but only for a few moments. After that, all communication with the device goes all the way out into the cloud and back again, meaning you can control it even if you're well, well out of Bluetooth range. At this point you're ready to play, but there are some further options the Q owner can configure. Maybe. As it turns out, a bug in the Q has it currently showing up as owned by someone other than the actual owner. Who that someone is we're not sure, but the net result is that, after the Q is configured, it will quickly shun your ownership and lock you out from its more juicy configuration options. The only way to restore that highly transient feeling of possession is to do a complete factory reset on the Q. That works -- for a little while.
Once reset, you have a world of options at your disposal, including managing the brightness of your Q's blinkenlights (or shutting them off entirely), calibrating the audio delay on the digital outputs and locking their volume levels. You can also specify in which room your Q resides, so that you can easily push tunes to your bedroom, living room, media room and more -- in the honestly unlikely case that someone should choose to invest in more than one. Performance Our first test of the Q was with friends, friends who happen to own Android devices. The goal was to re-create this social streaming situation that we were shown during the Google I/O keynote -- namely, people queuing up their favorite tunes and most hilarious YouTube clips. That experiment turned out to be rather less exciting when we learned that re-creating this situation was impossible. The app, of course, is wholly incompatible with their non-Jelly Bean devices. Again, that'll be fixed soon, but it definitely didn't help the party get started here. Thankfully we had both a Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 running Jelly Bean, so we were able to at least make an effort at creating a party around the Q. But, presented with an unfamiliar library of tunes in Google Music, our companions quickly turned to the rather more palatable task of selecting YouTube highlights. Yes, the honey badger made an appearance. Playing YouTube videos on the Q is as easy as tapping an icon on the top of the app with a play button showing some waves coming off, toggling external playback, then playing any video you like. The problem is you can't create a queue of videos; if another gets tapped it then fires up and is soon playing on your TV. Whereas with music, multiple people can work together to build out a killer playlist. However with YouTube, the current video gets replaced as soon as a single person gets the slightest bit impatient. And, really, that's about all there is to it. You can play media through the Google Play media apps (music and videos) and push YouTube videos to the Q. Nothing more. Have a library full of ripped music or MP3s purchased from some other store? You'll need to upload all of it to Google's servers for it to be playable here. Same goes for videos. Your complete collection of downloaded Engadget Show episodes cannot be played here. Any video you want to play through the Q has to be rented or purchased through Google Play. That's a shame, as this could have gone a long way toward fixing the annoying lack of output on the Nexus 7 tablet.
Sure, the focus is definitely on audio, but even music playback lacks features. That amplifier puts out some very clean sound when paired with non-powered speakers, but this is the kind of setup intended for audiophiles looking for a simple secondary system -- exactly the kind of listener who cringes at the thought of lossy, compressed streaming audio. There's no option for lossless playback. There's no DLNA support, no support for playing media from external storage and no way to fill that 16GB of flash with music. And, to top it all off, there's no configurable equalizer. If you can live with all those missing pieces you'll get some very nice sound from such a petite system. The Nexus Q has a remarkably small footprint, a footprint we'd have been willing to extend a bit in exchange for a few more physical controls. As it is, we quickly got tired of reaching for our tablet to pause the music.
In fact we quickly tired of reaching for our tablet in general. The Nexus Q is begging for some sort of web-based interface. Google Voice showed us how wonderful listening to voicemail and sending texts from a web browser can be, so why do we have to keep turning away from our keyboards and unlocking our mobile devices whenever we want to skip a particularly annoying track. Even an IR port somewhere in there for compatibility with universal remotes would have been a nice bonus. And then there are the lights. The 32 RGB LEDs scattered about the rim and the 33rd punctuating the top of the device put on quite a handy little light show when your tunes start dropping beats, or get a bit more mellow when the tracks get a little more chill. They're impressively bright and, while opinions are bound to be hugely divided on this subject, we like them. Yes, they can be distracting, but if we're talking about something that's intended to liven up a party, a chromatic cavalcade swirling around your entertainment center won't hurt. And, yes, you can turn them off if you'd rather. Wrap-up  After a week with the Q we're honestly still of mixed mind about the thing. On one hand it's a sophisticated, beautiful device with such a fine-grained degree of engineering you can't help but respect it. It feels like a mysterious piece of alien technology that's beamed straight down to your bookshelf. It also feels like alien technology in that we have no idea what to do with the thing. Sure, it can stream music or movies, but we have dozens of other ways of doing that already, and nearly all of them offer plenty more functionality. Even the $99 Apple TV is hugely more flexible than this Android-powered device, and that's a curious state of affairs. The Nexus Q is an impressive piece of hardware that, given time and a serious augmentation of capability, could mature into a very exciting little thing. Right now, though, the Q feels like a high-priced novelty. A very nice novelty, but a novelty nevertheless. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cisco climbs down another rung over unpopular Connect Cloud service Posted: 06 Jul 2012 09:05 AM PDT Cisco has already tried to soothe angry customers by scrapping a key section in its new Linksys privacy agreement -- a clause which allowed the company to monitor a person's internet history via their router. However, realizing that probably wasn't enough to quell the sense of intrusion, it's now gone one step further. Writing on an official blog, Cisco VP Brett Wingo has declared that Linksys customers will no longer be pushed into signing up for Connect Cloud, the service which lay at the heart of the problem:
In other words, you'll no longer have to hook up to a convoluted cloud service just to access advanced settings on your router, and neither will you have to sign away an even greater chunk of your personal space -- which is just how it should have been (and indeed how it was) in the first place. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 08:31 AM PDT We here at Engadget tend to spend
Tablets and peripherals
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| Motorola DEFY Pro heads to Brazil, offers tough and tactile Android action Posted: 06 Jul 2012 08:03 AM PDT You got to give it to Motorola, it's pretty specific with its handset releases. Today's announcement? It's the DEFY Pro doing the Samba towards Brazil. The "lifeproof" phone is designed to battle the elements (water, dust and carnival spirit,) Update: Motorola reached out to us with some clarification on its claim of being the first touchscreen / QWERTY Android handset:
Motorola Mobility Launches Motorola DEFY™ PRO in Brazil Lifeproof line resistant to water, dust and weather grows with the launch of Motorola´s first Android™-based smartphone with touchsecreen and full QWERTY keyboard July 05, 2012 SÃO PAULO – July 5, 2012 – Tough yet classy. Professional and fun. Motorola Industrial Ltda is bringing Motorola DEFY™ PRO to Brazil – the first life-proof Android ™-based smartphone from Motorola Mobility with full QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen display. Dust-proof, water-resistant and scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass display. Strong enough to resist both your personal and professional lifestyle. Now, you can send an urgent work email, take a photo of your kids, and keep track of all those weekend get-togethers on one device. Motorola DEFY PRO has a simple and elegant look that's as fit for the boardroom as it is your living room. With its flawless chrome finish and 2.7-inch Gorilla Glass™ screen, it can whatever life throws at it – including little hands that like to throw, spill and drop. With this phone in your pocket you'll have a full QWERTY keyboard that's great for emailing and sending text messages. You can print documents straight from the phone thanks to MotoPrint. And you don't have to worry about someone accessing information on your phone, since Motorola DEFY PRO has email and VPN support. Which means you can access your corporate data from anywhere. And with the Quickoffice® app, you can review and edit documents while you take that extra-long lunch. With the new user interface, Motorola DEFY MINI organizes your contacts according to who you talk to most and which apps you get the most mileage out of. Life is all about multi-tasking. And you probably sometimes wish you had more hands. Well, Motorola DEFY PRO makes life's juggling act easier. For your personal life, Motorola DEFY PRO has a bunch of instrumental dashboards to help you plan every step of your day. • Outdoor View – Not sure whether to put rain boots on the kids or grab your sunglasses? Glance at your outdoor dashboard view and you'll know if there are clear skies ahead. Motorola DEFY PRO also has Wi-Fi for surfing the Web and staying up-to-date on the latest news; GPS so you'll never lose your way on the road. And with the 5 -megapixel autofocus flash built-in camera, you'll catch every memorable moment. It even has a flash so your pictures always come out bright, clear and ready to share. "You're constantly on the go, whether running to the office or running around town. Finally, there's a smartphone designed to keep up with your work and personal life," said Edson Bortolli, products director, Motorola Mobility Brazil. "Motorola DEFY PRO is ready for anything and will never let you down." With its robust design, Motorola DEFY PRO has microUSB connection, Wi-Fi®, DLNA, and Bluetooth® connectivity. In addition, it comes with comes with a 2GB memory card expandable to 32GB for users on the go who need everything in the palm of their hand. As this is an Android-powered smartphone, the user will have immediate access to over 500,000 apps and games available on Google Play™. Availability Motorola DEFY PRO is available in Brazil by July, 15th. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nintendo debuts new 3DS variants in spicy summer colors Posted: 06 Jul 2012 07:38 AM PDT While we're still itching to handle its bigger (and more stylish) XL iteration, that hasn't stopped Nintendo rolling out the acid colors for two Asia-bound handhelds. The 3DS in Cerulean (the bright blue one) and Shimmer (the hot pink version) will hit stores in Hong Kong and Taiwan, accompanying the launch of the 3DS XL in September. No word from Nintendo so far on whether it'll follow the Aubergine-hued model to the US . | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Series 9 review (13-inch, mid-2012) Posted: 06 Jul 2012 07:00 AM PDT More InfoGood things come in pairs, right? Earlier this year Samsung revamped its high-end Series 9 line with two new Ultrabooks: an impressively thin 15-inch model, along with a more portable 13-inch machine. So far this year, we've gotten a chance to review the larger version which remains one of our favorite ultraportables ever, thanks to its minimal design, fast performance, lovely display and long battery life. "So what?" you're thinking. "Why bother revisiting the miniature version?" For one, friends, Samsung only recently refreshed the Series 9 with third-generation Intel Core processors, and we were eager to make note of any performance gains. More importantly, though, the 13-inch Series 9 faces stiffer competition than its big brother. There truly isn't another big-screen notebook quite as thin or as light as the 15-inch Series 9; if those are the attributes that matter most, that's the laptop you're best off getting. But the smaller Series 9 finds itself fighting for space on retail shelves amidst high-end ultraportables like the MacBook Air, ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A, the HP Envy Spectre XT and, well, you get the idea. So how does this $1,300 system fare against such worthy opponents? Read on to find out. Look and feel
If you've already read our review of the 15-inch Series 9, you should have a pretty good idea of what's in store here. As you'd expect, the 13-inch version is basically a shrunken version of the bigger model: just as gorgeous, with one less USB 3.0 port in tow. Even now that Ultrabooks are flooding the market ahead of back to school season, the Series 9 remains one of the most stunning options out there, with a unibody aluminum chassis that's as rigid as it is lightweight. As ever, what we appreciate most about the design is how simple and unadorned it is: Samsung didn't need an embellished hinge or fancy penmanship to demonstrate that this is a premium laptop. Nope, just high-quality materials and some narrow bezels did the trick. Our only gripe: those smooth aluminum surfaces are a magnet for fingerprint smudges, which can be tough to wipe away. The metal isn't totally immune to scratches, either, though nicks weren't nearly as big a problem as the grease stains. But back to that featherweight chassis for a moment. At 2.55 pounds (1.16kg), the Series 9 is exceptionally light, even for an Ultrabook. (By comparison, even relatively light laptops like the MacBook Air and ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A weigh 2.96 and 2.87 pounds, respectively.) As for that razor-thin profile, it measures just 0.5 inches (12.7mm) thick at its widest point, making it one of the skinniest Ultrabooks money can buy. It's worth noting, by the by, that it's only marginally thinner and a pound than the 15-inch Series 9, which comes in at 3.5 pounds and 0.58 inches thick. So, if you've been shying away from the larger model because you assumed you'd have to make a huge compromise in portability, it might be time to re-think that assessment. Of course, a half-inch-thin laptop has its drawbacks, especially when it comes to port selection. As with other 13-inch Ultrabooks, you'll have to do without an Ethernet jack or HDMI output, and the number of USB ports tops out at two (compared with three for larger-screened Ultras). What you get are one USB 2.0 socket and one 3.0; micro-HDMI and mini VGA output; a 4-in-1 memory card reader; a standard 3.5mm headphone jack; and a miniature Ethernet port, which you can use with an included adapter. (Samsung also makes a VGA dongle, sold separately.) Though we wish Samsung would upgrade all its USB ports to 3.0, this selection is still pretty typical for a laptop in this class -- if anything, it illustrates one of the key trade-offs you'll make if you opt for an Ultrabook instead of a more mainstream notebook. Keyboard and trackpad If buying an Ultrabook means making a Faustian agreement with Intel, there's one other thing you're likely to sacrifice besides port selection, and that's a cushy, tactile keyboard. We so often see depressed, shallow keys on ultraportable machines, and it's not until you step up to the slightly heavier models that you start to enjoy a little more travel. The Samsung Series 9 is no exception: its keys are some of the flattest we've seen, and their smooth finish means your fingers might slip and slide in the beginning as you get used to the layout. But there's hope: the buttons are widely spaced, so once you do acclimate to the short pitch your fingers should land where they're supposed to. Even the arrow keys, as tiny as they are, are easy to use for highlighting text and such. Also, for what it's worth (and it's worth a lot, we think), Samsung avoids the worst issue we've seen on Ultrabook keyboards: lifelessness. Here, the buttons are at least responsive, meaning you won't have to pound them just to make sure your presses register. As with the 15-inch model we reviewed, this guy has some offbeat aquamarine backlighting, which turns on and off automatically. Which is to say, you can't force the funky lights to turn on if you happen to be sitting in a brightly lit space. The refreshed Ivy Bridge machine we're reviewing shares the same Elan touchpad drivers as the larger 15-inch model. Since the Series 9 has been on sale for a couple months already, Sammy's had quite a bit of time to refine the touchpad experience. And refine it has. When we reviewed the 15-inch version three months ago, we complained that the pad sometimes mistook left clicks for right ones, and that even after a driver update multi-touch gestures like two-finger scrolls felt a bit jerky. This time around, our clicks registered correctly, and scrolling felt buttery smooth. Even pinch-to-zoom -- a difficult-to-pull-off gesture -- works pretty well here. Also, palm rejection continues to be excellent: not once did we have to put up with the cursor randomly flying to a different part of an email or document. Oddly, despite responding well to two-finger scrolls, the touchpad stumbles when it comes to simple cursor navigation, of all things. Dragging the cursor around with one finger routinely felt clumsy, with the cursor stopping short somewhere on the screen before we got to whatever it was we intended to click. Surely there's room for Samsung to improve here. Display and sound When you're buying a PC from a company with as much television know-how as Samsung, you'd expect the display to be gorgeous. Well, Sammy doesn't disappoint: like the larger Series 9, this guy has a 1,600 x 900 SuperBright Plus display, which, in layman's terms, means the brightness is rated at 400 nits. It might just be the best display on an Ultrabook this size -- except, of course, for the 1080p IPS panels you'll find on ASUS' Zenbook Prime line. Pixel count aside, it's just so refreshing to sit down in front of a glare-free display that's bright, gentle on the eyes and easy to view at odd angles. If you look closely, you can see the LCD matrix, but nonetheless the brightness and contrast make this one of the best screens you'll find on a laptop in this category. As is becoming standard on Ultrabooks, the Series 9 also features Intel's Wireless Display technology, which allows you to stream 1080p video to an external monitor or TV with the help of a settop box, sold separately. If you're not up for media streaming, you can also use the tech to mirror your desktop on a larger display. (We've got a fairly in-depth test of the technology here, if you care to learn more.) When it comes to audio, you'll notice a bit of tinniness, as with the 15-inch version. The difference, though, is that the larger Series 9, at $1,500, has to compete with less expensive, but similarly sized laptops, like the HP Envy 15. In that scenario, the Series 9's audio output is disappointing. If you compare the smaller Series 9 to other 13-inch Ultrabooks, though, the quality doesn't seem bad at all, just because most ultraportables fall flat where sound is concerned. For the category, the volume here is surprisingly loud, and while we could've used some deeper bass notes, we still had a pleasant time kicking back, listening to Florence and the Machine and old Queen records. Performance
The $1,300 configuration we tested comes stocked with a 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U (Ivy Bridge) processor, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and Intel's integrated HD 4000 graphics. So what does that mean in terms of performance? Well, unfortunately for you, the consumer, our benchmarks and real-world tests tell two different stories. On the one hand, its PCMark Vantage score falls short of other high-end Ivy Bridge systems like the MacBook Air and the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A; in fact, it trends closer toward what we've been seeing from lower-end Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks, such as the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 and Sony VAIO T13. On the other hand, this same machine is capable of one of the fastest (if not the fastest) boot-up times we've ever logged: just 12 seconds! We actually continued to run that test, wondering, perhaps, if that result was a fluke. Nope, the Series 9 boots in 12 seconds. Every. Time. By comparison, the new MacBook Air and UX21A both boot in about 18 seconds, which is already faster than most laptops we've tested. It would appear, too, that its SanDisk-made solid-state drive is also faster than most. In the disk benchmark ATTO it managed top read speeds of 501 MB/s and max writes of 364 MB/s. That's actually roughly on par with the Zenbook Prime UX21A, but again, you wouldn't know it based on that gap in PCMark Vantage scores. Graphics-wise, the Series 9 lands in the same general ballpark as most other Ivy Bridge machines with that HD 4000 chipset. Both the low-end IdeaPad U310 and premium UX21A, for instance, come within about 600 points of the Series 9, while the MacBook Air running Windows takes the lead by less than 700 points. Either way, a score in the mid to high 4000s or somewhere in the 5000s would reflect the kind of performance jump we'd expect to see going from Sandy Bridge (3000s) to Ivy Bridge. When it comes to real-world gaming, you should be able to pull off some popular titles -- if you keep the resolution capped at default settings. In Call of Duty 4, for instance, our frame rates mostly hovered in the 30s when we settled for 1,024 x 768. With the display set to the native 1,600 x 900 resolution, though, gameplay slowed to a crawl at 13fps. Battery life
And we have a winner. Ladies and gents, meet the new longest-lasting 13-inch ultraportable on the block. The smaller Series 9 lasted a hair over seven hours in our usual rundown test, which involves looping a video off the local drive with WiFi on and display brightness fixed at 65 percent (and this is with a 400-nit panel, mind you). That's almost a half hour longer than the new Ivy Bridge-enabled MacBook Air, whose six-and-a-half hour runtime was already on the long side. Realistically, then, this means you'll enjoy an hour or more of battery life on the Series 9 than you would on most competing Ultrabooks. SoftwareOkay, so when it comes to bloatware the Series 9 isn't the pristine paradise that Vizio claims to be, but the list of pre-installed programs is at least relatively short. On board you'll find Absolute Reminder, Amazon Kindle, CyberLink YouCam, Norton Internet Security, Norton Online Backup and Skype 4.2. A mostly harmless bunch, though those pop-ups imploring you to convert your Norton trial to a paid subscription are as annoying as ever. Samsung also bundled some software of its own, a suite of applications with some pretty self-explanatory names: Easy File Share, Easy Migration, Easy Settings, Easy Software Manager and Easy Support Center. Configuration options and warrantyWhat you see here is what you get. There are two versions of the 13-inch Series 9, priced at $1,300 and $1,400, but the only variable is the OS: Windows 7 Home Premium on the first, and Win7 Professional on the second. Other than that, you'll get that 1.7GHz Core i5 CPU with Intel HD 4000 graphics, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. None of these parts (e.g., the RAM, drive or six-cell battery) were designed to be user-replaceable. As we've outlined, these components add up to long battery life and strong real-world performance, but we're sure some power users will grouse at there being no 8GB or Core i7 option (not to mention, more storage space). Whichever model you choose, though, you'll be signing on to a one-year warranty, which is typical for a consumer PC at pretty much any price. The competition If you're considering the Series 9, we're going to go ahead and assume you're not put off by that lofty price. (If you're here for the gadget porn, that's okay, too.) Obviously, Samsung justifies that $1,300-plus cost with high build quality and fast performance. Ergo, for the sake of keeping things simple and not overwhelming you with choices, we'll focus on other higher-end machines with similarly high-end specs. Starting with the 800-pound gorilla in the room, the Series 9 is bound to get compared with the 13-inch MacBook Air, which also just got an Ivy Bridge refresh. It, too, used to start at $1,300, but Apple recently cut the price by a hundred bucks. For the money, it offers similar specs: a Core i5 CPU (clocked at 1.8GHz, not 1.7), four gigs of RAM and a 128GB SSD. On the plus side, it offers two USB 3.0 ports instead of one, and a slightly more comfortable keyboard and trackpad. Power users will also appreciate being able to configure it with a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a larger 512GB drive. Still, the Series 9 offers an extra half hour of battery life and a higher-res screen (1,600 x 900 vs. 1,440 x 900). Ultimately, the decision comes down to your priorities. Suffice to say, though, you can't really go wrong with either, and if you're patently more comfortable in one OS, well, your decision just got a lot easier. But before we crown the Series 9 the best Windows-based Ultrabook money can buy, we suspect ASUS might have a thing or two to say. The company's new Zenbook Primes greatly improve upon ASUS's first-generation models, with improved trackpads, more tactile keyboards and higher-res 1080p displays. We haven't yet tested any of the 13-inch models, so we can't vouch for their performance or battery life, but we were impressed with the 11-inch UX21A we took for a test drive. What's more, ASUS clobbers Samsung on price: a 13-inch UX31A with the same specs as our Series 9 review unit is going for a promotional $1,130 on Amazon right now (the normal price is $1,150 -- still a good deal).
In HP's camp, there's the recently announced Envy Spectre XT, the 13-inch little brother to the glass-clad Envy Spectre we reviewed earlier this year. At $999, it starts with the same internals as the 13-inch Series 9. Also like Samsung's model, it has a backlit keyboard and USB 3.0 / 2.0 ports, though it adds a full-size HDMI socket and full editions of Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements. Before you get too excited, though, the screen resolution is fixed at 1,366 x 768, and there's no option to upgrade. (You can, at least, add a Core i7 CPU and a 256GB SSD.) It's a similar story with the Sony VAIO T13, which starts at $760, but costs about $1,000 if you deck it out with the same CPU, memory allotment and 128GB solid-state drive as the Series 9 we're reviewing here. Like HP, Sony is offering more configuration options than some other Ultrabook makers, including 8GB of RAM, a Core i7 CPU and a mix of hard drives and SSDs. Again, though, you're locked into 1,366 x 768 resolution. We're not done yet. After many months, Acer is finally getting ready to ship the Aspire S5, a 13-inch Ultrabook with a motorized drop-down door in the back covering an impressive port selection (USB 3.0, Thunderbolt and HDMI). As is the case with almost all of these machines, we haven't yet had the opportunity to test the performance or battery life, though we can say that given the starting specs (Core i7, a 256GB SSD), that steep $1,400 starting price makes some sense. Still, for the money you'd expect more than just a 1,366 x 768 display, especially given that Samsung, Apple and ASUS are all offering denser, higher-quality screens for less money. Finally, let's not rule out Toshiba, whose 2.47-pound Portege Z935 is one of the few 13-inch Ultrabooks that weighs even less than the Series 9. In brief, this is the Z835 we reviewed last year, except it's since been refreshed with Ivy Bridge. With a starting price of $900 it's certainly tempting, and we like how the company is throwing 6GB of RAM standard, where every other outfit is offering four. Still, raw specs aside, this is the same cramped keyboard we struggled with the first time around, so until Toshiba gives its Portege line a makeover, we believe you can find a better balance between ergonomics and performance elsewhere. Wrap-up In recent weeks, we've been receiving an uptick in emails from readers, asking for help in choosing an Ultrabook (not the most affordable Ultrabook, but the best -- our fans do tend to be spec-obsessed, after all). While we can't outright make a decision for you kind folks, we've taken to suggesting a very small handful, and the 13-inch Series 9 always makes that list. Here's why: it's carefully made, with an exceptionally thin and light build. Its battery life is best in class, its screen falls toward the top of the heap and while its benchmark scores aren't record-breaking, real-world performance is indisputably solid. So what can improve? The trackpad, mostly. Though Samsung's clearly done some fine-tuning here, it could still stand to update the drivers further so that single-finger navigation feels more precise. A beefier storage option would be nice. Lastly, we suspect some shoppers will shift their attention from the Series 9 when they see how relatively expensive it is compared to similar high-end systems like the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A, which offers the same internals and a 1080p display for almost $200 less. For now, Samsung can make an already-excellent Ultrabook more competitive by refining the touchpad and trimming the price. And maybe, just maybe, it'll buck the shallow keyboard trend when it comes time to design next year's model. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 06:40 AM PDT Apple has already sought to patent some elaborate water damage detection methods, but it's also a fan of the classics. That must be why it's still attempting to patent a water detection method that it's been seeking since December 2006, just a month before the iPhone went public. The concept is a simple one that you'll find in many iPhones (and other iOS devices) so far: water-reactive, color-changing tape positioned in a device such that the Genius Bar staffer can see that your device took a dive in the swimming pool without having to tear the phone open. Mercifully, the patent factors in a membrane to prevent an overly humid day from triggering a false positive. There's still no immediate clue as to whether or not Apple will receive the patent, which strikes us as odd for a technology that's been used in the field for so long -- not that the company has needed the USPTO's blessing to void the warranty (or offer a rare free replacement) for more than a few waterlogged iPhones over the past five years. Update: After a little fine-tooth comb inspection, we've found that this is the long-awaited granting itself, not just a continuation. Apple will be happy, although others trying to use a similar water detection system will be turning red... for reasons besides getting wet. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Corsair's Force GS SSD series offer its best speeds in its biggest capacities Posted: 06 Jul 2012 06:23 AM PDT Corsair Announces Force Series GS SSDs Fremont, CA - July 5, 2012 - Corsair®, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC hardware market, today announced the Force Series™ GS solid-state drives (SSDs). The new SSDs, which offer the fastest overall performance in Corsair's SandForce®-based lineup, will initially ship in capacities of 180GB and higher. As with other Force Series drives, the Force Series GS SSDs are based on the SandForce SF-2200 SSD Processor, but add toggle NAND flash memory to boost random write speeds up to an amazing 90,000 IOPs.i The Force Series GS SSDs feature SATA 6Gb/s connectivity for compatibility and performance, TRIM support to maintain performance over time, and lower power operation for longer battery life. Their 2.5" form factor, combined with an included 3.5" adapter, allow easy installation into notebooks or into desktop PCs. The solid-state design of Corsair SSDs enable them to deliver faster data read and write speeds which can reduce software load and PC startup times. And because SSDs have no moving mechanical parts, they help laptops run cooler, run longer on batteries, and resist data loss from bumps. Availability | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy Beam with built-in projector now up for grabs: £395 sim-free in the UK Posted: 06 Jul 2012 05:59 AM PDT If you've been eyeing flat surfaces with bad intent since the new Samsung Galaxy Beam projector smartphone was announced, it's now ready for your schemes -- at least in the UK. Expansys is showing the light-shooting device in stock, replete with its 4-inch WVGA screen, 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9, 768MB of RAM and 8GB storage, at a price of £395 ($615). The projector itself radiates 15 lumens and displays an nHD (640 x 360) image up to 50 inches across. At 12.5mm (0.5 inches), Samsung claims it to be the world's thinnest projector phone, so if you need something pocketable for those impromptu presentations -- or even to save your bacon -- check the source to snag one. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 05:36 AM PDT Tucked away amongst Microsoft's Windows Server 2012 version plans is a bomb for media server PC fans: Windows Home Server is going away. Although the platform was already in something of a comatose state after HP dropped its MediaSmart servers and left the OS without a major vendor to champion the cause, an FAQ reveals the stand-alone build is going away as well. Windows Server 2012 Essentials is taking its place and will handle both media server as well as small business server duties in one package. That's all well and good, except that Essentials is currently priced at $425 -- almost 10 times the typical $50 street price of Windows Home Server. We've reached out to Microsoft to verify whether or not that's the price a media server vendor or enthusiastic media PC lover will pay. Hopefully, it isn't; we'll have until the end of 2013 to buy a stand-alone copy of Windows Home Server (and a far-flung 2025 for very conservative OEMs), but the switch of focus may lead some fans of networked media sharing to drift elsewhere. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ASUS Transformer Pad TF300 with LTE stretches its legs on O2 in Germany (video) Posted: 06 Jul 2012 05:04 AM PDT It wasn't all that long ago, that the FCC tempted us with the idea of an LTE capable Transformer Pad TF300. Now, a video has popped up online from Germany's O2 network showing of the speedy tablet in all its 42 Mbps down / 32 Mbps up glory. After the obligatory speed test, you can see YouTube videos loading up a charm, along with plenty of other HD video being scrubbed along like it wasn't even a thing. A quick tour of the white-backed version reveals little else of note, but if the lack of LTE was keeping the dollars in your wallet, this might just be enough to tease them back out. [Thanks, Alexis]
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| Sony LT30 is Bluetooth-certified: packs 720p display, Snapdragon S4, no name Posted: 06 Jul 2012 04:16 AM PDT | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As others leave, Lenovo reportedly plans $30 milllion factory for Brazil Posted: 06 Jul 2012 03:44 AM PDT While HTC might be closing its doors in South America, there's still plenty more companies looking to set up shop. The latest addition appears to be Lenovo, which, according to ZTOP, is readying blueprints for a 325,000-square meter site in São Paulo. The factory will apparently recruit up to 700 locals when it reaches full capacity. While the company only has a minor market share at the moment, Brazil looks likely to be another growth market and perhaps success in South America will be enough to claim the PC-making top spot. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reuters cooks up remote camera rigs for 2012 Olympics, mounts them where humans can't tread Posted: 06 Jul 2012 02:58 AM PDT Sure, the 2012 Olympics may be gearing up for HD, 3D and even Super Hi-Vision broadcasts, but that doesn't mean still photography has lost its appeal. In fact, Reuters photographers Fabrizio Bensch and Pawel Kopczynski are taking Olympic photography to the next level, perching remote-controlled camera rigs in stadium rafters. The system, which the duo has been developing since 2009, can turn, adjust focus and receive commands wirelessly. Once stills are snapped, they're sent to an editing system and then off to distribution. The team is spending more than 12 hours a day installing the cams at different Olympic venues before the games kick off on July 27th. In the meantime, you can sprint to the source for photos of the setup. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 02:02 AM PDT Almost as a dare, Shoryuken (SRK) challenged its fans to produce a fighting game-style controller for Starcraft II. Mauricio Romano took them up on that contest and won with a surprisingly polished arcade stick of his own. Its cornerstone is a heavily modified Ultrastik joystick that's turned into an on-controller, two-button mouse. You didn't think a PC gamer would cling to a plain joystick, did you? In the process, the usual 101 keys of a typical keyboard have been pared down to a set of 26 buttons most relevant for Blizzard's real-time strategy epic. Packaged up in a single, polished USB peripheral, the one-off prototype's design is good enough to imagine a Major League Gaming pro taking it out on the road. We'd put that idea on ice for now, though: as Mauricio shows in the video below, the learning curve is steep enough that most players won't be fending off diamond-league marine and zergling blitzes anytime soon. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 06 Jul 2012 01:29 AM PDT HTC has reported a substantial drop in its quarterly profits, with unaudited results for Q2 2012 totaling T$7.4 billion ($250 million), down from T$17.52 billion this time last year. While it marks an improvement compared to the company's dire first quarter of this year, HTC's been troubled by weaker-than-expected European sales, while customs issues have hampered US sales for high-end devices like the One X. Despite the continued global roll-out of the One series, sales continue to stall, with consolidated sales for last month totaled T$30 billion, unchanged from May and 33.4 percent less than June 2011. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robotic legs simulate our neural system, lurch along in the most human-like way so far Posted: 06 Jul 2012 01:16 AM PDT We've seen some pretty wonky bipedal robots before, but scientists at the University of Arizona have gone straight to the source -- us -- to make one with a more human-like saunter. It turns out it's not just our skull-borne computer that controls gait: a simple neural network in the lumber area of our spine, called the central pattern generator (CPG), also fires to provide the necessary rhythm. By creating a basic digital version of that and connecting some feedback sensors in the legs, a more natural human stride (without balance) was created -- and on top of that it didn't require the tricky processing used in other striding bots. Apparently this throws light on why babies can make that cute walking motion even before they toddle in earnest, since the necessary CPG system comes pre-installed from birth. That means the study could lead to new ways of stimulating that region to help those with spinal cord injuries re-learn to walk, and produce better, less complex walking robots to boot. Judging by the video, it's a good start, but there's still a ways to go before they can mimic us exactly -- you can watch it after the break.
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| KeyPoint's Adaptxt keyboard enters beta for Android tablets, adds handwriting for that extra touch Posted: 06 Jul 2012 12:35 AM PDT Aftermarket keyboard layouts are still relatively rare among tablets, which makes KeyPoint Technologies' new Adaptxt beta for Android tablets that much more valuable. Along with optionally splitting up the keyboard to make thumb typing that much gentler, it expands on the stock keyboard formula with aggressive word prediction and shortcuts for words or whole sentences. The wait for a tablet version has also rewarded the patient with a handwriting recognition extra, just in case they'd like to revive cursive writing as an art form. The beta is is free to use for anyone who's running at least Android 2.3 on a big-screened slate, although only for a "limited period" -- if you're willing to accept a few rough edges, we'd recommend hitting the source links before there's a price tag attached. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NZXT hosts rave in your PC case, charges $33 for entry Posted: 05 Jul 2012 11:53 PM PDT You've got the music, the air conditioning, and the chemicals. All you need now is Hue -- an RGB case light controller from NZXT that fills up a spare drive bay with dials to set the color, brightness and pulsation of a bundled two-meter, 24-LED light strip. Fake some ID, hand over $33 and reach for the lasers. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skype's latest update for Windows and Mac apps fixes bugs, improves stability Posted: 05 Jul 2012 11:12 PM PDT Those of you who are frequent users of Skype on Windows, Mac or Linux will know that the Microsoft-owned video chat service is often rather busy pushing out updates to its desktop applications. And, you guessed it, today's no exception. Unlike in previous occasions, however, this time Skype's software goods are only for folks using Redmond or Cupertino machines -- but they're also quite diminutive, so the Linux crowd won't be missing out on too much. How so? Well, both versions (Mac 5.8, Windows 5.10) aren't really adding any fresh features, only bringing an undisclosed amount of "generic" bug fixes and some unspecified enhancements to keep the apps running smoothly. You can grab the updates now from either of the links below, or straight from the Skype application on your computer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Panasonic's P-08D Eluga Live tablet makes a quick splash at the FCC, keeps no secrets Posted: 05 Jul 2012 10:05 PM PDT It wasn't too long ago that we saw Panasonic's Eluga Live slate destined to be one of NTT DoCoMo's upcoming slab offerings, and now it has managed to land itself all the way across the pond at the probing FCC offices. Interestingly enough, but not terribly exciting, the filing reveals Panasonic's P-08D tablet supports the 850MHz bands -- which in theory should allow it to coast through AT&T's old-gen waves without any hiccups, though this doesn't necessarily mean it ever will. That of course, goes along with its expected WiFi capabilities and those DLNA streaming goods we'd told you about during its earlier appearance. As is often the case, however, the Eluga Live's recent FCC visit doesn't assure it'll ever see the light of day in the US, but it does keep the magic doors open. If you're eager to give the full set of docs a rundown, you can do so at the source link below. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Blue Microphones Tiki USB mic now available at Best Buy, coming to Apple stores July 15th Posted: 05 Jul 2012 08:58 PM PDT Remember that miniature USB mic we saw back at CES from Blue? Well, the outfit just announced that the Tiki is hitting store shelves with the same $59.99 price tag we expected. The mobile recording peripheral is now available at Best Buy and is slated to hit Apple stores and other retailers at the month's half-way point. In case you're in need of a refresher, the diminutive unit features Intelligent Speech mode for recording interviews or meetings and Natural Recording mode for capturing your best Jack White guitar riffs. You can also expect proprietary noise cancelling technology, voice isolation and intelligent mute with the kit that is sized similar to a USB flash drive and connects via said ports. If you're itchin' for a closer look before adding one to your mobile recording setup, take a peek back at our hands-on for a few detail shots. Blue Microphones Tiki USB Microphone with Noise Cancelation Now Shipping Ultra compact and built for portability, Tiki is the first USB microphone to dramatically improve the intelligibility of online conversations (Westlake Village, CA – July 5, 2012) - Blue Microphones, a leading innovator in microphone technology and design, announces the availability of Tiki (www.bluemic.com/tiki), the first USB microphone to combine proprietary noise-canceling technology, voice isolation and intelligent mute. Tiki delivers exceptional clarity for online conversations by focusing on desired sounds and reducing background noise to dramatically improve the intelligibility of conversations in any situation. Tiki allows users to switch between two modes: Intelligent Speech Mode for communication and Natural Recording Mode for CD-quality recording of podcasts, vocals or instruments. Similar in size to a standard USB flash drive, Tiki's cable-free design allows it to plug directly into your laptop's USB port for instantaneous setup. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bloomberg: Amazon is planning a smartphone Posted: 05 Jul 2012 07:57 PM PDT While most of the Amazon hardware rumors since the Kindle Fire launched have centered around a 10-inch version of the tablet, Bloomberg's "people with knowledge of the matter" say a smartphone is in the works. The rumors center around a purported chase for wireless patents (presumably so Amazon can fight off the kinds of challenges currently faced by companies like Samsung and HTC) and partnership with Foxconn for manufacturing. There's no details yet on what the device could be like or when it will arrive, but we're not getting too excited right away -- we've been down this road before with that Vizio Phone that never appeared. Amazon certainly has the infrastructure to enter the cellphone market with its appstore and media delivery services, but is anyone ready to jump into a two-year contract on a (presumably) reskinned-Android device? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Samsung expects record earnings for Q2 thanks to all those Galaxy phone sales Posted: 05 Jul 2012 05:34 PM PDT Samsung's complete earnings results for the April - June 2012 period won't come out until July 27th, but Reuters reports its early guidance to investors estimates the company's profit at a record 6.7 trillion won ($5.9 billion). That's mostly due to strong sales of the ever-expanding (and increasingly targeted by lawsuits) line of Galaxy smartphones. Sales forecasts are slightly below earlier estimates, and while there's no specific numbers for each division, a Bloomberg breakdown of analyst predictions suggests there should be more good news to go around later this month. Samsung Electronics' Pre-Earnings Guidance On July 6, 2012, Samsung Electronics disclosed its '12. 2Q consolidated earnings estimate as follows. - Sales: Approximately 47 trillion Won The above estimate is provided for the convenience of investors, before the earnings results are finalized. Domestic disclosure regulations do not allow earnings estimates to be given in a range. Therefore, the above figures are the median of the earnings estimate range given below. - Sales: 46 ~ 48 trillion Won *The above figures are consolidated earnings estimates based on K-IFRS. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft applies for high-performance touchscreen patent Posted: 05 Jul 2012 04:36 PM PDT Remember when Microsoft got us all salivating with a proof-of-concept demo that took touchscreen lag from 100ms to 1ms? Well, Redmond is protecting the product of its tireless research by applying for a patent. The claim focuses heavily on the use of a predictive system that takes an educated guess as to where you're going to move next, and does some serious preprocessing to minimize lag. The result is a smooth moving UI, so long as you don't surprise the predictive algorithms. Do something completely unanticipated and all those preloaded animations must be flushed, resulting in some graphical stutter. We wouldn't get too excited just yet, though, the broad patent, seems like it's a long way out from landing in a smartphone or tablet. The clip we saw in March (embedded after the break) is little more than a white splotch that follows your finger. But, if even some of this tech makes into future Windows products, expect your touchscreen experience to be a much smoother one. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CyanogenMod plans a quick leap to Jelly Bean for version 10, existing devices likely to tag along Posted: 05 Jul 2012 03:58 PM PDT Whenever there's a new version of Android, Steve Kondik and the CyanogenMod team tend to swing into action almost immediately with plans for a major revision of the fan-favorite platform overhaul. For Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, that swing will be faster than ever. The crew's early looks suggest that there will only be a few minor tweaks needed to merge Google's latest with the custom Android code, making CyanogenMod 10 a relative snap to produce. The update's release is still very much up in the air without the Android Open Source Project code available to modify; that said, device compatibility also isn't expected to be an obstacle. Any device that can run CyanogenMod 9 should run version 10 when it's released. As long as we're willing to wait for a stable 9.0 to emerge first, there are few barriers to making Jelly Bean that much sweeter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nokia and Namco Bandai bring arcade classics to Asha Touch line Posted: 05 Jul 2012 03:17 PM PDT Whoever said low-cost phones have to miss out on the portable perks? Nokia's throwing an old school bone to buyers of its budget-minded Asha Touch line, linking up with Namco Bandai to make 22 classic hits available for download. The titles, accessible now on the Nokia Store in over 52 countries, range from $0.99 to $2.99 apiece and include oldies-but-goodies like SoulCalibur, Galaga and Ace Combat. So, if you take your pared-down, 3-inch devices with a dash of retro-gaming and feel like an on-the-go session with PAC-MAN is long overdue, then you'll be well sated by this partnership nod to coin-operated gaming's past. Official PR after the break. PAC-MAN® and Final Fantasy headline 22 vintage games delivered by partner NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Espoo, Finland, Tokyo, Japan and Cypress, California, USA - Nokia has today announced NAMCO BANDAI will fully support the recently launched Asha Touch devices, having more than 20 arcade classic titles available to be downloaded through Nokia Store. The new devices were launched just last month and bring a colourful range of great experiences designed for young, urban and aspirational consumers. Available through Nokia Store as of today, the agreement includes some of the most prestigious titles in the gaming industry, such as PAC-MAN®, Final Fantasy, ACE COMBAT® and Flight Control. Consumers will be able to take advantage of a new touch screen experience that makes mobile web browsing fast, with easy access to social networks and, of course, a great gaming performance. In total, 22 will be coming on Asha Touch devices from NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc and NAMCO BANDAI Games Americas Inc. including the classics: - PAC-MAN®RIDGE RACER Drift These titles are priced between USD 0.99 and USD 2.99. Mobile gaming fans in more than 52 countries will be able to purchase titles without the need for a credit card, via Nokia's extensive direct billing agreements with over 145 operators. James Kucera, head of mobile for NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., said: "Our partnership with Nokia perfectly illustrates the strengths of our brand's experience and leadership in the mobile games industry and fits our mutual resolve to bring games to all mobile users worldwide" These latest phones have been designed to provide an incredibly rich, smartphone-like experience to consumers who want to be set free from excessive data consumption costs and short battery life. The devices offer a new, fully re-designed touch user interface, combining the proven ease-of-use from Nokia's heritage with digital design innovations specifically fit for the purpose. The beautifully crafted Nokia Asha 311 is a fast and fluid 3.5G capacitive touchscreen device, powered by a 1GHz processor to provide a great internet experience. The bright and edgy Nokia Asha 305 is a fun and affordable phone, featuring the exclusive Easy Swap dual SIM. Its sister, the Nokia Asha 306, is a single SIM model, and becomes Nokia's most affordable Wi-Fi handset to date. Nokia Store has just broken the 5 billion downloads landmark. From January to April, 42% of all content downloaded from Nokia Store was delivered to Asha and other Nokia devices based on the Java ecosystem. Just one year ago, that number was 10%. To date, more than 411 Nokia developers have with apps which have achieved more than 1 million downloads, while India Games, Pico Brothers and Inode have all driven more than 100 million downloads. Images from NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc, NAMCO BANDAI Games Americas Inc. and Nokia Asha Touch devices are available at http://press.nokia.com.
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| Spam-happy iOS trojan slips into App Store, gets pulled in rapid fashion Posted: 05 Jul 2012 02:29 PM PDT You could call it technological baptism of sorts... just not the kind Apple would want. A Russian scam app known as Find and Call managed to hit the App Store and create havoc for those who dared a download, making it the first non-experimental malware to hit iOS without first needing a jailbreak. As Kaspersky found out, it wasn't just scamware, but a trojan: the title would swipe the contacts after asking permission, send them to a remote server behind the scenes and text spam the daylights out of any phone number in that list. Thankfully, Apple has already yanked the app quickly and explained to The Loop that the app was pulled for violating App Store policies. We'd still like to know just why the app got there in the first place, but we'd also caution against delighting in any schadenfreude if you're of the Android persuasion. The app snuck through to Google Play as well, and Kaspersky is keen to remind us that Android trojans are "nothing new;" the real solution to malware is to watch out for fishy-looking apps, no matter what platform you're using. [Image credit: C Jones Photography (wallpaper)] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple aware of corrupt apps issue, working on a fix (Update: Fixed!) Posted: 05 Jul 2012 01:54 PM PDT Earlier this morning, reports started circulating that the App Store was pushing corrupt binaries to iOS and Mac users, resulting in constant crashes of the affected apps. Marco Arment, of Instapaper fame, was one of the first to notice and very vocal -- bringing the issue to the attention of many in the media and at Apple. The list of affected apps is pretty staggering, including such high profile titles as Angry Birds Space, Yahoo! Search, Google Reader and, of course, Instapaper. The number of developers affected now tops 115, so we'd hold off on those updates. For the first several hours Apple was mum on the issue, but it has finally acknowledged the problem in the support forums and even reached out to developers via email. Suspicions seem to be that the FairPlay DRM is at the root, but until we have official word from Apple we'll refrain from laying the blame at its feet. Cupertino is working (we assume tirelessly) on a fix, which will hopefully be delivered sooner, rather than later. Update: Apple has confirmed to AllThingsD that the problem was due to a "server that generated DRM code" and has been fixed. Affected end users are advised to delete the corrupted apps and redownload them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Artega fails to sell auto business, files for bankruptcy Posted: 05 Jul 2012 01:19 PM PDT As things seem to be incredibly promising at Tesla Motors' California headquarters, the situation for a competitor on the other side of the world is growing quite grim. Artega, which reached our hearts at the Geneva Motor Show just last year with its beautiful all-electric SE sports car, has filed for bankruptcy after failing to sell the company to "an Asian investor." Meanwhile, Artega will continue the search for business partners, and will keep running its German operation with 34 employees. The news is disappointing to say the least, especially with Tesla's Roadster dropping from production in 2011. Hit up the source link below for a (German-language) explanation, directly from Artega. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PSA: HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE lands in Verizon stores, gets us tongue-tied Posted: 05 Jul 2012 12:53 PM PDT If you're willing to embrace its mouthful of a name, the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE has at last reached shops. The sequel to one of Verizon's most enduring brands will, as promised, set you back $150 on contract once you've taken advantage of that $50 rebate. Its name already reinforces what's new in data speeds, but if the heat of summer has left your memory hazy about everything else, just remember that it's the closest the carrier will get in the near future to having a One series phone. The most incredible of Droids has a Snapdragon S4, 960 x 540 screen, 8-megapixel camera and Sense 4.0 like the One S over at T-Mobile. What's lost in the lower 1.2GHz clock speed and dropping the speedy ImageSense chip is gained through a more pleasing Super LCD, a removable battery and a micro-SD slot. Sound off on any initial impressions of your own purchases in the comments, and hit the store link below to buy one if the upcoming Verizon Galaxy S III just leaves you feeling cold. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 4PM ET! Posted: 05 Jul 2012 12:30 PM PDT In the words of Frank Miller's 300, "This is where we fight. This is where they die!" Not that those words are particularly relevant to this episode of the Engadget Podcast, but this is our 300th edition and we're feeling pretty Spartan. Maybe we'll amend it to, "this is where we podcast, this is where you chat." It's a work in progress, what can we say? Hopefully we'll have things a bit more nailed down when we go live at 4PM tonight. Only one way to find out! *** You can also stream the show live on your iPhone or iPad by clicking here.
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| Google confirms Galaxy Nexus was pulled from Play store due to injunction, will return next week Posted: 05 Jul 2012 12:02 PM PDT Try to buy a Galaxy Nexus from the Google Play store today and you're greeted with the "coming soon" message you see above, and we now officially know the reason why. The company has confirmed to ABC News that the smartphone has indeed been pulled as a result of Judge Lucy Koh's recent decision to not lift the injunction against the device. It's also confirmed, though, that it plans to resume sales of the device sometime next week, when it will be shipping with the new Jelly Bean operating system -- a change that Google says will address the issues in dispute. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Telefonica partners with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM for global carrier billing Posted: 05 Jul 2012 11:49 AM PDT DIRECT TO BILL TO DRIVE MOBILE CONTENT MONETISATION Telefónica signs global agreements with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM 05 July 2012– Telefónica Digital today unveiled plans to leverage the billing relationships it has with its customers globally to help drive the monetisation of mobile content. Telefónica sees the ability to pay for digital goods and services via a mobile phone bill as a key way of driving downloads of paid for content, particularly in developing markets where credit card penetration is low. Through its Digital unit, Telefónica now has global framework agreements in place to offer direct to bill payments with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Research In Motion (RIM). It has started to roll out the capability in Europe and plans to have it live in 14 of its operating businesses globally by year end. Direct to bill offers a simple and convenient way for customers to purchase goods, particularly virtual goods, via their mobile phone. Whether they are buying an app, mobile game or making an in-app purchase, direct to bill enables the customer to simply charge the payment to their phone bill or prepaid credit, avoiding the need to use a credit card. Recent research from MACH found that over a third of European smartphone users have paid for applications via operator billing*. The opportunity in Latin America is particularly significant due to the fact that 60% of the population do not have bank accounts and trials of direct to bill in Telefónica operating businesses have demonstrated its potential to drive sales. Where the capability has started to be rolled out it is already proving popular with customers. In Germany, 400,000 customers per month on average are now making payments for a variety of products and services across different platforms using the capability. "Few organisations can claim to have a direct billing relationship with hundreds of millions of customers globally," said Matthew Key, Chairman & CEO of Telefónica Digital. "The creation of Telefónica Digital has allowed us to better harness the power of this capability and use it to help drive the mobile monetisation strategies of some of the world's largest technology companies. We believe that direct to bill will become an increasingly significant part of the overall mobile commerce market." "Mobile payments are an important part of the business model for mobile web developers, but today the options are too complicated for users," said Dan Rose, Vice President of Partnerships at Facebook. "We're excited to be working with Telefonica to implement a streamlined operator billing solution that simplifies the purchase process for their consumers and expands pricing options for mobile web developers." "Enabling direct-to-bill with Telefónica Digital is yet another important step to continue growing our more than 100,000 apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace," said Tony Mestres, Vice President, Partner & Channel, Windows Phone Division, Microsoft. "Direct-to-bill for Windows Phone makes it convenient for Telefónica subscribers to make digital purchases on their Windows Phones and also helps grow our app developer ecosystem with increased monetization." Ronjon Nag, Vice President, Storefronts & Payments, RIM, said: "The agreement between RIM and Telefónica Digital means direct to bill purchasing can be extended to our mutual customers globally. Our data suggests that customers' propensity to purchase apps on BlackBerry App World increases when this simple, convenient method of purchase is offered, so we're delighted Telefónica's BlackBerry customers can take advantage of this convenient feature. This provides for customers an easier way to pay for the content they download, and drives greater profitability for developers that create and market mobile content." Telefónica's commitment to enhancing its capabilities in direct to bill payments was further underlined by a strategic investment made earlier this year in mobile payments specialist, BOKU. The investment, made through Telefónica Digital, provides access to BOKU's merchant network, tools, and know how to provide the best possible customer experience in this area. Further details of Direct to Bill implementations Telefónica has integrated operator billing with Facebook payments, enabling a frictionless two step process for purchasing virtual or digital goods via Facebook. This capability is now live across several Telefónica markets. More information and a full list of which markets it is available in can be found here: https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2012/06/06/helping-monetize-the- mobile-web/ The agreement with Google will see operator billing offered as a payment option through the Google Play Store, allowing customers to buy apps and other content via their bill. In addition, the agreement allows for the creation of a dedicated 'carrier channel' or store-in-store within the Google Play Store per operating business. This will allow Telefónica to create a branded O2 or Movistar channel in respective local markets which will receive prominent placement. This channel can be used for the local operator's own Android apps (i.e. O2 Priority Moments in the UK) as well as providing an opportunity to strike deals with app developers to create promotions around their apps in the branded channel, or give their apps priority placement. Operator billing on Google Play is now live for O2 customers in Germany with Movistar Spain to launch shortly. Other operating businesses will roll out the capability in due course. Microsoft Operator billing agreement with Microsoft will enable direct to bill as the default payment option for Telefónica subscribers, making purchases in Windows Phone Marketplace. Direct to bill integration with Windows Phone Marketplace will provide subscribers a seamless, integrated and one step process to complete their apps, games, and music purchases. This agreement also enables Telefónica Digital to setup their prominently placed "Store within a Store" within Windows Phone Marketplace in local markets. RIM Direct to bill payments allows customers to purchase apps via the BlackBerry App World store and charge them to their phone bill. This is now available in the UK via Premium SMS and Germany through its Direct to Bill platform. *Source: Research commissioned by MACH and carried out by Opinium in April 2000 involving 2000 consumers in UK and Germany About Telefónica Digital Telefónica Digital is a global business division of Telefónica. Its mission is to seize the opportunities within the digital world and deliver new growth for Telefónica through research & development, venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud computing, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth. It is also driving innovation in over the top communications services under a new umbrella brand called Tu. Telefónica Digital will deliver these new products and services to Telefónica's 309 million customers as well as leveraging the power of the internet to enter new markets. It is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo, Spain and Tel Aviv. Jajah, Terra, Tuenti, Media Networks Latin America, 48 and giffgaff are all managed under the Telefónica Digital umbrella. |
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