Sponsored
Engadget News |
- Barnes & Noble cut the price of Nook Tablet, Nook Color once more, really wants to be on your Christmas list
- Editorial: Amazon and Google are undermining mobile pricing, and that may hurt everyone
- Simple.TV review: a set-top box that streams broadcast TV to mobile devices
- Visualized: Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its final journey, arrives at new home (video)
- Seagate now a DECE member, supporting UltraViolet
- Blackberry PlayBook 3G+ now available in the UK, 1.5GHz dual-core, 32GB storage
- Apple posts revised 'Samsung did not copy' statement, acknowledges first version was inaccurate
- Apple's Lightning to micro-USB adapter now available in US, not just Europe anymore
- Redesigned PlayStation Store now live in North America
- Samsung's Galaxy S III crosses 30 million sold
- Ceton Echo Windows Media Center Extender pre-orders are live, ship November 30th for $179
- Visualized: Curiosity rover's self-portrait
- Nokia Lumia 920 review: Windows Phone 8 and (a little bit of) camera magic
- Samsung Galaxy Premier reaches the FCC without the LTE we crave
- Late 2012 iPad carries new PowerVR SGX 554MP4 graphics, muscles ahead in video speed
- Kobo Glo review: another illuminated e-reader lights up the market
| Posted: 03 Nov 2012 11:13 AM PDT
Barnes & Noble recently took the wraps of two new tablets, updating its range (along with everyone else it seems) in preparation for next year. That doesn't mean it's washed its hands with the OG Nook tablet and Nook Color -- in fact, both just got another price cut. Starting tomorrow, you'll be able to pick up the original 8GB tablet for $159, the 16GB version for $179 and the Nook Color for $139. With two price cuts in three months, anyone would think it was trying to get rid of stock. This still puts last year's lower capacity model shoulder to shoulder with Amazon's 2012 Kindle Fire (with ad subsidies), but with Christmas just around the corner, we're not complaining about more choice for less dollars. Barnes & Noble Announces Lowest Prices Ever on Award-Winning NOOK Tablet™ and NOOK Color™ Starting Sunday Amazing Products at Best Value: NOOK Tablet As Low As $159 and NOOK Color Just $139 NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NOOK Media LLC, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced amazing new, lowest-ever pricing on its award-winning NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color devices in time for the holidays. Beginning tomorrow, November 4, 2012, customers can purchase the highly acclaimed NOOK Tablet starting at just $159 and NOOK Color for $139 at nearly 700 Barnes & Noble stores and hundreds of Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, online at NOOK.com and through other leading retailers offering NOOK® products. "Just in time for the holidays, these new lower prices make NOOK a great gift for anyone in the family" "Just in time for the holidays, these new lower prices make NOOK a great gift for anyone in the family," said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Barnes & Noble. "With everything from interactive children's books to the best collection of top 100 magazines in rich color, NOOK is perfect for anyone who likes to read." All NOOK customers can shop Barnes & Noble's expansive NOOK Store™ of more than 3 million digital titles, and have the ability to enjoy their NOOK content across a wide array of popular devices. Barnes & Noble offers Always Free NOOK Support in all of its neighborhood bookstores, with more than 40,000 NOOKsellers across the country ready to assist customers with setting up their NOOK devices or choosing their next great read. About Barnes & Noble, Inc. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is a Fortune 500 company and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The company operates 689 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). Its NOOK Media LLC subsidiary is a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets. The NOOK digital business offers award-winning NOOK® products and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store™ (www.nook.com), while Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC operates 667 bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associated 2012 Customer Service Champion and is one of only 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Editorial: Amazon and Google are undermining mobile pricing, and that may hurt everyone Posted: 03 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PDT
When Google unveiled the Nexus 4, Nexus 10 and a refreshed Nexus 7 in October, the moment was arguably the crescendo of a change in the Android ecosystem that had been building ever since Amazon's Kindle Fire first braved the marketplace in 2011. Along with a widely expanded Amazon lineup that includes multiple Kindle Fire HD models and a price-cut tweak to the original Fire, two of the largest players in the mobile world now have top-to-bottom device businesses built around selling at break-even prices and recouping their money through content. That might sound good on the surface, but it's a bad omen for competitors that genuinely can't respond in kind -- and it could erode some of the values of diversity and innovation that we're supposed to hold dear as technology fans. Customers have no reason to complain on some levels. How do you beat a $199 Nexus 7 that has a healthy amount of storage, a high-resolution screen and a recent OS? A $299 unlocked Nexus 4 that costs just over half as much as anything comparable, or a $159 Kindle Fire? If price is a vital factor, you don't. Parents who want to give each of their kids a tablet, or smartphone newcomers to whom the Nexus 4's price means avoiding two-year-old hardware and software, may not have much choice. Amazon and Google may well be doing us a favor by democratizing mobile technology. That bargain-basement pricing is setting some decidedly unrealistic expectations, however. We're now to the point where there is a vocal contingent of tablet buyers who think that any 7-inch WiFi tablet costing above $249 is "overpriced," even when few if any hardware-centric companies could match that price-to-performance ratio and expect to stay above water. Acer got flak over its $230 Iconia Tab A110 not matching Amazon or Google's features, despite it being virtually self-evident from the design that the producer couldn't go much lower without taking a loss. And the iPad mini is virtually a The strategy... trains a legion of customers to think that such a jump in value is completely normal and sustainable by most of the industry. You can see what problems this might create in the long term. The strategy effectively skips a whole cycle of traditional price drops as manufacturing gets more efficient, but trains a legion of customers to think that such a jump in value is completely normal and sustainable by most of the industry. It's not, and you can see the arbitrariness through the pricing for devices that were launched just a few months ago. Imagine how Samsung feels when the Nexus 10 it makes is superior to the Galaxy Note 10.1 in some ways, but has to cost $100 less. If it weren't for the Nexus 10's currently non-existent retail presence, Samsung would have trouble justifying the Note 10.1's otherwise very competitive $499 price. Yes, ASUS is making a tidy income alongside its Google deal, but the fact that it's shipping a million Nexus 7 tablets a month leaves little doubt that higher-end (and higher-margin) tablets like the Transformer Pad Infinity are being overshadowed. Competition in mobile is difficult enough when most top-tier buyers automatically pick a Galaxy S III or iPad. It's tougher still when many of the remaining people demand that companies sell at prices they can't realistically offer. A year of following this strategy of pursuing price above all else may well have had a withering effect on competition. At least until this summer, Amazon became the de facto leader of the Android tablet market while electronics heavyweights like Samsung couldn't break much ground. HTC and LG quit the category mostly due to their lackluster offerings, but it's hard to see the two of them finding a safe zone between the high-end and a cutthroat low-end. RIM barely had any time to discount the BlackBerry PlayBook to near-fire sale prices before the Kindle Fire arrived (originally made in the PlayBook's own factory) and demand stalled once again. Most of those who are left exist at the extremes, such as Barnes & Noble's Nook line in the budget realm or Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 at the top. In smartphones, the Nexus 4 is admittedly less likely to rock the boat when carriers like T-Mobile can dictate pricing and access. Still, we haven't seen sustained sales of a cutting-edge Nexus phone at a low-end price, and it may be harder to say that LTE and extra storage are worth more on an Optimus G or its immediate competition. Those exits and strategy shifts, in turn, impact innovation over the long run. It's not just the effects of fewer companies remaining involved; it's the amount of resources the survivors can pour back into future development. If profits thin out as the only real success comes from extra-cheap devices like the Nexus 7, there's fewer opportunities to gamble on technology research that might not pan out. Samsung safely developed a tablet with a 2,560 x 1,600 display and a cutting-edge processor under present conditions. Could it weather the risks as easily with lower profits? Not necessarily. To some extent, we've seen this effect in the traditional PC world, too. Before tablets and Ultrabooks took hold, many PC vendors were engaged in a race to the bottom where competition was only possible through ever cheaper parts, not breakthrough design. Prioritizing low prices above all else cost Acer both market share and money until it turned around and focused more on quality. We don't want Amazon, ASUS, LG or Samsung facing a similar dilemma in mobile. Concepts like choice and quality, which we're supposed to love as gadget junkies, only survive if we let them. Asking Amazon and Google to just stop making Kindle Fire and Nexus devices to "rescue" the industry would be more than a little naive, not to mention a disservice to those who really need the prices or software. But there's a sense that both the companies and we, as customers, need to back away from the edge. Tablet makers selling a complete range at that break-even level could ultimately whittle down the market to those who either produced a winning formula at the right time (Apple) or have deep enough content stores and bank accounts to willingly give up large parts of their potential hardware profit (Amazon and Google). The subsidized approach may even be volatile -- it's only successful as long as overall business is successful, which isn't very reassuring when Amazon has lately faced a few rough quarters. As for us shoppers? We need to have fewer knee-jerk reactions to certain price points. A $50 or even $100 premium isn't the end of the world if it's what any normal company would charge to stay in business, particularly when there are more features included at the same time. That's not to excuse prices that are genuinely too high, and devices like the iPad mini might still fall into that camp. But when even budget-focused companies like Acer can't participate without being roasted by critics, it's time to reevaluate our priorities. Concepts like choice and quality, which we're supposed to love as gadget junkies, only survive if we let them. Rather than foster a culture that only allows for either the very cheap or very expensive, we ought to relax and buy what's genuinely good as long as we can afford it, even if it's not in the bargain bin. If phone and tablet makers can expect to compete on a truly level playing field, we're all better off. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simple.TV review: a set-top box that streams broadcast TV to mobile devices Posted: 03 Nov 2012 08:38 AM PDT
Anyone who follows the home entertainment space closely probably agrees that TV is broken: archaic user interfaces, pricey bundles, six remotes that each do one thing, all limited to the confines of your home. Of course, realizing it's broken and knowing how to fix it are two different things. One attempt at a fix is Simple.TV. This $149 box (plus $59 a year for service) bridges the gap between the various devices you already own and the world of broadcast television. It allows you to access the plethora of content available via unencrypted digital cable, or for free via an antenna, on just about any device you own -- tablet, smartphone, PC or even a TV. Sounds pretty great, huh? But does it deliver? And can it replace your cable box and the high-priced service that goes with it? Just click on through, and you'll find out. The big pictureSome things in life require a little additional explanation, and the Simple.TV is certainly one. The best way we can describe it is this: it's a networked TV tuner with optional storage for your mobile devices. In other words, it doesn't do anything by itself. A typical system will consist of the Simple.TV, an external hard drive, a tablet or PC, and a Roku connected to your TV. (Support for additional devices soon will come later, a Simple.TV rep said.) It's like a Slingbox but with fewer inputs and without the intelligence required to control a cable or satellite set-top box. But it is able to record. Hardware The Simple.TV is an oddly shaped, glossy white device that looks out of place in any home theater -- it reminds us of a wireless access point you'd see attached to the ceiling at work, except much lighter and with lower-quality plastic. The good news is that you probably won't put it in your home theater; rather, you'll likely connect it where your cable modem or internet enters your home. That's because the device requires a coax and network connection. The coax needs to be connected to your cable provider's feed or connected to an antenna. There are two coax and two network connections out back that pass through to make it easy to stack them. Lastly, there's a single USB port for attaching external hard drives (more than one requires a hub) to store your recordings -- there's no internal storage option. Inside, you'll find a single tuner capable of beaming live TV or recording one show, while allowing up to five devices to stream the same live show, or five different previously recorded programs. As you may have noticed, there's no video or audio output. That's because the Simple.TV depends on other devices to render the signals it tunes into. Another notable omission: WiFi. You shouldn't miss it, however, since this is a stationary box that can live anywhere in your home, as long as it has a wired network connection. There are two LEDs, one on the corner that lights up red, blue or violet depending on the state of the device (starting up, recording, etc.), and a blue one up front to indicate power. Neither is distracting, which is a good thing as there's no way to adjust the brightness or disable them. Software When we say software, we really mean a web app and a Roku channel.When we say software, we really mean a web app and a Roku channel. There's no app for the iOS, or Android or the desktop -- we're told they are coming, though. You just point your browser to www.simple.tv and log in -- and no, there's not even a mobile browser-optimized version. If you subscribe to the premier service for $59 a year, or opt for a lifetime subscription, you can watch TV anywhere you have an internet connection. Without it, your five concurrent connections are limited to the confines of your home network. The experience is divided between three tabs; Live TV, Guide and My Shows. Live TV is the first one you see when you browse to the page with no way to set another default or bookmark your favorite. Live TV reveals a simple list of channels, showing what's on and if any shows are currently being recorded. From here, you select one to learn more about the program and gain quick access to watch it live, record that episode or record all the episodes that will air. The streaming experience is like that of most embedded web videos with the ability to watch full screen and skip forward or back, but no way to pop-out of the main browser window or quickly change the channel. We found it odd that while video is delivered via HTML5 on iOS devices, on the Mac or PC, Silverlight is the underlying technology -- newer computers handle it easily, but the 4-year-old computer we tried it on didn't fare as well. The Guide tab reveals the typical channel grid guide with a search box, which you'll use for scheduling recordings -- if you find something interesting airing live, you'll need to go back to the Live TV tab to watch it. Since you need to pay for the premier service to receive guide data, this tab isn't very useful if you don't. The essential recording indicators are all present to let you know what's already scheduled to record. There's a drop-down menu for easy access to select up to five days in advance, but no way to easily go to a specific day and time. Whether searching or browsing, the UI is much slower than we'd like, but the momentary delay as the screen updates is not to the point of being unusable. Once you select something, you're presented with additional details about the show, as well options to record a single episode or every episode in the series. The last tab up is My Shows, which shows your recordings in a tiled layout. Clicking on the art will show you which episodes are available to watch, and provides easy access to see what's coming up. From here, you can delete recordings one by one, or all at once and opt to cancel the series recording. The My Shows experience is much more responsive than the guide, and more modern-looking thanks to its show art. What's missing, though, is a list view or any sorting options whatsoever. In addition to the three main tabs, there are a few settings menus for things like deleting your series recordings -- no way to change their priority -- as well as seeing what's going to be recorded. Other options within the settings include the ability to check how much space on your external hard drive is available for further recordings, and the ability to have recordings start a minute earlier or even later. The only guide options available allow you to select which channels show up as well as initiate a channel scan -- this took about 20 minutes for an over-the-air scan. Finally, you can control which devices are connected to the Simple.TV, but right now this just lets you add or remove a Roku. Roku Once you launch the channel, you have almost the same level of functionality as you do on the web experience -- Live TV, Guide, My Shows, etc. The first problem we ran into with the Roku Simple.TV experience is that the Roku remote lacks the typical DVR buttons. Play, pause, etc. are there, but there's no Live TV, channel up/down or guide button. That was the least of our problems, however. The real problem is that the Simple.TV Roku channel user experience couldn't be any slower. The tuner requests failed as many times as they succeeded and most menus loaded far slower than almost any DVR we've ever used -- the first TiVo Premiere is up there, though. We can't imagine someone throwing out their DVR and relying on this for their primary TV viewing. All that being said, this is a beta version of the software, and there's little doubt updates are coming. But even if the user experience were snappy, there'd still be the quality problem. The video and audio output easily meets our expectations on mobile devices, but throw that same feed up on a 60-inch plasma with surround sound and you'll wish you didn't. To say the video is soft is an understatement: it almost looks SD. On top of that, the Dolby Digital sound that the content creator worked so hard to produce (and your local affiliate spent the bucks to deliver) gets down-mixed to stereo. In its current form, we'd be surprised if anyone found the Simple.TV Roku channel useful, but we can't imagine this won't be addressed in future updates. Wrap-upMore InfoAmerica's favorite pastime is certainly under attack from all angles, and while we suspect someone will eventually come along and flip the television industry on its head, we don't think Simple.TV is the device to do it. For starters, it's saddled with numerous hardware requirements, along with buggy software. But even when the software matures and proper tablet and phone apps are released, there's the matter of the subscription. That $59 a year essentially amounts to location services and guide data. Both of which competitors like Slingmedia offer for free -- though you could easily spend that and more on Slingplayer software. There are plenty of dynamic DNS services available for free, with sites like Schedules Direct offering guide data for $25 a year. Considering the 30-month break-even point and added resale value, we'd suggest the $299 lifetime option instead, though you'd have to really believe this startup will survive long-term. The limited offering really isn't an option considering a DVR isn't worth much without the ability to automatically schedule recordings. The value gets worse from there. Storage isn't included and since it can't record to network storage, you're going to have to buy an external drive just for it. Keeping the numbers round, once you buy a hard drive, a Roku and the service, we're talking about $500 for a single-tuner DVR that only works with basic cable or an antenna. That's still about $330 cheaper than a TiVo Premiere XL with lifetime service plus a TiVo Stream, but the TiVo can record four shows at once, works with various tablet and phone apps and supports premium cable. Another comparison worth making is the $199 Hauppauge Broadway. It relies on PSIP instead of offering real program guide data and you still have to supply your own drive to record to, but it has more inputs and the location services are free. In the end, once the bugs are worked out, the Simple.TV may fill a specific niche that most other companies are ignoring, but we give it almost zero chance of changing the way we watch TV. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Visualized: Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its final journey, arrives at new home (video) Posted: 03 Nov 2012 07:00 AM PDT
On Friday, Space Shuttle Atlantis made its final voyage, marking the last time an orbiter in America's shuttle program would be on the move. We were on-hand during the occasion and followed Atlantis as it slowly trekked to its destination, a 90,000 square-foot exhibit building at Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex. To live out the event vicariously, check out the photos below or hit the jump for the video.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seagate now a DECE member, supporting UltraViolet Posted: 03 Nov 2012 05:54 AM PDT
The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem -- the consortium of companies attempting to develop an industry standard for digital distribution of entertainment, and the folks behind UltraViolet -- can count another member among its ranks as of this week: digital storage company Seagate. The storage manufacturer announced as much in a press release this week, and threw its support behind UltraViolet. "As a DECE member, Seagate's expertise and perspective on cloud solutions and storage devices will help the organization to evolve those benefits," says UltraViolet GM Mark Teitell. Considering how many major content providers are supporting UltraViolet, it's good to know that one of the largest storage companies isn't standing against our digital futures. Seagate Joins DECE -- The Organization Behind UltraViolet CUPERTINO, Calif. - Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX), the world's leading manufacturer and provider of storage devices and solutions for the cloud and home, today announced that it has become a member of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) an open, cross-industry consortium of movie studios and technology companies that developed and operate UltraViolet™. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Blackberry PlayBook 3G+ now available in the UK, 1.5GHz dual-core, 32GB storage Posted: 03 Nov 2012 04:02 AM PDT
It was over a year ago now that we first heard about RIM's plans to release a 3G PlayBook, but it looks like it is finally here, popping up on the UK BlackBerry site. Of course, since then it's gone one better and delivered an LTE version, but if you're in the UK, and want a little PlayBook action with data to go, you can order one today. Much like its LTE sibling, it comes with 32GB of memory, and gets the same faster 1.5GHz processor too. (The original was 1.0GHz.) The kicker here? The price, at around £420 (about $690 by conversion) this is only £30 ($48) shy of Apple's 32GB WiFi and cellular iPad mini (at UK prices). On a positive note, while RIM might have had the 3G model lingering for some time, it did beat its own projections. But, with the UK now enjoying LTE, perhaps those interested in a PlayBook might campaign for the faster model to be added to the roster also. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple posts revised 'Samsung did not copy' statement, acknowledges first version was inaccurate Posted: 03 Nov 2012 02:17 AM PDT
Apple has just reposted its statement acknowledging that Samsung did not copy its tablet design, after the initial wording was deemed unacceptable by the UK courts. The new version is a lot shorter, and simply repeats what it published in national newspapers this week, stating that the court did not find Samsung to be in breach of Apple's registered design No. 0000181607-0001, reminding us that it was also upheld by the Court of Appeal, providing links to the appropriate patent and judgement documents online. The mention of the same case going in Apple's favor in Germany has been removed completely. When first published, Apple included a short link at the bottom of its homepage. Now, to completely comply with the court's bidding, there is a short statement accompanying the link, confirming that its initial acknowledgement was inaccurate. The court also told Apple that it must keep the admission online until at least December 14th. Will this be enough to appease the UK courts? We'll just have to wait and see. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple's Lightning to micro-USB adapter now available in US, not just Europe anymore Posted: 02 Nov 2012 11:34 PM PDT
Just in case you thought the Lightning to micro-USB connector was Europe-only (to stave off that pesky European Commission), Apple has decided to sell it stateside as well. The tiny choking hazard recently made its way to the company's online store in the US for $19 each (over in Europe, it's £15 / €19), and brick-and-mortar locations will probably get them too -- if they're not in stock already. We're not sure if there's a huge demand for this, but if you're a recent iPod, iPhone, or iPad (Mini or 4th gen) owner with a plethora of existing micro-USB cables, an adapter like this could help lighten your nest of wires. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Redesigned PlayStation Store now live in North America Posted: 02 Nov 2012 09:13 PM PDT
PS3 owners: do not adjust your TV sets, the PlayStation Store has received a makeover. Sony's new revamped media portal is now available in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. If you're experiencing a case of déjà vu, the update was originally set to hit back on October 23rd, but was sidelined after its UK launch was derailed by some early performance hiccups. Now that it's here, users will be treated to a snazzy new UI along with Most Popular charts, streaming videos on item pages, improved filters and an enhanced search engine. If you haven't already, you can grab this update by firing up your PS3 and directing the XMB to the PlayStation Store icon. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung's Galaxy S III crosses 30 million sold Posted: 02 Nov 2012 06:55 PM PDT
Just hours after Samsung's Korean arm remarked on the sales of its Galaxy Note II, Samsung Poland jumped into the act confirming the Galaxy S III has moved 30 million units. We don't know if the celebration included taking a victory lap going the wrong way, but the figure is the highest announced for a phone in the series, after the original Galaxy S topped 10 million in 2011, and the Galaxy S II breached 20 million earlier this year. The line has even spawned spinoffs like the aforementioned Note and upcoming Galaxy S III mini, all while showing no sign of slowing any time soon -- lawsuit or not. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ceton Echo Windows Media Center Extender pre-orders are live, ship November 30th for $179 Posted: 02 Nov 2012 05:36 PM PDT
The newest option for Windows Media Center users is nearly here, as Ceton's Echo extender has been listed for pre-order at Newegg. Available for $179 with a $10 gift card and free shipping, the diminutive accessory enables WMC streams of your live and recorded TV in up to 5 other rooms. That's been possible with other extenders -- especially Microsoft's own Xbox 360 console -- but the Echo claims its advantage is being purpose built to do the job with less noise and power consumption, plus support for features like DTS surround sound. We'll be reviewing it as soon as the software is final, early adopters that are ready to jump but missed the beta offer can snag one at the link below -- the first shipments are scheduled to go out November 30th. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Visualized: Curiosity rover's self-portrait Posted: 02 Nov 2012 03:00 PM PDT
No, Disney isn't working on Wall-E the live action movie. Pictured above is a self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover resting in the Gale crater of Mars. Showcasing some extreme detail, this high-res photo was captured by the Red Planet roller's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), with its native image clocking in at 5,463 x 7,595 pixels. The picture's Martian backdrop consists of a trail of freshly made tire tracks with a glimpse of Curiosity's future destination Mount Sharp hanging out in the distance. If you gaze deeply into the unmanned craft's soulless robotic eye, you'll catch a reflection of Mars staring right back at you. To get a closer look at our favorite Martian in all of its uncompressed glory, you can snag the 125MB image file from the second source link below. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nokia Lumia 920 review: Windows Phone 8 and (a little bit of) camera magic Posted: 02 Nov 2012 02:00 PM PDT
More InfoIt's been almost a year to the day since we reviewed Nokia's first Windows Phone and now we're staring at its second-generation flagship, the Lumia 920. Since the Lumia 800, Nokia's taken a pretty big role in improving Windows Phone's standing in a crowded (but lucrative) smartphone battlefield. While it may be sharing the spotlight with the new HTC 8X, this slab of hewn polycarbonate has garnered plenty of admirers. No doubt, a large chunk of those would-be phone buyers are, for better and worse, lusting after the phone's PureView imaging tech -- and after our early tests, it looks like it could be just as impressive as the lossless optical zoom seen on the PureView 808. The Lumia 920 dominated Nokia's presentation at Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 press event a few months ago, with the smaller Lumia 820 barely getting a look-in. It's got a "better-than-HD" 1,280 x 768, 4.5-inch high-contrast IPS display, built-in contactless charging, solid build quality and more of Nokia's exclusive software additions. This time, at least on hardware specifications, the company aims to put its flagship on equal footing with the likes of the Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5. Can Nokia's biggest and (literally) brightest smartphone maintain its place at top of the Windows Phone pile? How does that camera fare with extended use? And will the Lumia 920 offer enough to pull you away from Android or iOS for your next phone? HardwareWe'll be frank: Nokia has crafted one substantial smartphone. After experiencing the curves and lightness of HTC's Windows Phone 8X (4.5 ounces), the Lumia 920 makes the scales tremble at 6.5 ounces. While other phone makers are pushing the limits of lightweight materials and structures, this beast is noticeably heavier and feels bigger in comparison to almost every other recent phone. Granted, Nokia's Windows Phone flagship has a larger 4.5-inch screen, but that incremental difference (HTC's display is 4.3 inches wide) doesn't completely explain how different the two Windows Phones feel in-hand. Measuring the pair, the Lumia 920 is 0.42 inch thick to the 8X's 0.4 inch. Their footprints are also comparable. But the 8X's tapered edges felt more at home in our hands than this new Lumia. That said, our hands were able to reach the outer reaches of that PureMotion HD+ screen. What's more, despite that larger screen size, one-handed navigation is quite possible, though it might be a stretch for smaller hands. Thankfully, Nokia has carried across several design licks from the Lumia 800 and avoids one of the hardware design complaints we had with its bigger brother. Yep, this particular phone's screen curves into the frame and doesn't awkwardly protrude like the one found on the Lumia 900. Our white model -- unfortunately those eye-catching yellow and red models weren't available for review just yet -- has a glossy (but fingerprint- and smudge-prone) coating, but if you're looking for another matte-finish smartphone, thankfully the black AT&T LTE version has a matte finish. However, it's nonetheless another beautifully crafted smartphone from the Nokia design team, with tiny details like micro-drilled holes in the base for the pair of loudspeakers reminding you that this is a company that knows how to make desirable hardware -- even if the final product is a bit weighty. The rounded sides and that slightly curved back make this phone easier to grip than its predecessors. This time around, there's also a darker finish on both the rear camera unit and the physical buttons lined up on the right edge (update: these are actually ceramic and according to Nokia, will be less prone to scratches), while the flash is the only other detail on the otherwise smoothly curved back. Along the flat top edge, you'll find the pin-accessible micro-SIM slot (no nano-SIM just yet), some tiny perforations that connect to the secondary mic and headphone socket, while the lower edge offers immediate access to the micro-USB port and those two speakers. Around front, the 920's 4.5-inch screen is underlined with a slightly thick bezel that houses the capacitive Windows button trio. These all light up and, as we'll also cover to in the display section, they all work through your winter gloves or freshly manicured nails. Along the top of the screen, Nokia branding has this time been ushered to the right corner, with the earpiece housed above center of the screen. Both the ambient light sensor and a front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera take their place between the two. Underneath the screen, Nokia has installed Qi contactless charging for the phone's 2,000mAh battery. Our review model arrived with a contactless charging pad to test it out with, and it works exactly how it should, resting the majority of the phone on top of the pad will start it charging immediately, if slowly. The non-removable battery is tasked with powering a dual-core Snapdragon S4, alongside 1GB of RAM and a generous 32GB of storage. Microsoft's also throwing in 7GB of cloud storage for any new SkyDrive accounts and though it's quite possible you're already grandfathered into 25GB, there's no microSD slot for expanding the physical memory. As is to be expected, our global model crams in quad-band radios with GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900MHz), UMTS / HSPA+ (850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100MHz) and LTE (800 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600MHz) bands, while the device will launch exclusively on AT&T in the US, and only on (for now) EE in the UK -- the country's first 4G network. And if there's no 4G near you yet? Well DC-HSPA+ (42Mbps) is also crammed inside that polycarbonate shell. Display The Lumia 920's screen packs so much new stuff from Nokia that they even wrote their own white paper on what's going on behind that sliver of curved glass -- we've linked to it at the bottom of this review. The 4.5-inch, 1,280 x 768 enhanced IPS screen is titled PureMotion HD+, and while the 332ppi means Windows Phone 8 looks crisp and images are superbly showcased, new technology here also improves the screen's transition response. While typical IPS LCDs have an average pixel transition time of 23ms, the Lumia 920 apparently trounces it with an average of 9ms. Can you tell the difference in real life? Well, barely -- we noticed reduced blur as we poked around the UI and swung the camera around. It's unlikely to be immediately noticeable to new smartphone users, but we can't fault Nokia for trying to push the envelope. Conversely, the Lumia 920's outdoor performance is a true selling point. While the Lumia 900 was no slouch in outdoor performance, the Windows Phone 8 sequel boosts contrast, brightness and color composition, meaning photos and websites are noticeably clearer -- and games and apps are easier to pilot under bright lights. Nokia has also improved its ambient light sensor, and we found the screen not only adjusted faster to lighting changes, but noticeably cranked up both color and contrast settings to improve viewing depending on whatever environment we were in. While November isn't the best time to test a phone's screen against full sunlight, we had no problems with the screen outdoors or under harsh show floor spotlights. These winter months, however, did prove ideal for steering the Synaptics-powered capacitive screen while wearing gloves, and the phone performed just as well as it did when it was first unveiled. The surface even picks up nails and some pens -- something we had no fear of testing ourselves thanks to the protection offered by a coating of Gorilla Glass. Camera Where to start? Reading down the Lumia 920's spec sheet, there's plenty to get us excited: an 8-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor paired with an f/2.0 autofocus Carl Zeiss lens, the return of Nokia's PureView branding, the promise of superb low-light performance, 1080p video capture, and (on both stills and video) optical image stabilization -- the first floating lens and sensor in a phone that will ignore minor trembles while letting in more light. So after all that build up, does the Lumia 920 live up to that PureView appellation? Well, that's a little harder to say. Firstly, Nokia seems to be a bit limited as to how much it can bring to Windows Phone 8 camera UI. Load up the camera app (or hold the physical camera button) and you'll be greeted with a familiar camera interface -- it's simple, but a little sparse. Sure, compared to the all tweaks and options available to 808 PureView users, this might disappoint, but given that we were supremely impressed by that Symbian device's shots on auto, we weren't all that worried. Nokia's tried to amend this to some extent by adding its extra functionality through the Windows Phone 8's Lens system. Both from the Windows Phone marketplace (and from Nokia's own collection) you can install panorama functions, burst shot and even a GIF maker; these apps can be accessed both from the phone's program list and the arrow icon inside the camera UI. We got to work shooting samples and seeing how the Lumia 920 stacked up against both its PureView predecessor and current smartphone heavyweights. Throughout the course of our testing, we put Nokia's new Windows Phone against a number of other capable cameraphones, including the 808 PureView, the HTC One X+, Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note II and the LG Optimus G. We came in to these testing scenarios with exceedingly high expectations, and in the extremely low-light situations, where most phones fall flat on their face, the Lumia 920 indeed hit its stride. Yes, there was often some ISO noise to be seen and the results weren't always spectacular, but the 920's low-light shots were always the best of the bunch. Images were blur-free and reasonably clear, a definite improvement from the frequent messy quality induced by longer shutter times in the other cameras. Everything from contrast to color reproduction in low-light imagery was truly superior in the 920 to any other shooter we sampled it against, living up to Nokia's claims on that front. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for daytime photography. Here the tables were often turned, with the 920 frequently producing shots that were subtly soft. Different situations showed the problem more than others, but it was consistent across all shot types, whether macro or focusing on subjects further away. We made doubly sure the lens was smudge-free and tested on four separate 920s to be sure, but on each we saw the same symptoms. It's as if the lens mechanism isn't quite focusing correctly. We spoke with Nokia at length about this and were told it's at least in part thanks to some pending software tweaks to increase sharpness -- but that doesn't explain why we didn't see any such aberrations when we visited Finland to test a 920 last month. This softness often resulted in some excess fuzziness in low-light too, but we found we could compensate by lowering the exposure settings to -1/3 or -2/3. That's not to say the daytime images looked bad, necessarily -- in fact they generally looked reasonably good. But in this case, the Lumia 920 failed to consistently deliver images that beat the rest. In fact, it was often the 920 that ranked mid-pack compared to the heavy-hitters we listed earlier. Another minor complaint was the white balance, often off in cloudy conditions outdoors (the 808 PureView had similar issues with fluorescents indoors), left some of our shots with a yellowish tinge -- the manual settings did remedy this, however. We look forward to testing the revised software on the device to see if it improves things, and we genuinely hope it does, but for now 920 shoppers may be forced to choose whether high-quality photography in the dark is truly enough to make up for occasionally middling performance when the sun is out. It's worth reiterating that the smartphone's image stabilization is a marvel, rescuing some shots we thought would be a blurry mess. It's another example of genuine innovation coming from Nokia -- but it's not quite there yet. We also found that the Lumia had difficulty metering the scenes we presented. We often had to decide between capturing a detailed skyline or a well-lit subject. An HDR mode certainly wouldn't go amiss. Admittedly, the low-light performance, as we'd already teased, beat everything else outright, but that performance has somehow cost your well-lit images a degree of detail you might not want to give up. We suggest take a look through our image gallery -- we were sure to run the camera phone through as many different environments as we could. Noise artifacts are low (again, especially in low light) and file sizes suggest that Nokia hasn't compressed much away. But we can't fight our disappointment with these results; after all that fanfare, the all-round imaging performance still leaves something to be desired. In better news, video capture is crisp and amazingly stable -- thanks to that OIS. Walking with the phone introduces minimal stutter -- especially compared to what we're used to on other smartphones, while autofocus is able to latch on to points of interest quickly. You'll make the prettiest video clips you've ever seen on smartphone, all lacking any motion sickness-inducing shuttering. As you might see in our samples, the phone often produced some slightly muted colors in our videos -- though we reckon this was still an accurate representation of the scene. Similarly, sometimes the auto-white balance would change in the middle of filming, meaning our videos would occasionally jump from warm yellows to cool blues and greens; something that would certainly benefit from some software adjustments.
Software We'll leave the finer details of Windows Phone 8 to our in-depth review, but it's worth touching on how WP8 fares on the new Lumia. The slightly more customizable Live Tiles give you something to mess around with as soon as you switch it on -- and they still feel fresh, if only incrementally different from what we became accustomed to with Windows Phone 7. Covering some familiar software highlights; Nokia Maps is a superb app and free turn-by-turn navigation is hard to sniff at. Also, Internet Explorer 10 is swift, and looks sharp on the Lumia 920's high-response PureDisplay. The Live Tiles are a common-sense setup and are easy to understand and adjust, while everything is largely organized in a sensible way. However, plenty of issues still remain; the lengthy refresh time for social apps like Twitter and Facebook, lightweight Google integration (which is admittedly better than what Microsoft's mobile OS offered in the past), and the jarring gap in app selection. While Microsoft were quick to claim it's catching up, the new iteration (at the time of this review) oddly lacks Spotify, already out on Windows Phone 7, while the likes of Dropbox, Instagram and Flipboard still remain absent. The gaming selection, despite the Xbox Live connection, seems littered with titles of yesteryear and doesn't give mobile gamers enough to pull them away from the rich delights of both iOS and Android. Xbox SmartGlass replaces the My Xbox Live app, handing you another way to interact with your console. The full version requires an Xbox Live subscription (and a capable broadband connection), and throws up some touchscreen controls that map to controller buttons along with a content browser. SmartGlass-compatible content is signposted with its own icon, although unfortunately not all of it (notably Xbox Video) has been switched live just yet. We were able to connect to Netflix, but again, this requires a subscription. The contents don't appear to be fully fleshed-out yet -- presumably more contents will go live when the devices hit stores and while a keyboard is available when you browse through the phone, some parts of the Xbox UI still require typing through the UI -- and controller. We'd love to see further (possibly in-game) integration using Windows Phone as Microsoft continues to flesh out the feature -- because at the moment, there's not much here for us to do. We'll stick with the controller. While our ecosystem complaints remain, Nokia has continued to offer its own "hero" apps, and even improved some of them in the process. Nokia Music continues to expand its music offering, despite obvious competition. The app itself now supports Dolby sound and has its own built-in seven-channel equalizer, while the gig finder feature now taps into location data for search results. The app will even spin out navigation results and the ability to buy tickets for your show of choice -- as long as they're still available. While anyone that's already signed up to Spotify, (or Pandora) will likely ignore the function, Mix radio still offers a raft of free (mainstream and not) music to stream and download, with the ability to take several playlists offline for use anywhere. Unsurprisingly, Nokia's included plenty of additional camera and imaging apps, ranging from the reality-augmenting City Lens, which was more than capable of leading us to the nearest cafe or pub across London, to the GIF-crafting skills of Cinegraphics. However, that last one feels like it isn't quite ready for public use just yet. After recording a brief clip, you can then select areas of the image to keep animated, while pausing the rest. This file can be then shared as a GIF file -- well, at least through a convoluted upload to SkyDrive. We were unable to get our animated pictures to send through email, Twitter or Facebook without the files being automatically converted to JPEG. In the end, the SkyDrive option does give you the animation, and even the chance to embed into your own blog, but it's a convoluted workflow for what could be a fun little extra. You'll also need a SkyDrive account just to see your uploaded pictures. Yep, Microsoft's cloud storage, while stitched into the very seams of the Windows Phone 8 is often rather unintuitive, especially when it comes to transferring pre-existing images to our phone. We just wanted to make the most of those photo tiles, but we found both the web and mobile side to the cloud storage system unclear and frustrating. Performance and battery life Alongside that newer software comes fresher hardware -- and the arrival of dual cores on Windows Phone. The Lumia 920 packs a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, meaning it's more than capable of breezing through transitions, content-dense websites and the current crop of available games. We've tested the phone on WPBench and AnTuTu, both Windows Phone 7 benchmarking apps that aren't calibrated for the latest version just yet. However, results line up with the HTC 8X and yet another impressive SunSpider score that's been borne out in our real-life experience with the handset; the device is more than capable of rendering the desktop versions of sites -- something that the big screen is also well-suited to.
It's also worth considering that the Lumia 920 has both a larger and slightly higher-resolution display than HTC's device, meaning the internals are being taxed a little more. Its battery, at least, is more substantial, at 2,000mAh, and in WPBench's CPU-taxing battery test (which is based on Windows Phone 7), we reached 2:36, incrementally more than the 8X. In typical use, the phone was more than able to keep up with a day's regular use, although we found that increased outdoor use (and thus a brighter screen) did make noticeable dents in the battery life. Using the Lumia 920's contactless charger was a bit slower than simply plugging it in, but that's what you pay for convenience. We're just glad to see the charging function arrive without a clunky case ruining a phone's design. Wrap-up Nokia arguably offered up the best hardware for the last iteration of Windows Phone. Does it repeat that success here? Yes, but it ties with the HTC 8X for that honor. The Lumia 920 feels substantially chunkier, despite having similar by-the-number dimensions, but it remains another glorious piece of hardware from Nokia. That large shell has afforded more space for the latest PureView camera, which delivers superb low-light performance and effective optical stabilization across stills and video. While these features worked as well as we'd hoped, well-lit shots lacked the clarity and detail we saw during earlier test sessions. Overall, results were a little too smoothed out (and many smartphones have a tendency to over-sharpen), and fell short of our expectations for Nokia's latest PureView phone. All your incredible shots of that great night out will also be tinged by SkyDrive frustrations and limited ways to share them -- something that Microsoft's mobile OS is going to have to deal with if they really want to become the third choice in smartphone operating systems. Meanwhile, alongside its imaging advances, Nokia has pushed forward on its screen hardware, besting the outdoor visibility of the Lumia 900 and adding color and contrast tweaks from a new ambient light sensor -- this is all on a capacitive touchscreen you can now handle with gloves on. Nokia may crown it the most innovative smartphone, and alongside embedded wireless charging, there's plenty here to demonstrate that. But, for all that Windows Phone 8 does right (superb maps, zippy browser, simplicity), those holes in the app selection remain something that needs to be plugged. Myriam Joire and Tim Stevens contributed to this report. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy Premier reaches the FCC without the LTE we crave Posted: 02 Nov 2012 01:33 PM PDT
Samsung is learning to navigate the US regulatory maze quickly; its Galaxy Premier has already passed through the FCC mere days after it hit the newswires. The approval is very much a mixed blessing, however. While it helps confirm the hinted-at Superior codename and shows that HSPA 3G will work on AT&T and larger Canadian carriers, it's clear from the frequency mix that there's none of the LTE-based 4G that North American providers would demand for an official deal. While we weren't bracing ourselves for the Premier crossing the oceans, it does mean that Americans wanting Samsung's not-quite-a-Galaxy-S-III will have to either score a cheap import or hope one of the US networks has a change of heart. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Late 2012 iPad carries new PowerVR SGX 554MP4 graphics, muscles ahead in video speed Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:48 PM PDT
It's well established that the A6X chip in the fourth-generation iPad is about twice as fast as its predecessor in pure number crunching, but how about those reportedly doubled graphics amid some increasingly fierce competition? Thanks to some help from Kishonti, AnandTech has learned that Apple may still have an ace up its sleeve. The new tablet carries a new, quad-core PowerVR SGX554MP4 with twice the raw potential as the already quick 543MP4 graphics in the A5X. While that doesn't always lead to a literal doubling of 3D performance, it unambiguously puts the new new iPad on top in GLBenchmark, with even the imminent Nexus 10's new Mali-T604 video left in the middle of a large pack. We're somewhat surprised when the Samsung-made Nexus is using a brand new chip architecture that many had thought would represent a fundamental leap in speed. Visuals aren't the only factors in buying tablets, so take the results with the appropriate grains of salt; if gaming or sheer responsiveness matters most, however, there's now a clear frontrunner. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kobo Glo review: another illuminated e-reader lights up the market Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:00 PM PDT
More InfoThere's nothing like a good underdog story. Aside from last year's failed Vox tablet, Kobo has made some quality devices, but has still failed to make a huge dent in the e-reader market -- a space dominated by Amazon and Barnes & Noble. In the case of the Glo front-lit e-reader ($129), Kobo might just be hampered by unfortunate timing. Though the company managed to get a jump on things in the last round with the Kobo Touch, the Glo comes on the heels of similar devices, the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight and the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. But, could this reader have what it takes to convince Kindle and Nook owners to take a leap of faith? Find out after the break. Hardware
The more things change, the more they stay the same -- or, as far as e-readers go, the more things change, the more they begin to look like each other. As standalone readers continue down the path toward buttonless, touchscreen devices, it's getting more and more difficult to distinguish the competition. Sure, Kobo hasn't made much in the way of radical design alterations since the days of the Touch, but it has made a few tweaks to the front of the reader, dropping the home button on the bottom bezel, and replacing it with the lower-case logo. Those changes are enough to make the device a dead ringer for the recently released Kindle Paperwhite, especially if you buy it in black. Upon closer inspection, there are some key differences, however. For starters, there's the fact that Kobo's managed to pull off a slightly shorter, skinnier form factor, at 6.4 x 4.5 inches (down from 6.5 x 4.5 on the Kobo Touch). That compares to the Paperwhite's 6.7 x 4.6 inches, though it does make up a little bit of that footprint with a 0.39 inch thickness to Amazon's 0.36 inches. More impressive is the fact that Kobo has managed to keep the reader's weight down; it's the same 6.5 ounces as the Touch -- not too shabby compared to the 7.5-ounce Paperwhite and 6.95-ounce Simple Touch with GlowLight. When you're holding a device like this for long stretches, every ounce counts. But while Kobo scores points for keeping its device so light, this reader just doesn't possess the same build quality as its competitors. All of the physical buttons now live on the top of the device. There's a switch for power / waking the device from sleep. To the side of that is a small rectangular night light button. Kobo's bucked the trend by incorporating a physical button for turning the front light on and off. It's tough to say which method is better. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference -- we can't say we strongly prefer one way over the other. We'd much rather have the physical page turn buttons of the Simple Touch devices, but Kobo left those in the dust a couple of generations ago. And while you use a physical button to turn the light on and off, the dimming process still occurs entirely on the touchscreen. Nearby is a small indicator light that will flash green as the device boots up. On the left side of the device, you've got a microSD slot, which lets you expand the device's built-in 2GB of storage to a max of 32GB. Such concerns are perhaps rendered moot in this age of near-ubiquitous cloud storage (Kobo Everywhere, in this case), but it's always a welcome feature. On the bottom, there's that micro-USB port. The back, naturally, maintains the diamond pattern -- it wouldn't be a Kobo device without it. It's been toned down a bit here, though, bringing it in line with Kobo's other new devices. (It doesn't offer up much more traction to help prevent slippage.) Interestingly, the back plate peels off, should you need to swap out batteries or just take a nice long look at the internals. In our case, we had to pry it off to find out why the reader had a strange rattle to it. Turns out, the battery had become unseated during shipping. The entire reader is coated with the sort of soft-touch material you've come to expect on e-readers and other devices. Kobo's selling the device in black and grey, as well as brighter pink and blue options. We're pretty happy we got stuck with classic black, but the different choices should appeal to some buyers. On the whole, there's not much in the way of excitement as far as the hardware design goes -- particularly now that we've already handled the similar-looking Kindle Paperwhite. As such, most of the qualms we had about the Paperwhite's form factor carry over here -- neither is as nice to hold as Barnes & Noble's Nook products. However, Kobo get points for managing to keep the weight down. Display When the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight went on sale earlier this year, we were quite impressed. The reader showed promise for front-lit E Ink displays in a way we hadn't seen. When the Kindle Paperwhite launched just a few months later, however, Barnes & Noble's proprietary technology already seemed dated. Amazon's own approach to front lighting, reportedly four years in the making, offered up a much whiter and far more evenly distributed illumination across the screen. So, how does the Glo fare after the arrival of the other two? Quite frankly, the company hit front lighting out of the park on its first try. The Glo has even more in common with the Paperwhite on that front, with great light distribution across the display, devoid of any uneven splotches. According to Kobo, that's thanks to a "nano-printed fiber-optic film" -- a technology that sounds awfully similar to the one implemented by Amazon. Even turned up all the way, it's tough to tell precisely where the light is coming from (if you tilt it and look hard enough, you can see the source under the bottom bezel). All told, that's a big improvement over the Nook's easily detected light. And like the Kindle, there's none of the blueish overcast present on the Simple Touch with GlowLight. If we're picking nits, there is a slightly perceptible yellowish tinge here, which you can see when you hold the reader up against the Paperwhite. On the whole, though the page looks far whiter than standard e-ink with the light at full blast. As nice as the front light is, however, there's a strong downside to Kobo's implementation -- text contrast suffers noticeably. Reading with the light off, there's not a lot of difference between the Paperwhite and Glo -- turn the light all the way up, however, and it becomes far more pronounced. Though text contrast feels somewhat compromised, the company has added features that allow you to adjust the sharpness and weight of the text. Bold it up too much, and the quality of the text degrades, particularly when compared to the Paperwhite's default setting. We noticed a few instances of text ghosting, but all in all, not too bad. By default, too, you'll get a full refresh every six pages. Interestingly, there's an option for changing the frequency, though we can't imagine anyone wanting their Kobo to refresh more often. Software Those upgrading from the Kobo Touch will find the Glo's interface familiar. The centerpiece of the home page is a collection showing covers of your recent reads. Just above this are Reading and Discover buttons, which let you toggle between the reading pane and another that offers up recommendations. There's no particular reason that feature couldn't have just been relegated to the store, but Kobo clearly wanted to make it as simple as possible for you to spend some money on Dean Koontz books. Along the top of the home screen are icons for home, battery life and a settings drop-down that offers up the date and time, a WiFI checkbox, more precise battery life reading, search and a notification showing the last time you synced your content to the cloud. Below this are links to your Library, the Store and Kobo's Reading Life social network. Along the bottom is a link to your reading "Wish List" (which you can populate while shopping). Clicking Library will give you refinement options, letting you view by Books, Newspapers / Magazines, book previews and shelves, which you can build from locally stored content. Library sections are organized in a straightforward matter, listed with a small cover image, name, author, the percent you read and file format. To the right, a button lets you open the book (you can also accomplish this by simply clicking on the book, naturally), view more info on the title, delete it from your shelf or find similar books -- yet another spot for some e-book upselling. Reading Life is Kobo's attempt to make reading more social and fun -- if you're going out and buying your own e-reader, however, we assume you're already at least somewhat convinced that reading is entertaining. This feature, which was also present on the Touch, lets you know how long you've been reading, how many pages you've read, the number of books you've completed and the percentage of your library you've made it though. The service serves up goofy little trophies for your activity, some number of which require no effort whatsoever (think: "BookLover," which you get for buying a Kobo reader). There's also a Facebook award you can score when you link your Facebook account, if you're the sort of person who needs to tell the world what you're reading. On the Extras, accessible via the settings, you'll find some games (chess and sudoku) and a sketchpad that lets you use the touchscreen to make notes and draw pictures with your finger. At the bottom of that page is a link to the web browser, continuing the proud e-reader tradition of completely hiding the feature away. There's a reason, of course -- the current e-ink technology is simply not built for web browsing -- the page refreshes a lot during scrolling, images don't look great and in the case of the Kobo, there's no pinch-to-zoom, so you've got to rely on an ever-present slider on the bottom to make things larger. That said, it's there if you need it. The reading experience is fairly straightforward, too. By default, the page is monopolized primarily by text. At the top, you get the book's title, and along the bottom is the chapter number and your progress in that particular section -- we'd have preferred a more basic page number, but to each his own. Clicking on the top right will dog-ear the page for a bookmark. Tapping and holding on text will underline it, offering up a window with a definition courtesy of Merriam-Webster. Along the bottom, you'll get options for adding a note or highlight, translating, searching for instances of the text throughout the book and positing it to Facebook. Click the bottom of the display and two toolbars will appear. Along the top you'll see the home button, the percentage of the text you've read, battery life and a button for settings. Along the bottom are buttons for brightness (which only appears if you've got the light turned on), page progress (via a slider), text format and additional features. Click on the format button and you'll find 10 font styles and sizes to choose from and various options for line and margin spacing. Wrap-up Once again, Kobo has produced a solid little reader. The Glo's got the features that helped make the last-generation Touch a nice device, this time coupled with a front-light technology that might well be the best in its class. The UI is nothing to write home about, Reading Life isn't quite the selling point the company seems to think it is and it's still not as comfortable to hold as the Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight. And then there's the fact that the reader's coming to market after a nice headstart by Amazon and Barnes & Noble, both of which are priced $10 less (with ads, in the case of the Kindle Paperwhite). Still, the Glo's bright, evenly lit display provides for a great reading experience, making it worth considering despite the premium. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Engadget News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment