rss
twitter
    Find out what I'm doing, Follow Me :)

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Samsung Galaxy S II begins quest for 120 country domination

How do you best 10 million sales of your flagship Galaxy S smartphone? Easy, do what the movie studios do and launch a bigger-budget sequel to an even wider audience. Samsung is holding a media day event in South Korea to celebrate the domestic launch of its smokin' fast Galaxy S II handset. The dual-core 1.2GHz Gingerbread handset with 4.27-inch 800 x 480 pixel Super AMOLED Plus display, TouchWiz 4.0 UI, MHL port, and 8 megapixel camera capable of 1080p video is already on limited sale in the UK on its way to a 120 country / 140 carrier invasion -- that's plus 10 countries over the initial Galaxy S target. Naturally, we expect variants of the S II, with and without NFC, hit all the US majors just like the Galaxy S did in its day. Stay tuned to see if our very positive first impressions of this gorgeous 8.49-mm thick superphone carry over to the review -- should be up later today.


sourceSamsung [Korean] here

RIM to launch 6.1 update as BlackBerry 7 OS at BlackBerry World next week?


CrackBerry has just dropped word via "numerous sources" that RIM will be revealing the next iteration of its mobile OS at the fast approaching BlackBerry World conference -- and no, it's still not QNX. Despite consistent rumblings that upcoming devices like the Bold Touch, and Monaco would be launching with OS 6.1, it seems that RIM has decided to re-brand the update completely as BlackBerry 7, perhaps to increase the value proposition and differentiate new devices being announced along with it. However, the site also speculates that current phones running BB6 may not get any BB7 action right off the bat -- which could make sense, given that new features like NFC are only present in upcoming devices. All this is naturally unconfirmed, but if this is indeed yet another version of the BlackBerry OS, well, that certainly won't help the platform get any more developer love.
sourceCrackberry here

Motorola Xoom software update brings SSL and Widevine DRM, no LTE quite yet

Seems like Verizon, Motorola and Google are on a bit of a security bent -- the latest update for the Motorola Xoom lets you take a far more leisurely tour of the internet's walled gardens. There's a WPA-PSK security fix to allow choice users into your mobile hotspot, SSL for secure web browsing, Google's Widevine DRM for viewing locked online video content and HDCP for piping it to your TV. Of course, there's no mention of the Xoom feature we're truly waiting for, but we'll happily take our Bluetooth mouse support and POP3 email in the meanwhile. Droid-Life reports that this HMJ07B update will start hitting Xooms later today, but Verizon's still got a month to make good on those LTE promises.

[Thanks, K]
Droid-Life
sourceVerizon (PDF) here

Square gets financial backing from Visa, asks to see some ID


Everything's coming up Jack Dorsey these days. Last week Apple started stocking Square's iPhone credit card readers in its 235 US retail locations, and now, according to Reuters, Visa has put its plastic where its mouth is. The credit card giant has invested in the personal payments startup, scoring itself a spot on Square's advisory board in the process. No word on how much Visa is actually dropping on the company, but one thing stands to reason: it probably didn't make the deposit via Verifone. If you would like to invest in a Square reader, it'll cost you a lot less -- the company is still offering smartphone plug-ins for free on its site.


source Reuters here

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Dell's new powerhouse Precision M4600 and M6600 workstation laptops on sale May 10

We got a dose of details on Dell's new Precision M4600 and M6600 workstations yesterday, and though impressed by their specs, we were left without answers to two very important questions: when can we get them, and how much will they cost? There must be some mind readers in Round Rock, because today Dell revealed that the machines will make their debut on May 10 with prices starting at $1,678 for the M4600 and $2,158 for its 17-inch big brother, though prices surely escalate quickly from there. Turns out, the laptops also have optional IPS and four-finger multi-touch displays for your viewing pleasure and RAID support for your (and your employer's) peace of mind. That's some stellar hardware for some serious coin, so interested parties should start brown-nosing the bossman immediately -- or maybe just get a second job. PR's after the break.

New Dell Precision Workstations Support Flexible Work Environments with Uncompromised Performance

New Dell Precision M4600 and M6600, the world's most powerful 15.6" and 17.3" mobile workstations, enable professionals to work anywhere, anytime without sacrificing performance

New Dell Precision R5500 rack workstation delivers uncompromised performance and scalability to remote users while safeguarding and centralizing customer data

Dell partners with leading ISVs to certify its workstations with professional software applications for optimized performance and reliability

ROUND ROCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dell today announced the next generation Dell Precision M4600 and M6600 mobile workstations and dual-socket Dell Precision R5500 rack workstation, building upon the company's heritage of delivering the highest-performing and most scalable workstation products. These mobile and remote systems, specifically designed for professionals who need raw horsepower, scalable performance and application certification, deliver a desktop workstation experience without being tied to a specific location.

"Dell Precision workstations with NVIDIA Quadro ensure these professionals are getting the kind of visualization and high performance computing horsepower they demand."
Dell Precision M4600 and M6600 Mobile Workstations:

Ten years after launching the first ever mobile workstation, Dell continues its leadership by introducing new mobile systems that are ideal for professional 2D or 3D computing and analyzing massive amounts of data. The Dell Precision M4600 and M6600 represent the world's most powerful 15.6" and 17.3" mobile workstations with 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor Extreme edition and 1600MHz system memory options.

Dell successfully packed more performance and power into its new mobile workstations while at the same time increasing usability for on-the-go productivity. The Dell Precision M4600 combines incredible performance with a durable yet lightweight 15.6" size and now offers a keyboard with a number pad, increased maximum memory capacity of 32GB1, outstanding performance and protection of data with RAID 0/1, and increased hard disk drive (HDD) maximum up to 750GB2.

The 17.3" Dell Precision M6600 unites exceptional processing and graphics performance and productivity-boosting features in a sleek and dependable professional system. The M6600 is designed for the most demanding users looking for a larger display, higher scaling graphics options and additional storage with up to three options including an optional 2nd HDD and 128GB2 solid state drive (SSD) mini card with RAID 5 support. The M6600 will also offer the new flagship NVIDIA Quadro 5010M mobile professional graphics with 4GB2 of GFX memory in the coming months.

Enhancements and options to the new mobile workstation family include:

Sleek and professional redesign with a rigid and durable aluminum and magnesium alloy chassis and MIL-STD 810G tested for extreme temperatures, vibration, dust, altitude and shock;

Certification on the top applications from Autodesk, Dassault Systemes, PTC, Siemens PLM Software and many others to ensure established software reliability for demanding applications;

Wide range of AMD FirePro™ Mobility Professional Graphics and NVIDIA Quadro Professional Graphics options with up to 2GB2 GDDR5 dedicated memory for high performance and accuracy for complex models;

Optional four-finger multi-touch display for drawing, writing, editing and zooming onscreen with fingers or stylus and touch-enabled engineering software applications;

Optional 100 percent color correct PremierColor IPS RGB LED display with PremierColor calibration software for accurate color reproduction and brilliant clarity for bright, crisp images3;

Expansive DDR3 memory with four DIMM slots for up to 32GB1 of 1333MHz memory or up to 16GB1 of 1600MHz memory for blistering performance;

Connectivity to virtually all peripherals with five USB ports including two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and one combination USB 2.O and eSATA and three video out options including DisplayPort, VGA and HDMI;

NVIDIA Optimus™ technology that intelligently detects graphics performance needed to help extend battery life;

AMD Eyefinity technology that supports up to five simultaneous displays4 for workflow productivity and increased visual real estate for viewing large models and multiple applications;

Powerful 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processors with options up to Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition for enhanced performance and productivity.

Dell Precision R5500 Rack Workstation:

Dell has enhanced its rack workstation by providing the full scalability and performance of its highest performing desktop workstation into a dual-socket rack form factor, the Dell Precision R5500. With the R5500 located in a customers' secure data center or other centralized location, users can remove heat, noise and bulk for a more favorable workspace and boost productivity for global and rotating workforces by providing remote 1:1 access to the workstation from virtually anywhere.

The R5500, which is purpose-engineered for professionals who require compute intensive applications and extreme performance with remote capability, offers the latest Intel Xeon processors with memory capacity of up to 192GB1 and dual-wide GPU slots that scale up to 450 watts. In addition, the R5500 offers options for up to five industry standard full-height and full-length PCIe x16 slots including support for a full range of dual high-end graphics and general purpose (GP) GPU compute solutions from NVIDIA including the newest NVIDIA Quadro and NVIDIA Tesla™ solutions.

Users can seamlessly connect to the R5500 via optional PC-over-IP® hardware-based compression technology, from Teradici™, from the Dell FX100 Zero Client. PC-over-IP hardware-based compression transfers only the rendered graphics pixel data over the network, ensuring a fast and responsive remote experience. Alternately, customers can remotely connect via a standard notebook or desktop with optional VMware® View™ software.

The rack workstation also offers certifications from leading ISVs including Autodesk, PTC, Siemens PLM Software, Softimage, Schlumberger, ESRI, Dynamic Graphics, CNC, and many others to ensure users' critical software is compatible and runs smoothly on their R5500 workstation.

Dell Security, Services and Support: All Dell Precision workstations come with robust security options to protect assets and intellectual property including Dell Data Protection | Encryption, Dell DataSafe Online Backup, fingerprint reader and Dell System Track and Recovery service.

Dell Precision customers can maximize their uptime with optional Dell ProSupport5 for 24/7 access to advanced technicians through a single point of contact for both Dell and non-Dell hardware and software issues. They can also take advantage of Custom Factory Integration (CFI) for simple and fast deployment and robust manageability options to help keep operations running smoothly and IT costs down.

Quotes:

"We are constantly looking for new ways to spur creativity and improve efficiency," says Erik Horn, creative director at Arts+Labor, a creative content and media production firm. "Especially when we are shooting on location, we need computers that are powerful and portable, and the new Dell Precision mobile workstation seemed like the perfect fit. Our team members need to handle a wide variety of functions, from video editing and compositing to music editing and media production for interactive formats, and with Dell's new workstations, we can use a single platform to handle all of those tasks efficiently."

"Dell understands that today's evolving workforce expects instant access from any device, work-location flexibility and sophisticated systems to stay productive," said Steven Lalla, vice president and general manager of Commercial Client Product Group, Dell. "To address these new workplace dynamics, Dell continues to develop new workstation solutions that support customers' unique work environments while still enabling them to access unparalleled workstation performance and reliability."

"The proliferation of data, rapid technological advances and more dispersed and global workforces have brought new challenges to organizations," said Jon Peddie, President of Jon Peddie Research. "These organizations must be equipped with solutions that provide high performance, manageability and security to support their end users in all types of working environments. Dell continues to deliver on providing best in class workstation solutions and the end-to-end capabilities needed to address the full scope of a company's computing needs."

"Engineers, designers, animators, and video editors consistently rely on NVIDIA GPUs for the best graphics performance and high performance computing capabilities," said Jeff Brown, general manager, Professional Solutions Group, NVIDIA. "Dell Precision workstations with NVIDIA Quadro ensure these professionals are getting the kind of visualization and high performance computing horsepower they demand."

"AMD and Dell have collaborated to offer the Dell Precision M6600 with AMD FirePro M8900 and Dell Precision M4600 with AMD FirePro M5950 as workflow tools for professionals in a wide range of industries," said Sandeep Gupte, Director, Product Management, AMD Professional Graphics. "With AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology, engineers and designers can increase their productivity by expanding their visual real estate. Dell Precision workstations and AMD FirePro™ Mobility Professional Graphics deliver advanced technology, performance and reliability that professionals expect."

Pricing and Availability:

The U.S. starting price for the Dell Precision M4600 is $1,678 and $2,158 for the M6600 and both will be available globally on May 10.
The Dell Precision R5500 starts at $2,551 USD and will be available in the U.S. and EMEA on May 3 and in Asia-Pacific Japan region on May 10.
Source here

Acer Iconia Tab A500 review

Last month, the Motorola Xoom was the only officially sanctioned Android 3.0 tablet available in the United States. Now there are four -- the T-Mobile G-Slate arrived last week, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 this week, and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is on sale today, assuming you can find one. All have the same basic silicon inside, but oh-so-slightly different approaches to shape, such that price might honestly be the deciding factor these days. That's where we thought this WiFi-only Acer Iconia Tab had an edge, launching at $450, but now that ASUS has shaken the money tree with a $400 figure for the Eee Pad Transformer, we doubt other price tags will stick. It could be the tiniest of differentiators that shifts your opinion in favor of a particular slate. What's a prospective tablet buyer to do? Join us on a tour of the Acer Iconia Tab A500's particular perks and quibbles after the break, and we'll tell you.

Hardware

We first saw Acer's 10-inch Android tablet five months ago -- when it didn't have so much as a name -- but by golly, it doesn't look like the hardware has aged a single day. In some ways, that's a wonderful thing, as we're big fans of the stylish brushed aluminum case, which plays off of the iPad aesthetic without looking like a blatant clone. On the other hand, we were disappointed to find that a few of the iffy design decisions we noticed in earlier prototypes have carried over to the final frame -- that aluminum sandwich has very visible seams (one snagged an armhair) and the back sometimes creaks when squeezed. At 1.69 pounds and 13.3mm thick, the A500's most definitely portable, but still slightly heftier than the Xoom, and of course it feels positively portly beside an iPad 2. The rounded edges make single-handed reading possible, but the weight means you won't want to hold it over your bed. Enough of that for now, though -- let's describe what you're actually getting.

Like most Android Honeycomb tablets, the Iconia Tab's front is all bezel and screen (and a tiny front-facing cam), intentionally designed without any buttons to let you hold and use the slate in any orientation. However, unlike most of its competitors the Iconia Tab has an orientation lock switch (on its "top" edge) to save you the trouble of digging through a software menu. There's also a volume rocker up top, which performs a neat orientation trick of its own -- it's contextual, meaning the switch changes volume up or down depending on how the tablet is held. Sadly, both of these buttons are made of cheap plastic, sunk into the aluminum frame, and rather difficult to press, which somewhat detracts from the generally classy feeling of the Iconia Tab. There's also a plastic flap right next to the buttons, where you can insert a microSD card (yes, they work out of the box) and a blank space where we expect the AT&T model (or perhaps, the Verizon LTE version that disappeared into the ether) would store its SIM slot.

Moving onto the left side, we have the translucent power button, which doubles as the charging light, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a mini-HDMI port. We're slightly miffed that Acer couldn't cram a full-size HDMI socket in the copious space here, or at least include a mini-HDMI cable in the box. Regardless, the video connection works fairly well, performing full, responsive display mirroring at 720p resolution, albeit suffering from a bit of overscan. (Acer says 1080p video-out will be supported in a Q2 update.) On the bottom, there's just a docking connector for the optional charging dock with infrared remote, and on the right side you'll find the dedicated power jack and a pair of USB slots: one micro-USB to transfer data to the tablet, and one full-size USB port which connects with both your storage drives and keyboards right out of the box. (Again, you'll need to wait for an Acer update to enable USB mouse support.) Last but not least, the back has the Iconia Tab's ho-hum five megapixel camera with a single LED flash in the upper-right-hand corner -- more on that in a bit -- and a pair of silvery stereo speakers along the bottom edge.

We'll be frank here -- Speakers have been an afterthought on most every tablet we've seen, and they usually range the gamut from "you'll want headphones" to "what are you doing to my ears?" That's not quite the case here. Acer's tiny speakers -- augmented by some Dolby Mobile wizardry -- sound good enough to share. They're still pretty tinny, mind you, and lack any meaningful amount of bass, but the sound field they produce was rich and full enough to accompany movies and games, and sounded good whether the tablet was held in our outstretched hands or lying flat against a hard surface.

Display

And thanks to the fairly stellar viewing angles of Acer's 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 TFT LCD display, sharing such multimedia might actually make sense. It's no IPS screen, to be sure, and we won't make any excuses for the incredible amount of glare and raw fingerprint grease attracted to its mirror-like finish, but for a plain-jane LCD panel, it's surprisingly good. Text is crisp, colors pop, whites get blindingly bright and blacks fairly dim, and those features only wash out marginally when viewed at oblique angles. Acer's capacitive digitizer is also blissfully responsive -- Honeycomb struggles to keep up -- and tracks ten full points of contact simultaneously (we checked) for whatever multi-finger gestures app developers might eventually roll out. Weaknesses include pixels visible with the naked eye and the near-uncertainty of being able to see anything on the screen outdoors, but we've seen plenty of sub-$1,000 laptops that wish they had the screen Acer brings to the table here.

Performance and battery life

We've said much about the potent performance of the dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 system-on-chip, and as much as we ragged on NVIDIA's seeming inability to deliver the the processor last year, it's at the heart of some of our favorite devices today -- including the T-Mobile G2x and the Motorola Atrix, not to mention every Honeycomb slate. However, Acer oh-so-slightly bucks the trend here by providing the A500's Tegra 2 with 1GB of DDR3 RAM -- likely faster than the DDR2 chips used in its close competitors.

Sure enough, the slate seemed slightly speedier in our benchmark suite, as where the Xoom pulled down 1,801 in the general-purpose Quadrant test (and the T-Mobile G-Slate did 1,879) the Iconia Tab pulled ahead of the pack with a score of 2,228 and pushed 2,300 several times. The A500 also regularly delivered over 42 MFLOPS in Linpack -- recall that it took a overclocked 1.5GHz Xoom to blaze through 47 MFLOPS. The A500 even pulled slightly ahead in the SunSpider Javascript benchmark, completing a run in just 1,988ms, where the Xoom took 2,042ms. Still, those aren't terribly significant differences, and in real-world testing we didn't see a noticible impact -- in fact, if anything, the graphical performance had a couple niggles on our Acer review unit. The A500 plays 720p (H.264) video like a charm (though not 1080p) and does well in Android 3.0's handful of graphically intensive games, but on rare occasions we noticed some graphical corruption when playing certain videos in RockPlayer or scrolling Android menus, the likes of which never cropped up in our Xoom testing.

No, our only genuine disappointment with the Acer Iconia Tab A500 was its sustained battery life.

Battery Life
Acer Iconia Tab A500 6:55
Apple iPad 2 10:26
Apple iPad 9:33
Motorola Xoom 8:20
T-Mobile G-Slate 8:18
Archos 101 7:20
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook 7:01
Samsung Galaxy Tab 6:09
Dell Streak 7 3:26

Acer includes a pair of 3260mAh batteries under that shiny rear cover, and for the most part they worked just fine. The battery meter still read 80 percent after a day of idling, and had only dipped to 53 percent by the time we woke up the next morning -- with two push email accounts constantly running over WiFi the whole while. After charging up once again, and with moderate use of email, web, a smidgen of video and gaming, and plenty of music playback during a second day, we hit the pillow with 32 percent of battery life remaining. However, when it came time for our standard battery drain test (where we loop the same standard-definition video with the screen at roughly 65 percent brightness, and WiFi on) the A500's lithium-ion cells gave us only 6 hours and 55 minutes of playback, a good sight worse than any 10-inch Honeycomb tablet we've tested thus far. Mind you, that's still enough oomph to last you a transcontinental flight, but it's a little weak compared to the alternatives here, and that's surprising considering both the underlying silicon and batteries here are supposedly identical to the immediate Android competition.

Software

We're not sure what we can say about Honeycomb that you haven't heard before, but we'll try anyhow: Android 3.0 is a beautiful, functional operating system that lacks serious software support and has quite a few quirks to boot. Assuming enough of us buy Android tablets, the minds of developers around the globe are quite liable to change, but for now, you can expect a lovely browser, Gmail client, music player, calendar, photo browser, chat and maps application, along with whatever additional Android phone software you can get to properly run on the thing. Acer actually includes its own compliment of applications to get you started, but they hurt more than they help -- laughably, almost every one duplicates the functionality of an existing Honeycomb app, most of them perform worse, but Acer sticks them right under your nose anyhow by affixing them to a set of glorified app drawers.

Here's the basic rundown:

LumiRead is a simple e-book reader that redirects you to the web browser to actually grab any books, an odd addition when Google's own Books is a tap away; SocialJogger is a Twitter and Facebook status update browser with oversized fonts and a painfully slow UI that could be replaced with the likes of TweetDeck in an instant. There's also NemoPlayer, an ugly (but speedy) photo, video and music navigator that pales in comparison to Honeycomb's fast and stylish Gallery and Music apps; Clear.Fi, another multimedia browser that's slightly slower but prettier; and MusicA, a Shazam-alike that somehow had difficulty recognizing a number of pop hits. The two positive additions here are Acer's Media Server, which lets the A500 stream content to networked computers and DLNA-capable rigs, and Photo Browser 3D, which uses the tablet's inertial sensors to flip through graphically pleasing digital scrapbooks of your camera images.

Camera

It's just a shame Acer didn't put a little extra effort in to make the slate's cameras worthwhile. There are two photo-taking implements on the Iconia Tab A500 -- one 2 megapixel webcam up front, and a 5 megapixel imager in back -- and we're sorry to say that neither is really worth your effort. Color reproduction actually isn't half bad on the rear camera, and it can actually take fairly pretty macro shots in bright light, but we couldn't get the lens to focus on subjects further than a few feet away -- which resulted in loads of blurry images, needless to say. We're still not sold on the idea of taking photos using a ten-inch slab of glass, regardless, but we suppose augmented reality developers (and video chat engineers) with thank Acer for their inclusion.



Speaking of video, we're sorry to say it's far worse than the stills.


As you can see in our sample video above, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 is technically capable of 720p recording, but we'd be hard-pressed to call it high-definition here -- only in a small window on a webpage and with the tablet held perfectly still does it even look even passable. Compression artifacting crops up when making any rapid motion, and the short focus rears its head again, blurring everything more than a few feet away from the slate's sensor. Audio is also problematic. Even the wind generated by simply walking outdoors muffled most everything else.

Wrap-up

All in all, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 is a solid piece of hardware, if you have to have an Android tablet right now, but we don't know if we could recommend it in good conscience over some of the competitors on offer. Honestly, we're still slightly iffy about Honeycomb itself, and the longevity of the Tegra 2 processor, given the lack of Android 3.0 apps and speed at which OEMs are adopting faster and more efficient silicon respectively. At present, ASUS' Eee Pad Transformer seems the obvious choice if you can't afford a G-Slate -- assuming prices stay the same -- but at the same time, we don't think you'll be wholly displeased with Acer's tablet if brushed aluminum's your thing. Just keep that AC adapter handy.

Source here

Origin EON17-S gaming laptop overclocked to 4.5GHz, up for order


You won't need to compromise much with Origin's EON17-S gaming notebook, though a $3,000 dent in your wallet could severely compromise your purchasing power for the next few months. That's the starting price for this gaming laptop, with a 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-2920XM Quad-Core processor factory overclocked to 4.5GHz, and maxing the system out with 32GB of RAM, dual 480GB SSD's, and a 2GB NVidia GeForce GTX 485M GPU will send the price tag north of $10,000. Small price to pay for months of geek cred at your neighborhood LAN party, right? We'd rather use the money as a down payment on a Tesla Roadster, but if helping to rebuild the economy with the best, brightest and heaviest (at 8.6 pounds) computing monster sitting on your lap is just what you need, then look for yours in the mail come May 17th.
 
The Highest Mobile Processor Clock Speed in the World

Miami, FL – April 25, 2011 – ORIGIN PC announced today the availability of overclocked processors in the EON17-S. Featuring 2nd generation INTEL "Sandybridge" processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M graphics cards, the laptops are the most powerful ORIGIN laptops available with mobile processors. The EON17-S laptops have updated B3 stepping motherboards and feature overclocking and Turbo Boost technology allowing ORIGIN engineers to successfully increase the speed and power of the processor without impacting system stability or longevity. EON17-S laptops with overclocking are fully covered by ORIGIN's unsurpassed warranty featuring free part replacement, free shipping, and free lifetime support.

EON17-S Features and Technology:

* 17.3 Full HD Widescreen, LED Backlit, 16.9, 1920 x 1080 (1080p)
* Customizable ORIGIN top cover
* 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 Processors
* Overclocking up to 4.5GHz with Turbo Boost on Core i7 Extreme Edition processors
* NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB or GTX485M 2GB
* FOUR Memory Slots for up to 32GB Dual Channel DDR3 1333Mhz or 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz
* Bluray burner & reader, Hybrid and SSD drive with RAID options
* Full size keyboard with numeric pad
* HDMI Out; Optical Digital Out, up to 7.1 HD Audio with THX TruStudio support
* Built-In 802.11n & Bluetooth Support
* Bluetooth 3.0 & Wireless Video options
* Built-In TVtuner support
* Built-in USB 3.0 & E-SATA ports
* (W)16.22″ x (D)10.87″ x (H)1.65″ – 1.79"
* 8.6 lbs with the battery

"The EON17-S laptops are remarkably portable and with 2nd generation Intel processors overclocked to 4.5GHz, they are the fastest ORIGIN laptops ever built on an Intel mobile platform" said Kevin Wasielewski ORIGIN CEO and co-founder.

ORIGIN systems feature a 1 to 3 year free shipping and free part replacement warranty backed with the best in class integration, quality testing and support. ORIGIN offers a free life-time phone and online service guarantee and each customer has a dedicated support team and free life-time labor for upgrade needs.

About ORIGIN:

ORIGIN builds custom, high-performance desktops and laptops for hardware enthusiasts, professionals, and gamers. ORIGIN PCs are hand built, tested, and serviced by knowledgeable gaming enthusiasts, industry veterans, and award winning system integrators. Their staff is comprised of award-winning, experienced experts in the gaming and PC markets who want to share their passion with other enthusiasts. ORIGIN is located in Miami, FL and ships worldwide. For more information, please visit www.ORIGINPC.com or call 1-877-ORIGIN-Ø. (674-4460)

Nexus S 4G launch on Sprint now official: May 8th for $200

You've been able to pre-order the Sprint-ified version of the Nexus S for a good while now, but it's always good to add a concrete date for the end of the anticipation and the beginning of the Android 2.3 fun. That date has now been officially marked as May 8th. That's when your Pure Google device will be ready for use and abuse, though you'll have to accept the usual two-year commitment with Sprint and pay up the typical $200 entry fee. Intriguingly, the Nexus S 4G's release date matches up with a roadmap leak we saw recently, which also featured the Motorola Xoom launching on Sprint in "early May." Can't be long before that goes official as well now. Jump past the break for Sprint's PR regarding today's news.

Nexus S 4G from Google and Samsung with Android 2.3 for a Pure Google Experience Available to Sprint Customers in the U.S. on May 8 for $199.99

The highly anticipated Nexus S™ 4G1 from Google™ goes on sale in all Sprint channels, including www.sprint.com, on Sunday, May 8, for $199.99 (plus tax) with a new line or eligible upgrade and two-year service agreement. Extending the company's 4G device leadership yet again, it is the fourth 4G phone available and 20th 4G device announced from Sprint.

Manufactured by Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), a leading global mobile phone provider and the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States2, Nexus S 4G is the only Nexus S phone with 4G and provides a pure Google experience with Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread, the fastest version of Android available for smartphones. With its pure Google experience, Sprint Nexus S 4G customers will be among the first to receive Android software upgrades and new Google mobile apps, and in many cases, the device will get the updates and new apps as soon as they are available.

Critics praise Nexus S 4G:

"Whether you're an Android fanboy (or girl) or not, it's tough to avoid drooling over the Nexus S 4G. The device has similar specs to its T-Mobile counterpart – the Nexus S – but it will take advantage of Sprint's super fast 4G data network." – MSNBC Technology
"It's probably our pick of Android phones now on Sprint – the Evo is nearly a year old, and the major advantage of the Nexus S is that it'll be on the bleeding edge of Android updates." – Gizmodo
"So, what makes the (Nexus S) 4G different? WiMAX 4G. – IntoMobile

It is powered by a 1GHz Samsung application processor that produces rich 3D-like graphics, faster upload and download times and supports HD-like multimedia content along with a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to make playing mobile games, browsing the Web and watching videos a fast, fluid and smooth experience.

Designed with Samsung's brilliant Super AMOLED™ touchscreen technology, Nexus S 4G's 4-inch Contour Display features a curved design for a more comfortable look and feel in the user's hand or along the side of the face. Its higher color contrast means colors are incredibly vibrant and text is crisp at any size and produces less glare than on other smartphone displays when outdoors, so videos, pictures and games look their best and the sun won't wash them out.

Nexus S 4G features a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and camcorder and front-facing VGA camera. In addition, Nexus S 4G features a gyroscope sensor to provide a smooth, fluid gaming experience when the user tilts the device up or down or pans the phone to the left or right.

Additional key features include:

3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability, supporting up to six Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously
Android Market™ for access to more than 150,000 applications, widgets and games available for download to customize the experience
Google mobile services such as Google Search™, Gmail™, Google Maps™ with Navigation, syncing with Google Calendar™, Voice Actions and YouTube™
Corporate email (Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®), personal (POP & IMAP) email and instant messaging
Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which allows the device to read information from everyday objects, like stickers and posters embedded with NFC chips
16GB Internal Memory (ROM)/512MB (RAM)
Wi-Fi® – 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR
Integrated GPS
1500 mAh Lithium-ion battery

Nexus S 4G from Google will be available from Sprint for $199.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade and two-year service agreement (taxes not included) in all Sprint retail channels, including the Web (www.sprint.com), Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and Best Buy.

Nexus S 4G requires activation on one of Sprint's Everything Data plans, plus a required $10 Premium Data add-on charge for smartphones. Sprint's Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, AnytimeSM includes unlimited Web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge – a savings of $39.99 per month versus Verizon's comparable plan with unlimited talk, text and Web (excluding Verizon's Southern California plan; pricing excludes surcharges and taxes).
 
Source here

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Desain Jam Tangan Ziiiro Aurora Dan Ziiiro Orbit

Jam tangan ini sangat unik, Ziiiro Aurora dan Ziiiro Orbit memiliki desain yang simpel serta berstylist, akan tetapi jam tangan ini dihiasi rancangan yang inovatif dengan menciptakan desain jam tangan berdasarkan tata surya. Keduanya menggunakan komponen silikon dan logam untuk tali jam sehingga tampak stylist dan fleksibel.

Untuk jam tangan Ziiiro Aurora mempunyai dua disk gradasi warna transparan untuk menampilkan waktu, seperti warna biru untuk indikator jam serta warna kuning untuk menunjukkan indikator menit. Jika bergerak dan keduanya melakukan pertemuan maka terdapat gradasi warna menjadi hijau.

Sementara itu untuk Ziiiro Orbit menggunakan konsep rotasi tata surya yang berputar pada porosnya. Sebagai indikator untuk menampilkan waktu terdapat bulatan bola yang berwarna merah menampilkan untuk jam sedangkan untuk bola warna putih menunjukkan menit. Tampilan jam tangan dengan desain yang unik ini mampu bertahan dalam air hingga 30 m. Jam tangan unik dan ekslusif dengan bandrol 185 dollar ini akan dirilis pada 20 Mei mendatang.  [min/timBX]

Feature :
- Material : Silicone rubber and Stainless Steel
- Water Resistant: 30m
- Type: Analog Watch
- Movement: Japanese Movement
- Lens Material: Hardened Mineral
- Battery: SR616SW
- Wrist size: 15cm and above
Source here

Fisheye Cover iPhone

Untuk dunia fotografi mungkin tahu efek lensa dengan menggunakan Fisheye pada kamera digital SLR yang membuat foto terlihat bagus dan unik angelnya, tapi bagaimana dengan ponsel bisakah menggunakan lensa Fisheye sehingga foto yang dihasilkan juga unik ? Tentu bisa dengan memakai Fisheye Cover khusus iPhone sehingga gambar yang dihasilkan cembung dan tampak unik serta menarik.

Berfungsi sebagai lensa untuk pembidikan pada kamera iPhone selain itu fungsinya dapat sebagai pelindung iPhone karena dilengkapi dengan slim protective case, hanya menggunakan skrup didalam soket sekitar lensa kamera, iPhone dapat mengambil gambar atau angel of view hingga 10 derajat.

Dengan model skrup sehingga dapat digunakan sesuai kebutuhan, karena tidak menempel begitu saja melainkan seperti lensa SLR yang dapat dilepas dan dipasang. Casing pelindung iPhone sangat ringan serta tahan lama juga dilapisi dengan kualitas karet yang baik sehingga terjaga dari goncangan maupun goresan, semua hanya dibandrol dengan 19.99 Poundsterling. [min/timBX]

Feature :
- Detachable screw-in fisheye lens for the iPhone
- Angle of view: 160 degrees
- Versions available for the iPhone 3G/3GS/4
- Slim-line protective case fits to the back of the handset; simply screw in the lens whenever you want to use it
- The protective case is lightweight, durable and discreet enough to be left attached to the - -handset permanently, guarding against bumps and scratches
- High quality rubberised finish

Source here
 

GARBEX (Winner BIA 2010)

Urusan tanam menanam bibit tumbuhan erat kaitannya dengan pemakaian Polybag. Menggunakan polybag berarti kita memakai plastik berisi tanah serta bibit di dalamnya. Terganggu dengan kenyataan ini lantas menggugah Leonardo Bayu Adi Prasetya menciptakan satu alat baru menggantikan peran polybag dengan nama Garbex. " Yang terbesit itu sebenarnya saya pernah melihat polybag. Polybag itukan menggunakan plastik dan tidak bisa dipakai berulang-ulang karena plastik kan harus dibuang. Nah dari situ saya coba membuat polybag yang bisa dipakai berulang-ulang dan jadilah Garbex " kata pria yang berprofesi Guru Desain di SMK dan ATMI Kolese Surakarta, Solo.

Lebih lanjut Bayu mengatakan " Garbex saya rancang dari bahan plastik tebal berkualitas yang untuk mengeluarkan benihnya bisa dibuka sehingga tanah serta benih di dalamnya bisa dikeluarkan sekaligus untuk ditanam, jadi garbex ini masih bisa digunakan untuk tanaman-tanaman yang lain." Nama Garbex diambil dari perpaduan antara bahasa Jawa dengan nama polibag, " itu branding supaya mudah diingat orang. "Gar" asalnya dari kata "Sigar" dalam bahasa Jawa, kalau bahasa Indonesianya "belah" dan "Bex" berasal dari kata polibag, jadi supaya mudah diingat orang jadi "Gar" dan "Bex" ujar Bayu lagi. Jika dilihat dari desain, Garbex  memiliki sifat hampir sama dengan gunting yakni bisa terbelah ini dimaksudkan agar mempermudah mengeluarkan tanah beserta tanaman.

Berkat inovasi Bayu, kedepannya kita dapat menikmati asyiknya membibit tanaman tanpa harus khawatir manggunakan polybag dan so...pasti bisa mewujudkan 0 % limbah pertanian.
 
Memiliki ide kreatif dan inovatif serta ingin menjadi seorang inovator ? Klik disini untuk informasi lebih lanjut.
Source here

DREGS MUG (Finalis BIA 2010)

Para coffee lover tentu sangat senang apabila dapat menikmati secangkir kopi tanpa harus menelan ampas dari kopi tersebut. Sama halnya anda penggemar teh tubruk tentu tidak mau kalau ampas teh sampai terminum bukan ? Beberapa solusi sederhana juga sudah terpikirkan seperti menyaringnya dengan menggunakan dua gelas dan satu filter, tetapi cara tersebut sangat tidak praktis dan butuh waktu ekstra. Sebagai pecinta kopi, Fareza Yuardhika tentu tahu permasalahan ini dan memutuskan untuk bereksperimen dengan inovasi apik berupa gelas penyaring yang ia beri nama Dregs Mug.  

"Dregs Mug saya desain bagi mereka yang menyukai kopi berampas tanpa takut meminum ampasnya. Dregs Mug juga bisa dipakai untuk meminum teh tubruk " ujar Konsultan Desain Otomotif ini. Kehadiran Dregs Mug tentu sangat dinantikan karena praktis dan mempersingkat waktu ketika hendak menikamati kopi atau teh favorit.

"Untuk materil Dregs Mug seperti Body pada Mug menggunakan keramik yang bisa tahan terhadap panas. Bagiannya terdiri dari Handle Filter yang terbuat dari plastik berkualitas dan tahan panas, kemudian ada Doubel Filter (atas dan bawah) yang terbuat dari 2 kasa penyaring stainless dengan kerapatan antara kasa atas dan bawah sekitar 0,5 MM. Sedangkan untuk handle Stay atau penyangga Handle Filter saya buat menyatu dengan body sehingga mudah untuk disangkutkan dan tidak mudah lepas " kata Fareza menjelaskan.
 
Memiliki ide kreatif dan inovatif serta ingin menjadi seorang inovator ? Klik disini untuk informasi lebih lanjut.

Source here

CAPRES (Finalis BIA 2007)

Belum punya mesin cuci di rumah ? Masalah memeras pakaian tentu jadi keluhan tersendiri jika kita mencuci dengan tangan. Pilihan mencuci dengan mengucek pada landasan cuci bergerigi tentu menjadi pilihan. Membersihkan noda kemudian membilas cucian dengan air saja sudah cukup berat apalagi ditambah dengan memeras pakaian. Inilah yang menginspirasi Good Rindo membuat alat baru sebagai solusi membuang tenaga cukup besar ketika memeras.

Dari hasil pemikiran Rindo terciptalah CapRes yang merupakan singkatan dari Capek Meres. Selain sebagai alas bergerigi untuk mencuci pakaian, alat ini juga dirancang dapat membantu memeras pakaian. " Alat ini memang idenya saya dapat saat melihat kegiatan rutin mencuci sehari- hari terlebih untuk jenis pakaian berat yang membuat tenaga terkuras seperti handuk, spray, alas tidur yang panjang, kain, jeans, atau lain sebagainya " ujar Maintenance Kapal pada sebuah Perusahaan Perkapalan ini.

Untuk penggunaannya berbagai sarana penunjang sudah menempel pada CapRes. Desain yang ergonomis semakin berfungsi optimal dengan tambahan pijakan kaki di bawah yang akan memudahkan saat hendak mengeringkan pakaian.
 
Memiliki ide kreatif dan inovatif serta ingin menjadi seorang inovator ? Klik disini untuk informasi lebih lanjut.

Source here

Browsing Dengan Acer DX241H Tanpa Perlu CPU

Jika anda termasuk orang yang senang berselancar di dunia maya dan males untuk menunggu lama saat menyalakan PC atau komputer anda. Acer mencoba memberikan solusi melalui produknya Acer DX241H. Sejatinya, ini adalah sebuah monitor pertama di dunia yang bisa dipakai untuk browsing, mendengarkan lagu bahkan hingga menonton film tanpa butuh CPU. Acer menyebut produknya ini sebagai Web Station.

Anda hanya perlu menyalakan monitor ini dan langsung bisa menggunakannya sesuai kebutuhan anda. Untuk mengetik alamat URl, Acer menyediakan sebuah remote yang bisa juga dipakai untuk mengetik selain untuk menavigasi monitor. Fitur Clear.Fi pada web station ini membuat pencarian file multimedia (foto, musik, video) semakin mudah dan cepat.

Monitor ini memiliki ukuran layar lebar (16:9) 24 inci 1920x1080 pixel. Rasio kontras 80.000:1 dengan kelengkapan konektivitas seperti, LAN, Wi-Fi, HDMI, USB dan built-in card reader. Tapi anda harus mengeluarkan uang yang cukup besar untuk monitor ini, karena harganya hampir sama dengan satu unit komputer yaitu, Rp 5 juta. [ya/timBX]

Source here

Botol Minum Terbuat Dari Tepung Jagung


Kondisi sekarang ini mengharuskan kita untuk menjaga kebersihan dan kelestarian alam. Karena itu perlu menggunakan barang dengan label 'daur ulang' atau ramah lingkungan. Bahkan untuk kaleng minuman anda pun perlu menggunakannya demi keselamatan planet bumi ini. Hanya perlu mengeluarkan uang sebanyak $12.99 atau kurang lebih Rp. 117.000 untuk mendapatkan My ECO Can. Apa itu my ECO Can? Ini adalah botol minuman yang ramah lingkungan, mudah dibawa dan dapat di daur ulang.

Jadi anda tidak perlu khawatir dengan penggunaan plastik atau mungkin gelas kertas sekali pakai yang biasa digunakan dan hanya menambah sampah. My ECO Can mengambil bentuk berupa minuman kaleng dan terbuat dari bahan alami, yaitu tepung jagung. [ya/timBX]

Source here

Leica i9 concept pairs $1,000 camera with $200 iPhone

When you think of manufacturers that create products to go hand-in-hand with the Apple iPhone, Leica probably wouldn't come to mind. The seemingly brilliant minds at Black Design Associates hope to change that, however. The Leica i9 concept pairs an iPhone 4 with a fixed-lens rangefinder camera, and the result is nothing short of extraordinary. Slipping your iPhone 4 -- black or white -- into the back of the i9 brings the camera to life, activating the compact optical zoom, dedicated aperture and shutter dials, flash and light meter. Images are instantly viewable on the iPhone, where it's safe to assume they're stored as well. The camera back doubles as a case, but you're probably going to want to use it with a headset, unless you like talking to a camera. There's no sign that the i9 will even reach the prototype phase, but nobody is going to stop the high-end camera's designer from dreaming -- especially when said dreams make us weak at the knees.

Compliment without Compromise

The Leica i9 Concept for iPhone4 exhibits a new way to combine your camera and smart phone.

EL SEGUNDO, CA, April 25th, 2011 – Black Design Associates, LLC announces the Leica i9 Concept Camera for Apple iPhone4.

A better camera phone designed for photographers. The Leica i9 concept offers the unmatched brilliance of Leica's professional CMOS image sensor and lens, made specifically for the unparalleled processing, display and sharing capabilities of Apple's iPhone4.

The i9 was designed with a "Compliment without Compromise" philosophy. If the best camera is the one that you have on you, then the better camera is the Leica i9 concept. The i9 is the only professional camera that's also an iPhone4 case. The goal was to create a camera system that inspires photographers to shoot and share their photos and videos at anytime and anywhere.

The i9 offers an independent professional camera system with an ultra-compact body that doubles as a rugged protective case for your iPhone4. The i9 is a true ready-to-shoot camera with Leica's superior range finder and a 0.3 second start-up. Photos or videos are stored on the i9's internal flash memory (expandable with SD) and then uploaded onto your iPhone4 once the Leica app has launched.

The i9 is the ultimate point-and-shoot camera combining the high performance of a Leica (CMOS image sensor with effective 12.1 MP, professional lens with 8x optical zoom and 35 equivalent focal lengths and ready-to-shoot operation) with iPhone4 (retina display, multi-touch interface, extended storage capacity and mobile/wireless connectivity). Beyond camera features, the i9 and iPhone4 can share their independent batteries for extended operation.

The i9 takes professional photos and videos and allows you to easily compress and share your content to Email, MMS, Flickr, Facebook and/or YouTube directly from the Leica app.

To compliment Leica's timeless design, the i9 includes an interchangeable backing for future generation iPhones. With upgradeable software and a growing list of iPhone features, the possibilities are limitless including a remote voice activated shutter control that as easy as saying, "Cheese!"

About BLACK Design Associates, LLC:

BLACK Design Associates, LLC is a product development, incubation, and retail marketing strategy consultancy based in El Segundo, California. Our team of creative strategists, designers, and engineers, specialize in new market-disrupting products that have maximum impact in the marketplace. Working with new products constantly pressures us to find customer audiences in new and creative ways. Our clients include: InStyler, Mattel, Jakks Pacific, Dial Corporation, Plantronics, Epson and Disney.

For more information, please contact us by phone at: 310-414-9790 or by email at info@blackda.com, or visit us online at www.blackda.com.

©2011 BLACK DESIGN ASSOCIATES, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. BLACK Design Associates, LLC is an independent consultancy with no affiliations and/or pre-existing relationships with Leica Camera AG or Apple, Inc. Leica and the Leica logo are registered trademarks of Leica Camera AG, Apple and iPhone are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.
 
Source here

BlackBerry PlayBook review

The words "play" and "book" are a bit of an odd choice for RIM's latest attempt at consumer relevance, a tablet that, at its core, runs one of the most hardcore and industry-friendly operating systems known to man. The OS is QNX and the hardware is, of course, the BlackBerry PlayBook. It's an enterprise-friendly offering that's also out to conquer the consumer tablet ecosphere, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the BlackBerry handsets that have filled the pockets of corporate executives and BBM addicts around the globe.

It's something of a serious tablet when compared to the competition running software from Apple and Google and, while it certainly has games, its biggest strengths are rather more boring. It does a really great job at displaying PowerPoint presentations, for example, and has the security chops to keep last quarter's dismal sales figures from falling into the wrong hands. Exciting stuff? No, but useful features for sure, and regardless of whether you find those intriguing or boring this is RIM's seven-inch, Flash-having but 3G-lacking tablet clad in an unassuming but extremely sophisticated exterior. It's what's running behind the glass that disappoints.

Hardware


The black PlayBook, with its angular edges and dark styling, looks decidedly nondescript, more likely to open up a wormhole somewhere in orbit around Jupiter than leap into someone's hands at retail. Only the chrome logo 'round the back adds some flare, with the word "BlackBerry" subtly embossed below the display on the front. The chassis is cool metal, ever so slightly rubberized, the edges squared off, and there is absolutely no flex or give anywhere. It feels perfectly solid and doesn't yield to any attempted contortions, despite being just 0.4-inches thick -- less than a tenth thicker than an iPad 2. At 0.9 pounds, it's considerably lighter, but a bit heavier than the .83 pound Galaxy Tab.

Debate about the perfect tablet size rages on, but we have to say the slightly smallish factor here creates a device that's comfortable to roam with. The light weight certainly makes it easier for reading and the more hand-friendly size makes it feel more comfortable to carry. That size, plus the dark coloring, makes this slate a bit less obvious than much of the competition, which is certainly part of its understated charm.

Up top are four buttons, the only physical controls to be found: volume up, volume down, play/pause, and an unfortunately small power button that's flush with the chassis. It's impossible to find by feel and, once located, difficult to activate. You can't really hit it without using a fingernail and even then it requires a lot of pressure to modulate. Plus, it's located centrally on top of the device, exactly where your fingers likely aren't.

It sounds crazy, but this is, hands-down, the worst part of the hardware. Think about how often you use the power button on your phone to toggle the screen and then imagine having to stab really hard at it with a fingernail instead. It's hugely frustrating and, while you can turn the screen on by swiping all the way from bezel-to-bezel, even on this seven-incher that's a bit ornery -- and there's no way other than the power button to disable the screen.

A five megapixel camera peeks out the back, while a three megapixel unit handles front-facing duties. That one is tucked under the glass and situated just above the seven-inch, 1,024 x 600 display that will threaten neither rods nor cones when on maximum brightness. It does, however, deliver great clarity and excellent viewing angles.

Hidden away on the bottom are three ports: micro-HDMI, micro-USB, and a proprietary three-prong charging connector for use when the thing settles down in its docking cradle or gets cozy with the optional external adapter -- charging at twice the rate of micro-USB. Up top there's one more hole, a humble 3.5mm headphone jack, but if you look closely you'll also spot stereo speaker grilles cut into either side of the glass.

Internals

Running the show is a dual-core, 1GHz TI OMAP processor that's expertly massaged and manipulated by the QNX OS here. QNX is a decidedly efficient and bulletproof operating system that powers everything from jet fighters to, well, little black tablets. That's backed by 1GB of RAM and 16, 32, or 64GB of storage, with the smallest costing $499 and each subsequent step adding $100 to the cost of entry.

Graphics are handled by a PowerVR design, which quite handily offloads video decoding and gaming acceleration from the processor, enabling this thing to decode and display 1080p video over HDMI while still ticking along quite smoothly and running productivity apps on the seven-inch display. Not a hint of dithering or pixelation, of course. Apps load quickly, tend to be impressively responsive, and switching from one to the next is effortless.

Early builds of the PlayBook software (we're now on our third since taking possession of the thing) seemingly had some issues managing memory, and on multiple occasions we found upper corners glowing red. Our first thought was that the guns on our CRT had been misaligned by a wayward magnet, but this is just how the PlayBook alerts you to issues, in this case a lack of memory. Memory management seems to be much improved in the most recent build we've received, but you can certainly still kill unwanted apps whenever you want by simply swiping them vertically, off into oblivion.

Connectivity


There are various flavors of 4G coming down the pipe for the PlayBook later this year, including a WiMAX sampler for Sprint as well as HSPA+ and LTE for... well, for other carriers. That leaves us with 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity, plus Bluetooth of course. Using that last standard you can pair up a keyboard and mouse; do so and a microscopic cursor appears on the screen. Left clicks for taps and right-clicks for gestures, initiated at the edge of the screen rather than off of it. This, as you'd expect, turns intuitive gestures into clumsy mouse flicks.

Curiously, though, the device doesn't support simple USB mass storage -- you can't just plug it in to your laptop and dump a bunch of files on it. You can mount it as a drive over USB, but then you have only access to a small, read-only volume that contains a single driver. Install that and the PlayBook shows up as a network drive.

Deliciously, this driver allows you to access the device over the network or connected directly over USB, but if you're rocking something other than a Mac or a PC you're going to be disappointed the first time you try to tether here. And, with no simple mass storage mode, it's far more complicated that it should be if you just want to get a file off the thing.

Battery life

With day-to-day usage, WiFi on, screen reasonably bright, checking out some websites and playing some tunes, the PlayBook has plenty of juice to get you through a couple days without breaking a sweat. It'll handily survive your all-day presentation at the office, make you look cool in front of your boss, then still have plenty of battery life left to chill out to some N.W.A. on the flight home.

But, compared to the competition, it delivers a solid mid-pack performance. We looped a standard MPEG4 video clip with WiFi enabled and screen brightness at about 65 percent, managing seven hours and one minute before everything went dark. That's about an hour more than the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but over an hour less than the Motorola Xoom. The iPad 2, meanwhile, manages ten and a half hours when similarly stressed.

Battery Life
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook 7:01
Apple iPad 2 10:26
Apple iPad 9:33
Motorola Xoom 8:20
Dell Streak 7 3:26
Archos 101 7:20
Samsung Galaxy Tab 6:09

Software

Operating system

Like webOS? If so, you're going to love what's hiding under the PlayBook's (healthy) bezels -- capacitive digitizers that recognize a variety of gestures. System gestures originate to the side of the pixels and terminate on the screen -- except for the swipe to turn the screen on, which has you dragging from one bezel all the way across to the opposite one.

To switch from one app to the next you can swipe inward from the left or the right, which pops the app out of full-screen and lets you move forward or back in the queue. A tap then maximizes your new favorite app. Or, a swipe up from the bottom gives you an even higher-level view of your running apps, which you can again zing your way through. Grabbing one and throwing it upward sends it to the garbage collector, or you can tap the tiny X that appears next to its name.

Swiping from the top of the app brings down a context menu, extra controls that let you save files in Word to Go or jump from one album to another in the media player. Finally, swipe in from either top corner of the screen and you get a system context menu that displays the date and time, simple media controls, battery and connectivity indicators, and a little gear you can tap to tweak your system settings.

Ultimately it's very intuitive to use and, even better, it feels really good. The dynamic action of throwing a frustrating application right off of the screen is quite satisfying, and the lack of any multi-finger antics certainly makes task-switching a far surer affair. Everything is quick and responsive -- just what you expect on a tablet that costs this much money.

Keyboard

At first blush, the keyboard on the PlayBook seems quite good. In landscape mode the keys are spread wide but still reachable by thumbs if you hold this tablet by its horizontal extents -- well, if you don't have particularly short thumbs, anyway. Flipped into portrait it's an even easier reach, but obviously a bit more precision is required.

However, spend a few minutes pecking away and things start to look rather more dire. Neither numbers nor special keys are available without digging into the symbol menu -- even the exclamation point and the question have been driven to obscurity. This means if you want anything more exotic than a humble period or comma you're going to have to go find it. In fact, typing "you're" right there required hitting the symbol key to find the apostrophe -- there's no system-wide auto-correction here (it only works in some apps), no long-presses for alternate characters. What year is this, again?

There is, at least, copy and paste, and it's well-implemented, using a pair of blue tabs to highlight the text you want. Drag them to define the bounds of your text and then your selection is filed away into your clipboard of holding. Annoyingly, though, a double-tap on any word doesn't highlight it.

Browser


RIM has provided a full Webkit browser for you to get your surf on, and it's a reasonably good one. Pages load quickly and naturally are rendered in full desktop mode, with all the pinch-to-zoom goodness and snappy motion you'd expect. Flash Player 10.1 is on-board and works well. YouTube videos play perfectly fine and stutter-free when embedded within pages, though there is a dedicated YouTube app you can use if you like. Even Flash games like Bejeweled play well, important if you're still riding that particular horse.

We ran the browser through SunSpider JavaScript test, where it returned a quite healthy 2,360. That's maybe 10 percent slower than the iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom manage, but still quite respectable.

We should note that we noticed some weirdness in the browser with the most recent (third) revision of the PlayBook software we received. When the system was running under load, with numerous other apps hanging around in the background, the browser would frequently and disconcertingly close. It would simply disappear about half-way through loading whatever page we tried. Closing a few apps seemed to fix it, but behavior like this is always a little unnerving.

Calculator


Yes, we're really writing about the calculator app here. It's one of the many apps on the tablet developed by The Astonishing Tribe, a dev team acquired by RIM who previously worked to define much of the look and feel of Android. The calculator app in particular stands out with the team's patented style. Whether you're in standard or scientific mode, a "paper" tally prints each calculation, digital pulp that can be virtually torn off and disposed. Cute. Slightly more practical is the integrated unit converter, which means we'll never have to look far to get horsepower from kW, and the tip calculator could make your next night on the town go a little more smoothly -- assuming you didn't spend the entire meal playing with your tablet.

Pictures


This is another of the TAT-developed apps, and though simple it shows some nice touches with overlaid transitions as you swipe from image to image. It's of course quite minimalistic, but a pleasure to use.

Adobe Reader

PDF and enterprises go together like executives and golden parachutes, so it's no surprise that Adobe is on-board here with a custom version of Reader. It's a PDF viewer at heart and, therefore, boring. But, performance is great, whether thumbing through boring statistics or pinch-zooming in on tables and charts, even with files laden with megabyte after megabyte of stock images of beautiful people smiling.

Music


Open the music app and you have four big, handy buttons to choose from: artists, albums, genres, or all songs -- the latter for users who can't be constrained by such arbitrary classifications. Albums are simply displayed in a giant grid, tap one to play it, while artists and individual songs go into a long list. The lists are a bit unwieldy, especially since you can't jump to a certain letter, but there is real-time filtering via a search dialog.

Documents to Go suite

The PlayBook comes loaded with Word, Sheet, and Slideshow to Go from DataVis, giving you the ability to view PPT, DOC, and XLS files, even create the latter two right on the tablet. Viewing and editing documents is certainly easy enough and of course being able to do so makes for heightened productivity, but trying to enter Excel formulas using the on-screen keyboard will raise only your blood pressure.

BlackBerry Bridge


Bridge was one of the last pieces of the puzzle to come together in the PlayBook, added mere hours ago, and it's one of the strongest yet weakest aspects of the device. Here you pair your PlayBook up with a phone running BlackBerry OS 5 or 6, which must itself be running the Bridge app. The two talk sweet nothings over Bluetooth and, once connected, a new suite of applications is enabled on the tablet.

In this way you get your standard productivity stuff: e-mail, calendar, contacts, tasks, and memos. There's also an option to run the Bridge Browser, viewing the web through the phone interface, but as of this moment that feature is simply busted -- the app crashed every time we tried it. The other apps, though, are good. Simple. They're exactly what BlackBerry smartphone users are going to want, but they're also exactly what non-BlackBerry smartphone users will want and, if you don't have a phone to pair, they disappear.

Yes, you can get to your web mail provider of choice here, but the lack of dedicated, basic productivity applications like these feels like a huge oversight. This is RIM expecting 100 percent crossover between PlayBook buyers and current BlackBerry owners, and that seems unnecessarily limiting. Yes, these apps are coming, but they should be here now.

What's missing

Non-Bridge productivity apps (e-mail, calendar, etc.) are the biggest omission, but other things are missing too, like that awesome scrapbooking app from TAT that got us feeling all crafty. It's nowhere to be found. Also missing? The mysterious Android compatibility, support that is coming but sadly won't be working at launch. The ability to run Android apps could totally change the game -- or it could be a non-event. We won't know until RIM flips the switch and lets us all try it out.

Overall, the selection in App World and on the device itself is rather limited at the moment. RIM is quick to point out that there are thousands of apps in the pipeline, written in some combination of Adobe AIR or HTML 5 or Java or within the PlayBook's native compilation engine. We're sure they're coming, but right now it's slim pickins.

Cameras


Again, the PlayBook has three megapixels up front and five around the back, enabling 1080p MPEG4 video recording in a tablet and, we must say, doing a fair job of it. You're going to want a lot of light but, if things aren't too dim, video quality is quite good, as you can see in the sample clip above. Images, too, need a lot of light to keep the grain monster at bay, and the lack of a flash doesn't help in that department, but get the lighting right and the results are decent. Focus is sharp and images look bright. This is definitely a tablet that you could use to take some attractive photographs, if you can get over the social repercussions of waving this seven-inch viewfinder around on vacation.

Accessories


RIM kindly provided a few accessories for us to experiment with, including the $50 Convertible Case, which adds a good amount of girth to the tablet but also offers a lot of protection, and serves as a stand, too. But, $50 is a lot of cash for a case. (There is, at least, a thin sleeve included with the PlayBook.)

We also received the Rapid Charging Pod, a $70 magnetic stand that uses that three-pronged proprietary charger at the bottom. It's said to be twice as fast as micro-USB charging and its weighted, magnetic design holds the PlayBook firmly in place for watching content while charging. But, the lack of audio output is unfortunate and, again, $70 seems like a lot for a tiny little dock.

Wrap-up


Writing this review has been a lot like trying to hit a moving target thanks to a series of software updates that have been dropping every few days. The PlayBook of today is considerably better than the PlayBook of yesterday, which also was a big step forward from the one we were reviewing two days before that. This is both encouraging and worrying -- encouraging that RIM is actively working to improve things, but worrying that things as critical as memory management are still being tweaked at the eleventh hour.

This means we're not entirely sure what the PlayBook that goes on sale next week will look like. We thought we had "final" software on Sunday -- and then we got another update. So, what we see at the moment is a framework with solid fundamentals but a framework that is, right now, unfinished. We have hardware that looks and feels great but isn't being fully served by the software. And, ultimately, we have a tablet that's trying really hard to please the enterprise set but, in doing so, seems to be alienating casual users who might just want a really great seven-inch tablet. Oh, and don't forget that bummer of a power button.

Right now, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet that will come close to satisfying those users who gravitate toward the first word in its name: BlackBerry. Those who were more excited about the "play" part would be well advised to look elsewhere, at least until Android compatibility joins the party. Then, well, anything could happen.

Jacob Schulman contributed to this review.
Source here
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...