The new Panasonic GF7 goes straight for the selfie market
Panasonic's GF series cameras are designed for compact system camera first-timers. They're small, light, inexpensive and beginner friendly. The new GF7 will replace the existing GF6, though the older camera will remain on sale for a while.
These models fit in just below the Panasonic GM1 and GM5 models, which are more expensive but – amazingly – even smaller. Next up is the GX7, Panasonic's top square-shaped compact system camera, and beyond that you're into the DSLR style G6 and GH4 models.
Stylish selfies
The GF7 has a more angular, classy design than the GF6, but otherwise the specs are pretty similar. Don't be fooled by the pentaprism shape on the top, though – this camera has no viewfinder, so you rely solely on the rear LCD for composing your shots.The big story is the GF7's hands-free selfie mode, which you can activate simply by flipping up the LCD screen. You can now see you and your friends from in front of the camera, and Wi-Fi is built in, so you can control your camera remotely using a smart device.
And if you decide your selfies need a little cosmetic enhancement, you can try out the GF7's Soft Skin, Defocusing and Slimming modes.
Under the skin
Inside the GF7 is a 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, but although the resolution is the same, it's not the same as the sensor in its predecessor, the GF6. Panasonic says the sensor and the processor have been upgraded to match those in the bigger and more advanced GX7. This also allows a high-speed 240fps sensor readout which boosts the autofocus speed.The GF7 shoots 1080p video at up to 50fps in the AVCHD format but you can also shoot MP4 files. There are Time Lapse and Stop Motion modes too, for those who want to get a little more creative with their video. You can use the touchscreen display to pick your focus point and use the subject tracking option if your subject is moving around the frame.
Stills photographers aren't left out. They get 22 Creative Control options including Retro, Dynamic Monochrome and Toy Effects – and you can capture a regular version of the shot at the same time, just in case.
Underneath its novice-friendly exterior, the GF7 is a powerful and capable camera, with a full set of program AE, aperture-priority, shutter-priority and manual exposure modes, and the ability to shoot raw files for processing later.
Pick a colour
The GF7 comes in two colours – silver and brown – and goes on sale in March 2015 at £429 (about US$650/AU$790.
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Updated: Best tablet 2015: Our top 10 ranking
Best tablets: 10-6
What's the best tablet for 2015? Today's latest tablets compared and rated - constantly updated.
Each of our top picks this year, possess more versatility than earlier collections. Tablets for work by day have to now also be tablets for kids by night, whether they're 7 or 9.7 or 12.2 inches.
Just as important, they feature wider price ranges, more efficient processors, longer battery life and thinner and lighter designs for 2015 than in years past.
iPad Air 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab S, and Google Nexus 9 get that right more than ever, especially as iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop make the best tablets even better.
It's a difficult process divining which place each of these excellent tablets should occupy in our list, so we take into account multiple elements including performance, battery life, screen quality and more.
Price plays a minor part, as does age: a tablet that's been replaced by a sequel will tumble down the rankings as you can get all the great features on a better slate.
If none of the top 10 tablets here take your fancy then head on over to our tablet reviews pages, where you'll find in-depth reviews for many more models.
Let us know your thoughts on the top 10 (and whether you think we've got the order wrong) in the comment box below.
10. Lenovo Yoga 10 HD+
Lenovo's tablet with a cylindrical spine makes our best tablets list because it's one of the most versatile Android mid-range slates at 10 inches.
The Yoga 10 HD+ features the company's patented stand that's great for watching movies and doing work. The kickstand can be tucked away in an instant for a typical tablet design.
Best of all, that unique form factor facilitates functionality. The cylinder battery tops the charts among the Android tablets we have tested.
The 1920 x 1200 pixel screen resolution is one of the many improvements Lenovo has made to its best tablet for 2015, though it doesn't quite compare to the sharpness of the iPad Air 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S.
Quick verdict
If you are looking for a 10-inch Android tablet, you can do worse than the Yoga 10 HD+, but if its key features are not important to you, devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 come in at a similar price.As a combined Android tablet for media consumption and a bit of work, the Yoga is appealing, boasting front-facing stereo speakers that enhance media consumption and a stand that works well with a Bluetooth keyboard connected.
If you fancy using it on the go, the LTE model isn't much more expensive and changes the value proposition quite a bit. At the end of the day, you won't find an Android tablet with better battery life right now.
9. iPad Air
Apple's pencil-thin tablet was spectacular a year ago and it's still one of the top tablets to own even though it's been usurped by the newer iPad Air 2.
It's no slouch in performance thanks to the, one-step-behind, A7 processor. Its 9.7-inch screen boasts the exact same 2048 x 1536-pixel resolution at 264 ppi as the Air 2, though the screen isn't fully laminated and misses out on an antireflective coating.
Considering the ipad Air 16GB model is $120 less expensive than the comparable Air 2, it really depends how much you value that layer of laminate, 1.4mm of thickness and 34 grams.
With the iOS 8 update installed, the ipad Air is a solid tablet that offers a decent alternative to the newer model.
Quick verdict
"It's not just Apple's best tablet, it's the only tablet you should be considering if you're keen on a larger screen." That's what we said in the verdict of our in-depth iPad Air review. While the Galaxy Tab S is a brilliant tablet, the Air just took things to the next level.It may not quite be a match for the iPad Air 2, but the original iPad Air is still one of the very best tablets around and it's not even among the most expensive any more.
8. Google Nexus 7
The smallest tablet worth buying right now is the 7-inch Nexus 7 that came out in 2013. It's a small tablet that made big improvements over the Nexus 7 2012.
Even at just 0.57 lbs. (260g), it packs reasonable specs like a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and either 16GB or our suggested 32GB of internal storage.
The ASUS-made Nexus 7 just fits into the pockets of non-skinny jeans, unlike its successor – the larger Nexus 9, which has a boxier 4:3 aspect ratio.
Nexus 7 is 16:9, meaning its widescreen 1920 x 1200 display (323 ppi) is ideal for everything from movies to games.
Quick verdict
If you're considering a tablet now and are already dabbling in the Android ecosystem, we see no reason why shouldn't take the plunge with a Nexus 7, especially if you don't like the size (or price) of the Nexus 9.If you haven't invested at all with Android, you're still in a good place to start. You could check out the iPad mini 2, which is advisable for those who have racked up a lot of App Store purchases, but it's still not as affordable as the Nexus 7.
7. Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2
From small to really, really big, the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 maximizes the display size spectrum among tablets, and too big for some people is just right for others.
The specs don't compromise either. A 2.3GHz quadcore processor, 3GB of RAM and S Pen make it productive for business as well as digital artists who values bright screens.
As the biggest tablet we've reviewed, the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 comes up short on build quality due to the larger chassis. But that's offset by the expanse of screen to play with.
Quick verdict
Its big screen and S Pen make the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 an extremely useful productivity tool - if you're a fan of the Note range, there's very little on the market that is better and Samsung seems to be successfully convincing the world that the S Pen is still relevant to today's gadget fans.6. iPad mini 2
There's hardly a gap between the iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 3 features, and that's reflected in our best tablets of 2015 list, as both of Apple's mini slates are right next to each other.
What's the difference? Aside from the Touch ID, gold colour and the lack of a 32GB model, the iPad mini 2 with a Retina display is identical, all the way down to iOS 8.
There's actually one other major difference: the mini 2 is more than $100 cheaper than the mini 3. Most people will live without the fingerprint sensor on a tablet for that saving. Plus, you're more likely to find an iPad Mini 2 at a discounted price.
Quick verdict
The iPad mini 2 is almost flawless in so many ways. The rich App catalog mean it's a device that will grow with you, and the 64-bit A7 chip and Retina display are certainly future-proofing users from an outdated device.Yes, it's older, but it's still a very usable device and offers access to a brilliant ecosystem for a lot less cash than before.
Number 5: iPad Mini 3
5. iPad mini 3
One space up on the best tablets comparison and one generation newer among the iPad mini series. That's how much the iPad mini 3 hasn't changed.
A touch ID fingerprint sensor replaces the normal home button and Apple's offering a new gold colour option to match that new iPhone 6 or iphone 6 Plus of yours.
Seeing as they are the only two differences, there isn't much left to add.
Quick verdict
The iPad mini 3 isn't a bad tablet. It's got a great OS, new features and is still attractively designed. It's just that all these features are available on the mini 2 for a lot less money.Touch ID is a nice feature, but it's not enough to recommend this tablet. This year, it hasn't matched the Air 2 in tech spec, yet the price hasn't dropped. And you can get nearly all the good features cheaper on the iPad mini 2.
Buy the iPad mini 2, or wait a few months and see if Apple Pay and Touch ID-enabled apps start to roar in popularity unless you really want to make sure you've got the best iPad mini on the market.
Number 4: Nexus 9
4. Nexus 9
Fresh of the HTC assembly line is the Nexus 9 tablet that is Google's best attempt to answer the iPad Air 2. It's successful in a number of ways.
Its 8.9-inch IPS LCD display, for example, sports a QXGA-level 2048 x 1536 resolution, but a bit of backlight bleeding around the edges keep hampers its full potential.
It doesn't matter that the Nexus 9 32GB screen is fractionally smaller than the similarly priced iPad Air . It's bigger than the Nexus 7 and smaller than the Nexus 10 - just right for productivity on the go.
Nexus 9's 4:3 aspect ratio is better for reviewing documents and web surfing than watching 16:9 movies with letterboxing, though the sound is excellent with HTC BoomSound speakers.
It's the best tablet running Android 5.0 Lollipop, though that won't last long once the Samsung Galaxy Tab S gets the forthcoming update.
Quick verdict
Android 5.0 Lollipop gives Google's slate a software facelift, even though the hardware construction isn't exceptional. Material Design sets the right tone and lockscreen notifications and priority mode add overdue functionality to make this a very usable tablet.If you're looking for a naked Android tablet, the Nexus 9 performs well and comes with some really premium touches to make it one of the best around.
Number 3: Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet
3. Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet
Sony's done it again in the tablet world, making an amazing large-screened device, and while it hasn't nabbed the top spot, it's still delivered a jolly good tablet.
The Xperia Z2 Tablet - so named to tie in more neatly with the phone version - brings a massively uprated Snapdragon 801 CPU, 3GB of RAM and an all-new Live Colour LED screen that brings vibrancy and contrast to what you're watching.
Video is also improved thanks to the dual front-facing speakers, meaning you can ditch the headphones when watching and still get a decent experience.
Like its predecessor it's also water and dust resistant, so dinner spills and reading ebooks in the bath are aren't a problem.
Quick verdict
If you're invested in the Sony ecosystem, you could do a lot worse than the Xperia Z2 Tablet, as it comes fully-loaded with access to Sony's music, movies and Playstation platforms. Well, you have to download an app to properly get gaming, but we'll overlook that for now.There's an IR blaster on top to make this a great tablet for controlling the TV, and the speed and sheer weight (or lack thereof) make this a real sofa-friendly choice.
Considering you'll be paying top dollar for this 10.1 inch tablet the screen could be sharper, but overall it is a nifty well packaged slate.
Number 2: Samsung Galaxy Tab S
2. Samsung Galaxy Tab S
Samsung has put a lot of effort into creating something that rivals the ipad, a strategy has put them on the back foot – launching the Tab Pro in January, and then replacing it a few months later with the Galaxy Tab S.
But, apart from annoying anyone that's already bought into the Tab Pro range, this strategy has finally yielded a brilliant tablet in the shape of this Super AMOLED-shod Tab S duo.
Available in both 8.4- and 10.5-inch screen sizes, Samsung has taken a great OS and fused it with the best tablet display on the market, creating something pretty special.
The battery life is great, the screen has to be seen to be believed (and is excellent for media and internet viewing, which is really the point of a tablet) and the price is on a par with the rest of the industry. Well done, Samsung.
Quick verdict
Why isn't the Tab S at the top of the tree? Samsung's eternal problem returns to bite it: the design is still too flimsy, although having two sizes does help mitigate this problem.Android still struggles to be a truly powerful tablet OS yet as well, which means the apps are still poor compared to iOS on larger screens.
The difference between the Tab S and the Xperia Z2 Tablet is minimal - it really comes down to design and extra features, but if you're not wedded to the idea of owning an Apple tablet these two are the choices you should be looking at.
Number 1: Apple iPad Air 2
1. Apple iPad Air 2
The iPad Air was an incredible achievement and yet somehow, remarkably, Apple has topped it with the iPad Air 2.
It's significantly thinner and lighter. The screen is better, with more vibrant colours, it's more powerful thanks to its A8X processor and the battery life holds up just as well. It even benefits from Touch ID and Apple Pay and while these features aren't as exciting here as they are on phones they're still nice to have.
In short the iPad Air 2 really is the complete package and while you can always find something to criticise, there are no significant flaws.
In the time since the original iPad Air launched everything else has struggled to match it and yet, since then, Apple has managed to raise the benchmark higher still. Everyone else really has their work cut out if the iPad Air 2 is going to be unseated from the number one spot.
Quick verdict
The iPad Air 2 is a spectacular achievement. Faster, better looking and more feature packed than ever, it's the slate to beat and we suspect it will be for a while yet.With a starting price of $500 it's moderately expensive, especially since you'll really to want to spend more and get a larger storage size to get the most out of it, but it's worth every penny.
Also Consider
Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Microsoft has positioned its Surface Pro 3 as a "MacBook-killer" more than a tablet, but it's really a laptop-tablet hybrid that deserves recognition here as well as the best laptops list.
While we said tablets maximize the mobile experience, most aren't true laptop replacements. Microsoft's entry fills both roles, and for the most part it's up to the task.
Surface Pro 3 has a whole lot of power, an impressive display and a useful Type Cover for when you need to get some serious work done. It's got the muscle to compete with the best ultrabooks and the portability and ease of use to be an iPad Air 2 alternative.
It's not perfect. The battery life is weak and it's pricey, but if you want one device to fill both roles then this is the best option out there.
Quick verdict
The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is an impressively powerful and versatile device. There's a sense that it's a jack of all trades, master of none, but it's the best hybrid around and that's reason enough to consider it if you don't want or can't afford both a tablet and an Ultrabook.Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1
Samsung is no stranger to tablets, in fact the South Korean giant has flooded the market with more slates than we know what to do with and the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 is arguably the best of them.
It's clad in slightly underwhelming plastic like most Samsung devices. For a high end machine this is disappointing, but once you experience its tremendous power and amazing screen it's a short-lived disappointment.
In fact there's very little else to dislike about it. This is a top tier slate through and through and it's versatile enough to comfortably be used for work or play.
Quick verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 might not have the premium build of the iPad Air or the waterproof credentials of the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet but in most other ways it's just as high end and it slightly undercuts them too.More: Best tablet apps
As with today's best smartphones, applications play a big role on tablets – once you've decided which of these tablets if right for you, check out our top app lists so you can get your fill of Temple Run, update your friends on Facebook and read the latest news, all on a bigger screen.
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In Depth: Stan: the content line-up so far
The upcoming Australian launch of Netflix in 2015 has dominated discussions about streaming media services lately, but there's another service on the way that could give Netflix a run for its money.
A product of StreamCo, a joint venture between Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media, Stan promises to bring its customers a wealth of entertainment at $10 a month, with no contracts whatsoever.
Stan will use the Google Chromecast or Apple's AirPlay technology to stream full 1080p HD content to your television, something that other streaming rivals such as Presto and Quickflix have yet to provide.
Exclusively Stan's
Also on Stan's list of exclusive shows are Mozart in the Jungle, and the Golden Globe-winning hit new show, Transparent.
According to Stan CEO Mike Sneesby, all three shows will remain exclusive to the Stan streaming service for as long as they're produced.
You got some good shows Stan, I think you need some browsing
A multi-year content licensing agreement with Viacom International Media Networks means that Stan users will have access to shows from Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Comedy Central and MTV.Confirmed kids content includes SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Avatar: The Last Airbender, iCarly, VICTORiOUS, Drake & Josh, while the really little ones get shows like Dora the Explorer, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan and Bubble Guppies.
In terms of content for grown ups, the Viacom deal will bring shows such as South Park, Tosh.O, Reno 911!, Teen Mom, Awkward, Geordie Shore, The Hills and 16 & Pregnant.
Sounds good. What else you got, Stan?
Full seasons of British favourites such as Sherlock, Ripper Street, Orphan Black, Top Gear, Luther, Wallander, Parade's End, Torchwood and Doctor Who will be available to stream at launch, as well as classic comedies such as Absolutely Fabulous, Fawlty Towers, The Vicar of Dibley, Gavin and Stacey, Charlie and Lola, Extras and The Office.
Those who like their shows to be of the factual variety are also covered, with selection of documentaries from Louis Theroux and David Attenborough on offer.
Stream me up, Scotty
Stan's agreement with CBS Studios International means that Star Trek fans will be able to stream digitally remastered versions Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as the complete series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.Other CBS content includes The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, CSI, CSI: NY and *puts on shades* CSI: Miami. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
The agreement also brings with it a range of shows from CBS subsidiary Showtime, including original Showtime shows Ray Donovan, Dexter, Nurse Jackie, Californication and The Borgias, as well as complete seasons of other classic shows that Showtime holds the rights to, such as Deadwood, Oz and Twin Peaks.
Okay, but is there any content from Aussie networks?
Australian comedies Upper Middle Bogan, It's a Date and The Moody's are all part of the line-up, as well as Chris Lilley's excellent shows Summer Heights High and Ja'mie Private School Girl.
Drama fans get access to Rake, Redfern Now, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Jack Irish and Janet King, and documentary fans will get such shows as Whitlam: The Power and the Passion, Gallipoli From Above and Wide Open Road.
Stan will also provide many of the kids shows that the ABC is renowned for, including Aussie shows like The Wiggles, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Guess How Much I Love You and Justine Clarke, as well as content from ABC's library of overseas shows such as Octonauts, Angelina Ballerina, Bob the Builder, Thomas and Friends, Fireman Sam, Sesame Street and Mister Maker.
Muy bueno, Stan! ¿Qué más?
An agreement between Stan and SBS means that the service will be streaming ethnically diverse Australian-made shows such as Wilfred, Housos and Better Man, alongside acclaimed international dramas such as The Killing, The Bridge and Prisoners of War.While announced content has mostly been television-focused, the agreement with SBS will also bring World Movies along with it.
World Movies will provide Stan subscribers with access to the best in international cinema from over 45 countries and in more than 70 languages.
Yes – Stan offers movies, too
A small assortment of MGM movies have been confirmed for launch, including The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 21 Jump Street, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the remake of RoboCop, along with back catalogue titles such as When Harry Met Sally, The Silence of the Lambs, West Side Story, Four Weddings and a Funeral and the complete franchises of Rocky, RoboCop, The Pink Panther and Legally Blonde.
Best of all, Stan has a licence to thrill with all 23 Bond films available in full HD at launch.
The MGM deal also comes with a collection of TV shows, such as the critically-lauded series Fargo, which Stan has exclusive streaming rights to in Australia, and other shows like Teen Wolf, Will and Grace and The L Word.
What's yet to be announced?
As Stan is the product of a partnership between Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment company, you could be forgiven for asking "why hasn't any Channel Nine content been announced yet?"We have to agree – it is puzzling, as Channel Nine has a huge back catalogue of beloved, locally-produced shows that would absolutely add another layer of appeal for potential Stan adopt.
While the lack of announced Channel Nine content is odd, we're keeping our fingers crossed for some announcements in time for the service's launch.
Any original content?
It's well known that Netflix is responsible for producing original shows for its own platform – House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Marco Polo are just three examples.The question is: will Stan be producing its own original TV shows?
While nothing has been officially announced, we can confirm that Stan has kicked-off development on some Stan original shows, and that new Australian programs exclusive to the service will be announced very soon.
- How does Stan's package compare to Presto's? Read our Presto review to find out
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Retina MacBook Air release date, news and rumours
Introduction, release date and design
As the old adage goes: the best things in life are worth waiting for, and Apple's long-awaited Retina MacBook Air has the potential to be the best all-round MacBook yet.Apple's current MacBook Air machines have excellent battery life and portability, but suffer from poor low-resolution TN displays. On the other hand, the MacBook Pro with Retina has an excellent high-resolution IPS display, but is a pound too heavy to be considered ultraportable and has good, but not great battery life.
While combining the best qualities of the two is a no-brainer, balancing power, thickness and battery life is no mean feat, and rumour has it that the Cupertino-based company has been working on a Retina MacBook Air for some time. So long, in fact, that it is one of Apple's few remaining devices to get a Retina display having been beaten to the punch by the iPad Air, iPad Mini with Retina and more recently the iMac 5K.
Apple's 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models were last updated in April 2014 to receive a speed bump and a slight price drop. It was expected that next-generation versions would see the light of day before the end of the year, but various factors have meant that they are yet to arrive.
Cut to the chase
What is it? A brand new MacBook Air with a Retina display
When will it release? Either late 2014 or, more likely, spring 2015
What will it cost? Likely somewhere between a MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display
What is it? A brand new MacBook Air with a Retina display
When will it release? Either late 2014 or, more likely, spring 2015
What will it cost? Likely somewhere between a MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display
Retina MacBook Air release date
It was hoped that the Retina MacBook Air release date would be announced at Apple's event back in October, which many thought the company would use to show off the new laptop. As we now know, that didn't happen, as Apple choose to debut the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 and iMac 5k.Although it feels like the Retina MacBook Air's release date should have come and gone by now, factors such as the delayed availability of Intel's new Broadwell-series processors means that Apple and other laptop makers have had no choice but to sit tight.
Digitimes reports that Apple's supplier Quanta Computer is looking to bring in an additional 30,000 workers to help with production of the Retina MacBook Air, in addition to the Apple Watch. Sources close to the company claim that the machine will launch in the first quarter of 2015, complete with Intel's Broadwell CPU and a 12-inch display that will see it replace the currently 11-inch model (the 13-inch will remain).
Retina MacBook Air design
The Motley Fool report mentioned above points out that it would be unlikely for Apple to stick with the MacBook Air's current design for the Retina MacBook Air. Because Intel's Broadwell-U processors are energy efficient, manufacturers can put out even slimmer models as a fan isn't needed to keep the CPU cool. This presents Apple with an opportunity to update the MacBook Air's classic design to make it thinner, lighter and more portable.A report by MacRumours, which points to an anonymous forum post on Weiphone, says that Apple is looking to make the Retina MacBook Air thinner by giving it a new trackpad design that does away with the mechanical element found on current MacBooks. Apple filed a patent application in January 2014 for a buttonless trackpad that uses sensors to simulate tactile touch, which could prove to be the tech behind the update.
According to a website simply called A Tech Website, which cites Apple insiders in the know, a gold Retina MacBook Air is in the works, along with ones decked in space grey and aluminium grey.
Specs and connectivity
Retina MacBook Air specs
It has been rumoured that the Retina MacBook Air will arrive in an all-new size for the series. Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities reckons that Apple will launch a new 12-inch MacBook Air to plug the gap between the 11- and 13-inch models. The biggest drawback to both of them is the display, which tops out at a pixel-resolution of 1,366 x 768 on the smaller model and 1,400 x 900 on the latter.A blog post by Canalys analyst Daniel Matte claims that Apple will include a 11.88-inch panel on the Retina MacBook Air, which will have a pixel-resolution of 2,732 x 1,536. That would lend it the same 264ppi as the iPad Air. Matte reckons that Apple will use the same display technology it currently uses for its 9.7-inch iPads to cut its panels to the larger size.
According to sources that spoke to Digitimes, Apple is eyeing up a 12-inch Retina MacBook Air because sales of its 11-inch MacBook Air are suffering due to it featuring a similar screen size to its strongly performing iPad devices. A 12-inch model would provide a clear choice between the two while allowing the company to fade out its smallest (and arguably least popular) notebook over time.
As highlighted by Motley Fool, Intel has confirmed that its Core i3, i5 and i7 Broadwell-U chips are scheduled for a spring 2015 launch, which it predicts means early March or April. Those CPUs will be of particular interest to Apple due to their low thermal design power (TDP), which will allow a new Retina MacBook Air to have a high-resolution display without heavily sapping battery life.
Alternatively, Apple may opt for Intel's Core-M series Broadwell CPU, which is starting to appear in Ultrabooks including Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro. They run at just 4.5 watts, a very low number for a CPU, which may not bring any gains in terms of processing power but would likely help prolong battery life.
However, as MacWorld notes, a report by Redmond Pie points out that the Yoga 3 Pro, which features an Intel Core-M CPU, has suffered from sluggish performance which has been reflected by poor benchmark results. That alone may tempt Apple into holding out for Intel's potentially more powerful Broadwell-U series chips.
It's highly likely that the Retina MacBook Air will ship with OS X Yosemite should it launch around or before September 2015. The last few versions of OS X, 10.9 Mavericks and 10.10 Yosemite, have been released to consumers in the month of October, so it's likely that the Retina MacBook Air will come with Apple's latest OS if it heads to the shelves in time for summer, or just after.
Retina MacBook Air connectivity
In terms of ports and connectivity options, as Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro demonstrated, giving a laptop very thin dimensions can leave little room for ports. Jack March (via 9to5Mac) reckons that the Retina MacBook Air will feature "a noticeably thinner design" that will force Apple to abandon the traditional USB port in favour of the forthcoming reversible USB Type-C connector, which would require an adapter to connect peripherals - an unfortunate, but perhaps necessary trade off.
Devices such as the iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, in addition to the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, have all benefitted from the inclusion of Apple's security-conscious TouchID technology in recent years, which allows users to log into the App Store and pay for services and goods using their fingerprint.
According to Gadget Insiders, Apple may incorporate the technology into a new Retina MacBook Air, which it reckons could launch in 2015. That report doesn't reveal its sources, so we're going to take that one with a healthy pinch of salt.
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Samsung's round smartwatch might ditch the cradle for wireless charging
It's not yet a certainty, but word is Samsung is working on a round smartwatch - and that it will feature wireless charging.
Current Samsung smartwatches must be placed into a charging cradle to resupply, but the unannounced Samsung "Orbis" will have wireless charging tech built in, reports SamMobile.
The site's sources have been right before, so this one may hold water.
It would bring the round Samsung smartwatch even closer in line with the Moto 360 - which features its own wireless charging capabilities - and at least one step ahead of the LG G Watch R, which does not.
The Samsung Orbis may also ditch Android Wear in favor of Tizen, so it will be interesting to watch when Samsung finally unveils its next smartwatch - hopefully at MWC 2015.
- Looking for the best laptop money can buy? TechRadar has you covered
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Microsoft's new spin on 'do not disturb' mode actually looks rather useful
"Do not disturb" modes are nothing new, but Microsoft's newest patented feature proposes making it a lot smarter - and potentially more useful.
The "inconspicuous mode," spotted by Twitter user Patent Yogi, would detect when a user is in a theater, meeting or other place they'd like their smartphones to shut up, and automatically turn their volume and brightness down.
The mode also reportedly would reduce the number of notifications on your lockscreen for when you're tempted to glance at your phone anyway.
It could detect where you are by paying attention to GPS, NFC and Wi-Fi signals, as well as users' calendars and browser histories, to determine when you're in a no-phone-zone.
Microsoft is expected to make some big reveals regarding Windows 10 and the future of Windows Phone this Wednesday, January 21, so maybe we'll see this feature then.
- This is everything we want to see at GDC 2015
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The best drones to fly in 2015
DJI Inspire 1
Not content with having cornered the consumer drone market – and every news bulletin – with its amazing Phantom 2 Vision+, DJI has now launched a stunning mid-range drone aimed at prosumers. Like the Phantom, the new Inspire 1 is ready to fly straight out of the box using an iPad or Android tablet to monitor the action. The high-tech hand controller is a joy and equipped with ultra smooth joysticks and extra switches for controlling the quad's retractable carbon fibre prop arms and its new 360˚ 3-axis, modular gimbal. Naturally, it all comes pre-configured with DJI's trusted GPS technology and all the usual fail-safe modes, including auto take off and landing. It can even fly steadily indoors without GPS using its clever Optical Flow positioning sensor.The Inspire 1's own-brand camera is equipped with a Sony 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor and shoots 4K at 30fps and 1080p at up to 60fps with no GoPro-style fisheye to taint the view. It also takes excellent 12MP stills in JPEG or RAW. What's more, the camera and gimbal can also be operated by a second person using another hand controller; just like the pros do it. Expect around 20 minutes of flying time from the drone's intelligent 5700mAh 6S battery.
In the pantheon of camera-wielding UAVs, the Inspire 1 is an unequivocal winner. Think of it as the Audi R8 of drones: its gentle controls are perfectly dialled for smooth, rock steady videography but slam the stick forward and it shoots off at speeds in excess of 45 mph, twisting and turning like a dragonfly on steroids. Right now, this thing is matchless.
From £2,380, dji.com
Walkera Tali H500
The Tali H500 has six blades instead of four so there's every chance you'll land it in one piece should a motor give up the ghost. It's also several inches bigger and more powerful than DJI's Phantom, and it comes with retractable landing gear so the camera's view isn't obscured by the legs.The Tali H500 is superbly built. This isn't some shed-made Heath Robinson affair – it's a bona fide, factory-produced UAV equipped with a reliable set of pilot-aid components like GPS, return to home, even a fly around setting for circular flights. The 5400MAh battery delivers around 18 minutes of safe flying time. Like DJI's Inspire 1 and Phantom 2 Vision+, the Tali H500 comes out of the box ready to fly and is equipped with a 3-axis gimbal and Walkera's own iLook+ GoPro-style camera. Unfortunately, the camera might be the package's weakest link. It's no match for the GoPro or the Phantom camera, but it works seamlessly with the rest of the system, allowing pilots to control the camera and gimbal from the ground while viewing what the camera sees on the transmitter's small but decent colour monitor. Thankfully, the gimbal cage is just the right size to retro fit a GoPro, though you will need to spend an extra £100 or so on some video uplink components if you plan to fit one.
The Walkera's Devo 10 remote is one of its strongest facets. Aside from two gimbal controls, there are switches aplenty: one for retracting the landing gear, another for auto take off, another for GPS and manual modes and yet another for setting the circular flying mode. The flip-up colour monitor isn't iPad Mini standard but it's good enough for composing shots and seeing where you're going. If you're looking for a UAV that flies exceedingly well and doesn't look like a toy, then this is the one to go for. However, we advise you swap the iLook+ camera for a GoPro.
£1,220, hobbyone.com
Parrot Bebop Drone
When Parrot launched its camera-equipped AR Drone back in 2010, it inadvertently kick-started a whole new category of consumer electronics. Well here's another Parrot to add to the flight list. The lightweight, four-motor Parrot Bebop Drone is ready to soar out of the box and comes rammed to the hilt with an ample shedload of electronic wizardry that makes it both chimp-easy to control and extraordinarily stable in flight, especially when flown indoors.Most current drones use a range of sensors and a GPS receiver to help keep them steady in flight, but this one appears to have the Full Monty, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and ultrasound. The HD camera-equipped Bebop is available in two packages. The basic kit is comprised of the drone and a pair of small LiPo batteries and you fly it using an Android or iOS tablet. The Bebop's free app provides full control of the drone by simply tilting the tablet screen in the direction you want it to fly. The app also includes camera controls, in-flight stats and a button for automatic take-offs and landings. The posher package adds another £340 to your spend but for that you get a damn decent hand remote which increases the Bebop's flight distance from a bogstandard 300 metres to around two kilometres. It's called the Skycontroller and we highly recommend it.
The Bebop eschews a camera-steadying gimbal in favour of a fixed fisheye lens and a cluster of complex algorithms that cleverly keep the image stable and allow the user to tilt the view up or down without the camera actually moving. The result is pretty steady video imagery with no barrel-like horizon distortion like that on the GoPro. However, it's a far from perfect solution as you can only tilt the camera down a certain degree; a proper motorised gimbal can usually tilt a full 90˚. Image quality, too, is nowhere near as good as that of the GoPro or DJI's Phantom 2 Vision+. Nevertheless, if you're new to drones, not too discerning about video or picture quality and don't have enough cash for a Phantom, then by all means give this tough, well-built bird a whirl.
From £430, parrot.com/uk
Hubsan X4
The palm-sized, ready-to-fly X4 is perfect for indoor flight, though it is very sensitive to control input which makes it quite tricky to fly, even with a 6-axis flight control system on board. Due to its diminutive size (just 70mm x 70mm) and consequent low weight, the X4 should only be flown outdoors in a light breeze. Anything stronger and the little fella may struggle to hold its position and may possibly even be taken with the wind. While this drone's fixed 0.3 megapixel camera can't compete with the Phantoms of this world, it's more than capable enough for casual consumer use. The camera shoots in 720p or 480p and recordings are saved to a microSD card on board the craft. However, as there is no screen to monitor what you're shooting, video and image results can be a bit hit and miss.£80, red5.co.uk
DJI Phantom 2 Vision+
Although it's been out the best part of a year, the ubiquitous Phantom 2 Vision+ is still one of the most stylishly presented RC flying camera packages on the market. It's superbly built and needs none of that Meccano-like construct-it-yourself malarkey required of some other brands. In fact, it's ready to fly straight out of the box. Simply spin the four props onto their respective spindles, bung four AA batteries into the transmitter, charge up the Phantom's snap-in Li-Ion battery, clip your iPhone to the transmitter and you're ready to go.The Phantom 2 Vision+ comes equipped with a specially designed 14 megapixel GoPro-style camera mounted below the drone and integrated with a 3-axis gimbal that ensures smooth, rock steady video footage. The camera also transmits its field of view back to the iPhone, effectively turning the drone into a bona fide FPV (First Person View) aircraft. This bird is still the most popular drone on the market and justifiably so. It flies remarkably smoothly, is reliable in flight and is reasonably priced for a flying camera capable of nabbing video and stills from such amazing aerial perspectives.
£940, dji.com
Steadidrone Flare
The lesser-known, South African-produced Steadidrone Flare costs nearly £1,000 more than the DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ but around £450 less than the DJI Inspire 1. However, it isn't anything like as integrated a package as the DJI models; for instance, you will still need to buy a monitor to view what the camera sees for FPV flying and aerial videography. Nevertheless, the Flare does have a few tantalising features up its sleeve. Firstly, it isn't camera specific so it can carry a variety of small cameras like the Sony RX100 and, of course, any model of GoPro.Given that a delicate camera gimbal is usually the first thing to be destroyed in a crash, we like the fact that the camera on this drone is mounted up front, away from most of harm's way (unless, of course you fly straight into a building). You can also mount a GoPro in its protective underwater housing which adds extra peace of mind. But perhaps best of all is that the whole drone can be easily folded into a very tidy and portable package; a boon for anyone hiking out to suitably cinematic flying areas. The Flare is constructed almost entirely from carbon fibre and features the usual gamut of in-flight safety features – including the now obligatory GPS for steady, user-friendly flying.
€2425, steadidrone.com
Sky Hero Little Spy
This UAV manufacturer has adopted a modular design system which is fantastic for avid modellers and those with a keen knowledge of UAV terminology but not so good for the casual consumer who just wants to fly straight out of the box. Nevertheless, being able to mix and match components can be considered a big bonus for those serious about their hobby. There are four main base models in the Spy Hero range – Spy, Spyder, Spyder 6 and Little Spyder – and each one can be upgraded at will. For instance, you might start with a basic Spy model and decide later on that you'd like it to have a bigger footprint and perhaps have it take a heavier payload. No problem, just order some longer carbon fibre arms, more powerful motors and a few extra components. Sky Hero is a highly respected manufacturer of top-quality UAVs, but it will need to start offering ready-to-fly models en masse if it really wants to compete with the likes of DJI, Walkera and Parrot.From £325, droneshack.co.uk
Hubsan Q4
This nano quadcopter measures just 5cm x 5cm, which is roughly the size of a matchbox. It doesn't have a camera on board (that would be asking a little too much) but it flies exceptionally well given its tiny proportions. In fact, you can literally throw it in the air and, assuming you have some power on the stick, it'll level off and hover. True, the small hand controller requires extremely subtle input – a millimetre too much on the throttle stick and it's sure to clout the ceiling – but it's a great way to hone one's flying skills in preparation for something bigger. And, at just £30 a pop, it'll be no major loss if it ends up inside the dog.£30, red5.co.uk
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Industry voice: Security automation should help topple the IT silos
Over the years, IT departments' development, operations and security teams grew so far apart that it was easy to forget they were all working towards a common goal – to make sure IT delivered what the business needed as quickly, efficiently and securely as possible.
Each of these three critical IT areas knuckled down to its own challenges without much heed to what the other two were up to. Developers thought little about infrastructure beyond how it affected their ability to roll out applications. Meanwhile, operations staff thought of little else – but too often without considering the impact of infrastructure provisioning processes on development teams' agility.
Security and compliance measures were generally only considered at the tail-end of the development process, by which point risky practices could have already been baked into the architecture.
This typically resulted in the need for after-the-fact fixes and controls which only cemented security teams' reputation as "the people who always say no". The result was yet further entrenchment of the silos, with developers reluctant to share information with security and operations teams which to their mind only served to slow them down.
DevOps emerges
But in the last five years an increasing number of IT organisations have embraced a movement known as DevOps, which aims to foster collaboration among development and operations teams, break down the old silos and make use of automation to increase agility, efficiency and security hand in hand.Rather than viewing their roles as isolated technical disciplines, DevOps advocates shared strategic business goals as their starting points – and collaboration from the outset – in order to reach them in the most efficient way possible. As Steve Hall noted in this blog post in January 2014: "Business people completely understand 'release my product faster', 'time to market' and 'make more money', which are some of the outcomes that DevOps pontificates on."
In other words, the movement brings to the fore the common aims of the different technical areas to improve business outcomes and boost revenues.
Major benefits
The benefits of such an approach can be startling, as illustrated by this 2009 talk from Flickr's John Allspaw and Paul Hammond, where co-operation between dev and ops teams enabled the company to boost agility significantly, allowing it to complete ten or more deployments every day.That was in the early days of DevOps. Now, the movement is marching towards critical mass. The increased agility, greater efficiency and substantial security improvements it can deliver are being talked, written and tweeted about with increasing frequency and in ever greater detail.
Security teams, too, need to embrace DevOps - indeed they can be a major catalyst for their success. Specifically, the use of security automation tools can ensure that security is woven into dev and ops processes from the outset, doing away with the need to bolt on controls later.
As Steve Hall writes: "If you're an infosec leader, a good bet is to align yourself to the DevOps initiative (or spearhead it yourself for that matter) and help the business understand the value of security in a way that doesn't measure things by number of incidents, time lapse from vulnerability to patch, or compliance score."
Speed of delivery
Why is this so important? Because, in an increasing number of sectors, the speed with which IT can deliver new applications and services is becoming ever more critical to organisations' continued success.Manual, piecemeal implementation of security and compliance controls not only significantly slows down development and increases the risk of error, but also means security teams are forever stuck in reactive mode – there's simply no time or resources to step back and think about how the different teams can better work together to meet the needs of the business in what is an ever-more competitive landscape.
By automating, you simultaneously reduce the risk of errors creeping in, free up resources to focus on more value-adding activities, and improve the agility of the business. At the same time, you visibly demonstrate the benefits of bringing the former silos closer together, and of not being afraid to do things differently.
Cultural shift
But technology is only part of the answer. Breaking down silos requires cultural shifts that don't happen overnight. This does not mean security teams need to become experts in agile development, or that developers need to become network security experts. In fact, even a basic understanding of the business impact of the different areas should create the common ground needed to move towards a more collaborative model.Perhaps the best way to get started is to make sure dev, ops, and security people start talking to one another – literally – every week, no matter what. Based on our customers' experience, a few quick wins is all that's needed to get the ball rolling. Once people experience the upside for themselves, the silos will start to crumble.
- Reuven Harrison is CTO and co-founder of network security company Tufin. He has more than 20 years of software development experience, holding two key senior developer positions at Check Point Software, as well other key positions at Capsule Technologies and ECS.
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Industry voice: Key trends for retail technology in 2015: the rise of hyper-personalisation
This year, customer experience management will be mostly focused on customer personas, rather than portfolios. It is increasingly critical for retailers to innovate in terms of customer experience to keep shoppers engaged.
Only by serving the changing needs, preferences and behaviour of the customer, will retailers and brands be able to meet today's hyper-connected consumers on their terms, across all channels of interaction.
The rise of hyper-personalisation
Over the course of last year, we saw a spike in customer expectations for bespoke personalisation across all brand interactions. Sephora's Beauty Insider loyalty programme allows shoppers to save "loves" and purchases (both online and in-store) in a Beauty Bag, and also leverages a shopper's profile to link specific customer attributes (such as skin tone) with products for sale within the store. Information is accessible across devices – even on iPads at store counters. By providing relevant, accurate services in exchange for customer data, Sephora is paving the way in persona-driven customer innovations.Real-time interaction with customers across omni-channel platforms signified another key milestone last year. Retailers can use information from online buying behaviour to serve customers at the point of sale based on the relevant input he or she needs. This closes the gap between online and physical shopping experiences that previously created headaches for a lot of retail brands.
Customers want this, too, because they can get better offers and more tailored recommendations to what they want, when they want it. We currently partner with retailers to deliver what we call "Relevance in Store." By combining customer data gathered online and in-store, retailers can deliver a customer experience centred on value and convenience in exchange for customer information, and enabled by new apps and mobile technologies such as iBeacon.
How personalisation is influencing brands and retailers
The concept of data science as a skillset within a retail environment has become more significant. Data scientists understand customer data and can leverage open source technologies to rapidly develop scalable ways to synchronise in-store data with online intelligence for better services and recommendations. This can be very disruptive at first, but if it's executed well, it is a very rewarding experience that can generate a lot more value for the business, and for the customer too.Gartner has predicted that by 2017, 89% of marketing leaders expect customer experience to be their primary basis for competitive differentiation. To align the organisation's investment in people, processes and technologies for this initiative, Gartner further recommends that businesses should hire a chief customer officer if they haven't done so already.
In spite of intentions to create consistent cross-channel experiences, today's shopper experience is a highly disjointed one, driven largely by the fact that retailers rely on legacy systems, disparate databases and applications that cannot speak to one another. As a cross-functional leader, the chief customer officer can help unify these disparate experiences and drive a truly seamless experience that bridges all customer touch points.
Data science will add the extra layer of customer intelligence to help retailers deliver more personalised, more relevant, and more meaningful campaigns that suit individual shoppers' needs.
Mobile and iBeacon technologies will be another key trend that will shake up the customer experience management in 2015. Some retailers have already started experimenting with some degree of success.
As consumers upgrade their smartphones with new apps and location-based functionalities, retailers will have more accurate, geo-based data to pinpoint specific promotional offers and concierge services for shoppers as they walk across the shop floor.
- Graeme Collins is Head of Marketing of EMEA for RichRelevance
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HTC One M9 set to feature 20 megapixel camera
According to a source close to HTC, the upcoming HTC One M9 smartphone will come with a drastically improved camera capable of 20 megapixel resolution.
Not only will the rear camera be improved, but according to the source the front-facing camera will also be getting some love with the HTC UltraPixel technology.
This technology uses fewer pixels that are larger in size in a bid to get clearer images in low light situations. The HTC One M9 will also include Dolby 5.1 audio technology for when you want to hook it up to your home cinema, so says the same source, along with the latest version of HTC's custom user interface, HTC Sense 7.
We expect to see the HTC One M9 at HTC's flagship presentation at MWC 2015, which will take place on March 1.
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Updated: Sony Xperia Z4 release date, news and rumors
Xperia Z4: release date, design and display
It might not seem that long ago since the Xperia Z3 was released, but with Sony's rapid release schedule for its flagship smartphones the rumour mill has already been working overtime.We've started to hear plenty rumours about Sony's next flagship, including one report which reckons the Japanese firm will return to an annual launch of its top device, ditching the recent trend of every six months, though not until after the Z4 launches.
Updates: Passing Japanese certification authorities hints at an upcoming release date, plus rumours of more than one version of the Z4 emerge.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? Sony's next flagship smartphone
- When is it out? Likely to be on shelves in April/May
- What will it cost? A lot - this will be a high-end device
Sony Xperia Z4 release date
Sony announced the Xperia Z2 at MWC 2014 on February 24, so there's a fair chance that the Xperia Z4 will arrive at MWC 2015, which is set to happen on March 2-5.That will put almost six months between the Xperia Z3 and the Xperia Z4, so it would make sense if Sony is sticking to its 'two flagships a year' plan.
In mid January the Sony Xperia Z4 passed through Japanese certification authorities, which means the handset is still on for an early 2015 unveiling, though exact details on the release date remain absent.
Either way it probably won't hit stores until around April, as Sony is set to release its new Exmor RS IMX230 image sensor in April 2015 (or May if you believe an email leaked via the Sony hack) and the Xperia Z4 is likely to sport the new sensor.
What will it cost?
There's been no information on how much the Xperia Z4 will cost, however as it's a flagship smartphone (and a Sony one at that) we'd expect it to ship with a high price tag.The Xperia Z3 launched at £549 ($630, AU$849) and we'd expect the Z4 to launch at around the same price.
Rumours have also suggested that Sony could be plotting two versions of its flagship smartphone. There would be a Z4 with a 1080 x 1920 full high definition screen, similar to the one found on the Xperia Z3. The second version would offer a much higher 1440 x 2560 (QHD) resolution.
These rumours claim that the 1080p version will cost less than the QHD version, though we'd take those claims with a pinch of salt.
Sony Xperia Z4 design
The Xperia Z3's attractive OmniBalance design was one of its strongest features, and it looks like Sony won't be straying too far from that template.
According to a source that contacted Phone Arena, the Xperia Z4 will have thinner top and bottom bezels as well as more rounded corners as you can sort of see in the accompanying image.
You may not have to imagine what the Z4 may look like any more, after images apparently taken from the email account of the Sony CEO during the major Sony hack reveals early renders of the Xperia Z4.
What can you expect then? Well a mirrored front and rear, the now-traditional oversized power/lock key on the right and three colour options - white, black and yellow. That's if the images are correct, of course.
Annotated images that were included in the leak show that the Xperia Z4 could come with a 1.2mm glass panel and resin bezel.
Another recent rumour suggested that Sony could be releasing a Walkman edition of the Xperia Z4. This version would concentrate on music playing with hi-res audio codec support, two-day battery life and improved S-Force PRO front-facing speakers.
Releasing multiple versions of its upcoming flagship smartphone could be a risky move on Sony's part, but more choice might not be a bad thing for the consumer looking to buy a phone that focuses on their specific interest.
Sony Xperia Z4 screen
There's been a lot of conflicting reports on the Xperia Z4's screen. One area of contention is how large the screen will be.Early rumours hinted that the screen would be 5.5-inches, a fair bit larger than the 5.2-inch display on the Xperia Z3.
Another rumour suggested that the screen will be slightly smaller at 5.4-inches, though still an upgrade over the Z3.
The latest rumours we've heard about the size of the Xperia Z4's screen claims that neither of those sizes is correct, and instead Sony will be sticking with a 5.2-inch display.
The other detail rumours seem to be conflicted on is regarding the resolution of the screen. Although some rumours claim that Sony is sticking with 1080p as the resolution, other rumours are suggesting it will get a substantial boost to QHD 1440 x 2560, the same as the LG G3.
Perhaps most interestingly we've also heard rumours that both these resolutions are correct, and that Sony will be release two different versions of the Xperia Z4.
Power, OS and Camera
Sony Xperia Z4 power
The Xperia Z3 hasn't been out for long, but already there's chatter on the web about its successor, the Sony Xperia Z4.In fact we could be in for something quite special as initial claims include specs which would make the Xperia Z4 the most powerful smartphone around.
A 64-bit 2.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, Adreno 430 GPU, 32GB of storage and a Exmor RS CMOS sensor have all been touted for the Xperia Z4.
It will also support Bluetooth 4.1 and LTE Cat.6 connectivity, leaving it equipped to handle LTE-A speeds.
But more recent rumors are a little more humble, still with 4GB of RAM, but just a 32-bit Snapdragon 805 processor.
We've seen further rumours that offer conflicting reports on the chip that will power the Xperia Z4. Some rumours suggest it will come with the Snapdragon 810 chipset, while others claim delays in the production of the processor have resulted in the Z4 coming with the slightly older Snapdragon 805.
Either way, both these processors offer an upgrade over the Snapdragon 801, which is found in the Xperia Z3.
The battery is pegged at 3420mAh, which is a slight boost over the 3100mAh Xperia Z3.
Sony Xperia Z4 operating system
We've heard relatively little about what operating system the Xperia Z4 will run, though it's a safe bet that it will be some form of Android with Sony's custom overlay.As Sony is rolling out the update to the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, Android 5.0 Lollipop, from the beginning of February to the Xperia Z3, it's pretty likely that when the Xperia Z4 launches later in the year it will come with Android 5.0 Lollipop preinstalled.
Sony Xperia Z4 camera
The camera is said to have a 20.7MP resolution, just like the Xperia Z3, but with a new sensor capable of taking in more light along with an upgraded 4.8MP front-facing snapper.The Xperia Z4's launch will apparently coincide with the launch of a new flagship mobile image sensor, the Exmor RS IMX230.
If true, then there is a good chance that the Xperia Z4 will feature the IMX230 sensor. It comes with a 21 megapixel resolution (the same as the Xperia Z3), but with a number of new features as well.
Sony claims it is the industry's first CMOS image sensor built for smartphones that can track fast-moving subjects thanks to built-in image plane phase detection autofocus.
It will also support High Dynamic Range for high resolution still images and 4K video, and it all comes in a form factor that's more compact than its predecessor. Will Sony finally let you record for more than a nanosecond in 4K though? Surely the brand must have ironed out that wrinkle by now.
Other leaks suggest the Z4's camera will feature the IMX189AEG CMOS image sensor. This sensor will be able to record 2K video (2048 x 1080) at 16,000 frames per second, with 4K video (6144 x 2160) recording at 240 frames per second, much faster (and therefore smoother) than the Z3.
Xperia Z4: what we want to see
The Sony Xperia Z3 has only recently arrived on shop shelves but we're pretty sure we're very close to seeing the new handset, so over the last few months we've been making a wishlist of what we want to see.4K video that actually works
Sony's been trumpeting its phones 4K video capabilities since the Xperia Z2, yet neither that nor the Xperia Z3 can actually record for more than around five minutes without heating up and shutting down the video.
That's obviously a major problem and while it doesn't quite render the 4K feature redundant it does severely limit it. The fact that Sony has left it unfixed in the Xperia Z3 is perplexing, presumably there isn't an easy fix, but if longer videos were possible it could be a genuinely useful feature, whereas right now it's just kind of an embarrassment.
So hopefully it will be fixed for the Sony Xperia Z4. You never know, some people might even have 4K televisions by then too.
A QHD display
The Sony Xperia Z, Z1 and Z2 all had 1080p displays and that was fine as that was the best any smartphone had at the time and the screen size was at least being increased.But then the Xperia Z3 also launched with a 1080p screen and that was slightly more disappointing, since the size remained the same and other than increased brightness there wasn't much of an upgrade, plus some other phones, such as the LG G3, have started including QHD displays.
We want the Xperia Z4 to wow us and a 1080p display for the fifth time in a row won't do that, so we're hoping its QHD.
Smaller bezels
The Sony Xperia Z3 looks great, but the bezels above and below the screen are off-puttingly large. Presumably there's a reason for their size, they're likely housing vital components required to make the phone actually work, but they're unsightly and we hope they're smaller next time around.
Improved low-light performance
For the most part the Xperia Z3 has a perfectly capable and even impressive camera, but its low-light performance could still use some work.Sony made some strides with the Xperia Z3, improving it over the Z2, but seemingly more with software than hardware as its low-light photos tend to come out over-processed, leaving it trailing behind the likes of the iPhone 6 and the HTC One M8 in darker scenes.
Clearly Sony is aware of the problem given that it made some improvements on the Xperia Z3, but it didn't go far enough. We want proper hardware improvements, rather than awkward software fixes.
Sony is due to release a flagship mobile image sensor, the Exmor RS IMX230 in April 2015 and it is likely that the Xperia Z4 will come with the new sensor.
More power
With a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor and 3GB of RAM you might not think the Xperia Z3 was lacking for power, yet in some ways it is. For one thing all that power seemingly hasn't translated into performance, as surprisingly we found a little bit of lag in use, especially when switching between apps.
It's not a big deal but it does feel less snappy than most other recent flagships despite the specs, which on paper should be more than up to the task. So we're more after increased performance than an actual boost in specs, if it takes improved specs to do that then fine, but if the same thing can be achieved with a bit more optimisation that's fine too.
Having said that superior specs wouldn't be a bad thing either way, as the Snapdragon 801 is starting to look a bit long in the tooth with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 using a Snapdragon 805 chip and the Snapdragon 810 already hitting the shelves.
Fewer bugs
Another surprising aspect of the Xperia Z3 was just how buggy it seemed, with the keyboard sometimes bouncing or proving unresponsive and the notifications bar occasionally getting stuck half way down.Hopefully Sony will patch those bugs out of the Xperia Z3 anyway but we'd really rather it makes sure the Xperia Z4 is bug-free before launching it.
Faster camera and autofocus
As long as the light's good the Xperia Z3 can take some exceptional snaps, but one problem with it is actually getting to the point of being able to take a photo, as both launching the camera and the autofocus are a little slower than we'd like.We're talking milliseconds here, but that can still mean the difference between capturing a moment and missing it, so hopefully the Xperia Z4 will have a snappier snapper.
The new Exmor RS IMX230, which the Xperia Z4 is likely to come with, is claimed by Sony to be the industry's first CMOS image sensor built for smartphones which can track fast-moving subjects thanks to built-in image plane phase detection autofocus.
This new sensor would make the Xperia Z4's camera much better at photographing fast moving subjects.
A new design
We've mentioned that we want smaller bezels but what we'd really like to see is a totally new design. Sony has done a good job of refining its OmniBalance design but there's only so much you can do and with handset after handset sporting fundamentally the same look it's starting to get a bit boring.
Not to mention the fact that for our money both the iPhone 6 and the HTC One M8 look better. So hopefully Sony will do something new and exciting with the Xperia Z4.
Make it metal, give it curves, make it triangular. Ok, maybe not that last one, but we're sure Sony can come up with something, oh and get rid of all those annoying flaps! Most likely it will stick with OmniBalance, but we can dream.
Better Lifelogging
Sony's Lifelogging app is an interesting idea, as it goes beyond just counting steps to also tell you how much running, cycling and sleeping you do and even how long you spend listening to music or watching videos (as long as you do it on your phone).Essentially as the name suggests it's designed to log your life, but it could do with some improvements. The biggest issue is that it's just not accurate enough, but there are also quirks like the fact that it counts all apps as games, so even if you've never touched a game on your smartphone it will likely peg you as a big mobile gamer.
Plus, while all this information is interesting it doesn't really lead to anything or give you any insights based on the data. If Sony can work on all those things for its Z4 implementation then it could become genuinely useful.
Innovation
Asking for innovation might seem a bit vague, but with smartphones increasingly levelling out when it comes to specs it's innovation that can really help them stand out, so it would be great if the Sony Xperia Z4 had one or more innovative new features.What those might be is anyone's guess, maybe a scratch proof body, maybe a virtual reality display, probably not a virtual reality display, but something and ideally something that's more than just a gimmick.
Come on Sony, give us a new feature that even Z3 owners will consider upgrading for.
- We have ideas for the LG G4 as well.
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Review: Updated: Google Nexus 5
Introduction
When the Nexus 5 launched in October 2013 it was lauded as "the best that Google has to offer", but more than a year on is that still the case or has the search giant's darling handset fallen behind the times?The Nexus 5 has always been updated with the very latest software and it now boasts Android 5.0 Lollipop. I've updated this review to reflect this change and everything that the fantastic Lollipop update brings, as well as the increasing pressure from the new fleet of low-cost, yet highly specced competitors.
That said, the Nexus 5 is still a lean, mean Android machine, beyond the reach of OEM embellishment and carrier bloatware.
It delivers a streamlined experience that's stylish, refined and fast, and it does all this at a low price. Although, as already mentioned, that price isn't quite so jaw-dropping now.
You can snag the 16GB version of the Nexus 5 for £239.99 or you can lay down an extra £40 and get the 32GB version for £279.99.
The price has dropped slightly since launch, but seeing as Google has discontinued the handset (it seems to be permanently out of stock on Google Play these days) only a handful of retailers have units left.
In terms of hardware the Nexus 5 is still just about a premium smartphone, it just doesn't have a premium price tag.
The Nexus 5 was able to hold its own with the top devices of 2013, including the iPhone 5S, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, and Sony Xperia Z1, but hold it up against the flagships of 2014 and the Nexus 5 is left lagging behind.
Its 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip isn't as power efficient as the 801 or 805 models which adorn the latest high-end smartphones and while we're still seeing 2GB of RAM and 1080p displays on some of them, others such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Nexus 6 are moving to more RAM and QHD screens.
In 2015 we're going to see Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 chip take hold - it's already inside the LG G Flex 2 - which dates the Nexus 5 even more.
The Nexus 5 has been updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop; the biggest software jump for Android since Ice Cream Sandwich was unveiled in 2011 and proved Google could do software design well. 5.0 Lollipop completely redesigns the interface, brings in the new Material Design look and adds in many features OEMs have been including in skins for years now, a battery saver mode for example.
If you're wondering where Google cut corners on the Nexus 5 then you might point an accusatory finger at the camera and the battery life.
When compared to the very reasonably priced OnePlus One with a 5.5-inch full HD display, Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, 13MP camera and £229 price tag the Nexus 5 loses some of the value for money sheen.
There's also challengers from other firms in this space, with the likes of the Moto X (2014) and Xiaomi Mi 3 looking for a foothold.
I never expected to fall in love with the Nexus 5, but it seduced me. It certainly has its flaws, and I'll get into them in due course, but it's also a beautiful phone that sets a benchmark for Android.
While the Nexus 5 is no longer the flagship device in Google's arsenal, that honor falls to the 6-inch QHD display toting beast that is the Nexus 6, it's still for sale and offering a pure Google experience to those who don't want a 'phablet'. You could say, it's the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 6 Plus.
As I rest it vertically on the arm of my couch it conjures visions of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. To soften it off and make it more comfortable to hold, the corners are rounded.
This black slab (which also comes in white and red) is all about the screen and the entire front of the Nexus 5 is glass. The only details that break it up are the round earpiece centre top and the front-facing camera to the left of it. There is actually an LED notification light down below the screen, but you'll only see that when it blinks into life.
Despite having a five-inch display, the Nexus 5 measures just 137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6mm and the bezels are nice and thin.
With a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, which translates to 445ppi, the Nexus 5 display looks crisp and accurate. It's an IPS display, and while critics will point to AMOLED's superior brightness and black levels, you'd be hard pressed to notice.
The back and sides are soft-touch, matte plastic and it only weighs 130g. Flip it over and you'll see a couple of design flourishes.
The word "Nexus" is embossed in lowercase gloss, with a tiny LG logo below it. Up top on the left you'll find the glaring round eye of the 8MP camera, which is surprisingly big. A tiny LED flash is just below.
The bottom edge has a standard microUSB port and there are two grilles either side of it - the Nexus 5 only has one speaker in there; the other hides a microphone. Up top you'll see the standard 3.5mm headphone port and a tiny hole for an extra microphone.
On the left spine there's a ceramic volume rocker, with no markings. On the right spine there's a ceramic power button and the SIM tray, which you'll need a SIM tool or a pin to pop out. The Nexus 5 does not open, so there's no microSD card support or battery switching.
The Nexus 5 is one of the most comfortable phones I've used. It is comparably slow to heat up, so there are no issues holding it while watching movies or during extended gaming sessions. The soft-touch finish contrasts perfectly with the ceramic buttons, which makes them very easy to find and use without looking.
There are negatives. The camera lens protrudes enough to make you worry about it taking the brunt of any impact when the Nexus 5 is put down on a flat surface. That glass expanse, without any protective lip or border, suggests that a drop could easily result in disaster and scratches might be easy to come by.
Unlike the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which also boast a sizeable camera hump, the one on the Nexus doesn't have the added protection that a sapphire glass covering brings to Apple's devices.
There's also the inevitable smudging from fingerprints, which turns up on the back and the front, but that's a common problem.
It's not a flashy design, but the Nexus 5 does feel solid and well made. It may be a little big for easy one-handed operation if you don't have big hands, but the extra screen size will justify that trade-off for most people.
At this price, the design of the Nexus 5 is impressive. It's understated, almost making the iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 look gaudy, and it feels more expensive than the Galaxy S5.
Key features
The price
Ultimately it's the price of the Google Nexus 5 which makes it an attractive proposition, and while the OnePlus One and co. may be trying to encroach on its territory, Google's own-brand is still the dominant force in the high-spec, low-cost arena.£239.99 for a premium Android smartphone that's this good is very good. Even at £279.99 for the 32GB version, the Nexus 5 is still temtping.
Apple devices are expensive. The iPhone 5S, which was released at a similar time to the Nexus 5, now starts at £459 for the 16GB version and you'll have to lay out an extra £40 to get a 32GB model for £499. While a 16GB iPhone 6 starts at £539, that's almost double the price of the Nexus 5.
While Apple is comfortable with its premium pricing strategy, the Nexus 5 has really put pressure on the competing Android flagships.
The Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, and LG G2 have all witnessed dramatic price cuts over the past 12 months, while the Nexus 5 has managed to retain its sale price much better.
And now there's the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3, Sony Xperia Z3 and HTC One M8 - all costing around £500.
Whatever way you cut it, the Nexus 5 is a lot of phone for your money, and it looks like a real attempt to drive prices down, which can only be a good thing for consumers.
However, we've since seen the OnePlus One - better specs than the Nexus 5 and coming in even cheaper - is this the phone Google should be worried about perhaps?
The camera
It would be fair to say that the camera in the Nexus 5 was a bit of a disaster on release. It's an 8MP shooter with optical image stabilization that's intended to be a good substitute for a point-and-shoot camera.There's nothing wrong with the hardware, but the software let it down badly. The camera was far too slow to focus and could be slow to launch, which killed your chances of capturing those spontaneous moments with friends and family.
In ideal conditions the Nexus 5 camera could capture stunning shots, but how often do you get ideal conditions?
Google listened to the criticism and quickly released an update to deal with the slow focus issue by balancing speed and image quality a bit better.
Where previously it would take forever to capture a shot, as you waited for the auto-focus, especially in low light conditions, or with fast-moving subjects, after the update it's much faster.
It also enables the camera app to load a little faster, and improved the contrast to produce more vibrant colours.
Further updates to the Android camera application have also seen the UI changed a little, as well as the addition of a new feature - Lens Blur - and an easier to use settings menu. I was hoping Lollipop would help the camera too, but it hasn't.
Results are generally respectable, but it's still not the greatest shooter on the market. You can take a look for yourself in the camera section later in this review.
Speed
The Nexus 5 is really about speed and power. The snappy processor dovetails with the Android 5.0 platform beautifully.Google did not cut any corners with the quad-core 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor. It was a cutting-edge CPU at the time that had been paired with the Adreno 330 GPU.
That's the same combination you'll find in the LG G2, Xperia Z1, and some variants of the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3.
While the power setup in the Nexus 5 has now been usurped by more power efficient and feature packed offerings, it's still capable of handling pretty much anything you throw at it and when Android Lollipop arrives its performance should get even slicker.
Interface and performance
The display on the Nexus 5 is excellent, which makes this a great device for consuming entertainment.LG's mature IPS LCD technology really delivers. The colours look accurate and the 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution on the 4.95-inch screen translates to a solid 445ppi (pixels per inch).
To put that in context, the iPhone 6 has 326ppi, the Galaxy S5 is on 432ppi and the HTC One M8 can only boast 441ppi. Though the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 both outmatch it with 534ppi and 515ppi screens respectively. Not to mention the 493ppi screen on the new Nexus 6.
Put it side-by-side with an iPhone 5S or Galaxy S5 and you might detect a yellow tint. The display on the Nexus 5 is also not as bright as its competitors, which has a slight impact on legibility, particularly in direct sunlight.
On the whole, Google's compelling proposition is a premium smartphone that doesn't have to feel uncomfortable in flagship company. It has achieved a winning price without compromising on quality.
The Nexus 5 shows off the latest version of Android 5.0 Lollipop beautifully. It should also be near the front of the queue when Android M (Malteser? M&M? Marshmallow?) comes, though as Google only promises to support Nexus devices for 18 months, that's not guaranteed.
If you're coming from an earlier version of Android, which you most likely are as few devices are running Lollipop, then there are lots of little improvements to enjoy.
The interface has been completely redesigned, with new icons, animations and colours giving it a much needed freshed up. Speaking of animations, they're beautiful. I found myself swiping around, opening up the app drawer and diving into the calculator just to see how the operating system moves.
'Material Design', Google's new design language has impacted every corner of Lollipop. It's lighter, gone is the dark 'Holo' style settings app and everything feels fresh and vibrant. Many of Google's own apps have been redesigned to match these guidelines and they too, especially GMail and Google Maps, look stunning.
You'll find the touch sensitive trio of back, home, and multitasking at the bottom, though these now resemble a Playstation-esque threesome of the circle, triangle and square, but the functionality is the same.
The app dock sits above them with an app drawer icon in the centre which will take to you full app list. The rest of the dock is customisable so you can add your favourites and have them accessible on every home screen.
Swipe right to left and you'll access additional home screens. White dots at the bottom of the screen indicate how many home screens you have and which one you're on, although sadly you can't tap on them to shortcut to another screen.
Drag an icon to the right and you can create a new home screen. There doesn't seem to be a limit, and if you empty a home screen it simply disappears.
Long press on any home screen and you'll see your full scrollable list and get access to wallpapers, widgets, and settings. By dumping widgets from the app drawer and making the app icons bigger, there are now four across a screen instead of five, the interface is easier to navigate and clearer.
Swipe left to right on the home screen and you'll find Google Now, which can also be brought to life by the magic words "okay Google" uttered on any screen home screen (though you will need to set your language to US English in Settings > Google > Search > Voice for that to work).
Android had the best notification system around when it was on 4.4, but the jump 5.0 has pushed it further into the lead. iOS and Windows Phone 8.1 could really learn a lot about handling notifications from Lollipop.
Notifications are easily accessed by pulling down the shade from the top of the screen, keep on pulling and you'll find the new quick settings menu. Notifications now appear on the lockscreen, can be prioritised based on importance and pop-up at the top of screen when they come in.
It's a lot less obtrusive than iOS and I struggle to keep a track of notifications when I'm using any other platform apart from Android.
Part of the reason that the interface is so accessible is the speed. The Nexus 5 is a top performer. It has a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 with an Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM.
When I ran Geekbench 3 on the Android 5.0 the multi-core average was 2307, which is actually down from the 2832 score I averaged on 4.4.4. It's still higher than last year's Galaxy S4 and HTC One and only just behind the Galaxy S5 and One M8, though.
By combining that processing power with the carefully optimized Android 5.0 platform Google has delivered a completely lag-free and highly responsive experience. The Nexus 5 is a dream to use. The only downside I have found is that with the extended animations in 5.0, opening folders and the app drawer does take marginally longer, but that's only because the movements are designed that way.
You can skip in and out of apps and games without any stuttering. Even with more than 20 entries in the new Overview menu and there's no hint of a pause.
You can snag the Nexus 5 in 16GB or 32GB versions. The actual capacity is always less; in this case you get 26.7GB on the 32GB version and around 12GB on the 16GB version. If you consider that it's not unusual for graphically impressive games to be over 1GB in size, you'll see the sense in opting for the 32GB version.
Remember that you can get an extra 15GB of free cloud storage by using Google Drive, and it's worth automatically backing up photos and videos, so you never lose them.
Battery life and the essentials
Battery life
I have had to charge the Google Nexus 5 every day since I started using it. Starting out with a full battery it's generally 30% or below by the end of the day, and for really heavy usage days it needed a top-up before bedtime.
Project Volta, a new addition in Lollipop, is supposed to eke more juice from a charge and help you go longer without reaching for the charger or plonking your phone onto a Qi wireless pad.
But I haven't really found a massive improvement, if anything there's a couple of worrying incidents where my phone has simply drained itself empty overnight when it was fully charged before. There have also been a few cases where it's been at 70% and then suddenly dropped to below 20%, without any obvious reason why.
Another part of Project Volta is a battery saver mode, which automatically kicks in when your phone dips below 15%. Apart from turning the status bars a rather bright shade of orange, this mode manages to save battery by turning off background data, killing those sweeping animations and toning down performance.
In my tests I did find that when 'Battery saver' was enabled the phone would last a bit longer, but no more than an extra 20 minutes. It is nice to have, but nowhere near the feature-rich battery saver mode that Samsung added to the Galaxy S5.
Now, there isn't really any such thing as "normal" usage, but it would be fair to say that I'm a heavy user. I take my phone everywhere and use it frequently. I left Wi-Fi and mobile data on at all times, enabled location tracking with high accuracy, and opted into Google Now.
A typical day will include a cumulative hour of gaming, maybe 90 minutes worth of web browsing, a couple of photos, and a smattering of app action in Facebook, eBay, Twitter, and Flipboard, not to mention obsessive email checks (even with it set to a 15 minute refresh rate).
What this reveals, beyond my worrying smartphone addiction, is that the Nexus 5 is fairly typical.
Initially the battery life is very erratic, but this is no cause for concern, because you should find that it settles down after the first few days. Remember that downloading and installing a burst of apps tends to eat the battery life fast.
Downloading and installing an exceptionally large game, such as Asphalt 8: Airborne, which is 1.6GB, using Wi-Fi actually ate a staggering 10% of my battery.
If you use the Nexus 5 to navigate with turn-by-turn directions or play a graphically intensive game, like the aforementioned, Asphalt 8 then you will really notice a major drain.
The Nexus 5 battery dropped 4% in ten minutes of playing the excellent Monument Valley. Streaming a 55 minute episode of Breaking Bad through Netflix ate 18% of the remaining battery life. A 15 minute call drained just 2% away.
The Nexus 5 battery is rated at 2,300mAh, a bit lower than the Galaxy S4's 2,600mAh battery.
Our 90 minute video NyanGareth battery test, with the screen at full brightness, knocked the Nexus 5 from fully-charged down to 74%.
The essentials
Inside or outside, in a busy shop, or a deserted street, the Nexus 5 made and received calls with no problems. Callers reported my dulcet tones came through loud and clear, even with my four year-old son screaming in the background, which points to some good noise cancellation skills.I also found callers came through with plenty of volume and clarity on my end. The speakerphone isn't as clear, but it does the job.
The phone app has been overhauled again in Android 5.0 and it's very convenient to use. The last call is listed at the top and then you get big contact spaces for your most frequently contacted friends and family.
When you do need to call a more distant contact you can just type in the search bar at the top and you'll rarely have to enter more than a couple of letters before they pop up.
You can also search for local businesses in here and call them directly, which can be very handy when you need a pizza at short notice.
I love the keyboard on the Nexus 5. Google has definitely made improvements, because for the first few days I would pause after a staccato burst of typing to go back and make corrections, only to find that the text was error-free. The swiping option has also been improved, making one-handed typing much easier.
Hangouts is no longer the default messaging app in Android 5.0 Lollipop, replaced by a new Material Design infused SMS only app.
Why Google did this, I'm not really sure. Sure, you can change your default app back to Hangouts (which still does SMS and comes pre-installed), but I had hoped Google would do away with the basic SMS app this time around.
The purity of the Google experience on offer here is unmatched anywhere else. Cast an eye over the pre-installed apps, from Maps to Hangouts, from Gmail to Google Docs, from the Chrome browser to YouTube, the strength of the Google ecosystem is impressive.
Swipe to the right on the home screen and there's Google Now, ready to serve. The Nexus 5 offers everything that's good about Google in a streamlined format.
Camera
The Nexus 5 has an 8MP main camera with a 1/3.2-inch CMOS sensor and an F2.4 30mm equivalent lens. The OIS (optical image stabilisation) helps you eliminate camera shake, and it's pretty easy to point-and-shoot and get good results.You tap the shutter button to take a shot and you can tap on screen to choose a subject to focus on, but there's no tap to focus and shoot in one. You get vastly superior results if you're able to take your time, hold tap and hold on the shutter button and just lift your finger off when you're ready to capture.
Extra options are accessible via the small circle icon sporting three dots just next to the large shutter key. Here you'll find controls for flash, countdown timer, HDR+, gridlines and the ability to flip to the front snapper.
This is an easier setup to the awkward arc which adorned the camera app pre Android 4.4.4, and it makes getting to various functions much quicker.
If you fancy a few camera modes slide your finger in from the left side of the screen, where you'll be greeted with Photo Sphere, Panorama, Lens Blur, Camera and Video modes.
Lens Blur is a recently added mode, as Google jumps on the background defocus bandwagon that many manufacturers are already riding.
It takes a few seconds for the Nexus 5 to process the Lens Blur image before you can tinker with the effect.
Swipe from right to left to jump into your camera roll, and any image taken with Lens Blur will have a circle lens icon in the toolbar allowing you to adjust the level of defocus.
It works reasonably well, but it doesn't match the accuracy of the HTC One M8 or Xperia Z3.
The more in depth settings menu also been made easier to navigate thanks to recent updates - slide to open the camera modes panel and then tap the settings cog in the corner of the screen.
From here you'll be able to tweak a number of settings including photo and video resolutions, aspect ratio and toggle manual exposure.
There's also a 1.3MP front-facing camera which is really for video calls and quick selfies.
It takes just under two seconds to launch the camera on the Nexus 5. You can swipe right to left on the lock screen or unlock and tap the camera icon.
Once open you can also use the volume rocker to take a shot, rather than the on screen shutter button. The way you'll typically hold the Nexus 5 to take a photo makes the volume rocker much easier to use than the on screen button.
Occasionally I found my fingers dropping into shot because the camera is offset to the left. When holding it in landscape the lens is at the top left, quite near the edge, but you soon get used to it.
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Media
Streaming movies or TV shows is a simple prospect on the Nexus 5. The screen quality is perfect for high definition video, and your chance of encountering stuttering is entirely based upon the strength of your internet connection.
As you'd expect audio sounds better through headphones. The speaker is fairly loud, but it can get a little crackly when there are sudden jumps in volume.
Google would prefer you to use its services, so you'll find the Play umbrella of apps in the shape of Movies & TV, Games, Books, Music, Newsstand, all offering filtered windows on the Play Store content and your own collection.
Music
Whether you're listening to music you own and load into the device, or via Google Play Music's streaming service, it all takes place within the app. The only thing is when you want to purchase stuff, it will redirect you to the Google Play Store app. It makes the experience feel disjointed, but it's not a deal breaker.Music quality through the speaker is not very good. As I mentioned earlier, the speaker isn't very loud, and there is only one small speaker at the base of the phone. With decent headsets on, however, it sounds great.
The nice thing about Lollipop, and KitKat before it, is that it will show your music art and music player controls from your lock screen. Other apps will do this sometimes, too, like Spotify, but it's a nice touch that just adds to the overall experience of using the device.
Whether you're bringing over your own music or using Google Play's service, or other apps like Spotify or Rdio, you won't have much to worry about when it comes to how the Nexus 5 will handle it.
Movies
Videos and multimedia are handled by a few apps depending on what you're doing. First, there is YouTube, which is an obvious one. If you're opening YouTube videos from apps like Facebook or Twitter, or from the web, they will open in the YouTube app.Otherwise, you guessed it, it's more Google Play stuff.
If you're on the home screen, you'll see the film icon that says "Play Movies & T.." and in the app list it's shown as "Play Movies &.." It's a little ridiculous, but what you're looking at is Play Movies & TV.
If you have a Google Play account, you can download and stream movies and TV shows. The nice thing about that is if you're offline, you can still view your downloaded movies.
If this is your first Android device, or your first time using Google Play for multimedia, you should know that when you purchase something, it's yours. At least as far as playing it when you want, on any Android device you want.
This means you can play your content on your Nexus 5, and other Android tablets and phones running Android 4.0 or higher, which is pretty great.
HD movies and TV video quality and sound have been great, but we do have to reiterate that it sounds best through a headset given the Nexus 5's speaker issues.
In all, the video quality is generally good whether you're viewing streaming or downloaded content, or videos recorded with the device, and even better when viewed in HD thanks to the 1080p display.
Games
For gamers the Nexus 5 can handle pretty much anything you throw it at it. Extensive sessions with simple games like Monument Valley presented no problems, and neither did graphically intensive titles such as Asphalt 8 or Dead Trigger 2.
If you do plan on playing a lot of games, or you'd like to store an extensive music or video library on your Nexus 5 then you should definitely opt for the 32GB version.
It's worth remembering that you can upload 15GB of files to Google Drive, or use Google+ as an unlimited photo backup, as long as you store them at standard size (the longest edge must be 2048 pixels or less). You can also store up to 20,000 of your own songs in the cloud with Play Music and stream them to your Nexus 5.
Comparisons
It's becoming debatable whether other Android device manufacturers, building unique user interfaces, and including their own apps and content hubs, can actually improve on what Google is offering, especially as Lollipop is such a beautiful and well equipped operating system.In the early days of Android, HTC's Sense and Samsung's TouchWiz added important features. With Android 5.0 it's tough to find areas where the platform is lacking. Let's take a look at how the Nexus 5 compares.
OnePlus One
The biggest competitor to the Nexus 5 arrived a good six months after it launched, and it came all the way from China.The OnePlus One beats the Nexus 5 when it comes to pricing, but also in the spec war with a meaty 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, the choice of 16GB or 64GB of storage and a 13MP rear camera.
Some may find the 5.5-inch full HD just too big to handle on the One, and there's no doubt the Nexus 5 is far more manageable in the palm - but it also lacks in power.
Battery life is another advantage the Chinese handset has over Google's offering, yet the operating system is intriguing.
The OnePlus One runs Cyanogenmod - a community developed version of Android which looks pretty similar to the stock version, but with lots of added extras.
These aren't the extras you get with over the top UIs from the likes of Samsung or HTC though, instead they are implemented in a more subtle fashion and the wealth of extra control allows you to get your phone working just how you want.
Of course there are question marks over the support for the handset if things go wrong, and it's a little tricky to get hold of, but if you're looking for ultimate power vs value for money the OnePlus One offers just that.
- Read our in depth OnePlus One review
Motorola Moto G (2014)
If you're really watching your pennies and are looking for the best value for money smartphone you can't do much better than the Motorola Moto G (2014)It may not have quite the same levels of specs and features as the Nexus 5, but it still rocks the same vanilla Android KitKat OS, with the Lollipop update already rolling out in some areas. It is also half the price of Google's smartphone.
You get a 5-inch 720p display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front snapper and the choice of 8GB or 16GB of internal storage with the Moto G. There's also a microSD slot too, for adding more storage.
There's no 4G on the Moto G (2014), so it's not the device for you if you're looking for super-fast data speeds.
The Moto G is great then for someone looking for a cheap, but still highly functional smartphone which isn't going to be used a great deal for high-def video gaming or movie playback.
- Read our in depth Moto G (2014) review
iPhone 6
You could argue that the Nexus 5 is the device Google hopes will try and entice iPhone 5S users from upgrading to the iPhone 6. While the Nexus 6 is meant to go up against the iPhone 6 Plus.There are no conflicts. It is as close as you can get to Google's version of Apple's walled garden.
It also manages to feel more minimalist than the iPhone, and there's very little between them when it comes to accessibility or ease of use. The mud traditionally slung at Android from the parapets of competing platforms like iOS 8 simply can't stick to the Nexus 5.
Considering that the 16GB model of the iPhone 5S is still more than £150 more expensive than the Nexus 5 and the iPhone 6 is more than double the £299 price-tag Google slapped on its 2013 flagship, there are plenty of reasons to take it seriously.
The iPhone 6 has a 720p, 4.7-inch display, still smaller than the 1080p 5-inch panel on the Nexus 5. Battery life and camera ability are easily better on the iPhone 6, but the Nexus does pack double the RAM, with 2GB.
If money is no object then the iPhone 6 might be for you, but the Nexus 5 is far better value.
- Check out our iPhone 6 review
Hands on gallery
Verdict
Back when the Google Nexus 5 launched you couldn't find a better smartphone for the money. A year on and the Nexus 5 is still good value for money, but it now has some tough competition.It's still satisfyingly fast and refreshingly minimalist, but the truth is that there's no real star feature on the hardware side.
Don't get me wrong, the hardware is extremely good, but it doesn't really trump other Android flagships on the market. It's also a lot harder to come by now with none of the main networks or key retailers still stocking the Nexus 5, so you'll have to search if it still takes your fancy.
We liked
A focus on the really important features means that the display and processor are still up there with the best smartphones around - the recently launched Nokia Lumia 930 sports the same Snadragon 800 chip under the hood. The display is excellent for reading, watching video, or playing games.The Android 5.0 Lollipop update has really given the Nexus 5 a new lease of life, it's like i'm using a completely new phone.
From the Material Design look, to the new Guest User mode, to the swathes of beautifully rendered animations and the fantastic way it handles notifications, Google's latest Android update is one of biggest changes to an operating system I can remember.
That price makes the Nexus 5 a really compelling proposition. It puts pressure on other premium smartphone manufacturers and potentially frees people from the tyranny of the contract.
We disliked
Better battery life is top of most people's wish lists when it comes to mobile technology and it's easily the worst thing about the Nexus 5. It's distinctly average, even with Project Volta in Lollipop.I'm used to a daily charging schedule already, so it's not much of a hardship, but if you're out and about for long periods, then this is the only potential deal-breaker I can see. The fact that you can't remove the Nexus 5 battery will exacerbate the issue for some.
It's always nice to have the option of extra storage with a microSD card. Google doesn't gouge like you Apple does, but £40 is still a lot of money for an extra 16GB and there's no 64GB version. Not everyone wants to be forced into the cloud.
The camera is much improved after the update, but low light performance is poor and it doesn't match the 2014 flagship brigade in terms of quality.
Verdict
Google has learned from the OEMs. It has learned from previous smartphones in the Nexus line; there are no obvious omissions here, like the lack of LTE in the Nexus 4.The really important things have been nailed. What you are compromising on when comparing the Nexus 5 with the rest of the premium market is the camera, storage options and the battery life, but you get a decent processor with a wonderful display.
You also get Android 5.0 as Google intended, refined, elegant, and efficient, with a full eco-system of services.
It doesn't have it all its own way though. If you're looking for the best bang-for-your-buck high-end smartphone then there are a few, such as the OnePlus One, which trump the Nexus 5.
The Nexus 5 still represents decent value for money, and for the Android purists out there who aren't desperate about having the latest and greatest specs it still offers an excellent smartphone experience.
First reviewed: October 2013
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Amazon is going to make movies for the cinema
Not happy with just creating original content for Prime subscribers, Amazon is now branching out to the big screen.
The company announced it will begin producing and acquiring original movies for theatrical release, with a view to get 12 films on screens per year. It'll also secure early window distribution for Amazon Prime Instant Video, shrinking the gap between theatrical and VoD release to between just four and eight weeks.
"We look forward to expanding our production efforts into feature films. Our goal is to create close to twelve movies a year with production starting later this year," said Amazon Studios VP Roy Price. "Not only will be bring Prime Instant Video customers exciting, unique, and exclusive films soon after a movie's theatrical run, but we hope this program will also benefit filmmakers, who too often struggle to mount fresh and daring stories that deserve an audience."
Netflix is currently at work on its first movie, a sequel to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but the big red company's ambition ends with an online release - Amazon is the only one with the big screen in its sights.
Amazon partly determines which of its pilots will be made into full TV shows based on user feedback, and we see no reason why it couldn't employ a similar technique for film. Either way, this is an interesting play from Bezos and co.
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Download of the day: TeamViewer
Never worry about forgetting important files again thanks to TeamViewer, which lets you remotely access your computer and much, much more.
Why you need it
Simple put, TeamViewer can be a life saver. Because if you've ever left for work and realised your left that vital file at home, TeamViewer can be the vital solution that saves your day. You see, it allows you to remotely access your home computer as if you were sitting in front of it.And this isn't just useful for grabbing files that you left at home. Remote access can be useful if you need to help someone with their computer but you aren't there to take them through it. By accessing their computer, you can demonstrate what they need to do on their computer and take them through every step – much better than trying to explain the process in an email. You can also send files this way, so if someone needs a driver, you can just send it to them through TeamViewer.
There are some pretty nifty business uses, too. You can hold meetings using video, audio or text chat, or show presentations to clients. Setting up a meeting or presentation takes only a couple of clicks, making simple to discuss business with colleagues or prospective clients.
With a range of uses like this all available for free, TeamViewer is a brilliant app that can really get you out of a sticky situation.
Key features
- Works on: PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry
- Versions: Free (for non-commercial use), Business (£439), Premium (£889), Corporate (£1,769)
- Access your files: TeamViewer lets you remotely access files on any computer on which it is installed
- Set up meetings: Hold conference calls or show presentations to clients
- Strong encryption: No need to worry about the wrong person accessing your files, as TeamViewer uses super strong 256-bit AES encryption.
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Industry voice: 5 easy ways to destroy your career in tech
The rise of social media might provide an open platform for conversation, but it also means that businesses can have unfiltered insight into what their employees are doing during their workday.
Usually, social networking sites are harmless for the business and provide employees with a quick break from the day-to-day drudgery of work. However, ill-advised posts about your employer can lead to unwanted consequences and even hinder your career.
Such was the case with a former PayPal executive who fired off a bunch of nasty tweets about the people he worked with. That ill-considered tweeting promptly ending his tenure with the company.
The story of his social media exploits went viral, although not all career-destroying moves are quite as high profile as that.
These days, electronic communications and social media are playing a bigger role in bringing about termination of employment. As email, Facebook, Twitter, text messaging, etc. are so completely integrated into our lives, we get careless about how, where and when we use them. Not all activities that can end a career are committed online, though.
Here are five things related to social networking etiquette and good practices that you should avoid doing if you want to keep your IT job:
• Bad-mouthing anybody at all. Making offensive comments about your co-workers can land you in serious trouble, but so can negative comments about others outside your organisation. Making offensive statements about your customers, vendors, or partner companies is a big no-no. Celebrities and politicians aren't fair game, either. Racial or gender/sexually-oriented comments are particularly dangerous. Even if your social networking profiles are not linked to your employer, potential future employers can find these with ease and it can severely impact your chances at employment if your social networking activities have been less than savoury. The safest tactic is to follow the advice of mothers everywhere and "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything."
• Posting pictures of yourself in embarrassing situations. We live in a world where it's easy and fun to snap a photo and upload it to a social site. However, sometimes it's best to do your partying in private and keep the evidence to yourself. Posting pictures of having a glass of wine with dinner is unlikely to cause any issues, but posting pictures of your antics from a raucous night out might not go down so well, especially if the pictures originated from a night out during the working week. This can be even more of an issue if your company affiliation is prominently displayed in your profile.
• Documenting illegal, unethical or unauthorised activities. Hopefully, you won't be committing crimes or engaging in any immoral behaviour, violating company policies or breaking industry-specific rules or regulations. If you do those things, don't post a written "confession" in an email or an instant message, or worst of all, on your Facebook page or Twitter feed. The story is getting downright old: even at the executive level, people can't seem to resist putting it in writing when they do things they know are wrong.
• Lying. The old adage of "honesty is the best policy" is true in any work related activity. Whether it is completing a project or a task or applying for a new job. Therefore, you should never lie on your resume to get the job, lie to your boss about being sick when you want to take the day off, or lying to try to cover up your mistakes, once you've been caught in a lie on the job, your reputation will be irreparably damaged. Often it's not about the lie itself; it's about the trust that, once broken, is difficult or impossible to rebuild. As the saying goes "if you tell the truth, it becomes a part of your past. If you tell a lie, it becomes a part of your future."
• Abusing your authority and misusing your ability. As an IT professional, you often have access to private personal information about the people you work with and sensitive business information about the company. You are probably technologically capable of logging the keystrokes of employees, capturing their screens, and logging their connections. You can take down a person's system or preventing particular people from accessing particular resources. One of the fastest ways to get in trouble at work is to misuse that "perk" of your position for your benefit or amusement. As with lying, it's about betrayal of trust.
Whilst some of the points above will give you an idea of what not to do, but your company's priorities and philosophies should be clearly communicated to all employees either in an employee handbook or through documented social media guidelines.
A company's size and culture can be factors in what is acceptable, but it is safe to say that no company of any size will be too happy if you broadcast company secrets or engage in otherwise unacceptable behaviour online.
- Sergio Galindo is general manager at GFI Software.
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Today is your last chance to buy Google Glass
Last week we brought you news that Google Glass as we know it is done, with Google confirming it will end its Explorer program so it can "focus on what's coming next."
Google will stop producing the wearable in its current form, but says it remains committed to eventually releasing a consumer version.
When the next version of Glass will appear is anyone's guess - all we know right now is that today (January 19) is the last day that you'll be able to buy Glass vers.1 from the Play Store.
Come tomorrow we'll no doubt see eBayers hiking up the price beyond its current value, so if you really fanmcy becoming a last-minute Explorer, we'd suggest you head over to the Play Store now.
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Industry voice: Storage trends in 2015: Death of the disk, and the importance of agility
Last year, we saw the continued transformation of enterprise IT infrastructure towards the next-generation data centre model. Fuelled by advances in compute, network and storage virtualisation, businesses are seeing the advantages of scalable infrastructure that can respond to their needs.
Central to this has been a growing acknowledgment of the vital role that storage plays as the foundation of the next-generation data centre. With this in mind, what are the storage trends that we're going to see in 2015? Read on to find out my predictions for this year.
Goodbye datacentre
Interestingly, most other trends are related to the much larger industry trend of the shift from siloed datacentre infrastructures to the cloud. This trend has been moving faster in many other areas than in storage, but storage is clearly in the crosshairs as people look to be able to deliver scalable, predictable capacity and performance in their virtual and cloud environments.Death of the disk
Over the past couple of years, flash has clearly had a huge impact on the storage space, as it offers ten times the performance of disk at a fraction of the cost. The increasing use of flash will only continue this year and beyond until disk is completely relegated to cold storage.On the other hand, tiering is clearly showing its limitations as a stop-gap on the way to all-flash primary storage, and 2015 will see more IT departments starting to realise this. Limitations include inconsistent performance and the need to constantly add to the flash tier in order to maintain performance, issues which are hampering many businesses' journey to next-generation infrastructure.
Hello object storage
One big trend to keep an eye this year will be the emergence of object storage for low-cost capacity, and the ability to combine object storage with flash to offer both performance-optimised and capacity-optimised scale-out storage tiers.Storage agility
Agility will be a huge focus – the number one concern for enterprises when it comes to storage is not performance (that's number two) but capacity growth. The question enterprises are going to have to address is how they can deal with rapid expansion of storage and workloads, while delivering consistent performance and keeping costs low.This is particularly important as a survey from analyst house 451 Research last year identified rapid capacity growth, consistent storage performance, storage forecasting, and technology refreshes as the biggest storage challenges.
Data sovereignty
This is already a huge issue for service providers and is becoming a larger issue for multi-national corporations, requiring them to be much more vigilant regarding where data is stored. It means they must analyse exactly how and where their data is stored and ensure it complies with the various different national data rules and regulations it falls under.Future of backup
With dynamic virtual and cloud environments becoming the norm, backup is moving from something that has to be manually configured and controlled for each app, to something that is just an inherent part of the storage infrastructure. As a result this year will see more organisations looking at their storage infrastructure to ensure it adequately meets their disaster recovery and backup needs.Staff matters
People have always been one of the largest, if not the largest, expenses when it comes to storage, as you need to ensure you've got the employees available to manage it properly. For storage to continue to grow, enterprises in 2015 and beyond are going to have to get much better at deploying and managing it, which is where automation and cloud infrastructure come in.Conclusion
This year, storage will continue the decade-long evolution from slow, complex, manually configured silos towards the endpoint of fast, efficient, and highly automated pools. As a result there will be massive opportunities for businesses in 2015 to take advantage of this.However, to effectively capitalise on this IT departments have to understand their storage needs and the type of storage that will allow them to meet these needs. That will be one of the biggest challenges and trends for businesses this year and beyond.
- Dave Wright is CEO of SolidFire
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Review: Garmin Forerunner 920XT
Intro, design and field testing
The idea that we should just "know" our fitness abilities is outdated: the technology exists to rebuild us, though it isn't necessarily cheap. There are a plethora of lower-cost fitness-tracking bands and watches for the aspiring athlete, but the Garmin Forerunner 920XT is something altogether more serious: a powerhouse of a watch that's like a coaching team that sits on your wrist. It's designed to be your perfect companion for running, swimming, cycling or a combination of the three (a triathlon, I think that's called)So as well as the kind of activity tracking that a band provides – updates on your sleep and daily steps, combined with regular poking to encourage you to do more of the latter – there's also GPS, social connectivity to compare and contrast your activity levels with your fitness buddies and the world at large, plus the option of adding this chic 'n' stylish heart-rate monitor.
All this power comes at a price, mind you: at £390 for the basic unit and another £80 for the heart rate monitor, which also packs an accelerometer for other clever measurements, you're going to have to really want to know everything about your fitness to shell out.
Design
One of the main drawbacks of a GPS-enabled watch has traditionally been its size… and that's not really changed here with the 920XT. It's not unpalatable to wear - I've been happily using it as an actual watch for a couple of weeks - but is much larger than some fitness watches. Garmin's Forerunner 620 is much slimmer for a start, although it's shorn of the swim and cycling compatibility.The larger size has its advantages, though. Whereas the smaller 920 is touch-based, this has big, easy to hit buttons on the front and side, which are a cinch to find without looking when belting through a brisk 10K.
Putting it through its paces
One of the key elements here is the ability to accurately track your runs, and the 920XT has proven to be one of the most in-depth watches I've ever tested. Having spent a long time with its predecessor, the 910XT, I'd already learned that almost every statistic is on offer here, if you're willing to dig around in the menus.So whether it's laps, average speed, heart rate (with the optional strap), alerts to keep you on pace or even when the gosh darn sun is going to rise, it can all be customised onto the screen, with up to four data fields per display.
The key question many ask with a running watch is: how quickly does it get a GPS fix? The 920XT uses a Bluetooth link to your smartphone to build a better database of location info, and this often helps it lock on really quickly – even indoors at times. However when there are a large number of buildings around, it can take an oddly long time to click in.
Overall, the average time taken wasn't terrible by any means - and the smartphone link-up certainly helped with accuracy.
When finally out running, the 920XT was rather strict in its measurement - erring slightly on the stingy side in terms of distance run, I at least always felt confident that I'd completed my distance if I listened to the drill sergeant on my wrist.
It was similarly excellent at tracking cycling, and if you're willing to invest in ANT+ power meters or speed sensors, you'll get a lot more from the watch. It even has the ability to twist into multiple cycling mounts if you're willing to get the screwdriver out (which isn't as onerous a task as you might think) giving you an excellent cycling computer.
Although I wasn't able to test the swimming ability of the 920XT, if it builds on the excellent power of the 910XT you'll easily be able to track your performance in the pool or in open water - although the latter can't really make good use of the GPS tracking as all that pesky H2O gets in the way.
Track fantastic
The Garmin ForeRunner 920XT also offers a number of other treats that will appeal to both the fitness newbie and seasoned pro alike. The simple upgrade is as an activity tracker, being able to tell your steps and then autoplacing you into similar groups online so you can try and run around more than the next person, in order to ascend an ad hoc league table.The same functionality also tracks sleep, although you have to manually enter your period of slumber and, as always with sleep tracking, once you've got the data it's hard to know what to do with it.
The more advanced stuff is useful too: VO2 Max lets you know how much fitter you're getting, and over time the watch becomes more adept at working out your abilities. It's not perfect, and the predicted race times it generates are more a target than where you are right now in your training, but it's a useful tool for those trying to regain some semblance of fitness as it's automatic.
Battery, app, comparison and verdict.
Battery life and Garmin Connect app
The upgraded battery life over the 910XT and the interactivity with my phone were the two things I really adored about this new watch. I'm happy using it as a watch because, even with a daily hour's run and the all-day activity tracking, it still lasts 4-5 days before needing a charge.The Connect app is also excellent, bar some annoying and mysterious "server connection" issues that prevented the watch from syncing up on occasion. Once the data is in, you can interact with it in all manner of ways - even setting up "Segments" to let you race other people who have trodden the same course.
This is still better on something like Strava (which you can happily auto connect to this watch) but there's just so much you can use to work out what's going on with you here, without the need to regularly connect the thing to your computer. I think it's a really, really good upgrade.
Comparison
The Garmin ForeRunner 920XT is an excellent watch, but it's expensive, so the competition is pretty minimal at this high level.Garmin ForeRunner 910XT
Given this inexplicably still costs over £300 to buy, it's not that far off in price from this model, which is a far superior option.
It does have a simpler interface, but at the same time it doesn't do as much - the loss of activity tracking alone makes it hardly worth checking out, although the battery life is arguably greater.
Garmin ForeRunner 620
The 'runner's only' version of the watch packs nearly all the same functionality for a lower cost - although with some of the buttons being on the screen and capacitive, it can be harder to manipulate. However, if you don't need the cycling or swimming elements, or are on more of a budget, it's worth looking at.
Adidas SmartRun
A decent looking watch, but one that doesn't even play in the same league as the Garmin when it comes to battery life or tracking multi sports. It does have a nice tie in with MixRadio, allowing you to download playlists to stream wirelessly on your run, and the web interface is arguably more powerful, but it doesn't pack the punch of the 920XT.
Verdict
The 920XT is one of the best watches Garmin has ever produced, and shoves in a fantastic amount of technology considering it's got such a strong battery life.We liked
The sheer variety of options mean that you can't really fault this device for anything once you've bitten the bullet and shelled out for it.Even if it's something a little more left field that you want to track, the 920XT lets you customise so much that you'll easily find a way to monitor it.
And if you just like running with it, the easy to view interface and generally fast GPS lock make it a must have, if you've got the budget.
We disliked
Ah, the issue of cost. It's not cheap, so you'll really need to want it, or have very generous loved ones, when your birthday rolls around.There are little other niggles too, the main one being a lack of support for Bluetooth chest straps, but largely there's a way around most things you could take umbrage with.
Verdict
If you can afford it, buy it. The Garmin 920XT delivers on nearly all fronts, and while it's larger in the size stakes than some rivals, you're getting a lot of technology in there.It's not for everyone, and runners who are more casual or more money-conscious should check out the 620 or the Polar M400 as lower-priced options with similar functionality. However, as a do-it-all fitness watch, the 920XT is right at the front of the pack.
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Blip: Run for your lives: Mario has become self-aware
It was bound to happen eventually. Having lived most of his years as a puppet of our gaming enjoyment - jumping on, killing and eating whatever and whoever we told him to - Nintendo's Italian plumber has become sentient. Hold your families close, this is how it ends.
Using a complex adaptive AI, researchers have turned Mario into an autonomous agent that's aware of both himself and his environment. And he learns.
"What do you know about Goomba?," a voice asks Mario at the beginning of the level. "I do not know anything about it". When asked the question again after killing his first little brown foe, he responds, "If I jump on a Goomba, it certainly dies."
Remember all the times you made Mario fight Sonic and Pac-Man for your own entertainment? Now he remembers too. And that doesn't sound like the voice of forgiveness.
More blips!
We can't wait for our blips to become self-aware and start writing themselves.- Someone has invented the belfie stick - has science gone too far?
- Fetch! Dog runs with help of 3D-printed prosthetics
- Astronauts put a GoPro inside a floating water bubble, and it was awesome
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This was the first Apple Watch, and it worked with any smartphone
Unless you're a tech enthusiast of a certain age you might have completely missed this one: the first official Apple Watch was actually launched in 1995, two decades before the shiny timepiece arriving this March.
Thanks to the TLD YouTube channel for jogging our memories and showing off the device, which was not sold separately but came as a free gift to tempt users into upgrading to Macintosh System 7.5.
There's no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi here, no smartphone syncing, no touchscreen and no voice control. All you get is a blue metallic finish, the old rainbow-coloured Apple logo, and Mac OS lettering embedded on the strap. And the time.
Design language
Other notable features of the first Apple Watch include a blue metallic finish and a wavy second hand that looks very Disney. Some entrepreneurial types are selling the watches for $99-129 (roughly £65-85 or AU$120-157) but they seem to be sold out right now.TLD takes the time to show off the rediscovered Apple Watch to a few friends. "It looks kinda neat" and "I like the colours" are a couple of the most positive comments that the watch manages to attract. "It's just a watch," points out one very astute observer.
"You can tell that the [Apple] design language permeates through the whole ecosystem," enthuses one reviewer, which just goes to show that almost anything Apple makes is guaranteed to find a band of supporters somewhere.
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