Game over for Garmin-Asus alliance
Garmin Asus look set to split up after its co-branded business hasn't managed to gain the traction it hoped in the market.
Garmin first came to the market with the Nuvifone nearly four years ago, but it took aeons to get the device (which had navigation at its heart) actually to market.
Asus was supposed to manufacture the hardware, so a tie-up between the two seemed to make sense, but after only releasing a handful of phones (mostly based on Windows Mobile unfortunately) it seems the partnership has decided to call it a day.
Uncertain future
Whether or not Garmin and Asus will continue to manufacture devices under the separate brands we don't know - Garmin's presence in the market hasn't really set the world alight, and it might just steer clear of a smartphone sat nav market dominated by free offerings from Nokia and Google.
The alliance will wrap up early next year, when the agreement between the companies comes to an end in January 2011, and it will be interesting to see whether or not Asus goes it alone or seeks a new partner for its smartphone business.
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Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is the first major tablet release since the Apple iPad launched about five months ago.
It's been a long time coming, too. The Galaxy Tab was one of the all-time worst kept secrets in tech until it was finally unveiled at Berlin's IFA show back in September, and as the first major Android tablet release, it holds a weight of responsibility on its shoulders.
With a tidal wave of Android tablets about to sweep through the tech world, it's possible that if the Galaxy Tab were to disappoint, it could damage the perception that Android tablets will be able to top the iPad on features and performance.
The price certainly indicates that Samsung believes the Galaxy Tab can topple the Apple iPad from its tablet tower. The 16GB model costs £530, which is £100 more than the Wi-Fi only version of the iPad. It is, however, exactly the same price as the cheapest 3G iPad, which is clearly no accident.
That price doesn't include any 3G access either, so if you want web connectivity on the go, it's going to cost you a monthly fee from one of the mobile networks. Prices will likely start at around £10 a month for 1GB of data.
This pricing strategy is slightly surprising - the Android tablet would be a lot more appealing if it was a bit cheaper than the iPad.
Samsung's decision no doubt also has something to do with it not wanting to undercut the cost of its own Android smartphones, but it's a big risk.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a lot to live up to, then. Especially when you consider it's a lot smaller than Apple's tablet - its 7-inch screen is dwarfed by the iPad's 9.7-incher.
Keeping up appearances
With a slick black and white-styled body and a bright and shiny TFT touchscreen, the Samsung Galaxy Tab gets off to a good start in that it looks absolutely fabulous.
It looks every bit the iPad killer that Samsung wants it to be. And while it may look lot like the iPad in pictures, it's quite a bit smaller and feels a lot different in the hand.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab sitting between the Apple iPad and iPod touch 4GAt 12mm it's quite thick, only fractionally thinner than the 9.7-inch iPad. As such it feels proportionately more chunky than the Apple device; not necessarily a bad thing.
The body is entirely made of plastic, so it feels less solid than the aluminium-backed iPad but it still feels adequately sturdy and tough. The plastic case enables it to stay pretty light at only 380g.
On the front of the device there are four touch buttons, similar to to those found on your average Android phone – one for home, one for options, a back button and one for search.
On the top of the device sits a 3.5mm headphone jack. The on/off button sits on the right hand side next to the volume controls and further down that left hand side you'll also find slots for a SIM card and a microSD expansion card.
The underside of the device is adorned by a charging and docking connector which looks identical to that of the iPad and iPhone. This will come into play when all the planned Galaxy Tab accessories start to spill out onto the market. The only external feature on the left side is a small microphone.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is powered by the Cortex A8 1Ghz processor which, in terms of sheer oomph, is a comparative match for the 1Ghz A4 processor found in the iPad and iPhone 4.
As such, we were expecting the Galaxy Tab to be at least as responsive, slick and speedy as the iPad. However, in many instances this just wasn't the case. More on that a little later.
Screen
The Samsung Galaxy Tab was orignally rumoured to have an AMOLED screen which would have been fantastic and undeniably iPad-beating.
However, the 7-inch display we have here is just a fairly standard TFT LCD. It's bright and colourful enough, and the WSVGA screen resolution (1024x600) is only slightly lower than that of the 9.7-inch iPad (so that's 260ppi versus 132ppi) which means that the display on the Galaxy Tab is a lot sharper.
Camera
The Tab comes with two built-in cameras: one 3MP rear-facing camera with LED flash and also a 1.3MP front-facing camera for video conferencing. This is an area that Samsung beats Apple by default – the iPad has no cameras at all and so for anyone who considers rear and front-facing cameras to be essential features, the Galaxy Tab is already a front-runner.
Connectivity
Unlike the iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is not available in non-3G guise. This is intended to be an on-the-go device - an essential bag-stored companion for those long journeys – which means 3G connectivity is central to its functionality.
Alongside this 3G connectivity sits 802.11n Wi-Fi which means streaming videos and the like when you're connected to a wireless network should be easy, and you've also got Bluetooth 3.0 in there as well for transferring files and streaming to external devices like headphones and speakers.
Storage
Despite the lack of a Wi-Fi only version, the Galaxy Tab does come in two different flavours according to how much storage space you think you're going to need. There's a 16GB version and also a 32GB version - it's the 16GB unit which costs £529.99, and we haven't got a price yet for the 32GB version.
The microSD slot can add up to another 32GB of additional storage so technically you'd be able to match the iPad's 64GB version if you really needed to.
There's 512MB of RAM, too, which is the de facto amount for these kind of portable devices at the moment.
Operating system
And of course, the rest of the features on the Galaxy Tab come courtesy of the inclusion of Android 2.2, or 'Froyo'. It's the most up-to-date version of Android currently available which means no software features get left on the table.
Check out our in-depth look at Android 2.2 for a closer look at specific software features.
Let's face it, we're all expecting big things from the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and what we really want to know is whether it's a star-performer or a dead dog.
So let's get this out of the way right off the bat – the Galaxy Tab is not as slick as we were hoping it would be. Not at all.
Despite the 1Ghz processor, there are some significant performance issues here and in many cases they hamper the usability and performance of the Tab to treacherous levels.
The problems are most evident when browsing the web. Scrolling down your average website is quite juddery. The smoothness of the iPad is nowhere to be seen, and our fingers had often swiped and left the screen before the device responded and began to scroll.
Pinch-to-zoom is also a laggy affair, with the zoom often arriving an uncomfortable pause after the pinch – if at all. It's all just a bit too slow. Clunky, even.
We tried a number of different browsers and they all experienced the same issues, albeit with some performing slightly better than others. Opera Mini seemed to do the best job, but even that didn't offer the slick experience we were after.
Accelerometer
The next major issue we encountered with performance is the hyper-sensitive accelerometer.
Unlike on some other leading Android devices such as the HTC Desire, there is no way to either calibrate the accelerometer or even turn it off. And that's a problem because we found it constantly tilting the screen in ways we didn't want it to.
It leads to an increasingly frustrating experience and so the complete lack of a calibration tool – or at the very least, some way of turning the accelerometer feature off completely – is a major frustration.
Some apps have their own options regarding this, such as a 'landscape view only' mode, but this doesn't really make up for it.
Multitasking
Multitasking on the Samsung Galaxy Tab is pretty good, though. The device was able to handle having multiple apps open at the same time, and switching between them, without too much slow down.
There were some instances where the browser took a few seconds to pop up on screen after we'd left it running in the background and then selected to switch to it again, but on the whole, the Galaxy Tab did not suffer too much in this department.
Maps
Google Maps works a treat on the Galaxy Tab, and the added screen space over a smartphone improves usability a lot. Maps load quickly, although scrolling and zooming again doesn't feel as slick as the Google Maps app on the Apple iPad. There's obvious lag, which is disappointing.
Battery life
While the iPad surprised us with it's economical use of battery life, the Samsung Galaxy Tab did the opposite. We charged it to full capacity, and it was begging for more juice after about four hours of sporadic testing.
Admittedly we did have screen brightness at maximum, and we took a few photos and recorded a few videos, but you only have to hold the device after an hour of solid use to identify one obvious problem - heat.
The device gets extremely hot after watching videos or browsing the web for an hour. This will be a major drain on battery life and indicates that either the Coretex 1Ghz processor isn't efficient enough, or the Galaxy Tab doesn't do a good enough job of harnessing its power in an efficient manor.
Either way, it's a drain on power and it's a problem the iPad just doesn't have. With screen brightness on max, you can actually see the battery life falling away in front of your eyes. This is despite Samsung claiming 7-hours' continuous movie play.
The interface on the Galaxy Tab is basically Android 2.2 with a few minor tweaks here and there.
You start at the lock screen which you move past with a quick finger-swipe to the left. You can customise this by adding either password protection, a PIN or a pattern lock.
Once you've unlocked the device, you're through to the five homescreens which you can load up with as many or as few icons as you desire.
As with most Android phones, you can move an App onto the homescreen by pressing and holding its icon. The device will instantly take you and the chosen icon back to the homescreen where there is ample space for you to pile up your favourite Apps while leaving the others to lounge around inside the Applications menu.
Software not optimised?
In general, Android 2.2 works well enough, although Google itself admits that the OS is not optimised for tablets yet. You can read Google's full confession elsewhere on TechRadar, but the main quote from Hugo Barra, Google's director of products for mobile, goes like this:
"…the way Android Market works is it's not going to be available on devices that don't allow applications to run correctly.
"Which devices do, and which don't will be unit specific, but Froyo is not optimised for use on tablets.
"If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn't run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor."
So there you have it from the horse's mouth, despite the Samsung shipping the Galaxy Tab with Android 2.2, it's just not a finished piece of software in terms of tablet optimisation.
This is blatantly clear when using the device, as most apps and even the Android Market refer to the Tab as a phone instead of a tablet.
What this ultimately amounts to is that most applications you download from the Android Market are intended for use on smaller, often lower-resolution screens.
And that means a lot of the graphics and text within them can look a bit blurry on the Galaxy Tab's 7-inch display. It's not a massive problem, but it certainly doesn't have the polish of the iPad, which has its own section on the Apple App Store.
This could also certainly explain the laggy nature of the device's performance when browsing the web, for example.
And talking of Apps, there's more confusion to be found in the form of three separate places to download them on the Tab.
There's the standard Android Market option, along with separate stores for Samsung's own apps and games. It's a bit of a hassle, if you ask us, but the promise of Galaxy Tab-specific Apps to download in future does appeal.
It would be easier if it was all done via the Android Store, but you can see why Samsung might want to bypass that particular avenue for some of its content.
The quality of the screen is a vital factor when judging a tablet. Due to the almost complete lack of physical buttons, the screen is absolutely everything to the user.
You need to be able to see it in bright conditions, it needs to be responsive, it needs to be clear, it needs to be able to show bright and dark areas at the same time. And the touchscreen needs to respond quickly and accurately. So how does it perform?
Performance
The Galaxy Tab's screen is a fairly standard TFT LCD panel, with resolution of 1024 x 600.
As we mentioned earlier, it was hoped by many pre-launch that the Tab would come packing an AMOLED panel. That type of display is thinner, lighter and often better for viewing in direct sunlight. And so the absence of an AMOLED display is a bit of a let-down, particularly at this premium price.
Indoors
Inside, the Galaxy Tab's screen looks quite majestic. With settings to change the brightness, colour saturation and contrast, you can customise it so it looks great according to your own preferences.
Watching videos with lots of bright colours is also a pleasure. Cartoons and Pixar-style 3D animations look best, while the screen does a less good job at handling darker colours.
Outdoors
Using the Galaxy Tab in bright conditions, however, is a massive pain. In direct sunlight it is literally impossible to see anything on it at all, and even in outdoor conditions without the sun shining directly on it, you end up seeing a grey, smeary, fingerprinty mess rather than what the device is attempting to display.
The pocket-friendly dimensions of the Tab make it perfect for carrying around with you wherever you go, but the screen makes life pretty difficult.
The iPad suffers in outdoor conditions too, but in our side-by-side test the iPad did a slightly better job of fending off the bright lights.
This is possibly the biggest disappointment of all. A kick-ass screen would have gone a long way towards making the Samsung Galaxy Tab a really fantastic device, but without this awe-factor, the device seems a lot less special.
Responsiveness
The Tab was also a bit hit and miss when it comes to responsiveness. At some points the screen responded to touch almost immediately. At other times there were uncomfortable delays.
When sliding through your home screens, the iPad just is slicker, smoother and more responsive. The Galaxy Tab keeps you waiting a split second at a time, and it all adds up. As a result, it's not a fun device to use.
In terms of day-to-day use, the Galaxy Tab is a handy device to have around. In some ways it surpasses the iPad in terms of usability, although it falls behind in others.
The onscreen keyboard is excellent, and the device does a pretty good job of working out what you meant to type if your fingers are slightly off target, and it autocorrects.
The Tab gives you haptic feedback as you type, too, which means you get a small vibration with every keypress. Because the screen is smaller than that on the iPad, the virtual keys are also smaller and thus haptic feedback is a helpful feature - it helps you guide your fingers more accurately.
Flash support
Anyone who abstains from buying an iPad on the grounds of Apple's refusal to include Flash support, will find the Galaxy Tab a heavenly joy to use.
Flash is supported from the off, which means you can watch pretty much any web video content from within a browser.
It's all quite painless too, with YouTube clips loading and playing without any teething problems. There's no noticeable performance issues here, it just works.
Multi-tasking
Android 2.2 supports multitasking, and thus so does the Samsung Galaxy Tab. If you hit the Home button while you're in an app, you'll be taken back to your homescreen while the App stays running in the background.
This means you can play music while browsing the web and checking your emails. It also means you can have frequently used Apps all open at the same time without having to repeatedly load and close them.
On the homescreen there's a very useful 'Active applications' button which, when pressed, gives you information about all the apps which are currently running on the device.
You can view how much memory they're using, the percentage of CPU usage and you can even close Apps from here if you decide they're probably using too much battery juice.
There are also tabs at the top of this screen which enable you to monitor how much storage you have left, how much RAM you're using, and all the apps you've been downloading.
It's an excellent management tool which enables you to see with crystal clarity exactly what your Samsung Galaxy Tab is doing at any time.
Copy and paste
Copy and paste features are included, so for those who consider this feature an absolute must-have, there are no problems. Just like other Android 2.2 devices, you need only tap a word and you're able to select and copy text from there.
Email and extras
We heart Android here at TechRadar. It's got so many features, and they're all here to play with on the Galaxy Tab. Whether that be excellent email integration, free satellite navigation using Google Maps, or the ability to make and receive telephone calls. It's all there.
If you want to use the Galaxy Tab as a phone, you can. But unless you want to look a bit silly, we absolutely recommend sticking with your current phone for telephoney purposes. It's just too big to hold up to your face - you'd look like an idiot, and an uncomfortable idiot at that. Unless you've got the world's biggest head and hands to match, obviously.
To say the Samsung Galaxy Tab's camera is mediocre would be to put it bluntly. This is no star-performer when it comes to taking photographs, that's for sure.
See full-res imageBecause the device is so large, it's actually quite awkward to take snaps with. And due to it being so slim in comparison to most digital cameras, it's pretty hard to get a proper grip on the device and to then hold it still. We were constantly worried that we'd drop it.
See full-res imageImages lack detail in all areas, with most photographs looking quite washed out. Colours look faded rather than vivid.
See full-res imageThe camera struggled to deal with both bright and dark conditions, and in areas with a lot of contrast – with bright and dark in the same shot – the results were particularly poor.
See full-res imageAgain, this is a bit of a disappointment. Clearly, this kind of device is not meant to be used as a primary camera, we understand that. But for a device that costs £530 – £100 more than the cheapest iPad – we were just expecting a little bit more in this department. It's a weak effort.
The Galaxy Tab's rear-facing lens can also record video, which is a big positive, although unfortunately that's pretty much where the good news ends.
There's no HD recording - the resolution of your recordings is fixed at 720x480, and you're given the option to choose either 'fine' or 'normal' as far as recording quality goes. We recorded our sample using the highest setting, but the results were still mostly disappointing.
In comparison to most of the top smartphones out there, as well as HD video-shooting gadgets like the iPod touch 4G, footage is decidedly average.
The Tab records at 30fps and so the handling of motion isn't too bad. But like our stills shots, quality isn't great. Colours are washed out, and contrast is quite poor indeed. Even compared to something like the iPod touch 4G, the Galaxy Tab's video quality is not great.
We also found that while the Galaxy Tab's microphone is actually very good at recording sound, it's located in a pretty inconvenient place. When holding the Tab for shooting video, we preferred to grip it on either side with the thumb and index fingers of our left and right hand...
However, this resulted in us covering up the microphone with our left thumb - we had to keep reminding ourselves not to do it.
The Galaxy Tab is compatible with lots of different file formats for both audio and video. As a device running normal Android 2.2, it's limited to which codecs and support Google has added to the OS.
You've got all your standard must-haves in there, including DivX, Xvid, MPEG4, WMV and H.264. Audio compatibility extends to MP3, WAV, eAAC+, AC3 and FLAC files.
There's no direct support for MKV files, but some of our files worked while others didn't.
YouTube
The Galaxy Tab has its own YouTube app where you can search and view the latest vids from the main site. The only quality setting here is 'HQ' though which means it only goes up to 480p.
The app doesn't want you to watch proper HD video and browsers will always try to take you away from the 720p versions of videos even if you use the direct URL.
But even so, 480p vids look pretty good and they stream and play flawlessly. Motion is handled competently and the screen is ideally suited to viewing web video clips.
Music
Music playing comes again courtesy of standard Android app. The file support is excellent, and the quality of the audio is pretty decent too. We tested with 320kbps MP3 files and were happy with the output.
Battery issues
Samsung claims that a single charge will withstand seven hours of continuous video-watching. We think that sounds rather optimistic. To us, the battery seems to run down a lot quicker than that and as we mentioned earlier, the device also gets very warm.
BBC iPlayer
One thing that didn't work as expected was BBC iPlayer. In some browsers, we were told that our 'phone' does not support iPlayer yet and that new devices will be supported in future.
The main browser did get iPlayer working, but videos are not optimised for this kind of device and so the it's a bit tricky to get videos playing well. If you click 'play video fullscreen' the video is unwatchable, jumping around all over the place. However, if you click the normal 'play' button and then press the fullscreen button once the video is playing, it loads a lower res version which runs more smoothly.
It's a fiddly experience, and an official BBC iPlayer app is badly needed. There is currently one unofficial one out there which does work - but it's fairly basic.
We like the Galaxy Tab, we really do. But the fact is that Samsung has launched a device with a massive identity problem.
This is the most bipolar gadget we've ever tested - it just doesn't know what it's supposed to be, and neither do we.
Is it a phone? No - it makes phone calls, sure, but it's too big to use as a primary mobile phone.
Is it a tablet? Again, no we don't think it is one. It's too small and fiddly and lacking in optimisations. Tablets need to distinguish themselves from smartphones by being bigger, better, more powerful, feature rich and interesting.
Essentially, they need a reason to exist. And this is where we're struggling with the Galaxy Tab.
The pricing is all wrong, too. Clearly, Samsung needs to avoid undercutting the prices of its own Android smartphones like the Galaxy S. But in doing so, it's made the Galaxy Tab £100 more expensive than the cheapest iPad - a class-leading product.
It may be the same price as the 3G iPad, but we can't help feeling that this product would be much more appealing were it slightly cheaper. A better-value, non-3G model would have a much better chance of success.
We liked:
The Android interface is fantastic, and in indoor conditions everything works pretty well. The screen is bright and colourful. Watching videos and listening to music is easy, as is transferring content to and from the device.
The Android Market enables you to customise the device beyond recognition, and so you'll never get bored of it.
The size has its benefits, too. It's a lot more pocket and bag friendly than the iPad, but it's still a pretty hefty object to have to lug round with you everywhere.
Flash support is a major advantage over the iPad, and the ability to surf online video is very well received.
We disliked:
The sluggish web browsing is very frustrating. As Google readily admits, Android 2.2 is in no way optimised for tablets, and so we can't help feeling that the Galaxy Tab has come along a bit too early.
The screen is also quite disappointing. It's not terrible, but it's in no way a class-leading piece of glass. With the 7-inch screen, it's an incredibly portable device, and so an AMOLED screen would have gone down a treat.
The camera, too, is fairly poor. Again, it's nice to have this feature, but remember this is a £530 gadget. It's expensive, and so you expect all the features to be top-notch... But they're not.
Verdict:
We can't hide our disappointment in the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It had the potential to deliver a serious blow to Apple's iPad sales. But in truth, the Galaxy Tab is no match for the iPad. It's nowhere near as smooth, it's not as polished and remarkably, it's not even a match when it comes to value for money.
If portability and Android are your main concern, the Galaxy Tab is certainly a handy gadget to have in your geeky arsenal. But for £530, we were expecting a hell of a lot more.
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Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is the first major tablet release since the Apple iPad launched about five months ago.It's been a long time coming, too. The Galaxy Tab was one of the all-time worst kept secrets in tech until it was finally unveiled at Berlin's IFA show back in September, and as the first major Android tablet release, it holds a weight of responsibility on its shoulders.
With a tidal wave of Android tablets about to sweep through the tech world, it's possible that if the Galaxy Tab were to disappoint, it could damage the perception that Android tablets will be able to top the iPad on features and performance.
The price certainly indicates that Samsung believes the Galaxy Tab can topple the Apple iPad from its tablet tower. The 16GB model costs £530, which is £100 more than the Wi-Fi only version of the iPad. It is, however, exactly the same price as the cheapest 3G iPad, which is clearly no accident.
That price doesn't include any 3G access either, so if you want web connectivity on the go, it's going to cost you a monthly fee from one of the mobile networks. Prices will likely start at around £10 a month for 1GB of data.
This pricing strategy is slightly surprising - the Android tablet would be a lot more appealing if it was a bit cheaper than the iPad.
Samsung's decision no doubt also has something to do with it not wanting to undercut the cost of its own Android smartphones, but it's a big risk.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a lot to live up to, then. Especially when you consider it's a lot smaller than Apple's tablet - its 7-inch screen is dwarfed by the iPad's 9.7-incher.
Keeping up appearances
With a slick black and white-styled body and a bright and shiny TFT touchscreen, the Samsung Galaxy Tab gets off to a good start in that it looks absolutely fabulous.
It looks every bit the iPad killer that Samsung wants it to be. And while it may look lot like the iPad in pictures, it's quite a bit smaller and feels a lot different in the hand.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab sitting between the Apple iPad and iPod touch 4GAt 12mm it's quite thick, only fractionally thinner than the 9.7-inch iPad. As such it feels proportionately more chunky than the Apple device; not necessarily a bad thing.
The body is entirely made of plastic, so it feels less solid than the aluminium-backed iPad but it still feels adequately sturdy and tough. The plastic case enables it to stay pretty light at only 380g.
On the front of the device there are four touch buttons, similar to to those found on your average Android phone – one for home, one for options, a back button and one for search.
On the top of the device sits a 3.5mm headphone jack. The on/off button sits on the right hand side next to the volume controls and further down that left hand side you'll also find slots for a SIM card and a microSD expansion card.
The underside of the device is adorned by a charging and docking connector which looks identical to that of the iPad and iPhone. This will come into play when all the planned Galaxy Tab accessories start to spill out onto the market. The only external feature on the left side is a small microphone.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is powered by the Cortex A8 1Ghz processor which, in terms of sheer oomph, is a comparative match for the 1Ghz A4 processor found in the iPad and iPhone 4.
As such, we were expecting the Galaxy Tab to be at least as responsive, slick and speedy as the iPad. However, in many instances this just wasn't the case. More on that a little later.
Screen
The Samsung Galaxy Tab was orignally rumoured to have an AMOLED screen which would have been fantastic and undeniably iPad-beating.
However, the 7-inch display we have here is just a fairly standard TFT LCD. It's bright and colourful enough, and the WSVGA screen resolution (1024x600) is only slightly lower than that of the 9.7-inch iPad (so that's 260ppi versus 132ppi) which means that the display on the Galaxy Tab is a lot sharper.
Camera
The Tab comes with two built-in cameras: one 3MP rear-facing camera with LED flash and also a 1.3MP front-facing camera for video conferencing. This is an area that Samsung beats Apple by default – the iPad has no cameras at all and so for anyone who considers rear and front-facing cameras to be essential features, the Galaxy Tab is already a front-runner.
Connectivity
Unlike the iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is not available in non-3G guise. This is intended to be an on-the-go device - an essential bag-stored companion for those long journeys – which means 3G connectivity is central to its functionality.
Alongside this 3G connectivity sits 802.11n Wi-Fi which means streaming videos and the like when you're connected to a wireless network should be easy, and you've also got Bluetooth 3.0 in there as well for transferring files and streaming to external devices like headphones and speakers.
Storage
Despite the lack of a Wi-Fi only version, the Galaxy Tab does come in two different flavours according to how much storage space you think you're going to need. There's a 16GB version and also a 32GB version - it's the 16GB unit which costs £529.99, and we haven't got a price yet for the 32GB version.
The microSD slot can add up to another 32GB of additional storage so technically you'd be able to match the iPad's 64GB version if you really needed to.
There's 512MB of RAM, too, which is the de facto amount for these kind of portable devices at the moment.
Operating system
And of course, the rest of the features on the Galaxy Tab come courtesy of the inclusion of Android 2.2, or 'Froyo'. It's the most up-to-date version of Android currently available which means no software features get left on the table.
Check out our in-depth look at Android 2.2 for a closer look at specific software features.
Let's face it, we're all expecting big things from the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and what we really want to know is whether it's a star-performer or a dead dog.
So let's get this out of the way right off the bat – the Galaxy Tab is not as slick as we were hoping it would be. Not at all.
Despite the 1Ghz processor, there are some significant performance issues here and in many cases they hamper the usability and performance of the Tab to treacherous levels.
The problems are most evident when browsing the web. Scrolling down your average website is quite juddery. The smoothness of the iPad is nowhere to be seen, and our fingers had often swiped and left the screen before the device responded and began to scroll.
Pinch-to-zoom is also a laggy affair, with the zoom often arriving an uncomfortable pause after the pinch – if at all. It's all just a bit too slow. Clunky, even.
We tried a number of different browsers and they all experienced the same issues, albeit with some performing slightly better than others. Opera Mini seemed to do the best job, but even that didn't offer the slick experience we were after.
Accelerometer
The next major issue we encountered with performance is the hyper-sensitive accelerometer.
Unlike on some other leading Android devices such as the HTC Desire, there is no way to either calibrate the accelerometer or even turn it off. And that's a problem because we found it constantly tilting the screen in ways we didn't want it to.
It leads to an increasingly frustrating experience and so the complete lack of a calibration tool – or at the very least, some way of turning the accelerometer feature off completely – is a major frustration.
Some apps have their own options regarding this, such as a 'landscape view only' mode, but this doesn't really make up for it.
Multitasking
Multitasking on the Samsung Galaxy Tab is pretty good, though. The device was able to handle having multiple apps open at the same time, and switching between them, without too much slow down.
There were some instances where the browser took a few seconds to pop up on screen after we'd left it running in the background and then selected to switch to it again, but on the whole, the Galaxy Tab did not suffer too much in this department.
Maps
Google Maps works a treat on the Galaxy Tab, and the added screen space over a smartphone improves usability a lot. Maps load quickly, although scrolling and zooming again doesn't feel as slick as the Google Maps app on the Apple iPad. There's obvious lag, which is disappointing.
Battery life
While the iPad surprised us with it's economical use of battery life, the Samsung Galaxy Tab did the opposite. We charged it to full capacity, and it was begging for more juice after about four hours of sporadic testing.
Admittedly we did have screen brightness at maximum, and we took a few photos and recorded a few videos, but you only have to hold the device after an hour of solid use to identify one obvious problem - heat.
The device gets extremely hot after watching videos or browsing the web for an hour. This will be a major drain on battery life and indicates that either the Coretex 1Ghz processor isn't efficient enough, or the Galaxy Tab doesn't do a good enough job of harnessing its power in an efficient manor.
Either way, it's a drain on power and it's a problem the iPad just doesn't have. With screen brightness on max, you can actually see the battery life falling away in front of your eyes. This is despite Samsung claiming 7-hours' continuous movie play.
The interface on the Galaxy Tab is basically Android 2.2 with a few minor tweaks here and there.
You start at the lock screen which you move past with a quick finger-swipe to the left. You can customise this by adding either password protection, a PIN or a pattern lock.
Once you've unlocked the device, you're through to the five homescreens which you can load up with as many or as few icons as you desire.
As with most Android phones, you can move an App onto the homescreen by pressing and holding its icon. The device will instantly take you and the chosen icon back to the homescreen where there is ample space for you to pile up your favourite Apps while leaving the others to lounge around inside the Applications menu.
Software not optimised?
In general, Android 2.2 works well enough, although Google itself admits that the OS is not optimised for tablets yet. You can read Google's full confession elsewhere on TechRadar, but the main quote from Hugo Barra, Google's director of products for mobile, goes like this:
"…the way Android Market works is it's not going to be available on devices that don't allow applications to run correctly.
"Which devices do, and which don't will be unit specific, but Froyo is not optimised for use on tablets.
"If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn't run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor."
So there you have it from the horse's mouth, despite the Samsung shipping the Galaxy Tab with Android 2.2, it's just not a finished piece of software in terms of tablet optimisation.
This is blatantly clear when using the device, as most apps and even the Android Market refer to the Tab as a phone instead of a tablet.
What this ultimately amounts to is that most applications you download from the Android Market are intended for use on smaller, often lower-resolution screens.
And that means a lot of the graphics and text within them can look a bit blurry on the Galaxy Tab's 7-inch display. It's not a massive problem, but it certainly doesn't have the polish of the iPad, which has its own section on the Apple App Store.
This could also certainly explain the laggy nature of the device's performance when browsing the web, for example.
And talking of Apps, there's more confusion to be found in the form of three separate places to download them on the Tab.
There's the standard Android Market option, along with separate stores for Samsung's own apps and games. It's a bit of a hassle, if you ask us, but the promise of Galaxy Tab-specific Apps to download in future does appeal.
It would be easier if it was all done via the Android Store, but you can see why Samsung might want to bypass that particular avenue for some of its content.
The quality of the screen is a vital factor when judging a tablet. Due to the almost complete lack of physical buttons, the screen is absolutely everything to the user.
You need to be able to see it in bright conditions, it needs to be responsive, it needs to be clear, it needs to be able to show bright and dark areas at the same time. And the touchscreen needs to respond quickly and accurately. So how does it perform?
Performance
The Galaxy Tab's screen is a fairly standard TFT LCD panel, with resolution of 1024 x 600.
As we mentioned earlier, it was hoped by many pre-launch that the Tab would come packing an AMOLED panel. That type of display is thinner, lighter and often better for viewing in direct sunlight. And so the absence of an AMOLED display is a bit of a let-down, particularly at this premium price.
Indoors
Inside, the Galaxy Tab's screen looks quite majestic. With settings to change the brightness, colour saturation and contrast, you can customise it so it looks great according to your own preferences.
Watching videos with lots of bright colours is also a pleasure. Cartoons and Pixar-style 3D animations look best, while the screen does a less good job at handling darker colours.
Outdoors
Using the Galaxy Tab in bright conditions, however, is a massive pain. In direct sunlight it is literally impossible to see anything on it at all, and even in outdoor conditions without the sun shining directly on it, you end up seeing a grey, smeary, fingerprinty mess rather than what the device is attempting to display.
The pocket-friendly dimensions of the Tab make it perfect for carrying around with you wherever you go, but the screen makes life pretty difficult.
The iPad suffers in outdoor conditions too, but in our side-by-side test the iPad did a slightly better job of fending off the bright lights.
This is possibly the biggest disappointment of all. A kick-ass screen would have gone a long way towards making the Samsung Galaxy Tab a really fantastic device, but without this awe-factor, the device seems a lot less special.
Responsiveness
The Tab was also a bit hit and miss when it comes to responsiveness. At some points the screen responded to touch almost immediately. At other times there were uncomfortable delays.
When sliding through your home screens, the iPad just is slicker, smoother and more responsive. The Galaxy Tab keeps you waiting a split second at a time, and it all adds up. As a result, it's not a fun device to use.
In terms of day-to-day use, the Galaxy Tab is a handy device to have around. In some ways it surpasses the iPad in terms of usability, although it falls behind in others.
The onscreen keyboard is excellent, and the device does a pretty good job of working out what you meant to type if your fingers are slightly off target, and it autocorrects.
The Tab gives you haptic feedback as you type, too, which means you get a small vibration with every keypress. Because the screen is smaller than that on the iPad, the virtual keys are also smaller and thus haptic feedback is a helpful feature - it helps you guide your fingers more accurately.
Flash support
Anyone who abstains from buying an iPad on the grounds of Apple's refusal to include Flash support, will find the Galaxy Tab a heavenly joy to use.
Flash is supported from the off, which means you can watch pretty much any web video content from within a browser.
It's all quite painless too, with YouTube clips loading and playing without any teething problems. There's no noticeable performance issues here, it just works.
Multi-tasking
Android 2.2 supports multitasking, and thus so does the Samsung Galaxy Tab. If you hit the Home button while you're in an app, you'll be taken back to your homescreen while the App stays running in the background.
This means you can play music while browsing the web and checking your emails. It also means you can have frequently used Apps all open at the same time without having to repeatedly load and close them.
On the homescreen there's a very useful 'Active applications' button which, when pressed, gives you information about all the apps which are currently running on the device.
You can view how much memory they're using, the percentage of CPU usage and you can even close Apps from here if you decide they're probably using too much battery juice.
There are also tabs at the top of this screen which enable you to monitor how much storage you have left, how much RAM you're using, and all the apps you've been downloading.
It's an excellent management tool which enables you to see with crystal clarity exactly what your Samsung Galaxy Tab is doing at any time.
Copy and paste
Copy and paste features are included, so for those who consider this feature an absolute must-have, there are no problems. Just like other Android 2.2 devices, you need only tap a word and you're able to select and copy text from there.
Email and extras
We heart Android here at TechRadar. It's got so many features, and they're all here to play with on the Galaxy Tab. Whether that be excellent email integration, free satellite navigation using Google Maps, or the ability to make and receive telephone calls. It's all there.
If you want to use the Galaxy Tab as a phone, you can. But unless you want to look a bit silly, we absolutely recommend sticking with your current phone for telephoney purposes. It's just too big to hold up to your face - you'd look like an idiot, and an uncomfortable idiot at that. Unless you've got the world's biggest head and hands to match, obviously.
To say the Samsung Galaxy Tab's camera is mediocre would be to put it bluntly. This is no star-performer when it comes to taking photographs, that's for sure.
See full-res imageBecause the device is so large, it's actually quite awkward to take snaps with. And due to it being so slim in comparison to most digital cameras, it's pretty hard to get a proper grip on the device and to then hold it still. We were constantly worried that we'd drop it.
See full-res imageImages lack detail in all areas, with most photographs looking quite washed out. Colours look faded rather than vivid.
See full-res imageThe camera struggled to deal with both bright and dark conditions, and in areas with a lot of contrast – with bright and dark in the same shot – the results were particularly poor.
See full-res imageAgain, this is a bit of a disappointment. Clearly, this kind of device is not meant to be used as a primary camera, we understand that. But for a device that costs £530 – £100 more than the cheapest iPad – we were just expecting a little bit more in this department. It's a weak effort.
The Galaxy Tab's rear-facing lens can also record video, which is a big positive, although unfortunately that's pretty much where the good news ends.
There's no HD recording - the resolution of your recordings is fixed at 720x480, and you're given the option to choose either 'fine' or 'normal' as far as recording quality goes. We recorded our sample using the highest setting, but the results were still mostly disappointing.
In comparison to most of the top smartphones out there, as well as HD video-shooting gadgets like the iPod touch 4G, footage is decidedly average.
The Tab records at 30fps and so the handling of motion isn't too bad. But like our stills shots, quality isn't great. Colours are washed out, and contrast is quite poor indeed. Even compared to something like the iPod touch 4G, the Galaxy Tab's video quality is not great.
We also found that while the Galaxy Tab's microphone is actually very good at recording sound, it's located in a pretty inconvenient place. When holding the Tab for shooting video, we preferred to grip it on either side with the thumb and index fingers of our left and right hand...
However, this resulted in us covering up the microphone with our left thumb - we had to keep reminding ourselves not to do it.
The Galaxy Tab is compatible with lots of different file formats for both audio and video. As a device running normal Android 2.2, it's limited to which codecs and support Google has added to the OS.
You've got all your standard must-haves in there, including DivX, Xvid, MPEG4, WMV and H.264. Audio compatibility extends to MP3, WAV, eAAC+, AC3 and FLAC files.
There's no direct support for MKV files, but some of our files worked while others didn't.
YouTube
The Galaxy Tab has its own YouTube app where you can search and view the latest vids from the main site. The only quality setting here is 'HQ' though which means it only goes up to 480p.
The app doesn't want you to watch proper HD video and browsers will always try to take you away from the 720p versions of videos even if you use the direct URL.
But even so, 480p vids look pretty good and they stream and play flawlessly. Motion is handled competently and the screen is ideally suited to viewing web video clips.
Music
Music playing comes again courtesy of standard Android app. The file support is excellent, and the quality of the audio is pretty decent too. We tested with 320kbps MP3 files and were happy with the output.
Battery issues
Samsung claims that a single charge will withstand seven hours of continuous video-watching. We think that sounds rather optimistic. To us, the battery seems to run down a lot quicker than that and as we mentioned earlier, the device also gets very warm.
BBC iPlayer
One thing that didn't work as expected was BBC iPlayer. In some browsers, we were told that our 'phone' does not support iPlayer yet and that new devices will be supported in future.
The main browser did get iPlayer working, but videos are not optimised for this kind of device and so the it's a bit tricky to get videos playing well. If you click 'play video fullscreen' the video is unwatchable, jumping around all over the place. However, if you click the normal 'play' button and then press the fullscreen button once the video is playing, it loads a lower res version which runs more smoothly.
It's a fiddly experience, and an official BBC iPlayer app is badly needed. There is currently one unofficial one out there which does work - but it's fairly basic.
We like the Galaxy Tab, we really do. But the fact is that Samsung has launched a device with a massive identity problem.
This is the most bipolar gadget we've ever tested - it just doesn't know what it's supposed to be, and neither do we.
Is it a phone? No - it makes phone calls, sure, but it's too big to use as a primary mobile phone.
Is it a tablet? Again, no we don't think it is one. It's too small and fiddly and lacking in optimisations. Tablets need to distinguish themselves from smartphones by being bigger, better, more powerful, feature rich and interesting.
Essentially, they need a reason to exist. And this is where we're struggling with the Galaxy Tab.
The pricing is all wrong, too. Clearly, Samsung needs to avoid undercutting the prices of its own Android smartphones like the Galaxy S. But in doing so, it's made the Galaxy Tab £100 more expensive than the cheapest iPad - a class-leading product.
It may be the same price as the 3G iPad, but we can't help feeling that this product would be much more appealing were it slightly cheaper. A better-value, non-3G model would have a much better chance of success.
We liked:
The Android interface is fantastic, and in indoor conditions everything works pretty well. The screen is bright and colourful. Watching videos and listening to music is easy, as is transferring content to and from the device.
The Android Market enables you to customise the device beyond recognition, and so you'll never get bored of it.
The size has its benefits, too. It's a lot more pocket and bag friendly than the iPad, but it's still a pretty hefty object to have to lug round with you everywhere.
Flash support is a major advantage over the iPad, and the ability to surf online video is very well received.
We disliked:
The sluggish web browsing is very frustrating. As Google readily admits, Android 2.2 is in no way optimised for tablets, and so we can't help feeling that the Galaxy Tab has come along a bit too early.
The screen is also quite disappointing. It's not terrible, but it's in no way a class-leading piece of glass. With the 7-inch screen, it's an incredibly portable device, and so an AMOLED screen would have gone down a treat.
The camera, too, is fairly poor. Again, it's nice to have this feature, but remember this is a £530 gadget. It's expensive, and so you expect all the features to be top-notch... But they're not.
Verdict:
We can't hide our disappointment in the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It had the potential to deliver a serious blow to Apple's iPad sales. But in truth, the Galaxy Tab is no match for the iPad. It's nowhere near as smooth, it's not as polished and remarkably, it's not even a match when it comes to value for money.
If portability and Android are your main concern, the Galaxy Tab is certainly a handy gadget to have in your geeky arsenal. But for £530, we were expecting a hell of a lot more.
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Zynga patent details plans for virtual currency
FarmVille developer and Facebook gaming darlings Zynga are looking to patent a new virtual currency, according to a new patent application.Zynga has made an application for a patent entitled, 'Virtual Playing Chips in a Multiuser Online Game Network,' which relates to a server receiving a request to buy virtual in-game currency from a player.
Virtual cash money
These virtual credits are planned to be 'non-redeemable' and will only be allowed to be used within a particular game world, according to the details in the patent application, made back in March 2010.
Zynga chief Mark Pincus is named in the patent application as one of the inventors of the concept for in-game virtual cash.
Zynga sued a website called Playerauctions.com earlier this year, for attempting to sell Mafia Wars items for real-world cash, alleging that the company was infringing its copyright and trademarks by so doing.
Zynga also recently signed an agreement to use Facebook Credits for the next five years, from which Zuckerberg and co. take a healthy 30 per cent cut.
You can see the full USPTO filing online here.
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Review: Acer Aspire 5745PG 5464G32Mn
We recently reviewed the Acer Aspire 5745PG-354G32Mn, a mid-priced touchscreen laptop that impressed us with its solid performance and build quality. The Aspire 5745PG-5464G32Mn is an update of that model, with a boost in power courtesy of a Core i5 processor and Nvidia' s Optimus technology.Besides the Toshiba Satellite L670 and a selection of Lenovo laptops such as the ThinkPad Edge, you' ll have to search pretty hard to find a Core i5 portable for the Acer Aspire 5745PG' s asking price of £650.
The addition of Nvidia' s Optimus technology, which allows the laptop to automatically switch between basic integrated graphics and powerful dedicated graphics, makes the Acer Aspire 5745PG even more of a steal.
It' s a great family laptop, one which Dad can use for his accounts and Mum can browse the web on, and now any resident teenagers can use it to play the latest games.
But has Acer managed to make the touch screen any less gimmicky?
On the outside, the updated Acer Aspire 5745PG appears identical to the older model. The plastic lid has a lined black finish, while the palmrests are given a brushed aluminium finish. Acer' s laptops may not be ultra sleek but they' re solid enough to withstand a pummeling, handy if you plan to take the Acer Aspire 5745PG on the road or let small children loose on it.
At 2.7kg and with a thickness of 40mm, the Acer Aspire 5745PG is probably best left on a desk. However, it can certainly fit in a rucksack or briefcase if needed, and a battery life of 217 minutes is decent for a laptop this size. Note that running graphics-intensive software will reduce this a significant amount, as the dedicated GPU kicks in (more on this later).
This updated Acer Aspire 5745PG features the same touch-sensitive screen as the previous model and other Acers such as the Aspire 1825, and unfortunately it still feels like a gimmick. Sure, you can use it to scroll through websites and documents, and the display supports multi-touch so you can zoom and rotate using swift gestures, but it feels awkward leaning over your laptop to do so.
Selecting files and menu options through Windows 7 is a little fiddly, and we quickly found ourselves reverting to the touchpad.
As an attempt to justify the touch screen controls, Acer has bundled its TouchPortal software with the Acer Aspire 5745PG. This is a media hub which gives you quick and easy access to your photos, video and music, all well presented within a touch-friendly interface.
On-screen hotspots are generously large so fat-fingered users are well catered for. Media libraries are scrolled through by flicking your finger left or right, and simply tapping your selection will play music and video, or display photographs. Full touch controls are laid out on-screen, to pause or skip through your media.
However, even though the TouchPortal application is well thought-out and does its job, we can' t see many users playing with it on a regular basis. At least the Acer Aspire 1825 has a rotating screen, so you can convert it into a tablet-like device and hold it while you manipulate the screen, which affords a lot more comfort.
We much preferred to use the Acer Aspire 5745PG' s keyboard and touchpad, which are both highly usable. A typically flat keyboard design has been used by Acer, and it' s a well sized board despite the inclusion of a numeric keypad on the right side. Only the Return key suffers, as it' s reduced to a single line.
The keys have decent travel, so don' t feel too firm when hit, although not everyone will take to the lack of key definition. As always, it' s best to try it out in a store to ensure it suits your typing style.
The Acer Aspire 5745PG' s touchpad is another winner, taking up a generous amount of space on the palmrest. A separate scrollbar on the right edge allows you to quickly navigate web pages and documents, while multi-touch gesturing is also supported.
Although the Acer Aspire 5745' s touchscreen controls may be superfluous, we still really liked the 15.6-inch display itself. The 1366 x 768 resolution is standard for a screen this size but we found images looked impressively sharp, thanks to the excellent contrast levels.
A glossy Super-TFT coating is in place, which helps to bring out colours in photographs but also makes the Acer Aspire 5745PG' s screen quite reflective. It' s a reasonably bright display but you' ll struggle to see in strong light.
The Acer Aspire 5745PG has some impressive features for a mid-priced laptop. Most notable is the inclusion of Bluetooth 3.0, which allows speedy transfer of files with compatible mobile devices. We had no problem pairing with our mobile phone and found high-res photos were swapped in a matter of seconds.
Networking is strong, with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet on board for wireless and wired connections. Four USB ports allow plenty of peripherals to be attached, even if three of them are crammed together on the right side of the chassis, while HDMI and VGA ports can be used to hook up external monitors or projectors.
A 320GB hard drive is a little stingy, and we' d have preferred to see 500GB of storage in the Acer Aspire 5745PG. However, only those with large media collections will quickly fill it.
The main update over the Acer Aspire 5745PG-354G32Mn is the upgrade from an Intel Core i3 processor to an Intel Core i5, and the new Nvidia graphics card which supports Optimus.
We found the Aspire 5745PG-354G32Mn' s Core i3 CPU was a great budget choice that could handle multi-tasking without much of a sweat. However, the Acer Aspire 5745PG-5464G32Mn' s Core i5 460M chip running at 2.53GHz offers an extra chunk of power that gamers and anyone running intensive design or editing software will appreciate. Everything runs incredibly smooth, even with several applications open at once.
Best of all is the Nvidia GeForce GT 420M GPU, which runs alongside a basic integrated Intel GMA HD chip. If you' re simply typing up a document or browsing TechRadar, the integrated GPU will be in charge, as it drains the battery at a slower rate. You' ll also notice the Acer Aspire 5745PG is a little quieter when using the integrated graphics.
However, load up a game such as Fallout: New Vegas and the dedicated GeForce card takes over, providing impressive performance. We found the latest games ran fine, although we had to fiddle with the video settings on some of the more graphically intense titles. DirectX 11 is supported, and we were impressed by the smooth textures and excellent frame rates the Acer Aspire 5745PG churned out.
Although the Acer Aspire 5745PG does a great job of switching from integrated to dedicated graphics automatically, you can also manually set which games and applications use each GPU.
We found the Intel GMA HD GPU still packed some impressive power for an integrated option, enough to run video editing suites and other multimedia applications if you' re desperate to stretch out battery life. It also admirably handles HD video, with no stuttering or other unpleasantness.
The Acer Aspire 5745PG-5464G32Mn is an update of an existing Acer mid-price laptop, which adds a power boost in the form of a Core i5 processor and Nvidia Optimus technology.
Little else has changed, with the same chassis and touchscreen as the Acer Aspire 5745PG-354G32Mn present. However, we liked the strong build quality and usability of the previous model, and as they say, why fix what isn' t broken.
We Liked
The Core i5 processor is an excellent performer at this price, with enough power to dispatch any task thrown at it. Combined with the dedicated nVidia graphics card, it' s possible to run almost any multimedia task and even play the latest games.
However, that extra power isn' t wasted when simply browsing the web or firing off an email, thanks to Nvidia' s Optimus technology. The dedicated GPU is powered down when it isn' t needed, conserving battery power when you' re on the move.
As with the Acer Aspire 5745PG-354G32Mn, we found build quality and usability were excellent. The chassis is dependably solid, while the keyboard and touchpad are comfortable to use and responsive.
Features were mostly strong, with the inclusion of Bluetooth 3.0 and plenty of ports. We also liked the Acer Aspire 5745PG' s display, which was pleasingly sharp.
We Disliked
However, although the Acer Aspire 5745PG' s screen is good, the touchscreen controls are a little gimmicky and unlikely to be used very often. The TouchPortal software is well made but ultimately offers little to keep you coming back. The display is also highly reflective, making it difficult to see outdoors or in bright conditions.
Although we loved the flat keyboard, it won' t suit all tastes. Try before you buy, just to be sure.
Verdict
Anyone looking for a family laptop that' ll keep the kids entertained and have enough power to handle even highly demanding software should definitely consider the Acer Aspire 5745PG. Ignore the gimmicky touchscreen and you have a powerful, well-built laptop that' ll last.
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ARM buoyed by rise of smart TV and mobile
British tech giant ARM has performed admirably in the past three months, with the chip design company pointing to the growth of smartphones and mobile computer, but also new markets in digital televisions, as key to its success. ARM has established itself as a rare British technology success story – and its designs are licensed by some of the most influential companies on the planet.
The growth of the smartphone and tablet world has aided ARM, but the company is also looking to microcontrollers and the increasingly complex tasks that televisions are being asked to do.
This has seen pre-tax profits hit an incredible £38.8 million for the quarter – a 60 per cent growth year-on-year.
A "good quarter"
"Q3 was a good quarter for ARM," said chief executive Warren East. "Not only are we benefiting from growth in applications where we are the established market leader, including in smartphones and mobile computers, but we are gaining share in markets like digital TV and microcontrollers.
"Our partners are also starting to develop chips in new markets for ARM, such as servers and laptops, creating longer-term opportunities. In addition, both physical IP and Mali graphics performed well with important license wins and increasing royalty revenues.
"Given the broadening growth opportunities that are available to us, we have accelerated investment in R&D in the first nine months of the year whilst also increasing both profits and cash generation."
900 million mobile devices –including phones and computers – are now using ARM processor-based chips – and another 600 million are present in everything from toys to televisions cars and cameras.
Nice to be celebrating a British success story.
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Robot lifeguard hits Malibu's surf beaches
A robotic lifeguard called Emily (short for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard) has hit the exclusive surf beaches of Malibu in California this month, much to the dismay of the more traditional human model of lifeguard.Emily has been patrolling Malibu's Zuma Beach, with her inventor claiming that she can swim twelve times as fast as human lifeguards.
Emily doesn't look like your 'traditional' robot. Instead she is a four-foot-long remote-controlled robotic buoy. Emily is set to cost around $3,500, and also makes use of a sonar system which builds 3D maps of surrounding water currents and is able to identify noises associated with swimmers in trouble.
Robots don't surf!
47-year-old inventor Tony Mulligan claims that his latest creation can power through Malibu's heavy white-water breaking surf at over 24 miles an hour. Quite an achievement, as any would-be surfer that's tried paddling out in heavy waves will know.
Mulligan previously ran a company called Advanced Ceramics Research, creating unmanned aircraft for the US government. He sold that company to British Aerospace Electronic Systems for $14.7 million in the summer of 2009.
Emily was later born out of an original project back in late 2009 to build a small remote-controlled boat to monitor marine life for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Mulligan's new startup is an Arizona-based company called Hydronalix, producing 'new technology concepts for maritime robotics.'
Human lifeguard hits back
However, those pesky old-fashioned 'human' models of lifeguard are not taking this robot threat lying down.
"This is a classic example of an inventor's idea of how to solve a problem that doesn't necessarily coincide with reality," according to the president of the US Lifesaving Association B. Chris Brewster, who also points out that Emily would be of no help to an unconscious swimmer or surfer.
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Review: Office for Mac 2011
Make no mistake, Office for Mac 2011 is a big improvement over the previous iterations. Across the board, it's noticably faster and feels more at home on the Mac than before. Microsoft has also added some thoughtful features throughout. We love the full-screen mode in Word – it's distraction-free writing at its best. Similarly, the return of Visual Basic for Applications will be reason enough for some to take the plunge and upgrade.
The item reordering in PowerPoint is another nice touch, even though we'd like to be able to edit items and see a live preview as you edit. The Web Apps are a welcome addition too, as is the ability to collaborate in real time online.
The contextual Ribbon toolbar takes its bow on the Mac. As we noted in our Excel review, you can disable it if you're not a fan, although this does hide away many options.
Here to stay
You get a regular toolbar above the Ribbon, which you can customise in the different apps. Doing so in Outlook was a Mac-like case of drag and drop, whereas in Word, there was a more complex dialog. Ultimately, though, you can't get by on the old-style toolbars alone – the range of options just isn't there.
There are still some annoying little characteristics that will grate over time – such as when you click Cancel to get rid of the Document Gallery, it still opens a fresh document in that app. But don't let these things put you off, because this is a vast improvement over what came before at a more competitive price.
There are two flavours of Office 2011, one with Outlook and the other without. Microsoft has dropped the prices of both compared to Office 2008, so you now get the Home & Student for £90 (only £10 more than iWork '09). To get Outlook will set you back an additional £100, effectively pricing the mail and calendar client at more than Word, Excel and PowerPoint combined.
For home users, there's absolutely no need to spend the extra though – so go for the Home & Student edition. Similarly, if you run a small business and are keen to keep costs down, you can use the applications that come with your Mac anyway, such as Mail and iCal.
If you run Exchange servers, these apps will talk to them, and they enable you to manage centralised or shared calendars, so you'll be able to get by without spending the extra.
Where Outlook will be of interest is for power users who need to manage their own and other people's mail, contacts and calendars via an Exchange server. Yes, you can do this with Mail et al. But using Outlook will make your life a lot easier.
It's neater and quicker, but how much is actually brand new?
The first things you'll notice about the new Office are its smart new icons, which are added automatically to your Dock. The second is how fast the apps launch when you click one.
Word 2008 took 12 seconds to display a window on our 3GHz Core 2 Duo iMac, and 20 seconds to let us start typing. Word 2011, once we'd turned off its welcome screen, was ready each time within four seconds. We're not sure how Microsoft has managed to do this (it's not by switching to 64-bit code, which it still hasn't got round to) but the responsiveness continues.
Selecting a font is less accident-prone: the menu shows previews, or auto-completes if you enter the name manually. You can choose from an even wider range of decent templates, and an expanded set of Themes can be applied instantly to change fonts, styles and colours.
Find your way around
It's this kind of incremental improvement that characterises Word 2011. There's a Spotlight search box at the top of each window; any phrase you enter is instantly highlighted wherever it appears. A new sidebar brings together tools to help navigate your pages, and scientists will appreciate the comprehensive equation editor.
Bugs have also been fixed – although we don't want to speak too soon, we haven't seen any sign of the scroll glitch that used to regularly scramble Word's display. Switch to Draft view, however, and the letter spacing now goes oddly awry, distracting from your typing. This needs sorting out.
We found consolation in the new Full Screen option, which blacks out the rest of the screen to let you edit in peace. It looks much better than in Office 2010 for Windows, but where's the word count? An annoying oversight in an extremely neat feature.
In other respects, this version more closely resembles its PC sibling. Microsoft has replaced the awkward stack of toolbars of Office 2008 infamy with the Ribbon – a tabbed menu that makes the controls you need easier to find.
But Office 2007 seems to have been the model – Office 2010's File tab, with its handy summary of document properties, is absent. Reach up to the equivalent on the Mac OS X menu bar and you'll still find some new options, including Reduce File Size, but not OpenDocument (ODF) support.
Word 2010 for Windows lets you choose this format as the default, in place of Microsoft's unpopular .docx variety. Mac users don't get it, sadly.
Spread the Word
What we do share with Windows users is the ability to, well, share. Save a document to your SkyDrive (Microsoft's equivalent of iDisk) and you can 'co-author' it simultaneously with other users.
Along with Excel and PowerPoint, Word also gets a free cut-down Word Web App that runs in any web browser. Its features are limited, but useful.It's a shame the Web Apps don't work in iOS; all you get is a simplified preview.
Microsoft says file compatibility between Windows and Mac has been improved. We found, though, that Office for Mac 2011 wasn't always compatible with Office for Mac 2008. Text cut and pasted between the two kept some elements of formatting but lost others.
Overall, Word 2011 feels less estranged from the Windows version yet very Mac-like, and that's quite an achievement in itself.
The classic number-crunching app gets a new look
There are generally two kinds of spreadsheet users: the first uses spreadsheets as a simple database, creating lists of tabulated data, which they then need to reorder and sort. The other kind, though, is a very different breed – serious number crunchers who need, and use, powerful mathematical functions.
Excel 2011 manages to contain plenty that will please most folk. The most visible of these features is the smart revamped interface, which does away with the endless array of floating palettes that we've come to love (or loathe) in favour of the unified Ribbon interface that adorns all the Office apps.
The Ribbon is a context-sensitive bar that displays options according to what you're doing at the time. This is integrated into the main window, so gone are the floating palettes, and you can collapse the Ribbon if you want some extra workspace.
There are other interface improvements, too. For example, there's a new Workbook Gallery that appears when you launch the app. This includes templates on your Mac and access to online templates too. The fact that you have direct access to an online library of templates, which can grow over time, means this feature beats the equivalent in Apple's Numbers spreadsheet.
Helpful updates
Previous updates to the Mac version of Excel, Microsoft's flagship spreadsheet, have largely concentrated on users who use the app for basic everyday tasks.
The Lists feature of Excel debuted on the Mac, and remains unmatched in terms of being a simple way to create, sort and order lists of data. Excel 2011, though, contains plenty of bits and pieces that will surprise and delight the real number crunchers.
Probably the most important feature is the return of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which essentially means that proper support for macros, dumped after Office 2004, is now back. If you're a power user, and particularly one who works in a cross-platform environment, this is more than enough reason to invest in Excel 2011.
Power users will also appreciate the useful changes to conditional formatting, which loses its occasionally restrictive limit of three rules per cell. And the conditional formatting editor has had an update that makes it easier to use for anybody who is just starting with this powerful feature.
With this version, Microsoft has also chosen to meet the challenge of online office suites that are offered by the likes of Google head-on. You can now save your documents from Excel directly over to Windows Live SkyDrive, which is a free service with 25GB of storage that lets you store documents online and then edit them using web-based applications.
The web version of Excel doesn't match the feature set of the desktop version, as you'd guess, but it is fantastic for quick edits and – importantly – preserves the features of any document that it doesn't directly support.
The verdict
Excel 2011, then, is an impressive upgrade to what was already a solid and established product. The new-and-improved interface removes the clutter of multiple palettes, while the power-user features mean that, at long last, Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011 is the rightful match of its much-applauded Windows cousin.
What do you add to the presentation app that already does it all?
As with Word, PowerPoint 2011 launches so fast you forget to start waiting for it, and the new Ribbon interface does a great job of putting all the features within easy reach.
Flicking between the tabs quickly reveals all the elements and effects you can use to build a show. The impressive range of transitions and SmartArt graphics will largely be familiar to Office 2008 users, but the Animations tab provides more and smarter ways to make text and graphics appear, disappear, and jiggle about in between.
Once you get the hang of applying these to objects, making things happen in the right order, and ungrouping SmartArt where appropriate to animate individual items, it's gratifyingly easy to create slides that Al Gore would be proud of.
There's also better control over video within shows, reducing the need to break out of PowerPoint. Clips are embedded in your presentation rather than linked, which avoids 'missing media' screw-ups but can make for very large files. Flash video still isn't supported, even though the Windows version handles it.
Power problem-solving
The more complex your slides become, the harder it can be to wrangle overlapping elements. PowerPoint 2011 has a radical solution: select Reorder Objects (under Arrange on the Format tab) and everything on a slide fans out in 3D, a bit like Cover Flow.
You can then drag an item to move it forward or backward in the stacking order. It's cute, but you can't select or resize objects in this view, so you may still have to drag them to the front, edit them, then put them back.
We were disappointed to find that fonts still can't be embedded; nor can PowerPoint 2011 read-only fonts be embedded in files from the Windows version. So unless your show will only ever be played from your own Mac, you'll need to stick to the core Microsoft fonts. If PDFs can preserve fonts across platforms, Microsoft should be able to manage it.
Specially for Mac users, though, is the option to send your slides to iPhoto, if you prefer to build your show there. Like Excel, PowerPoint has regained the support for VBA macros that was dropped in Office 2008, and includes the Visual Basic Editor.
Oddly, though, saving files in the default PPTX format strips out any macros; you have to use special formats to store them. Presentations containing macros are also excluded from co-authoring, the new function that lets you save files 'in the cloud' via Microsoft SkyDrive (or a SharePoint server) and edit them simultaneously with other users.
Clever collaboration
As long as your show is macro-free, this is an interesting way to collaborate. And when it comes to presenting, you can instantly 'broadcast' your show on the web, visible to any Mac or Windows PC via Microsoft's servers, as long as your audience can manage without audio, movies and fancy transitions.
There's also a PowerPoint Web App, which isn't capable of building a show from scratch but could be a life-saver for last-minute tweaks.
Users may be put off at first by some disorienting user interface changes, such as the omission of the Formatting palette. But with even slicker effects topping enormous flexibility, there's plenty to like in PowerPoint 2011.
Email, contacts, calendar and Exchange support with Outlook
Almost 10 years after its introduction in Office X, Microsoft has replaced Entourage with Outlook, a familiar name from the world of Windows. But there's more than just a change of name at work here.
Outlook 2011 is a completely new application, rebuilt from the ground up in Cocoa. Since this is the future of Mac application development, starting from scratch will enable Microsoft to bring new Mac OS X technologies into Outlook as Apple adds them.
It has also given Microsoft the chance to update the interface. It's a clean, modern look and feels a definite improvement over its predecessors.
Email, contacts and calendars all use Microsoft's Ribbon interface, which places a context-sensitive row of buttons along the top of individual windows. It was a controversial change on the Windows version, but it succeeds in presenting the maximum number of options with the minimum fuss, although it can sometimes leave you wondering where a particular one is.
Outlook supports POP, IMAP and Exchange 2007 (and later) email, and setting up an account is quick and easy. If you're using an email service that it knows about, such as MobileMe or Gmail, there's little you need to do other than put in your email address and password.
Conversation view
Outlook also enables you to group messages from the same conversation together, regardless of who they're from. Even though it's meant to look at more than just the message's subject line, in our experience, it didn't. Cue panic as we thought we'd included our best friend and our father-in-law in the same 'Cheers'-entitled message. After this, we quickly disabled the Conversation view mode.
Searching your messages has been improved, since you don't have to specify whether to search a particular field any more, though you can narrow it down if you wish.
Changes have been made to Calendars, too. You can, at long last, create multiple calendars, and it retains support for more than one category within calendars too – a powerful combination. Calendars can be local or shared via Exchange, but this is the only method of sharing – there's no support for CalDAV, which makes using Outlook with Google or MobileMe's calendars a pain.
We also wondered why there are now two types of event: meetings (which have invitees) and appointments (which don't).
Another welcome change is the passing of Entourage's single database. Outlook now uses files and folders for each message, contact and event. There's still a database, which acts like an index to everything, but if it becomes corrupted, Outlook will quickly rebuild it from the existing files, and nothing should be lost.
This lack of a big database should also mean that Time Machine doesn't need to create a new copy of a gigantic file every time you receive new email messages, thereby speeding up your backups.
Outlook is certainly a big improvement over Entourage. It's faster than its predecessor, but still lags behind Mail. The interface is cleaner, and for anyone coming from Windows it's close enough to Outlook on that platform to be familiar.
Overall, it feels good for a first version, although there are the inevitable minor 1.0 bugs.
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Flash 10.1 looks set for Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7's launch was conspicuous for the lack of a few things, and one of the main issues was the absence of Flash compatibility in the browser.It seems that Adobe's recent press activity around the announcement of the AIR platform included a little snippet about Flash 10.1 on mobile devices, and this has extended into new realms:
"Flash Player 10.1 is available on Android and Google TV today, with BlackBerry platform, HP webOS 2.0, future versions of Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo, and Symbian OS also expected to support Flash Player 10.1."
Big up the Big M
This would be a significant shot in the arm for the new Microsoft platform, as it would remove one of the criticisms that have been levelled at the nascent OS - the lack of copy and paste make it look like an Apple iPhone release circa 2007.
TechRadar has spoken to Microsoft at length about Flash on its mobile OS, and Andy Lees, president of the mobile communications division told us, "there is no ActiveX plug-in extensibility because of the security model; we're not going to do that. And with no ActiveX plug-in model, how would we do Flash?"
But it seems a solution is now on the horizon, according to Adobe at least - we've contacted Microsoft again to see if its stance has shifted too.
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Tesco adds barcode scanner to iPhone app
Supermarket leviathan Tesco has announced that is updating its popular grocery app for iPhone to include a barcode reader – allowing people to add things to their online shopping list more simply. The concept behind the barcode reader is that when the busy young professional discovers that they are down to their last tin of lima beans they can scan the label and add it to their online shopping basket.
"We're always looking for ways to make life easier for customers and for busy mums in particular," said CEO of Tesco.com Laura Wade-Gery.
Forgetful? Lazy?
"The barcode scanner will make online ordering much quicker for those that have an iPhone.
"Customers can simply scan the barcode of grocery products stocked by Tesco whilst on the go and add them into their online shopping basket.
"This is the perfect solution for iPhone lovers that are always forgetting to add items to their shopping list or haven't the time to even write one!"
The app is available for free from the App Store, although obviously you'll have to pay for any lima beans you order.
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Japanese gamers want to play Mario in 3D
Sony is pushing 3D gaming on PlayStation 3 this coming Christmas holiday season and into 2011, with major AAA-titles such as Gran Turismo 5, Motorstorm 3: Apocalypse and Killzone 3 all set to show off the tech.Nintendo is also pushing its own new 3D gaming tech, with the glasses-free 3DS console set to arrive in the UK later this spring. Microsoft remains firmly on the fence when it comes to 3D gaming, prefering to focus instead on the potential of Kinect in 2011.
Anyone for 3D Mario?
But what are the big gaming franchises that the hardcore gaming fraternity in Japan want to see given the 3D treatment on the big HD screen in their lounge?
A new survey in Japan by research firm goo Ranking polled over a thousand gamers to find out what they would most like to play on their shiny new 3D TV.
The results of the goo survey, cunningly entitled which game series would people like to play on a big screen 3D television, showed that most of those polled want to see our friendly chunky plumber Mario given a 3D-makeover.
Here's the full list of Japan's top 30 most-wanted 3D games:
1.) Super Mario series
2.) Mario Kart series
3.) Final Fantasy series
4.) Resident Evil series
5.) The Legend of Zelda series
6.) Super Smash Bros. series
7.) Dynasty Warriors series
8.) Monster Hunter series
9.) Street Fighter series
10.) Dragon Ball series
11.) Gran Turismo series
12.) Winning Eleven series
13.) Tekken series
14.) Metal Gear Solid series
15.) Tomb Raider series
16.) Ace Combat series
17.) Silent Hill series
18.) Virtua Fighter series
18.) Love Plus series
20.) Ridge Racer series
21.) F-Zero series
21.) The House of the Dead series
23.) StarFox series
24.) Siren series
25.) Medal of Honor series
26.) Call of Duty series
27.) Virtual-On series
28.) Need for Speed series
28.) Panzer Dragoon series
30.) Space Harrier series
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Review: Sony VAIO VPCEB2L9E/BQ
Sony produces a broad range of laptops under the VAIO brand. The VAIO VPCEB2L9E/BQ features decent power and usability, making it a great choice for all the family. The laptop's keyboard is excellent. Sony and Apple pioneered the currently fashionable isolation-style keyboard and still execute it best. The board is very firm and the action exceptionally crisp, meaning we could instantly type at speed with precision. A dedicated numeric keypad is also included.
The 15.5-inch screen is also a pleasure to view. It's very detailed and gives great colour reproduction, meaning it will suit those who like to view or edit photos and home movies. It's not as bright as we've become accustomed to from Sony, however, and the Super-TFT screen produces reflections in bright light.
The black chassis design gives an air of sophistication, while also proving strong enough to protect the internal components from damage while travelling. The matt finish is also very easy to keep clean, as it doesn't attract dust and dirt as easily as shinier models, such as the Packard Bell - again suiting family use.
The Intel Core i3 processor performs very similarly to the Samsung Q330, and you'll have more than enough performance for everyday use, with even resource intensive programs running well.
Like the Packard Bell EasyNote TM98 and many other machines, an integrated graphics card has been employed and it isn't nearly as powerful as the likes of the Medion or HP. Still, editing your photos won't be too much for this laptop, but the latest gaming titles will certainly not run.
Restricted storage
The 320GB hard drive isn't the most generous. Those with large music and photo libraries may find it a bit restricting, but the average user should find this amount of storage space sufficient for at least a few years.
The laptop lacks the portability of other devices here. We expect a minimum of 180 minutes from a modern machine and this laptop falls quite short, but will at least last you on the daily commute.
The 2.6kg weight isn't as light as the Packard Bell EasyNote TM98, but you shouldn't have too many problems carrying it around town.
Like the Fujitsu LifeBook AH530 and MSI CR630, this laptop features an ExpressCard for adding extras, such as a TV tuner or laptop remote, while the latest wireless networking technology is present in the form of 802.11n Wi-Fi .
The VAIO VPCEB2L9E/BQ is admittedly a comfortable laptop to use, but it's lacking the design, features and portability of the Packard Bell EasyNote TM98.
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Opinion: Sandy Bridge or Fusion: the 2011 processor battle
Recently, I committed journalistic hara-kiri. I claimed nobody will know or even care what chips are inside their PCs 10 years from now. It'll be all about the software, services and styling. As a hardware guy, that gives me a limited shelf life. Still, I reckon I've got several years to transmogrify into a touchy-feely software sage.
Indeed, the next year in PC processors will be one of the most exciting yet for hardware enthusiasts. The best news is that it won't just be Intel making the headlines – in many ways, it's AMD that has the more promising roadmap.
Starting with AMD, then, the coming year will see two brand new processor architectures, as well as the arrival of the company's CPU-GPU Fusion chips. Admittedly, AMD's roadmap has been all over the place of late, but the launch windows are narrowing and the timing of AMD's new kit is finally firming up.
First out of the gate will be a chip known as Ontario, due to go on sale early next year. It's a low-power design focused on efficiency rather than performance.
However, not only does it debut Bobcat, AMD's answer to the more powerful variants of Intel's Atom architecture, but it's also the first Fusion chip. Despite my best bribe-and-badger efforts,
AMD is remaining frustratingly reticent about the graphics core in Ontario. All that's known for sure is that it will be DirectX 11-compliant and sport the latest version of AMD's 2D video acceleration engine. But that's enough to know it will blow any Atom platform away when it comes to high-definition media playback.
The processor part of Ontario looks promising too, thanks to its fully out-of-order instruction execution. Atom makes do with a simpler and slower in-order design.
Next from AMD
AMD's next move is harder to pick. By summer 2011, both Llano and Zambezi should be flowing out of the fabs. The former is AMD's first full-power, quad-core Fusion chip. It's derived from the existing Phenom II core, rather than the all-new Bulldozer architecture, but Llano's graphics core promises to set new standards for an integrated solution.
With so many features packed into a single processor die, Llano will also be very power efficient. I think it will make for a killer notebook chip.
The final piece of the puzzle for AMD is arguably the most exciting. I've had my say on the merits of the revolutionary Bulldozer architecture in the past. Suffice to say that it's the sort of forward-looking design that might just take Intel by surprise. Think Athlon 64 circa 2003.
Whatever, our first taste of Bulldozer will come with Zambezi, a chip that will probably pack in four of those intriguing Bulldozer modules.
Sandy Bridge
As for Intel, the next year is all about Sandy Bridge, its new CPU architecture. I barely feel like I've got to grips with the current Nehalem chips, but Intel is really trucking and by the end of 2010, Nehalem will be so much bunkum.
Superficially, you might think Intel has already harvested all the low-hanging fruit in terms of architectural upgrades with Nehalem. After all, Nehalem brought the memory controller and PCI Express bus on-die, while adding features such as HyperThreading and Turbo Boost. Nevertheless, Intel is going to have a damn good crack at raising the bar.
At the high end, the first Sandy Bridge offering is a six-core beast hewn from 32nm silicon and packing 15MB of cache memory, support for Intel's new 256-bit AVX extensions, a quad-channel memory controller and PCI Express 3.0. It's due out some time in the first half of next year.
As if that's not enough, an eight-core model will follow. However, the first Sandy Bridge chips will actually be dual- and quad-core variants and should hit PCs before the end of 2010.
Overclocking Sandy Bridge
Rumours suggesting Intel has decided to lock out enthusiasts from overclocking these more mainstream Sandy Bridge chips are circulating, but my spies tell me it ain't so. Sandy Bridge will be just as much fun to fiddle with as existing Intel processors.
I'm also told to look out for something special from the new integrated graphics core found in dual- and quad-core Sandys, but they don't stand a chance of beating AMD Fusion for video prowess.
What's more, Intel will test the loyalty of its fan base with the new CPU sockets that come with Sandy Bridge. Out go LGA1,156 and LGA 1,366, along with any hope of drop-in upgrades. In come LGA1,155 and the monstrous new LGA2,011 socket.
Overall, expect Sandy Bridge architecture to be a masterclass in x86 CPU design, but don't be surprised if AMD's Bulldozer chips leave it looking like a technical dead end.
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Sony slashes UK price of PSPgo
Sony has slashed the UK price of its digital download-only handheld, the PSPgo, knocking a healthy £65 off the previous recommended retail price of £225.Which means that, as of November 1, Sony's PSPgo will sell for £159.99 in the UK.
In comparison, Sony's UMD-packing PSP-3000 currently sells for around £135.
Pre-Xmas sales booster
The price cut is clearly intended to boost sales of the handheld in the run-up to Christmas.
Sony is currently developing the PSP2, the true successor to the original PlayStation Portable, although there are still no confirmed plans on release dates, specification or overall strategy for that machine.
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Review: Packard Bell EasyNote TM98
The EasyNote TM98-GN-005UK is the latest in a line of impressive consumer-focused laptops from Packard Bell.Featuring a powerful Intel Core i3 330M processor, but also a decent battery life, this laptop offers a great mix of power and portability.
The Intel Core i3 processor runs at 2.13GHz and is combined with 4096MB of DDR3 memory, producing some impressive test scores during benchmarking. While it can't provide the power of the Intel Core i5 machines, it runs resource-intensive programs with little trouble, letting you happily run photo-editing suites and office applications simultaneously.
Graphically this laptop can't match the likes of the HP Pavilion dv6-3040sa, but it will still run video editing software, HD video and DVDs with little issue. The 500GB hard drive provides truly capacious storage and will easily hold large collections of music, photos, games and high-definition videos.
The 2.5kg the chassis weighs isn't nearly as light as the Dell Inspiron M101z, but the 285-minute battery life is impressive, and you'll get just under five hours of power from one charge under intensive use.
The chassis also looks great and the white weave pattern will certainly turn heads without alienating potential buyers. Unsurprisingly, dust and dirt sticks out a mile on the white plastics, so only regular cleaning will keep the laptop looking new.
The 15.6-inch screen isn't the brightest we have used, but it is certainly detailed enough for everyday use, while colour reproduction is rich and vivid. The panel opens nearly 180 degrees to the chassis, making it easy to achieve a good viewing angle, but the shiny Super-TFT screen coating inevitably produces irritating reflections in bright light.
Excellent keyboard
The very large keyboard is generally a pleasure to use. The keys are nicely spread out and feature a crisp action, but are very flat and we occasionally got lost on the board, miss-hitting various keys. Nevertheless, the dedicated numeric keypad is always welcome and useful for those who regularly input data.
Three USB ports provide plenty of room for peripherals, such as an external mouse or MP3 player, while an HDMI port allows you to hook up to your high-definition (HD) TV and show off your photos and movies. There's also 802.11n Wi-Fi for connecting wirelessly to a router for internet access.
Packard Bell has continued its fine run of form with the EasyNote TM98-GN-005UK. It's producing some of the best consumer laptops currently available and this machine is one of them, providing a great mix of power and portability.
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Travel industry opposed to Google-ITA deal
A number of online travel companies have teamed up in order to oppose Google's proposed buy-out of airline ticketing company ITA Software.Google is currently trying to complete its $700 million acquisition of ITA, as reported earlier this summer.
FairSearch coalition formed
But online travel firms Expedia Inc, Kayak.com, Sabre Holdings and Farelogix Inc are now calling for the US Justice Department to block the deal, fearing that it would lead to anti-competitive behaviour in the online travel market.
The group of online travel companies have formed a temporary coalition called FairSearch.org to help explain and promote the reasons behind their opposition to the deal.
For its part, Google maintains that it does not currently compete against ITA Software, and thus that the deal will not change the existing market share in the industry.
The opponents to the deal fear that, once Google owns ITA, it would have the power to restrict any online travel company's access to the company's software, currently used by most of those travel firms making up the FairSearch co-alition.
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Ray Ozzie outlines his vision of a post-PC world
Departing Microsoft boss Ray Ozzie has outlined his vision of a 'post-PC' world in which most of us work in the cloud.Ozzie, who recently announced his plans to step down as Microsoft's chief software guru, envisions simple, web-connected devices as the future of computing.
Fearlessly embracing change
As Microsoft readies the launch of Windows Phone 7 next month, Ozzie told the company in a personal blog post:
"Let's mark this 5-year milestone by once again fearlessly embracing that which is technologically inevitable.
"The next five years will bring about yet another inflection point -- a transformation that will once again yield unprecedented opportunities for our company and our industry catalyzed by the huge and inevitable shift in apps and infrastructure that's truly now just begun."
Ozzie sees a shift away from expensive desktops and laptop PCs to computing devices that are "instantly usable, interchangeable and trivially replaceable without loss."
"Close our eyes and form a realistic picture of what a post-PC world might actually look like, if it were to ever truly occur," added Ozzie in the blog.
"Those who can envision a plausible future that's brighter than today will earn the opportunity to lead."
Wearable, always-on computing
Speaking of competitors such as Google and Apple, the Microsoft boss noted that: "Their execution has surpassed our own in mobile experiences.
"Today's PC's, phones and pads are just the very beginning. We'll see decades to come of incredible innovation from which will emerge all sorts of 'connected companions' that we'll wear, we'll carry, we'll use on our desks and walls and the environment all around us."
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Android hits 100,000 apps landmark
Android has hit a major landmark, with the confirmation arriving that there are now more than 100,000 apps in the mobile OS' Android Market.The mobile operating system from Google has proven to be a massive hit, with major handset manufacturers flocking to use the free platform, and some of the most impressive iPhone competitors – including the Samsung Galaxy S and the HTC Desire – selling well.
And the success is not likely to be limited to traditional smartphones, with a spate of tablets sporting Android beginning to hit the market.
But, one of the key pillars to success is how many apps are available, as third party developers aim to push their wares to consumers – and the 100,000 mark is a significant one for Android.
Tweet
"One hundred thousand apps in Android Market," tweeted @androiddev – the official twitter feed for developers from the Android team.
That figure is still, however, significantly behind the more mature iPhone App Store, which has been the trailblazer for the entire market.
Apple's iOS 4 remains perhaps the most significant trendsetter in the market, although Android's surge means that Steve Jobs is beginning to be drawn into a war or words which suggest that he is worried.
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Sony R&D boss says Kinect is 'cumbersome'
Sony Computer Entertainment R&D boss Dr. Richard Marks has said that he thinks Microsoft's Kinect gaming experience is 'pretty cumbersome'.Marks - who has spoken of his views on Kinect's limitations before - told a New York Times interviewer that he feels the magical feeling promised by Microsoft with Kinect "wears off pretty quickly."
Can it be magic?
"I totally agree that there is this magical feeling with using your hands to select something," Marks told the newspaper.
"But that feeling wears off pretty quickly, and it becomes a pretty cumbersome way to do things," added the PS3 Move designer.
For its part, Microsoft is pushing Kinect as the future of gaming control, whereas Sony is sticking closer to the tried-and-tested controller in the hand experience.
"No one had tried to solve these problems in the consumer space and put all of this together," said Don Mattrick, the president of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business.
Microsoft key development partners were also quick to talk up the possibilities opened up by the new tech, with Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom, a vice president at Harmonix (who have Dance Central scheduled for the system) noting:
"We've been trying to find technology that would allow the player to use their whole body. We wanted to remove the technology and really allow people to dance."
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BAFTA adds social networking game awards category
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced that it is introducing a social network game category to its gaming awards. Never one to miss hitching a ride on a bandwagon, the rise and rise of the likes of Farmville and Mafia Wars has led to BAFTA introducing a whole new category.
Ray Maguire, Chairman of BAFTA's Video Games Committee, said: "The rise in popularity and sophistication of social media gaming has been meteoric.
Recognition
"It is only right to recognise the hard work, fantastic creativity and great success being demonstrated in this new area of the industry.
"As a result, BAFTA is very proud to announce the new category of Social Network Game as part of the upcoming Awards."
Expect Zynga to feature heavily – the San Francisco-based developer is responsible for some of the most recognisable names in the genre.
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Buying Guide: Best cheap netbook: which should you buy?
Finding the best value laptops is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and there are so many options to consider that it's difficult to know what to buy. Fortunately manufacturers are always innovating to set their machines apart from the crowd, and you'll find a lot of great features on netbooks under £300.
Also make sure you check out our feature on the 15 best netbooks in the world today.
1. Packard Bell Dot S2 - £230
Packard Bell's Dot S2 is a true return to form for Packard Bell. It's the added extras that really make a difference: we got 463 minutes from the battery (although this does add bulk and weight to the machine) while there's a USB cable supplied so you can sync it with your desktop. What's more is that Packard Bell has included Adobe's excellent Photoshop Elements with the netbook. It's a bargain given the price, too.
Read our Packard Bell Dot S2 review
2. Asus Disney Netbook - £250
We were pleasantly surprised by Asus' Disney-branded netbook. Taking its cues from Asus' Seashell series, it's the perfect machine for kids - but adults will find it equally usable. It ships with both Windows XP and a custom Disney theme, and parents can easily setup the netbook to protect their kids from harmful content. As with Asus' other netbooks, it's well-built and extremely user-friendly, and the Disneyfied extras - such as a Mickey Mouse-shaped webcam and Disney decals - are sure to make it a hit with kids.
Read our Asus Disney Netbook review
3. Samsung NC10 - £275
We described Samsung's NC10 as "clearly the best netbook so far" when we reviewed it in March of last year, and it's still fantastic. In fact, Samsung has updated it with the "Plus" moniker, and it now includes Windows 7 Starter, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 250GB hard drive. Even with the new additions, the basic specs still impress, such as an epic six-cell battery, and Samsung's own Battery Manager and Recovery Solution software. It's solidly built, too, and the screen and keyboard are among the best we've ever seen.
Read our Samsung NC10 review
4. MSI Wind U100 - £291
It was the processor that really set the MSI Wind U100 apart from the competition, and it's a rock-solid netbook design that's still at the top of its class. Unlike other netbooks, it's not fiddly to use, and the keyboard feels more like one you'd find on a properly-proportioned laptop. The other main selling point is the "Turbo Boost" button, which temporarily overclocks the CPU for a slight performance gain - perfect if you find it's getting a bit sluggish.
Read our MSI Wind U100 review
5. Samsung N220 - £303
Samsung's made a name for itself in well-built netbooks with amazing battery life, and the N220 is no exception. It sports a six-cell battery capable of a staggering 575 minutes on the road. The N220 also feels durable and solid, and the branding isn't the usual in-your-face logo-plastering we've seen on other machines. Samsung's also included its HyperSpace interface, which bypasses the Windows 7 installation to allow for very quick internet browsing - perfect for checking the times on your 575-minute train journey.
Read our Samsung N220 review
6. Toshiba NB305-105 - £306
If you're after a well-built netbook, look no further than Toshiba's solid little machine. The lid only shows a slight degree of flex under pressure, and the hinges are reassuringly solid. Toshiba's also fitted it with a lovely, responsive keyboard, as well as a large, comfortable trackpad and battery life is way above a standard netbook's. Handily, you can also charge your USB gadgets while the computer is off with Toshiba's Sleep and Charge Functionality. It's not the most innovative of netbooks, but it is one of the sturdiest.
Read our Toshiba NB305-105 review
7. Samsung N230 - £322
As the most recent netbook we've reviewed, we were keen to see what Samsung would bring to its N230. The answer is not a lot, but this isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, it's still a killer netbook. Samsung has obviously concentrated on the usability of the machine, and therefore you'll find a fantastic keyboard and screen, as well as an all-conquering 628 minute battery life. The performance is nothing to write home about, but this is a limitation of the form factor, not the machine.
Read our Samsung N230 review
8. Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n - £335
Acer's Aspire sports an 11.6-inch screen, which is a tad bigger than other netbooks' standard 10.1", and makes a big difference. In addition, it's got a consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) processor, which gives it an excellent 428 minutes of battery life - although this comes at the price of performance. 802.11n WiFi, an LED-backlit screen and HDMI-out make it stand apart from other netbooks, too, and it's slim, solid and well-made.
Read our Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n review
9. MSI Wind U115 Hybrid - £344
The SSD/HDD combo is something we're more used to seeing on high-power desktop PCs, but MSI has integrated it to its Wind U115 netbook. The idea is to install your operating system onto the SSD, so it boots and runs quickly, and everything else onto the HDD. It's put to good use here, and you can even turn off the battery-draining HDD to boost the Wind U115 to an astonishing 780 minutes of battery life. It's every bit as good as the original Wind, too, with the added bonus of outstanding mobility.
Read our MSI Wind U115 Hybrid review
10. Toshiba Satellite L450-136 - £350
Toshiba's Satellite L450 is the only portable PC in our round-up that can't be classed as a netbook, due to its whopping 15.6-inch screen. Being a cheap laptop, its performance is rather limited, but if you can live with that you'll find a comfortable, stylish machine. At 193 minutes, battery life is fairly decent for a laptop of this size and price, and the included HDMI-out port means you can output the PC to a high-definition television.
Read our Toshiba Satellite L450 review
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Buying Guide: Best cheap netbook: which should you buy?
Finding the best value laptops is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and there are so many options to consider that it's difficult to know what to buy. Fortunately manufacturers are always innovating to set their machines apart from the crowd, and you'll find a lot of great features on netbooks under £300.
Also make sure you check out our feature on the 15 best netbooks in the world today.
1. Packard Bell Dot S2 - £230
Packard Bell's Dot S2 is a true return to form for Packard Bell. It's the added extras that really make a difference: we got 463 minutes from the battery (although this does add bulk and weight to the machine) while there's a USB cable supplied so you can sync it with your desktop. What's more is that Packard Bell has included Adobe's excellent Photoshop Elements with the netbook. It's a bargain given the price, too.
Read our Packard Bell Dot S2 review
2. Asus Disney Netbook - £250
We were pleasantly surprised by Asus' Disney-branded netbook. Taking its cues from Asus' Seashell series, it's the perfect machine for kids - but adults will find it equally usable. It ships with both Windows XP and a custom Disney theme, and parents can easily setup the netbook to protect their kids from harmful content. As with Asus' other netbooks, it's well-built and extremely user-friendly, and the Disneyfied extras - such as a Mickey Mouse-shaped webcam and Disney decals - are sure to make it a hit with kids.
Read our Asus Disney Netbook review
3. Samsung NC10 - £275
We described Samsung's NC10 as "clearly the best netbook so far" when we reviewed it in March of last year, and it's still fantastic. In fact, Samsung has updated it with the "Plus" moniker, and it now includes Windows 7 Starter, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 250GB hard drive. Even with the new additions, the basic specs still impress, such as an epic six-cell battery, and Samsung's own Battery Manager and Recovery Solution software. It's solidly built, too, and the screen and keyboard are among the best we've ever seen.
Read our Samsung NC10 review
4. MSI Wind U100 - £291
It was the processor that really set the MSI Wind U100 apart from the competition, and it's a rock-solid netbook design that's still at the top of its class. Unlike other netbooks, it's not fiddly to use, and the keyboard feels more like one you'd find on a properly-proportioned laptop. The other main selling point is the "Turbo Boost" button, which temporarily overclocks the CPU for a slight performance gain - perfect if you find it's getting a bit sluggish.
Read our MSI Wind U100 review
5. Samsung N220 - £303
Samsung's made a name for itself in well-built netbooks with amazing battery life, and the N220 is no exception. It sports a six-cell battery capable of a staggering 575 minutes on the road. The N220 also feels durable and solid, and the branding isn't the usual in-your-face logo-plastering we've seen on other machines. Samsung's also included its HyperSpace interface, which bypasses the Windows 7 installation to allow for very quick internet browsing - perfect for checking the times on your 575-minute train journey.
Read our Samsung N220 review
6. Toshiba NB305-105 - £306
If you're after a well-built netbook, look no further than Toshiba's solid little machine. The lid only shows a slight degree of flex under pressure, and the hinges are reassuringly solid. Toshiba's also fitted it with a lovely, responsive keyboard, as well as a large, comfortable trackpad and battery life is way above a standard netbook's. Handily, you can also charge your USB gadgets while the computer is off with Toshiba's Sleep and Charge Functionality. It's not the most innovative of netbooks, but it is one of the sturdiest.
Read our Toshiba NB305-105 review
7. Samsung N230 - £322
As the most recent netbook we've reviewed, we were keen to see what Samsung would bring to its N230. The answer is not a lot, but this isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, it's still a killer netbook. Samsung has obviously concentrated on the usability of the machine, and therefore you'll find a fantastic keyboard and screen, as well as an all-conquering 628 minute battery life. The performance is nothing to write home about, but this is a limitation of the form factor, not the machine.
Read our Samsung N230 review
8. Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n - £335
Acer's Aspire sports an 11.6-inch screen, which is a tad bigger than other netbooks' standard 10.1", and makes a big difference. In addition, it's got a consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) processor, which gives it an excellent 428 minutes of battery life - although this comes at the price of performance. 802.11n WiFi, an LED-backlit screen and HDMI-out make it stand apart from other netbooks, too, and it's slim, solid and well-made.
Read our Acer Aspire 1410-74G25n review
9. MSI Wind U115 Hybrid - £344
The SSD/HDD combo is something we're more used to seeing on high-power desktop PCs, but MSI has integrated it to its Wind U115 netbook. The idea is to install your operating system onto the SSD, so it boots and runs quickly, and everything else onto the HDD. It's put to good use here, and you can even turn off the battery-draining HDD to boost the Wind U115 to an astonishing 780 minutes of battery life. It's every bit as good as the original Wind, too, with the added bonus of outstanding mobility.
Read our MSI Wind U115 Hybrid review
10. Toshiba Satellite L450-136 - £350
Toshiba's Satellite L450 is the only portable PC in our round-up that can't be classed as a netbook, due to its whopping 15.6-inch screen. Being a cheap laptop, its performance is rather limited, but if you can live with that you'll find a comfortable, stylish machine. At 193 minutes, battery life is fairly decent for a laptop of this size and price, and the included HDMI-out port means you can output the PC to a high-definition television.
Read our Toshiba Satellite L450 review
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Dell Venue Pro available for pre-order at £500
The eagerly-awaited Dell Venue Pro Windows 7 smartphone has appeared for pre-order on the Expansys website – outlining the final specs for the QWERTY-toting handset and a £500 price tag.With five handsets already on the market, Dell's offering was always slated to appear sooner rather than later, although we'll be surprised if it does indeed hit the UK release date of 8 November that Expansys suggests.
The Dell Venue Pro brings all the glitz of Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 7 OS with the addition of a keyboard.
Specs appeal
The specs are fairly familiar, with a Qualcomm 8250 SnapDragon 1Ghz processor, 800x400 4.1 inch capacitive screen (we're sure even if Expansys appears less sure) and a 5MP camera with digital zoom, geo-tagging and touch-focus.
For that £500 price tag you will also get 1GB of internal memory expandable through the microSDHC slot.
There is also AGPS, accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor and apparently you can use it as a phone as well.
We'll keep you informed if we hear a more definitive UK release date, but we're expecting the Venue Pro from Dell to land a bit closer to Christmas at the moment - but who knows, perhaps it could come early for some Dell-lovers?
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New BBC iPlayer social features get thumbs up
The social networking features in the latest iteration of the BBC iPlayer have been a success, with 14 million people tagging their favourite programmes in just one month. According to a blog by the BBC's new General Manager for Programmes and On Demand Daniel Danker - recently hired from Microsoft - the changes in iPlayer have worked well, with people finding programmes in less clicks and use of the service increasing steadily.
"As we iron out the post-launch issues, there's plenty of good news to share," blogged Danker.
Usage up
"Usage is up and radio consumption is growing particularly fast. Audiences are finding programmes with 20% fewer clicks than before, which is a really great result," he added.
"The new personalisation features are also proving very popular, with 14 million of you tagging 'favourite' programmes in just one month."
The BBC iPlayer has been a massive hit since its arrival, and the new features appear to have gone down well with the general public.
114 million plays
"BBC iPlayer had a total of 114 million programme plays for the month, but the real success story was the week-by-week increase," added Danker.
"The last week in September saw 24 million programmes played across TV and radio - the most in a single week since May.
"The growth has continued in October, where each week has been stronger than the last."
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Patriot announces value Torqx TRB SSDs
Patriot has launched 'value' Torqx TRB solid state drives, insisting that its latest releases offer performance without breaking the bank. The rise of the SSD has been held back somewhat by the drives' relatively high price-tag, but as they become more common the cost is coming down.
Now, Patriot is hoping that its latest offering can tempt people to move from traditional hard drives to SSDs.
Affordable
"As solid-state drive technology advances, we are able to develop SSD solutions that provide the performance users want while reaching the affordable price points they demand," states Les Henry, Vice President of Engineering at Patriot.
"Patriot's objective is to offer the latest technology while providing the best performance and price options.
"Our Torqx TRB family of SSDs meet these goals. Users upgrading with a Torqx TRB SSD will benefit from improved transfer rates, quicker boot times and the reliability of solid-state storage in their boot drive option.
"Including a Torqx SSD in your desktop or notebook upgrade plans provides one of the best bang-for-the buck improvements you can make to your system."
The drives come in 32 and 64GB capacities offer speeds of up to 260MB/s Read and up to 115MB/s write.
For all the affordability talk – we haven't actually been supplied with any pricings or a UK release date, but we will update you when we find out.
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