Google reportedly building a version of Chrome OS to sit within Windows 8
Google is preparing to set up camp behind enemy lines by building a version of its Chrome OS to sit within the Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, it was revealed on Saturday.
According to The Verge, Google is aiming to establish its app ecosystem within Windows 8 as part of its recently-revealed Chrome Apps initiative.
The company has updated the developer version of its Chrome browser for Windows 8, which will allow users to open a 'Metro' style Google app suite to replace the traditional Start Screen.
Doing thus will open a new launch bar featuring Google-only apps like YouTube, Google Search, Drive, Google Docs and more.
Identical to 'Chrome OS'
The Verge, which has tested the new functionality, said the UI and functionality was 'identical' to the Chrome OS, which runs on the web giant's Chromebook laptops."Like Chrome OS, you can create multiple browser windows and arrange them using a snap to the left or right of the display or fullscreen modes. An app launcher is also available in the lower left-hand corner," the site wrote.
Google has attempted a similar strategy within Apple's iOS platform by allowing users to jump from apps like Chrome, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Search and more without interacting with any of the native Apple applications.
Is Google attempting a similar takeover on Microsoft's home turf and give the Chrome OS a major boost in the meantime? For more details and screenshots, check out the source link.
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PS4's DualShock 4 controller will offer 'basic functions' for Windows PCs
The new Sony DualShock 4 game controller will be compatible with Microsoft Windows PCs, at least for 'basic functions,' a senior Sony official confirmed on Saturday.
Responding to a Twitter question, Shuhei Yoshida, President of Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment Shuhei Yoshida confirmed the cross-compatibility.
From his personal Twitter account, Yoshida wrote: "The analog sticks and buttons will work just fine."
When the original poster followed up by asking whether the compatibility would be built in by default, Yoshida responded: "For basic functions, yes."
Full-on gaming tool
The second answer will prompt speculation that Sony will enable PC users to utilise the next-gen DualShock 4 controller as a full-on gaming tool.Yoshida said folks would need to wait for a "post-launch field report" to find out whether Windows would automatically recognise the DualShock 4 as a controller. The DualShock 3 does not.
Have you read our hands on Sony PS4 review? Jump on it.
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As Apple marks anniversary of Steve Jobs death, employees recall first iPhone launch
With Apple marking the anniversary of Steve Jobs' death, a new book has offered an insight into life at Cupertino in the lead up to the launch of perhaps the tech visionary's finest achievement - the iPhone.
The New York Times has published excerpts from the forthcoming Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution book revealing the fraught and tense atmosphere within the company during the development stages.
Journalist Fred Vogelstein interviewed several of the key players involved in the device, which changed the way we think about mobile technology.
Andy Grignon, a senior engineer who built the iPhone's radios gained 50lbs during the development process and suffered from exhaustion as a result of his work on the device.
He said: "It was very dramatic. It had been drilled into everyone's head that this was the next big thing to come out of Apple. So you put all these supersmart people with huge egos into very tight, confined quarters, with that kind of pressure, and crazy stuff starts to happen."
Loud and stern
Grignon also revealed the terrifying build up to the launch event itself, as Apple was forced to trust its still-buggy hardware and software to behave itself on the biggest stage, when it had done anything but during rehearsals.He said: "At first it was just really cool to be at rehearsals at all — kind of like a cred badge, but it quickly got really uncomfortable. Very rarely did I see him [Jobs] become completely unglued — it happened, but mostly he just looked at you and very directly said in a very loud and stern voice 'You are [expletive] up my company,' or, 'If we fail, it will be because of you.'
"He was just very intense. And you would always feel an inch tall It felt like we'd gone through the demo a hundred times, and each time something went wrong. "It wasn't a good feeling."
Of course the event, which Grignon and colleagues spend "draining" a whiskey flask, went off without a hitch and the tech world was changed forever.
'He left the world a better place....'
While the book marks some of the pronounced darker sides of Jobs' driven personality, Apple CEO Tim Cook marked the anniversary with a short email to employees stressing that the company's founder would be 'proud' of them.He wrote: "Team-
Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Steve's death. I hope everyone will reflect on what he meant to all of us and to the world. Steve was an amazing human being and left the world a better place.
I think of him often and find enormous strength in memories of his friendship, vision and leadership. He left behind a company that only he could have built and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We will continue to honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to the work he loved so much. There is no higher tribute to his memory. I know that he would be proud of all of you.
Best,
Tim"
What are some of your favourite Steve memories? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Windows Phone Facebook users can now ditch people they don't like
Windows Phone users have awoken to a new Facebook update, which allows them to clean house of all of those annoying sort-of-friends, from the comfort of their smartphone.
The Facebook 5.1 update adds the ability to unfriend contacts from the application as well as 'unlike' content they have previously liked directly from the app.
Users can also benefit from inline @tagging of friends within posts.
Another useful addition is multiple photo uploads directly from the app, as well as the ability to attach photos to messages, a feature that has been available to iOS and Android users for some time.
Performance boost
The app also promises navigation and performance improvements.Facebook 5.1 for Windows Phone, which now offers support for 19 languages, is available to download from the Windows Store now.
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Bankrupt Tweeter firm gets inadvertent shares boost after Twitter IPO news
Official news of Twitter's impending stock market floatation had potential investors so excited this week they flocked to buy stock in a bankrupt electronics company with a similar name.
Shares in Boston-based Tweeter Electronics, which sold home and car audio equipment, TVs and other electronics before filing for bankruptcy in 2007, jumped 1,800 per cent on Friday before being halted.
The confusion reportedly arose from similar stock market ticker symbols. Twitter, when it eventually floats will go by the abbreviation TWTR. Tweeter's ticket is TWTRQ.
The result? People thinking they were getting shares in the web's hottest property for $0.004 each. The shares, at the time of writing are now worth $0.105. Party time!
'Extraordinary event'
As trading was halted on Friday afternoon, a post on the Over-the-counter (OTC) trading bulletin board read: "Trading is halted because FINRA has determined that an extraordinary event has occurred or is ongoing that has had a material effect on the market for the OTC Equity Security or the security underlying an OTC ADR or has caused or has the potential to cause major disruption to the marketplace or significant uncertainty in the settlement and clearance process."Twitter is yet to announce a date for its impending IPO. The company hopes to raise around $1 billion (about £618m, AU$1.06b) on a valuation of $15 billion, but more details will be announced in weeks to come.
One thing is for sure. Twitter's shares won't be up for grabs for a fraction of a penny. And we thought folks who traded on the stock market were supposed to have their wits about them...
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In Depth: Dear Intel: Please put your best tech into the PC
Fact the first: Intel makes by far the best PC processors you can buy. Fact the second: They're still nowhere near Intel's best technology.
So I'm here to ask - to beg, even - Intel to reward its long-loyal PC customers with something to get excited about. I'm not asking for all that much. Just for Intel to put chips it's already making into PCs.
The detailed request goes something like this. Intel recently rolled out what is ostensibly its latest and greatest range-topping PC processor, the Core i7-4960X.
More moaning
Now, I've been moaning about Intel sand bagging with its desktop PC processor for years. But the 4960X is by far and away the worst and most disappointing example of Intel dragging its corporate heels yet.The 4960X has the same core count and pretty much the same clocks as its predecessor. It's barely any faster. And it's not even based on Intel's most modern CPU architecture.
Truly, I'd like to know what went through heads when the decision was made to unleash this zero-step-change effort as a new top-end chip. The gains are so incremental as to be almost invisible.
The other half of this equation involves the chips Intel has at its disposal. Intel has recently rolled out three new high performance processor dies, known as the Ivy Bridge-EP family.
Core, cores, cores
Respectively, they're six, 10 and 12-core chips, though further configurations are possible courtesy of switching cores off. Anyway, what's very clear is that there's ample opportunity for shipping a desktop PC processor with more than the six cores currently offered by the 4960X.There are some arguments against this simplistic observation. First is that the three new chips are actually built for servers and workstation. True enough. But then the 4960X is itself based on the six-core version of Ivy Bridge-EP. So that objection pretty much evaporates.
Then there's the cores-versus-clock defence. In the past, Intel has argued that its six-core enthusiast chips have offered the best balance of cores and clockspeed for PC performance.
The idea is that some of the most critical apps for PC users – most notably, games – don't scale well when you add cores. They're still substantially bound by per-core performance. And you can have more of that by cranking up clockspeeds.
Tight budget
At the same time, there's only so much power available to a chip, only so much thermal budget. Chop off a couple of cores and you can crank up the clocks a bit.In practice, that argument hasn't really held. For starters, games are only becoming more and more threaded, a process which is surely set to accelerate with the two new eight-core consoles from Microsoft and Sony, both of which have feeble per-core performance and will depend on efficient multi-core scaling to achieve decent CPU performance.
Then there's the fact that with the previous generation of Intel CPUs, there was only a few hundred MHz clock difference between the top six-core desktop chip and its eight-core server cousin.
I also realise there are issues for Intel in terms of putting out relatively low cost desktop chips that offer server-class features and then watching sales being cannibalised.
Find a way
But there are various ways Intel can and already does limit the scope for that. Things like nixing support for multi-socket or maybe even virtualisation. One thing Intel has been great at recently is finding ways to hobble CPUs, so that really shouldn't be a problem.Anyway, I really think this is an easy win for Intel. There's a creeping negativity surrounding almost everything it does right now.
It has yet to convince the world its ultra-mobile offerings have compelling advantages over the ARM collective on the one hand. On the other, it treats its tradition desktop PC customers with apparent disdain.
For me it's an easy PR win to blow away the enthusiast community with something outrageously good on the desktop. Get the tech community revved about something Intel. Some of that enthusiasm might then spill over in to other areas and help spread the word about Intel's mobile offerings. Which are actually phenomenally good and not really treated fairly. A bit like Intel's desktop customers, then.
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Google, Samsung, LG, Intel and more reportedly weighing up BlackBerry bids
Tech giants Google, Samsung, Intel and Samsung are reportedly in talks with BlackBerry over a potential buyout of some, or all of the struggling smartphone giant.
Reuters brings word that the firms, which are also said to include Cisco and SAP, have responded to a plea from BlackBerry for interest from potential late bidders for the firm.
According to the report, BlackBerry has requested "preliminary expressions of interest" from all of the companies and has asked that they reply in the next week if they fancy a piece of the action.
As yet, it is completely unclear as to whether any of the company's would stake a claim for BlackBerry's hardware, software or patent properties.
Deal in place
BlackBerry itself is still shopping around for the best deal, despite agreeing in principal to sell the ailing firm to a consortium led by Fairfax Financial for $4.7 billion (about £2.93bn, AU$4.98bn)As part of that agreement, the Warterloo-based firm was permitted to seek a better deal, while Fairfax performed its due diligence.
Should nothing materialise from other potential bidders and the Fairfax consortium is satisfied with the outcome of its research then a deal should be completed by early November.
One thing that may interest the likes of Google and Samsung is BlackBerry's strong patent arsenal, but the value of which is likely to halve within the next 18 months, Reuters reports. It's secure messaging, and email services could also provide a boost to the aforementioned companies.
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Week in Gaming: We don't care if GTA Online is buggy – just where are the damn airplanes?
Grand Theft Auto Online has been live for less than a week, but most of us have already enjoyed our own unique experiences.
For example, just yesterday we were out on a scenic drive somewhere off the beaten track when we found ourselves in the crossfire of a violent gang rivalry. The police were soon on our tail in hot pursuit, but using our smarts we sent the lot of them toppling over the side of a bridge, culminating in a huge fireball explosion. Then we got home and found GTA Online STILL wasn't working.
Yes, the Online launch has been less than sturdy, with server problems plaguing for the first few days. But calm your angry selves – Rockstar did warn us that this was going to happen.
When we finally got into a working game – and past that slightly tedious tutorial – it was time to go exploring the impressively faithful online version of San Andreas. But wait. Where are the planes in the airport? They're around here somewhere, right? Guys, this isn't funny.
Thanks to CVG's essential tips for Grand Theft Auto Online, we were soon able to stop hyperventilating and realise that Rockstar hadn't culled all means of air travel (just the planes from the airport). In fact, there are a lot of cool things you might not know about GTA Online that you really should, so check out this handy video.
We delve into the tech of Watch Dogs and Forza 5
Once we'd manage to tear ourselves away from that, we went and spent a bit of time with the teams behind some next-gen heavyweights. First, we sat down with Watch Dogs creative director Jonathan Morin, who told us that he believes the game is a technology "wake up call".
Then we chatted to Dan Greenawalt, Forza 5's creative director, who explained how Forza 5 had to change in response to the Xbox One's always-on U-turn, and how Microsoft has the 'robot' advantage when it comes to making games.
Don't know what that means? Go and find out right now – it's vital that you do.
Call of juice time
A couple of members of the TechRadar team (naming no names) popped along to an Activation gaming event this week. While the details were vague, we were hoping for some quality hands on time with Call of Duty: Ghosts, perhaps some new exclusive insight into the Bungie-developed epic Destiny.So imagine our faces when we arrived to discover it was, in fact, Activision's Christmas gift guide for kids. There's only one thing you can do in a situation like this: style it out. So we assumed our game faces and sat down for a round of Spongebob Squarepants: Plankton's Robotic Revenge.
Now, we consider ourselves to be seasoned gamers at TechRadar, but when you can't finish mission one in Bikini Bottom before an eight year old takes over and nonchalantly smashes it on the first attempt, it's time to get out of there with any remaining self-respect you have left. So that's exactly what we did.
Learn the alphabet with Pokémon
Those pocket rascals have returned for Pokémon X and Y, and we'll admit that even after 17 years a new Pokémon adventure still gets us a bit excited (Ok, it gets Hugh excited. He speaks for none of the "cooler" members of the team who would rather stay out of this).Go and read the review from CVG to see if the fifth generation of Pokémon is as strong as ever.
Dear Gabe, under the Christmas tree we want...
Ok, yes, Half-Life 3, we're getting to it. So Valve trademarked the Half-Life 3 name on September 29. Everyone was quick to speculate that this was confirmation of the game's existence. But then it could also have been nothing more than Valve showing it has some interest in protecting the name.Or was it more than that? Just days later after the Valve Jira database (that's the one they use for finding bugs) was left open and accessible to the public for a brief period of time. In that window, people saw a lot, including a list of names that were involved with the production of, yep, Half-Life 3 and Left 4 Dead 3.
One of us has said it once and one of us will say it again – Half-Life 3 is setting us all up for a fall. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know it will be good. But you don't want good. You want life-changing. And that, friends, it can never be.
And on that positive note here are some links from Future's network of games, movies and all-round fun.
CVG
Catch 'em all in our Pokémon X & Y reviewReturn to Rapture - Irrational's Ken Levine talks Bioshock Infinte DLC Burial at Sea
Games Radar
Did the guys on GamesRadar really murder a monkey in Assassin's Creed 4 because it "looked at them funny?". Find out in their 25 Amazing Things We Did In Assassin's Creed Black Flag feature.Fancy a bowl of Bran Theft Auto? How about some Wheatleybix? Start your day right with this piece on What if... Video Games were Breakfast Cereals.
Official Nintendo Magazine
The Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker HD is out this week but should you buy it if you've already played it? Find out by reading our Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker HD review and watching our Zelda video series.Mega Charizard X, Slurpuff and Aromatisse were revealed for Pokemon X and Y this week. We've added them to our Pokemon X and Y Pokedex.
Official PlayStation Magazine
A history of GTA: 35 things you didn't know about Grand Theft AutoFIFA 14 vs PES 2014: face comparison. Which has the best likenesses?
Official Xbox 360 Magazine
GTA Online tips - how to rank up fast, make money and survive every shoot-outAscend: Hand of Kul tips - how to be the best Caos money can't buy
Total Film
Watch episode 3 of Cape Expectations - starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Hugh Jackman50 Most Outrageous Teen Comedies
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In Depth: Straight outta sci-fi: the movie tech we wish they'd make
Hollywood loves to delight us with fantastic gadgets and amazing technologies, but it also has a tendency to go over the top. Remember the truly dreadful portrayal of tech in films such as The Net?
So how much of the sci-fi we see on our screens is actually possible - and if it's possible, how long is it before we can have it?
Let's find out the truth about our favourite on-screen inventions.
The Babel Fish
This one's organic rather than man-made, but it's still amazing technology: the only obvious drawback of Douglas Adams' Babel Fish is that you have to stick a fish in your ear (oh, and the theological arguments that resulted from the "bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could evolve purely by chance,") but the upsides are many: instantaneous, accurate translation of anything said to you in any language.
Is it movie bollocks? The fish bit is, obviously, but Google Translate is getting there: the latest version can translate handwriting as well as text.
KITT
Knight Rider's KITT (it's short for Knight Industries Two Thousand, which must have sounded amazingly futuristic back in 1982; in the 2008 movie the number was upped to three thousand) could see the road ahead, communicate with David Hasselhoff, play music and video and even let the driver play video games. KITT's memory capacity was a massive "1,000 megabits".
Is it movie bollocks? Not at all. Cars might not have KITT's, ahem, winning personality, but self-driving cars are mainstream now: many mainstream vehicles use crash-avoidance technology to compensate for driver error and, of course, Google is running fleets of autonomous vehicles.
Health pods
The health pods in Elysium aren't just magic cancer-killing machines that can rebuild your entire DNA. Oh no.
They're magic cancer-killing machines that can repair your head even if most of it's been shot off, right down to recreating the exact length of stubble you had before your meeting with Mister Shooty. And here's us thinking spray-on plasters are pretty clever.
Is it movie bollocks? Very much so, but while we can't magically rebuild people, we can use genetic scanning to identify potential problems before they occur, and nanomedicine to create very targeted drugs. For example, this week in India a nanomedicine for drug-resistant blood cancer was announced.
Glasses-free 3D
For us, our first sight of glasses-free 3D was in Star Wars with its holographic chess and communications. "When will we get such wonders?" we asked. "And will they be as horribly glitchy as that Princess Leia-gram?"
Is it movie bollocks? Nope. They may cost more than a Death Star, but glasses-free 3D UltraHD TVs have been around for a while now.
A remote control for reality
Wouldn't it be great if the same pause-live-TV tech we take for granted also worked in real life? That was the premise of Click, in which Adam Sandler used the real-life remote with the obligatory "hilarious results".
Our favourite bit was when he paused his boss mid-chat and walloped him repeatedly. We could do that all day. What do you mean, we have issues?
Is it movie bollocks? Yes. The closest we've got is the ability to delete our own tweets.
Time machines
From Back to the Future's time-travelling car to Looper's steampunk contraption, you'll find time machines of all shapes and sizes in sci-fi movies.
In many cases the travel is one-way, so you can travel backwards in time but not forwards, but that's not always the case. It's as if people are making this stuff up.
Is it movie bollocks? Probably. Where are all the tourists from the future?
Holodecks
Never mind virtual reality: Star Trek's holodeck offered simulated reality. Over to you, Wikipedia! "Objects and people are simulated by a combination of transported matter, replicated matter, tractor beams, and shaped force fields onto which holographic images are projected."
Is it movie bollocks? For now the Oculus Rift and the Igloo are as close as we've got. Virtual reality is much easier to do in your head than in an entire room.
Matter transporters
If you're optimistic you'll be thinking of the transporters from Star Trek, and if you're pessimistic you'll be remembering what happened in The Fly.
Matter transportation solves the problem of travelling large distances by scanning your individual atoms, disassembling you, and then rebuilding you somewhere else - with not only your body but your consciousness intact.
Is it movie bollocks? Not necessarily. Scientists have used quantum teleportation to transmit data over 89 miles, although doing the same with people is a very long way off - assuming that it's even possible.
Active camouflage
Where human soldiers use traditional forms of camouflage, the titular Predator had a much better system back in the 1980s: its active camouflage changed as the monster moved, rendering it almost entirely invisible.
Is it movie bollocks? No. BAE has been working on active camouflage for tanks that uses sheets of metallic pixels and on-board cameras to make vehicles disappear, although similar tech for soldiers isn't remotely cost-effective yet.
Brain erasers
Men In Black used them on passers-by and the characters in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind used them to forget unhappy memories, but the idea was the same: machines that could selectively erase your memory, enabling you to forget a very specific memory or selection of memories without also forgetting who you were or how to walk.
Is it movie bollocks? Not necessarily. Researchers in Florida have found ways to delete memories from the brains of rodents by blocking proteins.
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Review: Mini Review: Gigabyte Z87-D3HP
The Gigabyte Z87-D3HP doesn't make a great first impression. For starters, the PCB is thin, flimsy and generally devoid of proper heft. Gigabyte doesn't quote how many layers the Z87-D3HP's PCB has, but it's seriously skinny.
The general air is of a board that's had dollars shaved of the production cost wherever possible. That includes not only the thickness of the PCB and the number of copper layers, but also its width. It's one of those less-than-full-ATX size boards - 16mm narrower than the full ATX standard.
Slim pickings
Does any of this matter? Actually, yes. The narrower board spec means you can't use all the ATX mounting points. Combine that with flimsiness and the result is an alarming amount of bend when hooking up certain components. It doesn't exactly scream long-term reliability.Then there's the performance. At stock clocks, the numbers are on the mediocre side of uninspiring. Typically, the issue is implementation to Intel's Turbo mode. Some boards push the limits a little more than others. The Z87-D3HP is pretty conservative.
In reality, the gap to the fastest boards in most benchmarks is pretty academic; 8.06 points in Cinebench versus 8.5 for the best isn't the kind of difference you can feel. That said, the 34.5 frames per second it kicks out in Shogun: Total War 2 looks poor when others are achieving nearer 40.
You can, of course, get round some of that with hand-tuned overclocking. Indeed, you get a full range of overclocking options in the BIOS, including quick-jump settings to various pre-baked overclocked levels right up to 4.7GHz with our Intel Core i7 4770K test chip. In fact, you get essentially the same snazzy BIOS with HD res support that comes with Gigabyte's premium-priced boards, for what that's worth.
Benchmarks
Multi-thread CPU performanceCinebench 11.5: Index score: Higher is better
ASRock Z87 Extreme3: 8.03
Asus Sabertooth Z87: 8.34
Asus Z87-Pro: 8.05
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP: 8.06
Gigabyte Z87 G1.Sniper M5: 8.05
Intel DZ87KLT-75K: 8.11
MSI Z87-G43: 8.5
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming: 8.48
MSI Z87 XPower: 8.5
Single-thread CPU performance
Cinebench 11.5: Index score: Higher is better
ASRock Z87 Extreme3: 1.75
Asus Sabertooth Z87: 1.75
Asus Z87-Pro: 1.76
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP: 1.75
Gigabyte Z87 G1.Sniper M5: 1.72
Intel DZ87KLT-75K: 1.77
MSI Z87-G43: 1.72
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming: 1.71
MSI Z87 XPower: 1.72
Video encode performance
X264 4.0: Frames per second: Higher is better
ASRock Z87 Extreme3: 45.5
Asus Sabertooth Z87: 46.3
Asus Z87-Pro: 45.6
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP: 45.5
Gigabyte Z87 G1.Sniper M5: 45.5
Intel DZ87KLT-75K: 45.7
MSI Z87-G43: 45.7
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming: 46.5
MSI Z87 XPower: 47.5
Memory bandwidth @ optimised defults
SiSoft Sandra: Gigabytes per second: Higher is better
ASRock Z87 Extreme3: 17.38
Asus Sabertooth Z87: 17.24
Asus Z87-Pro: 17.47
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP: 17.25
Gigabyte Z87 G1.Sniper M5: 17.45
Intel DZ87KLT-75K: 17.56
MSI Z87-G43: 17.32
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming: 17.2
MSI Z87 XPower: 17.39
Gaming performance
Shogun: Total War 2: Frames per second: Higher is better
ASRock Z87 Extreme3: 38.4
Asus Sabertooth Z87: 39.4
Asus Z87-Pro: 38.1
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP: 34.5
Gigabyte Z87 G1.Sniper M5: 37.1
Intel DZ87KLT-75K: 37.9
MSI Z87-G43: 44.6
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming: 38.9
MSI Z87 XPower: 39.5
Maximum overclock performance
4770K: Gigahertz: Higher is better
ASRock Z87 Extreme3: 4.7
Asus Sabertooth Z87: 4.7
Asus Z87-Pro: 4.7
Gigabyte Z87-D3HP: 4.0
Gigabyte Z87 G1.Sniper M5: 4.7
Intel DZ87KLT-75K: 4.5
MSI Z87-G43: 4.6
MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming: 4.6
MSI Z87 XPower: 4.7
Anyway, the real bummer is that the Z87-D3HP does that old trick of booting at that higher speed but then throttling down much lower as soon as you give it something to ponder. The same goes for hand-tuned overclocking. It boots successfully at 4.7GHz, which is up there with the best, but give it some multi-threaded number crunching and the clocks drop to 4GHz. Not good.
Verdict
Of course, you have to set the flimsy cheapness, relatively mediocre performance and slightly borked overclocking against the price tag. That's cheap for a Z87 board, but in this case it's also a bit of a false economy. The reason to go with a Z87 board is to ensure access to the best possible performance. If it's not giving you that, then what exactly is the point?
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Android 4.3.1 update reportedly comes to Nexus 7 LTE tablets, nobody else
Google is said to be rolling out Android 4.3.1 to owners of the new Nexus 7 LTE, but the update remains exclusive to the cellular version of the tablet.
This over-the-air update, said to be only 9.42MB in size, isn't being widely publicized by the search engine giant.
Its silent update status and small footprint make the features of this minor update harder to track down.
We asked Google for the official Android 4.3.1 release notes and will update this story when we hear back.
Android 4.3.1 features so far
So far, users are reporting that Android 4.3.1 includes some new features that are not LTE-specific and therefore may roll out to additional Google-powered devices.It's said to include a way of creating restricted profiles for friends, family members or the general public if the device is being used in a kiosk setting.
Google Keep is also supposedly taking a bigger role in Android 4.3.1, too. It shows up as a default program along with the update, putting Google's note-taking app in the hand of more users.
This incremental Jelly Bean update is just a stepping stone to Android 4.4 KitKat, which is expected to be unwrapped this month along with the rumored Nexus 5 smartphone.
- This means Galaxy Note 3 users had the latest Android version for a day.
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Schiller and Forstall listed as potential witnesses in Apple vs Samsung retrial
Ding, ding, ding! Fight!
Round 2 (or is it Round 3?) of last year's Apple vs Samsung court battle re-enters the ring on Nov. 12, and according to a report from PC World, it's shaping up to be another high-profile bout.
Spotted in a potential witness list is Phil Schiller, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing. While perhaps not a surprise witness, Scott Forstall, former vice president of iOS, may also take the stand.
Perhaps a lawyer (from either Samsung or Apple) will ask him to explain the Apple Maps disaster?
'Round and around we go
Susan Kare, a designer who was part of the early Mac team, is listed as a witness as well. She, Forstall and Schiller all testified during the trial that saw Apple awarded over $1 billion (about £62.3m, AU$1.06b) in damages from Samsung before Koh chopped that figure by about $450 million (about £280m, AU$477m).While considered by some a proxy fight for the real battle of global gadget domination, the retrial will have very real consequences as Apple seeks to win back some of the damages Koh threw out due to jury error.
Tune into TechRadar Nov. 12 as the jury trial kicks off. Again.
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Hot-rod red Lumia 1520 revs its engines in Twitter photo leak
The Nokia Lumia 1520 appeared today in yet another leaked photo, this time in a bright hot-rod red.
Well-known Twitter leakster @evleaks came through again on this one after publishing a leaked press shot of the yellow Lumia 1520 in early September.
Like that photo, today's leak came with a brief but factoid-focused caption: "Nokia Lumia 1520, in red, 2013," evleaks tweeted.
The suggestion for a 2013 Lumia 1520 release date matches what the source previously claimed, as well as our expectations of an Oct. 22 Lumia 1520 launch.
Here's the deal
Previous reports hinted at a Sept. 26 reveal for the Lumia 1520, but the device was reportedly delayed until Oct. 22.That delay may have been caused by Microsoft's purchase of Nokia's device business.
The Lumia 1520 is thought to be the largest Windows Phone handset yet, with a display that could come in at a full six inches.
The Windows Phone phablet has been spotted in previous image leaks, some of which compared it to other, smaller devices to show off the Lumia 1520's considerable bulk.
There's not been much word in terms of the phone's other specs, though it's not expected to carry a 41-megapixel camera like the Lumia 1020.
Instead it could have a still-powerful 20-megapixel camera. A quad-core Qualcomm processor is also rumored.
Expect to learn more about the Lumia 1520 this month - that is barring any further delays, of course.
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Surprise! Apple appeals guilty verdict over ebook price fixing
Apple and publisher Simon & Schuster are appealing the decisions in a case that found Apple guilty of conspiring with S&S and other publishers to raise the price of ebooks.
As part of the verdict, the Department of Justice proposed several measures to prevent Apple from fixing prices in the future, including different rules for ebook apps on iOS, restrictions on what publishers Apple can enter into contracts with and an third party monitor - paid for by Apple - to make sure Apple follows the rules.
When the DOJ came forward with that plan, Apple called it "a draconian and punitive intrusion into Apple's business, wildly out of proportion to any adjudicated wrongdoing or potential harm."
But even before that, Apple announced it would appeal the ruling accusing Amazon of being the real villain.
Crying foul
Apple followed through on Thursday by filing a notice of the appeal with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.The company reportedly has through early 2014 to file its formal arguments, though.
In a previous letter to the judge that oversaw the case, though, Apple already laid out what some of those arguments could be.
In that letter Apple questioned the credibility of certain witnesses for Google and Amazon and bemoaned the fact that certain "internal business deliberations" within Amazon were disregarded during the trial.
Let's talk about this
Oddly Simon & Schuster will also appeal.Like the other publishers named in the case, it settled up with the DOJ relatively early.
But S&S is only appealing a Sept. 6 injunction that extended the amount of time that it and four other publishers will be required to allow Apple to discount their ebooks.
That same injunction also prevents Simon & Schuster from negotiating new contracts with Apple for three years.
The publisher previously made similar arguments to Apple's, essentially saying that the severe punishments don't match the crime.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice in August expressed something that resembles disappointment over Apple's refusal to accept the consequences of its perceived actions.
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Valve cracks open specs for its Steam Box prototype
Valve made a trio of Linux-in-the-living-room announcements last week, including a new OS and an oddball controller, but details for all were scarce despite the ticker-page fanfare.
But that's all changing today as Valve lifted the veil on some specs for its own Steam Machine prototype, due to ship later this year.
Commonly called the Steam Box, Valve's Steam Machine will have some varying components when it heads out to its 300 beta testers, ones that will either make it a mid-level gaming machine or one that occupies the spectrum's higher end.
Steam Box prototype specs
Some Steam Box prototypes will land on doorsteps carrying a Nvidia Titan GPU, Valve wrote in a Steam Universe Community post. The Titan is the single fastest GPU card available right now.Others will arrive with either a GeForce GTX7 80, GTX 760 or a GTX 660 GPU.
Intel silicon acts as the device's CPU, and testers may receive a machine with a i3, i5-4770 or a Haswell chip in the form of the i7-4770.
All boxes pack 3GB of DDR5 RAM and feature a 1TB/8GB hybrid SSHD. An internal 450w 80Plus Gold power supply powers the machine.
While Valve isn't ready to show what the Steam Box looks like just yet, it did reveal that its dimensions measure approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 inches. It vowed to show what the prototype looks like before it ships to beta testers.
Valve hardware road map
Valve described its Steam Box prototype as a "high-end, high-performance box, built out of off-the-shelf PC parts."It's fully upgradable, with users able to swap out any part they like, or even build one from the ground up using the same components. Only the Box's enclosure would differ.
The Community post reminded gamers yet again that Steam Machines, when they start shipping next year, will launch from a variety of hardware makers, with different specs, prices and features.
The Steam hardware platform is due to change over time, Valve cautioned, with upgrades made at users' discretion. The company plans to come up with a way to help customers understand the differences between Steam Machines, including strengths, weaknesses and upgrade decisions.
Finally, anyone worried Valve is out to replace PC gaming can shelve those concerns.
"[There] are a lot of other Steam customers who already have perfectly great gaming hardware at home in the form of a powerful PC. The prototype we're talking about here is not meant to replace that," the post read.
The company is working on ways to bridge the gap between PC gaming in the living room without tossing PCs in the trash and purchasing a whole new device, Valve continued. Look for more on how Valve plans to do this (likely in the form of SteamOS details), plus "some closer looks at the Steam Controller."
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Samsung denies cheating Galaxy Note 3 benchmark tests
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 packs a speedy 2.3GHz quad-core processor, but the company is now defending its mega-sized phablet's CPU that has picked up the moniker "phabricated."
Samsung stands accused of boosting the CPU performance of its newly launched smartphone as soon as it detects popular benchmark testing apps.
That's not the case at all, according to Samsung.
"The Galaxy Note 3 maximizes its CPU/GPU frequencies when running features that demand substantial performance," the company told CNET UK.
"This was not an attempt to exaggerate particular benchmarking results. We remain committed to providing our customers with the best possible user experience."
The non-denial denial
Samsung's response doesn't exactly explain why tests have shown the Galaxy Note 3 to be running on all four cores whenever it detects a well-known benchmarking app like Geekbench.Benchmarking scores were inflated up to 20%, and in one case 50%, making the Note 3 quad-core processor seem exceptionally faster than the LG G2's identical Snapdragon 800 CPU.
When Ars Technica rigged together a renamed Geekbench tool, Stealthbench, the Galaxy Note 3 proved to show a more "natural" score.
Not the first, the last, my everything
This isn't the first time Samsung has had to defend itself against boosting the benchmark scores of its devices.The company denied it was rigging the Galaxy S4 results after it reportedly cooked the scores for its Exynos processor.
The funny thing is, the Note 3, as with the Galaxy S4, is plenty powerful and feature-packed enough to stand against its rivals.
We asked Samsung for further clarification on this and will update the story when we hear back.
Update: We have also asked Qualcomm for comment on the situation and will provide an update when the chip maker has something to share.
- Next thing you know, they'll do something shady and announce a gold Galaxy S4. Oh... wait.
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New Nexus 7 lands at Three, but it's Wi-Fi only... unless you buy a Mi-Fi dongle
Wi-Fi only models are a good option for most tablet buyers who use their device in the home and don't want to shell out for a data contract when they have a perfectly good smartphone in their pocket.
However, from a mobile network's perspective, it's a little weird that Three has started flogging the Wi-Fi only new Google Nexus 7 tablet, especially with its awkward workaround for the lack of mobile connectivity.
The £200 device is available to buy from the network now, but in-order to make use of mobile data, it is asking users to buy a Mi-Fi dongle which hooks up to the PC via Wi-Fi and then delivers 3G to the device.
For an extra £50 the company will sell folks a Huawei HSPA+ Mi-Fi dongle, which requires a £16 a month rolling contract, which offers 5GB of data, or a £50 upfront payment for 1GB of data a month.
Jumping through hoops
It's a strange move from Three given that it is still selling the 3G version of the original Nexus 7 tablet on its website.However, while the network is asking a lot of customers to go to such lengths for a little mobile broadband, it should be pointed out that O2 retains 4G network exclusivity for the second-gen Google tablet.
Three, of course, isn't launching its 4G LTE network until December so perhaps we'll see a change in tact when the 4G-ready devices start hitting the network.
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Mystery Samsung device tipped as long-awaited flexi-screen smartphone
There's been a few whispers lately that Samsung's long-in-development flexible screen technology is ready for action and may arrive soon in the form of a Galaxy Note 3 variant.
Well, you can turn that anticipation up a notch now that a mystery device with called the SM-G910 has seemingly made an appearance in benchmarking tests.
The as-yet-unannounced device bears a slight similarity to the Note 3's model number (SM-N900), but also lists a couple of the same specs, the Snapdragon 800 processor and Adreno 330 graphics chip.
Previous speculation has suggested that the flexible version of the Note 3 would pack a slightly smaller 5.5-inch display and arrive within the month of October.
Wait over?
Samsung's journey towards a curvy, unbreakable 'Youm' display has been going on for a few years now and was last demonstrated at CES 2013 in Las Vegas.Many observers unsuccessfully predicted the tech would find its way into the flagship Samsung Galaxy S4 or the recently-announced Galaxy Note 3.
Earlier this week it was rumoured that an LG Z1 handset would attempt to beat Samsung to market with a flexible smartphone. Has the time finally come for flexible displays to shape the future of smartphones?
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Microsoft crows new Surfaces are selling out, but numbers are missing
The follow-up to the tablet that forced Microsoft into a multimillion dollar write-off isn't even in stores yet, and already its developer division is crowing about the new models selling out.
Microsoft's official Twitter account for developers issued a heads up this morning about current inventory levels for the company's latest Windows RT 8.1 and Windows 8.1 tablets.
"Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are close to selling out," the tweet cautioned, adding that "all those buys are gonna need apps" to run on the devices.
The Microsoft Developer tweet doesn't elaborate on how many second-generation tablets the company has produced or what numbers might be necessary to achieve "close to selling out" status.
History repeating?
Considering Microsoft still can't unload the previous generation Surface RT and Surface Pro models released last fall, the tweet is a bit of a head scratcher indeed.Back in July, the company announced it was taking a $900 million (about £561m, AU$954m) write-off because of excess inventory on the original Surface tablets, which had only generated $853 million (about £532m, AU$904m) in revenue to date.
The first-gen tablets continue to be sold at discounted prices, complete with a heavy advertising campaign that points out the shortcomings of its main competitor, Apple's iPad, which lacks a kickstand, USB port and officially sanctioned keyboard cover.
Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 pre-orders have been ongoing since Sept. 24, but the slates won't become available in retail stores until Oct. 22, only days after the latest Windows 8.1 is made available to the public.
- Bone up on Apple's latest iOS 7 release with our full review!
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Review: Samsung Galaxy Gear
Introduction and design
What makes a smartwatch these days? Is it something that simply sits on the wrist and buzzes when the phone does something in the pocket? A fully-fledged phone it itself? Or, like the Galaxy Gear, something in between?We've got all kinds of devices pretending to be a smartwatch, and there's definitely an interest from consumers, if not a desire, for such a thing strapped to the wrist.
There was clamour for the LG GD510, the real 'Dick Tracy' smartwatch that was essentially a feature phone on a wrist, allowing you to make calls and send texts.
It was thoroughly rubbish as a phone replacement, yet sold out the world over.
And then there's the Pebble, a watch that's meant to sit neatly next to your smartphone and give notifications and extra information when needed - a huge hit on Kickstarter, it's been met with tepid reviews yet the makers still struggle to meet demand.
So when Samsung, the world's biggest supplier of smartphones, makes a device that supplements the Galaxy Note 3 (and other devices soon) we should all sit up and take notice, right?
The Gear is certainly an attractive device, a clever mix of metal and rubber that gives it a really solid feel. It has to do that, as you'll be forking out £299 or $299 (Around AUS$324) for the privilege of owning one, although there are loads of deals out there to take some of the money off if you buy it with a Note 3.
Given it won't function without it, you'd be a fool to pick up a Gear without a companion Samsung device.
Despite also packing a 1.9MP camera, the Gear doesn't feel overly cumbersome on the wrist. It's a little on the large side to accommodate the 1.6-inch Super AMOLED 320 x 320 resolution screen, which means it will catch on most clothing, but it's not in the realms of sports watches that runners love to lug around on marathons.
The clasp is strong, so the fit is generally snug enough, although it can get a little tight over the course of the day - but that's an issue most watches struggle with. The problem there is that you can't change the strap on the Gear as it has the camera stuck inside - so best make sure it's a decent fit before purchase.
There's only one button on the outside, which is the power / function key. A tap of this will turn the device on, but a long press or double tap will also make the Gear perform other tasks, which you can choose yourself. These are a little limited, but we like that Samsung has tried to maximise the lack of tappable space on the screen in this way.
We were a little surprised by the method of charging: the Galaxy Gear comes with a plastic case which you strap the watch into and plug a standard microUSB cable into the back of. This means that you have to remember to bring the charging case with you at all times, and can't rely on anyone having a spare charger when caught short.
However, the addition of a port on the watch would have likely increased size too much, so we like this compromise. The case also comes with NFC connectivity, so when pairing your Note 3 (or Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 or Galaxy Note 2 in the coming weeks) you just tap the handset to the back of the case and the pairing is taken care of simply, which again reduces heft in the watch.
Do we like the design of the Galaxy Gear? It's a little chunky and the screws on the front of the watch look like they're trying a little too hard to make it look like an expensive wrist-watch... which we suppose it is.
But Samsung needs to give a premium air for something that costs so much to buy, so we'll say the design makes a lot of sense here.
Interface
The Samsung Galaxy Gear is a watch that comes with a different kind of need: to last only a day or two (according to Samsung) and be operated with fingers, rather than a simple glance down once in a while.We were initially annoyed that a double tap on the screen wouldn't wake the Gear up, but then we found that simple raising the watch up to your eyeline will cause it to activate, which is pretty cool. It's a little too erratic in use, which irritated us somewhat, and caused us to need to be too deliberate in our arm raising action to just see the time.
As you'll realise throughout the review, one of the main tasks with the Galaxy Gear is using it without looking like a huge tool, and swinging one's arm back and forth to just see whether it's time for Parks and Recreation doesn't help that image.
In terms of using the Galaxy Gear, it's all very easy to work out for yourself. The main thing to do is swipe left and right, bringing the chance to look at notifications, control music, start S Voice to make a note and more. Swiping down will start the camera, and upwards will get you to the dial pad so you can make calls using the device.
The 800MHz processor inside generally does a good job of powering things along with the Gear, although we have to say that it's too slow to register inputs compared to modern smartphones. There's a definite lag between command and action, and we'd expect more from Samsung.
Inputs don't always register, and the layout of the apps isn't the most intuitive. Like most things on the Gear, you'll need to use the Gear Manager app that you'll install on first use with the Note 3, and from there you can shift around the order of the elements within the phone.
However, some things are hardwired to the device, so you can't place notifications anywhere other than to the right of the main clock display. This is rather annoying if you want your media controls to be there, but we can see why Samsung is trying to preserve the most important function of the device.
We thought we'd cracked the issue with the ability to change the clock face - you can either have analogue options in a variety of colours, or a digital clock with an app underneath.
You can see how many steps you've taken each time you turn the watch on, or the weather, or - as we were quite happy to see - set shortcuts to apps. We were looking forward to having notifications, music control and the weather all in one place, as these are the things we can see most people using the Gear for.
However, only the music controller was present as an option, which meant there was a real missed opportunity. We'd even have loved to see a full music control widget underneath the clock, but it wasn't to be. Instead you'll need to tap the miniature icon just to get into your tunes, and the tapping accuracy was too low, registering only every second press.
There are other issues too: if you turn on your phone using only the 'arm raising' method, you'll get back to the clockface each time. However, if you're trying to control music each time, you'll need to keep swiping to the app. This doesn't happen if you press the power button, as this will take you back to the last-used app.
It's nice Samsung is preserving the time functionality, but when a device doesn't do what you want it to, it grates.
We can see what Samsung is trying to do with the interface on the Gear, but it doesn't work well enough. Slow at times, hard to work out and generally too locked down, it's a massive step back from the customisability of Android that we're used to on Samsung devices.
Calling and messaging
The Samsung Galaxy Gear is designed to be a device that functions far above other smartwatches on the market at the moment. For instance, it's got a microphone, a speaker and the ability to read messages from a variety of sources.In short, for the higher price, Samsung is staking a claim for this to almost be a smartphone in its own right - but sadly it fails in nearly every respect.
The contacts system is OK - it drills down into your phone's address book and isn't too hard to navigate as despite the smaller screen getting to the letters on the side of the display to move quickly through the list isn't a problem at all.
A quick tap and you're taken to a cut down version of the contact profile from a phone, making it possible to do only one thing: make a phone call.
And here we get to one of the most pointless parts of the Samsung Galaxy Gear. The ability to make and receive calls with it. It's not something that any human being should ever do, unless they've had a lifelong desire to pretend a call from your partner is actually covert mission assignment to rescue a package from the local library on a matter of national importance.
The problems are many: the speaker quality isn't high, so you have to keep moving it closer to your ear to hear what's being said before returning it to your mouth to chat back.
Everyone can hear parts of you conversation, which makes privacy impossible. Talking in anything other than a quiet environment isn't really possible, with it clearly obvious you're not talking on a standard smartphone.
And the worst bit: you have to essentially hold a pretend phone to your head to make the call. We took to carrying a stapler around to pretend we were talking to that, rather than the watch on our wrist.
It's preferable to look unhinged than admit you're too lazy to take your phone out of your pocket.
We're not saying that the Gear's ability to register calls is a bad thing - twice we had walked away from our phone only to be notified we had a call that we could trot back to.
It's also handy to be able to dial numbers directly from the phone itself using the tiny dialpad that you call up by an upward swipe from the main clock face.
That's fine - all we need is a notification. If you buy a Gear, you'll use calling once (maybe twice in an embarrassed emergency) and that will be it. The phone is clearly close. Pull it out and use it.
Messaging
From the demonic to the sublime: getting messages on the Galaxy Gear is a really nice method of checking when things are important or not. Text messages are the real winner here, as the bright and clear screen is excellent at showing you missives that fire into the phone on your pocket, and allow you to choose whether you need to reply or not.It would be good to have set responses you could send from the Gear; for instance, if it was a simple question, you could reply with a 'Yes', 'No', 'OK' or 'What are you talking about? That's not my car' in a simple click.
However, texts are often something most don't reply to straight away (unless you're a particular type of teenager) so being able to view them in this way is cool.
The same can be said about email, although many might not realise that the Gear can do this as well as SMS. Users need to drill into the Gear Manager's notifications settings on the Note 3 and tap the option that allows emails to be shown, which means many will be confused as to why this doesn't happen out of the box.
Sadly, that's as far as it goes when it comes to impressive messages / notifications on the phone. The Galaxy Gear also 'supports' notifications from Gmail, Facebook, Hangouts and more - but all of these will show on the screen with a message asking you to pick up your device to get the info.
Thanks Gear - we dropped the best part of three hundred notes to be told when to pick up our phone. Thanks for that.
Seeing as Gmail messages can be shown in the notifications bar of most modern Android phones, we're not sure what's gone on here. It feels like something that could be fixed in an update - and it better be, as this instruction to just look at your phone is so thoroughly irritating.
Messaging isn't terrible on the Gear at all, as it's the primary reason to buy the phone - but we've seen it implemented on many other devices, and for the most part it supports more options.
Camera
Ah, now this is a good one. The 1.9MP camera attached to the Galaxy Gear strap (called a Memographer, if you're interested) is a cool addition to the device - we just can't decide if it's worth having there or not.On the one hand, it's a really unique feature, it works very quickly, and the convenience is brilliant. If you've got an image that you want to capture in a couple of seconds, the Gear is a great option for that.
It matters that what you're trying to snap doesn't really a great amount of detail, as the image quality isn't super high - although there are some elements we're really impressed with.
For instance, you can take Sound and Shot pictures with the Gear, activate macro mode for really close up images and even choose a 1:1 or 4:3 ratio (although we'd recommend the former as it gives a higher-res shot.
On top of that, you can shoot video in 15 second bursts, which is good for things like Vine videos.
The main drawbacks of having a camera mount of up though. For one, trying to angle your arm to take the photo isn't the easiest, and you also have to explain to people what you're up to most of the time.
There's a shutter sound to make sure that people can tell that you're being a super spy too, and that noise can't be turned off either. This is probably a good thing, but causes embarrassment when you're just playing with the camera to see what it can do.
There's also the point that it raises the cost of the Gear quite a lot, and that's one of the biggest gripes we have with the device.
The convenience of the camera is really good, and although the quality is mostly rather poor, it's better to have a poor camera helping you snap a moment than none at all.
Transferring the pictures is good, as you can either set it to manually do so on your command (enabled by default) or have them automatically get sent to the Note 3 when taken. You can even set it so this only happens when the Gear is charging, thus saving that vital battery power.
Annoyingly you're taken to the gallery of your phone as soon as you tap on the notification to let you know the transfer has worked - this is a hotch potch of tiles that just looks messy, and can take ages to find the Galaxy Gear folder if you've got Facebook or Dropbox pics enabled.
Why can't it just show the picture straight away when you tap on the notification?
Camera samples
Click here to see the full-res shot
Click here to see the full-res shot
Click here to see the full-res shot
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Click here to see the full-res shot
Click here to see the full-res shot
Click here to see the full-res shot
Click here to see the full-res shot
Battery and Gear Manager
Battery life on the Samsung Galaxy Gear is actually much more impressive than Samsung is making out.We've got a very odd situation here - a brand has actually underestimated battery life in a bid to make sure it doesn't get caught out with poor juice times, meaning the original claim of 25 hours is wildly unfair.
In practice, you can go at least two days without needing to charge the Galaxy Gear, and it will probably last longer than that.
Let's give an indication of usage: having the watch sporadically turning on, always connected to the Note 3, uploading every snap automatically to the phone, installing multiple apps on it, and generally poking around frequently led to a drop of 66% in just over 38 hours.
We can imagine that it will last even longer as time goes on and you fumble with the device less and less, so in short, we're pretty darn impressed with the life of this thing.
The screen even has an ability to boost its brightness for outdoor mode, and this didn't even show any poor effect on the battery life in general use.
It's obvious that having no Wi-Fi, no GPS and not even music playing from it will save a lot of energy, but the haptic feedback is strong, and if you've got the automatic updates turned on (where lifting your arm shows the time) this can fire the screen rather regularly.
Galaxy Gear Manager
Samsung has decided that on-device working isn't the way forward when it comes to managing settings and such, so it lumped on the ability to do all of this through the Gear Manager, which is located on your phone.
You can access this at any time throughout use, as it's a pervasive icon in the notifications bar of your phone. Once in, you're treated to a '70s throwback look, with brown adorning most of the app.
It's pretty fully featured, and sticks to Samsung's 'make it do so much that you'll never find all the settings' approach. Which we have to say we MUCH prefer over Apple or Microsoft's simplistic menus.
You can do everything in here from setting whether social networks pop up, to controlling third party apps, to entering the Galaxy Gear section of the Samsung Apps hub and more.
It's a pretty simple system to work out, and we especially like the face you can change the clock face in so many ways, including the ability to append favourite apps to the bottom of one of the digital options.
It's rare we like controlling software so much on a secondary device, but in this case there's everything you need and more, as long as you know where to look.
This is also the place to 'Find my Gear', allowing you to ring the phone and wake up your other half when you've accidentally left it on their bedside table and you're trying to stumble off to work in the pitch black but realise you'll probably need the Gear if you're going to review it.
For instance.
We suspect the Gear Manager is going to get stronger and stronger as time passes, and we're interested to see how Samsung improves this hub. We'd like to see more control given to the watch itself, but given the phone is never too far away, we can let this one slide.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Gear is a device that's setting a trend. It's one of the world's biggest electronics firms making a statement and letting the world know that it's ready to embrace wearable technology in a way that others haven't so far.There's a lot to question here, be it the heft, the price or the overall point of the device, but Samsung has certainly put the effort in to make sure that it's at least made a big splash.
We liked
The Galaxy Gear looks the part as a serious piece of technology, and kind of feels like it justifies the price tag. The screws on the front of the device are a nice touch, the operation is fairly intuitive and the camera being there for when you want it is nice.A lot of what Samsung has done in terms of its own apps work well in the right conditions - being able to tell your wrist to set up a meeting and for it to happen is pretty neat.
Voice memos are fun, the slick operation between phone and Gear is impressive and even the range of colours is pleasing too.
We disliked
Sadly for Samsung, it's tried to be a little too Apple here. We bemoan that brand for being overly expensive without delivering enough, and that's what Samsung has done here.The price is just too high. There's no two ways about it. Sure, you can get a discount when you get it with the Note 3, but if that doesn't happen with the S4, or for those with a Galaxy S3 or Note 2, you can't justify spending all that money on a unit like this.
It's weird to be so against recommending a product when it doesn't have any serious operational flaws - it's just not good enough for the price. We can't see the necessity for half the stuff on board; and most of the third party apps do nothing to enhance the premium feel.
The layout of the interface is too locked down for our tastes, and the way the Gear responds to the finger is too inaccurate and far too clunky to be considered intuitive.
We're used to Samsung being brilliant at just this, but with a smaller screen to work with, it really hasn't managed to repeat the trick.
The inability to see GMail or Facebook messages borders on the laughable - well, it would do if you hadn't dropped so much cash on the device. You could buy four other smartphones, strap them to your arm, and have them each display messages from a single service, and you'd still have change for dinner.
Verdict
We're pretty disappointed with the Gear, as the first couple of hours that we spent with it were full of quiet gadget joy. The slick design, the vivid display, the amount of power that seemed to be strapped to the wrist was entrancing.But we can't help but think that anyone who might have gone for a cheaper holiday or foresaken food for a while to afford one of these wouldn't feel like the sacrifice had been worth it.
The Galaxy Gear doesn't do anything terribly, it just fails to impress at nearly every turn. We're not sure what Samsung is up to here, as it's basically given Apple an open goal to aim at with the iWatch.
The Gear could have looked this good, stripped out the camera, speaker and call functionality, made a bit more effort on the apps at launch and sold it for a third of the cost, and it would have certainly have had a hit on its hands.
We only really ended up using the Galaxy Gear for finding out when we had a message or silencing alarms, and for that we could either be a bit less lazy or just get a watch that doesn't do as much.
We applaud Samsung for trying to be innovative in the space once again, but the Galaxy Gear needs a Galaxy Gear Mini as soon as possible, with a lower price tag to really make it an attractive proposition.
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Review: Acer Aspire V5
Introduction
The Acer Aspire V5-122P tries to be all things for all users but, in doing so, doesn't stand out in any particular area and largely falls short of other options like the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 or the Asus VivoBook S200.For example, the 1.3kg, 11.6-inch chassis is light and very portable which would make it an ideal option for frequent travellers. But the battery life is so poor that you'll struggle to get a solid two hours of use from it.
Likewise, the keyboard is sturdy and spacious and great for typing on - but unfortunately the equally spacious trackpad is awkward and unresponsive.
Acer has somewhat remedied this by giving the V5-122P touchscreen input and, as such, it works very well with Microsoft's Windows 8. You won't need to navigate using the touchpad's frustrating integrated click buttons because you can just reach up and swipe through options on the screen.
Although available in a wide range of specifications, our review model arrived with an AMD A6-1460 processor with a clock speed of 1.0GHz and backed by 4GB of DDR3 RAM. While these components handled complex processes well on day one, we're not sure how well the V5-122P will hold up after a year's worth of program installation and software updates.
And yet, this middling specification does land the Aspire V5-122P with the not-unattractive asking price of £380. So, as long as you're happy to compromise on a few features, you can save yourself some cash over the likes of the HP Envy x2 or the premium Sony Vaio Duo 11.
But, returning to our original point, it's not exactly clear what you're going to be using this laptop for anyway. The display is passable but certainly not built for media.
The specifications will keep the basic web applications running nicely and let you run simple creative software, but don't expect to be gaming or editing HD footage. And, as we mentioned, it's portable enough to be a mobile workstation but the battery life lets it down.
The Aspire V5-122P comes across almost as a supercharged netbook. You could well find a use for it but, ultimately, there's nothing you can't do here that couldn't be accomplished with an Ultrabook and, for example, Microsoft's recently price-cut Surface Pro tablet.
Specifications
Although available with Intel-configured components, our review model was built around an AMD A6 quad-core processor.It's AMD's middle-ranking processor and combines both the CPU and GPU onto a single chip. The graphics side of things is handled by the integrated Radeon HD 8250 unit - which will manage graphically complex websites and high-definition media playback, but not too much more.
While performance isn't as acute as Intel's offering, the AMD model of the Aspire V5-122P comes in cheaper and is a good option if you're stuck on a budget.
In terms of memory, the Aspire V5 is loaded with 4GB of RAM, which keeps things moving at a reasonably slick pace.
It would be even quicker if storage was handled by a solid-state drive rather than the 500GB hard drive Acer has decided to use here. Because this isn't an Ultrabook, there's no requirement for an SSD and so presumably it has been omitted to keep the costs down.
But, credit where credit is due, and the Acer Aspire V5-122P does deserve some for its display. The screen boasts a standard 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution which means it'll handle 720p HD footage but not full on 1080p.
Even so, the 11.6-inch LED-backlit screen is bright and crisp with a reflective TFT coating that gives a better contrast than your average matte display. Our one complaint is the thick black bezel surrounding the screen.
The Aspire V5-122P also gets points from us for being a touchscreen - a feature that is fast becoming nigh-on essential as Windows 8 gathers adoption. You will, unfortunately, get greasy marks all over the TFT display, but the usability positive outweighs the aesthetic negative.
Acer has employed a standard brushed-metal design approach with the V5, similar to the company's earlier Aspire S3 Ultrabook.
The slightly rounded corners of the chassis can't disguise a boxy look, although it does feel reasonably sturdy. Push down on the chassis either side of the touchpad and you'll notice some serious flex - but even so, this laptop should be able to put up with the inevitable bumps and knocks.
This laptop doesn't muster a mind-blowing set of specifications, but it does come in reasonable, considering the price you'll pay for it. You also won't find it clogged with pre-loaded bloatware, although Acer has included its clear.fi media management program for playing music and watching videos.
Performance
Benchmark results:- 3D Mark: Ice Storm: 21479 // Cloud Gate: 1860 // Fire Strike: 258 //
- Cinebench: 1CPU: 215 // xCPU: 580
- Battery Eater: 92 mins
- PCMark 8: Home score: 1474 // Battery test: 147 minutes
We've made it clear that the specifications prevent any serious computational gruntwork, so essentially you're going to be using this machine for web surfing, general media usage and producing basic office work like reports, presentations or spreadsheets.
The now-respectable amount of Windows 8 apps also means you can get some casual gaming done as well. But, rather than make this a hybrid device to take advantage of the touchscreen, as with the similarly-spec'd Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 or the high-end Dell XPS 12, Acer has kept it firmly as a laptop.
That does have some advantages. The keyboard is a spacious, isolation-style affair with a reassuring amount of travel and rounded, well-sized keys. In other words, banging out a quick email - and, for that matter, writing this review - isn't a problem at all.
We touched on it during the introduction, but the trackpad isn't very responsive. At times the cursor wouldn't respond to contact on certain parts of the pad, and, frequently, the Aspire V5-112P wouldn't register mouse clicks.
Using the now de-facto integrated buttons is good for making the chassis look uncluttered and minimalist, but we take issue when it doesn't actually work all that well.
Battery life is another problem. Given the miniscule 289 x 206 x 21mm dimensions and the ultra-low voltage (ULV) processor, we'd expect a lot more from the 3-cell, 2640mAh Li-ion battery. However, a maximum stress test with looped HD video, full performance settings and a Battery Eater program running drained the juice in a mere 92 minutes.
Acer quotes a 3.5-hour runtime for this model of the Aspire V5. But, when we ran a second test using the PCMark 8 benchmarking program it was dead in a (slightly more forgiving) 147 minutes; just under two-and-a-half hours. The accompanying charger won't take up much space in your bag, but that's beside the point.
Connectivity is reasonably well catered for. Acer has included two USB ports, one of which is the faster USB 3.0 variant, as well as an SD card reader for expanding storage. There's also a unique Acer Converter Cable Port. This looks a lot like a mini DisplayPort, and basically works the same way as a digital display output. You can use a mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter to hook the Aspire V5-122P up to an external display. Irritatingly, though, Acer doesn't supply one in the box.
There's no Ethernet connection, so you'll be relying on the 802.11b/g/n wireless to access the internet. This should be sufficient for the majority of tasks we imagine the average user will require, but it is worth noting that the faster "ac" standard is beginning to be adopted in the UK this year.
Verdict
The Acer Aspire V5-122P feels like a notebook the Taiwanese company just dashed off between high-profile Ultrabook launches and, as such, is hard to recommend.What could have been a highly-portable touch-enabled work laptop is undone by a poor battery and some ropey usability issues.
But it isn't without its positives: the 11-inch touchscreen display is bright, sharp and works well with the Windows 8 interface. Likewise, the dimensions and weight really do make this a good portable option. We can see the Aspire V5-122P working as a secondary work computer or a first-time laptop for a student.
As you would expect, performance is adequate without being exceptional. It is mostly down to the 4GB of DDR3 RAM rather than the quad-core ULV AMD processor. And, while the V5-122P works well out-of-the-box, we wouldn't put money on exceptional longevity two or three years down the line.
We liked
As a Windows 8 machine, the Acer Aspire V5-122P sets as a goodish example. It's small and light enough to be carried around, but still packs in a touchscreen to make use of Microsoft's new UI. The LED-backlit display is sharp and responsive and, thanks to the TFT coating, boasts a good contrast ratio for consuming media.We also found the chassis to be well built and reasonably good-looking. Aside from the slightly boxy aesthetic, the brushed-metal design means it sits as well in the boardroom as it does in the bedroom.
Despite not being an Ultrabook, it's thin enough to slide unnoticed into a bag but won't break apart after a couple of knocks on the road.
We disliked
We really felt the battery should be better in a machine like this. A three- or four-hour battery life is ultimately what we would expect, and the Acer Aspire V5-122P falls short.We felt the biggest usability issue was the unresponsive trackpad that, on occasion, failed to register movement or mouse clicks. It can, to some extent, be circumvented by using the touchscreen, but that's hardly an excuse.
Lastly, the specs on our review model felt overwhelmingly like they would be obsolete in six months' time. This isn't exactly a cause for concern as other configurations are available, and laptops are refreshed almost biannually anyway.
However, we wouldn't be putting the Acer Aspire V5-122P in the 'future proof' section of any electronics store.
Final verdict
A laptop that could have been a solidly portable machine is let down by a below-average battery performance and some annoying usability frustrations. While it could serve as a first-time laptop or an office-supplied backup, we would advise looking at the competition first.
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Updated: Grand Theft Auto V Online woes currently on the way out?
Update: Rockstar has been hard at work making sure everyone can play Grand Theft Auto V, and it looks like your devoted patience has paid off.
A title update for the PlayStation 3 is now live and an update for the Xbox 360 will come out some time today.
Original article ...
Popularity is a double-edged sword for Rockstar and its huge hit Grand Theft Auto V.
After a massive launch day for GTA V Online, Rockstar unsurprisingly has some buggy issues to work through, despite those extra servers the company snatched up in anticipation of demand.
Microtransactions have been temporarily turned off in the game while Rockstar continues to fix the many problems plaguing the world of Los Santos, but the support page notes you can still earn in-game cash:
"Players can however keep on earning GTA$ by pulling off Jobs and other profitable gameplay activities rather than purchasing cash packs."
Be on the lookout for...
The support page also details the latest updates about the other bugs like PlayStation Network server issues, blocked tutorial missions and online instability.We're hoping the list doesn't grow too long though Rockstar has been adamant about repairing every irksome issue, and is encouraging players to contact it with any issue via email and Twitter.
Let's hope Rockstar can fix everything and we can all get back to exploring Los Santos together.
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Updated: 10 best Android tablets in the world
Best Android tablets: 10-6
Our list of the best Android tablets in the world - regularly updatedIf you're looking for a tablet and don't fancy an iPad, then Android is currently the way to go. (Don't know what an Android tablet is? Check out: what is an Android tablet?)
There are other options out there with Windows 8 tablets such as the Surface 2, Ativ Tab and VivoTab Smart continuing to creep out - but Android Jelly Bean is currently the main rival to the iOS 7 toting iPad 4 and iPad mini.
Are you wondering what the iPad rival to the new Nexus 7 or Kindle Fire HD is like?
- Check our iPad mini review to find out!
So while we wait for the likes of the Tesco Hudl, LG G Pad 8.3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) to be put through our in-depth review process let's see what the current best tablets are...
10. Archos 80 Titanium
The overall styling of the Archos 80 Titanium is quite some achievement, and its bountiful connectivity is excellent. It performs all of the core tasks of a tablet efficiently and the build quality is as good as anything on the market.
And the price? Well, £150 is so low that we're not convinced the Archos 80 Titanium shouldn't be bought in multiples.
A poor battery and even worse camera hampers its attractiveness to anyone wanting a tablet on the move, while the occasional freeze-ups will also annoy.
Quick verdict
In many areas the Archos 80 Titanium out-performs its heftily priced rival to the extent that anyone thinking of purchasing a small tablet should seriously consider whether spending more than this is really necessary.And that is quite some achievement; bravo to Archos and its great-looking, awesome value 8-inch Titanium tablet.
9. Nook HD+
he Nook HD+ is now seriously worthy of your consideration as a budget full-sized tablet.
At just £179 for the 16GB version this 9-inch slate matches the price of its closest competitor, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9, while offering the same performance, a slightly superior display, expandable storage and - crucially - access to the Google Play Store.
What brings the Nook HD+ down is the fact it isn't a particularly pretty tablet to look at. Its bulging bezel makes it look like a much sleeker tablet has been slipped into a cheap case.
Quick verdict
The Nook HD+ has carved out a niche for itself as an ultra-affordable full-sized tablet. Its custom UI is clunky, its own media store is a bit of a write-off, and it won't win any awards for its looks. But for HD multimedia kicks on a budget, there aren't many better-value alternatives out there.8. Amazon Kindle Fire HD
What's better than a modern tablet with a quad core processor? One that costs just £129 (without ads).
Coming in at 16GB and 32GB flavours, the Kindle Fire HD brings the simplicity of the e-book range to the tablet arena, with dedicated space to access your movies, games, apps and music too.
It's a little simplistic for some, but for others it's the perfect mix of curated content and easy to use interface - and despite the price, it's got a decent build quality too.
Quick Verdict
A new, lower price makes the Amazon Kindle Fire HD an even more attractive proposition and if you want a small tablet which doesn't have the confusing stock Android overlay look no further.7. Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Movie playback on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is decent, with the large 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 screen doing feature films justice and the front facing speakers delivering sound directly at you instead of behind the tablet.
Even though the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 only comes as a 16GB option, the inclusion of a microSD card slot on top of the tablet will keep the majority happy.
Quick verdict
As far as middle of the road Android tablets go, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 hits the nail on the head.It's doesn't stray too far from the norm, failing to offer anything truly exciting or different, but also ensuring it doesn't fall flat on its face. However, we're loving the recent price drop, meaning we're happy to boost the score on a tablet that brings rich power on top of the latest version of Android for under £240.
6. Asus FonePad
It may be almost identical to the old Nexus 7 when in comes to looks, but the FonePad has a few trump cards including a great price, microSD slot and 3G connectivity which not only allows you to get online but also send/receive phone calls and text messages.
The Jelly Bean interface isn't quite as slick (it's dual-core, not quad-core) and while the call function is cool, it's also a little impractical on a device this size. That said pair it up with a Bluetooth headset and you might as well turf your smartphone out.
Quick verdict
The Asus FonePad is an accomplished Android tablet and offers amazing value-for-money. If you're not planning on spending a fortune, but still want a tablet with a wide choice of apps and features then you could do a lot worse than picking up this one in particular.Number 5: Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
5. Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
If it wasn't for the higher price, the Infinity would be a real contender for the top spot. It's got everything you could want in a tablet - and a keyboard dock as standard too.
With the latest version of Android on the way, a simple interface and more ports than you can poke with a stick, the Infinity is the tablet that can handle anything you can throw at it.
Add in the Super IPS panel with a tremendous resolution, and you can see why this is a tablet to rate very highly - especially if you're fond of typing on the go but crave the simplicity of a slate too. New firmware updates in some territories have brought features like Wi-Fi Direct to the Infinity, and Android 4.2 will be landing soon too.
Quick verdict
Everything we'd look for in a high-end tablet is present and accounted for with the Transformer Pad Infinity.While power is always welcomed, it was the improved screen that really caught our attention. Given that we use our tablet mostly for browsing the web and watching video, we couldn't help but marvel at the resolution, either.
If you're looking for a top Android tablet (and have the cash to splash), then the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity should be at the top of your list.
Number 4: Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
4. Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 arrived on the scene with the iPad mini firmly set in its sights and while it gave a strong showing the Android tablet, complete with S Pen, didn't manage to hit the same heights as its Apple-made rival.
That's not to say the Galaxy Note 8.0 isn't a good tablet as it's a light, highly portable device and there's no denying that its display is far better than that of the iPad Mini.
It's solidly built, with expandable memory - the S-Pen has clearly been enhanced to make this a major selling point, plus we love the IR blaster and its media capabilities.
Quick verdict
The Galaxy Note 8.0 is a good device. There are better out there for the money, and with an arguably better design as well.However, for those that like the S Pen as a tool, it's a great offering, albeit not really worth the extra cash for most.
Number 3: Google Nexus 10
3. Google Nexus 10
The 10.1 display is one of the biggest talking points on the Google Nexus 10. At 300 pixels per inch it's the highest resolution tablet display on the planet - take that, Apple and your Retina displays.
It's a great performer too. Other than taking a while to process panoramic photos we never felt like it was struggling to keep up. It's fast and smooth whatever you throw at it.
Sure it may not be as stunning to look at, or as well built as an iPad 4, and the lack of expandable memory will irk some, but overall the Nexus 10 gives you a quality, big-screen Android experience which is not to be sniffed at.
On top of that, the tablet has already been updated to Android 4.3 - the latest version of the operating system - showing this is the tablet to buy if you want a larger screen that Google won't give up on.
Quick Verdict
The Google Nexus 10 is easily one of the best Android tablets on the market and while it's not quite as fantastic value for money as the new Nexus 7, it certainly gives Apple's high-priced iPad 4 a run for its money. For the price you're paying, you won't be disappointed.Number 2: Sony Xperia Tablet Z
2. Sony Xperia Tablet Z
Sleek, powerful, iconic - these are all words used to describe the impressive tablet from Sony.
Until recently the Xperia Tablet Z had been sitting pretty at the top of the tablet tree, but thanks to a certain Google-branded 7-inch slate it has been bumped - but don't let that put you off.
The brand has been plugging away in the mobile space for a few years, but now the combination of the Sony Xperia Z and Tablet Z show that the Japanese brand is bringing us devices that the public can finally really lust after.
And that's one of the things we liked about the Tablet Z: it's light, really light, yet looks premium too. Sony has surpassed expectation with this and delivered a tablet that wouldn't look out of place in a business class lounge or at the centre of a home entertainment network.
It's waterproof too - sure, you might not use that feature a whole lot, but it gives it an air of ruggedness that puts your mind at ease when manhandling something that costs so much.
Quick verdict
With a super slim chassis, impressive screen and whole glut of Sony extras on board, the Xperia Tablet Z is one of the finest pieces of kit we've seen in 2013. Its quality abounds the moment you take it out your bag, and the speedy internals and impressive weight are enough for us to recommend it wholeheartedly.Number 1: Google Nexus 7 (2013)
1. Google Nexus 7 (2013)
There's a new king in the Android tablet world and while it's name may be to same as a previous pole sitter, the new Nexus 7 (2013 edition) improves on its predecessor in multiple ways while still keeping an incredibly attractive price tag.
The screen is to die for and the form factor, while taking some getting used to, is ideal for media consumption. It's light, it's bright, it's fun and it's thin.
The battery life is really impressive, and the sheer diversity on offer, be it through the uprated CPU, screen, or GPU, mean that we struggled to put it down at times.
We're also slightly annoyed that Google hasn't given us an LTE model at launch, since we know one exists, but it's a minor issue.
Quick verdict
We really like the new Nexus 7. We really, really like the Nexus 7. Google has taken what made the original such a belter, corrected almost every niggle with it, bumped the price up ever so slightly, yet also made the Nexus 7 feel so much more premium.If you're looking for a 7-inch tablet, we'll put it like this: there is no better alternative on the market, right now.
- Google Nexus 7 review (2013)
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