Month / February 2013

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 revealed early on MWC show floor

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 MWC

We’ve known about its impending arrival for a while, but only now has an Engadget tipster shown us what Samsung’s latest Galaxy Note form factor will look like. Following on from both of the phablets and the 10.1″ slate we saw at MWC a year ago, the new 8″ tablet appears to aim squarely (or rectangularly) at the Nexus 7 and other small slates, and, unsurprisingly given its Galaxy Note nomenclature, there’s an S Pen involved. The design language appears to closely follow that of the Galaxy S III and Note II, and we should get to see more of the device, set to be the main inspiration for the upcoming Galaxy S IV, at MWC in Barcelona this week.

Source Engadget

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Google announces Chromebook Pixel, its first premium laptop

Google Chromebook Pixel

At a press event in San Francisco today, Google has unveiled the Chromebook Pixel, the latest addition to the expanding line of Chrome OS-based laptops. As one of the company’s first ventures into hardware, the Pixel represents a change of direction with Google’s strategy, and the hardware inside shows that Google is pitching it towards a higher end of the market than existing ‘disposable’ models from the likes of Samsung, Acer, Lenovo and HP.

The Chromebook Pixel has a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor and 32GB of solid state storage coupled with 1TB of additional Google Drive storage free for 3 years, usually costing $49.99 per month. A 720p HD webcam sits above the market-leading 239ppi 12.85″ 2560 x 1700 touch display and, with its £1,049 ($1,299) price tag, the machine is being pitched as the world’s first premium Chromebook, and the company will be shipping it next week via Google Play and through retail partners, with a $1,499 model with twice the internal storage and support for Verizon’s LTE network set to hit US stores in April.

Source Google Blog

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Sony PlayStation 4 launch liveblog: Sony shows the controller and a bunch of games but no actual PlayStation

Screenshot 2013-02-20 at 22.10.26

Tonight is the night that we’ve all been waiting for since E3 2005. At an event in New York tonight, Sony is set to present ‘the future of PlayStation’ to an audience of the games press, and we all know what that means.

4.

Grab your bingo cards and join me as I furiously scribble down all the news and go into a PlayStation-induced trance on my keyboard from 11pm tonight, and prepare for the next generation of gaming.

Click here for our liveblog – live!

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

HTC One launch event liveblog: catch up on all the news now!

HTC One

HTC is due to show off its latest creation today, and there’s not much about the One (formerly known as M7) that we don’t already know. It looks like a hybrid mutation of a BlackBerry Z10, iPhone 5 and Sony Xperia P, and HTC’s maligned Sense skin seems more reminiscent of Windows Phone with its latest iteration. Hell, we even know that HTC’s going crazy with the button placements on the new phone, but that doesn’t mean that the Taiwanese firm won’t have a few surprises up its sleeves, so we will be liveblogging the launch proceedings via an interesting new platform (Google Docs) and myself (if I get home in time), Rowan and possibly Neil will be bringing you all the news as it happens. Will HTC’s latest be the One to make you feel that way? Join us in a few minutes to find out!

All times are in GMT
This event has now ended.

15:04 Looks like the event is about to start soon! There appears to be a very WP8-esque animation on the stage projection.

15:06 This phone has been leaked like crazy. It looks a bit like a cross between the iPhone 5, the Z10 and the Droid DNA. The highlight has to have been a slightly (read: very) drunk Peter Chou shouting HTC ONE! repeatedly to a crowd of HTC employees a bit like Ballmer.

15:09 The music is ramping up. Very electronic-y.

15:14 Is this thing on? Hey world.
Hey!

15:15 Unlike The Verge, our liveblog isn’t sponsored by BlackBerry. Prepare for total impartiality/terrible jokes/analysis.

15:17 The London event is causing tremendous delays. We should be under way shortly.

15:17: Apparently, there are a lot of unofficial hands-ons going on while people are waiting. It looks like a lot of HTC employees already have their Ones.

15:18: And Jason MacKenzie is on stage in New York!

15:19: “HTC saw a massive opportunity to bring new excitement back to the smartphone.” – Jason MacKenzie

15:20: The HTC One!

15:21 HTC jumping straight into things. Here is a picture of the familiar guy.

15:22 Dual stereo speakers and dual capacitive buttons with the odd placement that HTC seems to wish to pioneer.

15:23 “The new Sense brings a clean and modern design”

15:23 New “Blink Feed” feature, replacing apps and widgets with information that is important to you. Partnering up with a lot of people apparently.

15:24 BlinkFeed seems to be built-in Flipboard. It’s even a bit like Flipboard’s tablet app with its tiled UI.

15:25 HTC has 1,400 content partners. Wow.

15:26 The Verge just broke their embargo. Dual speakers on the front are known as “BoomSound”. Oh dear, HTC.

15:26 Ed Erhart from ESPN is on stage talking about how sports fans love their content on their phones etc.

15:26 The London event is finally beginning.

15:27 The processor is a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600, and the camera is the rumoured 4.3MP UltraPixel thing that works somehow. Also Sense 5.

15:27: A clearer image from Engadget! They describe the phone as very thin, and very well made.

15:28 It appears to be a good UI for people who love new content in their faces. If you can avoid it being bloated by Facebook and Twitter, I think I’d adapt to it.

15:30 Also, it’s a 4.7” 1080p display at 468ppi. If you like pixels, this phone is for you.
“Neil Thomas, Pixel Density Enthusiast”

15:32 People at the event are saying the screen is incredibly bright. We believe it is Super LCD 3.

15:32 Also the BOOMSOUND is LOUD. LOUDER THAN BOOM.

15:33 Press shot!

15:33 HTC’s new music player pulls in lyrics from the internet (think Shazam’s LiveLyrics) and it has 2 microphones to record better audio.

15:34 It also has an IR blaster, if anyone cares. Also 802.11ac.

15:35 It will be on all UK networks (duh) and Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T. Verizon will probably get DROID plastered all over it with dumb bloatware.

15:36 2GB RAM, 32GB storage (with 64GB SKU in some regions), GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0 and…………..2300mAh battery. Don’t forget GLONASS.

15:37 Apparently good low light too – could this be a PureView killer?

15:38 “We’ve developed our own technology, called the UltraPixel camera. 300 percent more light, ghostless HDR, HDR video.”

15:39 There’s also a camera feature called HTC Zoe. Zoes are short video clips (think Vines).

15:40 It will be interesting to see how well this stacks up with the Galaxy S4 that is rumored for March 14th.
Of course we will be liveblogging that too. And the PlayStation thing tomorrow.

15:41 Your Zoes can have Instagram-esque filters! The world is saved!

15:42 Here are a few quotes from the Engadget hands-on.
“Look a little closer and the attention to detail is staggering — this is a product that stands shoulder to shoulder with the iPhone 5 in terms of materials and build quality.”
“HTC even sourced custom-grade aluminum that’s harder than what’s found on the iPhone 5.”
“In front are two aluminum bands (top and bottom) separated by a vast sheet of Gorilla Glass 2 covering a gorgeous 4.7-inch 1080p (468 dpi) Super LCD 3 display.”

Apparently it takes 200 minutes to machine just one shell.

15:44 “We’ve leveraged our breakthroughs in technology to integrate the antenna within the phone’s aluminum, allowing us to create gapless devices from a single block of aluminum.”

15:46 IT HAS CHAMFERED EDGES.

15:46 It also has Optical Image Stabilization, Nokia style.

15:47 The One will ship worldwide in late March. No RIM-style same-day launch magic here. 😦 Also no Verizon. So yay, no home button logos.

15:47 “HTC is launching a new trade in program where customers that preorder can turn in their current phone to get up to $100 off of a One.” I could actually do this – but I love my Nexus.

15:48 And, as with last year’s 8X event, HTC’s done in an hour. Thanks for joining us! Remember to give us feedback on this new liveblogging style we’re trying.

15:49 Be sure to join us at 4 PM GMT for the Ubuntu event! Also, join us at [placeholder o’clock] tomorrow as we meet the future of PlayStation!

by Neil Thomas

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Header

With the launch of the original Kindle in 2007, Amazon revolutionised the ebook and print industry. With its e-ink screen and thin construction, it allowed for people to literally fit entire libraries into their pockets. Couple that with Amazon’s free worldwide 3G service and its best-in-class content library, and you have a winner. And so it has been – four generations of Kindle have come and gone. All of them have been very successful, and now it is time for the fifth. Since its launch, Amazon have been diversifying it’s lineup – with larger, smaller, cheaper and keyboard-equipped variants of the Kindle. This time around, they have done the same. They upgraded the base model with a new black body and higher resolution screen along with a £20 price drop and ushered in the Kindle Paperwhite while expanding on the LCD equipped tablet lineup they began last year with the Kindle Fire. Today, I am going to be reviewing the Kindle Paperwhite – the successor to last year’s wildly popular Kindle Touch. Does it live up to the hype? Is the new ‘glowing’ screen any good? Read on to find out.

Hardware

Kindle Paperwhite (left) and previous generation Kindle Touch

Kindle Paperwhite (left) and previous generation Kindle Touch

There is an old saying – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – and Amazon has certainly abided by this for the fifth generation Kindle lineup, with both the Kindle and the Kindle Paperwhite being almost identical to their predecessors in terms of design. However, both devices have got a new lick of matte black (fingerprint magnetic) paint. However, not everything is the same. The Paperwhite is lighter, thinner and sleeker then the Kindle Touch, while also getting rid of the home button. This is definitely one of the timeless classic designs, much like the original iPhone. These improvements haven’t come without a cost though. The new Kindle has done away with the text-to-speech function with the omission of the 3.5mm headphone jack and speakers. There is also less storage – not that it would matter with ebooks being as small as they are.

The Paperwhite’s biggest new feature is the inclusion of an integrated light – a functionality that Amazon used to force you to buy a £50 case to obtain. This frontlight makes the screen ‘glow’, and this is done with LEDs on the edge, which are shone onto an overlay on the screen. This overlay bounces light off the screen, and at you – not causing eye strain like the backlit LCD displays on the majority of tablets.

And now for the question lots of people have been asking – “Does it work well?”. Short answer – yes. The screen can be very bright for pitch black situations, or dimmer to supplement natural light around you. There is some minor inconsistencies in light distribution around the edge of the display but nothing major that would impede the readability of the screen. The new Kindle also swaps out the infrared touchscreen of old with a new higher resolution smartphone style capacitive display. It is a lot clearer, less inset and refresh times are miles better. I did notice some very slight burn in, especially after leaving a book on a page for over 5 minutes, but it was nothing to worry about.

Software

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Software

Kindle software of old was heavily focused on the reading experience – browsing your library, keeping track of your reading etc. With the new Kindle generation, Amazon have brought in a much more tablet-style operating system. It has front cover previews, suggested items on the home screen and other things too. To be honest, I don’t really like the new software as it is a bit more cumbersome to navigate what’s important (your books) and it makes certain information a lot smaller, such as how far you are through a book. As it is an e-reader, there isn’t too much to talk about, but you are now missing the ability to playback MP3 files as there is no speaker or headphone jack, which is a bit annoying but by no means a dealbreaker.

Content

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Store

However, there is one place where Amazon is an undisputed king – it’s content library. Pretty much any ebook you can name is on the Kindle Store –  almost always at a discounted price compared to the physical copies, and Amazon’s usual array of daily deals and fantastic sales (including Yann Martel’s Life of Pi for just 20p) help to ensure that, for heavy readers, Kindles are unquestionably cheaper in the long run than paper books. Amazon has also become a publisher, allowing people to publish their books without any fuss straight to Kindle, and they have also restarted the old fashioned trade of releasing chapter a week books, much like Dickens would have done.  Amazon’s Kindle library is ever growing – and with subscription services like Prime – it is reason enough to buy a Kindle.

Battery Life

The Kindle has had (and still does have) astonishing battery life. This is most likely due to the fact that the e-ink display only uses battery to turn the pages, and also due to the great power management technologies used by Amazon. This year, it has become a whole lot more complicated with the inclusion of the light. Now that has to be powered, there was expected to be a huge hit to the battery life. Not so. According to Amazon’s statistics – and roughly corroborated by our own testing – the Kindle Paperwhite will power through 8 weeks of typical reading even with the light on. This figure is with wireless turned off, but it is impressive nonetheless. It really is fantastic to be able to use a device for extended periods of time without having to worry at all about running out of juice.

Conclusion

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Conclusion Amazon has hit the nail on the head with the Kindle Paperwhite. With great hardware, an unmatched bookstore and a great price, the flagship of Amazon’s e-ink lineup is both the best e-reader out there and a worthy bearer of the Kindle nomenclature. I would have no trouble at all recommending this to anyone, and it certainly has boosted the amount of time I spend reading.