Archos announces quintet of Android tablets
Archos has announced the five new Android tablets it will be displaying at IFA this year.
The range starts with the Archos 28 internet tablets- a budget offering with a 2.8-inch screen that costs £99 and will be available in September, with 4GB and 8 GB storage.
Next up are the 8GB Archos 32 and 16GB Archos 43 internet tablets - with 3.2 inch and 4.3-inch screen respectively, these come in at £129 and £199 and both will be available in September.
Bigger, better?
The Archos 70 internet tablet, a seven inch display-toting model (can you see a pattern developing here?) will cost £229 for 8GB of (presumably SSD) internal storage or £269 for a 250GB hard drive.
And the cream of the crop is the Archos 101 internet tablet - a 10.1 inch-screened unit with either 8GB or 16GB of storage crammed into its svelte 12mm thin frame.
However, Archos has been rather unhelpful in giving any more stats - only the Archos 101 has mention of a capacitive screen, so we assume the others are all resistive.
Android... but a little different
It doesn't look like the traditional Android OS will be running on these devices, as only the AppsLib is mentioned as a way to get applications on the device - we assume the lack of cameras and GPS means Google blocked the handsets from using the proper Market.
Nor do we have any idea about which version of Android is running under the hood.
1GHz processors, 3D graphic acceleration and HDMI output are all mentioned in the press release, but not in relation to any one device, so we're unsure if all/some of these tablets have the high end features.
Stay tuned as we try to track down the absent specs, and decide whether you'd rather pick these over the Samsung Galaxy Tab, ViewSonic ViewPad 7 or indeed, the iPad.
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Packard Bell to show EasyNote LX86, Maestro range
Packard Bell has outlined the new products it will show off at IFA 2010, including the EasyNote LX86 laptop, Maestro LED HD monitor/TVs and a PB Go mobile hard drive. Packard Bell is beginning to move away from the judgements of the past, and it is hoping a raft of new products and extensions to older ranges will boost its wares.
The refinements include a new selection of colours for its well-received Dot s netbook, and the latest EasyNote – with the LX86 offering a 17.3 inch screen and the promise of 'smooth multimedia performance.
Screens
The Maestro LED HD Stereo series are billed as ideal PC monitors, but are also HD ready and offer both DVI and the expected HMI connector.
There is also a Maestro TV offering a 'slim and stylish' display with a TV tuner and the possibility of computer input as well.
Last, and probably least, is the PB Go –an external 250GBV hard drive.
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Review: BlackBerry Curve 3G
The BlackBerry Curve 3G looks like yet another BlackBerry handset. Its full QWERTY keyboard sits below a 2.4-inch screen, with the 2-megapixel camera on the reverse. Offering 3G connectivity as well as Wi-Fi, the handset promises fast internet browsing while apps and themes can be easily downloaded from the BlackBerry App World.
There's not much new to see on the BlackBerry Curve 3G. That famous physical QWERTY keyboard sits in a sensible-looking chassis with rounded corners and textured back, while the chrome-effect border panel houses the 480x360 LCD screen and a series of flush buttons alongside the optical track-pad.
The microUSB port nestles alongside the 3.5mm headphone connection and the left-hand convenience key, whose default option is the voice-dialer shortcut.
If you find yourself getting frustrated by repeated orders to "Say a command", you can easily change this in the settings. The camera button is housed on the other side of the handset, just below the volume controls.
The top panel features the BlackBerry Curve 3G's media controls – play/pause, skip forwards and skip back.
With BlackBerry's distinctive QWERTY keyboard and optical trackpad, the Curve 3G is almost identical to the earlier Curve handsets like the BlackBerry Curve 8900, as well as posing as the younger sibling of the popular BlackBerry Bold 9700.
Connectivity is the name of the game, and the BlackBerry Curve 3G offers Wi-Fi and GPS along with its namesake 3G network.
It's no secret that RIM is keen on showcasing the media features of its handsets, and the Curve 3G is no exception.
With dedicated media buttons on the top of the handset, the BlackBerry Curve 3G is clearly intended to be used as a media player, just as you would the iPhone or a Sony Ericsson W395 Walkman phone.
To this end, it's also reassuring to see a 3.5mm headphone jack giving you the freedom of using whatever headphones you like.
The 2-megapixel camera is nothing to write home about, and lacks the flash and autofocus found on the higher-spec BlackBerry Bold 9700.
As you'd expect from any handset in the BlackBerry family, the Curve 3G features enviable email capabilities, and BlackBerry Messenger for instant messaging other BlackBerry users for next-to-nothing.
If you've ever used a BlackBerry OS 5 handset before, then you'll be at home on the BlackBerry Curve 3G. Homescreen icons can be customised to whatever your most-used apps, functions and web shortcuts are, while the full menu is easy to organise into folders.
The interface shares a number of similarities to Windows desktop PC software, but although the menu is made up of rows of icons, there are webs of text-based menus to navigate through within applications.
These contain the options to adjust settings, carry out functions and kill applications. These menus can be intimidating for those lacking in confidence, as it can be confusing to be faced with an endless list of options when all you want to do is write a new text message, for example.
Because of these menu webs, it's not as easy an interface to get to grips with as those of iOS devices like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G, but there are comparisons to be drawn with Android handsets like the HTC Wildfire.
The level of customisation is lower, but the basic principle of easy access to your favourite applications is the same.
It's worth noting that the OS will be updated in the near future, so you'll have greater homescreen customisation to play with, while multiple homescreens will give you more space and you'll be able to assign widgets as opposed to app-launching shortcuts.
The BlackBerry App World, which you can launch from within the phone's menu or by finding it in the browser, gives you access to hundreds of downloadable apps.
BlackBerry themes are also available to customise the BlackBerry Curve 3G even further. You can purchase themes from designers or build your own, using different fonts, background images, ringtones and the like.
Most standard functions of the handset are very easy to launch. To make a call you can either hit the call button, or simply start typing a number or name of a contact from the homescreen.
One thing that is a little overly-complicated on most BlackBerry handsets, though, is when you launch a new email or SMS message.
Rather than just going into your inbox and being presented with an obvious option to compose a new message, you have to launch the internal menu by hitting the BlackBerry button, then scroll down through the list of options until you reach 'Compose SMS'.
This just seems like a couple of steps too many, especially for such a straightforward task.
We should note that you could also launch an SMS to a specific contact from within the address book – although this might not come as naturally to anyone making the leap from a dumb-phone to smart.
Because the BlackBerry Curve 3G has dedicated call and end buttons, it's very easy to both make and take calls.
It's also easier to hang up a call, as you don't have to wait for the sometimes-slow proximity sensor to kick in and give you the option – something that we have occasionally found on the HTC Hero and Google Nexus One.
We were really impressed with the BlackBerry Curve 3G's sound quality. Voices were clear and easily audible to both parties, even with a grizzling child in the background.
Lower-cost mid-range handsets do tend to suffer on sound quality – the Nokia X6, for example, is atrocious – and even high-end handsets like the iPhone 4 (predictable, we know) can suffer on mobile-to-mobile calls. So it's great to see that RIM hasn't skimped on the BlackBerry Curve 3G.
The reason for the good sound quality might have been down to great reception. For the ultimate signal test, we took our BlackBerry Curve 3G review sample out on a train journey across the British countryside.
It held up pretty well. We had 3G reception and full bars for the majority of the journey, despite being in the middle of nowhere with only fields and their resident cows for company.
Unfortunately in areas where networks were weaker, we had a lot more trouble – reception disappearing where just moments ago it had been super strong, very slow connections and the like.
The phone book is a very serious affair. Although you can assign photos to contacts, these don't show up in the phonebook's list view, so it's very text-heavy.
We couldn't find an easy way to sync our Facebook contacts with our BlackBerry contacts, which is a little remiss in this day and age – particularly for a youth-orientated handset.
To make up for it, you have approximately a thousand contact options when setting up new contacts, from nicknames, job titles and home and work addresses, to birthdays and relevant webpages.
This might be information overkill for the casual user, but if you're syncing the handset with your Outlook account, then much of this data may be automatically saved by the BlackBerry Curve 3G
Grouping contacts into relevant groups is easy enough, one of which can be your favourite contacts if you like. It doesn't make them any easier to access, but if you regularly email or text the same group of people, it could save you a bit of messing about.
There's no need to enter the contact book at all if you don't fancy it. Simply typing in a name or number from the homescreen will bring up the relevant contacts or numbers, and then it's simply a case of selecting the one you're after and hitting 'Call' or the BlackBerry button to bring up the menu of options including SMS, MMS and email.
The other handy option for the time-strapped super-caller is to assign speed-dial keys. With a full QWERTY keyboard at your disposal you have over 26 buttons to play with, although A, Q and W are already assigned to essential handset functions (lock keys, change profile to vibrate and call voicemail respectively).
When it comes to messaging, the BlackBerry Curve 3G has its bases covered. As well as the traditional SMS and MMS options, email is very easy to set up and is integrated into the handset at every opportunity (you can set the default option for each contact to be email rather than calling, if you wish).
BlackBerry handsets have always excelled at email. Setting up a webmail account is as easy as inputting your address and password (we used a Gmail address, but options include Yahoo! and Windows Live addresses).
As you set up your email addresses, you can opt to have your contacts for each synced with your BlackBerry address book.
As with other BlackBerry handsets, including the BlackBerry Bold 9700, you can have your SMS and MMS messages routed to a universal inbox that also receives emails from each of your accounts. This makes it easy to check all your accounts at once, although it can be a little annoying if you're not sure which account has received which messages.
The other killer messaging function that all BlackBerry handsets offer is BlackBerry Messenger or, as the kids call it, BBM.
It's a real boon, especially for the cash-strapped user – you can save your text messaging pennies for non-BlackBerry owning mates and BBM other BlackBerry users for no charge if you're on a BlackBerry plan.
If you're moving to the BlackBerry Curve 3G from another BlackBerry handset using the same SIM, the Curve 3G will set up your existing account and disable the one on the old handset.
Keyboard
The BlackBerry Curve 3G's physical QWERTY keyboard is good, but it's not the best.
Although its raised buttons are preferable to the flat slide-out QWERTYs found on the likes of the Motorola Milestone and Samsung Genio Slide, and it's more spacious than the slider on the new BlackBerry Torch 9800, the Curve 3G lacks the sharply angled keys of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 and is a little easier to fudge.
We found we had to be quite careful to hit the right keys, although in time this will become easier as you get accustomed to it.
Automatic text correction was generally intuitive, saving us the frustration garnered by the iPhone, for example, which militantly corrects intentional mistakes and doesn't allow for context when correcting punctuation.
Potty mouths will be glad to hear you can swear away to your heart's content on the BlackBerry Curve 3G. All you'll have to contend with is the disapproving underlining of the more offensive curses rather than automatic corrections.
The internet browser on BlackBerry OS 5, which will be running on the BlackBerry Curve 3G at launch, is notoriously rubbish. It's slow to open web pages, even slower to render images, only offers one tab at a time and is generally a bit of a pest to use.
Although the screen puts in a valiant effort to display as much of the webpage as possible on non-mobile sites, it ends up offering you a birds' eye view. By which we mean a view of a load of coloured blobs on a screen.
You really have to make good use of the zoom function in order to see smaller images and read any text. Zooming in to get a better view of text tends to be quite smooth, although we were often left with extremely jaggedy pixellated images after a zoom-in.
In fact, some websites rendered very pixellated, and even dedicated mobile sites suffered this same fate.
The optical track pad gives you more freedom to move the cursor around the web page than a D-pad would, although it did tend to be overly responsive, making selecting that tiny little link a real hassle.
It also comes in handy when you want to select text to copy and paste on the BlackBerry Curve 3G, as you can grab massive chunks of text in one quick swipe.
Sharing links is very easy, and is given as an option in the browser's menu. You have the option to send the link in an email, via SMS, MMS or BlackBerry Messenger. The other standard feature is the inclusion of bookmarks, and you can organise these by named folders to keep things tidy.
The camera on the BlackBerry Curve 3G is a pretty poor affair. When you launch the camera app, the only options you're offered onscreen are to zoom in or out, and take the picture.
To fiddle around with the (admittedly limited) options requires you to click the BlackBerry button and enter another of those text-heavy menus. Here you can play around with the white balance, picture size and picture quality, as well as opt for monochrome or sepia options if you're feeling a bit old school.
It's nice to have the sepia and monochrome options, we suppose, but they do smack of being token options, and almost highlight the limited amount of features the camera offers.
Click here to see the full resolution image
Click here to see the full resolution image
To zoom in and out, you simply roll a finger across the optical trackpad – easy enough, but a mixed blessing.
If you want to take an image using the handset in a landscape position, then you can use the shutter button on the side of the handset, but if you're after a portrait shot then you must click the optical trackpad to take the picture.
Unless you're really quite firm with the button, you'll find yourself zooming when you already had the shot nicely framed up – something we found to be a real annoyance on several occasions.
Zoomed in images lose a lot of quality. Here you can see the same flower from three different zooms; the first is zoomed completely out, the second 3x and the third is zoomed in the full 5x.
Click here to see the full resolution image
Click here to see the full resolution image
Click here to see the full resolution image
As you can see in the zoom images, the camera isn't too bad at handling colours when there's a big difference between them. But the red of the flower still comes out a little glassy, despite being taken in average daylight – bright but a little overcast.
Where the camera struggles with close-up shots (in the image below we hadn't even zoomed in – the fuzziness comes from a lack of autofocus) it handles long-shots much better.
Click here to see the full resolution image
Click here to see the full resolution image
The images aren't massively crisp, either, which is no more than we'd expect from a 2-megapixel camera. Suffice to say, this isn't the ideal handset for shutterbugs.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G doesn't do too badly handling a lot of light. As you'd expect, it seeps into the whole image, but the dark areas do retain a suitable amount of contrast.
Click here to see the full resolution image
It's also worth noting that the 2-megapixel camera lacks the flash of the BlackBerry Bold 9700, so low-light photography is very much miss and not a whole lot of hit.
Click here to see the full resolution image
Like the still camera mode, video recording on the BlackBerry Curve 3G offers the most basic customisation. The only options here are between two sizes (normal or a smaller MMS size) and colour effects (normal, black and white or sepia).
One feature we did appreciate, however, was the ability to pause recording then continue. Rather than leaving us with a bunch of little video files needing editing together on a PC, we had one handy video file with several shots in (like the video clip below).
Like the still camera, the video camera's ability to handle bright colours is not bad, but you do still get that unreal gloss over objects like flowers.
Differentiating between similar colours is a bit of a struggle for the BlackBerry Curve 3G. In real life, the greens of the leaves in the video above were noticeably different, but here they merge into one Kermit-like mass.
You'll notice that the wind fluttering through the leaves looks a little jaggedy and jumpy, and we can assure you it was the handset not nature that was at fault here.
It's a shame that you can't zoom while filming. You have to decide on your zoom before hitting record, otherwise you'll have to manually move closer to your subject.
Emailing videos works fine as long as the file size isn't too big. Any video clip over about 30s will need to be transferred by USB instead.
BlackBerry OS 5 is not known for its brilliance in the media arena. While the BlackBerry Curve 3G does display track information and album artwork, the music player is very basic. It does offer you the option to shuffle or continuously play albums, artists and tracks, however.
The other notable features is the ability to either build your own playlists or command the BlackBerry Curve 3G to create an automatic playlist featuring artists of your choosing. There's no FM radio on board, so you'll want to make sure you have plenty of music tracks to listen to.
Sound quality is average – even through quite high-quality Sennheiser in-ear headphones – but at least it's better than the BlackBerry Curve 3G's built-in speaker, which is tinny and awful.
Of course you can also control the media player by using the buttons on the top of the handset. This controls both the audio and video players.
The following audio files are supported: MP3, AMR-NB, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, Flac, Ogg Vorbis.
Video playback isn't particularly brilliant quality on that 320x240 pixel screen, but the video player is quite nippy, and it skips happily between clips.
If you don't have much stored on the handset, you can visit YouTube within the mobile browser – we'd recommend sticking to the Wi-Fi to do this.
MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV9 video formats are all supported on the BlackBerry Curve 3G.
The image gallery displays all your photos in a pleasing thumbnail layout, but viewing them on such a small, low-quality screen is not exactly satisfying.
Uploading images to Facebook and other social networking apps is easy – you just do it through an option in the internal menu. There's no such option for sending videos to social networks though, although you can share them via email or Bluetooth.
Suffice to say, this isn't the best handset for anyone looking to video-blog on the go – we'd point you in the direction of the iPhone 4 for its front-facing camera, or the Sony Ericsson Vivaz which records in HD and makes sharing videos super easy.
The headphone jack is located on the side of the handset, just above the USB connector. It's often a little easier on the headphone connection if it's located on the top or bottom of the handset – particularly if you're going to be storing the handset in a pocket.
You'd think, given the location of the media playback controls on the top pane of the BlackBerry Curve 3G that this might have been a sensible place for the headphone jack too. It's a 3.5mm connector, so you'll have the freedom to use a wide range of headphones.
We managed to get the BlackBerry Curve 3G to last two full days on one full battery charge, although it was getting very touch-and-go towards the end of day two.
During this time, we were taking photos, using email, web browsing and downloading apps, as well as making several calls.
This is just about in line with what RIM has stated for the handset's battery life – it offers 4.5 hours of talk time, 29 hours of music playback or 19 days of standby time.
Physically speaking, the battery is tiny – which no doubt helps the BlackBerry Curve 3G retain its low weight.
The native Google Maps app on board the BlackBerry Curve 3G is not the worst we've seen – the Sony Ericsson Vivaz's poor efforts could well take that prize.
A recent update has vastly improved matters. Getting directions between locations has suddenly become much easier – a matter of simply filling in clearly marked boxes with your destination and locations.
Although accurate and much nicer to use post-update, the maps could still be a little slow to load when you're out and about and relying on the 3G network. The compass, however, is brilliant – quick, accurate and easy to navigate by.
It's just as well that Google Maps comes pre-loaded, given the monstrousness of BlackBerry's own native maps app, which is clunky, confusing, slow and generally makes life difficult for the user.
Gone are the days when you couldn't use BlackBerry Desktop Manager with Apple Mac computers – now you can quite happily back-up, restore and sync your BlackBerry Curve 3G, even if you're completely PC-less.
The software is pretty straightforward to use – much easier than the complicated, non-intuitive efforts from the likes of LG and Samsung. You can pick what playlists to sync to your BlackBerry Curve 3G in an iTunes-like interface – likewise with calendar events, contacts, notes and tasks.
Creating a backup file is a two-click process, and if you're in the secret service or just a bit paranoid, then you can encrypt your essential data from within the Manager.
It's a shame that the Desktop Manager doesn't include a quick and easy way to import your images and videos, though, and there's no overview of your applications already stored on the handset.
Using the 3G in areas of good reception is a breeze – we tested ours using a T-Mobile SIM and found that most of the time we were pretty happy with the level of reception we were getting.
These were the glory days, when downloading was a quick and easy matter, browsing the web was not too painful, social networking apps updated quickly and emails were in and out of our inboxes like hipsters to a Starbucks.
Too bad then that as soon as signal dropped a notch, the handset became a little unstable. We'd find ourselves spending frustrating minutes watching a blue progress bar cross the screen at slower than snail's pace, and often lost signal altogether where moments before there had been plenty. Very frustrating and unreliable.
Luckily the Wi-Fi fared better. We had no problems maintaining a signal, and web-based services were notably quicker.
The Bluetooth connection was also fine, and the BlackBerry Curve 3G does offer A2DP connectivity, so you should be able to use wireless headphones with no problems.
Applications
BlackBerry's App World is not as well-stocked as the Android Market or Apple's App Store, but there is a range of useful, good quality applications. You may find these a little more expensive than on other platforms, however, and there are a lot of rubbish apps.
Downloading applications and themes is very straightforward. Once you've found an app you like the look of, just simply select it in the App World and hit download.
You'd be wise to do so over Wi-Fi rather than relying on the 3G network, which can be a little slow and unreliable, particularly when downloading large files.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G does come well-stocked with onboard apps though. As well as the traditional calendar, notebook, clock and calculator apps, you'll be able to get going with Windows Live Messenger straight away.
There's also a suite of office-based apps – Word To Go for reading and editing word processed documents, Sheet To Go for spreadsheets and Slide To Go which, unsurprisingly deals in slideshows.
If you're sentimental about your text messages, then you may appreciate a handy little app called ''Saved Messages" to which you can, er, save messages that matter to you separately from your inbox.
Of course, you'll also get an array of BlackBerry games on board the BlackBerry Curve 3G. From the illustrious BrickBreaker to the frustrating WordMole, they'll keep you busy on the commute if you forget your book.
Like its fellow Curve handsets, the BlackBerry Curve 3G is one of RIM's highly capable handsets aimed at a more youthful, fun-loving consumer than the traditional business customer.
It's pretty similar to the rest of the Curve range, including the BlackBerry Curve 8500 with which it shares its external media controls. The design is slightly updated, though, and the 3G connectivity gives it an edge.
The BlackBerry OS 6 update, on its way to the handset in the coming months, will set it apart from older models like the rest of the BlackBerry Curve range.
What it shares in looks with the BlackBerry Bold 9700, it sadly lacks in specs – the screen is a lower resolution, the QWERTY less well-angled for speed-typing and the connectivity and processing powers leave a little to be desired.
The optical trackpad is a little more skittish than that of the BlackBerry Bold 9700, however. We found it a bit unwilling to make small movements, which meant we often had a difficult time selecting the options we wanted.
The Curve 3G doesn't purport to be all things to all people, unlike it's newest BlackBerry cohort, the BlackBerry Torch.
That said, the BlackBerry Curve 3G is definitely a step up from the candy-bar stylings of the BlackBerry Pearl 3G, and despite the similar functions and connectivity, that full QWERTY keyboard really sets it apart for serious emailers.
Having forgone the touchscreen route, the BlackBerry Curve 3G shares little in common with many mid-range Android phones like the HTC Wildfire and Sony Ericsson X10 Mini – at least in terms of hardware.
Many will prefer the candybar-like keyboard positioning, preferring it to the slide-out QWERTYs found on the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro and LG GW620.
In terms of apps, the BlackBerry Curve 3G can't really compete with the likes of the iPhone and Android handsets like the HTC Legend. Quite aside from the issues of stock, the hardware lacks the additional functionality – like a gyroscope, a high-res screen or a touchscreen – that often make or break a good app.
However, it's at least on a par with the Nokia E72 that features a similar hardware layout and uses the Ovi Store's stock of applications.
Because of the BlackBerry Curve 3G's looks, it's all too easy to compare it to the BlackBerry Bold 9700. But these comparisons are unfair, as the lower-spec BlackBerry Curve 3G will always come off worse.
There's no camera flash, a lower-res screen, less powerful processing power and a lower-quality keyboard.
Still, the Curve 3G retains many of the great features we loved on the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Its design is svelte and attractive, the optical trackpad is incredibly (sometimes a little too) responsive and both handsets will enjoy the benefits of BlackBerry OS 6 when it's released in a few months.
But forget looks – the BlackBerry Curve 3G is very much a Curve handset. Low-cost materials and build place it squarely in the Curve range, even though we prefer the more grown up, slimmer looks of the Curve 3G, compared to earlier iterations like the BlackBerry Curve 8900.
To be honest, there's not a great deal between the Curve 3G and its range-mates – the main difference is its connectivity, and the 3G is a real boon.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G's physical QWERTY keyboard is great for text-happy users, and this is what will set it apart from other budget social networkers like the HTC Wildfire and Samsung Monte.
Having said that, if you've used a touchscreen in the past, you may find yourself missing the additional app functionality and multi-touch web-browsing that's present on most higher-end Android smartphones like the HTC Wildfire and HTC Legend, as well as the iPhone 3G and all its more recent iterations.
It's been difficult to judge the BlackBerry Curve 3G as a handset in its own right, so similar is it to the other members of the Curve family. But it has held its own, and despite a spec sheet not necessarily as chocablock as most smartphones, the Curve 3G isn't a handset we'd be completely ashamed to own.
We liked
During our time with the BlackBerry Curve 3G we grew to love that QWERTY keyboard, even though it's not quite as good as the BlackBerry Bold 9700's effort.
As usual, BlackBerry's email and messaging tools are top notch, and we were impressed with the call quality and great reception that was generally offered by the handset.
With the BlackBerry OS 6 upgrade imminent, the interface can only get better, and we're looking forward to advanced media features, meaning we can take full advantage of the physical media buttons atop the Curve 3G.
We didn't like
As people who've spent a lot of time with more powerful handsets, it was impossible to stop ourselves getting frustrated with the elements of the Curve 3G we wanted more from.
The screen's comparatively low resolution is one of the ways that RIM is able to keep the cost of the handset down, but for media fanatics it just won't cut it. The 2-megapixel camera is woefully restrictive. Similarly, the clunkiness of the menu system and the onboard browser will frustrate until you can upgrade the software.
Verdict
For a mid-range handset, the BlackBerry Curve 3G stands up well. If you're after an email-machine with occasional web browsing and a spot of media playback, then it'll suit you down to the ground without costing you a fortune – and with BlackBerry OS 6 just around the corner, things can only get better.
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Canon announces XF105 and XF100 camcorders
Canon has announced two new additions to its high-end camcorder, with the XF105 and XF100 apparently the smallest models ever to include the broadcast quality MPEG-2 Full HD recording codec. Canon has designed the two camcorders, which are aimed at the professional and prosumer markets, to offer what it calls highly portable Full HD recording at 50Mbps and 4:2:2.
The two camcorders both take many cues from the XF300-series, but are much more compact and weigh in at around 1KG.
Uniquely adaptable
"The XF105 and XF100 are uniquely adaptable camcorders that offer maximum image quality from a small, lightweight body," said Canon's release.
"Weighing just over 1kg , with advanced ergonomics designed to be comfortable for extended shooting, they benefit from a series of features adopted from the XF300-series.
"The much-praised design principles of the existing XF camcorders have also inspired the build of both models, with easy-to-reach, customisable controls, an outstanding LCD and XLR inputs built into the handle."
The cameras will go on show at IBC in Amsterdam and Photkina in Cologne, and have a UK release date of the beginning of 2011, with no UK price yet confirmed (think: not cheap).
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In Depth: How to buy the right CPU
Whether you're buying a new PC, or upgrading an old one, perhaps with a new motherboard, then your choice of processor will be critical. But there's a lot to consider.Will you opt for AMD, or Intel, for instance? How much performance do you really need? How many CPU cores will it take to achieve that? What might you be able to achieve for overclocking? And how much is all this going to cost? The list goes on, and on.
Fortunately, while there's a huge list of processors available, it's actually not that difficult to reduce the selection to more practical and manageable levels. You just have to take the process step by step, analysing your needs and looking at the best candidates to fulfil them, and this begins by thinking about the age-old question: Intel or AMD?
Intel vs AMD
You might well already have chosen your preferred CPU manufacturer, of course. Maybe you always go with one particular company. Or perhaps you have your motherboard already, in which case the decision has been made already: you'll have to opt for whatever is compatible.
If not, though, selecting Intel or AMD will pose an interesting dilemma.
Right now, Intel is the performance king. Its Core i7 range is blisteringly fast and, initially at least, outperform anything that AMD has to offer.
This comes at a price, though - if you're looking for value, then AMD offers a much better deal. As we write, for instance, the quad-core AMD Black Edition Phenom II X4 965, one of AMD's fastest processors, can be yours for around £130. Intel's core i5-680 delivers roughly equivalent performance, but will cost you maybe £230. And becoming a speed king via something like Intel's Core i7-950 will virtually double the figure again: you can expect to pay £450 or more.
(These figures change day to day, but AMD will remain the value choice for the foreseeable future. If you already have a few CPUs in mind, check our processor section for reviews and more up-to-date price comparisons.)
It's also worth factoring in the price of the motherboard. Spending just £60 to £70 will give you plenty of possible homes for a high-end AMD CPU; opt for the best that Intel has to offer and you'll probably spend at least twice as much. (But again, visit our motherboard pages for up-to-date prices.)
If you want and need Intel's performance then things aren't quite as bad as they seem. Intel CPUs are generally a little more overclockable than AMDs, and something like the i5-750 (priced around £150 as we write) can be pushed a very long way.
But if you don't require that kind of high-end power (or you just can't afford it) then an AMD processor is the way to go. You'll still get plenty of speed when you need it, and will save a pile of cash, too.
Intel Core i7-930 review
Processor features
These days the CPU features that attract the most attention are the number of cores, and its clock speed. Both are simple concepts to understand, but you still have to be careful how you interpret them.
AMD's Black Edition Phenom II X6 1090T, for example, contains six cores, individual processors, which means the CPU can work on six separate tasks at the same time. And each of these runs at a very respectable 3.2GHz.
Meanwhile the Intel Core i7-860 has only four cores, and runs at a mere 2.8GHz. So you might, not unreasonably, expect it to be slower. However, it supports Intel's Hyper-Threading technology, providing an extra four "virtual" cores, and thanks to this, and a few other design decisions, it actually outperforms the Phenom II X6 1090T. So you can't rely solely on these figures to determine which CPU is best.
Still, as a general rule for processors from the same manufacturer, the more cores a CPU provides, the happier you're going to be. You won't see large speed increases from all programs - the popular LAME encoder is still single-threaded, for instance, so upgrading from a dual to quad-core CPU won't deliver any noticeable changes - but most apps that could benefit significantly from multithreading, now do so, and will take advantage of the extra processing power. And just about everything else will be upgraded over time.
Cores should be your first priority, then: you'll want a quad-core CPU at a minimum. After that, opt for the highest clock speed you can afford, or need, but don't worry about that quite as much. You can often ramp that up later with a little judicious overclocking.
GOOD BUY: Quad-core i7 CPUs are excellent performers, easily outpacing the AMD competition
Intel Core i5-750 review
Socket set
Every processor comes sized to fit a particular "CPU socket", a component that connects the CPU to a motherboard. If you've chosen your motherboard already then you'll know what this is; if not, then now might be a good time to think about it, as your processor will need to be compatible.
If you're opting for an AMD CPU then there a couple of options. The cheapest is to go for a Socket AM2+ motherboard, but choosing Socket AM3 instead will get you support for faster DDR3 RAM. AM3 boards will typically also come with USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, and prices are so affordable that it makes little sense to go for anything else.
If you're choosing an Intel Core i5 CPU then there's even less to think about: you'll want an LGA1156 motherboard.
But if you're splashing out on a Core i7 then it's a little more complicated.
You could buy a Core i7 CPU that also fits the LGA1156 motherboard. These are known as the 800 series, so they'll all have product numbers that are 800 and something: the Core i7-860, say. This will save you a little money, but the LGA1156 boards have some limitations, and for example are often lacking in PCI Express lanes, cutting your expansion possibilities.
The alternative is to buy a Core i7 CPU designed for LGA1366 motherboards, which means 900 series chips like the Core i7-930 or -940. Not only is the board more powerful, but it's also reasonably future-proof. High-end Intel releases like the 6-core i7-975 are already available in the LGA1366 format only, for instance.
If you're building a power system, need plenty of PCI Express power (perhaps to install multiple graphics cards) or want to ensure your system's future upgradeability, then, an LGA1366 board is the way to go.
But if a Core i7 CPU already feels more expensive than you'd really like to pay, and you're just building a regular system, then an LGA1156 board and processor will be fine. Avoid the PCI Express issues and there's little difference in performance, and you can put the money you save towards enhancing another area of your PC.
CHOOSE WISELY: Your choice of motherboard will define exactly which CPUs you can install
Intel Core i7-980X review
CPU options
We've reduced the original mountain of possible CPUs to just a handful, then, but to choose the right model from these you'll need to understand just a few more processor-related terms.
As we've mentioned, many Intel CPUs include a feature called Hyper-Threading, which allows each core to run two sets of instructions simultaneously. It can be a very effective technology - Intel Core i7 CPUs are essentially i5's with Hyper-Threading enabled - and you'll want to get it if you can.
Every Intel processor also contains an amount of embedded memory called a cache, which is used to hold regularly-used information. If the CPU needs this again then it can be fetched from the cache, which is far quicker than accessing system RAM. Look for descriptions like L2 (Level 2 Cache), L3 (Level 3 Cache) or "Intel Smart Cache" (which means L3) - the more your processor has, the better.
And it's a similar story with AMD CPUs, although less dramatic. Opt for a quad-core Phenom II X4 and you'll find they all have the same cache amounts, 2MB for L2, 6MB for L3. The 6-core Phenom II X6 increases L2 cache to 3MB, though, while will provide a useful speed increase in many situations.
What you might want also to consider, though, is the Phenom II's "Thermal Design Power" (TDP), the maximum amount of power it's likely to consume when busy running applications. This ranges from 65W (Phenom II X4 905e or 910e) to 125W (Phenom II X4 955 and higher); the low TDP CPUs are slower, but use less electricity and run cooler, making them better choices for media centre PCs where you want to keep fan noise to a minimum.
You should now have a better idea of what you want from a CPU, then - but you'll still need to find confirmation of exactly which model is best for you. And our processor reviews are a great place to start. There are over 100 reviews online, all filterable by socket, CPU type and more, and with instant price comparisons to hand you'll soon locate the best CPU deals around.
NOT THE BEST: It's a great CPU, but the Intel Core i5 750 lacks Hyper-Threading, reducing its performance a little
Intel Core i7 875K review
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Google's Schmidt to provide closing IFA 2010 keynote
Google' CEO Eric Schmidt will provide the closing keynote for the IFA conference in Berlin, further testament to the increasing power of the European electronics show. IFA 2010 is perhaps the most influential consumer electronics offering outside of CES, and has become a key launchpad for many major manufacturers in the run up to the festive period.
And this year's IFA will close with the CEO of the most powerful internet company – Eric Schmidt – an indication of the increasingly connected world of the electronic device.
Innovations
"Google and technological innovation are synonymous," said Jens Heithecker, executive director of IFA.
"We are delighted that Dr Schmidt will join other thought-leaders in IFA's International Keynote program to define the technologies and innovations that will move our industry forward."
Schmidt is the most vocal of the senior figures at Google, with founders Sergei Brin and Larry Page happy to avoid the majority of the limelight.
He has courted controversy at times, most often over privacy issues, but his presence in Berlin shows just how far Google, and IFA have come.
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Review: CyberPower Liquid i7 Charybdis
Sat inside this fairly non-descript, squat little case is one monster of a PC. Seriously, I've never wanted a pre-built computer more. Kudos to CyberPower, then, for bringing us a rig for under £2,000 that puts everything else we've tested previously to shame.And that's including machines costing well over a grand more. So what makes this jumble of silicon and wiring such a desirable beast?
In short, CyberPower has made some astute choices in the make up of the unpronounceable Charybdis' componentry.
The Bloomfield combo of the brand new Core i7 970 and fantastic Asus P6X58D-E motherboard gives you 12 threads of the most advanced CPU cores available. And thanks to CyberPower's water-cooling nouse, it's also upped the clocks from the (still pretty damned quick) 3.2GHz mark, right up over and above 4GHz.
Sure, that's nearly £1,000-worth of processing power in itself, especially when you factor in the 6GB of DDR3 memory, so you'd be forgiven for thinking that to hit that sub-£2,000 price point you're going to be sacrificing some gaming performance.
Well, kinda. CyberPower has opted for the cheapest 1GB GTX 460 currently on offer so that's almost a compromise, but then when you realise it's dumped two of them in there, and overclocked the pair, it's plain to see you're losing nothing in-game.
As you can see from the SLI review, these Inno3D cards scale very nicely indeed, to the point where the previous multi-GPU combo of choice, twin HD 5870s, is now effectively redundant. And with that extra overclock on top this bargain GPU bundle can oust the big boys from the benchmark table.
Seriously, when you can hit nigh-on 100fps at 2,560 x 1,600 in any modern game, you've got to stand up and take notice.
The only real issue isn't anything to do with the rig's performance. It's in the thermal and aural areas that we have a few reservations.
Heat and noise
First off, it's loud. Because of the overclocked pairing of top-end CPU and SLI graphics cards, the little NZXT PanzerBox chassis has to work pretty hard to keep things cool in there.
The CPU is water-cooled, but the large radiator still has two fans pushing air across it. There's also a chunky fan in the front that has a bit of the wind-tunnel about it.
The heat of the graphics cards too is a cause for concern. The way the PCI-e slots are positioned means there's nothing in the way of clear air between them, and to compound matters, the warming presence of the PSU is pressed up against them thanks to the odd way the PanzerBox is laid out.
Under load, the primary card tops the 80ºC mark, and the secondary can easily top 70ºC too. Over time, that might not do good things to the GPUs, especially with the Nvidia reference cooler doing the work.
They'll probably still keep running long after DX11 is a footnote in history, though, so it's no biggie.
£2,000 is a massive amount of cash to drop on a rig, especially one without a screen. But you get way more for your money than in systems asking more than a grand extra.
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Corsair HS1 gaming headset unveiled
Corsair has announced the Gaming Audio Series HS1 USB headset, with the memory giant taking its first step into audio.It's been a big few weeks for gaming peripherals, with the usual suspects finding new players arriving in the marketplace.
The Corsair Gaming Audio Series HS1 features noise-isolation, multi-channel audio and 50mm drivers.
Circumaural
The circumaural (which means round your ears, duh) design has a closed back that 'helps reject ambient noise', which the more cynical would suggest most objects do.
There are also replaceable memory foam earpads and a uni-directional microphone.
"We set out to develop a headset with the performance that gamers demand, while also providing the pristine audio reproduction required for multi-channel movies and high bit rate music," stated Jim Carlton, Vice President of Marketing at Corsair.
"The Audio HS1 easily meets both these challenges."
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Review: Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 7
The first Cyborg mouse we looked at, over two years ago, was quite well received despite the irrelevance of the motorised adjustable length. Despite this pointless gimmick it was a functional, multi-buttoned rodent, though not in the same class as the Sidewinders or G9s. The R.A.T. though is a much more competitive beast.
There's no comparison at all with the previous Cyborg; sure there's still length adjustment, but that goes along with a host of other tweaks to suit your hand and your grip. And none of them need plugging into your PC to get it going.
Instead there's an Allen key screwed into the end of the chassis that allows you to adjust the shape of the mouse to suit. You can even replace a number of the grips to change the shape and tactile sense of the rodent.
Physically, this is a mouse that's bound to polarise opinion. It's all sharply angular shapes, cut-out plastic and exposed bare metal innards. As it sits on my desk it looks more like an exploded schematic of the Chris Nolan Batmobile than a functional control device.
But it's more than functional and the more I've been using it the more it's grown on me. With the supplied weights and the solid, rigid metal chassis, it's a heavy mouse, but I like that. It's reassuringly well designed and built, rather than moulded from the same ol' mouse chassis we've seen a thousand times before.
Frankenstein's ugly sister
When you first clap eyes on it you'd be forgiven for thinking it would feel like Sarah Jessica Parker's bizarrely-angled chin, but it's surprisingly comfortable in the hand.
My only real concern with the R.A.T. is the fact the back thumb button is located so close to the palm rest. Even with all the adjustments available you still can't move that button into a more comfortable position.
But then as a gamer you might be more interested in the precision aim button that sits perfectly under the thumb. This instantly cuts the DPI setting to a percentage of the full settings – ideal for those camping snipers, or for long-range exchanges in ArmA II.
The Cyborg profile manager is powerful too, allowing all the buttons to be changed, and macro'd up to within an inch of their lives. Sure it's a pricey mouse, but it works hard to justify that outlay.
The difficulty though, as ever with new mice, is that the Sidewinder and G9 are now far cheaper by comparison. The R.A.T. though offers more customisation for your cash, though unfortunately there aren't enough Allen keys in the world for all you sinister left-handers.
It's solid, responsive and has got more buttons than your finger-tips could possibly cope with. The only real downside is that freaky-ass robot rat on the box art.
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In Depth: HTC Desire Z: what you need to know
Capitalising on the success of the HTC Desire, HTC is bringing out two new Desire-branded Android phones - the HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z. The phone that would become the HTC Desire Z was first unearthed back in May, when an HTC model described as the HTC Vision was mentioned in an HTC device profile - a codename that didn't make much sense, given that the leaked phone was said to be an HTC Desire with a QWERTY keyboard attached. What's "Vision" about a keyboard?
Proper confirmation of the HTC Vision was then gained on July 5, with a handful of spy photos of a test handset appearing online. And yes, it is indeed the long-awaited HTC QWERTY Android phone.
HTC Desire Z specifications
This leak also gave us our first look at the HTC Desire Z specs. The HTC Desire Z's screen is the same size as that of the non-QWERTY HTC Desire, giving us 3.7" of touch space, powered by the same swift 1Ghz processor.
This early version of the handset was running an unskinned version of Android 2.1, leading some to suspect this images was a fake. But it wasn't. And we expect HTC to fully skin the phone with its HTC Sense UI in time for the HTC Desire Z release date.
The most recent twist in the HTC Desire Z saga landed on August 16 when we saw the official name of the handset appear online, via an embarrassing early product listing on Amazon, while the most recent unofficial HTC Desire Z mention came on August 20, when retailer Mobiles.co.uk stuck up a listing for the Android phone on its site.
The page apparently confirmed all the HTC Desire Z tech specs - 3.7" screen, 1GHz processor, full QWERTY keyboard and, slightly disappointing if true, Android 2.1 as its onboard OS at launch.
The same Mobiles.co.uk update also confirmed HTC's other re-imagining of its renowned HTC Desire - the HTC Desire HD. Both have been removed from the site's directory at time of writing, though.
Oh, and US readers beware – HTC is planning on launching the Desire Z as the HTC Blaze, or possibly the G1 Blaze in the States.
HTC Desire HD specs and speculation
The HTC Desire HD also has a confusing history of leaks. The phone first appeared under the name HTC Ace, and its 4.3" screen led us to expect a rebranded HTC EVO.
The Desire HD has been pictured and even appeared on a leaked video, showing a phone that actually has a similar streamlined form factor to the top-scoring HTC Desire.
The thing that's "HD" about the HTC Desire HD is the Android phone's screen, which echoes that of the US-only HTC EVO - measuring an enormous 4.3".
We're expecting official confirmation of both the HTC Desire Z and HTC Desire HD to arrive in a couple of weeks, when HTC shows off its upcoming smartphone range in London on September 15.
We'll be back with an HTC Desire Z review as soon as possible.
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BT connects 15 million UK homes to broadband
BT has announced that it has passed a major landmark in broadband, with 15 million homes and small businesses signing up to the service. According to BT, the milestone was reached in late August, with more than five million connections through BT Retail and the rest via other companies.
BT points out that this, in conjunction with the other major network Virgin Media, brings the total number of homes in the UK on broadband connections up past the 19 million mark.
That's more than the US, France and Germany in terms of broadband as a percentage of households, according to BT's calculations.
Success story
Olivia Garfield, BT strategy director said: "Broadband Britain has been a success story with widespread availability, low prices and high take up.
"People were sceptical when BT backed broadband in 2002 but the figures speak for themselves with the vast majority of new customers choosing broadband over BT's network rather than alternative ones where prices are far higher.
"The story doesn't end here as BT is now investing a further £2.5 billion to roll out fibre broadband to two thirds of the UK.
"This will help the UK climb the league tables for speeds, one of the few areas in which we don't lead the world."
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Total Film app for iPhone surfaces
The Total Film iPhone app has appeared, bringing the latest film reviews and news along with live search and a nifty offline tool. The official Total Film app is available for £1.79 and offers a host of features that include finding your local cinema, latest trailers and the ability to save your favourite articles.
But it will be the searchable reviews (more than 8,000 of them) and up-to-date news that will most appeal to film fans, with the hugely respected Total Film content available to help you pick out the cinema wheat from the multiplex chaff.
Latest and greatest
"All the other movie apps do individual things well, but ours covers everything - latest news, reviews you can trust, funny and lateral features, trailers, cinema finder... It's the best movie app on the App Store," said Total FIlm's online editor Andy Lowe.
"You can read the latest news, reviews and features, watch current trailers and find local cinemas and showtimes with the powerful Cinema Finder," adds the app description.
In the interests of openness, we should point out that Total Film are part of Future Publishing, which is, as you probably know by now, the same publisher as TechRadar.
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Samsung's next Bada phone: the Wave 723
Samsung has proved it still loves its latest OS baby, by bringing out the Samsung Wave 723, powered by Bada.The Koreans' proprietary smartphone platform has only had the Samsung Wave to champion its cause so far, but now that party of one will now be a, well, party of two.
The new Samsung Wave 723 isn't going to blow your mind spec-wise: the Super AMOLED screen of the original Wave is dropped in favour of a 3.2-inch LCD.
However, there are some other nicer additions to the hardware to chew through: a 5MP camera with flash and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi spec help make it appear a little more next generation.
App happy
An Auto-Scaling UI feature means that developers for the Bada platform can easily convert their apps for the Wave 723 - this hints at a less-than-WVGA resolution for the phone compared to its Wave bigger brother.
There's also a leather flip cover in the box too, so you can pretend your phone is like one of those fancy calculators from the 1980s.
We're told that the Samsung Wave will be launching in Germany from September, "and will be gradually rolled out to other European markets" in the near future.
So we're still waiting for a UK release date and UK pricing - but as you're probably painfully aware by now, TechRadar will be at IFA this year and will try and seek out the new Samsung Wave 723 on Samsung's stand.
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Samsung's next Bada phone: the Wave 723
Samsung has proved it still loves its latest OS baby, by bringing out the Samsung Wave 723, powered by Bada.The Koreans' proprietary smartphone platform has only had the Samsung Wave to champion its cause so far, but now that party of one will now be a, well, party of two.
The new Samsung Wave 723 isn't going to blow your mind spec-wise: the Super AMOLED screen of the original Wave is dropped in favour of a 3.2-inch LCD.
However, there are some other nicer additions to the hardware to chew through: a 5MP camera with flash and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi spec help make it appear a little more next generation.
App happy
An Auto-Scaling UI feature means that developers for the Bada platform can easily convert their apps for the Wave 723 - this hints at a less-than-WVGA resolution for the phone compared to its Wave bigger brother.
There's also a leather flip cover in the box too, so you can pretend your phone is like one of those fancy calculators from the 1980s.
We're told that the Samsung Wave will be launching in Germany from September, "and will be gradually rolled out to other European markets" in the near future.
So we're still waiting for a UK release date and UK pricing - but as you're probably painfully aware by now, TechRadar will be at IFA this year and will try and seek out the new Samsung Wave 723 on Samsung's stand.
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Viewsonic announces UK launch of ViewPad 7
Viewsonic has finally announced its ViewPad 7, its first Android tablet, will be coming to the UK, and revealed some pretty tasty specs.The tablet, which we brought you news of last week, is set to make its debut at IFA this year, and will be sporting Android 2.2.
It will also have a 3G SIM slot, meaning on the go data use, as well as a VGA front facing camera and 3MP snapper on the rear.
All the specs
The Android tablet will also have Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and VoIP internet calling as standard, making it the largest phone we've seen on the market. And the stupidest, if you feel like holding it to your ear.
ViewSonic also promises that the new tablet will have handwritten note-taking capabilities, despite packing a capacitive screen, so we're assuming a special stylus might be included in the package.
The UK price is set to be £350, although we've yet to learn of a UK release date. However, we're expecting review samples in early October, so fingers crossed its not too long after that.
TechRadar will be on hand at IFA to get our hands all over this device, so stay tuned for our in-depth coverage all through the week.
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Orange delays HTC Desire Android 2.2 update
Orange users wishing and praying to see their HTC Desire upgraded to the latest in Android 2.2 goodness will have to wait a little longer.Orange has confirmed via Twitter that it will be taking a little longer to get the upgrade out to users, thanks to HTC taking its sweet time to send over the Froyo package.
"Android fans: there has been a delay in receiving the 2.2 Froyo update from HTC, and we now expect it to be available mid-September. Apologies."
It'll be here when you get back from holiday
Of course, this only means a two week wait, but it's all the more galling when unbranded HTC Desire handsets began getting a taste of Android 2.2 all the way back in July.
Vodafone has also managed to shave and carve the Froyo update into something that will fit its phones too; it dropped the Android 2.2 bomb on its HTC Desire customers last week.
So Orange and T-Mobile are lagging behind the rest - and we're not even going to talk about Three, which still hasn't even given a possible date for the HTC Desire Android 2.2 upgrade.
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Xbox Live to cost £12 more per year
Xbox Live will cost British gamers £12 extra a year, as of this coming November.Microsoft is spinning the Xbox Live price increase as a mere £1 extra per month, but hardcore Xbox gamers are sure to respond with dismay at the news.
After all, nobody likes being asked to pay more money for a service that they feel they cannot live without!
Xbox Live price hike
The price increase in Microsoft's Xbox Live subs is both unexpected and unexplained, to date. We will, of course, reach out to Xbox UK for further explanation of the reasoning behind the decision.
"I wanted to let you know that as of November 1, 2010 we are increasing the price of an Xbox LIVE [membership] for some members," Major Nelson announced on his blog this week.
"This price increase only affects Xbox LIVE Members in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom or the United States."
"Since launching Xbox LIVE in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same. We're confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry," adds Major Nelson.
Microsoft is offering a lock-in 'promotion' to renew your subscription at the current £4.99 per month rate, before the £5.99 per month price hike comes into force in November.
Check out this page on Xbox.com to find out when your Xbox Live subscription expires.
Via MajorNelson.com
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Review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 SLI
The fear that used to be attached to running an SLI setup has largely vanished by the wayside over the last year or so. Thanks to maturing driver sets and great mid-range cards, there really has never been a better time to drop in that second card. And with the incredi-card, the GTX 460, there's rarely been a better SLI card either.Thankfully, the thrill that was attached to the idea of running a bleeding-edge SLI system hasn't gone, but is now a more practical solution. In fact you may find us telling you that in many cases, two really is better than one.
Previously we'd have always said that for the best day-to-day performance for your money you should always go for the fastest single-GPU card that your bank balance would allow.
Now it's not so black and white, because even the high-end cards are struggling to compete with a pair of midrange wonders like the GTX 460.
The GTX 460 arrived last month and wowed us with its double-ended loving of both fantastic value and great 3D performance. The only slight fly in the ointment was the fact that it arrived in two very different spins from the outset.
We had both the full-fat 1GB versions and the cut-down 768MB cards. With barely £20 separating them it was a no-brainer at that level which card to go for: the 1GB card, especially at the higher-end of the desktop resolution scale.
The limited memory size and bus, combined with fewer ROPs, meant that the 768MB card suffered by comparison to its smarter sibling. Both versions of the card, though, carry the same redesigned Fermi GPU from Nvidia.
The GF104 chip is a far more streamlined version of the original Fermi chip that powers the £400 GTX 480. Nvidia has managed to cram more of the good stuff into less streaming multiprocessors, making for a high-performing card that costs far less to produce.
The GF104 chip has something else up its sleeve. Well actually, more like under its hat. You see, there's so much headroom in there for this chip that you can seriously overclock even the stock cards with the basic Nvidia reference cooler.
An overclocked 1GB card will hit the same sort of speeds as a GTX 470, with an overclocked 768MB card not too far behind it. So what can they do when you get a pair of twins on the case? The simple answer is astonish.
Now there's simply no reason to go out and pick up the top-end cards if you've got a mammoth display because a pair of either version of the GTX 460 will do better. That's right, you're spending less and getting more. The diminishing returns that have dogged the SLI dream for years are a thing of the past.
The simple comparison is Nvidia's top-of-the-line card, and the first of the Fermi lineup to arrive, the GTX 480. At the time of launch, we got all hot under the collar about it.
Not just because it was blisteringly fast for a single-GPU card, but because it was so blisteringly hot in itself that it rendered all the air-conditioning in the building irrelevant. That card has since dropped in price to a vaguely reasonable £390-odd.
Interesting, because if you picked up a pair of EVGA Superclocked GTX 460 768MB cards, which would set you back, that's right, £390-odd. It's even more interesting in light of the bargainous nature of Inno3D's reference 1GB cards, which can be had for as little as £360 for the pair.
Irrespective of memory constraints, both sets of GTX 460s absolutely hose their GTX 480 daddy in practically all metrics, most especially at the high-end 2,560 x 1,600 resolution.
As for AMD's top card de jour, the £500 multi-GPU HD 5970, it actually stands up better than the GTX 480. Unfortunately for AMD, though, it doesn't fare much better.
The Just Cause 2 benchmark is the only place the Texans can hold their head up high, while in DiRT2 and Far Cry 2 it lags behind noticeably. Interestingly, a pair of overclocked 768MB cards actually beats a pair of the stockclocked 1GB GTX 460s at the 22-inch res of 1,680 x 1,050.
It's only by a little way, and notably not in the tessellation-heavy Heaven benchmark, but it means that potentially you could hit these speeds for only £300. How?
Well, EVGA's Superclocked cards are still only reference cards. Admittedly they're hand-picked and factory overclocked, but they're still just the basic GTX 460. You can pick up a Palit GTX 460 768MB for only £150, and that comes with its own cooler too.
Theoretically, overclocking two of these babies, even up past what the Superclocked cards are sitting at, will give you the sort of performance people with GTX 480s warming up their PCs would cry for.
We're aware, though, that realistically few of us can actually be bothered going through the inevitably slow process of safe overclocking, or are willing to take the risk with their just-unwrapped hardware. If you do still want to hit the same performance heights then a stock-clocked 1GB will do just as well for £350-odd.
Essentially then, if you're looking for something to power that 30-inch panel you've always wanted to have running in its native resolution, a pair of GTX 460s is the way to go. Forget both of Nvidia and AMD's top cards, this will get your more performance and for less cash.
Which to choose?
The only choice is then which do you go for? If you're up for a bit of easy overclocking on a budget, picking up a pair of £150 GTX 460 768MB cards will suit you down to the ground.
If you don't want to take the risk then a pair of 1GB cards will give you almost the same overclocked performance for only £50 more.
The Superclocked cards, though, still have a hard time justifying themselves. Sure, they give impressive performance results and for the same price as a GTX 480, but the cheaper stock 768MB and 1GB versions will keep you just as happy in your SLI gaming.
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Google overhauls Google Translate
Google has overhauled its much-admired Google Translate, with the search giant pumping time and effort into making the world's languages accessible for all. Machine translation has been around for some time, but Google is putting major resources into perfecting its Google Translate technology, and the latest changes will be rolled out globally in the coming days.
"Today, you may have noticed a brighter looking Google Translate," blogged Google Translate product manager Awaneesh Verma.
"We're currently rolling out several changes globally to our look and feel that should make translating text, webpages and documents on Google Translate even easier."
Google check out
Google is hoping that a new look will encourage more people to check out the features within translate.
"With today's functional and visual changes we wanted to make it simpler for you to discover and make the most of Google Translate's many features and integrations," added Verma.
Google has also created an Inside Google Translate page, that explains more about the project.
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RIM gets 60-day BlackBerry reprieve from India ban
India has said that it will delay a decision on whether or not to ban BlackBerry devices for 60 days.India is set to review various proposals from Research in Motion (RIM) over the next two months before making a final decision on the future of BlackBerry in the country.
RIM clearly wants to avoid an outright ban on its devices in India, which is one of the world's fastest-growing markets for smartphones.
Security concerns
India initially threatened to ban BlackBerries earlier this month, claiming that its security services needed access to RIM's encrypted email and IM communications.
For its part, RIM has so far said little beyond the fact that it is prepared to support the Indian security services' need for "lawful access".
RIM has also offered to "lead an industry forum focused on supporting the lawful access needs of law enforcement agencies" working closely in conjunction with competing telecoms firms and the Indian government to develop "policies and processes aimed at preventing the misuse of strong encryption technologies".
Additionally, RIM has also claimed that "singling out and banning" Blackberry would be "ineffective and counter-productive."
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Sapphire unveils adaptor for Eyefinity monitors
Sapphire has announced a lower cost solution to using AMD's Eyefinity technology, unveiling a DisplayPort to Single Link DVI adaptor.Although Eyefinity has proven to be a popular idea, the prospect of getting hold of a third monitor with the still-expensive DisplayPort has perhaps held it back.
Sapphire is hoping that its adaptor will now give gamers who want to use multiple monitors another option.
Third monitor woe?
"Eyefinity mode requires the third monitor to be either a DisplayPort (DP) monitor or a monitor connected with an active adapter to synchronise the signals for a DVI or HDMI monitor," explains Sapphire.
"Earlier active DP to Dual Link DVI adapters were considered to be too expensive by many users who did not need ultra high resolution.
"Sapphire's new DP to Single Link DVI adapter is an active solution in a short pigtail format with DP plug to DVI female connector that allows users to connect DVI monitors with resolutions of up to 1920 x 1200."
It's an obvious solution to the problem, and gamers on a (frankly, medium sized) budget now have another option if they want to add a third monitor.
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Friends Reunited is ten years old
It is only ten years since Friends Reunited launched in Britain, helping millions of Brits join up with old school friends.It was one of the first online social networks to really capture the public's imagination in the UK, years before MySpace (and, later still, Facebook) stole its thunder.
Husband and wife team
The site was the brainchild of husband and wife team Steve and Julie Pankhurst. At the height of its popularity it had over 20 million registered users.
The site was bought by ITV in 2005 for £175m and sold to DC Thomson subsidiary Brightsolid earlier this year for a mere £25m.
It now attracts around 1.3m unique visitors a month.
Ian Maude, head of internet at Enders Analysis, cites the fact that ITV didn't take the site's paywall down quicker was a key reason for its demise, as users began to switch to MySpace and Facebook in droves.
Brightsolid also purchased Friends Reunited Dating and Genes Reunited. Users pay up to £64.95 a year for the Genes Reunited platinum package.
Strong connections with real friends
Brightsolid's Chief Exec, Chris van der Kuyl, is still adamant that Friends Reunited's business plan is set to be based around the concept of "stronger connections with real friends", as opposed to the "hundreds of 'friends' people have on sites like Facebook" making the site stickier.
"Right now a lot people just click on quickly for a brief snoop to see if anyone's personal details have changed," adds the Friends Reunited man.
"We know for our advertising model to work and to get people more engaged, we have to introduce quirky features, such as social games, which keep people's attention for longer and stop the site being so voyeuristic."
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Google uses Arcade Fire tie-up to showcase HTML5
Google has announced a musical project with band Arcade Fire and music video director Chris Milk called 'The Wilderness Downtown' which is aimed to show the power of HTML5. The project, which Google says that it has been 'playing around with for the last few months' is designed to show just how far browsers have come in the past few years.
"Today we're excited to launch a musical experience made specifically for the browser. Called "The Wilderness Downtown", the project was created by writer/director Chris Milk with the band Arcade Fire and Google," blogged Aaron Koblin of Google Creative Lab.
"Building this project on the web and for the browser allowed us to craft an experience that is not only personalized, but also deeply personal for each viewer.
Memory lane
"The Wilderness Downtown" takes you down memory lane through the streets you grew up in. It's set to Arcade Fire's new song "We Used to Wait" off their newly released album The Suburbs.
"The project was built with the latest web technologies and includes HTML5, Google Maps, an integrated drawing tool, as well as multiple browser windows that move around the screen."
Google is, of course, hoping that you use its Chrome browser to take part in the experiment at www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire but it will work with any HTML 5 compliant browser.
It's a fascinating experiment, which verges on being a bit eerie but certainly brings a hefty whack of novelty along with it.
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