I T World: April 2011

Sony Chases Apple in Tablet Launch

Sony introduced its first tablet computers, following Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility Holdings in their pursuit of Apple, a year after the iPad spurred a surge in demand for the devices. The maker of Vaio laptops would use Google’s Android operating system for the tablets, Kunimasa Suzuki, Sony’s head of personal computers said. The models, whose prices were not disclosed, would go on sale later this year, the company said. Sony is last among the world’s top 10 laptop makers to unveil tablet plans, aiming to capitalize on surging demand for a product category that research firm Strategy Analytics forecasts will grow to $49 billion (R326bn) by 2015.

The late entry may undermine the company’s ability to challenge Samsung’s Galaxy Tab or the iPad, according to Deutsche Bank. “Sony should have entered at least when Samsung introduced its first tablet computers,” said Yasuo Nakane, a Tokyo-based analyst at Deutsche Bank. “They spent too much time on their own features. A quick entry like Samsung was required. Sony’s S1 model will feature a 9.4-inch liquid-crystal display, as well as front and rear cameras. The S2 laptop-shaped model would have dual 5.5-inch screens and feature cameras, the company said. Apple’s iPad has a 9.7-inch screen. Jay Defibaugh, an analyst at MF Global FXA Securities in Tokyo, said about Sony: “They have got an opportunity, they really need to execute.

The Japanese electronics maker aimed to become the largest manufacturer of tablets running on Android software by next year, Suzuki said. Sony would try to introduce a tablet that uses Microsoft’s Windows software by the end of the year, he added. Sony, which expected the global tablet-computer market to reach annual sales of between 50 million and 60 million units this year, and between 70 million and 80 million next year, was also considering developing a three-dimensional model, he said. Suzuki said Sony was not late into the market. “Demand for tablets is still small. We aim to attract consumers out there, who haven’t purchased one.”

The latest version of the iPad went on sale in the US on March 11, equipped with cameras and a more powerful processor, starting at $499. Apple led the market by selling a total of 14.8 million iPads through December, generating $9.6bn in sales since its introduction in April last year. Samsung, the maker of the Galaxy Tab, ranks second behind Apple. Tablet sales surged to more than 10.3 million units last year from 90 000 in 2009, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. That rate of adoption tops those of game consoles and smartphones, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based trade organization.

Apple would likely maintain its dominance in the tablet market until next year because of advantages in marketing, content and pricing, research firm IHS iSuppli said earlier this month. Shipments of other media tablets will likely reach 111 million units in 2013, overtaking the estimated 81 million iPad sales, according to the researcher. Samsung, Sony’s bigger rival in televisions, unveiled a new tablet running the latest version of Android software in February. Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless earlier this month cut the price of the Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet computer for the second time this year, signaling more competition for Apple’s iPad.

The devices now cost $199.99 with a two-year wireless service contract, according to the carriers. In January, Sony said it aimed to win second position in the market for tablet devices next year. Last year, Sony was the world’s ninth-largest maker of laptop computers, excluding tablets, with a 4.2 percent share of the global market, according to Bryan Ma, at Singapore-based analyst at IDC. Apple ranked eighth with a 4.9 percent share.

HP Envy 14 Beats Edition 14-1195ea Laptop

If you want a powerful, premium laptop that's not a Macbook Pro 15in, HP's Envy line is an interesting alternative, generally offering sharp styling, high-end build materials, excellent ergonomics and loads of features. The 17in 3D model (the aptly named HP Envy 17 3D), the smaller and lighter Envy 14, which as its name suggests is a 14.5in powerhouse. However, this isn't the 'regular' 14-1190e with its silver aluminum finish, but rather the 14-1195ea 'Beats' Edition.

Paired with a set of Monster Beats Solo headphones certified by Dr. Dre, the 1195ea comes in a combination of red and black to match. The lid is now a matt black affair with the HP logo attractively highlighted in glossy black, though the massive red 'b' (for 'Beats') is a bit overbearing and could have done with being either more subtle or backlit. Fingerprints are also a bit of an issue, but not nearly as much as they would have been with a glossy black plastic finish.

Opening the laptop up, its insides are even more attractive. Along with Apple, HP realizes the value of minimalism, and very little breaks the 1195ea's sleek black lines. The screen is of the 'borderless' variety, meaning a single sheet of glass across the screen and bezel makes it appear seamless though it also ups the reflections to frankly distracting levels. Thankfully, unlike with the Samsung Series 9, HP's finish is more consistent, and the entire keyboard surround is a single piece.

It sports a lovely soft-touch finish (similar to the feel of the lid on Lenovos such as the ThinkPad X220t) that makes it a delight to rest your palms on yet doesn't suffer too much from grease marks or fingerprints.
Adding further to the laptop's appeal is a band of gunmetal trim surrounding the ports. Even the power adapter is sleek and curved, allows you to detach its cables at both ends, and offers a USB port for charging your devices without needing the laptop.

Also on hand to increase the 14-1195ea's premium feel is a felt cloth slipcase, which is a far more useful addition than the cardboard carrying bag for the Samsung 900X3A, and in another nice touch the manual is found on an Envy-branded SD card! Of course, the star addition to the show is those Monster Beats Solo headphones, which are worth around £150 on their own. That's quite a value-add, but then talking about a laptop that costs over £1,000. The Sporting a matt black, almost soft outer finish and grey headband padding with leatherette on-ear cups, the Beats Solo look and feel just as premium as the laptop.

Build quality is excellent, with an adjustable metal inner frame and metal hinges that allow the phones to fold flat for transport. There's an extensive range of accessories too, including a thickly padded carrying pouch, cleaning cloth, and two thick red cables (one plain, the other with a 'control centre' offering volume controls, a call-answer button and microphone). Unfortunately the headphones' sound quality doesn't live up to their build and presentation, as they are so bass heavy as to almost completely ruin the vast majority of the music.

Toshiba Tecra R840 S8430 Laptop

Toshiba has updated and redesigned all of its business laptops to look more like its Portege lineup; the once-stodgy Tecra is now slimmer and sleeker. The Tecra R840 sports a second-generation Core i5 processor power, AMD Radeon graphics, and offers strong battery life for a 14-inch business notebook. However, with a price of $1,279 as configured (starting at $889), how much value are you really getting? Read on to find out.

Design

The shape and curves of Toshiba's new Tecra now closely resemble its Portege notebooks. The black graphite lid which has chrome Toshiba logo in the middle sports a ridged texture that helps avoid unattractive fingerprint smudges. Like the Portege, the Tecra R840 has chrome colored plastic hinges, which stand out on the all-matte black deck and bezel. Like the lid, the palm rests have a ridged pattern.

At 13.4 x 9.4 x 0.8-1.1 inches, the new design is thinner than the Tecra A11 (1.3 inches thick at its thinnest point). The R840 is also more compact than the Dell Latitude E6420 (13.9 x 10.3 x 1.3 inches) and the Fujitsu S751 (13.4 x 9.7 x 1.4 inches), and is lighter than both: The R840 weighs just 4.6 pounds compared to the Dell E6420's hefty 6.2 pounds (with a nine-cell battery) and the S751's 5.4 pounds.

The R840 has some durability features. It includes a spill-resistant keyboard, a fiberglass-reinforced chassis, a hard drive accelerometer, and a reinforced security cable lock slot. However, the Dell Latitude E6420's tri-metal design and the HP EliteBook 8460p's DuraCase are both more rugged.

Keyboard and Touchpad

That fiberglass-reinforced frame lends the R840's slightly recessed, spill-resistant keyboard a sturdy feel. Thanks to the roomy island-style layout, the keyboard was responsive. However, the flat, slick surface of the keys made typing less comfortable on this laptop than on business notebooks with slightly curved keys (like ThinkPads). Above the right side of the keyboard are dedicated buttons for activating Toshiba's eco Utility software and a presentation button to extend the desktop or mirror the screen when a projector is connected.

The 3.4 x 1.9-inch touchpad on the Tecra R840 provides a larger touch area than both the Fujitsu S751 (2.5 x 1.6 inches) and the Dell E4260 (3.1 x 1.8 inches). Its matte, plastic surface is smooth and pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scroll gestures worked well. A fingerprint reader sits between a pair of discrete, chrome-colored mouse buttons. The R840's touchpad uses multitouch software designed by Alps Electronic. That software allowed us to set custom touch controls in the Mouse settings within the Control Panel.

For instance, any of the touchpad's four corners to perform actions such as cut and paste, or open the Windows Explorer. Other welcome gestures include circular scrolling (climbing up or down pages by moving your finger in circles on the touchpad) and inertial scrolling, in which forceful swipes scroll longer distances on a page. You don't get the three- or four-finger gestures that Synaptic touchpads provide.

Pointing Stick

For more nuanced navigation, the R840 comes with a pointing stick between the G and H keys. The R840's blue pointer is smaller than like and is covered with a material that's a little scratchy. The ThinkPad line's TrackPoints still, the Tecra was fairly accurate and more comfortable to use than the Dell E6420, whose stick sits the level of the surrounding keys and was slippery during use.

Display and Audio

The 14-inch LED display on the R840 offers a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Next to the HP EliteBook 8460p, the Tecra R840's matte panel delivered a brighter picture. In addition, viewing angles are comfortably wide. The black splotches at about 120 degrees to the right and left, just enough space for three people to watch video.

However, a 720p trailer of the movie Hanna on YouTube looked somewhat washed out, with low contrast.
Don't expect great sound out of the Tecra R840. While the two speakers produced plenty of volume when streaming a track from The Strokes on Slacker, the audio was tinny and flat.

Ports and Webcam

On the right side of the Tecra R840 are a tray-loading DVD burner, an ExpressCard 34 slot, 6-in-1 Memory Card Reader, USB 3.0 port, an Ethernet jack, and a reinforced security cable slot on the hinge. A VGA port, DisplayPort, USB/eSATA port, USB 2.0 jack, and audio jacks for headphones and a microphone line the left side. That's a total of three USB ports, although both the Dell Latitude E6420 and the Fujitsu S751 offer four. The Dell also packs an HDMI port.

Equipped with a standard-definition camera, the Tecra R840 captured images with accurate colors but only so-so detail. A Skype call looked acceptable under the florescent lighting but a call conducted from a low-lit coffee shop looked even better, especially when activated night mode in Toshiba's Web Camera Application. That software also adjusts brightness, contrast, gamma, hue, saturation, and sharpness, and adds effects such as background filters and video frames.

Callers reported that the Tecra R840's microphone picked up voice very well without any distortion. Unfortunately, the sensitive device also registered background noise such as ambient music and traffic noise.
As a security measure, customers can use Toshiba's Face Recognition software with the R840's webcam to help lock and unlock the notebook.

Heat

For a thin laptop, the R840 was pretty good at keeping its cool. Streamed a Hulu for 15 minutes at full screen, the touchpad measured 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the keyboard (between the G and H keys) was just 88 degrees, and the underside of the notebook reached 94, temperatures of uncomfortable heat (95 degrees). The notebook's hottest point was the area by the left-side vent, which rose to 108 degrees. That vent heat warmed lap after about an hour of couch-surfing, so users might want to keep the R840 on a desktop during continued use.

Dell Latitude E6420 Notebook

The Dell Latitude E6420 is the next edition in the much loved Latitude line, which has long been a big favorite with business users. The E6420 is a 14 inch notebook with an updated look and a strong feature set, although it doesn’t come cheap at around $1350 with an Intel Core i5 and the touchscreen option. The Dell Latitude E6420 has a great new look, with a design that is stylish yet still boardroom friendly. The materials used in construction also make this a durable laptop, with reinforced steel hinges and a protective LCD seal being two of the features that help this notebook to pass the MIL-STD 810G standard for extreme temperatures, dust, and vibration. This computer comes with a spill resistant keyboard, with both a touchpad and a pointing stick included like on older Latitude designs.

This pointing stick device did have infrequent drifting problems on older Latitude laptops, so hopefully Dell has fixed the problem with this release. The screen on the Dell Latitude E6420 is a 14 inch display, with a glossy touchscreen and a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The touchscreen is optional, and provides two finger gesture supports. However, it does not support pen input, the screen does not rotate, and the computer does not have any kind of dedicated tablet mode. In terms of connectivity, the Latitude line of laptops has always shined. This edition is no different, with four USB ports, HDMI, an ExpressCard, Ethernet, and a Kensington lock slot.

There is also an SD card reader, a Smart Card reader, and a WiFi on/off switch. Being a Dell, the Dell Latitude E6420 can be configured in a variety of different ways. There is an integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 chip for graphics. A model with an Intel Core i5 processor, 320GB hard drive, and 4GB of RAM has been tested at well above the category average by laptopmag. This looks like a serious computer, and will no doubt have fans in both the business and power user markets. Battery life is also great at over 8 hours in moderate usage using a 9 cell battery. Prices vary greatly, starting from about $700 and going upwards from there.

Specifications

CPU variable with Intel Core i3, i5, or i7

hard drive variable

14 inch display

1366 x 768 resolution

up to 8GB of RAM

DVD-R SuperDrive

Intel HD Graphics 3000

802.11 a/g/n WiFi

Ethernet

HDMI

USB x 4

eSATA

Bluetooth

ExpressCard/54

SD memory card reader

Smart Card

6.2 pounds

Dell Brings Remote Desktop Capabilities to, Workstations

Dell announced a desktop workstation that acts like a server from which remote client PCs can exploit graphics processing capabilities. The Precision R5500 workstation renders and delivers pixels to client PCs over a network, said Don Maynard, senior product manager for Dell's Precision tower and rack workstations. Graphics can be delivered in 2D or 3D formats to Dell's FX100 thin client using the PC-over-IP (Internet Protocol) remote graphics protocol, or to standard desktops and laptops with VMware's View software.

The new feature extends the processing power of workstations to more computing resources in organizations, Maynard said. The remote access technology could reduce the need to deploy multiple workstations, while centralizing engineering and graphics applications in one location. The workstation is targeted at organizations involved in design projects or content creation, Maynard said. The workstation can also be relevant in vertical industries such as mining and health care.

Dell already offers servers with graphics processors, but the workstation has specific features that make it more relevant to client PCs, Maynard said. The workstation runs client operating systems such as Windows 7, which support engineering applications such as AutoCAD. The workstation also has the ability to provide more dedicated graphics processing power for such applications. The quality of images delivered remotely depends on the complexity of graphics and bandwidth, Maynard said.

There could be some latency if the graphics are complex, or if a PC is far away from the workstation. Beyond remote access capabilities, the Precision R5500 is also a high-end desktop designed to run complex scientific and graphics applications. The dual-socket workstation runs on Intel's Xeon processors, and can accommodate up to 12 CPU cores. The desktop supports up to 192GB of RAM and has multiple storage slots. The desktop is offered with optional Nvidia graphics cards.

The R5500 is priced starting at US$2,551 and will be available in the U.S. and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) on May 3. It will become available in Asia-Pacific and Japan on May 10. Dell also announced new Precision laptop workstations that are desktop alternatives. The DM4600 and DM6600 include 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch screens, respectively, and run on Intel's latest Core i5 and i7 processors.

The laptops support up to 32GB of RAM, and 750GB of hard drive or up to 256GB of solid-state drive storage. They will be available with optional graphics cards from Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. They also will come with multiple USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, and multiple monitors can be connected through display ports. The M4600 starts at $1,678, while the M6600 starts at $2,158. The laptops will become available worldwide on May 10.

Sony Lenovo Dell to Launch, iPad Killers

Although the expected iPad competition never really heated up last year, 2011 is going to be a different story, with a slate (ahem) full of Android-based tablets, the HP TouchPad, the Research in Motion (RIM) PlayBook, and others. However, a number of interesting new iPad competitors has cropped up, lending credence to the notion that 2011 really will be the year of the tablet. First up is Sony, which announced plans for two new slate-based tablets this year, code-named S1 and S2.

Both are based on Android "Honeycomb" 3.0, and though the S1 is a "traditional," iPad-style tablet with a 9.4" screen, the S2 is an innovative-looking clamshell device with two 5.5" widescreen multitouch displays, both of which feature a resolution of 1024 x 480. No pricing or exact availability is currently available Sony says both will launch this year, possibly at different times in different markets but these new tablets are already causing quite a stir, and Sony claims it will be the number-two tablet maker after Apple by the end of 2012.

Both devices feature dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processors and will be capable of playing "PlayStation-quality" video games. Some believe the devices will be branded as PlayStations when they're released. ThinkPad-maker Lenovo, meanwhile, is prepping a ThinkPad-branded Android 3.0 tablet of its own, and given the company's pedigree, it could steal some thunder from the RIM PlayBook. Due in June, the ThinkPad Tablet will slide onto a ThinkPad laptop shell so it can be used as the screen in a true ThinkPad laptop (albeit it one running Android, not Windows).

It will also feature an IPS display and a dual-core Tegra 2 processor. And Dell, no stranger to the tablet market it launched its Streak line of tablets last year will also have an Android 3.0-based tablet this year as well as (get this) a Windows 7-based tablet for its more old-fashioned customers. The Streak Pro-branded Android tablet will feature a 1280 x 800 10.1" widescreen display, the requisite dual-core Tegra 2 CPU, and a Dell-created "Stage 1.5" user interface, according to sources. It should launch in June.

For Windows fans, Dell will offer up a Latitude ST in October, offering a 10" screen, an Intel "Oak Trail" Core-series processor, front- and rear-facing cameras, 128GB of SSD-based storage, and 2GB of RAM. And because it's a Windows machine, it will include stylus-based input with handwriting recognition in addition to standard multitouch features.

HP Pavilion Dv6-6091nr i7 Powered Multimedia Laptop

The HP Pavilion dv6-6091nr is the new version of the dv6 multimedia notebook. The specification is pretty high; with an Intel i7 2.0GHz processor, giving quad core processing and an impressive 6GB of DDR3 RAM for all those memory hungry applications. The graphics power comes from an ATI Mobility Radeon card named HD6570, this card come with 1024MB GDDR5 memory. It’s good to see a 1TB hard drive however it’s a 5400rpm model, the guys at HP should have installed a faster hard drive.

The LED display looks great; the only quibble would be the resolution at 1366×768, this seems a bit strange as it’s supposed to be a ‘multimedia model’ most competitor models have 1920×1080. The HP Pavilion dv6 6091nr does have HDMI output; so you can connect it up to an HD TV and play full HD content.
The casing of the Pavilion dv6 is very similar to its predecessor apart from the colour which is now darker.

Specifications

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

15.6” LED backlit display (1366×768)

Intel Core i7-2630QM quad core processor (2.0GHz)

6GB DDR3 ram

1TB 5400rpm hard drive

AT Mobility Radeon HD6570 graphics card with 1024MB GDDR5

Supermulti DVD R/RW with Lightscribe

2x USB3.0, 2x USB2.0, HDMI out, VGA out, 2x headphone out

Wifi b/g/n, 10/100 Ethernet

6 cell 55Whr Li-ion battery

1 year limited warranty

Pros

There is a full number pad which you don’t often see on smaller laptops. Having USB 3.0 Is great for all the new devices coming out. Slick and clean appearance, looks cool. Great price point considering it’s a 17 Sandy Bridge multimedia laptop.

Cons

The Hard Drive at 5400rpm doesn’t match up to the power of the other components; maybe a weak point.
The screen resolution is only a max of 1366×768, so its 720p rather than 1920×1080 – 1080p which is a shame as the video card has plenty of power. The battery is 6-cell Lithium, not sure if the capacity is great enough for this high spec laptop.

Samsung NF210 Netbook with Curves

Space is definitely a very serious issue when you’re traveling and that’s where a netbook has a big advantage over a laptop. Take a look at what Samsung’s NF210 has to offer and whether it’s enough to make for a good buy.

Design and Build Quality

The first thing to notice about the NF210 is its design. While the basic form factor is that of a netbook, Samsung has thrown in some well thought of curves, which definitely gives a neat look to it. The piece that came in for review had a powder blue colour and a glossy finish on the lid. Unlike the lid, the screen inside is a 10.1-inch LED backlit display which has a non-glossy finish.

The keyboard has a Chiclet design which makes it pretty comfortable to type on. One slight qualm would be that the area below the keyboard was a little smaller than usual, but that might be because of the upper area being used as an opening for the speakers of the netbook. The trackpad also felt a little small in size and lacked some response as well.

The ports around the netbook are all well placed and designed so there’s nothing much to talk about from that perspective. On a whole, the design is catchy to the eyes and the build quality is really good for a netbook.

Features

In terms of features, there’s nothing special that the NF210 can boast of. It has a dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor that clocks 1.5 GHz and a 1 GB DDR2 RAM. There’s 250 GB of storage space which is sufficient for a regular user.

The Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 n capabilities mean that the netbook has good connectivity options. The NF210 also boasts of a 3 W speakers which has its openings over the keyboard as mentioned earlier.

Unfortunately, the NF210 runs on Intel’s NM10 chipset which doesn’t include support for USB 3.0 ports. While it might not be a standard addition, but nowadays a USB 3.0 port can always come in handy.

Performance

With those kinds of specifications, you might expect the NF210 to give scores ranging from below average to average. However, pleasantly surprised to see the netbook fare almost equally with other netbooks. In terms of scores, the NF210 comes quite close to Toshiba’s NB520 which had a 2 GB RAM. There was a minuscule two percent boost in the Cinebench R10 scores. Plus, compressing a file took two seconds lesser than the NB520. Have a look at the scores below.

The hard drive didn’t perform too well on transferring a single 4 GB file a very poor speed of 22.75 MB/s and for the assorted 4 GB file transfer test, it dropped to 16 MB/s. The viewing angles of the screen were one really bad aspect of the netbook. Apart from opening the screen fully, the display is neither easy nor comfortable to view. Probably a better screen would add to the overall value of the netbook. The NF210’s 3W speakers which can play loud enough to be heard in the living room.

While the bass is almost negligent, the mids are quite easy to pick and so are the highs. Finally, battery test the netbook run for 3 hours 50 minutes from a 6 cell Li-Ion Battery which is quite low if compared to the Aspire One D260, or the Acer Gateway LT23. Mostly, netbooks are expected to give a minimum of 4 hours and 30 minutes of running on a single charge. To summarize the performance, the scores recorded are not the best out there, but they are good enough to match standard netbook scores.

Sony Vaio VPCEB4J0E/WI CEK White Laptop

The powerful Sony Vaio VPCEB4J0E/WI.CEK, driven by Intel technology is not just an eye candy with its amazingly stylish look, but also a strong contender in terms of its performance. The model, also known as the Sony White Laptop is powered by the Intel Core i3-370M processor and it runs on the Genuine Windows 7 Home Edition (64 bits) operating system.

It features 3 GB DDR3 RAM (expandable to 6GB) and a storage capacity of 320 GB (SATA, 5400rpm). Optical disk drives are supported. The Intel HD Graphics card offers approximately 1271 MB dedicated graphic memory. In the display department, the laptop amazes with its 15.5 inch LCD widescreen and a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768.

The screen also features the Sony trademark LED backlit VAIO display. When it comes to connectivity, the laptop comes with one VGA and one HDMI video interface, one microphone jack, one headphone jack, one HDMI digital A/V output, one USB/eSata and three USB2.0 ports.

The audio features comprise of integrated stereo speakers, Dolby Home Theatre technology and internal monaural microphone amongst others. Some other key features include the likes of the MOTION EYE webcam with 0.3 megapixel sensors, WEB Button, Kensington lock slot, memory card reader and many more.

Apple Slips Faster SSD Drive from Samsung into Its MacBook Airs

It’s a bit ironic that after Samsung releases its competitor to the MacBook Air in the form of the Series 9 notebook, the same company is responsible for giving Apple’s ultraportable laptop a bit of speed boost. That’s because new MacBook Airs are shipping with a new, faster solid state drive apparently from Samsung after initially coming with a Toshiba SSD.

How much faster is the Samsung “blade” SSD (a.k.a. the mSATA form factor that Apple introduced with the Air) than Toshiba’s? According to Anandtech, the Samsung SM128C offers 260MB/s read speeds and 210MB/s write speeds, compared to the Toshiba TS128C’s 210MB/s read speeds and 185MB/s write speeds. If you’re in the market for the Air, hopefully you’ll get a Samsung SSD-equipped version, though you probably have no way of knowing until you bring the notebook home. Such is Apple’s way.

Dual-Core HTC Pyramid Gets Official as the Sensation 4G for T-Mobile

Taiwanese gadget maker HTC Corp. (2498) has enjoyed a rise that is nothing short of meteoric. Thanks to positioning itself as perhaps the most prolific maker of high-end Android handsets, HTC recently soared past the world's largest cell phone maker, Nokia Oyj. (NOK), in terms of market cap. Just a couple years ago that would have been considered a laughable proposition. HTC looks to continue its winning ways with the HTC Sensation "4G" press release, a new Android smartphone which will be available on T-Mobile in the U.S. (DTE).

Whereas the hot selling HTC Thunderbolt 4G on Verizon Communications, Inc. (VZ) was essentially a rebranded HTC EVO 4G (Sprint), the HTC Sensation 4G like the upcoming HTC EVO 3D brings substantial aesthetic and hardware changes to the table. Starting out, it is HTC's second upcoming phone to pack a dual core CPU. Like the upcoming EVO 3D (the successor to the EVO 4G) it carries one of Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM) latest Snapdragon CPUs.

Its dual cores are clocked at 1.2 GHz. The phone has a bit in common with Motorola's Atrix 4G, a smartphone deployed on what may soon become T-Mobile's parent network AT&T Inc. (T). The Atrix 4G packs a dual core Tegra 2 from NVIDIA Corp (NVDA). It should be interesting to see how the Tegra 2 stacks up against Qualcomm's similarly clocked dual-core offerings in processing might and power efficiency. Like the Atrix 4G, the Sensation 4G will pack an HSPA+ modem.

While not true "4G" T-Mobile and AT&T's marketing departments have opted to rebrand this "3.5G" tech as "4G" due to their inability to roll out a "true" "4G" network like Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) (WIMAX) or Verizon (LTE). A common defense of this practice is that current "4G" networks from Sprint and Verizon don't live up to the speeds promised in their spec. This is very accurate, but it ignores the fact that T-Mobile and AT&T's HSPA+ speeds also fall short of the standard's spec.

At the end of the day you will probably receive faster speeds than 3G phones with T-Mobile and AT&T's "4G" (in applicable regions), but it won't be quite as fast as Verizon or Sprint’s true 4G (again, in applicable regions). This is still somewhat of a win for customers, in that it represents a slight improvement, even if the branding somewhat misleads in disguising the fact that T-Mobile and AT&T are using an older/lesser standard.

Android fans will be pleased that Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the latest version of the operating system will be preinstalled on the phone. HTC, like other Android phone makers has had a bit of an issue with selling handsets with outdated versions of the OS for example the Thunderbolt comes with Android "Froyo" 2.2. Hopefully the Sensation 4G is a sign of things to come in this regard. Fans may be less pleased to discover that HTC has packed in its latest version of its user interface skin Sense 3.0 into the Sensation 4G.

Many users complained that past versions of sense felt clunky and slowed the phone. Hopefully HTC's latest effort shapes things up slightly. Like the EVO 3D, the phone packs a 4.3-inch (540 x 960) Super LCD screen. While lacking the EVO 3D's dual rear sensors for 3D imaging, its single rear sensor are a beefier 8 megapixels. It also adds a second LED flash, for better pictures in dim conditions and speeds of the maximum video framerate to 30 fps at 1080p.

The Sensation 4G was formerly codenamed the HTC "Pyramid", so you may have heard of it under that name. It won't land in the U.S. until this summer, but the Sensation 4G will be available as a Vodafone exclusive for "a couple of weeks", starting in mid-May. It should be available in Germany, the UK, and other "key" markets. After the initial couple of weeks, other European carriers should be able to pick it up. HTC didn't hint at whether the handset might come to other carriers besides T-Mobile in the U.S.

Nokia Wants One Ring to Rule Your Cellphone

Nokia Research Labs has created a magnetic ring called Nenya, after Galadriel's Ring of Power, that can control your cellphone as you twist it on your finger. The magic behind this functionality isn't really all that magical: by mounting a magnet on a ring, you can create a magnetic field with a detectable orientation. As you twist the ring around your finger, that orientation changes, which functions as an analog input dial of sorts. A Bluetooth-equipped bracelet picks up on the field orientation, and by tugging the ring forward on your finger a bit, you've effectively got a 'select' button.

All these inputs are sent to your cellphone, enabling you to do everything from toggling your music to answering calls to interacting with specialized apps. In user testing, Nokia has found that most people can accurately position the ring in increments of 45 degrees, suggesting that eight different options could exist on one ring or more if you're willing to move the ring back and forth along the axis of your finger. And while the sensor bracelet is pretty fugly at the moment, there's no reason the technology couldn't be built into something like a watch.

Swiftpoint Mouse Aims to Replace Your Laptop's Touchpad

Gearzap has just announced the release of their tiny award-winning mouse that is designed to make cursor pointing while on to go much easier. Called the SwiftPoint, this tiny mouse is touted to be comfortable and ergonomic to hold and intuitive to use. The SwiftPoint is held just like a pen and 30-40% more efficient than a touchpad, making it perfect for tasks like Photoshop and gaming.

It is less bulky than a regular wireless mouse, and requires much less surface area to function. In fact you can even use it on your lap if you don’t have anywhere else to place it. The charging dock even has a special 30-second charge gives you a full hour of use especially useful during emergencies. Hit the break to watch demo video of the SwiftPoint in action. It is available now for $81(£49.95).

WIN&I Replaces Your Mouse with the Kinect Sensor

In one of more useful ways to utilize the Microsoft Kinect gaming sensor, Evoluce, creators of the I-voluce (a motion controlled HD LCD TV) has released the some new software that will allow you to control your Windows 7 computer with hand gestures. All you have to do is install WIN&I on your Windows 7 PC, hook it up with a Kinect, learn the required gestures and you’re good to go.

While you’ll still need to use a keyboard to input text, you no longer need to use the mouse again for simple tasks such as reading websites or changing your music. WIN&I comes in two flavors Home Edition and Business Edition that adds gesture controls to Microsoft Office. WIN&I is available now as a direct download with prices starting from $28. Hit the break to watch a video demo of WIN&I in action:

Alienware M14x Intel Core i7-2820QM Gaming Laptop

The M14x reviewed featured an Intel Core i7-2820QM quad-core processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M dedicated gaming graphics. The second generation Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7-2820QM processor included in the review unit according to Intel’s own info features 4 cores and 8 processing threads, a base clock speed of 2.3GHz and a turbo boost (auto-overclock) clock speed of 2.80GHz, and the chip also has 8MB of smart cache.

As for the Nvidia GeForce GT 555M dedicated graphics included in the M14x reviewed unit it features according to Nvidia info has 144 CUDA cores, a processor clock speed of 1180 MHz, a texture fill rate of 14.2 billion/sec., the 128-bit or 192-bit interface DDR3 memory included with the graphics card has a memory clock of 900 MHz and a memory bandwidth of 43.2 GB/sec. GPU technologies featured include Nvidia 3D Vision, NVIDIA Optimus (hybrid graphics switching), video decode acceleration, NVIDIA Verde drivers, NVIDIA PhysX, NVIDIA CUDA and DirectX 11.

Other specifications leaked earlier for this portable gaming laptop:

LCD 14-inch LED; 1366×768 or 1920×1080 options

CPU Intel Core i3-2310M up to Intel Core i7-2820QM

RAM 1GB-4GB DDR3 1333MHz or 2GB/4GB DDR3 1600MHz

Storage HDD: 250GB to 750GB 7200RPM; SSD: Samsung P810 256GB 2.5-inch SATA2 or Unnamed 256GB 2.5-inch SATA3

Mobile Broadband LTE or WiMax 4G options

Multi-media SiBeam WirelessHD card+antenna option*

Battery 8-cell Li-Ion battery with 63Whr

Color Black and Red options

Lights etc Typical Alienware lighting and custom name plates

Asus Laptop Inspired By the Design of a V12-Powered Lamborghini Supercar

The styling of the new Asus laptop is inspired by the design of a V12-powered Lamborghini supercar. Computer Company Asus doesn’t bill its new laptop as the supercar of portable PCs, but it certainly looks like one. The manufacturer has again teamed up with Lamborghini to offer a high-performance portable PC for gaming enthusiasts, with a new model inspired by the design of the Italian marque’s new, V12-powered Aventador supercar.

The new VX7 laptop, which goes on sale locally in May with a $2999 price tag, is even equipped with tail-lights and rear exhaust vents to expel hot air when it’s running much like a real car. Asus’s wedgy design, sharply creased laptop lid and bright-orange ‘paintwork’ also mimic the Lamborghini that is expected to cost about $850,000 when it goes on sale later this year.

Lift the lid and you’ll find more sharp lines dominating its design, with the ‘interior’ also sporting a leather-lined wrist-rest, trapezoidal touch-pad and a push-button ignition modelled on the real thing. Usually when discussing Lamborghini performance numbers, the focus is on how many kilowatts of power it has and how many kilograms it weighs but this Raging Bull is a little different.

Yes, it has a light-weight aluminium chassis helping it weigh in at just 3.5kg - but in terms of performance the Asus VX7 measures up closely to other gaming laptops, with an i7 Intel processor, 16GB of RAM, a huge 1.5 terrabytes of internal storage. It also features a Blu-ray disk drive, and a 15.6-inch LED screen.
Australian-market VX7s will be available in orange only, though other countries have the choice of black or carbon-fibre.

Dell 15-inch Tablet-Laptop Combo Revealed

Thanks to leaked FCC schematics and specs, word is out that Dell is developing a new convertible tablet and notebook combo. The 15-inch device, code named "Dell Panerai", may follow in the footsteps of the 10-inch Inspiron Duo convertible, though it's not clear whether the Panerai will feature the same flip design. The FCC filing is that the Panerai will have both a "laptop mode" and a "tablet mode" and that there's an Intel Centrino 6230 wireless chipset a/b/g/n. That's not a lot to go on, but while wait for an official Dell announcement hope and dream that the Panerai will overcome the Duo's shortcomings (namely, a short battery life and sluggish performance from its underpowered Atom processor).

One of those new Intel Core i5 or i7 processors would be nice and perhaps not unreasonable, considering the presence of the Intel Centrino 6 series card, typically paired with Sandy Bridge processors. Innovative tablet and laptop combo devices, like the Duo and the recently launched Asus Transformer, may offer the best of both worlds if they can deliver on both the touch experience and mobile computing power. The Panerai's 15-inch display size seems massive for a tablet, but roomy enough for traditional laptop work and entertainment.

Macbook Pro Is an Expensive Laptop and Now It’s Screaming Fast

MacBook Pro as primary computer for a number of years and, even though they’re an expensive laptop, just keep getting better and better with every variant. The newest version sports a faster processor, faster graphics and faster RAM and Thunderbolt. The MacBook Pro version 5.3, 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. It has a single processor with two cores and 4GB of 1067 MHz RAM. The video card is an NVIDIA GeForce 9400 and 9600M GT and it has a 320GB Hard drive. It has two USB 2 ports, a Mini Display Port, FireWire 800 port, Gigabit Ethernet port plus ExpressCard slot.

The MacBook Pro version 8.2, 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7. It has a single processor with four cores and 4GB of 1333 MHz RAM. The video card is an AMD Radeon HD 6750M and Intel HD Graphics 3000. It has a 750GB hard drive, two USB 2 ports, Gigabit Ethernet port, a FireWire 800 port, Thunderbolt port and SDXC card slot. No more mini display port, the Thunderbolt port works with a Mini Display adapter for Cinema Displays the obvious problem being that if the Cinema Display is taking up the Thunderbolt port, then how does one add an external Thunderbolt device?

To take a step back, Thunderbolt was first developed by Intel and has the fastest I/O transfer rate available. For example, USB 2 will transfer 480 Mega bits per second (Mbps). For information’s sake, Mbps is defined as 1 million bits per second of data, so 480 Mbps equals 480 million bits per second. Thunderbolt transfers up to 10 (Giga bits per second) Gbps, or a little over 20X faster than USB 2, and Thunderbolt, because it runs on two channels, will transfer at that rate in both directions. It’s REALLY fast. When Thunderbolt compatible external hard drives become more popular, it’ll take downloading and saving huge files from a sometimes-onerous task to something that’s accomplished very quickly.

Consumers will love it. So what’s this all mean to the user? Simply put it means that the new MacBook Pro is screaming fast. The new processor is twice as fast as the last version and the graphics rendering is about three times faster. Thunderbolt means you can transfer massive files easily and when you load up photos to fool around with you’ll be amazed at how fast programs like Photoshop fly. The new MacBook Pro has FaceTime on-board, so you can video conference in HD with any other FaceTime user on their iOS device whether it’s iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone or another Mac computer there’s FaceTime for all Mac users now.

The Multi-Touch Trackpad brings the touch experience to the same level as the MacBook Air and much closer to the experience enjoyed by iOS users on their iPads. The SDXC card slot on the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros will support up to 64GB cards, making it a snap for you to take your SDXC card out of your camera and plug it directly into the computer to upload. The unibody construction continues, so outwardly the new MacBook Pro looks little different than several preceding versions. There’s a good reason for that this unibody construction is very rugged and makes this one of the toughest notebooks around.

The MacBook Pro comes in five different variants which you can add RAM to or customize further. The 13-inch 2.3 GHz models start at $1,249, with the 2.7 GHz version retailing at $1,549. The 2.0 GHz 15-inch model sells for $1,849 and the 2.2 GHz version sells for $2,249. The big guy, their 17-inch model, sells for $2,499. MacBook Pros are not inexpensive computers. But you get what you pay for with Apple products these computers are rugged, and durable, screaming fast, have great battery life, lots of RAM and hard drive space in the basic models, are loaded with technology and can be customized easily.

PROS: Fast, fast, fast, easy to use, feature-packed and Thunderbolt is an exciting new development to make them even better. They’re great computers.

CONS: Expensive, you need to download the software update as soon as you get the computer because it offers a firmware fix for several minor problems early versions experienced.

Dell Inspiron M102z AMD Fusion Netbook

Dell's Inspiron M102z is an 11.6in netbook that makes use of AMD's Fusion technology. It runs an AMD E-350 APU (accelerated processing unit) which combines the CPU and the graphics in one small chip, and it's a lot faster than a conventional 10in netbook based on Intel's Atom CPU.

Build quality and design

The Inspiron M102z is comfortable to use thanks to its relatively large size, which provides a decent-sized (62mm) palmrest and a chiclet keyboard with big keys (16mm) that are well laid out. They keys feel a little stiff and shallow, but you get used to them after a while and this review without making too many typos (well, no more than usual anyway). The touchpad is a good size (75x39mm) and it's very responsive in fact, it was a little too responsive (that is to say uncontrollable!) when using the two-finger scroll gesture.

Overall the Inspiron is a little bulky (it weighs around 1.55kg) and it gets thicker towards the back where the battery is located. This is a similar design to other Fusion netbooks such as the MSI U270 and Sony VAIO YB Series. Review unit shipped in a brushed Peacock Blue colour (that's what Dell calls it) that looked good and matched the pre-loaded Windows 7 Home Premium desktop background. It also comes in Fire Red, Piano Black or Lotus Pink.

The finish on the palmrest is smooth and semi-glossy, which means that it can feel a little sticky after you've been typing on the netbook for a prolonged period of time. If you use the netbook for a long time on your lap, you will feel some warmth, especially near the centre where the RAM is located. You'll have to make sure you don't block the left air vent. The M102z's build quality is decent for an inexpensive laptop, but the screen was a little creaky in the top-left corner when we moved the lid up and down.

The glossy bezel around the 11.6in screen, which can be distracting, and the display itself has a glossy finish that reflects room lights. However, it isn't as bad as other glossy-screened notebooks recently, and because it's a small screen, you can adjust it relatively easily to get rid of reflections. Around the edges of the Inspiron M102z, you get three USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 Ethernet, VGA, HDMI, microphone and headphone ports, as well as an SD card slot. You also get a webcam, Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi. It doesn't include a USB 3.0 port like the MSI U270, which is a bit of a let-down.

Overall performance

In the performance department, the Inspiron M102z put up decent numbers. In the Blender 3D rendering test it returned a time of 2min 43sec, while in the iTunes MP3 encoding test it recorded 3min 1sec. Both of these times pip the MSI Wind U270, but only just. It was much faster than the Sony YB Series and the Toshiba NB550D in the iTunes test, but it was still slower than the Toshiba in the Blender 3D test. Compared to the Dell Inspiron M101z, which uses a single-core AMD Athlon II Neo K125 CPU, the M102z is noticeably faster; the M101z recorded 4min and 3min 48sec in the Blender and iTunes tests, respectively.

The M102z for video transcoding if you're really dedicated and don't mind waiting a long time for results using AutoGordianKnot to turn a DVD file into Xvid took 3hr 40min, which is almost half an hour more than what the Sony took. You should only use the M102z for basic tasks only and leave tougher media transcoding tasks to faster notebooks. The unit's hard drive has a 7200rpm spin speed and it recorded a rate of 35.33 megabytes per second in transfer tests, which is a good result.

Graphics performance

With its integrated AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics, the Dell M102z has a lot more oomph than a netbook using integrated Intel HD graphics (such as the Samsung NF210-A01AU), and this was shown in 3DMark06 where the Dell recorded 2272 marks. This is on par with the other AMD E350 Fusion netbooks, and it means that not only can you undertake basic office work and photo editing tasks; you can also view high-definition video content on a big-screen TV.

The Inspiron M102z performed fine when hooked up to an HDTV, but did have to adjust the scaling of the TV in order to get the entire Windows Desktop to fit. Switch the aspect ratio on the TV from 'wide' to 'native' in order to get it to fit; simply enabling the scaling feature in the installed driver didn't help and it didn't have a manual scaling slider. Videos (both standard and high definition) played smoothly the M102z can be used as a nice little makeshift media centre.

Battery life

The Inspiron really excelled in battery tests. Its 6-cell, 56 Watt-hour batteries lasted 4hr 32min which disable power management, enable Wi-Fi, maximize screen brightness and loop an Xvid-encoded video. This is over an hour longer than the other Fusion-based netbooks.

Conclusion

The Dell Inspiron M201z doesn't have the eye-catching style of the Sony and Toshiba Fusion models (save for its colour) and it doesn't have USB 3.0 like the MSI, but it does have a long battery life. If you're in the market for an AMD Fusion netbook, and you want long battery life out of it, then you should definitely consider this Inspiron.

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