Qualcomm outs 4G chip that works anywhere in the world
Qualcomm Industries today announced a new chipset for mobile devices that will connect to most 4G mobile networks in the world at this time.
Key to this big step forward is what Qualcomm is calling the Dynamic Antenna Matching Tuner, which is compatible with signals between 700-2700 MHz. This is important as there is now as many as 40 different frequencies in use by mobile telco around the world, according to Qualcomm.
"The wide range of radio frequencies used to implement 2G, 3G and 4G LTE networks globally presents an ongoing challenge for mobile device designers," said Qualcomm's Alex Katouzian in a statement.
"Our new RF devices are tightly integrated and will allow us the flexibility and scalability to supply OEMs of all types, from those requiring only a region-specific LTE solution, to those needing LTE global roaming support."
Better battery too
Though there is bound to be limitations on how this all works, it is nice to think you could fly halfway around the world and jump on a 4G network when you land.
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MWC 2013: Firefox OS lights up with ZTE Open and Alcatel OneTouch Fire
Mozilla has given a preview of the initial devices to run the HTML5-based Firefox OS. The handsets include the ZTE Open plus the Alcatel OneTouch Fire. LG and Huawei will follow.
Making the announcement during a rambling and often chaotic event before the opening of MWC 2013, the initial devices will appear during Summer 2013.
Each will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips.
The unique play of Firefox OS is that it enables every feature to be developed as if it were an HTML5 web app; eessentially the whole device is based on the same technology as the web. Mozilla hopes that developers will be attracted by the ease of developing for the device.
"There is no new ecosystem – if you're developing for the web today, you're already developing for Firefox OS," said Jay Sullivan, Mozilla's head of products.
When we were being demoed the product, the Mozilla lackey summed it up as "iOS is developed in Cupertino by a couple of thousand engineers. This can be written by anyone".
Clearly designed for developing markets, the first Firefox OS devices will be available to consumers in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela. Additional markets will be announced soon.
"Firefox OS brings the freedom and unbounded innovation of the open Web to mobile users everywhere," said Gary Kovacs, CEO of Mozilla. Last year we shared the vision with you, this year we're going to share the devices." Kovacs welcomed Mozilla's partners warmly, saying "being version 1 is not easy."
Joining Kovacs on stage was Qualcomm's CEO Paul Jacobs: "HTML5 is fundamentally important. What we're trying to do here is fill the gaps so developers can get applications out, to help the developers build the applications that will run cross platform.
"We [Qualcomm] really see our role around the ecosystem as being an enabler. We have a huge amount of experience around testing and working with the operators and handset manufacturers. One thing we've really been able to do is tightly optimise the software, making sure the interface works extremely well as the telephony works well.
"We're targeting this for high volume smartphones, making sure it works right down....that incredible market for those people who haven't got a smartphone as yet.
"Mozilla is a group of people that believes we should be doing good for the web," continued Kovacs. We're on the edge of unlocking mobile."
"At the heart of Mozilla we are not driven by commercial profits. We are certainly not going to be alone. At the centre of a phone should be the web and the web is a level playing field. Any payment mechanism should work."
Developers can distribute their apps directly, but there is a Mozilla Marketplace. Mozilla says it wants to "tear down the walls" between apps and the web. Mozilla says it will be easy to "discover one-time use and downloadable apps."
To date, 17 key operators have committed to what Mozilla calls the open web device initiative: América Móvil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia Group, Telefónica, Telenor, TMN and VimpelCom.
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Hands-on review: MWC 2013: Huawei Ascend P2
Last year Huawei gave us the world's slimmest and the world's most powerful smartphones in the form of the Ascend P1 S and Ascend D Quad, and now the Huawei Ascend P2 has stolen the "world's fastest smartphone" crown.
In short, Huawei loves a good record breaker (which means it will absolutely love TechRadar), probably due to the fact it generates additional hype around its smartphone launches.
The Chinese firm is firmly setting its sights on the mid- and high-end of the mobile market as it tries to shake off the budget tag it's developed for itself over recent years.
It all started at CES 2013 when the Ascend D2 and huge Ascend Mate took centre stage, and the Ascend P2 now slides in below these two to fill that mid-range void in the line up.
The natural successor to the Ascend P1, the Ascend P2 release date is set for the second quarter of this year and it will cost €399 (around £345/$525/AU$510).
For the money you'll get a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 display with 315 ppi, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 13MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera, Android Jelly Bean (version 4.1), 4G, NFC and a 2,420mAh battery.
Huawei has managed to cram all that tech into a relatively slender frame with the Ascend P2 measuring 136 x 67 x 8.4mm, and weighing a comfortable 122g.
The handset sits nicely in the hand, with the flat back and curved edges of the handset allowing you to grasp it properly, although the all plastic finish does detract a little from the smart, minimalist design.
It feels solid enough with the strength enhanced by the sealed chassis, meaning there's no access to the battery inside the handset.
This means you're left with a microSIM slot on the right hand side of the Ascend P2 which is covered by a simple to remove plastic flap, just below the easy to reach power/lock key.
From front on the Gorilla glass which covers the Ascend P2 extends over the top and bottom of the device, which apparently gives a similar effect to an infinity pool - at least that's according to Huawei's Head of Device, Richard Yu.
However you want to describe the Ascend P2, it's a tasteful design which is clean and professional and it looks like a handset you might actually want to own.
There's no full HD resolution on the 4.7-inch screen, as Huawei believes there's no point having anything more than 720p on displays less that 5-inches in size as the human eye can't distinguish the difference.
Not everyone is on Huawei's hymn sheet though as the HTC One, which sports the same size display as the Ascend P2, boasts a full HD screen.
The screen on the Ascend P2 is very good though - it's bright, colourful and well defined making the heavily customised Android Jelly Bean operating system look good.
In a similar fashion to Nokia and the Lumia 920, Huawei has equipped the Ascend P2 with what it's calling Magic Touch allowing you to use the handset whilst wearing gloves - an insanely useful feature we wish more smartphone manufacturers would implement.
Huawei has gone to town a little with its Emotion UI overlay, as it looks to give the Ascend P2 a different look and feel to the rest of the Android handsets on the market.
For example, it has completely removed the app draw from the P2 leaving you with just the homescreens to manage your apps from.
At first we found this pretty confusing as we kept wanting to press the app list key at the bottom of the screen, only to find it wasn't there - however after a short while we became accustomed to the fact we were stuck with just the homescreens.
Another unique feature is the ability to group a series of different sized widgets together into one larger widget, to provide a personalised homescreen experience and one that reminds us a little of the variably sized Live Tiles on Windows Phone 8.
The default icon design on the Emition UI does come across slightly childish, but the Ascend P2 has over 100 different themes for you to choose from, which changes the icons, wallpaper, widgets and colour scheme.
This means you can make the phone look quite a bit smarter without too much effort, but the pared down options may put the Android purists off.
You can easily manage your apps by dragging one on top of another to create a folder, and you'll find a variety of handy quick settings in the notification bar if you drag down from the top of the screen.
Moving around Android and jumping in and out of apps is generally pretty good, but the Huawei Ascend P2 lacks the zip of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One.
It's not a huge issue and it's certainly not so slow as to infuriate the user, but some applications did take two to three seconds to load up - the camera being one.
The Ascend P2 sports a dedicated camera key towards the bottom of its right side, which gives you the option to easily load up the app so you can quickly snap a picture.
Although the app may take a little time to load, the shutter button is far more responsive and we were able to snap pictures in quick succession without any hint of slow down.
Picture quality from the rear facing 13MP camera was very good, helped in part by the presence of auto- and tap-to-focus meaning we could avoid blurry messes most of the time.
During the launch event for the Ascend P2, Huawei claimed that it had equipped the hanset with a Super Resolution 2x digital zoom which would put an end to poor picture quality.
In practice this didn't quite seem to be the case with some pixelation occurring as we zoomed in, but it wasn't as much as we're used to seeing on smartphones.
If you like to play around with your photos there are a variety of camera effects and filters available in the app, along with modes such a panorama, HDR and low light. There's also a front facing 1.3MP camera, which is perfect for video calls or the odd vanity check.
Something Huawei is making a big song and dance about - and the reason it's dubbed the Ascend P2 "the world's fastest smartphone" - is its internet capabilities.
The Ascend P2 is the first smartphone to come equipped with CAT 4 LTE, meaning your able to access even faster 4G speeds - apparently maxing out at 150Mbps.
This is faster than the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 LTE, which both house the CAT 3 version of the technology.
Sadly we weren't able to put the Ascend P2 properly though its paces as the only internet connection available to us was an rather mediocre 3G network.
In terms of web browser you're provided with the perfectly functional Android default, although our surfing experience was distinctly average thanks to that 3G connection - look out for our full Huawei Ascend P2 review for the proper run down of how well the world's fastest smartphone fares on the web.
Web pages do look great though thanks to the 720p display, and the automatic text-reflow made reading out favourite TechRadar articles a breeze.
We watched the HD trailer for Rango on the phone and we're pleased to report that the movie looked fantastic on the Ascend P2 and we would happily watch a full length flick on this device.
Thanks to the quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM the Ascend P2 has enough grunt to run even the most taxing of games and Riptide ran smoothly during our play - though we felt the graphics weren't quite as good as handsets running Tegra 3 processors.
Huawei has also tweaked the onscreen keyboard and thankfully it's still a pretty decent offering with well spaced buttons and adequate auto correct and next word prediction making tapping out a message pretty easy.
Early Verdict
The Huawei Ascend P2 is a solid mid- to high-end smartphone with some decent features and pleasing array of specs.
It doesn't quite have the build quality of the iPhone 5 or HTC One, nor does it have the same snappiness as the excellent Galaxy S3 and the Emotion UI may not be every Android fan's cup of tea.
That said it will give the likes of the HTC One S, BlackBerry Z10 and Nokia Lumia 820 a right old run for their money and we look forward to putting the Ascend P2 through its paces in our in-depth review.
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MWC 2013: Samsung sets sights on Apple TV with new HomeSync media streamer
The early launches at MWC 2013 keep on coming, with Samsung unveiling a new HomeSync set-top box running Android Jelly Bean.
The new media streamer, which will compete directly against the Apple TV solution, will serve up a host of popular video on demand services through full access to the Google Play store.
Naturally, that also means that the best Android games, music services and online portals will be available on the big screen TV, at full 1080p HD resolution, where available.
The HomeSync box is not, however, a Google TV-branded product.
Look out, Apple TV
As well as freer access to a greater range of apps than Apple TV, Samsung's HomeSync will also have another leg-up on Cupertino's favourite 'hobby project.'
It has a 1TB HDD meaning users can store a host of their favourite media content on the device, with up to 8 members of the household able to set-up user accounts for private or shared storage.
The 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV products ditched local storage for a streaming-only solution, which has so far served the company well.
Like Apple TV, users will be also able to control the box from a smartphone app.
Spec-heavy
Other top-line HomeSync specs include a 1.7GHz dual-core CPU, while there's 1GB of RAM to keep things ticking over smoothly.
There's also Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, micro USB, and an optical audio out.
The device will go on sale in April in the US initially, before a global expansion later in the year.
Pricing has not yet been announced.
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MWC 2013: HP announces Slate 7 budget tablet running Android Jelly Bean
HP has joined the Android tablet crowd with a launch of the Slate 7 just prior to Mobile World Congress officially getting underway in Barcelona.
The 7-inch device will be released in April running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and will battle the likes of the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire with a competitive $169 price-point.
However, it may struggle to compete with those big hitters in terms of specs, with a 1.6GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor on board rather than the Tegra 4 device hinted at in recent weeks.
The 7-inch device also offers a slightly low-resolution 1024 x 600 multi-touch screen, 1GB RAM and 8GB of built-in storage which can be augmented by a micro SD slot.
Silver and black
The Slate 7 also brings a 3-megapixel rear camera and a basic VGA front-facing offering, while the device measures up at a respectable 10.7mm thin.
It's also the first Android tablet to have Beats Audio integration.
The tablet will launch in stainless, steel, black and red and also promises 5-hours of movie playback from the battery.
HP will hope that the Slate 7 endures a more successful shelf life than the ill-fated HP TouchPad tablet running WebOS.
The device will be fully unveiled on the show floor at MWC this week and we'll be out there in force to hopefully bring you some hands-on time with the device. We'll also update this story with international pricing details as soon as they are confirmed.
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Facebook to keep our old memories in 'cold storage' at new data centre
Facebook is building a vast new data centre in order to archive all of the content its members rarely access.
A brand new 16,000 square-foot facility is under construction in Prineville, Oregon in the United States, where Facebook plans to keep all of those old photos, wall posts and status updates from bygone eras.
The social network claims that 8 per cent of the images uploaded account for around 85 per cent of the traffic generated by photos at any one time.
So, the idea behind the new slow-running 'cold storage' centre is to cut Facebook's energy costs by making the rarely-accessed content less immediately available.
Won't impact experience
However, this doesn't mean you're going to have to wait in line to take a stroll down memory lane and bring up your photo album from 'Kavos '08'.
"The principle will be so that it doesn't impact the user experience – so think about a matter of seconds, or milliseconds," a Facebook spokesperson said.
The new facility, which joins two others in Prineville, will allow for the storage of an Exabyte of data, which is the equivalent of 250 million DVDs.
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Windows Blue public preview coming 'this summer' with better search
Microsoft is preparing to go public with its first of the annual Windows Blue updates to Windows 8, according to reports.
The Verge said the software giant is targeting the release of a public preview this summer, with incremental updates each year on the way.
According to the article, one of Microsoft's key goals with Windows Blue is to implement a significantly enhanced search functionality.
Thanks to the Bing team users may be able to search for a movie with Windows bringing in results to suggest apps and a quick way to stream the title.
Milestones
Earlier reports have claimed that Windows Blue will also feature Internet Explorer 11 built directly into the OS.
It was also claimed that week that Microsoft had reached 'Milestone 1' in Windows Blue's development, which means the first complete build of the update is now in the bag.
The Verge adds that a summer launch will also bring support for new 7 and 8-inch Windows tablets.
All that's left now is for Microsoft to officially confirm it is working on the update, which it is yet to do outside of a couple of public job postings.
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MWC 2013: Huawei: It's been difficult to make it in the smartphone world
During its keynote speech at MWC 2013 Huawei admitted it hasn't had an easy ride in the smartphone market.
Huawei Device's Global Brand Director, Amy Lou took to the stage and explained the Chinese firm has had it tough over the past few years, but it's now looking to kick on.
Lou said: " It's been difficult to shift from an ODM white label brand to a Huawei brand, and it's been difficult to shift our focus from feature to smartphones."
Make it possible
The Chinese firm, currently the third largest smartphone provider in the world, has big ambitions which goes some way to explaining it's new mantra "make it possible."
"We're an ambitious young brand which plans to be one of the top 100 companies in the world in the coming years", explained Lou.
For Huawei to break into the top 100 it needs to bring powerful flagship devices to market, which it has started to do with the Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate launching at CES 2013, followed by the Ascend P2 at MWC 2013.
Can these handsets help propel Huawei to challenge the likes of Samsung and Apple? Only time will tell, but the big guns of the smartphone world will need to keep tabs on this Chinese revolution.
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MWC 2013: Huawei Ascend P2 unveiled as world's fastest smartphone
The Huawei Ascend P2 has been unveiled as the worlds fastest 4G smartphone at MWC 2013 in Barcelona, replacing the Ascend P1 in the Chinese firm's line up.
It's the first smartphone to pack in LTE CAT 4, which Hauwei claims will allow the Ascend P2 to deliver some blistering web browsing speeds, faster than the CAT 3 toting Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE and iPhone 5.
There's also high-speed Wi-Fi for when you want to surf the web at home, with the Ascend P2 offering speeds of up to 520Kbps.
On your marks...
The Ascend P2 also packs in a 4.7-inch display with a 315ppi resolution, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 13MP camera, NFC technology and 2,420mAh battery into a plastic case which is 8.4mm at its thickest point.
Huawei CEO Richard Yu said it could have made the Ascend P2 even thinner, but it would have had to sacrifice the quality of the camera to make this possible.
If you've taken a fancy to the Huawei Ascend P2 you'll be pleased to learn that the handset will launch globally in the second quater of this year and will retail for €399 (around £345/$525/AU$510).
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In Depth: 10 things Apple totally messed up
Apple has a reputation for perfectionism, for ensuring every last detail is absolutely right before presenting their latest "magical, wonderful" system, software or service to a waiting world.
And that's perfectly true... sometimes.
But Apple is made of people, and people screw up - sometimes because they make mistakes, sometimes because there are too few people under too much pressure, and sometimes because the technology isn't quite ready for what Apple's trying to do.
Here are some of Apple's most interesting failures.
1. Newton
[Image credit: Blake Patterson, Wikimedia Commons CC BY 2.0]
The Newton was the iPad two decades before the iPad: an ultra-portable, incredibly useful new gadget that users absolutely loved. Steve Jobs didn't agree, and canned it in 1997. Apple may have invented the PDA (CEO John Sculley coined the term in 1992), but it hadn't perfected it: the handwriting recognition was the subject of a Simpsons spoof and a Doonesbury strip, and it seemed that people simply didn't get the Newton: where Apple hoped to sell millions of Newtons, reports suggest that it only shifted 50,000 in its first three months. By comparison, in 2012 Apple sold three million iPads in three days.
As Harry McCracken wrote in Time magazine, the problem was that Apple was simply ahead of its time: "When Jobs decided to shut down the Newton division, color screens were still unaffordable, touch input was crude and wireless data didn't get much more exciting than two-way paging. When he launched the first iPhone nine years later, technology allowed Apple to build the sort of devices it wanted to create in the 1990s, but couldn't."
2. MobileMe
The service formerly known as iTools, then .Mac, was an online software suite that would seamlessly blend desktop and web-based software and services. It didn't quite work out that way. Its 2008 relaunch was bumpy, with problematic syncing, email problems and other issues, and in 2008 Jobs admitted in an internal email that the launch was rushed and was "not up to Apple's standards". More colourfully, he apparently asked the MobileMe team what the service was supposed to do - and when they replied, he yelled "so why the f--- doesn't it do that?"
3. Pippin
[Image credit: AllAboutApple.com, CC BY-SA 2.5 IT]
Apple never planned to manufacture its games console: the Pippin was a scaled-down Mac, a games platform and networked computer, that Apple intended to license for others to make. Bandai was the main licensee, but sales were disappointing: it predicted 300,000 sales in the first year, but only made 100,000 - and of those, it only sold 42,000. That was partly because Apple didn't market it: that was the licensees' job, and they were up against Sony and Sega.
4. Lisa
The 1983 Apple Lisa was a technological triumph, the first personal computer with a Graphical User Interface and an absolutely terrifying price tag. An unfortunate intervention from Steve Jobs, who had been exiled from the Lisa project, didn't help. As affordable IBM PCs started to dominate business computing, the Lisa cost nearly $10,000 and was immediately depth-charged by Steve Jobs' announcement that a better, incompatible system was imminent. That computer was the Mac, and its 1984 release killed off the Lisa for good.
5. iOS 6 Maps
One of Apple's biggest disasters is also its most recent - although the rest of our list should give the lie to the oft-repeated belief that Apple never messed up when Steve Jobs was still around. Last year's iOS Maps debacle got the interface right and the data hopelessly wrong, and it still isn't up to scratch. The New York Times said it "may be the most embarrassing, least usable piece of software Apple has ever unleashed."
6. iPod Shuffle (3rd Generation)
Steve Jobs famously hated buttons, so what could be better than an iPod with no buttons at all? The answer turned out to be "an iPod with buttons on it". The 2009, third generation iPod Shuffle moved everything to the remote control and encouraged you to use VoiceOver, but it turned out that consumers quite like clicking things and feel stupid shouting at their gadgets. The fourth generation Shuffle got its buttons back.
7. G4 Cube
The 2000 G4 Cube is arguably one of the prettiest computers ever made, but it cost a lot ($1,599) and suffered from cracks in its transparent surface. Apple chose form over function, designing a beautiful and near-silent Mac that looked rather underpowered compared to rivals: while typical PC processors were clocking in at 1GHz, the G4 Cube's fastest processor was a 500MHz model.
8. Hockey puck mouse
Your RSI-addled, post-hand-surgery correspondent finds all Apple mice horrid, but the hockey puck mouse was particularly unpleasant: the mouse, which shipped with the iMac in 1998, was small, stylish and for many, absolutely useless. It rotated easily and was too small for some. Apple replaced it two years later with the considerably more comfortable Pro Mouse.
9. 20th Anniversary Mac
Like many Apple disasters the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh wasn't a product failure, but a marketing one: when it launched in 1997 it cost a staggering $7,499 - but the price was cut again and again, dropping to just $1,995 in early 1998. Remember how upset early iPhone purchasers were when the price dropped by $200? Early Twentieth Anniversary Mac purchasers watched their computers lose over five grand.
10. iPod Hi-Fi
When Steve Jobs showed off the iPod Hi-Fi in early 2006, the world went "meh". It was expensive, of course - more expensive than premium products from the likes of Bose - as well as enormous. It looked odd, didn't support every iPod, and didn't really have a reason to exist. Apple quietly shot it in the head in late 2007, wisely deciding to leave the iPod accessory market to third parties.
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MWC 2013: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 lands, but key information missing
Samsung's long-rumoured Galaxy Note 8.0 has been officially announced ahead of the opening of MWC 2013.
Samsung confirmed the device after an anonymous tipster, presumably part of the set-up crew in Barcelona, snapped a picture of the Samsung stand. There, lo and behold, was the Galaxy Note 8.0 featured on the big screen.
It's big differentiation from the competition is obviously the 'power' of the S Pen, which brings in all manner of Air View and handwriting / formula / shape recognition to the mix. However, while the Notw 8.0 looks a lot like the Note 2 in terms of spec, other features have been added such as a dedicated e-book reading mode that adjusts the contrast and resolution to save reader eyesight.
The latest leak comes just a week after the Note 8.0 was accidentally revealed at a Samsung event in South Korea - but the official press release does confirm that we'll be getting both Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the tablet, although it doesn't look like 4G is included in that mix.
Top billing
The new, iPad mini-bothering member of the Note family will pack an 8-inch 1280 x 800 Super Clear LCD display, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, a 1.6GHz ARM-quad-core processor and 2GB RAM.
There's also a 5MP camera, a 2MP front-facing sensor, plus up to 32GB internal storage and the chance for much, much more though the microSD slot. And if you're worried about longevity per charge, the 4600mAh battery will probably do you for a couple of days at least.
The display isn't as clear as some of the competition, simply by the fact it has a larger screen - you can see that Samsung is less worried about the Nexus Fires of this world and once again going after its old nemesis Apple with the larger screen.
However, we don't have that one bit of crucial information: price. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 release date has been set for Q2 2013 (in the UK, at least) but if it follows other Samsung tablets and costs a rather high amount it won't have a prayer against the incumbent budget brigade, despite the reams of S Pen magic you can do.
We already know that the Samsung Galaxy S4 won't be making an appearance at the event this year, with latest speculation suggesting it will arrive at a dedicated event on March 14.
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Review: MSI Z77 MPower
The wheel of time turns and chipsets come to pass, and a year after the Z77 chipset's launch, you can pick up top-spec boards for a fraction of the price you could just a few months back. MSI's Z77 MPower is one such mobo, packing in a rather impressive specs list for £135. Bargain, but by no means budget.
The Z77 chipset may be getting a little long in the tooth now that we've got the twin joys of the new Z87 and fourth-generation Core CPUs (Haswell) on the horizon, but if you're talking about a gaming machine relying on discrete graphics, the Ivy Bridge chips and the related top chipset are still going to be practically as capable.
The imminent Haswell CPUs aren't going to deliver any exceptional boost in the CPU performance stakes, being more focused on energy efficiency and improved integrated graphics. Yup, they're going to be mobile parts re-engineered for the desktop. Same as it ever was.
But that means if you're looking for a mobo upgrade, you needn't concern yourself too much with hanging around for the next generation. Us PC gamers aren't going to see much improvement once you've dropped a discrete GPU into the mix.
Feature-filled
The Z77 is one of MSI's latest boards with Windows 8 certification, and it packs quite a punch. Despite the sub-£150 price point, it doesn't feel like MSI has had to make any real compromises with this setup.
There's a wealth of USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel, wireless networking built in, and both DisplayPort and HDMI connections sprouting out the back. In fact, the only thing you're missing is a Thunderbolt connection, but with such limited support in peripheral form right now, that's hardly a real problem for most of us.
You've also got Nvidia SLI certification for those green-tinged multi-GPU shenanigans, which is a rarity in such a well-priced board. Of course, with multiple PCIe 3.0 slots, that means you've got full support for AMD's CrossFireX setups too. You know, for completeness.
The MPower has also got a lot of support for overclockers. There are the serious tweaker's voltage check points if you want to get the multimeter out, and onboard controls if you're playing with the board on a test bench.
Those may not be a lot of use for most, but the dual-BIOS setup could well be. It means you can easily recover if you end up borking one with an over-enthusiastic OC or firmware update.
Benchmarks
CPU rendering performance
Cinebench R11.5: Index score: Higher is better
MSI Z77 MPOWER: 7.69
ASUS P8Z77-V PRO: 7.90
Video encoding performance
X264: FPS: Higher is better
MSI Z77 MPOWER: 43.01
ASUS P8Z77-V PRO: 43.76
CPU gaming performance
Shogun 2: FPS: Higher is better
MSI Z77 MPOWER: 36
ASUS P8Z77-V PRO: 38
Performance is impressive too, with MSI now enabling its boards to run Intel's Turbo Boost on all cores, not just one. That means our 3770K was running at 3.9GHz all the way, and we easily hit 4.8GHz on the overclock too.
Unfortunately though, it's still lagging a little behind the Asus-shaped P8Z77-V Pro, an equivalently-specced and priced board. The Asus just about has the edge in both raw CPU performance and memory terms too.
Still, MSI has produced an impressively-specced board at a great price.
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In Depth: Tech ahead of the curve: 12 great recent innovations
Have you decided to skip the iPhone 5 and the latest Android tablet? We can understand why. Iterative products might seem like they are not worth the expense.
But that's not true with every new gadget and piece of technology.
The innovative new gear in this list offers something brand new and cutting edge that breaks the norm.
1. Puzzlebox Orbit
Control a helicopter with your brain
As we move closer to the reality of living in the Star Wars universe (minus the TIE Fighters), it's inevitable we'll start seeing the gadgets and ideas from the movie. This mind-controlled orb, which looks like the one Luke could see with his mind on the Millennium Falcon, uses NeuroSky technology to read your concentration level using a headset with electroencephalography (EEG) sensors.
The orb uses a helicopter that can freely move left, right, up, and down based on where you direct it with your mind. Another innovation: the entire project uses an open-source mentality for tweakers and hackers.
2. Dyson Tangle-Free Turbine Tool
First vacuum head that won't tangle
One of the main frustrations in vacuuming is that you have to deal with tangled strands - usually human or pet hair. This £45/US$69.99 (around AU$67) attachment for the Dyson DC19 vacuum cleaner uses counter-rotating brushes that remove hair before it tangles around the main brush.
The attachment itself also has a wider contact area that maintains suction with the carpet for longer, even in tight crevices. Our first thought: what else can be tangle free? How about the lawnmower, weed trimmer, or maybe the family dog?
3. ViaSat Exede
First satellite internet to provide 12Mbps
What do you do if you want to beef up your satellite internet service? For starters, you launch a new satellite with 140Gbps of bandwidth. That's enough to provide 12Mbps of access to subscribers. That's over 10 million Gigabytes of usage per month.
The new bandwidth also creates a faster signal by using a wider spectrum called the Ka Band and by concentrating the power (called a multi-spot beam). It's a US innovation for now, so internet users elsewhere should cross their fingers or send begging letters to ViaSat or something.
4. Epson Moverio BT-100
First transparent heads-up display
Wearable tech is now becoming more viable, thanks to cheaper electronics, mobile processors and innovative interfaces. Like the Google Glass goggles, the Epson Moverio BT-100 is a see-through head-up display (HUD) that uses micro-projection technology. The display looks like it is an 80-inch LCD panel hovering in space. The transparent multimedia goggles display two images and can switch between 2D and 3D video.
The computer, which runs on Android 2.2, includes a touchpad, lasts six hours, and has expandable storage. The futuristic angle is that if you can put up with the awkward looks, the entire computer is housed in the goggles, providing portability and convenience when you need a quick high-def Angry Birds fix. At £519/US699.99/AU$749 though, the Epson Moverio BT-100 isn't cheap.
5. Sony X900 series
Ultra HD video and loaded with UHD movies
The most compelling feature for this Ultra HD/4K television is that it is actually shipping and available. Granted, at £25,000/US$25,000 (around AU$37,055), the price tag is a bit steep, but you get 3840 x 2160 pixels of glorious resolution on an 84-inch display on the Sony KD-84X9005 (called the XBR-84X900 in the US).
The 60-degree viewing angle is also helpful for home theatre viewing. As almost an afterthought, the display also enables you to play 3D movies. For future-proofing your home entertainment, this is the display you want if you need to buy now - and have that kind of extra cash.
Read our Sony KD-84X9005/XBR-84X900 review
6. Pong iPhone 5 Classic Soft Touch Case
Reduces cell phone radiation while increasing signal 20%
In case you have not heard the news, the World Health Organization classifies smartphones as potential cancer-causing due to radiation levels. There is no hard proof for this claim, but if you think it's better to be safe, the Pong Research Classic Soft Touch Case for iPhone 5 is one cutting edge answer.
The £47.99/US$59.99/AU$59.99 case redirects radiation away from the phone and, at the same time, improves signal strength by 20%. An iPhone 4/4S version is also available, along with radiation-reflecting and signal boosting cases for some Samsung, HTC, Motorola and BlackBerry phones.
7. Etón BoostTurbine 2000
Main innovation: Hand-cranked power
If you need a back-up battery for your smartphone, go by the weight of the battery pack. This 198g/7oz 2000mAh lithium pack feels rugged and heavy enough for all conditions. Once fully charged using the micro USB port, the US$59.99 (around £39/AU$58) pack can recharge your smartphone from zero to full.
In a pinch, you can turn the crank for one minute to generate another 30 seconds of usage. Push a button to see the power level.
8. JBL SoundFly BT
Produces 20 Watts of sound from a tiny speaker
This 7.5-inch Bluetooth speaker might not seem too innovative at first, but it packs a lot of powerful high-tech features into a small form factor. For starters, you can connect the £149.99/US$179.95 (around AU$222) JBL SoundFly BT easily over Bluetooth without the hassle of using a bridge or installing software on a computer.
The speaker can adjust itself automatically for the stream you are sending, improving equalisation on the fly and cutting out high notes that can cause distortion. The bass is better than you'd expect from such a small device. But the killer feature is that it plugs into an outlet and has no extra buttons. You just sync up and play. An AirPlay version is also available for iOS devices, priced at £159.99/US$199.95/AU$249.
9. Philips Hue
First lightbulb you control with your phone
Your home is probably already outfitted with LED lightbulbs, given the mandates over the use of fluorescent bulbs. But the Philips Hue goes a step further. Using your iOS or Android phone or tablet, you can tap into each bulb and change the colour and intensity (and turn them on and off).
A bridge connects into your router, and once you make the connection, you can even control the lights remotely. In the future, more and more gadgets will skip complex setup procedures and just work out of the box. We just hope they won't all be this expensive, priced at these are at £179.99/US$199.95 (around AU$267) for a three bulb starter pack, or £49.95/US$59.95 (around AU$74) for a single bulb.
Read our Philips Hue review
10. Memoto Lifelogging Camera
Auto-snap photos every 30 seconds
Lifelogging will become a mainstay of the tech mainstream in the next few years. The Memoto is a small, buttonless camera with GPS that clips to your clothes or onto a totebag. It's discrete, measuring 36 x 36 x 9mm (1.42 x 1.42 x 0.35 inches). As you go about your daily routine, the camera automatically snaps two photos per minute and stores them on the device, storing up to 4,000 5-megapixel images on there.
Ingeniously, the service uses GPS tagging to stamp the photo location and make corrections for orientation. Once you upload the images, the service groups them and shows the best images of the day. It costs US$279 (around £183/AU$271) and comes with one year's free cloud storage.
11. DirecTV Genie
Record shows you like automatically
Having to schedule and record shows is so 2012. The future is in having your DVR know your preferences and record shows automatically. The DirecTV Genie does just that, watching what you tend to record and watch over a period of time, and then auto-recording shows based on these preferences.
For example, if you like Top Gear, Genie will record other car-related shows. Amazingly, it actually works. The set-top box can also record five shows at once, and supports three remote clients in your home. DirecTV is only available in the US at the moment.
12. GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition
60-frames-per-second HD video
The greatest innovations in tech are often those that improve an existing product. The original GoPro was already innovative - a wide-angle durable camera you can clip to a motorcycle, ski hat or a yacht to record all of the action.
The GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition - priced at £359.99/US$399.99/AU$399.99 - is a major upgrade. You can record 1440p video at 48fps, 1080p video at 60fps and 720p at 120fps. And you can snap 12-megapixel images at a rate of 30 per minute. The picture quality is astoundingly good and captures a wider perspective.
Read our GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition review
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Six-Strikes ISP anti-piracy plan to start Monday
The Daily Dot reported on Friday that an unnamed source has confirmed that the Six-Strikes Copyright Alert System (CAS) will go into effect on Monday.
The system was conceived in the summer of 2011 when five major ISPs (Verizon, AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, and Time Warner), along with the Motion Picture Association of America, formed the Center for Copyright Information (CCI).
That organization has since planned to launch the CAS to "educate consumers about the importance of copyright protection," or throttle internet service to those infringing on digital media copyrights.
The system, reportedly beginning on Monday, would issue escalating warnings to consumers downloading or trafficking content illegally, followed by service restrictions (though never termination of service).
A bit offensive
Each of the participating ISPs is planning to approach the warnings outlined the CAS differently, with Comcast expected to be the first on Monday.
According to the CCI's website, some users may be infringing on copyrighted content without even knowing it, and this system will "educate them on how they can prevent such activity from happening again."
Naturally, one of the major concerns might be the use of public wifi for illegal activity, for which the CCI has a loose answer.
A post on the CCI website says that businesses internet connections aren't subject to the same restrictions as residential, but they may receive alerts if their accounts are used to upload or download copyrighted content illegally.
Torrent-enthusiast sites like TorrentFreak have already suggested means to circumvent the CAS, like using proxy sites and VPNs.
The CCI hopes to rally more ISPs to its cause to prevent these practices and leave no safe haven for online copyright infringement.
Read More ...
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