Sony Launches The Xperia Z5, Z5 Compact, and Z5 Premium With UHD Display
Today Sony launched three new smartphones branded as Xperia Z5. The first is the standard Xperia Z5, the second is the Z5 Compact, and the most interesting of the three is the Xperia Z5 Premium. All of these devices seem more like what one would expect from successors to the Xperia Z3, and below you can find the specifications for each device.
| Sony Xperia Z5 Series | |||
| Model | Xperia Z5 Compact | Xperia Z5 | Xperia Z5 Premium |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 MSM8994 | ||
| RAM/NAND | 2GB / 32GB NAND MicroSD |
3GB RAM, 32GB NAND + MicroSD | |
| Display | 4.6" 1280x720 IPS LCD | 5.2" 1920x1080 IPS LCD | 5.5" 3840x2160 IPS LCD |
| Dimensions | 127 x 65 x 8.9 mm 138g |
146 x 72 x 7.3 mm 154g |
154.4 x 76.0 x 7.8 mm 180g |
| Camera | 23MP Sony IMX230 Rear-facing, 1/2.3", F/2.0, 24mm focal length | ||
| 5MP Front-facing, 25mm focal length | |||
| Battery | 2700mAh (10.26Wh) | 2900mAh (11.02Wh) | 3430 mAh (13.03Wh) |
| Connectivity | 1x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac | 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac | |
| Bluetooth 4.1, DLNA, NFC, MHL 3, microUSB 2.0, GNSS, Fingerprint Scanner | |||
| OS | Android 5.1 Lollipop | ||
| SIM | NanoSIM | ||
Based on the specifications of each device, I have to hand it to Sony for offering a variety of device sizes that don't really compromise on specs as the size gets smaller. All three phones use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 SoC, and while the Z5 Compact comes with 2GB of RAM, the normal Z5 and Z5 Premium comes with 3GB. All three phones include 32GB of NAND and have MicroSD slots.
The displays are where you do end up losing out if you don't go for the largest device. The Z5 Compact has a 4.6" 1280x720 display, which I do find myself wishing was a higher resolution than it is. The normal Xperia Z5 has a 5.2" 1920x1080 display, and I'm very comfortable with this resolution as a good balance between size and sharpness. With the Xperia Z5 Premium Sony has gone all out and outfitted it with a 5.5" 3840x2160 display. This makes the Xperia Z5 Premium the first smartphone ever to ship with a UHD display.
With a pixel density of 801 pixels per inch, there's really no way that you would be able to see any pixels or aliasing on the Xperia Z5 Premium's display, with the exception of edge cases like vernier acuity. I have a feeling that the Z5 Premium is going to create a lot of debate about whether or not such a high resolution even provides any visual advantage over QHD or even 1080p. It'll also be interesting to see whether people feel it makes a difference when reading logographic languages which can have very fine details on characters.
Looking at the camera, we see that all three of the smartphones ship with the exact same camera system. The specific camera sensor used is Sony's IMX230, which is a 23MP 1/2.3" sensor with 1.12 micron pixels. The lens used has a 35mm equivalent focal length of 24mm, and an aperture of F/2.0. Sony's hybrid autofocus with PDAF enables an autofocus time of just 30ms. All versions of the Xperia Z5 can record UHD video at 30fps, and the high resolution sensor can also be used to perform digital zooming or image downscaling to 8MP in order to reduce Bayer artifacts.
Naturally, the dimensions, mass, and battery capacity of each device scales with its size. All of them seem appropriate given the dimensions of the phone, but I'm very interested to see what sort of battery life the Z5 Premium gets in a display bound battery test like web browsing. All three phones support Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 technology for fast charging speeds.
As for the design of Sony's new phones, it doesn't depart much from the design principles that Sony's flagship mobile devices have always adhered to. All of them have metals frames and frosted glass backs. They do come in different colors, with all the phones coming in a silver/white and black finish, but with red and yellow being exclusive to the Z5 Compact, green being exclusive to the Z5, and gold being exclusive to the Z5 and Z5 Premium. It's also worth noting that the fingerprint sensor on the phone is integrated into the power button, which as far as I can tell is the button in the middle of the right edge of the phone. It doesn't look like a massive area for scanning, so I'm interested to see how well it ends up working.
Sony will be launching the Xperia Z5 Compact and Xperia Z5 globally in October, with the Xperia Z5 Premium to follow in November. The Z5 Compact will only be available with a single NanoSIM slot, while the Z5 and Z5 Premium will come in single and dual SIM versions. Pricing is yet to be announced for these three new smartphones. For more information you can check out Sony's launch post in the source below.
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Qualcomm Announces Kryo CPU Details: Quad Core 2.2 GHz, 14nm FinFET
The two main spec details that are being disclosed today is that the quad-core Kryo CPU in Snapdragon 820 will reach up to 2.2 GHz, and that the SoC will be manufactured on Samsung’s 14nm FinFET process. It isn’t stated whether this is the 14LPP process, which will give up to 10% transistor performance improvement over 14LPE which was seen in chips like the Exynos 7420, but it’s a safe bet that it is. As a result of the new architecture and new process node, Qualcomm is claiming up to a 2x increase in performance and up to a 2x increase in power efficiency compared to Snapdragon 810.
The final part of this announcement is Symphony System Manager, which is said to be designed to deal with heterogeneous compute in an efficient manner. This is likely to be a kernel-level mechanism that ensures that the SoC is well-optimized for use in a smartphone or any other application. Given the focus on heterogeneous compute for this launch, I wonder if Qualcomm is going for some form of heterogeneous CPU design as well.
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Asus RT-AC5300U 802.11ac Router - 4x4 MU-MIMO with Broadcom XStream
As a recap, Broadcom's XStream involves combining two discrete 802.11ac radios in a single board, thereby allowing for two different channels to be simultaneously active in the 5 GHz band. Essentially, this concept combines two Wi-Fi routers in one. Initially introduced in a six stream configuration using Broadcom's second generation 802.11ac chipset, it was even demonstrated by Asus at Computex 2014. At CES earlier this year, Broadcom updated their 802.11ac portfolio with some new products sporting Wave 2 features. D-Link also simultaneously announced their ULTRA series using Broadcom's chipsets. The DIR-895L AC5300 was the flagship that combined the Broadcom 4x4 MU-MIMO solution with the XStream concept. The Asus RT-AC5300U being announced today uses the same platform (BCM4709, a 1 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 based processor combined with three BCM4366 radios) and has similar features.
Broadcom's proprietary NitroQAM / TurboQAM technology helps in low-latency and high bandwidth requirement scenarios (as long as the client side also has Broadcom silicon). The router sports eight external dual-band detachable antennae. Internally, there iis 128 MB of flash and 256 MB of DDR3 RAM. The other features are standard - 1x WAN and 4x LAN Gigabit ports, 1x USB 3.0 and 1x USB 2.0 port.
The router will be available for purchase sometime in Q4 2015. There is no information on the pricing yet.
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Huawei Launches Mate S - Hands On
The new 5.5" form-factor places the Mate S along-side other similarly sized devices such as LG's G4. This new form factor is a bit of a departure from previous designs for Huawei. The company has never offered a 5.5” phone before, their previous large format phone being the 6” Mate 7. This makes the Mate S more of a derivative of the Mate 7 than a successor, if not a new product category entirely.
Starting off, let's start with the spec sheet of the device:
| Huawei Mate S | ||
| SoC | HiSilicon Kirin 930 4x Cortex A53@1.5GHz, 4x Cortex A53e@2.2GHz Mali-T628MP4 |
|
| RAM | 3GB LPDDR3 | |
| NAND | 32GB/64GB NAND (128GB in 2016) + microSD | |
| Display | 5.5” 1080p SuperAMOLED Gorilla Glass 4 + Force Touch in 128GB model (2016) |
|
| Modem | 2G/3G/4G LTE Cat 6 (Integrated HiSilicon Balong Modem) |
|
| Networks | TDD LTE | B40 |
| FDD LTE | B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B17/ B18/B19/B20/B25/B26/B28 |
|
| UMTS | 850/900/AWS/1900/2100 (B19/B8/B6/B5/B4/B2/B1) |
|
| DC-42M | B1/B2/B4/B5/B8 | |
| GSM | 850/900/1800/1900 | |
| Dimensions | 149.8 x 75.3 x 7.2 mm, 156 grams |
|
| Camera | Rear Camera w/ OIS 13MP (4160 x 3120) Sony IMX278 Sensor F/2.0 aperture, 29mm eq. |
|
| Front Facing Camera 8MP Sony IMX179 F/2.4 aperture, 26mm eq. |
||
| Battery | 2700mAh(10.39 Whr) | |
| OS | Android 5.1.1 (64-bit) EmotionUI 3.1 |
|
| Connectivity | 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4GHz only BT 4.0, microUSB2.0, GPS/GNSS, DLNA, NFC |
|
| SIM Size | NanoSIM + NanoSIM (w/o microSD) |
|
The Mate S ships with HiSilicon's Kirin 935 SoC at the heart of the device. We have already taken a look at the Kirin in our review of the P8 a few months ago and found that the chipset exhibited some worrisome power consumption characteristics that lead to some reduced battery life. We had hoped HiSilicon would have been able to ship its next-generation SoC, the Kirin 950, in Huawei's fall flagship but I've been told that the chipset isn't ready till 2016 and likely will only find itself in Huawei's next spring lineup.
On the network side, we see that the Mate S supports a very wide range of frequency bands which should allow the western variant of the phone to function on most carrier networks. Still connectivity related, I was disappointed to see that Huawei yet again fell back to Broadcom's aging BCM4334 WiFi chipset. Also similar to the P8, the Mate 2 doesn't come with support for 5GHz WiFi, a very concerning characteristic for a device of this price.
On the camera side, the Mate 2 directly adopts the camera system from the P8. This means a Sony IMX278 13MP RGBW sensor with OIS and an IMX178 8MP front-facing shooter. The camera uses a high-performing external ISP for advanced image processing. A new addition is a soft LED torch on the front of the phone specifically design for selfies.
Design-wise the back of the Mate S looks extremely similar to the Mate 7; it would be hard to distinguish them straight-on if it weren't for their size difference. There is however one big change in the design of the phone: the back curvature. Together with the rounded bezels of the 2.5D screen, this results in the edges of the Mate S being extremely thin, far less than the 7.1mm maximum thickness at the centre of the device. Both of these design features make the Mate S one of the most comfortable devices I've used to date.
The Mate S also improves on previous Mate products in terms of build-quality. The aluminium of the full-metal body comes with a finer grain than what was found on the P8, yet still seems grippier than the Mate 7's finish. The new 2.5D glass front is also surrounded by a much higher-quality material, which I'm not sure if it's metal or a glass extension. The Mate 7 here featured a little plastic rim that could be easily chipped when dropped.
I was extremely surprised when I unpacked my unit as I came to the realization that the device comes with an AMOLED screen. This wasn't specified in the launch presentation and something that I overlooked in the bright lights of the demo unit stands. A quick dig through the device's drivers revealed that Huawei is using one of Samsung Display's higher-end DDICs. The screen also managed to get extremely bright, not unlike the Galaxy S6, so we might be looking at one of SDC's latest generation screens.
The 1080p screen is visibly using a diamond-grid pentile pixel matrix, although it's not noticeable until you get close to the screen. The Note 3 is probably the best comparison device here when it comes to the sharpness of the screen. Huawei's colour profile seemed a bit saturated in terms of colour calibration, but I won't be able to tell more until I get to measure it properly for the device's review.
A big feature that was touted during the launch was the reveal of "Force Touch" - a new input method where the screen is able to sense the amount of pressure one applies to touches. Huawei demonstrated a few features such as zooming via touch pressure or being able to use the bezels of the screen as input areas. The device even comes with a scale application that is supposed to be able to approximate an object's weight when you place it on the screen.
The catch however is that the Force Touch feature is limited to the 128GB model which according to Huawei won't be available until next year, and furthermore won't be released in all regions. It seems like the feature is not yet mass-production ready and Huawei is looking for suggestions and ideas on how the feature might could get used - meaning the software and functionality is still in the early stages.
The Mate S comes in Luxurious Gold, Titanium Grey (pictured) and Mystic Champagne colour options in 32GB and 64GB storage options for 649€ and 699€ respectively, and will be available in select markets in the coming weeks and months.
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Motorola Launches The New Moto 360 Collection
The first thing to note is that the Moto 360 will actually come in two versions. The first is the standard Moto 360 which has a similar design to the first generation. It now comes in two sizes, with the smaller size having a 42mm watch case and the larger being 46mm. Users who find a 42mm watch to be too large appear to be left out in the cold again, and it'll be interesting to see how the user demographics are split between different heights, genders, etc. From Motorola's images we can also see that the display still has the gap at the bottom where the display driver is stored.
The normal Moto 360 can be completely customized with Moto Maker. The 42mm model comes with default color and band settings for both men and women, which I kind of understand but I feel is misguided when your entire platform is allowing users to make it however they wish. Both of the 42mm models allow you to customize the case color, the band, the bezel color, and the default watch face. Depending on what size and band you choose, the price will range from $299 to $429 in the US. Motorola is allowing users in the US to customize and pre-order their watches right now, and even if you're not in the US it provides a way to check out the different options Motorola provides.
Ignoring the size segmentation, the second device in the Moto 360 Collection is the new Moto 360 Sport, which is is more rugged and has some unique features of its own to distinguish it from the normal edition. The band is made of silicone, which also surrounds the watch case and resists moisture, fading, or staining. It's important to note that this strap is fixed in place, so you won't be able to switch it with other colors or completely other straps. The Moto 360 Sport also comes with integrated GPS, which allows for accurate position and distance tracking when jogging or cycling without a smartphone. As for the display, Motorola is calling it an AnyLight display, which they say acts as a typical LCD when indoors but reflects natural light when outdoors to maintain readability.
Both versions of the Moto 360 are now powered by a Snapdragon 400 SoC, which is a change from the TI OMAP platform in the previous version. Motorola hasn't said anything about the display resolution other than that it's "higher" than the previous generation model. The battery capacity of both is unknown, but Motorola claims that the 46mm model will last two days between charges, while the 42mm model will last 1.5 days.
As I mentioned earlier, customers in the US can pre-order the Moto 360 now from Moto Maker. Availability in other countries will be announced in the future, as well as availability of the Moto 360 Sport which is currently not available even in the US.
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Lenovo Launches Ideapad Y700 Touch Gaming Laptop, Y700 And Y900 Gaming Desktops, And Accessories
The Lenovo ideapad Y700 Touch is a 15.6-inch gaming laptop powered by Intel’s 6th generation Skylake processors. The laptop features a 1920x1080 display, or you can outfit it with a 3840x2160 offering. The GPU is a NVIDIA GTX 960M which is not unexpected at the starting price of $799. You can get up to 512 GB of SSD or up to 1 TB of HDD or SSHD storage. The battery life is likely going to be not fantastic with just a 60 Wh battery, but gaming laptops are never known for great battery life. Intel outfits the Y700 Touch with a red backlit keyboard, and stereo JBL speakers with a 3 watt subwoofer.
| Lenovo ideapad Y700 | |||||
| Y700 Touch | Y700-15 | Y700-17 | |||
| Processor | Up to 6th gen Intel Quad-Core i7 (45w) | ||||
| Memory | Up to 16 GB DDR4 | ||||
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4GB | ||||
| Display | 15.6" 1920x1080 with touch 15.6" 3840x2160 with touch |
15.6" 1920x1080 15.6" 3840x2160 |
17.3" 1920x1080 | ||
| Storage | Up to 512 GB SSD Up to 1TB SATA HDD |
||||
| Intel RealSense 3D | No | Optional | No | ||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 387 x 277 x 25.95 (inches) : 15.23" x 10.90" x 1.02" |
(mm) : 387 x 277 x 25.95 (inches) : 15.23" x 10.90" x 1.02" |
(mm) : 423 x 305 x 27.95 (inches) : 16.65" x 12.00" x 1.10" |
||
| Weight | 2.6 kg / 5.7 lbs | 2.6 kg / 5.7 lbs | 3.5 kg / 7.7 lbs | ||
| Battery | 4 Cell 60 Wh | ||||
| Price | Starting at $1499 | ||||
There will also be an ideapad Y700 without touch, and this will be available in both 15.6-inch models similar to the touch model, and a 17.3-inch version with a 1920x1080 display as the only offering. The 15.6-inch non-touch model will also be available with the Intel RealSense 3D camera system for Windows Hello support.
Lenovo is also rolling out some new gaming desktops. The ideacenter Y700 comes with a 65 watt Core i7 processor and a NVIDIA GTX 970 GPU. You can outfit the desktop with up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory, and it comes with up to 256 GB SSD storage and up to 2 TB of SSHD. As a desktop, there are more expansion bays as well with 4 x 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch bays, and all of this is powered by a 450 watt PSU. The Y900 offering bumps the CPU up to the Skylake-K series with a 95 watt TDP, and the GPU gets bumped to the GTX 980. Memory is once again DDR4 but with up to 64 GB available. The PSU is also bumped to a 625 watt unit. The 34 liter cases are styled in the same motif as the Y gaming laptops, and the Y900 is shown with a side panel window.
| Lenovo ideacenter Y | |||||
| Y700 | Y900 | ||||
| Processor | Up to 6th gen Intel Quad-Core i7 (65w) | Up to 6th gen Intel Quad-Core i7-K (95w) | |||
| Memory | Up to 32 GB DDR4 | Up to 64 GB DDR4 | |||
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 | |||
| PSU | 450 Watts | 625 Watts | |||
| Storage | Up to 256 GB SSD Up to 2TB SATA SSHD |
||||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 206.4 x 503.5 x 478.9 (inches) : 8.12" x 19.82" x 18.85" |
||||
| ODD | DVD/BD Combo | ||||
| Price | Starting at $999 | Starting at $1599 | |||
Lenovo is also rolling out accessories to go with their Y series gaming systems. The Y Gaming Surround Sound Headset is a USB 3.0 headset with a 40 mm Neodymium driver. The microphone is detachable on this 7.1 headset, and offers noise cancelling. The headset comes in at 350 grams and will be on sale for $70.
They are also offering the Y Gaming Precision Mouse, with up to 8200 DPI and 1 KHz polling, along with the Y Gaming Mouse Pad which is 350mm x 250mm with a braided locked edge design. The mouse will be available in September for $70.
Lenovo is also going to be offering a mechanical switch keyboard which has a detachable palm rest, a 3.5mm audio input and output, and six macro keys. It will be available for $140 in September.
If you need to carry all of this around, Lenovo is also offering a Y Gaming Active Backpack which will hold up to a 17.3-inch laptop and compartments tailored for gaming gear. It will retail for $100.
Source: Lenovo
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Lenovo Unveils A Trio Of New Android Tablets.
| Lenovo YOGA Tab Series | |||||||
| Model | Lenovo YOGA TAB 3 8” | Lenovo YOGA TAB 3 10" | Lenovo YOGA TAB 3 Pro 10” | ||||
| SoC | 1.3GHz Snapdragon 212 | 1.3GHz Snapdragon 212 | Intel Atom x5-Z8500 Quad core, 2.24GHz |
||||
| RAM/NAND | 1GB / 16GB NAND MicroSD |
1GB / 16GB NAND MicroSD |
2GB RAM, 16/32GB NAND + MicroSD |
||||
| Display | 8" 1280x800 IPS LCD | 10.1" 1280x800 IPS LCD | 10.1" 2560x1600 IPS LCD | ||||
| Dimensions | 210 x 146 x 3 to 7mm | 253 x 185 x 3.5 to 9.5mm 655g |
179 x 247 x 4.6mm at thinnest point, 665g | ||||
| Camera | 8MP Rotatable Camera | 13MP Rear-facing 5MP Front-facing |
|||||
| Battery | 6200mAh (23.56Wh) | 8700mAh (33.06Wh) | 10200mAh (38.76Wh) | ||||
| OS | Android 5.1 Lollipop | Android 5.0 Lollipop | Android 5.1 Lollipop | ||||
| Connectivity | 802.11b/g/n + BT 4.0, microUSB 2.0, Optional LTE SKU | 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, microUSB 2.0, Optional LTE |
|||||
The YOGA Tab 3 8" and 10" use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 212 SoCs, which are both quad core Cortex A7 parts with Adreno 304 graphics. As for the Yoga Tab 3 Pro 10", it's a much more interesting situation. This is one of the first devices shipping with an Intel Airmont SoC, and to my knowledge the first and only Android device to do so. This is Intel's first Atom SoC built on their 14nm process, and it consists of 4 Atom cores with a peak frequency of 2.24GHz, along with a 12 EU implementation of their Gen8 graphics.
Moving on to the displays, we see that both of the non-pro YOGA Tabs use a 1280x800 IPS LCD. The YOGA Tab Pro steps up significantly with a 10.1" 2560x1600 IPS LCD. It's fairly clear that the non-pro YOGA Tabs are intended to be low-end tablets, with the pro model packing the more powerful specifications. One that immediately pops out is the battery capacity. At 38.76Wh, it is the biggest battery I've ever seen in an Android tablet, and it rivals the enormous batteries that Apple had to put in the 2012 models of the iPad. Lenovo claims that the YOGA Tab 3 Pro 10" will last up to 18 hours on its battery.
The YOGA Tab 3 Pro 10" also has a couple more interesting features. While both of the non-pro models feature two front facing speakers positioned in the tube at the end of the device, the YOGA Tab 3 Pro 10" has four front-facing speakers, along with Dolby's Atmos 3D surround sound processing. It also features a pico projector that can project an image up to 70" in size with a brightness of 50 nits. Lenovo states that the projector can be rotated using gesture controls, although it's not explained exactly how this works or what it entails.
Lenovo hasn't set a firm date for the launch of any of these tablets, but their press release states that these are part of their holiday lineup, and so if you're interested in buying one you should be able to pick one up sometime in December at the latest. Prices for the YOGA Tab 3 8" and 10" are unknown, but the YOGA Tab 3 Pro 10" is priced at $499 for the WiFi model, and $599 for the LTE model.
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Lenovo Announces New PHAB and PHAB PLUS Phablets
| Lenovo PHAB | Lenovo PHAB PLUS | |
| SoC | Qualcomm Snapdragon 64bit Quad Core | Snapdragon 615 1.5GHz 4x Cortex A53 1.1GHz 4x Cortex A53 |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB LPDDR3 |
| NAND | 16GB NAND + microSD | 32GB NAND + microSD |
| Display | 7” 720p IPS | 6.8” 1080p IPS |
| Network | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (MDM 9x25 Category 4 LTE) |
| Dimensions | 8.9mm thick, 250g | 186.6 x 96.6 x 7.6mm, 229g |
| Camera | 13MP Rear Facing | 13MP Rear Facing |
| 5MP Front Facing | 5MP Front Facing | |
| Battery | 4250 mAh (16.15 Whr) | 3500 mAh (13.3 Whr) |
| OS | Android 5.0 | Android 5.0 |
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS |
2.4 GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS |
| SIM | 2x MicroSIM | MicroSIM + NanoSIM |
| Launch Price | $179 | $299 |
Both the Lenovo PHAB and the Lenovo PHAB PLUS are quite large devices. I was under the impression that once you got to 7" you started calling your device a tablet, but with the PHAB including cellular capabilities it looks like Lenovo has decided to brand it as a phablet despite its size. It's also interesting to note that unlike Apple and Samsung's naming scheme, the "plus" in PHAB PLUS doesn't mean that the display is bigger; in fact it is actually slightly smaller.
The Lenovo PHAB is obviously the low end model out of these two devices. Its 7" display has a resolution of only 1280x720, which is quite low for a 7" device, although there's not much more than one can expect at $179. Lenovo doesn't specify exactly what the SoC is, but from it being a 64bit Snapdragon quad core in a low-end device with 1GB of RAM it's pretty safe to assume that it's the 1.2GHz implementation of Snapdragon 410, which has four Cortex A53 cores.
As for the designs of these two phablets, the normal Lenovo PHAB has a polycarbonate shell which comes in black, white, red, and blue. Unfortunately I wasn't provided with images of it. As for the PHAB Plus, it has a metal unibody and comes in either platinum (silver) or gunmetal (grey) finishes.
Like the tablets that Lenovo has also launched today, there's no exact date for when the Lenovo PHAB and PHAB PLUS will be made available. Lenovo states that they will be available during this year's winter holiday season, with the PHAB priced at $179 and the PHAB PLUS priced at $299.
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Lenovo Launches Three New VIBE Smartphones
| Lenovo VIBE Smartphones | |||||||
| Model | Lenovo VIBE S1 | Lenovo VIBE P1 | Lenovo VIBE P1m | ||||
| SoC | MediaTek MT6752 1.7GHz | 1.5GHz Snapdragon 615 | MediaTek MT6735P 1GHz | ||||
| RAM/NAND | 3GB / 32GB NAND MicroSD |
2GB / 32GB NAND MicroSD |
2GB RAM, 16GB NAND + MicroSD |
||||
| Display | 5.0" 1920x1080 IPS LCD | 5.5" 1920x1080 IPS LCD | 5.0" 1280x720 IPS LCD | ||||
| Dimensions | 143.3 x 70.8 x 7.8 mm 132g |
152.9 x 75.6 x 4.6-9.9mm 189g |
141 x 71.8 x 9.3mm 148g |
||||
| Camera | 13MP Rear Facing | 8MP Rear Facing 5MP Front Facing |
|||||
| 8MP Front Facing 2MP Front Facing |
5MP Front Facing | ||||||
| Battery | 2500mAh | 5000mAh | 4000mAh | ||||
| OS | Android Lollipop | ||||||
| Connectivity | 802.11b/g/n + BT 4.0, microUSB 2.0, GNSS | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, microUSB 2.0, GNSS | 802.11a/b/g/n + BT 4.1, microUSB 2.0, GNSS | ||||
| SIM | Dual NanoSIM | Dual MicroSIM | |||||
It's difficult to figure out where some of these smartphones fit in the grand scheme of things. The Vibe P1 looks like Lenovo's phone for those interested in a large but not 6.8" PHAB large smartphone, while the VIBE S1 is a mid/high device and the P1m is the more low end device of the three. Both the P1 and P1m are characterized by very large batteries, while the Vibe S1 has a more typical 2500mAh battery.
The internal hardware of the three VIBE smartphones varies greatly. The VIBE S1 and P1m use MediaTek SoCs, while the P1 opts for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 615. The P1 also sports 802.11ac WiFi, while the other two devices are limited to 802.11n. All of them have support for dual SIMs, which is something of a necessity for phones aimed at markets in Asia.
It's not likely that these smartphones will make their way to North American markets, but it's always interesting to see what kind of devices get sold in different markets. Like all of Lenovo's launches today, the VIBE S1, P1, and P1m will be going on sale this holiday season.
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Acer Announces A 200Hz Ultrawide Display
| Acer Predator Z35 | ||||||
| Resolution | 2560x1080 | |||||
| Refresh Rate | 144Hz native, 200Hz overclock | |||||
| Panel Size | 35" | |||||
| Panel Type | AMVA | |||||
| Response Time | 12ms, 4ms (G2G) | |||||
| Viewing Angle (H/V) | 178° / 178° | |||||
| Color Depth | 16.7 million colors (8bit) | |||||
As 35" with a resolution of 2560x1080, the Predator Z35 isn't as sharp as the 34" 3440x1440 curved displays on the market. Its refresh rate makes it clear that it's first and foremost a monitor for gaming. Like I noted above, the native refresh rate of the panel is 144Hz, with Acer claiming it can be overclocked up to 200Hz. It's not clear whether Acer expects a large number of panels to reach this figure, or if the overclocking procedure voids your warranty, but like most other overclocking I would assume that it does. As a gaming display, the Predator Z35 comes with support for NVIDIA's G-SYNC adaptive refresh rate as well as NVIDIA's Ultra low Motion Blur backlight strobing feature.
Something else worth noting is that this is an AMVA panel from AU Optronics. While the viewing angle for AMVA panels is still advertised as 178 x 178 degrees like an IPS panel, they're still known to have a greater shift in contrast than modern IPS displays. For gamers this isn't likely to pose an issue, but it would for any sort of color critical work. On that note, Acer advertises the Predator Z35 as covering 100% of the sRGB gamut. While this is probably true, it's worth noting that covering sRGB doesn't guarantee any level of accuracy when rendering the colors inside the gamut. All that being said, the AMVA panel is still going to be miles ahead of the TN panels that used to be inside essentially every single display with a native refresh rate above 60Hz.
The Acer Predator Z35 gaming monitor will be coming to North America in December with a price of 1199.99 USD. It will be launching in the EMEA region at the same time with a price starting at €1,099.
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ASUS Details The ZenWatch 2: Coming In October
For starters, the ZenWatch 2 comes in two sizes. the first has a 1.45" AMOLED display with a resolution of 280x280, while the second has 1.63" AMOLED display with a resolution of 320x320. The case dimensions of the smaller and larger model are 45.2 x 37.2mm and 49.6 x 40.7mm respectively. While I appreciate that ASUS has put in the effort to try and accommodate users with smaller wrists, I think it's still going to leave out a very large segment of the market in the same way that all previous Android Wear devices have done. Let me explain why.
Consider that the smaller ZenWatch W1502Q has a square display with a 1.45" diagonal, which equates to a screen area of roughly 1.05 square inches. As a point of comparison, the 42mm Apple Watch, which is the larger of the two models, has a 5:4 display with a 1.5" diagonal. This means that it has a slightly larger area of 1.1 square inches. Despite the 42mm Apple Watch having a larger display, the dimensions of the watch case are significantly smaller in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions. If a user finds the 42mm Apple Watch to be too big, they'll certainly feel that more strongly about even the smaller model of the ZenWatch 2. I happen to fall into that group of users with smaller wrists, and when I originally heard that the ZenWatch 2 would come in two sizes I was hoping for something even smaller than this as I haven't been able to find an Android Wear watch that I can wear comfortably yet.
If you are a user that finds one of the ZenWatch 2 models to be a comfortable fit then your watch will come with 4GB of internal NAND, 512MB of LPDDR2 memory, and Qualcomm's APQ 8026 SoC which has four Cortex A7 cores with a max frequency of 1.2GHz, although no Android Wear devices ramp up the SoC like they would do so in a smartphone. The ZenWatch 2 also includes a 6-axis gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a sensor for tracking the user's heart rate.
As for the battery life, the smaller W1502Q has a 300mAh battery, while the larger W1501Q increases that to 400mAh. ASUS rates the larger model for over 2.5 days of use in ambient mode, and the smaller one for more than 2 days of use in ambient mode. Battery life will obviously vary greatly depending on a user's workload.
The ASUS ZenWatch 2 will be available sometime in October. The larger model will be priced at 149 euros, while the smaller will surprisingly cost more at 169 euros. It will launch with three different straps, with one being a fabric strap, one being leather, and one being metal. Each strap will have a choice of three different colors, and it's a safe bet that the metal band will come with a price premium.
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ASUS Refreshes ROG Laptops With G752 and Liquid Cooled GX700 Series
Specifically in this announcement is the refresh of the Republic of Gamers laptops. The G752 is an upgrade to the G751 that we reviewed. New of course is Windows 10 installed by default, as well as Intel’s Skylake quad-core processor. There will be two options depending on the model purchased, with the Core i7-6700HQ processor as the base. This is a quad-core, eight-thread Core i7 with a 2.6 GHz base frequency and up to 3.5 GHz Turbo on a single core. On the top tier G752 you can get the Core i7-6820HK model, which is 2.7 GHz to 3.6 GHz and bumps the L3 cache from 6 MB to 8 MB. Being a K part, it means that it is overclockable as well which may let adventurous owners squeeze some extra performance out assuming they can keep the laptop cool. The G751 that we tested actually had a great cooling system so I don’t see that being a big issue. As is usual for a mobile quad-core, these are 45W CPUs.
The G752 also keeps what is great about the G751, with the NVIDIA GTX 980M GPU available to handle the graphics duties. One of the great features from the G751 was the introduction of NVIDIA’s G-Sync technology and I am pleased to say this has continued with the G752. The big difference though is that the G752 will be offered with a 1920x1080 panel as the base model, but the top version will be available with a 3840x2160 panel for the 17.3-inch laptop.
The G752 is not just a spec upgrade either. ASUS is rolling out a new chassis with a new design. It is not a huge departure from the outgoing G751 but it does clean up the lines and make the laptop a lot sleeker in my opinion. It will also be available in three colors, with plasma copper, armor titanium, and lava red options. The keyboard is a gaming keyboard with anti-ghosting 30-key rollover and 2.5 mm of travel in the keys. Thunderbolt 3 will also be available, and clearly Intel is pushing this quite heavily now that it can be piggybacked on a USB-C port.
| ASUS ROG G752 | |||||
| G752VL | G752VT | G752VY | |||
| Processor | Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core + HT 2.6 GHz-3.5 GHz 6 MB L3 45 watt TDP |
Intel Core i7-6700HQ Quad-Core + HT 2.6 GHz-3.5 GHz 6 MB L3 45 watt TDP Optional Intel Core i7-6820HK Quad-Core + HT 2.7 GHz - 3.6 GHz 8 MB L3 45 watt TDP |
|||
| Memory | Up to 64 GB DDR4-2133 | ||||
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M 2GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3/6GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M 4/8 GB | ||
| Display | 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS with G-SYNC | 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS with G-SYNC | 17.3" 1920x1080 IPS with G-SYNC 17.3" 3840x2160 IPS with G-SYNC |
||
| Storage | NVME 128/256 GB SSD Up to 2TB SATA HDD |
NVME 128/256/512 GB SSD Up to 2TB SATA HDD |
NVME 128/256/512 GB SSD Up to 2TB SATA HDD |
||
| Optical Drive | DVD Combo Blu-ray writer | ||||
| Dimensions | 428 x 334 x 23-43 (mm) 16.85 x 13.15 x 0.91-1.69 (inches) |
428 x 334 x 23-53 (mm) 16.85 x 13.15 x 0.91-2.09 (inches) |
|||
| Weight | 4.06 kg / 8.95 lbs | 4.36 kg / 9.61 lbs | |||
| Price | Starting at $1499 | ||||
I quite liked the G751 but I found the chassis to be a bit dated, so these updates make it a pretty compelling gaming laptop. It will be available in Q4 starting at $1499.
The big announcement from ASUS though is a completely new gaming laptop called the GX700 series. This is a new flagship gaming laptop from the company and they have tried to pack in quite a few unique features to differentiate from the competition. Someone can correct me if I am mistaken here, but I believe this is the first modern gaming laptop to be offered with a closed loop liquid cooling system. We have seen what a dramatic difference this can make under load on the recently launched AMD Fury X GPU, and ASUS is just teasing us for the moment and will release more details about this later. It will feature a 3840x2160 17.3-inch display, and a yet to be determined GeForce GTX graphics system. The GX700 will feature the mobile K-series Skylake processors much like the G752 and will therefore support overclocking. With the water cooling system, this could make for a pretty powerful laptop. The GX700 will be released in Q4 as well but the price is not final yet.
Source: ASUS
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Asus Announces the VivoStick PC - A Cherry Trail Compute Stick
Asus's first foray into this form factor comes with the 14nm Cherry Trail platform. Unlike Intel's Compute Stick, the Asus VivoStick appears to have a good industrial design. The main differences between the Bay Trail-T Compute Stick that we have already reviewed and the VivoStick PC being announced today are:
- Removal of microSD slot
- Windows 10 Home instead of Windows 8.1 with Bing
- eMCP (multi-chip package) integrating 2 GB of DDR3L and 32 GB of flash memory in a single package, thereby reducing the board area
- 1x USB 3.0 port
The other aspects include availability of a 802.11 b/g/n and BT 4.0 chip for communications. The 138mm x 15mm x 14mm package weighs 70g. The VivoStick also comes in multiple colours. Asus is yet to decide whether to actively cool the device or not.
Asus did not announce any availability dates, but did indicate that the units are expected to have a MSRP of $129. As I have mentioned in multiple reviews, 32GB of primary storage is hardly enough after a couple of major updates. Due to this, the Compute Stick form factor is difficult to recommend as a general PC. However, its sleek and unobtrusive nature as well as low power requirements make it ideal for single purpose computers such as those used in kiosks and other such embedded / industrial applications.
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Lenovo Refreshes Ideapad Lineup With Windows 10, Skylake, and Carrizo
This week is the IFA conference, and while traditionally a mobile focused show, Microsoft’s recent launch of Windows 10 coupled with Intel’s launch of the new 6th generation Skylake architecture means that PC makers are taking the opportunity to refresh their PC lineup here. Lenovo has updated much of their lineup.
The Ideapad 100S is a new model to the lineup, which is going after the budget conscious consumer. We’ve actually seen quite a few laptops targeting this spot over the last year, driven by Microsoft’s free licensing for Windows on low cost devices coupled with competition from Chromebooks. Lenovo’s two models in the Ideapad 100S range are an 11.6-inch and 14-inch model. The 11.6-inch model leverages tablet class parts, including an Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core processor coupled with 32 GB of eMMC and up to 2 GB of DDR3L memory. The 14-inch model switches from a tablet class quad-core to the dual-core Celeron N3050 which is also based on the Atom cores, but this time the 14nm Airmont cores. The Celeron has more TDP to play with, and has a higher base and turbo frequency. The 14-inch is listed as either up to 64 GB of eMMC or 256 GB SSD possibly in some markets. The low resolution 1366x768 display is likely going to be TN on something this low cost.
| Lenovo ideapad 100S | |||||
| 100S 11.6" | 100S 14" | ||||
| CPU | Intel Atom Z3735F (quad-core 1.33 -1.83GHz 22nm 2.2 W SDP) | Intel Celeron N3050 (dual-core 1.6 - 2.16GHz 14nm 4 W SDP) | |||
| RAM | up to 2GB | up to 2 GB | |||
| Storage | up to 32GB eMMC | up to 64GB eMMC / 256GB SSD | |||
| GPU | Intel HD | Intel HD | |||
| Display | 11.6" 1366x768 | 14" 1366x768 | |||
| Battery | Up to 8 hours | Up to 8 hours | |||
| Networking | 802.11n w/ BT 4.0 | 802.11n w/ BT 4.0 | |||
| Weight | 1 kg / 2.2 lbs | 1.4 kg / 3.1 lbs | |||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 292 x 202 x 17.5 (inches) : 11.5" x 7.95" x 0.69" |
(mm) : 337.4 x 234.9 x 18.6 (inches) : 13.28" x 9.25" x 0.73" |
|||
| Price | $189 | $259 | |||
| OS | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 Home | |||
Keeping with the “S” slim lineup, the ideapad 300S comes in both an 11.6 and 14-inch model. The smaller one will be powered by Braswell with the Pentium N3700. This is a quad-core processor based on Airmont cores. The 14-inch model will be offered with up to Core i7 though, and the larger display also comes with a 1920x1080 resolution. The small model sticks with integrated graphics but the 14-inch version will be offered with the GeForce 940M.
| Lenovo ideapad 300S | |||||
| 300S 11.6 | 300S 14 | ||||
| CPU | Intel Pentium N3700 | Up to 6th gen Core i7 | |||
| RAM | up to 8GB DDR3L | up to 8 GB DDR3L | |||
| Storage | up to 64GB eMMC 500GB SSHD/1TB HDD |
up to 256GB SSD up to 1TB SSHD / 1TB HDD |
|||
| GPU | Intel HD | Intel HD / up to GeForce 940M | |||
| Display | 11.6" 1366x768 | 14" 1920x1080 | |||
| Battery | Up to 5 hours | Up to 5 hours | |||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0 | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0 | |||
| Weight | 1.3 kg / 2.9 lbs | 1.9 kg / 3.9 lbs | |||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 299 x 209 x 21.8 (inches) : 11.77" x 8.23" x 0.86" |
(mm) : 340 x 240 x 19.5 (inches) : 13.38" x 9.45" x 0.77" |
|||
| Price | n/a | $479+ | |||
| OS | Windows 10 Home | Windows 10 Home | |||
Next up in the slim line is the ideapad 500S which is a lineup of three sizes, with 13.3, 14, and 15.6-inch models available in ebony black, platinum silver, or flamenco red. These are available with Skylake, and can be had with discrete graphics as well. The smaller 13.3-inch model can be had with the GeForce 920M GPU, and the larger 14 and 15.6-inch models offer the more powerful GeForce 940M. The displays on offer are up to 1920x1080, and storage is up to 256 GB of SSD or up to 1 TB of hard drive.
| Lenovo ideapad 500S | |||||
| 500S 13.3" | 500S 14" | 500S 15.6" | |||
| CPU | Up to 6th Gen Core i7 | ||||
| RAM | up to 8GB DDR3L | ||||
| Storage | 128GB SSD 500GB SSHD/1TB HDD |
up to 256GB SSD up to 1TB SSHD / 1TB HDD |
|||
| GPU | Intel HD / Up to GeForce 920M | Intel HD / up to GeForce 940M | |||
| Display | 13.3" | 14" | 15.6" 1920x1080 | ||
| Battery | Up to 4.5 hours | ||||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0 | ||||
| Weight | 1.5 kg / 3.4 lbs | 2.1 kg / 4.6 lbs | 2.1 kg / 4.6 lbs | ||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 323 x 230 x 19.3 (inches) : 12.72" x 9.05" x 0.76" |
(mm) : 380 x 260 x 20.5 (inches) : 14.96" x 10.24" x 0.81" |
(mm) : 380 x 260 x 20.5 (inches) : 14.96" x 10.24" x 0.81" |
||
| Price | n/a | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 Home | ||||
Moving down in price a bit is the ideapad 300 which is offered in 14, 15.6, or 17.3-inch sizes. The smaller two models are offered with the Pentium N3700 Braswell processor as a base option, or you can choose Intel’s more powerful Core as well. All are available with discrete GPUs, with the Braswell models being available with the GeForce 920M, and the Core models available with the Radeon R5 M330. System memory is up to 8 GB on Braswell, and 16 GB of DDR3L on Core. The display can be up to 1920x1080.
| Lenovo ideapad 300 | |||||
| 300 14" | 300 15.6" | 300 17.3" | |||
| CPU | Up to Pentium N3700 Up to 6th Gen Core i7 |
up to 6th gen Core i7 | |||
| RAM | up to 8GB DDR3L (Braswell) or 16 GB DDR3L (Skylake) | ||||
| Storage | 128GB SSD option with Skylake up to 1TB HDD or SSHD |
||||
| GPU | Intel HD / Up to GeForce 920M (Braswell) Up to Radeon R5 M330 (Skylake) |
||||
| Display | 14" 1920x1080 | 15.6" 1920x1080 | 17.3" 1600x900 | ||
| Battery | Up to 4 hours | ||||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0 | ||||
| Weight | 2.1 kg / 4.63 lbs | 2.3 kg / 5.07 lbs | 3.0 kg / 6.61 lbs | ||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 349 x 245 x 22.9-23.4 (inches) : 13.74" x 9.64" x 0.90"-0.92" |
(mm) : 384 x 265 x 22.9-23.4 (inches) : 15.11" x 10.43" x 0.90"-0.92" |
(mm) : 418 x 292.6 x 25.1 (inches) : 16.45" x 11.51" x 0.99" |
||
| Price | $399+ | $549+ | $449+ | ||
| OS | Windows 10 Home | ||||
Next up is the ideapad 500 series, which is quite interesting because there will be versions with both AMD’s Carrizo CPU and versions with Intel’s Skylake processors. The AMD based on has a starting price of $100 less. There will be 14-inch and 15.6-inch models available with up to 1920x1080 resolution. The AMD based one can be had with the FX-8800P APU which is the top tier from AMD, and the AMD Radeon R5 M330. It will be available with up to 8 GB of memory, and both SSD and HDD storage options are available. The Intel version can be had with up to Core i7, and the GPU option is the AMD Radeon R7 M360 which has more stream processors than the R5 M330 available with Carrizo on this laptop.
| Lenovo ideapad 500 | |||||
| 500 14" | 500 15.6" | ||||
| CPU | Up to AMD Carrizo FX-8800P APU Up to 6th gen Intel Core i7 |
||||
| RAM | up to 16GB DDR3L | ||||
| Storage | 128GB SSD option with Carrizo up to 1TB HDD or SSHD |
||||
| GPU | Radeon R5 M330 (AMD) Intel integrated or Radeon R7 M360 (Intel) |
||||
| Display | 14" 1920x1080 | 15.6" 1920x1080 | |||
| Battery | Up to 4 hours | ||||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0 | ||||
| Weight | 2.1 kg / 4.6 lbs | 2.3 kg / 5.1 lbs | |||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 347 x 249 x 24.4 (inches) : 13.66" x 9.80" x 0.96" |
(mm) : 384 x 265 x 24.6 (inches) : 15.12" x 10.43" x 0.97" |
|||
| Price | $399+ (AMD) $499+ (Intel) | $599 (AMD) $849 (Intel) | |||
| OS | Windows 10 Home | ||||
Lenovo is also refreshing their All-in-One lineup with the ideacentre AOI 700 Series. There will be a 24-inch model and 27-inch model and both can be had with up to UHD 3840x2160 resolution. Skylake is available again, along with the NVIDIA GTX 950A GPU. These devices will support Windows Hello, with the Intel RealSense 3D Camera available on this AIO. The AIO also has stereo JBL speakers with a 2 x 3 watt amplifier.
| Lenovo ideacentre AIO 700 Series | |||||
| AIO 700 24" | AIO 700 27" | ||||
| CPU | Up to 6th gen Intel Core i7 | ||||
| RAM | up to 16GB DDR4 | ||||
| Storage | up to 192GB SSD up to 2TB SSHD or HDD |
||||
| GPU | GeForce GTX 950A | ||||
| Display | 23.8" 3840x2160 | 27" 1920x1080 | |||
| Camera | 1080p w dual mic | Optional Intel RealSense 3D Camera | |||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0 | ||||
| Price | $1,099 | $1,899 | |||
| OS | Windows 10 Home | ||||
The list just keeps going, and next up is a new tablet from Lenovo. The ideapad MIIX 700 is a 12-inch tablet with a 2160x1440 resolution, which you may notice is the same resolution and aspect ratio as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. The similarities don’t stop there, with the MIIX 700 available with a kickstand and folio case with keyboard dock. It is powered by up to Core i7 as well, and you can get it with 8 GB of LPDDR3 memory and 256 GB SSD. It also features the Intel RealSense 3D camera, and therefore supports facial recognition login with Windows Hello. For those that need to use it on the go, it can be outfitted with optional LTE support.
| Lenovo MIIX 700 Tablet | |||||
| MIIX 700 Tablet | |||||
| CPU | Up to 6th gen Intel Core m7 | ||||
| RAM | up to 8GB LPDDR3 | ||||
| Storage | up to 256GB SSD | ||||
| GPU | Intel graphics | ||||
| Display | 12" 2160x1440 | ||||
| Camera | Optional Intel RealSense 3D | ||||
| Weight | 780g / 1.7 lbs | ||||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 292 x 210 x 8.95 (inches) : 11.49" x 8.27" x 0.35" |
||||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0, LTE Optional | ||||
| Price | $699+ | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 Home or Pro | ||||
Finally, Lenovo is offering the Chromebook 100S, which is powered by the Intel Celeron N2840. This is two Silvermont cores, and is on the 22nm process. As is typical with a Chromebook, 16 GB of eMMC is available and up to 2 GB of RAM. Lenovo is claiming up to eight hours of battery life on this $179 Chromebook.
| Lenovo Chromebook 100s | |||||
| Chomebook 100S | |||||
| CPU | Up to Intel Celeron N2840 | ||||
| RAM | Up to 2GB RAM | ||||
| Storage | 16 GB eMMC | ||||
| GPU | Intel graphics | ||||
| Display | 11.6" 1366x768 | ||||
| Weight | 1.2 kg / 2.6 lbs | ||||
| Dimensions | 19mm thick | ||||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.0, LTE Optional | ||||
| Price | $179+ | ||||
| OS | Chrome OS | ||||
Clearly there has been some pent up designs waiting on the release of both Skylake and Windows 10, and Lenovo has an offering for much of the consumer space with these new models and refreshes. There are a couple of very interesting plays here, like the MIIX 700 tablet which is clearly a play at the Surface Pro 3, with the same screen size and resolution, but a $699 starting price. I’d be very interested in checking out the ideapad 500 with both the Carrizo and Skylake offerings to see how they stack up to each other, so we will have to try and get some for review.
Source: Lenovo
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Lenovo Launches ThinkPad Yoga 260 And 460 Models Plus ThinkCentre M900 Tiny SFF PC
The ThinkPad Yoga series started with just a single 12.5-inch model, but last year Lenovo added a couple of larger sizes as well. The Yoga 260 and Yoga 460 are the new 12.5 and 14-inch models respectively. Both are built like a ThinkPad, and include things like carbon fibre in the chassis and the ThinkPad trademark TrackPoint. The ThinkPad Yoga lineup also continues to offer stylus support.
The Yoga 260 features a 12.5-inch display with both 1366x768 and 1920x1080 offerings. The latest models are of course updated with Intel’s new Skylake-U series processors, with everything from i3-6100U all the way up to i7-6600U models available. You can outfit the laptop with up to 16 GB of DDR4 RAM and up to 512 GB of SSD storage. Battery life is rated at 10 hours on this model.
The ThinkPad Yoga 460 is the 14-inch version, and it can be had with either 1920x1080 IPS or 2560x1440 IPS panels. The processor choices are just listed as Core i5 and i7 models, but it should be the same U series as the smaller 260 mode but with an optional GeForce 940M GPU. The 460 can only be had with 8 GB of DDR3L memory, a 256 GB SSD, or a 1 TB HDD. Battery life is rated the same as the 260, coming in at 10 hours.
ThinkPad Yoga 260Networking is now upgraded as well, likely with the Intel 8265 card which offers 802.11ac as well as Bluetooth 4.1. The 260 model offers LTE-A support as an option.
| Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga | |||||
| ThinkPad Yoga 260 | ThinkPad Yoga 460 | ||||
| CPU | Up to 6th gen Intel Core i7 U series | ||||
| RAM | up to 16 GB DDR4 | up to 8 GB DDR3L | |||
| Storage | Up to 512 GB SSD | Up to 256 GB SSD / 1 TB HDD | |||
| GPU | Intel graphics | Intel graphics or GeForce 940M | |||
| Display | 12.5" 1366x768 or 1920x1080 | 14" 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 | |||
| Weight | 1.3 kg / 2.9 lbs | 1.8 kg / 3.9 lbs | |||
| Dimensions | (mm) : 309.9 x 220 x 17.8 (inches) : 12.20" x 8.66" x 0.70" |
(mm) : 338 x 236 x 19 (inches) : 13.30" x 9.29" x 0.74" |
|||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT 4.1, LTE Optional | ||||
| Price | $949+ | $1049+ | |||
| OS | Windows 10 or Windows 7 | ||||
Since these are ThinkPads, they can be custom ordered, and you can get options such as smart card readers and fingerprint readers if necessary.
ThinkPad Yoga 460For those looking for small desktop PC replacements, the ThinkCentre Tiny series has offered some interesting solutions for several years now. The M900 can be equipped with a monitor with built-in mounting bracket, and the M900 is also outfitted with Skylake processors. The small form factor device can be outfitted with up to 32 GB of DDR4 memory, and a wide selection of storage offerings including a 512 GB SSD or 2 TB HDD. There are six USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, headset jack, card reader, and even a serial port option. Wifeless is either a single stream 802.11ac option or 2x2:2 802.11ac.
The All-in-One offering is a 23-inch 1920x1080 monitor which can be had with or without touch.
| Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny | |||||
| M900 | |||||
| CPU | Up to 6th gen Intel Core i7 U series | ||||
| RAM | up to 32GB DDR4 | ||||
| Storage | Up to 512 GB SSD or up to 2TB HDD | ||||
| GPU | Intel graphics | ||||
| AIO Display | 23.8" 1920x1080 | ||||
| Camera | 1920x1080 with 2 microphones (Lync Certified) | ||||
| Networking | 802.11ac w/ BT, Ethernet | ||||
| Price | $749+ | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 or Windows 7 | ||||
I’ve been a big fan of the Yoga series over the years, and the ThinkPad Yoga seems to be a pretty well built two-in-one device. Hopefully we can get a couple of these in to test and review.
Source: Lenovo
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Exclusive: Google's "New" Search Icon Was Created in 2008 by Russian Designer
New logo shares similarities to Microsoft's new logo and Apple's iconic 90s logo; icon is joined by new Sans-Serif corporate logo
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"KeyRaider" Hits 225,000+ iPhones, Mobile Malware no Longer Just a Droid Thing
Chinese third party app stores are presenting the same headache to Apple that they do Google
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