Apple Watch battery size half as big as top Android Wear watch
Apple Watch has launched in certain parts of the world, and we even though we know almost everything about the iPhone-compatible smartwatch, there has been one mystery: battery life.
An Apple Watch runs out of juice, on average, after about 18 hours of normal use. It lasts anywhere from three hours if it's making a battery-taxing call, to 48 hours if it's performing simple time checks.
The 42mm Apple Watch has longer battery life, according to Apple, but it's likely to be marginally bigger in size. It takes 1.5 hours to recharge it to 80% and 2.5 hours to reach the full 100% again.
Battery specs: Apple Watch vs Android Wear
To put that 205mAh number into perspective, Android Wear's longest-lasting watch, the Sony Smartwatch 3, boasts a 420mAh battery with a day and a half of battery life. It leads our best smartwatches list.Even the original LG G Watch and and Samsung Gear Live debuted with bigger batteries of 400mAh and 300mAh, respectively, for truly all-day and almost-all-day battery life with conservative use.
The LG G Watch R and imminent LG Watch Urbane have upped the LG's battery size to 410mAh. Moto 360's battery specs give it a 320mAh battery.
ASUS ZenWatch is the outlier that has a 1.4Wh battery, which roughly translates to around 370 mAh, and the forthcoming Huawei Watch is set to pack a 300mAh battery.
What this means for Apple Watch
No Google watch beats Sony's smartwatch, though it's clear that every Android Wear watch has still fit in a larger battery than the "iWatch," which is a surprising considering the extreme Apple Watch price.Of course, the upcoming Pebble Time Steel bests all with 10-day battery life, beating its own long-lasting Pebble, Pebble Steel and Pebble Time, which have seven days of battery life.
All of that said, how long a smartwatch lasts depends on other two factors. First, the more obvious how much the wearer uses the device, especially how often he or she lights up the screen.
Second, is the less obvious question of how demanding that software is. Android Wear, for example, is known to be fairly taxing compared to Samsung's lightweight Tizen operating system, which runs the company's longer-lasting Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo watches.
Whether or not you get all 18 hours from this tiny Apple Watch battery may depend on how WatchKit apps are optimized on the wrist. It's really a balancing act between performance and battery life.
- More about the Apple Watch battery life
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In Depth: Foxtel owner Telstra set to back rival Netflix
Australian telco Telstra is planning to work with mega-streaming darling Netflix to host files as well as promote the service, despite having a substantial financial stake in rival company, Foxtel.
Foxtel has its own TV and movie streaming service, Presto, which it runs in conjunction with Channel 7, as well as owning and promoting its online-only Foxtel Play app which streams recently-aired TV shows.
The extent of Telstra’s involvement with Netflix is yet to be finalised, though rumours suggest Telstra will incorporate the US giant’s servers into its own data centres.
Fingers in pies
This would reduce the cost of piping data from across the other side of the world to Australia, and increase the speed of transferring to local devices.As well as hosting its hardware, Telstra would also promote and market the service. It’s unclear how and to what extent, as both Optus and iiNet secured deals with Netflix prior to its launch here in Australia for unmetered downloads in a deal that’s since gone sour.
You can pretty much guarantee that a similar deal will never happen again, as a statement from Netflix said they "should have avoided that and will avoid it going forward" due to “discrimination among video services”.
- Check out the Netflix Australia content line-up.
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This NSFW Apple Watch/Pulp Fiction mash-up is strangely logical
Fans of the Apple Watch and Pulp Fiction (or just the latter), behold the only Watch commercial you need in your life.
The below video made by YouTuber BeefJurgy is done in the classic Apple ad style, white background and all, but Christopher Walken and his famous Pulp Fiction monologue are the real stars here.
Warning: features some NSFW language, but fans of the flick already knew that.
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Hands-on review: Updated: Acer Liquid M220
Updated: Acer has announced the Liquid M220 will be the company's first ever smartphone to be sold in the US with Windows 10 in tow.
Acer revealed a number of new phones at MWC 2015 but none of them stood out to me as much as the Acer Liquid M220. It wasn't down to the specs though, the Liquid Jade Z surely takes the crown there. It stood out as it has taken the strange route of adopting the Windows Phone platform.
So far all Acer devices have been running on various iterations of the Android OS, enough that it has built up its own UI design overtime. I never saw the company stepping away from the platform as I never thought it'd have reason to.
If the Liquid M220 does anything though, it proves Acer's step toward the Windows Phone world is just a brief foray into the territory before it likely jumps and heads back into the Android forest.
The Acer Liquid M220 comes with the latest Windows Phone 8.1 software on board and is confirmed to be getting the Windows 10 Mobile update - in time.
But the company hasn't put all its eggs in one basket and has decided to offer the same spec and hardware package with Android on board instead. The Windows Phone version will cost £69.99 (about $105) while the Android version will be on sale for an extra £10 or so.
At a New York event on April 23, Acer also announced its plans to bring the handset stateside for $79. The Liquid M220 will also be available at retail Microsoft Stores preloaded with Windows Phone 8.1 and a free upgrade to Windows Phone 10.
Even speaking to the representatives on the Acer stand no-one seemed positive the Windows Phone version of the Liquid M220 will sell well even though it comes in that little bit cheaper.
The build of the Liquid M220 is quite nice considering the ultra-low price point. The back panel has a matted texture offering more grip with a protruding edge around the handset coloured silver and offering even more grip while in the hand.
I'm a big fan of the different feel on the rear but the edges feels a little like overkill and it doesn't really offer much for the user.
As for the display, the handset offers a 4-inch WVGA display with a pixel resolution of 480 x 800 pixels – that's 233ppi.
Under the hood isn't anything to marvel at – it offers a 1.2GHz dual-core processor alongside 512MB of RAM, but it should be able to cope with low intensity apps.
It's all powered by a weak 1300mAh battery but it doesn't have much to power here so hopefully it'll offer some long life in the day-to-day usage.
The internal memory is only 4GB causing a big problem as the operating system takes up 2.6GB meaning it's only got 1.4GB of storage left for any media you want to upload. When storage is this low it can mean it's a struggle to fit in all the apps you want as well, so it may be a good idea to extend the storage with a microSD card of up to 32GB.
On the back of the handset sits a 5MP main camera with an 89-degree lens - it will take alright looking normal shots but it's not the kind of phone designed to be taking high quality photos. On the front is a 2MP sensor for the odd selfie.
Early verdict
Nothing really stands out here in terms of specs – the most exciting aspect here is Acer taking on the Windows Phone platform. It is the cheapest Windows Phone device you can buy on the market and if anyone really loves the platform that much it'll be a great find for such a low price.Windows Phone is not the draw it wants to be though; it still has a serious lack of apps and is so far behind compared to either iOS or Android that it will always struggle to catch up.
It's difficult to see why anyone would choose the Windows Phone version of this handset over the Android version but at least Acer is trying to expand a little. Only the sales figures will show if Acer will see fit to explore the Windows Phone world a little bit more.
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Crisis averted: biggest cable buyout in history probably isn't happening
Comcast has spent the last year-plus swearing that its buyout of Time Warner would be a good thing, but in all that time nobody really bought it.
That includes the regulators at the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department who've been digging into the deal's details over the last year, and with their disapproval Comcast is going to cancel it all, reports Bloomberg.
Comcast could announce as much as soon as Friday, the site's sources said.
Officials would have to actually bring the companies to court if they wanted to force the issue, but apparently the threat of such a long process is usually enough to deter companies from pursuing the point.
That's what occurred when AT&T tried to buy T-Mobile in 2011, and it looks like it's happening again.
Thank goodness, too. Time Warner and Comcast are already two of the most despised companies in the US, and they each hold numerous regional monopolies. Letting them join forces would have been literally insane.
Hopefully Comcast officially announces that this disaster has been averted - although the company will probably use slightly more neutral language - soon.
- The Apple Watch is finally here!
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Hands-on review: Acer Aspire Switch 10 (2015)
Acer has been chasing after the hybrid laptop dream for a long time. Quirky iterations, such as the Aspire P3 and the Aspire R15 were interesting experiments, but they all failed to strike the right balance between a laptop and tablet. Today, the company has finally nailed the design and build quality, but forgot some key components in crafting the new Switch 10.
The 10-inch 2-in-1 laptop with a detachable keyboard is a flat improvement to last year's model. While they might seem nearly identical, a closer look will reveal the new Switch 10 has inherited a Gorilla Glass 3 shell from Acer's flagship Aspire S7 Ultrabook.
The glass back is a big step up from the hollow and cheap-feeling plastic frame on outgoing Switch 10 we reviewed in late 2014. Thankfully, the added premium touch does not add much weight. Tipping the scales at 2.64 pounds (1.19 kg), the 2015 Switch 10 is lighter than HP's recently announced11-inch Pavilion x360, which weighs 3.21 pounds (1.45 kg).
Pull the screen off the detachable keyboard, and the device as a tablet feels like nothing, weighing just 1.31-pounds (0.6 kg) weight. That's even lighter than the 1.37-pound (0.62 kg) Surface 3.
Of course, with such a tiny machine, you may find the keyboard too cramped for your style. More than once, my thumbs knocked into each other while trying to just type a few simple sentences. But if you're a fan of iPad and other tablet keyboards, you should feel right at home with the Switch 10.
Baby got bass
The glass screen lid isn't the only shake up the Switch 10 has seen. Acer has also bumped up the resolution of the screen to 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, a serious increase from the 1,366 x 768 resolution display on last year's model. The new panel is not only higher resolution; it's also brighter and more vibrant.The Acer Switch 10 was able to render the new Mission Impossible trailer with bright and excellent colors with generous viewing angles - essential for any tablet device. During my quick hands-on time with the device at a blaring New York event, I was even able to hear the dialogue in the movie trailer, thanks to the Switch 10's two booming, front-facing speakers.
What's new is old
Unfortunately, Acer did not take as much care into upgrading the internals, as the new Switch 10 comes running the very same Intel Bay Trail processor as the 2014 model. It's disappointing to see on paper, but thankfully I didn't run into performance hitches while tapping around the Windows interface.On the plus side, this low-powered processor should let users squeeze up to seven hours of battery life out of the new Switch 10. However,I'm doubtful this will turn out to be true, because of the laptop's full HD display.
Meager beginnings
Users might be more disappointed that this machine only comes with 2GB of RAM. Even worse is a 32-bit version of Windows 8.1 installed on the system, which may raise some nasty program compatibility issues.The base configuration, also comes with a meager 32GB solid-state. If our time with last year's Acer Switch 10 was any indication, Windows will eat up a sizable chunk of storage leaving users with only 22GB of usable space. Thankfully, there's an option to bump up the storage to a 64GB SSD. Still, that's hardly enough for most users to download rented movies and the occasional game.
The Acer Aspire Switch 10 (SW5-015) will be available in North America in August with the entry model starting at $399 (about £264, AU$512). Later this June, the Switch 10 will also be available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for a starting price of €449.
Early verdict
The new Aspire Switch 10 comes at quite a bargain for a convertible, 2-in-1 laptop. However, it's easy to see how this new hybrid machine is nearly identical to last year's model, save for a sharper screen and a new piece of glass for the shell.It's this sour note that makes this device especially hard to recommend, especially in light of the stunner HP just dropped in the Pavilion x360. For a rather competitive $409 (about £273, AU$530), HP's back-flipping transformer offers a newer Broadwell series Intel Pentium processor with 500GB of storage and double the RAM. Let's just say the new Switch 10 has quite a fight ahead of it.
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Microsoft makes Surface 3 even more affordable for schools
Microsoft is making a custom configuration of its new Surface 3 tablet for the education market. Unlike the $499 (£335, AU$645) consumer version, which starts with 64GB of solid state storage, education buyers will have access to a 32GB build of the Surface 3.
Microsoft is only making this configuration available to educational institutions, meaning students and teachers won't be able to order this model through Microsoft or retailers. Pricing for this model is not yet disclosed, but Microsoft is throwing in the 10% discount for educational institutions on top of what is expected to be a lower entry price point than the consumer edition.
Microsoft is promoting its new Surface as a paperless solution for schools given the support for the optional keyboard and an optional Surface Pen for digital inking and drawing.
Back-to-school
Microsoft's announcement comes just as PC manufacturers are announcing their back-to-school lineups. Most recently, HP and Acer have announced their back to school offerings, and many devices from both companies come with hybrid or convertible form factors.Like the detachable optional keyboard on the Surface 3, many of Acer's and HP's notebook models come with a 360-degree swiveling hinge, allowing the laptop to be converted into tablet, display or tent modes.
The Surface 3 has a three-stage kickstand to adjust the angle of tilt for the tablet's screen, giving it some flexibility, but the main selling point is the light form factor and the option to remove the keyboard to reduce weight and save space when typing is not needed.
Microsoft says that it is also extending its 10% institutional discount to cover the Surface Pen and Type Cover.
Surface Pro 3
The 10.8-inch Surface 3 is considered the entry level model to Microsoft's Surface computing line. The device ships with an Intel Atom processor, the first for the series as Microsoft transitions away from the ARM CPU, giving it access to Windows 8.1, apps and legacy Win32 programs.More advanced users can move up to the more advanced Surface Pro 3, which ships with a larger 12-inch display, and options for a more powerful Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processors. The Surface Pro 3 also comes with more storage as well, but its higher $799 (£535, AU$1,030) starting cost may make the Pro model more geared for individual purchases as it may fall outside of the reach of school budgets.
To use either the Surface 3 or Surface Pro 3 as a laptop, users will also need to purchase a $130 (£90, AU$170) Type Cover. The $50 (£35, AU$65) Surface Pen is an optional accessory on the less expensive Surface 3, but comes included in the price of the Surface Pro 3.
- Read our Surface 3 review
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Hands-on review: Acer Aspire R 11
When Acer released the Acer Aspire R 13, it once again threw its hat into the mid-range 2-in-1 laptop market. Piggybacking on the design innovation of the Aspire R 7, the R 13 was meant to be an avant garde, Ezel-hinged hybrid laptop. Unfortunately, we weren't wowed.
The problem is simple. Acer is competing in a market saturated with heavy hitters, like the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 ($1,099, £1,099, AUS$1,254) and Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi ($899, £601, AU$1,156), as well as the best of the bunch, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (starting at $799, £639, AU$979). Acer wants to win by evolving above-the-hood rather than beneath it.
I was excited to briefly test the latest addition to the Aspire family, the Acer Aspire R 11 ($249, £165, or AU$320), a budget, 11-inch transformer with a pretty design. But after a quick inspection, it was clear to me that history had repeated itself - Acer had opted for beauty instead of brains.
Design
Like most of Acer's new budget laptops, the Aspire R 11 features a gorgeous matte material (in light blue) that covers the top and bottom of the notebook's plastic chassis. Acer touts the matting material as scratch-proof, and on most other models I noticed no blemishes at all.
However, the Aspire R 11 that I previewed had a huge gash across the top of the shell. Perhaps this was a prototype error.
The traditional keyboard feels great beneath your palms. Its aluminum casing appears to be smudge-proof. Unfortunately, the directional and top-line keys are so small you'll absolutely mis-strike whenever you're playing games or entering data.
The Aspire 11 is built with an 11.6-inch, standard HD (1,366 x 768) display that suffers from severe glare. Photographing the front of the unit was nearly impossible, because any speck of light from any direction would find its way into the display screen.
The selling point for this unit is its 360-degree hinge that enables the device to easily switch between four viewing modes: notebook, pad, display and tent. I found the hinge to be quite stiff, which required me to push and pull harder than I'd like to navigate between modes.
Unfortunately for Acer, most competing devices feature much slimmer and more enjoyable displays. At 3.48 pounds (1.58kg), why would you ever want to use this device in tablet mode? Additionally, with a measly standard HD screen, why would you be excited to use this device in display mode?
To compare, the Surface Pro 3 features a 2,160 x 1,440 multi-touch display that comes in a manageable 1.76 pound frame prior to adding the 0.65 pound keyboard. The Yoga 3 Pro packs a QHD+ 3,200 x 1,800 pixel display into a 2.62 pound (1.18kg) frame. These machines are up to four times more expensive than the Aspire R 11, so we're not comparing apples to apples, but it's important for us to let you know what's out there.
Performance
The Aspire R 11 delivers up to eight hours of battery life, I'm told, which is in line with what the aforementioned competitors sustain. However, we've actually tested the competitors' batteries. Suffice to say, manufacturers tend to overstate how long their batteries will last, so expect this device to deliver something closer to five or six hours, rather than eight hours.Under the hood, you're working with an Intel Pentium processor and Intel HD graphics. These won't deliver workstation quality performance, but in the short time I previewed the device, I found navigation to be smooth. Switching between web-based apps, local documents and the web was a cinch.
The Aspire R 11 can be configured with up to 8GB of DDR3L system memory and up to a 1TB hard drive. It features a built-in SD card reader, one USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 input apiece, and full-sized HDMI and VGA ports.
Early verdict
The Acer Aspire R 11 looks good and it doesn't cost much. That's pretty much all I can say about it without venturing into the negative.For a device that is much too heavy, slightly inflexible, and prone to scratches, I just can't imagine it playing well in a market with such heavy competition. If you've got a few extra dollars to spend or can stand to save, you'd be better off buying something else.
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Hands-on review: UPDATED: Oculus Rift
Hands on at CES 2015 and GDC 2015
Update April 2015: Seems like we won't see a consumer Oculus Rift when the holiday season rolls around this year.During its Q1 earnings call, social media giant Facebook confirmed the VR headset will not have "large shipment volumes" in 2015, meaning we probably won't be getting a consumer version of the VR headset any time soon.
Hands on review continued below ...
Oculus didn't announce a new SDK or final build of the Rift during GDC 2015, but there was a new demo on the show floor that we tried out.
Still focusing on immersive experiences, the Rift took us into a scene from The Hobbit where Bilbo meets the fearsome Smaug for the first time. Except you're Bilbo.
With the dragon still hidden underneath the piles of gold, you can take the opportunity to get closer to the shiny trinkets all around you, like a conveniently placed helmet on a treasure chest nearby. Of course prodding it means you're just crazily poking the air in real life.
Then all of sudden, Smaug starts shifting causing rivulets of gold to fall towards you. At this point, not only are the VR visuals stunning making you want to greedily pocket the goods, but the sound of the clinking coins coming at you with 360 degree audio is starting to make you think twice about sneaking into a dragon's chamber - especially when Benedict Cumberbatch/Smaug starts telling you he can smell you.
The quick demo ends with you getting fried in a fiery inferno of dragon breath. The flames burst up from all directions making you really feel the heat and then the scene goes black. Morbid. But so deliciously fun.
It's not the awesome shoot out we experienced with Move controllers and Sony's Project Morpheus but if watching movies on the Oculus will be anything like this in the future, count us in.
Update CES 2015: We went hands on with the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay prototype during CES 2015, however the demo was the same one revealed during Oculus Connect. The company has also continued to remain mum on the spec details of the latest audio equipped HMD.
Though the audio itself has a few new things under the hood. Specifically, a new Oculus Audio SDK will be part of the CV1 package. This means devs will be able to incorporate 3D positional audio for an even deeper immersive experience. The same SDK will be available for the Samsung Gear VR, another virtual reality venture Oculus is part of.
We've included a few photos of the CES experience and an interview with Oculus's Head of Mobile, Max Cohen where he explains the significance of adding sound to VR.
Update November 12 2014: There has been a recent 0.4.3 release of the Oculus PC SDK, which features Linux support, a number of performance and stability improvements and support for developing Rift content with Unity Free. Another PC update will be released this month, perhaps to coincide with the impending release date of the head mounted display.
Hands on Oculus Connect 2014
Oculus held its first ever Oculus Connect virtual reality conference in Hollywood on September 20, and the growing company used the opportunity to show off its newest Oculus Rift prototype: Crescent Bay. The lighter, more comfortable Crescent Bay Rift prototype has beefed-up specs and, for the first time, integrated headphones designed by the engineers at Oculus VR.But unlike with past prototypes like DK2 or "Crystal Cove," Oculus is being less than upfront about Crescent Bay's specifications. They bumped the last headset up to 1080p, and Crescent Bay certainly appears to have an even higher resolution, but the company won't confirm as much.
That's because they want to focus on the Oculus Rift as a full package rather than as a simple amalgamation of its various components, all of which will no doubt change by the time the consumer version Rift - CV1, as the company refers to it - is finally ready.
"It's the combination of the resolution with the optics, with the mechanical engineering and industrial design of this thing, that allow for it to look like it's a higher resolution, even though it may or may not be," Oculus Vice President of Product Nate Mitchell told TechRadar. "The synergy of all the components together is what takes it up a notch."
What Oculus instead focused on with the Crescent Bay demos it showed off at Oculus Connect was the level of "presence" the Rift can make users feel under optimal conditions and with content designed specifically to be as immersive as possible.
Down with the Bay
Whereas every past official Oculus Rift demo took place with users seated, this time the company had journalists and other Oculus Connect attendees standing up and walking around with the headset strapped to their faces.In interviews afterward, Mitchell and Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey emphasized that the stand-up Rift experience is not the experience that they're stressing for consumers, but was simply meant in this case to crank up the immersion as high as possible. Mitchell called this demo "conceptual," and Luckey said "the Oculus Rift is a seated experience. It's very dangerous to stand up."
As true as that may be - you probably shouldn't try walking blindly around your home while the Oculus Rift is tricking your brain into thinking you're on a different planet or in a submarine - the stand-up experience demonstrated with Crescent Bay at Oculus Connect was undoubtedly the most immersive and impressive virtual reality demo ever.
The experience consisted of about a dozen demos developed by Oculus's new internal content team. Luckey said these demos are the cream of the crop as far as what Oculus has developed, and many more experiences were scrapped or sidelined. Over several minutes they showed off a variety of potential Rift applications, eliciting a number of very different responses.
The demos
The Crescent Bay demos took place in a highly controlled environment: a small, empty room with four plain, grey walls. A camera - larger than the one used with Crystal Cove - was mounted on the wall, tracking users' positions as they walked around a small, black mat on the ground.By tracking the Crescent Bay prototype's white-studded surface (these nubs are now located all around the headset, including on the back of the strap) this camera can accurately understand your position in the room, allowing you to walk around freely in virtual space. Not to get too dramatic, but it really is a mind-blowing experience.
The demos themselves consisted of several non-interactive environments, from a creaking submarine chamber to a sunny museum in which a life-sized (looked that way at least) T-Rex sniffs around and ultimately steps directly over you.
These short experiences lasted less than a minute each. One highlight took place at the top of a skyscraper in a steampunk, BioShock-inspired city. Standing up in that grey room, you could walk to the edge of the virtual roof and look down hundreds of feet to the traffic below. And as with the T-Rex's roar, the Crescent Bay Rift's attached headphones - technically stereo, but with simulated surround sound - made the experience seem all the more real with traffic noises, hissing wind and more.
That demo called to mind the Game of Thrones "Ascend the Wall" Oculus Rift experience designed by visual effects firm Framestore. Used by HBO at promotional events like the premiere of Game of Thrones' fourth season, Ascend the Wall put users inside an actual metal cage - replicating the elevator from the series - that rumbled and blew cold air at them as they virtually ascended to the top of the show's fictional 800-foot-high Wall.
The more points of feedback these demos are able to simulate, the more "presence" users feel, Oculus contends. These feedback points range from that feeling of cold air being blown in your face - which is not very practical - to ambient sound, which is practical - to something as simple as standing up, which is not ideal for every situation but nevertheless ramps things up considerably.
"You stand up, and suddenly your balance kicks in, and you're like, 'woah!' and you feel your weight shift subconsciously," Mitchell explained to us after the demo. "When you stand up suddenly [your subconscious] is totally engaged."
All of these demos showed off the ways that standing up can enhance virtual reality. For example, within environments that appear small, like a tiny cartoon city or a sci-fi terrain map that could be used for a strategy game, walking around makes you feel like you're playing an Ender's Game-like simulation.
But one of the most fun demos involved simply standing and facing a curious alien on a distant planet. As the user bends down and moves around to better examine the alien, it does the same to the user, clucking in a strange tongue. You actually get the sense that it's talking to you, and it's easy to see how this type of interaction could be used to make video games better.
Yet another demo had you staring into a mirror, with your head represented by a floating mask. No matter how hard I tried or how fast I moved, I couldn't detect a shred of latency as the mask in the mirror reflected my every movement. Again, the grey room in which this took place was a more controlled environment than most people's homes, but it was nevertheless impressive.
Early verdict
The final experience - and the most game-like - showed off exactly how cool an Unreal Engine 4 Oculus Rift game might be. Futuristic soldiers shot at a hulking robot as it fired right back, explosions sending cars flying in slow motion as the point of view crept slowly down the street toward the machine. It felt natural to physically dance around, dodging incoming bullets and ducking under flipping vehicles, no matter how ridiculous I might have looked to onlookers who couldn't see what I was seeing.This could legitimately be the future of gaming - if Oculus can figure out the input problem. Although many Oculus Rift demos have used an Xbox 360 controller, there's still no standard input device for Rift games. Like Crescent Bay's integrated audio, though, this is a problem Oculus is actively working on.
"There's a very real possibility that we would have come to the conclusion that audio is something we were going to leave to third parties," Luckey told us at the conference. "We came to the conclusion that we had to do it ourselves, and we had to do a good job, because it was so important to get right. I think input is in that camp."
That's just one of the problems Oculus needs to solve before the Rift is ready for consumers, and given that Crescent Bay is just the latest of many prototypes it's unclear when it will be. But when Oculus Rift CV1 is ready, it has the potential to change entertainment forever.
Hands on at Comic-Con and GDC 2014
Update: Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 is on its way to game makers and it's being used for by movie studios. We revised our hands-on review and added facts about its Galaxy Note 3 screen and Mac support.Hands on impressions by Matt Swider and Alex Roth
As Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 starts shipping to pre-order customers, we got more face time with the virtual reality headset at PAX Prime and Comic-Con.
Codenamed Crystal Cove, the updated Oculus Rift DK2 costs $350 (about £207, AU$373). That's $50 (about £30, AU$53) more than the first-generation developer kit.
However, the improved specs make it well worth the price bump if you're a developer with a passion for cutting-edge technology and the patience for beta hardware.
The face-worn display outfits developers with an HD screen that's 1080p or 960 x 1080 per eye. It finally meets our next-generation gaming needs.
Believe it or not, the Oculus Rift DK2 display actually uses the 5.7-inch Super AMOLED panel from the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Behind its rubber casing is same exact front panel, "Samsung" logo and all.
This makes sense. Oculus was rumored to be working with Samsung on the South Korean electronics giant's own virtual reality headset. Whether or not that pans out remains to be seen.
Despite both the physical and theorized Samsung ties, Mac compatibility has been added to the Oculus Rift DK2, making good on the start-up company's promise to support Apple machines. All five OS X game developers are rejoicing right now.
Oculus Rift DK2 drops the first interation's control box in favor of integrating the guts into the headset itself. Only a single cable - HDMI and USB woven together - dangls from your face.
The new kit also comes with a motion-tracking camera, which allows for greater movement within the world of the Rift. It looks a bit like a webcam, and a lot like a PlayStation Eye camera from the PS3 days.
It features a blue "on" light and an Oculus logo, but its true power isn't visible to the naked eye. It uses forty infrared LEDs on the headset to track your head movements and integrate them into the game. These LEDs were visible on the version we tried at CES 2014, but not anymore.
In the demos we saw at GDC 2014, this meant players could lean in for a closer look at in-game objects and characters. These were the same demos we saw at CES, with the exception of a new one by Epic Games, which integrated the player into the game a unique way.
The game was a one on one battle between two sword and shield wielding avatars. It takes place in a living room, where players can see representations of themselves seated in the room, controller in hand. To keep an eye on the fight we had to swivel our head and crane our neck.
The Rift was a surreal experience as always; when our opponent turned his head or leaned forward it gave his neck a stretched, snake-like appearance. And when one of the battling avatars leapt up onto your lap, you half expect to feel his little feet on your legs.
If you've used the previous Rift, know that Crystal Cove is a night and day difference. The higher resolution makes all the difference in the world; it's like going from Skyrim on a four-year-old PC to one from last year.
Note that we say last year; the Oculus Rift still isn't sporting visuals that you could call next gen. There are still jaggedly rendered objects, but the immersive nature of the experience trumps graphics any day, and is one you need to see to believe.
Movies come to Oculus Rift at Comic-Con
Both Twenty Century Fox and Warner Bros. were backing new Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 units at the cosplay-filled San Diego convention with demos for their X-Men and Into the Storm films.
The X-Men Cerebro Experience provided the more surreal experience as attendees slipped into the wheelchair and saw through the eyes of mutant leader Professor Charles Xavier. He, fittingly, donned the just-as-snug brain amplifying mutant detector Cerebro on his own head.
The concept involved seeking the shapeshifting mutant Mystique by looking 360 degrees in any direction. She was hiding in a Comic-Con crowd that was fictitious and barren - it would have been cooler if it used augmented reality here.
The actual hunt was automated and fairly boring, but Professor X's replica wheelchair at the Fox booth provided developers with the opportunity to predict the location of our limbs and torso. It accurately overlayed his body onto our own.
Obviously, this demo didn't call for much movement and that worked to the movie studio's advantage. It could easily trick your mind into thinking that the Professor's subtle finger tap on the armrest was your own with a "Wait, I didn't just do that!"
It didn't have the advantage of a stationary wheelchair-bound character to map our bodies and there was no interaction whatsoever, but Warner Bros did aptly demo its new disaster movie with this terrifying scene recreation. It also messed up our hair.
Both X-Men Cerebro Experience and Into the Storm also gave us insight into how big-name movie studios intend to use Oculus Rift to invent new ways of enjoying theatrical experiences. Video games were just the beginning.
Hands on CES 2014
Oculus Rift gets more impressive every time we see it, and the futuristic virtual reality headset's appearance at CES 2014 was definitely no exception.Since E3 2013 Oculus VR has gained impressive talent and raised an extra $75 million in funding, and the result is the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype (named for a state park in southern California). It's significantly easier on the eyes than older versions of the headset and, by extension, closer than ever to the Rift's final, fully functional, consumer-facing form.
The two game demos Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell showed us in a private meeting room at CES were designed to showcase two new features: positional head-tracking and low persistence, both of which help make the virtual reality experience more immersive and address some users' complaints with the headset, including motion blur-induced nausea.
The head-tracking is the most obvious improvement. The new white studs on the Oculus Crystal Cove prototype's face are indicators that communicate your head's position to a new external camera, mounted near your monitor. As a result the full movements of your upper body, not just the sideways and up/down movements of your head, are detected and translated to the game world.
That means you can lean forward while playing CCP Games' extremely impressive 3D space-shooting game EVE: Valkyrie, bringing your in-game face closer to your space ship's various monitors and switches so you can better read their warnings and instructions. Since the very first demo Oculus Rift has inserted players into virtual worlds, and with this addition it's a more immersive experience than ever.
Get low, low, low, low
Second and more subtle is the low persistence, which makes the Oculus Rift's somewhat notorious motion blur a thing of the past. Now the graphics remain more clear and sharp even when you move your head around rapidly. There's still a tiny amount of blurring, but it's a massive improvement over the previous version of Oculus Rift.To prove it Mitchell turned low persistence off and then on as we moved around, and although the image became darker with it on, it almost totally alleviated what was previously one of the Rift's biggest issues.
The tech behind the low persistence is somewhat complex, but Mitchell explained the gist of it. Essentially the new "Crystal Cove" Oculus Rift's OLED display has zero latency, so it takes the pixels no time at all to change color.
Even then, Mitchell said, there was some blurring, but Oculus alleviated it even further by programming the pixels to consistently but imperceptibly flicker on and off, only turning on when they have "good" data to display.
That new OLED display is also full HD 1080p, just like the prototype Oculus showed off behind closed doors at E3 2013. That of course helps as well.
Wizard Chess
We played EVE: Valkyrie at E3 2013 as well, though on the older, lower-resolution Oculus Rift. In 1080p, and with minimal motion blur and the new positional head-tracking, it was even more immersive now than it was back then - and that's saying something, because even that first time it was totally mind-blowing.Piloting a space ship with an Xbox 360 controller while you look around the cockpit and target enemies with the motions of your head is one of the most impressive gaming experiences ever created. It feels like the first time you played Super Mario 64, or Halo, or Wolfenstein - completely fresh and like it has the potential to change the world of gaming. And right now it's only a demo.
The other software Oculus had at CES was a very basic defense game built by Epic Games in Unreal Engine 4. It's an evolution of one of the original Oculus Rift demos Oculus showed around - the one where users simply walked or floated around several beautiful but interaction-light Unreal Engine 4 environments, including a snowy mountain and the lava-filled lair of a scary-looking demon lord.
Now, that demon sits on his throne across from you, the player, he being your apparent opponent. Around you is his cavernous, fiery lair, and before you is something like a 3D board game with moving pieces. He sends tiny dwarves marching inexorably toward your goal, and you press buttons on the Xbox 360 controller to fire arrows, cannonballs and flamethrowers at them.
There are two views: one overhead and one from closer to the game's level, almost like you're leaning down toward it to put on your thinking cap. And thanks to that positional head-tracking you can actually lean forward to peer into the game and examine the little dwarves up close. You can look into their faces as they're pinned with arrows and crisped with fire.
The experience of playing a game inside a game world is not unique to Oculus Rift. This little game, though still very basic, could conceivably be a mini-game within some epic, sprawling RPG. But like with everything else, playing it on Oculus Rift makes you feel like you're really there.
Early Verdict
Mitchell said the camera that enables the positional tracking may be only a temporary solution. But whatever Oculus settles on to make sure the final version of Oculus Rift features full six-point head-tracking will be included with the unit, whether that means bundling a camera in or something else.There's still no projected release date or final pricing for the consumer product that the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype will eventually become, despite rumors of a Christmas 2014 goal that Mitchell would neither confirm nor deny. And the conspicuous indicator lights on the Crystal Cove's front aren't final either, Mitchell revealed, even if they do look kind of cool.
Mitchell and his colleagues at Oculus VR seem to think the Rift still has a long way to go. That may very well be true, but the fact is the Oculus Rift is the coolest product in the world right now, and it gets better every time we see it.
Alex Roth and Matt Swider also contributed to these hands-on previews
Earlier previews
Update: It's E3 2013, and it's been several months since TechRadar last saw Oculus Rift. The virtual reality headset has undergone two major changes since January: a new prototype now comes with full HD 1080p visuals, and it's now got something resembling an actual video game.Hands on impressions by Matt Swider and Alex Roth
We went hands on at the show to check out what's new with Oculus Rift, and we came away extremely impressed.
Catching snowflakes
Oculus VR is now using Epic's Unreal Engine 4 to demo its Rift headset. Specifically, the company is showing players the lava and snow demo that debuted in videos in late March. Wearing the standard-definition headset (similar to the one we saw at CES, but with an extra top strap for added comfort), we felt like we should be able to catch a snowflake with an open mouth when we looked up at the virtual sky.It's that real-looking, and when we put on the brand new prototype HD Oculus Rift that sensation was only heightened.
Oculus Rift is incredibly immersive, and part of that is thanks to its true stereoscopic 3D. The two screens inside the goggles become extensions of your own eyeballs, and your brain quickly adapts to the point that you'll raise your arm and expect to see them in the game world. You can truly sense the world's depth, and despite knowing it's an illusion it feels very real.
We didn't experience any nausea, but we only used it for a few minutes. We did get a touch of vertigo as we looked down from the top of a virtual mountain, though.
The consumer version of Oculus Rift, which Oculus VR Vice President of Product Nate Mitchell said is coming in "months and not years," will likely come in HD like the prototype we saw at E3. As you can imagine it's absolutely a superior experience.
Mitchell was hesitant to divulge too many specifics, though, mostly because they're always subject to change. "We want to continue to improve the hardware," he said. "Display technology keeps getting better. Sensor technology keeps getting better. We're adding new features and things like that, a lot of which we haven't announced."
He said they want to keep the price point around $300 (about UK£191, AU$312), though.
To infinity (and beyond)
The other big development in the world of Oculus Rift came not from Oculus VR itself, but from EVE Online developers CCP Games. The first development kits for the headset went out a few months ago, and in that time CCP built an impressive demo that they showed off at E3 this week.In it players fly a spaceship using an Xbox 360 controller while the Oculus Rift tracks their head movements. This works incredibly well because just like when you're controlling a vehicle in real life, you can look around and move independently.
The multiplayer demo - which unfortunately is just that, a tech demo - allowed multiple players to fly around in a large outer space environment while shooting lasers and missiles at one another. We could shoot lasers straight forward while targeting other players above and to the sides of our ship by simply moving our head and visually targeting them.
The sense of space in this demo (no pun intended) was simply astounding. Tilting our head down, we could see our knees in the game; we found ourselves moving our arms and expecting our in-game avatar's arms to move as well.
That sensation caused some dissonance as our brain tried to differentiate the virtual body it was seeing from the body it's attached to. That could be solved with a Kinect-style sensor that tracked your arm movements used in tandem with Oculus Rift, though Mitchell said they don't have plans for anything like that.
The dev kits are out there, though, and it's not impossible. In fact, it seems we're just beginning to explore the possibilities of Oculus Rift, and if what we've seen so far is any indication then it's time to get very, very excited for what's in store.
Original article: Oculus Rift made headlines last year for its wildly successful Kickstarter project. The enterprise to create a commercially viable virtual reality headset raised $2,437,429, and at the pre-CES 2013 Digital Experience event, TechRadar got to experience Oculus Rift eyeball-to-eyeball.
The VR headset has been through several iterations, but the one we saw at CES was the most refined. It isn't perfect (and as we found out, it might not ever be perfect for some players) but it's undoubtedly superior to any previous attempts at a virtual reality display.
Instead of a clunky skull-encompassing helmet, Occulus Rift is more like a set of ski goggles, with room inside for small eyeglasses if you wear them.
Inside are two lenses, which each feed a separate 640 x 800 image to your eyeballs. Combined, they form a unified 1280 x 800 image.
Motion tracking means it responds to your head movements, as though you're looking around an actual 3D environment.
Oculus VR (the company behind Rift) showed off its remarkable new kit with the Epic Citadel demo - a standard video game input (in this case, from Xbox 360) in first-person view.
This plunged us into a medieval marketplace populated by humble townsfolk and knights in armour, with snow softly settling around us.
Wear it well
The first time we moved was rather perplexing and disorienting. It's almost like walking for the very first time.However, the visuals seem extremely fluid and natural. And in less than a minute, we felt that Oculus Rift really could be the new face of playing games.
Unfortunately, not long after that TechRadar's motion-sickness susceptible reviewer began to feel something else. He was only able to tolerate ten minutes before nausea spoiled the party.
The time it takes for sickness to kick in appears to depend on the game's frame rate, camera system and other factors that have yet to be isolated.
But surprisingly, while Oculus VR's representatives say this initial reaction is common among first-timers, they also report that most (though not all) players subsequently become accustomed to the experience.
Early verdict
There is still no target release date for the final product, let alone price. At CES, two versions were shown: the somewhat rough prototype, which is covered by black tape; and the developer kit, which looks far more polished.But whenever it appears, Oculus Rift seems set to mark a big shift in gaming. Clearly, though, there's work to do if the headset is to fulfill its potential - we can't see it becoming truly popular if it gets a reputation for making players sick.
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Updated: Build 2015: news, rumors and predictions
Everything you need to know about Build 2015
We all know that Windows 10 is supposedly dropping in late July of this year, but when exactly? And we all know that Microsoft is working on another Surface Pro – well, at least we think we know – but what has Microsoft done to prepare it to compete against the new MacBook and would-be iPad Pro?Here at the TechRadar offices, we hope this and more will be revealed at Build 2015, Microsoft's fifth annual conference that's all about Windows, from the Moscone Center in San Francisco. In fact, we'd like to make a few more bold predictions, or at least what we'd like to see happen on April 29 through May 1.
Between the first operating system update to excite this editor in years, a super rad-looking head-mounted display tech in HoloLens and a possible update to the first Surface device to at least start to get it right, this is no doubt the most-hyped Build yet. And with good reason. (And that's even without Xbox One, which we don't anticipate hearing too much about.)
With that, of course, comes some serious expectations – or, at the very least, hopes – for what Microsoft has to show us. Without further ado, here are our predictions (and one obvious rumor) for Build 2015.
(We'll also update this space with whatever news and rumors we hear leading up to April 29, not to mention with all the latest from Build as it happens. So, come on back, will ya?)
Prediction: Windows 10 will get a definitive release date
Sure, we're reaching for the low-hanging fruit here, but may as well get this one out of the way. As far as we know officially, Windows 10 will launch "this summer," according to Microsoft EVP of Operating Systems Terry Myerson.
However, AMD CEO Lisa Su recently let slip during an earnings call that the OS is expected to launch at the "end of July." So, between Microsoft recently putting out a narrower launch window and one mighty slip of the tongue, it's extremely likely that the company will issue a date for the big release during the conference.
Rumor: Surface Pro 4 will be shown at Build
Take it with some salt (though appreciate the logic in it), but Digitimes has reported that Microsoft plans to unveil its Surface Pro 4 during Build 2015, citing sources close to the matter. While the publication's track record isn't stellar with these leaks, this move would make complete sense.Microsoft needs not only to show us what's so great about Windows 10, but how exactly those things are so great. It needs a model for what the new Windows experience looks and feels like.
The timing couldn't be better, being days shy of a year since the Surface Pro 3 release. And there's little doubt that Microsoft Corporate VP of Surface Panos Panay and his team sat on their laurels for long after launching that gem. Not when they were so, so close to the perfect hybrid device.
So, how will Surface Pro 4 combat the MacBook and iPad this time? Based on a report by cnBeta, the 2-in-1 laptop is expected to come in 12- and 14-inch varieties and will likely run on Intel's fanless wonder, the Core M processor. (Meanwhile, International Business Times reports citing anonymous sources that it will still run on Intel's Core i5 or i7 chips.)
We also know that, whatever design evolution the Pro 4 shows off, last year's Pro 3 accessories will be compatible, according to Microsoft. So, at the very least don't be surprised if the dimensions of Redmond's next Pro slate don't differ too terribly.
Rounding out the Pro 4's potential spec sheet, according to the same report, the device will run on a 2,160 x 1,440-pixel display, up to 1TB of storage and as much as 16GB of RAM. Also, remember that Microsoft is thought to be working on purchasing N-trig, the Israeli company that helped develop the Surface Pro 3 pen, so expect even deeper integration there.
Prediction: We'll see a flagship Windows 10 phone
Frankly, Microsoft itself has promised that Windows 10 for phones will, too, have its very own marquee device. What's likely to be the biggest stage of the year for the new OS seems like the most likely place to unveil such a handset.Plus, now that we've already seen leaks of a flagship phone, from Chinese vendor Elephone, that allegedly can switch between Windows 10 and Android, surely the bigger players are even farther along. Of course, this assumes that Microsoft has attracted major handset makers to its new platform, which is a safe assumption.
However, since we have next to no idea where this first flagship Windows 10 phone will come from, it's tough to say whether a Build 2015 reveal is in the cards for sure. If the first device is to come from anywhere other than Microsoft through its Lumia line, then they might want their own stage to unveil the device.
Prediction: Project Spartan will get a real name, deeper preview
The codename for Microsoft's new web browser is cute, but it needs to go. Even if the company were to name the browser simply "Spartan", which would certainly be fitting given the app's minimalist trappings, that would suffice.Not to mention a name like that would fit with Microsoft's Halo-inspired name for its Windows 10 voice assistant, Cortana. But anyway, what's more important is that we see more of the Internet Explorer replacement. How do extensions work exactly in Project Spartan, and what about stuff like video, Flash, HTML5 and other features?
Sure, you can see how some of those features look and feel, if you're in the "fast ring" of the Windows 10 Technical Preview. But we need a refined look at how it all comes together now that Microsoft has had another few months to iron out the kinks.
It's safe to expect Microsoft to give us a longer look at Project Spartan during the show – its teams have clearly spent a lot of time and effort on it. Perhaps we'll more closely see how the browser might interact between devices when it comes to sharing and saving content.
Prediction: We'll see HoloLens in even more scenarios
This too might be a safe one, but surely what we saw of HoloLens back at Redmond in January was only the tip of the holographic iceberg. Much of the HoloLens API (or application programming interface) has already been in developers' hands since that fateful event, according to chatter on the company's Channel 9 developer forums.So, if independent developers have already dug into much of the codebase working behind the device, it's not a leap to think that larger app companies are well in the know if not working with Microsoft directly. Given that it's keen to put its app on every screen it can, one likely company would be Facebook – we spend all day there, so why not just strap it to our faces?
Plus, since Microsoft has previously said that HoloLens will be ready for the launch of Windows 10, we might even get a release date or launch window out of the company. But, judging by the prototype shown to the press during Microsoft's January event – it definitely wasn't what we all gawked at on stage – it'd be a shock to see this device release day and date beside the new OS.
- Everything we know about Windows 10 Mobile
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Acer's hardcore gaming tablet wants to be a better Nvidia Shield
Acer isn't a name you'd really associate with gaming, but starting today it wants to be taken more seriously.
Acer has revealed a new line of "Predator" gaming machines which will be rolling out over the course of the year. Included in that lineup is a Predator gaming-focused tablet that wants to compete with Nvidia's own.
How it will match the Shield Tablet on power remains to be seen (we only got to play with a dummy 8-inch unit) but we do know that it will feature haptic feedback - as featured on the PS4 and Xbox One controllers - through the touchscreen, but not a bundled gamepad like the Shield Tablet does.
It's also got four front-facing speakers to hopefully give you a decent, immersive sound experience, though that might be slightly lost on the 8-inch form factor. We will see.
Other details on the tablet are thin on the ground, but we're told that it'll be arriving in Q3 of this year.
Never one to knowingly miss a 'world first' moment, Acer also just launched the first ever curved monitor to feature Nvidia's G-Sync tech. For the uninitiated, G-Sync is a technology that delivers a smooth gaming experience by eliminating screen tearing and stuttering.
That, paired with IPS technology and 178-degree viewing angles, makes for possibly the most appealing part of the Predator range.
On the downside, it's dear. It will start at $1,299 (around £862, $1,669) with exact specifications to be announced ahead of its September release.
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Review: Skullcandy Grind
To craft the Grind on-ear headphones to be affordable for all, Skullcandy carved away flashy design flourishes that cost music-listeners a fortune, sparing only the most crucial components. Then, the Park City, Utah-based audio company packed in some capable sound drivers.
The result of this scrupulous molding of design, performance and value is a set of headphones that are an absolute steal for $60 (£40, AU$77).
Design
Sport is at the heart of Skullcandy's company-wide design ID, and the Grind are no exception. But don't let that shy you away: these on-ear cans come in a variety of colors to meet the needs of listeners regardless of their style preferences.
Our review sample offers up something in between sporty and casual. The headband offers the first impression, one made up of a faux white leather that feels enough like the real thing. On its underside, soft black foam is stitched into place with a breathable mesh layer, which rests comfortably on your head.
The Grind are reinforced with a brushed metal frame that gives them a premium look and feel. Branding on these headphones is subtle, with a small logo stamped onto each of the sidearms. I admire that it doesn't scream out for attention, like last year's Skullcandy Crusher. The loudest design feature you'll find here is a red wire that hugs alongside the sidearms.
Attached to the sidearms are the sliding ear pads. Our review sample features translucent plastic capping the back of each cup, which allows a peek at the inner workings. The sliding mechanism is pretty straightforward, but on this model, we can see that each cup is attached to the sliding post by a ball and socket joint. This affords the pad some flexibility to pivot, which is crucial if you hope to find your unique comfort zone.
Touching on its features, it's all inside the left ear pad. There's a 3.5mm input where you can plug in the included cable, but you could technically use whichever one you'd like to. Right next to it is Skullcandy's self-coined TapTech button. It's a multi-function button that allows you to pick up calls, pause music and skip around tracks with multiple presses.
This sort of functionality is usually located on inline controls, but Skullcandy devised a way to embed it onto the cup, and it works like a charm. Right on the other side of the same cup is a microphone for taking calls.
It's a stroke of genius for Skullcandy to craft the Grind in such a way that the features are housed in the cups themselves, not in the cable. This allows you to replace a frayed cable without worrying about losing the microphone or TapTech features.
Performance
With such a stripped-down, but effective design, you might think that Skullcandy must've held back on sound performance to meet the low price point. I'm pleased to tell you that's not the case at all.
The Skullcandy Grind are comfortable on-ear headphones, which by itself – at this price – is an accomplishment. Pressure directed inward against your ears is kept to a minimum, thanks to the flexible metal frame and plush ear pads. I've worn these headphones for weeks on my big head at work, listening to music and at home, playing through some games in my backlog with no complaints about its comfort.
At its affordable price point, I wasn't expecting much in the way of sound performance with the Grind. After all, how much can one expect for well under a hundred smackers? Based on the stellar performance found here, we've all been cheated, paying too much for headphones for far too long.
The drivers packed into the Grind offer exquisite sound quality, complete with beefy bass response and articulate delivery of mids and highs. I tried a wide variety of music samples to see if I could find a weak point in these cans – nope. I've never heard a better-sounding set of headphones for the price.
Wrapping things up, the microphone performs adequately indoors and outside. The multi-function TapTech button is a little touchy, which could lead to accidental pauses or track skipping. Having these functions available to me outweighed this minor issue I encountered.
Final verdict
You, like everyone else, probably wants a set of headphones that nails the tricky blend of design, useful features and incredible sound. You might think that you need to flush your savings to enjoy such a pair of cans. Protip: you don't.At $60 (£40, about AU$77), the Skullcandy Grind is priced well below its competitors, but the low price tag isn't a trick to get you in the door. It's an invitation to find everything you want in a set of headphones (and then some) for an unbeatable price.
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Hands-on review: Acer Switch 10 E
If you're looking for a laptop that can double as a tablet, the market is saturated with quality devices. Both the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 ($1,099, £1,099, AUS$1,254) and Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi ($899, £601, AU$1,156) compete in a market led by the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (starting at $799, £639, AU$979).
For those consumers who want the flexibility of a hybrid without the bells and whistles (and price tag) that come with the top-of-the-line, the Acer Aspire Switch 10 E ($279, £185, AU$358) might be in your wheelhouse.
Like the HP Pavilion x360 ($409, £273, AU$530), the Aspire Switch 10 E combines affordability and style, but little else. This puts it in line with a solid group of mid-range convertibles that are ideal for students and consumers with basic performance needs.
Design
The first thing you'll notice about the Switch 10 E is its gorgeous, matte plastic chassis that comes in six different colors (blue, purple, white, black, pink and magenta). The matting feels nice to the touch, and Acer says it is meant to prevent scratches and smudges. Coupled with a midnight black piping, five of the six colors (except for black) will appeal to anyone who is exhausted by the trite silver and black laptops every other manufacturer produces.
The traditional keyboard feels great beneath your palms. Its aluminum casing won't smudge under your sweaty palms and fingers. Plus, the tiny precision touchpad is perfectly situated between where your thumbs would naturally sit in a ready-to-type position.
Acer's second generation Snap Hinge 2 allows the tablet to sit firmly atop the keyboard. We enjoyed last year's hinge, and we love this one even more. It's as easy as popping on or off the device and then pushing and pulling as much as you'd like. I didn't experience any wobbles or wiggles, and I had no trouble putting it on or taking it off.
What you'll see on the Switch's touchscreen won't be very pretty, though: the Switch comes packing a barely-HD, 1,280 x 800 display that produces awful glare. Seriously, with my back to the sun, I could barely make out the Windows 8.1 home screen. Acer says the device comes with something called Acer LumiFlex, which is supposed to optimize the display under sunlight, but when I asked an Acer rep to solve the issue for me, nothing changed.
But don't worry, you won't be moving around with this screen as much as, say, a tablet. Because the device is heavy, both as a laptop (2.82 pounds, 1.28kg) and as a tablet (1.39 pounds, 630 grams), it absolutely works best as sit-down device.
For comparisons sake, the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro weighs only 2.62 pounds in total, and the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 weighs only 1.76 pounds before you latch on the 0.65-pound keyboard. The Switch is much lighter than its more realistic competitor, the Pavilion x360, which weighs a whopping 3.21 pounds (1.45 kg) as a laptop. But both these devices are chunkers.
Performance
Acer says it managed to cram 12 hours of battery life into the Switch, which would be a revolution in hybrid laptops if true. The competitors I mentioned earlier don't crack the eight-hour mark. To be fair, we fully tested those devices, so let's see what happens when we get the Switch into our laboratory.
Conversely, I can say for sure that you will hate that this device uses an Intel Atom processor. It took several seconds for the unit to recognize my clicks and then several more seconds before the program I clicked actually loaded. This is a huge deal that will challenge every aspect of your computing experience.
If you only want this computer for local word processing documents, then you might be OK. But, if you want to bang around from web-based applications to local programs to web browsing, take my advice, look elsewhere.
Beneath the hood, you'll get a pedestrian 1GB of DDR3 memory and 2GB of DDR3L memory, in addition to up to 64GB of storage. Storage space starts at 32GB. It is immediately unclear how much of the memory and storage live in the tablet versus the keyboard, but I've put in a call to Acer.
It's not all bad
In addition to its gorgeous looks, the Switch also has a cool feature that protects you from losing your entire hard drive whenever you detach your keyboard. For example, lets say you're in a cafe and you pop your keyboard off so that you can use the Switch as a tablet, but then you forget your keyboard; you've just lost your entire hard drive to anyone who has a compatible device. However, Acer is able to pair your keyboard to your tablet so that the two can only work in concert.Early verdict
Don't allow the Acer Aspire Switch 10 E's low price tag to convince you to buy this machine. It looks good, it feels good, and it even appears to be well-constructed. Unfortunately, it will underperform and you'll wish you'd spent a few extra bucks on something with more power and speed.However, if you do decide to make this purchase, you'll be best served displaying the unit at the front of your desk. Your friends will be jealous of its sex appeal.
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Here's how to access the secret Apple Watch App Store from your iPhone
Apple Watch shipments arrive tomorrow to customers who pre-ordered the smartwatch two weeks ago and are likely camping out in front of their doorstep right now.
But some of the best Apple Watch apps are already available to download today, albeit in a hidden menu that's only available on the iPhone so far.
Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, Uber and The New York Times are among the first apps that can be downloaded to the phone and, for now, seen in screenshot form.
While most Apple Watch apps are free, a few like Flight Track and Green Kitchen cost money. But you won't have to repay for these apps apps if you have already downloaded them on your iPhone.
How to access the secret Apple Watch app menu
How do you see and download these Apple Watch apps right now? It turns out, the menu is hiding in plain sight on your iPhone, whether or not you have a Apple Watch.Watch app, you reveal can the secret list of apps by tapping the "App Store" tab in the bottom right corner seven times, , discovered The Verge.
There, the Apple Watch App Store has a homepage and a category list that breaks the apps up into the usual segments of Business, Games, Health and Fitness, News and so forth.
- New Apple Watch video tours show more of what you can do
- More to explore: Apple Watch price and Apple Watch bands
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Updated: Get cozy with the Apple Watch using these video guides
In the lead-up to the Apple Watch's April 24 launch, Apple has continued to add new videos to its Apple Watch guided tours hub and on YouTube.
Visitors can now watch videos on phone calls, Siri, Maps, Music, Apple Pay, Workout, Activity and more. Previous videos gave rundowns of the Watch's general UI and navigation as well as how users will receive and send messages.
Whether you want to familiarize yourself with the Apple Watch before it arrives on your doorstep or you just want to check out all the features you'll be missing out on by not buying one, now you can.
And it's a good thing, too, because there's a lot to learn about the Apple wearable. Luckily TechRadar has everything you need to know on our own Apple Watch hub page, so check that out before tomorrow, if you're so inclined.
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Windows 10 just revived everyone's favorite PC game
I remember spending hours after school playing Solitaire on my best friend's Windows PC as we tried to beat each other's top score. Microsoft, for whatever reason, decided to delete part of my childhood by not installing the classic computerized card game on Windows 8, along with Minesweeper (another awesome after-school favorite) and Hearts.
However, today we learned that Microsoft is righting this egregious wrong by bringing back Solitaire as a built-in game on Windows 10. Just like the good ol' days, Solitaire will greet you in the Games folder, and you won't have to search through the Windows Store to download it (that just wasn't the same, Microsoft).
The Windows 10 desktop game is the same as the Windows 8 version, according to The Verge. Its comeback should appease the game's "devoted following," though there's no word on whether Minesweeper and Hearts will find their way back into the fold.
Windows 10 is expected to launch in late July, and we should hear plenty more about it at next week's Build 2015 conference.
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Acer's new wearables are actually quite beautiful
When Acer debuted the Liquid Leap in 2014, there was a sense that this wasn't a category Acer was ready to gamble big on. Since then the company has made three new devices, the Liquid Leap Fit, Liquid Leap Active and the Liquid Leap Curve, and a decision that wearables is a place it definitely wants to be seen.
Annoyingly, press weren't allowed to try the new bands at the New york unveiling, so we can't tell you how good they are as fitness trackers. What we can say is that they all look rather nice.
We didn't think the original Liquid Leap was much of a looker but Acer knows that fashion is proving to be as important as function in this area. We're particularly fond of the customisable bands of the Leap Fit and Active (note the woven straps).
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 teaser is a dystopian feast for the eyes
Everybody knew this coming. Another year, another Call of Duty.
Activision today released a 3-minute live-action teaser trailer of the next game in the explosion-filled franchise coming from, we assume, developer Treyarch.
The vignette shows us how technology - particularly cybernetics - impacts the human experience, starting off in a positive way with prosthetic limbs and neurally linked hearing aids, and ending with bio-mechanical super soldiers.
Check out the trailer below:
In an almost Deus Ex way, Black Ops III is pawing at some of the biggest issues with technology. Do our electronics enhance our lives, or do they control it? At what point does modern medicine stop and robotics begin?
It makes you stop and think.
In any event, whatever we think about the game right now is only a small piece of the overall picture as the trailer ends with the words "world reveal" and the date April 26, 2015.
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Samsung comes full circle to tease a round Gear smartwatch
It's been previously rumored that Samsung's next Gear smartwatch will be round and it looks like that's the case more than ever.
For the first time, the South Korean company is reaching out to developers by releasing an SDK call out before an official product announcement. The image included shows off a giant round face with apps like CNN and Yelp also in circular form.
The new Gear has gone through several name changes already including Orbis and most recently Samsung Gear A, though it will likely transform into something else as time goes on.
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Microsoft details Windows 10 Technical Preview expiration process
Microsoft has shed a little more light on how Windows 10 Technical Preview expiration dates work.
In an answer to a question posted on the Windows Insider Program community site, RajithR, a Microsoft support engineer, gave a detailed timeframe that showed builds will no longer boot just two weeks after the license has expired.
Using build numbers 9841, 9860 and 9879 as an example, the engineer explained that expiration warnings began on April 2, which is exactly two weeks before the license expiration date of April 15, and precedes Windows not booting at all from April 30.
As for build numbers 9926, 10041 and 10049, he went on to show that expiration warnings will pop up from September 17 before the license expiration date on October 1 and the version of Windows will eventually stop booting on October 15.
What to do if it expires?
Users that are experiencing problems installing the latest build through Windows Update are advised to download the latest ISO file, double-click to mount it and then launch setup.exe. If Windows stops booting because it has expired, users are advised to download the ISO file on another computer, transfer it to a USB flash drive or DVD and boot the PC from this media.Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 10061 is hot off the press and its release brought new Mail and Calendar apps to Windows 10 plus a variety of other smaller tweaks.
- Check it out: Windows 10 release date, price, news and features
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