Neos all-in-one Android PC looks modern, acts old

The Neos all-in-one ships with Android 4.1.1 and comes pre-loaded with various apps.

(Credit: Xiomara Blanco)

 

The Astak Neos all-in-one packs the appeal of Android in a shareable, user-friendly desktop PC, but its dated specs result in underwhelming performance that don't justify its $499 starting price. Even though the device boasts a sleek and modern design, its laggy touch-screen, dull display, and mediocre capabilities make it a half-baked attempt at being a media hub for the family.

Design
The Neos comes in a white and silver design and is light enough to be easily lifted, however, it isn't meant for mobile use and can only be used with the power cord. There are capacitive home/wake and volume buttons on the top right corner of the device and power button on the back.

The Neos can lay on its back, but its bad viewing angles make it hard to use.

(Credit: Xiomara Blanco)

 

Ports include a 3.5mm audio jack for playing music through the speakers, SD card expansion slot, USB port, and LAN port. There is no headphone jack for personal listening and keyboard or mouse accessories are not included.
The Neos sits upright, like a typical monitor, and features no ergonomic support. It can also be used flat on its back but, due to its angular design and poor viewing angles, this set-up is awkward and only useful for portrait orientation apps.

There are only a few ports on the back, including an SD card expansion slot.

(Credit: Xiomara Blanco)

 

Features
The Neos can run pure Android 4.1.1 or with the pre-installed Kloud user interface, which categorizes apps into groups. A variety of apps come pre-loaded and sorted, but can be easily uninstalled if unwanted.
Highlighting an app for a few seconds gives you the option of placing it in a certain group, like games or lifestyle, and you can also create your own group if you'd like.

The 15.6-inch screen is very pixelated and displays dull colors.

(Credit: Xiomara Blanco)

 

I personally didn't find much use in Kloud, but I can see how the user-friendly approach can appeal to families with children. The good news is that the Neos has access to Google Play store, but the bad news is that not all apps are compatible.

Hardware
The Neos houses a 1.6GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 dual-core CPU, PowerVR SGX 540 single-core GPU, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage.

The capacitive buttons on the upper right corner respond quickly.

(Credit: Xiomara Blanco)

 

Performance
The screen is drab, with large pixels, bland color saturation, low maximum brightness. The touch-screen response often lags and small text is sometimes blurry, making it difficult to read.
Video quality, even in HD, looks a bit fuzzy and, once again, the Neos' poor viewing angles didn't do it any favors. Colors on the 1,366x768-pixel resolution screen appear dull and bright images sometimes look blown out.

I wasn't lying about those bad viewing angles.

(Credit: Xiomara Blanco)

 

The 5-megapixel front-facing camera works fine for video conferencing, but don't expect to get any amazing photos from it; colors are washed-out and focus is blurry, however, there is a manual focus option.
A performance upside for the Neos is its Onkyo 5-Watt stereo speakers that can connect to a smartphone, MP3 player, or other media device. The speaker quality is good and audio quality holds up at most volumes; at its loudest, bass sounds slightly muffled, but at low and mid-ranges everything sounds clear and full enough for a pleasurable listening experience.

You can use the speakers to play music from your smartphone or MP3 player.

(Credit: Xiomara Blanco)

 

Popular Android games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja ran smoothly for the most part. The touch screen's ever-present occasional lag made it difficult to play sometimes and although larger apps and games take their time to load, wait times were faster than I expected.
A shareable Android device -- without the accidental damage hazards of a tablet -- is an appealing investment for families, but the Astak Neos is too dated to warrant its $499 starting price. HP offers the Slate 21 all-in-one, which features a bigger screen with a higher resolution, better viewing angles, ergonomic support, and a newer version of Android for $399. Even though it's not a performance powerhouse, it one-ups the Neos for less money and provides a better alternative for those in the market for an Android desktop PC.

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iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4 owner? What's your problem?

A new report from FixYa logs the most common issues that users of the two phones encounter. It also spills the beans on the HTC One and the Moto X.

                  (Credit: FixYa) 

 

Unhappy with your battery-sucking iPhone 5S or your overheating Samsung Galaxy S4? You're not alone.
Battery life and overheating issues were just two of the problems cited by users of four of today's top smartphones in a new report from tech Q&A site FixYa.
Released on Tuesday, FixYa's Black Friday Smartphone Report revealed the top gripes among its site users about the iPhone 5S, Galaxy S4, HTC One, and Moto X. The report bears the Black Friday name as FixYa has aimed it at consumers who plan to shop for a new smartphone the day after Thanksgiving.
The top grievance among iPhone 5S users was battery life. Of course, that's nothing new. iPhone and smartphone owners in general often bemoan the short life their devices get on a single charge. But this remains a frustrating dilemma for people who travel and find their phones out of juice long before the day is over.
The new fingerprint sensor on the 5S also aroused concerns among people fearful that their fingerprints may end up in (on?) the wrong hands. But Apple has stressed that the fingerprint password is stored locally and not uploaded to any cloud-based system. Display size was a third issue among iPhone users who want a bigger screen. That wish could be granted with next year's iPhone, which rumors say will undergo a bump in screen size.
Overheating was the top problem cited by owners of Samsung's Galaxy S4. People say the phone becomes hot to the touch when used for a long time. The Galaxy S4 uses a plastic body as opposed to the aluminum chassis found on other smartphones, one factor that may be to blame for the increased heat.
Like the iPhone, the Galaxy S4 has trouble sustaining enough battery life on a single charge. Users said that running multiple apps or snapping lots of photos with the camera tended to deplete the battery. S4 owners also complained that the screen is darker compared with that of other phones.
Grumbles about poor battery life hit the HTC One as well. Some said the battery also takes a long time to charge. Additionally, users voiced complaints about hearing an audible hiss in the background during phone calls and a lack of high-quality photos from the camera.
Finally, the Moto X was faulted for its limited storage space. The base model offers just 16GB of storage, while the more expensive version increases that to 32GB. But there's no SD slot to expand the capacity. Users also criticized the poor quality of the Moto X's 720p display and its inability to capture high-quality photos.

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Nokia's Lumia 525 upgrades its bestselling Windows Phone with more memory

Nokia's Lumia 525 popped up in a Chinese regulatory filing earlier this month, but now we have official information about this new budget Windows Phone 8 device. In lieu of fanfare or a Middle Eastern press event, it's appeared via a YouTube video and a simple product page. Appearing as a successor to the popular Lumia 520, the 525 keeps the swappable covers (orange, yellow or white) like previous Lumia models and the polycarbonate style-jacking iPhone 5c, while doubling the amount of RAM inside to 1GB. Just like the earlier model, it has a 4-inch screen, the 5MP rear camera is still without flash, microSD storage expansion, and it's powered by a dual-core Qualcomm S4 processor. It will arrive with Nokia's usual Lumia apps, but with that extra memory it can run more of them at once.

There's no release information yet on the page yet, while the website only lists Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. However, Nokia has said it will not be coming to the US or the UK. Fortunately, Engadget Chinese reports the 525 and 526 have been announced for China Unicom and China Mobile, respectively, at an off-contract price of 1,099 yuan ($180 US), shipping in December. This pricing is in line with the 520, aligning this as the pay-as-you-go WP8 option it appears to be, but we'll keep an eye out for domestic carrier release info just to be sure.

Specification :

• Main camera sensor: 5 MP
• Display size: 4''
• Touch screen technology: Super sensitive touch
• RAM: 1 GB
• Mass memory: 8 GB
• Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4
• Location and navigation apps: HERE Drive;HERE Maps;HERE Transit

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Motorola Moto G: 5 reasons why you should wait for it to launch in India

Planning to buy an affordable Android phone? We’d suggest you wait for the recently announced Moto G.

Moto G has all the ingredients of an excellent, affordable Android phone. We give you five clear benefits of Motorola’s Moto G over other budget Android phones available in the Indian market.

Moto G will redefine budget quality

Motorola has a long standing history of making good quality devices, the Moto G is expected to be a very well built device in terms of use of materials, fit and finish and the overall feel. It will be a refreshing change among the usual crowd of average built devices which lack the quality and finish that you’d expect from a 15k device. The curved back design (similar to the Moto X) along with the rubberized matte finish body lends a touch of class and sophistication to the affordable Android phone market.

Sharp screen and compact dimensions

With a 720p, 4.5-inch screen, the Moto G will offer a sharp screen with the same pixel density as the iPhone 5S and the iPad Mini Retina. The smaller screen also allows the Moto G to keep its overall dimensions in check. The combination of compact dimensions and a sharp screen will allow the Moto G to stand out from the crowd of bulky 5/5.5-inch Android phones in India, offering a quality device that is easy to carry and allows for a comfortable one handed operation.

Faster updates with better OS performance

Coming from the house of Google, Moto G is almost sure to get all the latest Android OS updates for a minimum of 15 months. And, those updates will come to the Moto G a lot quicker (right after the Nexus range) compared to other budget Android devices. While the Moto G is currently shown running on Android JellyBean 4.3, Motorola has assured that the Moto G will get the latest Android KitKat update by January 2014.

Snapdragon 400 based Quad-core SOC

Motorola Moto G runs on the Qualcomm MSM8926 SOC based on the SnapDragon 400 series, it is a fairly potent SOC with four A7 architecture based Krait cores running at 1.2 GHz. The SOC combined with 1GB RAM should be able to handle most tasks with ease. It should perform better than the Mediatek based quad-core SOCs, especially in gaming, when it has to process fewer pixels as compared to the processing required to feed 5-inch 1080p displays.

Customization with add-on accessories

With the announcement of Moto G, Motorola has also introduced an exciting range of accessories that will allow you to customize your device with high-quality shells and grips to protect the device while adding a personal touch to the device. Most comparable Android phones launched in the sub 15K price bracket hardly offer any kind of quality branded accessories, forcing users to opt for low-quality after-market accessories.

Moto G’s 5MP 720p camera and lack of memory expansion, the only obvious chinks in the armor?

The modest 5MP camera with a maximum support for recording 720p videos is perhaps the only area of concern for the Moto G. While higher megapixels do not equate to better performance, by the time the Moto G goes mass market in India, it might face a hard time convincing buyers to choose its 5MP snapper over the standard army of 8 and 13MP Android smartphones in the same price range. Not being able to expand storage capacity is another downer with the Moto G, 50GB of free cloud storage is nice, but it does not negate the need for built-in storage expansion.

Nokia Lumia range vs. Moto G

Take Android out of the equation and suddenly the budget friendly Moto G might not look as attractive. While it all depends on how much the Moto G finally costs in India, OS agnostic buyers hunting for a quality affordable smartphone will evaluate the Moto G against the entry level Nokia Lumia range. The expected update to the popular Nokia Lumia 5/6/720 series will compete head-on with the Moto G in terms of value and experience. Even the current budget champ, the Nokia Lumia 520, at a street price of Rs. 8,500 offers the best bang for the buck to anyone looking for an entry-level smartphone with quality support and smooth user experience. The Moto G should ideally target a similar status, aiming to be the king of budget Android smartphones in India, sporting a price tag that is just under Rs 12,000. Or, so we wish…

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Tired of losing your phone or leaving it behind, the HTC Fetch is your solution

If you’re tired of losing your phone or leaving it behind, the HTC Fetch is your solution. Just press the button and the sleek, compact keychain device activates your phone’s ringtone within 15 meters*. Pair it with your phone and you’ll get a warning beep if you leave it behind. If you lose both, a convenient map location feature lets you know where your HTC Fetch and phone were last together. 

*Working range may vary depending on operating environment.

After spending a whopping Rs 56,490 for a phone, you'd want to do everything in your power to make sure it doesn’t get lost/stolen. HTC knows that, and has unveiled something called as HTC Fetch along with its pricey new handset HTC One Max.

The tracking device, HTC Fetch, makes use of GPS (Global Positioning System), Assisted GPS, and mobile-tower triangulation technology to ascertain a phone's location. The device, which is worth Rs 2500, as reported by DNA, when paired with HTC One Max's fingerprint scanner, makes it fool proof. That said, this tracker will work only with the One series handsets. Once connected wirelessly, the device and handset will begin ringing if the phone is 10 metres away from the owner, and an e-mail with the phone's location on Google Maps will be fired.

I'm not sure at that price point many people would actually want to buy the HTC One Max, let alone buy a tracker device that expensive as an accessory. On the bright side, this is a cheaper and more useful accessory than what Samsung has to offer with its Note 3 device.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Secure your phone and belongings
Last seen tracking
Remote camera shutter
Easy to set up. Easier to use.
Sleek and compact design

CONNECTIVITY

Bluetooth® 4.0/BLE

WORKING RANGE

Up to 15 meter (Depends on working environment)

BATTERY

6 month battery lifetime (CR2032 replaceable battery)

COLOUR

Black

COMPATIBILITY

HTC One mini, HTC Butterfly s, HTC One max

All Specs

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Handy Android apps for hassle-free holiday travel

If you're hitting the road (or skies) this holiday season, these three Android apps can make your journey less of a headache.

Travel can be stressful no matter the time of year, but the holiday season always seems to be worse. You're stuck managing multiple reservations for flights, hotels and car rentals, facing long lines at security, and, depending on where you're traveling, there's often a looming threat of a snowstorm grounding your plane.
Luckily, we have technology to do some of the hard work for us. While nothing can make airport lines any shorter, I've highlighted three Android apps that can help take the edge off the rest of your travel woes.

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TripIt helps you organize all your travel plans and reservations.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff)

Tripit (Free, 99 cents for ad-free version)
Your trip is all planned out, and now your inbox is brimming with confirmations for flights, hotels, and rental cars. Enter Tripit, a freemium service that corrals all the dates, confirmation numbers, and other vital information from your upcoming reservations and turns them into an organized travel itinerary. All you have to do is forward your travel-related emails to TripIt's address and the service figures out the rest.
All the information you could need as you make your journey from airline counter to hotel check-in, including flight times and confirmation numbers, is stored in the Android app and you can even view it when you're offline. You can also get weather reports, directions, and turn-by-turn navigation for the hotels and destinations listed in your itinerary.
You can also download TripIt for iOS.

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            FlightStats tells you if there are delays at the airport.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff)

FlightStats (Free)
There are many, many flight-status apps, but FlightStats is my favorite because of its simple design. This free app helps you track your flight's status and saves your searches for quick access later. It will tell you if your flight is on time, it's estimated departure and arrival times from the runway, terminal and gate numbers, and at which baggage claim carousel you can claim your bags. Once the flight takes off, friends or family who will be picking you up from the airport can track your plane in the air.
You can also search by airport to see local weather conditions and seven-day forecast, time and date information, and a delay index, which tells you if there are any flight delays and how severe they are.
You can also download FlightStats for iOS.

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Get a last-minute hotel with Hotel Tonight.

(Credit: Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff)

Hotel Tonight (Free)
This last-minute hotel booking app is essential for when staying with the in-laws isn't working out, or you're stuck at the airport after a canceled flight and don't want to sleep in the terminal. It has an elegant design which makes it easy to find a nearby hotel room on short notice. You might even get a deal since many of the rooms listed are discounted.
There's no need to worry that you'll be staying at a dive, as Hotel Tonight vets all the accommodations that it lists in the app. You also get access to Hotel Tonight's 24-7 customer service, which can help you with a booking.

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Experience the Galaxy Note 3 on nearly any Android device

Samsung offers a free app to show you what it's like to use the Note 3.

                             (Credit: Jason Cipriani) 

 

Do you currently have an Android device? And are you on the fence about whether or not the Note 3 is the right device for your next purchase? Samsung has an answer for you if you said yes.
By downloading and using the Galaxy Note 3 Experience app, available for free in the Play Store, you can get a firsthand experience of what the Note 3 offers. You'll need to be using a device running Android 4.1 and above.

            (Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani) 

As noted by Android Authority, you'll be guided through selecting different functions you value, and then walk through how the Note 3 is going to make those functions easier for you.
The overall experience on my Nexus 5 was a bit jittery, and the touch responsiveness of the app was delayed at times, but in the end you get the general idea of how the S Pen and the Note 3 work together. Don't worry about your selections the first time you run the app, once you're done experiencing how the Note 3 handles each category you're able to view all categories.
As we have covered in the past, companies seem to be releasing more and more apps like this one. Is an app like this something that will sway you one way or another when deciding whether or not to purchase a device?

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Great iOS apps for making holiday travel easier

People around the country are gearing up to travel home for Thanksgiving, but with the right apps on your iPhone, you can ease the pain of the holiday rush.

Traveling can be a headache, especially during big holidays like Thanksgiving. With so many people traveling the country at around the same time, you're faced with packed airports, unforeseen schedule changes, bad weather, and probably more than a few irritable fellow passengers just trying to get home for the holiday.
To keep the stress level at a minimum, I selected some helpful travel apps for iOS that will keep you on schedule and help you navigate your itinerary.

TripIt lets you set up an account, then forward travel confirmation e-mails to a special e-mail address (plans@tripit.com) to make all your vacation information available on your iPhone. Everything from flight times, to hotels, restaurants you want to try, car rentals, and more can be added to your trip card so you know your exact itinerary on your iPhone.
TripIt is more than just a list of information. It takes your vacation plans and uses flight data, mapping data, and more to give you a schedule of events as you enjoy your holiday with family. As an example, when you land at your destination, you can check the weather, get directions to the car rental location, the time it takes to get there, directions to your hotel, and the layout of your hotel. You can add as much or as little information as you want to get each day mapped out with restaurants, places to see, and activities, and all are on an easy-to-follow schedule. As long as you added all the info in advance, you can access it on your iPhone or any other device, even while offline.
You can also sign up for TripIt Pro for $49 per year to get real-time flight alerts, track your seating info, get alerts gate changes, and even offers alternate flights when your trip doesn't go according to plan.
TripIt is a great choice for those who want to map out each day of their trip, with all the info handy whether you're on or offline. It also will make your holiday trips less stressful with a solid schedule you can follow, giving you one less thing to worry about.

Flight+ brings a lot of flight-tracking functionality not available with other apps in the genre. Flight-tracking apps are great to see if your plane is on time before you leave for the airport. It's also useful if you're waiting for a friend or family member to arrive.
Once you select a flight, you see all of the relevant information including the scheduled and actual departure and arrival times, terminal and gate information, and a map with the flight's approximate position and the weather and current time at the two cities. The maps are high-resolution, colorful, and fully detailed. You can elect to receive push notifications as flight times change, save notes for a flight, and view a short description of the aircraft.
Flight+ also delivers a ton of information that will satisfy both frequent fliers and casual travelers. For most airports globally you can view a short description, current weather, terminal maps, and (in some cases) a photo of the terminal building. Also useful are real-time departure and arrival boards (just like the ones you'd see in the airport) that are continually updated and a world map showing all the domestic and international flights from the airport with nonstop service. The Airlines section is similarly detailed. Besides a short description of the carrier, you can see a map of its worldwide destinations, a flight board of all its flights across the system, and its current Twitter feed.
One complaint is that you can't track a flight without being forced to add it to a saved list. Though such a list is convenient for keeping track of a multileg journey, sometimes you just need to look up a flight's information only once. The other thing to note is that Flight+ is not iOS Universal, so you'll have to purchase the app twice to have it on both your iPhone and iPad.

Just Landed is not exactly an app for the holiday traveler per se, but instead uses your GPS location and current flight schedules to help you pick the exact time to go pick up your friend or family member from the airport. So rather than the traveler, this app is for the person at the destination.
Just Landed sports a well-designed, minimalist interface with only the tools you need for picking up a person at the airport. The way the app works is, once you have your friend's flight information, you can enter the flight number into the app to get the latest info about their flight on travel day, including whether the flight was delayed or will arrive early. From there, you can simply go about your day until the app notifies you (you'll need to keep notifications on) when it's time to leave for the airport in time to pick your friend up.
An added bonus feature is that Just Landed uses your GPS location and traffic data to show you the best route to the airport and figures out how long it will take you to get there. The app takes these factors into account when determining when to notify you, so you don't have to worry so much about what the roads will be like getting there. When you start your drive, the Maps app takes over, showing you the best route to take to get to the airport quickly.
While this app isn't for the holiday traveler, it will definitely come in handy for those who are picking up people at the airport. If you have a relative coming in for the holidays, check out Just Landed.

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Long live the new Netbook

The good: The Asus Transformer Book T100 runs full Windows 8.1, comes with a keyboard, has great battery life, and is a steal if you can find it for $350.

The bad: The cramped keyboard feels like an old Netbook's used to; not as fast as zippier, larger, more expensive Windows products; display not that vibrant.

The bottom line: The Asus Transformer Book T100 revives the Netbook value proposition (and Netbook usability issues) in a budget-priced 10-inch laptop that doubles as a tablet. You won’t love it, but for sheer bang for the buck, it’s hard to beat.

A long time ago in Techland, Netbooks were a big deal: they were cheap, portable, and effective, if unexciting. Then came tablets, which could do a lot of the same things, but in a more organic, touch-controlled way.
Windows 8 has attempted to redefine small-form-factor computing. but the humble Netbook has been left behind in favor of tablets that flip and dock into hybrid computers. The Asus Transformer Book T100 has arrived to be your possible savior: it is the closest thing we have to a New Netbook, with a similarly small 10-inch screen and cramped-but-cozy keyboard, but it also happens to have a detachable top half that becomes a Windows 8 tablet. And, it's under $400: $379, or even less at some places.
Full Windows 8 PCs running newer Intel Atom processors and costing around $400 have been here for the last year, but here's why the T100 is special: it has a newer Bay Trail Atom processor that's faster and offers far better battery life, and the overall shape and design is a lot like the Asus Transformer Android keyboarded tablets, which we've always been fond of. A Transformer that runs full Windows? What can possibly be bad about that?

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

Keep in mind there are other values in the Windows 8 landscape, too, largely thanks to Bay Trail: the new Dell Venue 8 Pro actually costs $100 less, and has a great feel, but, it's only an 8-inch tablet. Also, it only has 32GB of SSD storage, and doesn't come with a keyboard. The Transformer Book T100 has more storage and that keyboard (but a 32GB SSD model is also on sale at many retail channels, so make sure you notice that before pulling the trigger on what you think is a better value).

	Asus Transformer Book T100	Dell Venue 8 Pro	Acer Iconia W3
Price	$379	$299	$429
Display size/resolution	10.1-inch, 1,366 x 768 touch screen	8.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 touch screen	8.1-inch, 1,280 x 800 touch screen
PC CPU	1.3GHz Intel Atom Z3740	1.3GHz Intel Atom3740D	1.8GHz Intel Atom Z2760
PC memory	2,948MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz	2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz	2,948MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz
Graphics	32GB Intel HD Graphics	32GB Intel HD Graphics	Intel GMA 1003MB shared
Storage	64GB SSD hard drive	32GB SSD hard drive	64GB SSD hard drive
Optical drive	None	None	None
Networking	802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating system	Windows 8 (32-bit)	Windows 8 (32-bit)	Windows 8 (32-bit)

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

Windows 8: Has it found the perfect device?
The T100 feels like a laptop first and tablet second, but that's not so bad at all: I typed a good chunk of this review on my train rides home and tucked in on my lap, and it worked quite well. If you've ever worked on a Netbook, you know how it feels.
And that's the bad part, I guess: this feels like a Netbook. Cramped keyboard, but a solidly performing one: its size and key travel reminded me of many recent iPad Bluetooth keyboard accessories. The touch pad below's nothing special, but it's roughly the size of the one on the Surface Type Cover, is clickable, and does the job.
To detach the top half, you click a button right above the keyboard and pull it off the mechanical latch. Afterwards, snap it back in, much like the HP Envy x2 and others. It's a seamless swap.
The keyboard bottom half has its own USB 3.0 port --- a benefit of upgrading to a Bay Trail processor -- but the rest of the ports (and the headphone jack) are on the tablet top half.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

I'm not going to sugar-coat this. The keyboard, while functional, is cramped and plastic-feeling. The touch pad is small. The chassis feels like a ticket to Glossy PlasticLand. The tablet's 1,366x768-pixel touch display is effective, but not particularly bright. It all resembles, very much, that good old Netbook Asus used to make not too long ago.
The keyboard is also on a permanent riser, because the tablet top half docks in a way that makes the whole bottom elevate when opened. I'm used to flatter keyboards, so it threw me off.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

I typed back and forth among the Transformer Book T100, an iPad Air plugged into a Belkin Ultimate Keyboard Case, and an HP Chromebook 11. The Chromebook had the best keyboard, followed by the iPad with Belkin case. The Transformer Book brings up the rear. But once you get used to the keys, it gets better.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

As a tablet, the T100 is fine, but it's thicker and bigger than your average iPad or Android tablet, or even a Surface 2. It's not too heavy to hold, but it doesn't feel designed to be an excellent standalone tablet: it feels more like the floating back lid of a laptop that's still searching for its base. It's good, and I could definitely see myself using it casually on a sofa, but I wouldn't feel compelled to take the tablet on its own for a day without that keyboard.
With the keyboard and tablet together, the Transformer Book weighs 2.4 pounds, an acceptable if slightly chunky number for a 10.1-inch Netbook. The tablet alone weighs 1.2 pounds. It feels good in one hand, but I'd rather use two. The thicker build quality and lower-resolution screen suggest that I wouldn't use it quite as much as a standalone tablet in most cases. The Dell Venue 8 Pro feels a lot better and has a better display, but it's also smaller and more Kindle-like, and seems less ideal for getting work done (it doesn't come with a keyboard, either).

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

Do I like the Surface 2 more? Yes in terms of design, but not software. The proposition of this little T100 as a budget Netbook plus tablet seems extremely appealing. In fact, a tablet-meets-Netbook like this, which also charges via Micro-USB with an included cable, could be a Chromebook killer for a lot of people.
And no, there's no rear-facing camera, so don't even think of using this to take photos, unless you want to do a selfie. The 1.3-megapixel Webcam looks good for Skyping.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

Performance
A quad-core next-gen Bay Trail Atom Z3740 lurks inside the Transformer Book T100, along with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of SSD storage in our review configuration. This is one of the first systems we've seen with this new class of Atom processors: previous Windows 8 systems with Atoms were actually pretty decent machines, if you accepted their limitations: for everyday tasks, they fared quite well, and had good battery life.
Here's the good news: the Transformer Book T100 outperformed last-gen Atom Windows 8 machines, and even did significantly better in some tests than the much more expensive (and heavier) AMD-powered Toshiba Satellite Click. That system cost over $500; the Transformer Book T100 costs under $400, and is a fraction of the size. More powerful and expensive systems like the Sony Vaio Tap 11 still outperform it by a significant margin, though.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

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Clever adapter connects USB accessories to your Android device

With an inexpensive USB OTG adapter, you can connect things like keyboards, USB hard drives, and even gaming controllers to your Android phone or tablet.

(Credit: Josh Miller) 

 

With the iPad Camera Connection Kit allowing users to connect a variety of unexpected USB devices (like a MIDI keyboard) to their iPads, the next logical question was, "Is there something similar for Android?"
Although it's not advertised or sold by any of the big Android phone manufacturers, the solution is a cheap cable called a USB On-The-Go adapter.
USB On-The-Go (Amazon link), or USB OTG, is essentially a female USB port that plugs into the Micro-USB port of a phone or tablet, allowing you to connect devices that use a standard USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection. In a nutshell, the adapter allows the Android device to be a "USB host," powering and communicating with the connected device.

Compatibility
So far, it's been difficult to figure out which Android devices are compatible with the USB OTG cable. It's clear, however, that the Samsung family of Android phones and tablets are the most USB-friendly of them all, allowing users to connect the greatest variety of USB devices.
Even though USB host mode is technically available in devices running Android 3.1 and above, the hardware manufacturers (OEMs) must enable the feature. And, even then, the OEM might limit the types of USB devices the Android phone or tablet supports.
With the help of this crowdsourced chart, and some of our own testing, we found that the following devices are compatible with USB OTG:

• Samsung Galaxy S II (S2)
• Samsung Galaxy S III (S3)
• Galaxy Nexus*
• Nexus 7*
• Droid RAZR
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Acer Iconia Tab A200
• Acer Iconia Tab A500
• Archos G9
• Notion Ink Adam
• Motorola Xoom
• Toshiba Excite 10
• Sony Tablet S

So, it's clear that many Android phones lack support for USB host mode. It's possible that OEMs will include the feature in future software updates, but until then, those who want to hook up USB accessories to their unsupported Android devices will have to root.

*Although the Galaxy Nexus family supports many USB accessories, it does not support mass storage devices, like USB thumbdrives.

Using the USB OTG adapter
There's no set of instructions on how to use the USB OTG adapter, or what USB accessories are compatible with it. So, I unloaded my drawer of USB stuffs and got to work.

When you plug the OTG adapter into your Android device, a quick notification will appear, letting you know that the phone or tablet has recognized the adapter and is ready to be a USB host.
From there, you can start plugging in a number of USB devices. Here are the ones I tested using the Samsung Galaxy S III (S3):

• USB thumbdrive: When you plug in a USB thumbdrive, you Android device will quickly display its contents. You can play movies, play music, and view photos or documents. The interface also allows you to move or copy files from your thumbdrive to your phone's SD card. This is the most practical use of the USB OTG adapter, and an excellent way to quickly transfer files or expand your device's storage.
  If, by chance, your device does not recognize the USB thumbdrive, try accessing it with an app like ES File Explorer.
• Desktop keyboard: If you need to do long-form writing, you can use a standard computer keyboard (wired or wireless) to type on your Android phone or tablet. Even shortcuts like Ctrl-A and Ctrl-X will work.
• Mouse: This was pretty surprising -- when you connect a mouse (wired or wireless), a pointer will appear on your Android's screen. With that, you can use the mouse just as you would your finger.
• USB hub: What if you want to connect a keyboard and mouse at the same time? With a USB hub plugged into the OTG adapter, you can do just that. Of course, your battery will drain a bit faster, but the setup might be worthwhile for power users.
• Powered hard drive: Because your Android powers whatever device it's connected to, a portable (not powered) hard drive won't work. However, a powered hard drive will, since it relies on energy from an external source. With the hard drive connected, you can read, write, and transfer any stored files.
• PS3 controller: Now, this is pretty crazy. The Samsung Galaxy S III is stock-compatible with the PS3 controller. As soon as you connect it, you can navigate the interface using the analog (thumb) stick. Most importantly, the controller is compatible with some Android games. So far, the inventory of PS3 controller-ready games has been hit or miss, but Sega games (like Sonic) definitely work.
• Card reader: Photographers will appreciate the USB OTG's compatibility with card readers. In theory, you could shoot photos on your high-quality camera and upload them on the go using your Android phone or tablet. This could also be useful for pro photographers who can show their clients previews or share sneak-peeks of photo shoots through apps like Instagram.
• DSLR camera (Canon T3i): The OTG adapter coupled with your dSLR's USB cable allows you to tether your camera to your phone or tablet. Using an app like Remote Release or DSLR Controller, you can even use your Android device as a remote shutter release, as well as control camera settings and mirror them live.
• USB-to-Ethernet adapter: If Wi-Fi isn't available, or you want a supersteady Internet connection, you can connect a USB-to-Ethernet adapter (like this one) to your USB OTG and connect the phone or tablet to a wired Ethernet connection.

With time, more Android devices will likely support USB hosting. If you discover any additional devices that support the USB OTG adapter, or other USB accessories that work with it, let me know in the comments.

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Battle of the Benjamins: Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini vs. Droid Mini, HTC One Mini, iPhone 5C

Although you can't deny the popularity of flagship handsets, manufacturers aren't shying away from offering devices that are just one notch down from their highest tiered smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, for instance, recently landed on Verizon and Sprint (with plans to reach AT&T and U.S. Cellular customers soon). It costs $99.99 on contract, though with temporary rebates and deals, Sprint is offering it for free to new customers only. The device features many of the things users love about the Galaxy S4, but in a smaller, slightly less powerful package.
Likewise, Motorola released a mid-range version of its Droid Maxx, known as the Droid Mini, and HTC retained the One's stylish construction for its Mini variant as well, but lowered its price, along with a few key specs. Lastly, back in September, Apple unveiled the iPhone 5C, which was the company's first foray into providing a cheaper alternative to its flagship iPhone that's also current at the same time.
All these handsets cost about $100 with a carrier agreement, so to see how they compare with one another, check out our chart below. Then you tell us -- when it comes to dominating the beta phone realm, what do you prefer?

Editors' note: This piece was originally published on September 11, 2013 and included the Nokia Lumia 520. The device has since been replaced with the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

	Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini	Motorola Droid Mini	HTC One Mini	Apple iPhone 5C
Dimensions	4.91 x 2.41 x 0.35 inches; 3.77 oz.	4.81 x 2.41 x 0.34 inches; 4.59 oz.	5.2 x 2.5 x 0.36 inches; 4.52 oz.	4.9 x 2.33 x 0.35 inches; 4.65 oz.
Display	4.3-inch QHD sAMOLED; 540x960 pixels	4.3-inch HD; 1,280x720 pixels	4.3-inch HD; 720p; 340ppi	4-inch Retina Display; 1,136x640 pixels; 326 ppi
Operating system	Android 4.2.2	Android 4.2	Android 4.2.2	iOS 7
4G LTE	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wi-Fi	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n
NFC	Yes	Yes	No	No
Bluetooth	v4.0	v4.0	v4.0	v4.0
Rear camera and recording	8-megapixel; 1080p HD video	10-megapixel; 1080p HD video	4-UltraPixel; 1080p HD video	8-megapixel; 1080p HD video
Front-facing camera	1.9-megapixel; 720p HD video	2-megapixel	1.6-megapixel; 720p HD video	1.2-megapixel; 720p video
Processor	1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400	1.7GHz dual-core Motorola X8 system	1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400	Proprietary A6 (32-bit)
Capacity	16GB	16GB	16GB	16GB and 32GB
Expandable memory	Up to 64GB	No	No	No
Battery life	1,900mAh removable: 12 hours talk time; 12.5 days standby time	2,000mAh embedded: 28 hours usage time, 14 days standby time	1,800mAh embedded: 21 hours talk time; 21 days standby time	Embedded: 10 hours talk time; 10 days standby time
Carriers	Verizon and Sprint; AT&T and U.S. Cellular coming soon	Verizon	AT&T	AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and global
Pricing	$99.99; $399.99 off contract	$99.99; $449.99 off contract	$99.99; $429.99 off contract	$99 for 16GB; $199 for 32GB; $549 for 16GB off contract
Available colors	Black and white	Black	Silver and black	Blue, green, pink, yellow, white

Credit: Lynn La

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PS4 declassified: How Sony used its PS3 mistakes to build the ultimate developer's console

The PlayStation 3 was a troubled machine, launching at a price that gave gamers fits, and using technologies that gave developers headaches. This is how Sony avoided making the same mistakes twice.

It's the fall of 2006 and Sony has a problem. The PlayStation 3, the company's eagerly awaited and hyperbolically marketed successor to the best-selling video game console of all time, has not been well-received. The major issue is cost. With models launching at $499 and $599, the PS3 is shipping a year later than Microsoft's Xbox 360 and selling for $100 higher -- $200 more if you compare it with the hard drive-free Xbox 360 Core edition.
That placed the system out of the reach of many gamers, but it was a cost necessitated by complex, custom internals -- not the least of which being the physical inclusion of an Emotion Engine CPU, the brain that powered the PS2. Sony had basically replicated the guts of the older system to enable proper backward compatibility, and, by mixing that with a very advanced processor called Cell, created a system that simply could not be sold inexpensively at launch.

Cost, though, is something that can be fixed, and Sony solved that problem. The economic implications of volume production are well understood, and video game components are high-volume things. Sony would streamline and refactor the PS3 on multiple occasions, ultimately ripping out that PS2 backward compatibility, and bringing the cost of the higher-end PS3 down to $499 the July after launch, then introducing a new, midrange $399 model that November. It was an effective $200 price cut in just one year.

Valve's Gabe Newell famously said the PlayStation 3 was a 'waste of everyone's time.'

But there was a bigger problem that could not be so easily fixed, a fundamental restriction that would hinder the success of the system throughout its life. The PlayStation 3 was, quite simply, too damned hard to code for. It was built around that custom Cell processor, a chip that promised (and, in some cases, delivered) supercomputer-like processing power through a combination of multiple, specialized cores. It's a unique architecture that never really caught on. Shaun Himmerick, a Midway producer who worked on titles for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, called development for Sony's console "a huge pain in the ass." Valve's Gabe Newell famously said the PlayStation 3 was a "waste of everyone's time."
Hyperbole, of course, and the PlayStation 3 would prove its worth by providing the gaming world with some truly iconic experiences, like Journey and The Last of Us. Still, Mark Cerny, lead system architect for the new PlayStation 4, pulls few punches in describing the challenges faced by the outgoing system. While he sugar-coated the response to the $599 price a bit, tactfully calling it "not ideal," he is otherwise very candid about the difficulties of developing for the PS3.

Mark Cerny

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

Cerny and I met in a demo room full of gaming journalists and hangers-on, all eagerly getting their first proper taste of the PlayStation 4, the product that he has spent nearly six years bringing to market. He's something of a legend among serious game aficionados, getting his start working for Atari in 1982 when he was just 17 years old. A year later he would design Marble Madness, one of the most iconic games of the early '80s. He's more recently had a long tenure working with, and ultimately for, Sony, having a hand in powerhouse titles like Jack and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Crash Bandicoot.

Cerny's straightforward analysis is a refreshing departure from the bombastic declarations of superiority that accompanied 2006's PlayStation 3 launch.

Cerny's dark, reddish-brown hair and expressive face make him look far younger than his age of 49. A soft-spoken voice and reserved demeanor seem somewhat at odds with his position as the guiding force of the single most important product in Sony's vast portfolio. His honest and straightforward analysis of the challenges faced by the PlayStation 3 is a refreshing departure from the bombastic declarations of superiority that accompanied 2006's PS3 launch. It makes his well-grounded optimism about the future success of the PlayStation 4 feel all the more infectious.
"PlayStation 3 is very powerful. It's a supercomputer on a chip, that's the Cell processor. But, at the same time, to unlock that power you have to spend a lot of time. People have now spent eight years learning the depths of that architecture, how to make games look beautiful and make these rich interactive worlds. You can see that in The Last of Us. It did take a lot of effort. I wanted to be sure that the next time around that it was just a lot easier for developers to make the games. It was very important to me that they could be focused on their creative vision and not learning the minutiae of the hardware."
Ease of development was a primary goal in the initial design discussions for what would become the PS4. Work began in early 2008. That's a stark contrast to the goal of the PS3, seemingly maximum performance at any cost. In the pursuit of power, even developer support, crucial tools that allow for the creation of great games, was left by the wayside. Says Cerny: "With PS3 we didn't really start creating developer tools until the hardware was done, and it turns out that was too late, and so it was pretty tough making the launch titles."

Michiel van der Leeuw

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

Michiel van der Leeuw is technical director at Guerrilla Games, developer of the eagerly anticipated launch title Killzone: Shadow Fall. He remembers the early teething pains of Sony's previous next-gen effort: "Early games didn't use SPUs at all. [The processing units that made the Cell processor so powerful.] A lot of games had frame rate issues. It took a while to get the hang of it. There was a very big learning curve to it."
And how much easier is the new system? "A lot. We have created a launch title in two and a half years. It's got a campaign that's longer than ever. The world is about four or five times bigger...even with all the struggles of being the first one out the door, with the operating system being in development. I think that's a testament to how easy it is."
Of course, van der Leeuw had something of a privileged position as being a developer on what's widely considered to be the PS4's premier title of the moment. But, his elevated status truly began many years ago. Before Cerny's team got too far down the design process for the console, his team gathered opinions from developers, asking them what their ideal PS3 successor would look like.
"I went out and spoke to 30-something development teams during development and got their feedback on what they wanted," Cerny told me. "This was 2008 to 2009. I couldn't admit that this was about the PlayStation 4. I concealed this as a questionnaire about what the future of video game hardware would look like. But they knew what I was talking about."

Michiel van der Leeuw

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

Van der Leeuw was one of those 30, and yes, he knew exactly what Cerny was talking about. "It started in 2009, I believe, that I got the first e-mail from Mark Cerny, that he wanted to discuss something about the future and was very cryptic back then. It was very early days, roughly sketching what the future of consoles would look like and what are the biggest problems. I think I was the only one disclosed at this moment and it stayed like that for about a year. I would have secret conference calls in the corners of our office in the middle of the night, because of course the rest of the people were in Tokyo or in the United States." Did he know it was PS4? "Yeah."

Part of Cerny's job was corralling the opinions of dozens of developers, encouraging them to speak their minds. Then began the daunting task of satisfying them all.

Back then the PS4 was known as NGH, or Next Generation Hardware, and part of Cerny's job was corralling the opinions of dozens of developers, encouraging them to speak their minds. Then began the daunting task of satisfying them all. "I asked them: how many CPUs do you feel comfortable working with, because some parallelization is necessary in software on consoles. I heard answers of anything from one CPU up to 1,000, but the consensus answer was four or eight, which is why the PlayStation 4 has eight. They asked for unified memory as our number one request, and we have unified memory. They want a hard drive in every console. And, within our constraint of making an affordable console, we tried to fulfill all of those requests."

Michiel van der Leeuw and Herman Hulst

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

The team at Guerrilla Games seems to feel content that the result meets their needs. Managing Director Herman Hulst told me, "We pretty much got what we wanted" -- including a headphone jack in the controller.
Of course, people don't always know what they want until you give it to them, and Cerny's team felt compelled to go beyond the basic demands for more power, more memory, and more storage. Cerny is particularly optimistic about the console's asynchronous fine-grained compute capabilities. This is, basically, using the PS4's Radeon GPU for nongraphical tasking, like more atmospheric audio or realistic physics. "This vision for how that almost two teraflops of power could be used to enhance the interactivity of the world was something that we had, to use the hardware to bring the game much closer to reality," says Cerny.

And then there are the social aspects of the console, enabling gamers to quickly and easily capture and share video of their greatest digital achievements. Online video sharing was just getting into its stride when PS4 design work began, and integrating this was something his team wanted from the beginning. Cerny worked to build bridges across the notoriously siloed Sony enterprise to make this functionality come together. "It was definitely part of the core concept. Once we had the hardware worked out we formed a multidisciplinary team to work on the user experience. That included people across all of Sony Computer Entertainment, and in fact people from other parts of Sony were involved."
Cerny believes that this social element, the ease of sharing footage and highlights from games, will increase the discoverability of niche indie games. These are the sorts of titles that offer refreshing experiences but often get lost amid the big-money marketing budgets of the major publishers. Secret Ponchos is one of those games, a sort of Spaghetti Western beat 'em up that drew crowds at the most recent PAX East. It also caught the eyes of two very important gamers: Brian Silva and Nick Suttner from Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Developer Relations team. Yousef Mapara, president and creative director for developer Switchblade Monkeys, had no idea that he was making the pitch of his life on the show floor.

Yousef Mapara

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

"Usually you pitch to executives on their terms and you go and they're in suits and using BlackBerrys. Sony was the opposite. They were on the floor disguised as regular gamers, you didn't know they were Sony, and they were just checking out which games they liked....They introduced themselves and said, 'We like your game. How do we get it on PS4?' Before that we didn't think that was a possibility. I actually told them, 'I don't think we can do that, because we're so small. There are too many hurdles.' Brian asked, 'Well, what are your hurdles? We'll help you through them.' I think that kind of proactive approach is going to give them a really impressive indie portfolio."

They were on the floor disguised as regular gamers, you didn't know they were Sony, and they were just checking out which games they liked.

Indeed, while Microsoft seemed to be ignoring the indie scene when it launched the Xbox One, Sony was being hugely proactive in lining up titles like Secret Ponchos. At launch, there will be nine smaller-scale PSN titles, and Mapara thinks more will come thanks to the PS4's ease of development.
"The PS3 was very powerful, but you needed to put in a lot of custom work to get a lot of that power. PS4 just out of the box has more standardized power that is just easier to tap into and is less difficult for programmers....There are processes in that they're making it very easy. If you don't know what to do you can call someone up. There's an account manager that will help you, there are forums where you can post stuff. You get a lot of support from Sony."
Guerilla's Van Der Leeuw is equally impressed by the improvements on the developer support side. "The hardware is much simpler. The unified memory is really important. The developer support is much better. The operating system is much less restrictive, it does a lot more stuff for you. There's a lot of stuff you don't have to worry about anymore. But also, the TRC, the Technical Requirements Check, the testing that every game needs to perform to, that was a big set of requirements you have to fulfill, and that's been simplified."
Of course, there is a dark side to all this: the dreaded port. By making a system easy to target, easy for developers to get up to speed quickly, the barrier of entry becomes shorter. When you're talking about a talented indie developer with a great idea, making things easy is of course a very good thing. However, all too often that same benefit is exploited by bigger, revenue-driven publishers trying to shovel the same game out to as many platforms as possible. When that happens, the game is typically designed for the lowest common denominator, such that a restriction of one gaming platform winds up being felt on all of them.
This is already happening, with big-budget shooters like Battlefield and Call of Duty rushing to hit as many platforms as possible, rather than focusing on being amazing on one. Focus, Van Der Leeuw says, is what enabled his team to do more. "We were able to create a much bigger, more involved world because we were not so limited by the hardware. That's one thing where you'll see about next-generation titles. They'll get richer and bigger as soon as they shed the previous generation, because the cross-generation titles need to work within the limits of the old generation. But they'll soon be gone."

Of course, Guerrilla didn't have much choice: it's owned by Sony. Yousef Mapara's Switchblade Monkeys is not, but by electing to focus on the PS4, his company was given quite the golden ticket, including free dev kits and lots of support. "They brought us to E3 and put us on stage. A small studio could never afford to do that kind of stuff. So just helping us with exposure has been amazing."
These are the sorts of measures required to woo a developer to focus on one platform or another, but given the rapidly escalating cost of development for a major title, winning that kind of exclusive focus (without buying the development studio outright) is getting ever-more difficult. With both next-gen systems offering very similar functionality and internals, there's less reason than ever for a publisher to want to focus on one platform over another.

Mark Cerny with the author

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

 

That said, if developers can more easily tap into and make full use of the power of one video game console than the other, games on that system will look better and will run better. Better games usually mean greater sales, and that's ultimately the name of the game. In that regard, Mark Cerny is already confident. "We have the most preorders of any console we've ever released, so I'd say the reaction to this has been quite good."
As Cerny looks over the room of gamers clutching DualShock 4 controllers, many getting their first taste of the PlayStation 4's first titles, I ask him whether he's ready for launch. "It's been six years. Yes, I'm ready."

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