Winning gdgt's StartUp contest has its perks -- just ask recent winner Marquee, which is showcasing version 2.0 of its Media Center here on the showfloor. The imposing device, currently available on the outfit's site for $899, packs 2TB of storage, 4GB DDR3 RAM, DVD player and a 2.4GHz dual-core Intel processor into an aluminum-lidded box to let you stream a mix of online and locally-stored multimedia content. Seen from above, the unit is mostly unadorned, save for a quite sizable power button, three circular vents and two notification LEDs. Off to the right side hiding just beneath that generous metal hood, lies ports for audio I/O and standard USB, with HDMI-out on the back.
Naturally, you need a way to parse through the goods and that's where Plex XBMC -- running atop Ubuntu 12.04 -- and a custom wireless controller outfitted with a full QWERTY keyboard come in handy. According to Marquee's CEO, set-up out of the box is a no-brainer and requires nothing more than connecting to an external display and your home network (via ethernet or WiFi) to get things started. We had the opportunity to take the Media Center for a quick test spin and immediately noticed a calibration issue that, combined with the cluttered remote, made for some extremely unintuitive navigation. You can check out some pics of the startup's progeny below and, while you're at it, click past the break to view a video demo of this pricey kit in action.
Sony’s Xperia ion
will hit AT&T on June 24, it has been confirmed, with the Android
2.3 smartphone priced at $99.99 with a new, two-year agreement.
Announced back at CES in January, the Xperia ion is fronted by a
4.55-inch 1280 x 720 display and runs Gingerbread on a 1.5GHz Qualcomm
dual-core Snapdragon S3 chipset.
There’s also a 12-megapixel camera with FullHD
video recording support, and Sony has slotted in some of its mainstream
camera expertise for things like super-fast app loading and the ability
to fire off shots with less than a second in-between. Connectivity
includes HDMI and USB, along with NFC, WiFi and Bluetooth. Sony Xperia ion hands-on:
There’s also 4G LTE
for AT&T’s network, of course, and Sony’s own Xperia UI
modifications. An upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich is in the pipeline,
though no date for its release has been confirmed.
We’ve more on the Xperia ion in our hands-on from CES (and
in the video above). The question will be whether AT&T’s
competitive sub-$100 price is enough to sway buyers to Sony and away
from the Galaxy S III.
Compared to the Jetpack MiFi 4620L mobile hotspot we just reviewed at the beginning of May, this 890L 4G LTE model isn’t all that unique. It connects to Verizon‘s 4G LTE
network just as well as the 4620, has a similar lovely little display
for you to monitor how many people are connected, your connection
strength, and software updates – and you’re working with the same data plan costs as well. The 4620L is made by Novatel Wireless while the 890L is made by ZTE – beyond that, what differences are there?
The first big difference is the physical design of the unit. While
there’s certainly nothing unattractive about the Novatel Wireless model,
this ZTE hotspot has some style and flair to it. The 890L is a bit
bulkier than the rest of the hotspots on Verizon, and you’ve got a
slightly different set of controls that you’ll be using (if you find the
need) to check your messages (these will be extremely rare) from
Verizon and making sure you’ve got full bars wherever you’re utilizing
the device.
Other than that, there are a couple of omissions from this model that
do exist on the 4620L model: GPS and an external antennae port. Since
we literally have not found a use for either of those elements since we
first laid hands on the hotspot (or any hotspot, for that matter),
there’s no reason to fret.
The small LCD
screen you see front and center is controlled by an OK button (also an
on/off button for the screen alone) and two control buttons, up and
down. On the top of the device you’ll find a power switch, this making
it extremely hard to turn this device on accidentally. The device is
charged with a simple microUSB port, and inside you’ll find a 1700mAh
battery which will last you approximately 6 hours if you’re using it
fairly frequently.
This device works nationally and internationally, supporting bands
across CDMA (1xEV-DORev.A/Rev.0: 800/1900 MHz), Quad Band GPRS/EDGE
(850/900/1800/1900MHz), Quad Band (HSPA+/UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz),
and of course 4G LTE (700 MHz). The places I checked data speeds were
Minneapolis / Saint Paul, Minnesota and Brooklyn, New York. Similar to
the 4620L, ping times were averaging at 45ms-50ms, with upload speeds
ranging between 5.0Mbps and 10Mbps and download speeds ranging between 8Mbps and 13.5Mbps – in most cases the hotspot brought up faster speeds rather than slower.
This device does not work as a tethered modem while the 4620L does,
the 4620L has an optional extended battery pack, and the 890L is cheaper.
You’re certainly not going to be dissatisfied with either model if what
you’re looking for is 4G LTE speeds for your devices on the go. That’s
what they promise, and that’s what they’ve got! You can pick this device
up at Verizon now with a 2-year data contract for $19.99 in Verizon’s online store today!
Have a peek at Verizon’s new Share Everything data plans to see your options for data plans as well!
So you eBayed your Canon EOS 5D back in April, all in good faith, ready for the EOS-1D X
that never came. Well, that gap in your photoblog should end next week
-- according to updated info from the camera maker. The latest details
suggest that the flagship shooter should be hitting stores on June 20th,
along with a clutch of accessories. You'd better initiate that PayPal
withdrawal now, though, as CNET reports that a US representative for the firm told them that, while stocks will be available, they'd initially be in limited supply. Full stocks, however, should be here in time for to shoot your own HD Olympics.
The first generation of Intel-powered Android phones has arrived, and
while the chip maker doesn't appear to be claiming that its initial
efforts are world-beaters, we've been promised a chipset that
prioritizes what people want most: capable web browsing, strong camera
performance and robust battery life. Although we've sampled plenty of incremental versions of this Medfield tech, Orange UK's San Diego
is the first finished device to land for review. Priced at £200 ($308)
it joins a large spread of wallet-friendly, entry-level smartphones in
Orange's lineup. With a (1024 x 600) 4-inch LCD, 8-megapixel camera with
flash, micro-HDMI port and 1GB of RAM, it looks to be a respectable, if
middle-of-the-road, Android device. But the focus here lays with the
1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 CPU and whether it delivers on those performance
and battery life promises. Does Intel have a handle on mobile
processors? Is the San Diego, near-identical to Intel's own reference
model, going to be attractive enough for buyers? You'll find our verdict
after the break.
Since Mobile World Congress earlier this year, the Orange San Diego (previously known as the Santa Clara),
has benefited from some slight revisions. The whole frame is now much
more solid, and there's no longer any hint of a creak. The soft-touch
backing, while a magnet for scratches and dings, helps to separate it
from an army of glossy sub-$300 Android devices, but it's certainly not
the most imaginatively designed phone. The shape lies somewhere between
the Galaxy S II
and iPhone 3GS, although the substantial bezel below the screen stops
the phone from being quite as hand-friendly as the latter. It's simply
not a pretty phone, and we lay the blame on the ho-hum build materials.
The black body is ringed with a silver border, and while it didn't chip
during our use, it's not a particularly fancy finish. The 10mm edge
houses the volume rocker, micro-SIM slot and two-stage camera button on
the right, micro-USB port at the bottom, and mini-HMDI output along the
left side. A fiddly power switch resides along the top edge, but once
you gain purchase on them, all of the physical buttons are responsive --
including the camera button, which will also quick-launch into the
camera.
The San Diego is home to an 8-megapixel / 1.3-megapixel camera duo,
both of which can be controlled using either the physical key or
touchscreen. The primary, rear-facing shooter is also capable of
recording 1080p video. The four capacitive buttons are clearly
signposted in daylight, but will also light up if the environment
dictates. Thankfully, despite the lightweight tinkering from Orange,
both Android Gingerbread shortcuts remain intact, with a multitasking
screen accessible by holding the home button. Storage space comes in at
just under 11GB -- with no option for expansion. In fact, the whole
phone is sealed up -- so there's no easy option to change the
battery either. (It is possible to wrench off the back cover, but the
battery still isn't the in-and-out kind.)
Display
The San Diego's 4-inch screen was a pleasant surprise. While there's no
Super AMOLED Plus or Super LCD 2 fanfare, it's sharp and rich, although
wider viewing angles introduce some gentle discoloration. But for a
low-to-middle-ranger, the 1024 x 600 screen was plenty serviceable, and
at full brightness was justabout manageable in full daylight.
Camera
While Intel seemed to pride itself on the camera skills of its
reference design, we can't agree. If ever there was a phone to
demonstrate that a camera's performance can't be measured by megapixels
alone, then the San Diego is it. While some effort was made on the
software side to ensure the phone is capable of burst capture, we were
left underwhelmed by the blurry results. Perhaps we've been spoiled
recently, but the image quality certainly doesn't measure up to the
standards of other earnestly-priced
phones. Colors were often washed out with subjects appearing dull,
while less-than-favorable lighting resulted in hefty doses of noise.
This time, we won't blame it on the often cloudier climes of the UK as
color reproduction indoors was also meager, and a good deal of detail
often got lost in translation. Having said that, there were flashes of
decent imaging, but these moments were rarer than we'd liked.
Performance in macro mode was generally better than other settings.
Intel has added a raft of control options for the camera, and while
there isn't an HDR mode, per se, you do have the option of capturing a
selection of photos at differing exposures to craft your own HDR images
on separate hardware. The camera app doesn't cut corners at all on
options, with several auto exposure modes (including aperture and
shutter priority), shutter-speed adjustment, anti-banding options, RAW
mode, ISO settings (800 maximum) and a burst-mode capable of 15 frames
per second for up to 10 shots. Unfortunately, the results from the
get-go didn't really warrant extensive use of all those options. Video
performance matched what we found with stills, with results often noisy
and a little rough around the edges. White balance largely did the
trick, but it did end up washing out the swan you'll see in our sample.
Autofocus kept up with us, although it's not the speediest.
Software
The San Diego runs on Android Gingerbread. We've been told that Ice
Cream Sandwich can already run on this hardware, but it still won't be
seen on these devices until Q4. It's difficult to describe what's been
done to stock Android. For every change Orange made, some parts were
left completely unaffected -- like an increasingly rare stock version of
the app drawer. We were able to scrape back most of what Orange had
wrought -- aside from the dated orange app icons. The carrier did add
gesture features, which are largely unobtrusive and occasionally useful.
By slowly tracing across the screen (on any app or the home screen) you
can draw out a symbol that acts as a shortcut, catapulting you to
whatever's assigned to it. We give it a run in the video review -- check
that out if you'd like to see how it all works. Up to 27 shortcuts can
be assigned to apps, contacts, playlists and even FourSquare places.
Popular carrier apps, like Orange Wednesday, are pre-installed and are
unfortunately flanked by less useful additions like the Orange Assistant
helper app, an additional user guide and an NFC tags app that
went largely untouched. While the phone is NFC-capable, there's no
"taggable" cards packaged with the phone and the San Diego doesn't hook
up to Orange's existing contactless payment service.
The stock Android keyboard felt very, very responsive -- more so than
on various other Android devices we've reviewed this year, and Swype is
offered as well if that's more your style. As we'll cover more closely
in the performance section, the web browser copes well with denser sites
-- there's a little stutter but it's on par with existing dual-core
Android phones, if not quite on the same level as a flagship. App
compatibility on the new chipset was a concern that we almost completely
forgot about during our review. We came across only two apps that
didn't work during our review and we use a lot of apps -- it simply wasn't a problem.
Performance and battery life
Orange San Diego
Samsung Galaxy S III
Motorola Droid RAZR
Quadrant
3,648
4,454
2,357
Vellamo
1,279
1,751
1,021
AnTuTu
5,712
11,960
6,027
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms)
1,387
1,460
2,140
GLBenchmark Egypt Offscreen (fps)
28
99
28
CF-Bench
2,437
13,110
6,191
For Intel, a lot boils down to this section. Our benchmark figures have
barely moved since we tested the device at its launch event, and the
numbers paint an interesting, largely positive picture. In short, the
single-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 is capable of sparring with the
dual-core masses. Sure, it's not a leader -- it's not even close to the
quad-cores and Snapdragon S4s of 2012, but look at that
SunSpider score. We've run several rounds just to check, but yes, it
slides in just underneath the Galaxy S III -- and less is better here.
It demonstrates that Intel was serious when it promised to focus on web
browsing. And while the phone was clearly unable to scale 3D
environments on the likes of GTA 3 as well as pricier handsets, it still manages to juggle this and other low-intensity tasks without a problem.
Alas, real-world battery life didn't hold up to those heady promises of
14 days' standby. Many people might want a smartphone that can simply
exist in their bag for a few days -- but we've reviewed enough devices
and tested enough batteries to tell you it's the screen that will burn
through your charged-up phone. On our video rundown test, which involves
looping a video with the screen fixed at 50 percent brightness, the
phone managed to wind down in around seven hours and 20 minutes. That
time is no better than current Android devices, but it's still pretty
good for a 4-inch smartphone. In day-to-day use, we found the battery
fared better, managing closer to two or three days between charges --
substantially better than many other smartphones we've used this year.
Unsurprisingly, its runtime is directly related to how much you use it,
but if you're not going to use those smartphone features, it will
doggedly hold onto its initial charge very well -- close to that posited
two-week mark. Call quality was strong -- Orange offers HD voice
calling between the San Diego and other compatible devices. It also has
the same earSmart
voice-cancellation processing found in the likes of the Galaxy S III
and, er, Dell Streak, keeping our test calls sharp and clear.
Wrap-up
Intel's first Android smartphone proves that the company is more than
happy to bring the fight to existing processors. Despite the low price,
the admirable performance of the San Diego's Medfield processor is the
take-home message here -- which is great news for a manufacturer looking
to dip its toes into mobile devices. What we're interested in seeing
now is what Intel can make if it really pushes the envelope. How would
an Intel-powered, 1080p, flagship smartphone with a more capable camera
compare to Samsung's and HTC's best and brightest? In comparison, the
San Diego looks plain cheap, lacks Ice Cream Sandwich and has often
disappointing camera. If we think globally, the Galaxy Nexus is just
$100 more expensive, and represents competition that the San Diego (and
its duplicates) would lose out to. However, for this price -- and as
Intel's entry-level smartphone gambit -- we were left impressed by both
the display and battery. The first Medfield phones may not register on
the radar for those looking for the best Android has to offer, but it
remains a strong start for Intel to build upon.
In the tech industry, time (and the fleeting interests of geekdom)
waits for no one product. So, it's understandable if you've already
forgotten about Sony Mobile's US flagship: a sleekly designed, mid-range contender known as the Xperia Ion. It's been nearly six months since the electronics giant officially unveiled the device at CES and, for brand loyalists still clinging to the edge of their seats, the wait's nearly over. Starting June 24th, AT&T
will be offering the LTE handset -- a first for the newly unified
wireless outfit stateside -- for $99 with a new two-year agreement
(insert applause for Nokia and its precedent setting Lumia 900 here).
So, what do you get for that compelling price tag? For starters,
there's that gorgeous 4.6-inch 720p HD Reality display, 1.5GHz dual-core
Snapdragon S3 CPU, 16GB of inbuilt storage (expandable up to an
additional 32GB via SD card), 12-megapixel rear camera with Exmor R
sensor, PlayStation Certification
and a healthy 1,900mAh battery. Whether that spec list and associated
on-contract pricing will pack enough of a power punch to win over
Android elitists remains to be seen -- for now, this mid-2012 phone'll
be shipping with Gingerbread 2.3.7 on board. That's not to say it won't
ever see a much needed upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich; it's certainly on
the way, there's just no telling precisely when it'll arrive.
If the company's recent track record is any indication, however, the Ion
stands a very good chance of joining the Xperia upgrade brigade sometime soon. Hit up the break to peruse the official presser in all its hyperbolic glory.
The first images of what's purported to be the new Nikon D600 have appeared online. The budget (for photographers, at least) full-frame
camera is expected to come with a 24.7-megapixel sensor, a 3.2-inch LCD
display and a built-in autofocus motor. What makes us hopeful of its
rapid arrival is today's earlier announcement concerning the
FX-compatible Nikkor 24-85mm
lens -- the pair combined would make a devastating duo if the company
hits the mark on pricing. Those in the market for a gentle introduction
to DSLRs can take a peak at another picture after the break.
