Saturday 4 June 2011

Dell Latitude E6420 XFR and Latitude E6420 ATG rugged laptops launched Review And Specification


Dell today updated its Latitude series with two new rugged notebooks -- the Latitude E6420 XFR (pictured after the break) and semi-rugged Latitude E6420 ATG (pictured above). Both of them are designed to work in the toughest environments and meet high defense-grade standards. What is interesting is that they also give protection from drops, spills, dust and related workplace hazards.
Both of them are powered by 2nd generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processor and feature integrated or 512MB discrete graphics, 14-inch display, DVD burner, 4GB DDR3 memory, and 320GB hard drive.
Other features include WiFi, Bluetooth, USB 3.0, card reader, fingerprint reader, and smartcard reader.
Both of them come with Windows 7 operating system.
The Latitude E6420 XFR and Latitude E6420 ATG ($1949) are now available.

HP Pavilion g6-1004tx Laptop Review And Specification

HP Pavilion g6-1004tx

HP Pavilion G6-1004tx

The new HP Pavilion G6-1004tx is a 15.6-inch HD display laptop powered by the latest Intel sandy bridge Intel Core i5-2410M processor  . It comes with AMD Radeon HD 6470M discrete graphics card with 1GB dedicated video memory .

HP Pavilion g6-1004tx laptop specifications :
  • Operating system : Windows 7 Home Basic 64-bit
  • Processor : 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M
  • Chipset : Intel HM65
  • Memory : 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 (1 x 4 GB) ,Upgradeable up to 8 GB DDR3
  • Hard Disk : 640 GB SATA
  • Optical drives : DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
  • Display : 15.6-inch HD LED HP Brightview Display , 1366 x 768 resolution
  • Graphics : AMD Radeon HD 6470M (1 GB DDR3)
  • Ports : HDMI , VGA , 3 USB v2.0
  • Multi-in-One Media Card Reader
  • Webcam (VGA) with Integrated Digital Microphone
  • Altec Lansing speakers – SRS Premium Sound
  • Megabit Ethernet LAN
  • WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth
  • Weight : Starting at 2.5 kg
  • Dimensions (W x D x H) : 37.4 x 24.5 x 3.05 cm
  • Color : Charcoal Grey

MSI Latest Windpad Enjoy 7 And Enjoy 10 Android Gingerbread Tablet Review And Specification


MSI has launched Windpad Enjoy 10 Android Tablet and MSI WindPad Enjoy 7 tablet . MSI Windpad Enjoy 10 sports a 10.1-inch multi touch display with 1024 x 768 pixel screen resolution, 4GB internal memory + 512MB RAM, external memory support and loaded with games and apps.
Enjoy 10 comes with a single core Cortex A8 processor clocked at 1.2GHz accompanied by 512MB of DDR3 RAM, all powering Gingerbread on the 10-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768. Not impressive, you might think, but still good enough to bring 1080p full HD videos.
The MSI WindPad Enjoy 7 is the smaller sibling, but it packs an equally capable 1.2GHz Cortex A8 chip powering the seven inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. Except for the difference in screen size, the Enjoy 7 is virtually identical in terms of specs. Both devices aren’t the lightest you’ll see – the 10 incher weighs a hefty 28 ounces (795g), while the seven inch Enjoy 7 tips the scales at 13.93 ounces (395g).

MSI Windpad Enjoy 7 and Enjoy 10 Specification and features

  • OS: Android Gingerbread
  • Processor: ARM Cortex A8 1.2GHz Single core processor
  • Display: 10-inch multi touchscreen display
  • 1024 x 768 pixels screen resolution
    4GB internal memory
  • 512MB RAM
  • External memory support
  • Integrated Applications and Games
  • EVERNOTE Cloud technology, MSI Smart media link,
  • DLNA connectivity
  • Wi-Fi enabled
  • Battery: 27.3WHr
  • Weight: 795 gram

Intel Latest Core i5 655K Processor Review And Perfomance Speceification

No matter how fast processors have become today, the quest to push them even further does not stop. No wonder there are so many overclocking contests and events all around the world, with the winners not just winning awards, but more importantly, bragging rights. Sadly, there aren't many processors released in the market, which we can call as really overclockable, and the few that are overclockable, are too expensive for most to buy.

AMD came forward and launched the first budget overclockable processors labeled Black Edition, with unlocked multipliers for overclockers to play around. Intel had their Extreme Edition processors, but at a thousand dollars, they were simply beyond most people's means.

Just before Computex 2010, we saw that Intel seemed to have taken a cue from AMD and launched their own version of unlocked processors for the mainstream segment, dubbed the K-series processors. The two processors are the socket LGA-1156 Core i5 655K (3.2 GHz, 2-cores/4-threads) and the Core i7 875K (2.93 GHz, 4-cores/8-threads). While the Core i5 655K is similar in all aspects to the Core i5 650, the Core i7 875K is similar to the Core i7 870. The difference being that the K-series processors have unlocked multiplier, allowing enthusiasts to overclock them to be able to get the last drop of juice out of these processors. We have the Intel Core i5 655K with us and are going to overclock it to as much as it allows us on air-cooling. Read on.



About the Intel Core i5 655K

The Intel Core i5 655K runs at 3.2 GHz, and has two Hyper-Threaded cores with four threads running simultaneously. This Nehalem derivative Clarkdale-based processor is manufactured using 32nm fabrication process. It has 4MB L3 cache also made using 32nm fabrication technology. The processor has a TDP of 73W.



The 655K includes an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) and a memory controller on the die. Rather than using 32nm technology, the IGP is produced at 45nm technology, to reduce cost. You can use the IGP when you mount this processor on a H55 or H57 chipset based motherboard, and the processor works as any other socket LGA-1156 processor on a P55 motherboard. The memory controller supports up to 16GB of dual channel DDR3 memory at up to 1333 MHz. Cache memory consists of 32KB L1 Data cache, 32KB Instruction cache, 256KB L2 cache per core and 4MB L3 cache shared between the two cores. There is also 4MB Intel Smart Cache. The 655K supports Intel Turbo Boost technology, which boosts the speed of one or both the cores up to 3.46GHz depending on CPU loading. Enlisted below are all the processors in the Clarkdale series, along with the 655K.



Now it is time to get to the performance.



Performance

To test the performance of this processor, we had to choose the adequate testbench to maximize the amount of performance we can get.

Motherboard: ECS P55H-AK officially supporting the K-series processors, with good overclocking capability

Heatsink fan: CoolerMaster V6GT with push-pull fan cooling

Memory: 2x2GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz memory at 1333 MHz

Graphics card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 460 768MB

PSU: CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold 800W

Hard drive: WD VelociRaptor 600GB SATA 6.0 Gb/s

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 32-bit


Benchmarking software used;

SiSoftware Sandra Professional Business 2011

3DMark Vantage

PCMark Vantage

CineBench R11.5

TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4

AIDA64

Prime95 (for stability test)

DiRT2 (Game benchmark)

World In Conflict (Game benchmark)

The test bench was set up in room temperature environment (around 27 degrees Celsius) rather than in an air conditioned environment to simulate a real-world scenario. Temperatures were monitored using AIDA64 reporting tool, and power consumptions were monitored using Kill-A-Watt power meters.



The benchmarks were first taken at the stock speed of the processor. Here is the CPU-Z screenshot at stock speed.



We later gradually increased the CPU base frequency from 133 MHz to 160 MHz, keeping the multiplier at 24x. Next, we increased the multiplier to 29x in a step-by-step manner. Care was taken so that the DRAM speed should never exceed 1333 MHz for stability. The maximum stable overclock we obtained was at 29x160 MHz, which is 4.64 GHz with the CPU voltage at 1.2 V. This is a good 46 percent increase over the stock speed. Here is the CPU-Z screenshot at overclocked processor speed.



Though we could comfortably manage to boot into Windows at 31x166 MHz, which is 5.146 GHz with the CPU voltage cranked up to 1.4 V and even run Prime95 without any issues, we stopped at this value of clock speed. Going any further would not allow us to run two of our benchmarks - CineBench R11.5 and TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 - thus indicating that the system was not completely stable.

We measured the total system power consumption at each stage. The idle power consumption at stock speed was found to be 79 W and the processor temperature was 34 degrees Celsius, while the full load power consumption was 129 W with the processor temperature going to 54 degrees Celsius. At 4.64 GHz, the idle power consumption was still not too high at 89 W and processor temperature at 55 degrees Celsius. At full load, the system consumed 200 W, while the processor temperature soared to a high of 90 degrees Celsius. A point to be noted here is that we have used air-cooling and we have no doubt that liquid cooling would have let us push the clock speeds through the stratosphere.

Here are the benchmark scores we obtained at stock (3.2 GHz) and overclock (4.64 GHz) speeds.



PCMark Vantage




At stock speed




At 4.64 GHz


There is a 23.2 percent increase in the overall score, with scores increasing in every test category.

3DMark Vantage



At stock speed




At 4.64 GHz

There is just a 2.2 percent increase in the overall score, but if you look at the CPU score, there is a commendable 16 percent increase.


SiSoftware Sandra



Processor Arithmetic at stock speed




Processor Arithmetic at 4.64 GHz




Processor Multi-Media at stock speed




Processor Multi-Media at 4.64 GHz
 



Multi-Core Efficiency at stock speed



Multi-Core Efficiency at 4.64 GHz



Cryptography at stock speed




Cryptography at 4.64 GHz

AIDA64



CPU Queen at stock speed (20453)




CPU Queen at 4.64 GHz (29690)

We see a clean 45 percent increase in the CPU Queen score, which is exactly the same as the difference between the stock and overclocked speeds of the processor.



CPU Mandel at stock speed (2509)




CPU Mandel at 4.64 GHz (3633)

Yet again, a 44.8 percent increase in speed is achieved in the CPU Mandel score, just like in the test before.



CPU AES at stock speed (206167)



CPU AES at 4.64 GHz (267127)

A 29.6 percent increase was achieved in the CPU AES test, putting this processor at the top of the table in the AIDA64 chart.
 
CineBench R11.5


At stock speed



At 4.64 GHz

The CPU score increased by 43.9 percent, while the OpenGL test ran 32.7 percent faster.
TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4
We encoded a video file at the stock speed and at the overclocked speed. The graph shows how much faster the encoding process finished when we overclocked the processor.

Games
We selected two of the latest PC games and benchmarked them at high settings at a resolution of 1280x1024 with 4x AA so that the CPU speed comes into the picture. Tests were run at stock and overclocked speeds.
World in Conflict (DX 10)

World in Conflict is a real-time tactical video game developed by the Swedish video game company Massive Entertainment. The game is set in 1989 during the social, political and economic collapse of the Soviet Union. This game uses DirectX 10 and stretches the current GPUs to the limits.
DiRT 2 (DX 11)


DiRT 2 is a racing simulator, and one of the first games to showcase the capabilities of DirectX 11. We ran the inbuilt benchmark at 1280x1024 with All High settings (except post processing), taking reading with 4x anti-aliasing.

Overall, we noticed a vast improvement in performance as indicated by the benchmarks when the processor was overclocked. The game benchmarks did not show much of a difference, which is not surprising, given the fact that most of the games today depend more on the GPU and less on the CPU.

 


Samsung Galaxy S LCD GT-I9003 Review Specification And Price

Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9003 is branded for India as Galaxy S LCD 4GB but elsewhere it is available as Galaxy SL (16GB version). Personally, I would call it a toned down substitute of Galaxy S I9000. It indeed was surprising to see this version out so late and almost a year after the launch of Galaxy S I9000 handset. Had the handset arrived alongside or at least three months after the GT-I9000 launch, it would have made more sense and would have sold more.

Samsung has introduced this new Galaxy S LCD 4GB loaded with Android 2.2.1 Froyo by default. Despite clear technical differences between this handset and the Galaxy S I9000, people can't help but compare both devices. Throughout the review, I would be referring it as GT-I9003 and the Galaxy S as GT-I9000, just to avoid confusion.

Currently, there's a dearth of Galaxy S I9000 handsets and the shortage of Super AMOLED displays has been cited as the main reason behind this. Obviously, Samsung has moved on to the new Super AMOLED Plus technology that is better and has been used in upcoming handset - Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100.



GT-I9003

In the absence of GT-I9000, you'd certainly like to know about an Android device that looks almost the same and is packed with a few new goodies in it. Before you get to know how Galaxy S LCD performs, take a look at the differences between both the phones.

Differentials

Characteristic GT-I9003 GT-I9000

Display Technology Super LCD (C-Type) Super AMOLED

Operating System Android 2.2.1 Froyo Android 2.1 Eclair (now with 2.2)

Processor 1GHz TI OMAP 3630 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird

GPU PowerVR SGX530 PowerVR SGX540

Battery 1650mAh 1500mAh

Bluetooth 2.1 3.0

Storage 4GB 8GB/16GB

Thickness 10.6mm 9.9mm

Weight 131g 118g

Height 123.7mm 122.4mm


From the above table, it is clear that Galaxy S LCD would stay behind a bit in terms of graphic and processing performance. Both smartphones have processors running at the clock speed of 1GHz but due to different manufacturing design differences, there could be a marginal variation in their performance. The TI OMAP 3630 CPU is the same which has been used in the Motorola Droid X.

Design and Build

Firstly, let's get over the handset's Apple iPhone like looks. Samsung did it with Galaxy S and now has kept the same design for Galaxy S LCD. When the Galaxy S GT-I9000 and GT-I9003 are placed next to each other with non-active screens, there's hardly any visible difference. Technically, there's a slight difference in weight and height between both devices. The overall finish of GT-I9003 is almost the same with rectangular Home button and two capacitive keys - Menu and Back.



Galaxy S GT-I9000 vs. Galaxy S LCD GT-I9003

Galaxy S GT-I9000 alongside the GT-I9003

With a glossy finish, the plastic body of the GT-I9003 quickly catches fingerprint smudges and requires frequent wiping to ensure that the screen appears clean. Despite gaining some thickness and a bit of height, the new Galaxy S LCD indeed is slim.

Galaxy S LCD has a 4-inch Super Clear LCD display which supports multi-touch and offers 480x800 pixel resolution. It is needless to state the display is big enough to watch a 720p HD video and pinch-zoom the photos or webpages. Oh yes, the display does support pinch and zoom gestures for the home screen, photos, web pages, documents and in several other apps.


GT-I9003 vs GT-I9000
Slim Twins

At the back, lies a speaker that is decent enough in places filled with ambient sounds. This smartphone has a 5 megapixel camera albeit without LED Flash. Looks like Samsung did not hear several users and geeks ranting about the lack of LED Flash in Galaxy S I9000. Most likely, the GT-I9003 has been manufactured using the GT-I9000 reference design as well as parts. The latter seems a more plausible reason.



To the right lies the Power/Lock button and on the left lies the Volume rocker keys. On the top lies the 3.5mm audio port and next to it is the MicroUSB (USB 2.0) port covered with a sliding lid. The SIM card slot and the microSD card slot are located at the back panel cover. This phone comes with 4GB internal storage out of which you will get only 1.5GB free for installing apps or putting multimedia on it.

Task Manager



Both Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 and S LCD GT-I9003 have 512MB RAM but since the latter houses a different processor and GPU, the available RAM is more - 478MB.

Update: The Super Clear LCD display does come with the Gorilla Glass Technology.

Operating System and Interface

The Galaxy S LCD GT-I9003 comes with Android 2.2.1 Froyo by default unlike the Galaxy S GT-I9000 preloaded with Android 2.1 Eclair. But the recent Galaxy S GT-I9000 devices already had the Froyo update running on them. The Android 2.2.1 Froyo richness has Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz 3.0 UI running on it which also brings a few useful features. After unboxing the smartphone, I plugged it to Samsung Kies to get Froyo build update and later connected to Wi-Fi for updating the Google Apps.

Galaxy S GT-I9003 has new lock screen that can be unlocked by swiping on either sides instead of swiping it upwards. The smartphone retains the homescreen like the one on GT-9000 and has seven panes. If you pinch across the touchscreen, you'll get to see all seven panes stacked up in the editing mode. For adding widgets or changing the wallpaper, press and hold anywhere on the active homescreen to get the pop-up menu. Samsung has added a couple of new live wallpapers but do remember that live wallpapers tend to eat up a lot of battery life. The bottom of the screen shows the usual icons wherein the right most is the gateway to the Applications Menu.



Home screen & Apps

The TouchWiz 3.0 UI over the Android 2.2.1 Froyo brings a built-in Task Manager which is so amazing that you won't need to install other Task Managers from the Android Market. The built-in task manager is slick and very easy to use. It shows details about running apps, downloaded apps, RAM being used and Storage details.

Samsung bada OS had intuitive swipe gestures implemented in the Phonebook. The same feature has been added to the GT-I9003 and so while using the Phonebook, if you swipe left to right on a contact, you can make a call to that contact. Swiping right to left will let you compose a new text message to the respective contact. This swipe implementation is certainly cool. The Phonebook also gets the SNS (Social Network Services) Integration so you'll get to see activities of your contacts on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and your office's Microsoft Exchange supporting accounts as well.



Swipe Interface

Most important improvement has been made in to the Status Bar - the Toggle switches given in Bada OS have been implemented to the Android 2.2.1 Interface. When you pull down the Notifications bearing Status Bar, you'll find the Toggle Switches for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Silent Mode and Auto Rotation lock. That indeed is very helpful.

Heavy text messaging users can make the best of the built-in SWYPE feature that is a predictive text input technology meant for faster text input. It comes with a very limited library of its own but is programmed to learn from the words that exist on your mobile in your contacts, texts, notes, web browsing history and documents. To activate SWYPE, keep your finger tip pressed in the input area and a pop-up menu option will show up asking you to choose between SWYPE and Samsung Keyboard. Samsung has also added the Nuance developed XT9 predictive text input for those who type out loads of emails and text messages via their phones. Clearly, typing is good fun for those who try and get used with the SWYPE as well as XT9. For the rest like me, we will have to struggle with wrong key presses and use the Backspace key a lot.

ThinkFree documents viewer and editor comes quite handy while editing your documents while you are on the move. You can also sync your documents to the ThinkFree virtual storage if you have an account.

The eBook reader resembles the iBooks App on the Apple iOS. However, if you are not comfortable with the UI then you can certainly get the Adobe Reader from the Android Market.



Ebooks Reader


Social Hub and Samsung Apps store are pre-installed but it was a bit painful to get it activated. I had to register with two different IDs for Samsung Account and Social Hub. Do note that the Social Hub Premium is a device specific service and the Samsung Social Hub's Facebook Page clarifies:

Social Hub premium service is device-specific for some countries. For instance, Social Hub Premium is available on Wave II (S8530), Galaxy Tab (P1000), and Galaxy Ace (S5830) in India.

This is an Android handset so you can sync your contacts to your Google Account. Alternatively, you can save them on Phone or SIM.

Google Voice Search has been integrated but it hardly worked for me even though I tried to mimic accents. So, the trick is to choose English (India) language from Settings > Voice Input and Output > Google Voice Recognition Settings > Language. After having done that, the Google Voice search will work like a charm BUT only if you've data connection active- GPRS or Wi-Fi. I recommend using Wi-Fi settings for better results.

The only function I found annoying and buggy was the automatic screen rotation which would turn the portrait mode to landscape even when I had held the phone upright. I believe Samsung needs to fix bug with the ASR.

Multimedia Walkthrough

Watching photos on the phone's 4-inch display is fun. The built-in Gallery App shows up all photos and the videos on your phone as well as microSD card storage. The Gallery App has a nice user interface with photos stacked up and distributed in different album groups like Camera, Screenshots, Others and Videos in Media. You can edit or share an entire album by pressing and holding your finger for more than a second. You will get bars on top and bottom of the window that will offer you options for selecting the photos and details. You can either Select all or Delete them all at once. Alternatively, you can share these photos with others via Picasa, Bluetooth, Gmail or as MMS. You can also arrange your photos by different options like by date.

Every album will show photos in stacked or grid views and these views can be adjusted with a small toggle slider located on the top right corner.


Gallery & Radio


Even though the smartphone has a 5 megapixel camera sensor, it gives an average performance with noise in the photo quality. Of course you're going to miss the LED Flash and it will make several hold a grudge against Samsung for a long time. The camera has several shooting modes like single shot, smile shot, panorama and action shot - amateurs can expect decent performance. Just like other smartphones, the camera offers Negative, Black & White and Sepia options. You can fiddle around with the ISO settings and white balance to get the required image quality.

Samsung has added enough settings for getting good quality photos which clearly turn futile while shooting after dawn. The camera is capable of recording 720p HD but there's no HDMI out for sourcing it to an HD display.


Radio listeners would be pleased with the Stereo FM radio that works with the packed Samsung headsets which has the RDS module.

Music aficionados will have a good time with the music player that shows four tabs showing All Songs, Playlists, Album and Artists. Tap on the capacitive Menu button and choose the Go to Disc View to get the eye-candy view to see all the songs or album. The music player offers visualizations for those who wish to enjoy the Spectrum like bar visualizations when a song is being played. Audiophiles would certainly love the stock player that plays lossless FLAC files out of the box and all they need is hook in a good pair of in-ear earphones. Even the Winamp App for Android plays FLAC files.

You can adjust the Effects as per your listening habits to choose between Normal, Wide, Concert Hall, Music Clarity, Bass Enhancement and Externalisation. For the music, you can set the Equaliser to presets offered or put it on your own custom settings.


Video Player

Stock Video Player in the Galaxy S LCD is a pure bliss as it supports .mkv, DivX and XviD files out of the box. I loaded a 700MB file on the phone memory and enjoyed it. Scrolling on the timeline was smooth and the response was immediate but the video playback stuttered a bit. There's no reason to pin-point at the PowerVR SGX530 because the video didn't stutter with RockPlayer Lite to view the video. I expect the planned Android 2.3 Gingerbread update to bring a better video player that doesn't stutter during video playback. Though the smartphone's native Video Player is capable playing .mkv container files, it doesn't support all video codecs.

GPS and Layar

GPS locking with Google Maps was one of the early and crucial issues with the GT-I9000 and I hoped that it didn't exist in GT-I9003. But I was disappointed partially. Even this phone continues to have quick GPS locking issues. Whether I used the GPS or turned on data connection for A-GPS support, the accuracy level is still around 500-600 meters. It was the same with my backup phone Nokia E63. Apparently, the smartphone offers A-GPS support and is dependent on data connectivity to fetch the exact location.

Anyhow, if you're a Google Maps user then you can make the best of the Places, Navigation and Latitude layers that have been pre-installed as separate apps in the Froyo by default.



















Layar


Layar interface is something every Android smartphone owner must use. Layar is an Augmented Reality browser that shows you digital information that is around you and your device. It shows all information around you like the buildings, important structures, restaurants, malls, bus stops, airport, etc. through the Layar App. For instance, when I fired up layer, it showed me Open Cell IDs (GSM Network Cells) and number of restaurants close to my place under the tab - Nearby.

You can either choose from the digital information available under the tab Nearby or select appropriate ones from those listed under Layers. If you go to the Layers tab and choose a Layer like the Open Cell ID, then it will open up your phone camera. At the top right corner of the screen, a circular radar shows GSM Cell towers closeby.

After working late in office, I was hungry. So I simply opened Layer and searched for Pizza and it showed me details of a Pizza Hut pretty closeby (in around 1KM distance) from my office. Furthermore, you can set filters from the Categories under Settings to show you relevant information that matters for you. This is a very nifty but data intensive app.

Battery Life

Samsung has added a 1650 mAh battery in this smartphone and it certainly adds extra juice to the smartphone. Since the GT-I9003 comes with a bit better battery, it certainly offers a couple of hours more than the GT-I9000. The 1650mAh battery easily fits into the GT-9000 which has 1500mAh battery so for those who're looking for an extra couple of hours for Galaxy S should totally get this one, if available. Do note that Samsung has replaced energy efficient Super AMOLED with the Super Clear LCD and also the battery issues that existed with that Galaxy S have been fixed.

Normal usage of the phone which involves number of calls, text messages, listening to music for about 30 mins and web browsing (over GPRS) for about two hours makes the battery last for almost about 1.5 days. Whenever I used GPS or downloaded apps over Wi-Fi, the battery started dropping rapidly. Even while watching an AVI file that was about 45 mins long, it would eat up about 10 to 12 percent of the battery life.

You can get up to two days of battery life if you turn off background data, uncheck Auto Sync and use GPRS only when required. That would give you a considerably high battery life. To conclude, I can say that the battery life of this smartphone is decent and would normally last for more than a day if used judiciously. It charges in around 2 hours and obviously takes more time if charged via a USB port.




Friday 3 June 2011

Packard Bell Launched Latest - New OneTwo S All in One desktop


Packard Bell has recently launched its new All in One desktop that is called by oneTwo S desktop. This new device of Packard Bell looks so attractive because it’s special frame. To offer special experience, this specific device of Packard Bell comes with a lot of new advance features and specifications.
This oneTwo S All in One desktop is supported with second generation Intel Core or AMD processor that has up to Phenom II X6. As well as, this oneTwo S desktop is featured with AMD Radeon HD graphics card and NVIDIA Geforce.
A very most special feature of this oneTwo S All in One desktop, it has Adobe Photoshop elements 9. By this latest device, the users can do a lot more because it has a 2 MP web camera to chat as well as it comes with a special optical drive. It is featured with a special 20 inch display screen that has characteristics of touch in nature and offer decent resolution count to get clear and bright content quality.

Acer Aspire 1825PTZ Laptop Specification,Price And Review

Acer Aspire 1825PTZ small convertible laptop

Features:

  • Dual-core Intel Pentium SU4100, 1.3 GHz
  • 3GB DDR3 RAM memory
  • Wi-fi

PROS:

  • Convertible tablet PC
  • Multi touch screen
  • Lightweight and portable

CONS:

  • The price starts from £449.97 ($720)

Detailed Specification:

Processor Dual-core Intel Pentium SU4100, 1.3 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2 Cache
Memory 3GB DDR3 1066 MHz RAM
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 5400 rpm
Optical CD / DVD drive 8x DVD R/W
Graphics processor Integrated Intel GMA 4500
Display 11.6” Widescreen, capacitive multi touch 1366 x 768 LED backlight
Weight 3.8 lbs.
Dimension 11.22 x 8.22 x 1.36 in
Network type Wi-fi, Ethernet
Audio Integrated 0.3 MP webcam, built in speakers, headphone & microphone jack
Battery 6 cell Li-Ion Battery
I/O ports (Data) 3 USB 2.0 ports, 5 in 1 media card reader, VGA/HDMI, built in accelerometer
OS Windows 7 Home Premium edition
Price starting at £449.97 ($720)

Expert Review:

 

Acer Aspire 1825PTZ small convertible laptop
Acer Aspire 1825PTZ is a small, convertible laptop, somewhat identical to Packard Bell’s EasyNote Butterfly Touch which is an Acer subsidiary. Powered by dual-core Intel Pentium SU4100 processor with 1.3 GHz clock speed, the 11.6” capacitive touch screen with LED backlight is foldable over the keyboard making it a tablet PC.

The thin and lightweight laptop has 3 GB DDR3 RAM, 250 GB hard disk and also an 8x DVD R/W drive which is rare for a laptop of this size. For external connectivity the small laptop has Wi-fi, Ethernet and 3 USB 2.0 ports. There are also VGA and HDMI ports for connecting external TV or monitor. Other features include integrated webcam and stereo speakers, 5 in 1 card reader, built in accelerometer that automatically rotates images and headphone and microphone jacks.
Acer Aspire 1825PTZ small convertible laptop
The 6 cell Li-Ion battery lasts up to 8 hours under normal usage. The OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit edition. Acer provides 1 year traveller’s warranty for this convertible laptop. To summarize Acer Aspire 1835PTZ convertible laptop has powerful processor and all the necessary features required for mobile computing.

Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670 Features And Review

Smartphones are called so, because unlike their simpler counterparts, they allow you to install applications that expand the functionality of the handset and allow you to switch seamlessly between them just as you would on a PC. Smartphones were primarily premium handsets because they contained high performance hardware that made it difficult to price them lower. Recently, however, manufacturers are coming up with cheaper smartphones, aided by free open source operating systems such as Android which can run on a variety of hardware. These phones often stretch the definition of the term 'smartphone' and makes one wonder whether simply having the features is enough or is the device also defined by the way the it performs.



Today we are reviewing one such phone from Samsung - the Galaxy Fit S5670. It might seem like one of Samsung's many low-end touchscreen phones, but this one is running Android. We'll find out if it is worthy of the title smartphone or is it just trying ride the Android juggernaut.

Bundle

* Galaxy Fit S5670
* Battery
* Charger
* Stereo headset
* Data cable
* 2GB microSD card
* Software CD
* User guide


Design and Build

The Galaxy Fit is an attractive device that looks like a shrunken version of Samsung's more expensive smartphones. The front is dominated by a large glossy display with two capacitive touchscreen buttons and a prominent physical home button near the bottom. A glossy silver strip runs around the sides and the front to give it a touch of class.

A volume control button is present on the left side of the device and power button on the exact opposite side. This is a common button arrangement for Samsung phones and one that is very poorly thought out, because when you press either of these buttons, you invariable end up applying pressure on the opposite side for grip and press the other buttons there. Because of this, often found ourselves adjusting the volume when trying to lock the screen and vice-versa. The microSD card slot is present outside on the left. There is no camera shutter button on this phone.





A standard 3.5 mm headphone jack and a microUSB port is present on the top of the phone, protected by a sliding cover. The microphone is present at the bottom.



The back of the phone is completely covered by a thin plastic cover that feels a bit flimsy and has a ribbed pattern that wasn't entirely to our taste, but did serve to give a good grip. A 5 Megapixel camera lens is present near the top, which is not accompanied by a flash, while a single loudspeaker is present near the bottom.



Build quality-wise, the phone is very solid, which is common for Samsung phones. Being small, it is also quite light and true to its name, fits very well in your hand or pocket.

 Display

The Galaxy Fit has a 3.31-inch TFT LCD with QVGA (320x240) pixel dimensions. With a pixel density of just 121 ppi, the picture quality was never going to be good. The pixels are just too large and everything appears like 8-bit video games. Samsung should have ideally opted for a higher pixel dimensions display or a smaller display size but they chose neither. It's not just the pixel dimensions that's low. The panel quality isn't great either. The display looks bit dull and images appear washed out. Sunlight legibility too isn't great and even at maximum brightness it's not easy to read the display.

The touch response on our review sample was way too sensitive. For example, even when we would want to scroll, the display would sometimes take it as a gesture to select. This behaviour is not uncommon for Android devices, which still have a hard time distinguishing between a scroll and a select gesture but we found the case to be a lot worse on the Galaxy Fit.

On the other hand, the buttons below the display were nowhere near as responsive. You have to aim precisely at the icons with a firm press for them to work. Nevertheless, sometimes you may still end up triggering them even if you drag your thumb down the display while scrolling.

Hardware

The Samsung Galaxy Fit runs on a 600 MHz CPU. Although Samsung does not mention the specific SoC, it is the Qualcomm MSM7227 (ARMv6) with Adreno 200 GPU. The phone only has 256 MB of RAM, though, which is not enough these days. Applications, particularly the web browser, often make the phone run out of memory, at which point the OS automatically closes them. This can be extremely frustrating when you are doing something important.

Software

The Galaxy Fit runs on the now outmoded Android 2.2 'Froyo'. Samsung has added its own TouchWiz layer on top, which adds some much-needed functionality such as an FM radio, file manager, task manager, voice recorder, notes application and an improved camera and music application. Samsung has altered the homescreen in which you have three shortcut buttons at the bottom instead of the two in default Android. You can add or remove homescreens and you can pinch in to overview them and move them around. You can do the same in the applications menu as well. The notification tray has been altered too and toggles added to functions such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Silent mode and the UI rotation for quick and convenient access. Almost all of the Live wallpapers have been removed and replaced with just one which isn't all that great. Then there is also the Samsung Apps, which is Samsung's own application store but currently has only a handful of applications, none of which are worth downloading even though they are free.

The general speed of the UI in the menus is smooth but can be very inconsistent in applications. As long as you are using Samsung's apps you will get a decent experience but the same cannot be said about 3rd party apps, which often have a hard time running on the 600 MHz CPU. Popular games such as Angry Birds, are heavily CPU-dependent and therefore leave you with a ruined experience. Even when doing something as simple as typing the phone may often pause for a second between words as you continue to type them. Sometimes it may freeze for several seconds and then suddenly, all the words you typed while it was frozen will appear on the screen at once. Again, this can be an extremely frustrating experience.

Samsung supplied the phone with two keyboard, one is the default, while the other is Swype. Unsurprisingly, Swype is inaccurate and you need the patience of a monk to prevent yourself tearing your hair out in frustration as it presents one inaccurate word after another no matter how accurately you swipe. The default Samsung keyboard is no great shakes either and is equally frustrating. In fact, the aforementioned lag in typing can be observed only in this keyboard out of the two. Also, due to the small size of the screen, you always end up hitting the wrong keys and it takes the precision of a neurosurgeon to type on this keypad. The autocorrect doesn't really help a lot in solving this.

Connectivity

The Galaxy Fit is a quad band GSM 3G handset. It supports HSPA, EDGE, GPRS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and A-GPS connectivity. The call quality and network reception was good and voices on either side were heard clearly. The Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and A-GPS too worked well.

The device we received for review had an issue where if it was connected to the PC, it would automatically go to the USB debugging mode, even if it was disabled. This meant that every time we connected it to the PC, we had to go to settings and disable debugging mode after which the phone would ask us if we wanted to connect it in mass storage mode.

Multimedia

The Galaxy Fit has a 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus but no flash. The image quality is decent for the price range the phone belongs to, but we have seen better image quality from 5 Megapixel sensors. The lack of a flash does hurt a lot in the dark and even the video recording quality is abysmal.

The music player supports all major formats except for FLAC, which is found in Samsung's more expensive smartphones. It also has a 5.1-channel mode and several equalizer presets but no manual equalizer. Audio quality through the headphones was pretty good, although we wished it were a bit louder. Loudspeaker quality was decent as well with adequate volume levels.

The image gallery on the Galaxy Fit is the default Android 2.2 gallery. This means it resizes images when you view them, which coupled with the low pixel dimensions display makes the images look worse than they actually are.

The video player is pretty mediocre as well. It lacks support for popular codecs such as DivX and Xvid. You can however install an app such as RockPlayer, which can play those for you. However, we found the experience to be less than ideal. The display quality doesn't really invite you to watch a lot of content on it and the video also stutters thanks to the slow processor.


Battery Life

The Galaxy Fit has 1350 mAh Li-Ion battery. Even though the phone has a relatively small display and a slower processor to run, the battery life is still mediocre and on par with other Android phones. With all the Google services active in the background and with regular calls, messages, few hours of web browsing, music playback and application usage, the battery went down in a day, that too on a 2G network.



Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670 is priced at Rs.10,500. For that price you get a phone that tries to do a lot of things but only manages to do very few satisfactorily. If you look at it as a full-fledged Android phone then you will be disappointed and it is better left not compared to its bigger siblings. One of the worst things about this phone is the amount of frustration one may experience while using it. It would actually be better to have a device that did fewer things, but did them well. The last thing we would expect from a phone with this price tag would be a frustrating experience even while doing simple basic tasks such as typing text.

Your money would be well spent on the similarly priced, but much more accomplished LG Optimus One. Alternatively, you may opt for the Samsung Galaxy Pop instead, which lacks a few things but costs almost two thousand rupees less.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | belt buckles