Zavvi seem to be excited for the release of Microsoft’s Xbox One, already launching their own page allowing customers to pre-order the console from today.

On their page they have the console marked as costing £399, a price which we were kinda expecting  but if true will make the next-gen console a fair bit more expensive than the Xbox 360, and may put some folk off.

However, not me, and if you’re not either than make sure to head over to Zavvi to secure your pre-order today, alongside whom Game and Blockbuster are also already offering pre-orders for the console, asking for a simple £20 deposit to get things started.

Zavvi also say they are expecting the console to release on November 30th, 2013, but so far the only official news is that it will launch later this year.

During Microsoft’s Xbox One event today, Activision came out with more details for Call of Duty: Ghosts, written by Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-winning writer for the traffic, the game includes better graphics and a whole new engine.

The new engine introduces something called “sub-d”, that aims to resolve the  curvature of objects as they get closer to the player, as well as new graphics that run at 60fps with low-latency controls.

The new engine also includes new worlds with fluid dynamics for water and smoke that can react to the characters within the game, one example Activision gave was how fish will move out of the way as you approach them.

There’s also a new mantle system that will allow for motion to be maintained when jumping across walls and obstacles, as well as a new lean in/out system, with a slide mechanic slide out the way of fire.

Multiplayer will also allow you to customize gear for your character, as well as their head shape and overall appearance, there’s also new dynamic multiplayer maps that will add traps and explosions that can change the flow of the map completely.

As well as new earthquakes, floods and extremely detailed dogs.

Check out the trailer below for a sneak peek.

Microsoft have just revealed to Wired that the new Xbox One will allow for one time installation to the hard drive, without the need to insert the disc every time you want to play the game.

• Source: Wired

The new and next-generation Xbox One, looks amazing but of course its main selling point is the games on it, and we have the full list:

Call of Duty Ghosts will launch on the platform with a new engine and of course better graphics.

Halo 4 will also launch on the Xbox One, redeveloped for the Xbox One’s new graphics.

Watch Dogs will also launch on the console, as well as Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, FIFA 14, EA Madden 25, EA Sports UFC, EA Sports NBA Live 14, Destiny and Battlefield 4.

EA has today revealed they will release four new games for the Xbox One, all with a new game engine called Ignite, they unveiled the engine designed just for sporting titles.

FIFA 14 will also come with an exclusive mode for Ultimate Team, just for the Xbox, games are lot more detailed, conten looks almost life like and according to EA it will play with real world player control.

Developing…

Microsoft has just announced the Xbox 1 at their live event today, with a new Kinect, controller an entirely new design for both the controller and the console itself.

It will be cloud powered, and Xbox are calling it an all-in-one system.

The Xbox will be always connected, allowing you to turn it on with the motto “Xbox On” recognising your profile by your voice.

There’s also a brand new interface that kinda looks like Windows 8, with separated dashboard, allowing you to browse through the home, trending, games, movies, apps etc.

The Xbox One will allow you to perform certain features with various commands, allowing you to easily switch between TV, Games and TV really fast, its actually quite amazing, Microsoft say its as fast as switching channels on a remote.

There’s also new grab and zoom in and out of the dashboard, there’s also a new snap mode, that will allow you to run multiple programs next to each other, again a lot like Windows 8, this can be controlled with the mobile phone.

Skype will also be included, allowing you to perform group video calls from your TV, in full HD using the included Kinect.

This can all be controlled with Kinect voice commands, with the TV you can watch a program, and find extra information right next to it, showing highlights and other stats.

There’s also a TV guide, all switchable between channels with voice commands, allowing you to speak the channel you want to watch or just switch to the guide.

There’s also a favorites area within he guide, showing your favorite content, as well as tending showing what other people are watching, and finally there’s a section for video on demand.

In terms of specs, the Xbox One will include an 8 core CPU, 5 billion transistors, 8GB RAM, USB 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Direct, Blu-Ray Drive, HDMI out port and a 500GB HDD.

The Xbox One, will include operating systems from both Xbox and Windows, allowing for quick switching.

Alongside the Xbox One, there will be a new Kinect, engineered for better accuracy.

The controller as an integrated battery pack, with a new ergonomic design, but will still include the same off-set analog sticks, the A, B, X and Y face buttons, a directional pad, and the Start and Back keys.

There’s also a new Xbox Live, it will have the same memberships, but with 300 thousand new servers, this will mean cloud access will be fast from anywhere in the world, there’s also new editing software, with new achievements that will show how you will play not what you have done within the game.

They have also updated the matchmaking for better and bigger LIVE games.

The Xbox One will launch around the world later this year, with more news coming at E3.

Denon have today announced their new top-end line of AV receivers dubbed the X Series, consisting of five new units that start with the AVR-X500 at £249 and ending with the AVR-X4000 for £1,199.

The AVR-X500 will launch in May, and will feature five channels each at 140W, with DolbyTrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio Decoder technology, as well as 4 HDMI inputs, 2 optical inputs and a revamped display and new GUI.

Next up is the XVR-X1000 will launch in May for £349, this is includes five HDMI ports, five 145W channels, as well as DLNA, AirPlay, Spotify and vTuner, as well as the ability to stream photos from Flickr and connectivity with the Denon Remote App as well as Audyssey’s MultiEQ XT technology.

Next up is the XVR-X2000 which will include a seven channel receiver with 150W per channel, there’s also seven HDMI inputs with 3D and 4K supports, the X200 will be priced at £499.

Second from last on the line up is the X3000, releasing in June for £799 it has seven channels with 180W per channel receiver, with Spotify and Last.fm connectivity, as well as Audyssey 7.1 channel processing and Dolby TrueHD technology, dts-HD Master Audio and ProLogic llz processing.

Last on the list is the AVR-X4000 it will release in June for £1,199, it has seven 200W channels, with Denon Link HD technology, it has Audyssey processing with 9.2 channels, 3 HDMI outputs, it will be available in black and silver, however the rest of the range will just be available in black.

If you have been waiting for it for some time now, you might be pleased to hear that the Assassin’s Creed movie release date has finally been announced by Ubisoft, set for release on May 22nd 2015.

Sony Pictures will be producing the movie and will be the first time that Ubisoft has made a move into the movie market.

Michael Fasssbender has already been announced to star in the film, however there is yet to be any more details about the movie.

However we should hear more soon.

Source: Slashgear

Logitech have today announced their latest Bluetooth speaker, to join the Ultimate Ears range the new Bluetooth speaker, dubbed the UE Boom Bluetooth Speaker, it has been designed to provide full 360 degree sound, wirelessly from any Bluetooth capable device.

With a range of 50 meters, it measures 4.06 x 4.06 x 10.06 inches, and packs a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery is said to last 15 hours from a single charge.

The Boom Speaker can also be connected with another UE Boom speaker, and linked via the UE Boom application.

The Ultimate Ears Logitech Boom Bluetooth Speaker is available from today from Logitech’s online store for $200.

The Sony Xperia Z is Sony’s next step into the smartphone market, with a completely new and a frankly beautiful design, the Xperia Z takes from previous handsets like the Xperia T and Xperia S, the Xperia Z packs some of the best specs on the market as well as the great design ethics that we have recently seen in Android handsets like the HTC One.

Packing a quad-core 1.5GHzz Snapdragon Krait processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of in-built storage, a 13 megapixel camera, a 5 inch 1080p HD screen with the Bravia Engine in-built, the Xperia Z packs a ton of great features as well as being water and dust resistant.

Probably the best part about the Xperia Z however is its design, its actually one of the best looking Sony handsets we have seen in a long time.

The handset feels premium, made from a mix of plastic and glass, I never had any worries about dropping the phone whilst reviewing it, however the glass does tend to attract a lot of fingerprints, in fact it’s that bad you will have to clean the screen constantly throughout the day.

Sized at 139 x 71 x 7.9mm, the Xperia Z is on the larger size, and can sometimes be hard to hard, although as it is quite thin, so it’s not too much as a struggle, and only weighing 146 grams, it’s not too heavy that it’s uncomfortable to hold.

To aid the phone in being both water and dust resistant all of the ports are covered up with caps, placed along the edge of the phone, you’ll find the headphone jack on the top, the charging and microSD card slot on the left, and SIM card slot on the right.

On the front of the device however, you will find the Xperia Z is actually quite minimalist, only featuring the Sony logo on the top and the front facing sensor placed next to the various sensors.

On the back, you will also find the 13 megapixel rear facing camera, NFC badge, the camera flash light, but you might want to take not that the rear cover is not removable, so there’s no chance in changing the battery.

All of that and the Sony Xperia Z is still quite cheap, in fact Vodafone are currently offering the phone on their 4G-Ready Red plan from free for £42 a month, being 4G Ready, it means that the company will upgrade the plan, allowing for 4G access, beforehand however, you just get the usual unlimited texts, calls and 2GB of data.

If you want too, you can pick up the phone on the deal I just mentioned from the Vodafone site or in store.

Being one of the biggest manufactures of displays, you would quite rightly expect the handset to take advantage of the technologies, Sony already use in a wide variety of their products, featuring a 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution with a pixel density of 441ppi, which although being a TFT display and not a Super AMOLED the screen is very sharp but does lack some off the colour that is featured in other displays, alongside which at an angle the screen does tend to look a lacking.

Running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean the interface used with the Xperia Z, the handset looks similar to most other handsets within the Xperia line-up, Sony have added their own widgets and use interface, but its not so heavy that you won’t find a lot of the Android features found in stock handsets.

Probably the best custom integration however from Sony is Sony’s ‘Small Apps’ screen, which can be accessed from the multi-app button on the bottom right, once pressed it shows both your currently open applications and a selection of other mini apps along the bottom.

Sony have also added their own touch to the notifications bar, which works the same to any other Android device, but on the Xperia Z you also get various toggles for settings like the WiFi and Bluetooth.

There’s also various themes that you can choose from, which adjust both the lock/ home wallpaper and the accent colours for things like the menu etc, there’s also the usual app drawer, accessible via the dock button at the bottom of the screen.

Below that button you will find three touch icons, one for the ‘small apps’ screen, another is the back button and the third is the home button, which you can hold down and swipe up from to reveal Google Now, Android’s own personal assistant.

Sony have also done great things with the contacts system, only adding a hint of their own design ideas just to give it a new look.

When you first login at setup, contacts can be downloaded automatically from your Google account, which can be accessed by tapping the phone icon on the home screen or in the app drawer, depending on where you place it.

Photos for your contacts can also be brought in from Facebook, and they can be edited to add their birthdays, new numbers or other details.

During my tests, I didn’t find any problems during my tests with the Xperia Z, with no call drops and great connectivity at the start and throughout a call, and to add upon which, the Z also includes HD Voice which makes call quality better on both sides.

The Xperia Z uses Android’s standard messaging application to receive both SMS and MMS communications, however much like the phone application Sony have decided to add their own little touch to its design.

Alongside which there’s a couple of other new functions, allowing you to send your location via Google Maps, or add a doodle of a note or image to your message, right from the app itself.

The keyboard on the Xperia Z is not half bad, the main problem I found with it being the size of the space bar, but apart from that its quite easy to use, and actually looks great, quite similar to the iPhone.

Set out in a QWERTY format, with access to various other keys with the bottom right key, however the Z has its own little feature, allowing you to simply swipe from key to key to type out your message.

Alongside this, predicted words will appear just above the keyboard allowing you to choose the corrected word or select the word you were already working on, selecting words however can be quite the procedure, in fact I haven’t found many other phones that allow you to do this quite as elegant as the iPhone.

The web browser is of course very similar to most other Android phones, using Google’s Chrome browser for Android, it works just as well as you would expect it to, what makes it great however is the connectivity this device provides.

As mentioned before the device has 4G LTE connectivity (I have yet to try that out on this device), it also uses HSDPA+ for those who aren’t on a network currently offering 4G.

With this you can achieve great loading speeds both when on WiFi or on the way to work.

With a 13 megapixel camera on the rear, and a 2.2 megapixel camera on the front, the Sony Xperia Z is a great snapper, shooting at 4128 x 3096 pixels for the rear camera, you end up with a great set of pictures.

There is one thing that really annoying however, the phone doesn’t have a physical shutter button, which can make taking a photo quite a difficult procedure of moving your hand around the touchscreen and trying to keep it out the way of the shooter at the same time, however being accessible from the lockscreen, it can be quickly accessed when needed.

Within the app you will also find a range of enhancements for your photo, actually you will find a ton, with three different modes just for the smile selection, alongside which you will also find panorama modes as well as scene selections and picture effects.

The shutter speed of the camera is okay, but not amazing. Sony does however mention that the camera does pack a Exmor RS sensor, with HDR capablities and an LED flash.

Images  shot from the camera do look pretty impressive, however they do tend to look a little better on the phones screen than on the PC, the LED flash also works okay in some occasions, but as with most phones, it’s not as good as the Lumia 920.

Sample shots:

Of course the Sony Xperia Z’s camera also records video in full HD 1080p resolution at 30fps, video looks okay, but sometimes may find a lot of noise outputed, and even with a light on, sometimes video can look a little dim.

Video stabilization also works great, and videos never really turn out shaky and I was impressed that white balance and the focus could be changed on the fly during recording.

Playing back video on that display is a great experience, there’s no problems with stuff like movie formats and the Xperia Z can playback HD or even SD videos with ease, and when you take note of the addition of the BRAVIA Engine 2 SD videos can be up-scaled to HD.

As you would expect, the music player that comes with the Xperia Z is good, and a simple drag and drop interface for the PC makes it easy to add new content to it.

Alongside that you will also find that the application has been branded heavily with the old Walkman brand, which means you end up with a great looking music player, in which album art takes center stage.

Within the music library  you can view your music as sorted by either the artist or album, or if logged into Facebook, it can even show you what our friends like to listen to, as well as allowing you to share what you like to, right from the app.

The speaker for the Xperia Z is located at the bottom right of the handset, a placement which I didn’t find to work to great when it comes to quality, and the speaker is actually extremely quiet, with quite shoddy audio quality.

I suspect this might be due to the waterproofing of the phone.

However when you used headphones, you will soon find that the Xperia Z comes out on top when it comes to a media player.

Personally I never use the speaker on any of my devices, which are normally connected up to various Bluetooth capable speakers around the home, so the loudspeaker being so bad on the Xperia Z doesn’t really bother me, and I’m willing to bet it won’t bother many of you guys either.

What I really care about is the provided audio experience, as ever since the iPhone was first released I have been using a smartphone to play music more or less everywhere I go.

To put it simply, the Z works great when used with headphones, and with added ClearAudio+ technology, music sounds crisp and clear.

Alongside this, you can also go into the settings to change things like ambiance and even the EQ.

As with any smartphone on the market today, how long its battery lasts simply depends on how you use it, however Sony do claim some times for how long the Xperia Z will last from its fully charged 2330mAh battery, claiming 11 hours total battery life on talk time and 550 hours on standby.

Which I would say is about right, you will defiantly struggle to get anywhere near a full days charge with this device, and with the lack of a replaceable battery, to some this could prove to be an annoyience.

The included Stamina mode is extremely useful in trying to help manage the battery life  and keep you from charging for another couple hours, something I found worked extremely well.

Overall, I am a huge fan of the Sony Xperia Z for one main reason, it breaks the common mold that Android phones seem to have attracted for some time now and it actually looks great, even on par with the iPhone 5 or maybe even the HTC One, however the fingerprint attracting glass is kinda annoying, however with a great set of specs as well as that water and dust resistant body, the Xperia Z is certainly something to boast about.

I would defiantly recommend the Xperia Z to anyone looking for a new Android phone, however I’m just not sure if I would recommend it over something like the HTC One, or possibly the iPhone 5.

By the way here’s our table of benchmarks for the Sony Xperia Z:

Product Shots:

Disclosure: Vodafone sent us the Sony Xperia Z for review purposes.

Onkyo have today unveiled their latest AV receivers, dubbed the Onkto TZ-NR929 and the TX-NR929, they both feature in-built Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as being THX-certified and more importantly, 4K compatible.

Basically they can both accept pass-through 4K images from a UHD source, so you do of course need a separate 4K player, but this does mean the receiver will be completely futureproof. Both receivers can also upscale footage to 4K using the Qdeo processing technology from Marvell.

Alongside which they can both provide Wireless lossless audio streaming from various devices, as well as upmixing technologies such as Audyssey DSX and Dolby Pro Logic llz.

The TX-N9929 is however the device with all the features, as well as being a 9.2 reciever it also adds Audyssey’s MultEQ XT32 room acoustic equalization technology.

TThe 929 also comes with nine HDMI inputs in and two out, whilst the 828 only provides eight in and two out.

The Onkyo TX-N929 is available from today for £1,500, whereas the TX-NR828 will be available from June for £1,000.

According to the UK retailer Clove, the Samsung Galaxy Mega smartphone will be hitting the UK in July for £459.99

BT has today announced a new update to its router for both BT Broadband or BT Infinity customers, dubbed the Home Hub 4 the new router includes dual-band MIMO support, allowing it to work on 2.5GHz and 5GHz bands.

We have only just posted an article about the rumors, but already Yahoo have confirmed their acquisition of the blogging service, Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash.

Some people may be a little worried about this however, views which were today confirmed by WordPress’s CEO, Matt Mullenweg who revealed earlier today that imports from Tumblr have spiked to 72,000 [Source: Matt Mullenweg]

But this might have been a little too early, as in their announcement post, Yahoo added the tagline, “Promises not to screw it up” stating that David Karp will remain the companies CEO and the product, service and brand of Tumblr will remain the same, in fact Yahoo’s CEO Mariss Mayer told uses by use of GIF to Keep Calm and Carry On:

First ever acquisition announced by animated gif @yahoo is acquiring @tumblr. finance.yahoo.com/news/yahoo-acq…#keepcalmandcarryon

— marissamayer (@marissamayer) May 20, 2013

With the acquisition, Tumblr aim to use Yahoo’s current personalization and search technologies to make the service better and faster, alongside which Yahoo also announced that the two companies will be working together to create new advertisements for the site.

In their Press Release, Mayer stated:

“Tumblr is redefining creative expression online, on many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo! couldn’t be more different, but, at the same time, they couldn’t be more complementary. Yahoo is the Internet’s original media network. Tumblr is the Internet’s fastest-growing media frenzy. Both companies are homes for brands – established and emerging. And, fundamentally, Tumblr and Yahoo! are both all about users, design, and finding surprise and inspiration amidst the everyday.”

“I’ve long held the view that in all things art and design, you can feel the spirit and demeanor of the creator. That’s why it was no surprise to me that David Karp is one of the nicest, most empathetic people I’ve ever met. He’s also one of the most perceptive, capable entrepreneurs I’ve ever worked with,” continued Mayer. “David’s respect for Tumblr’s community of creators is awesome. I’m absolutely delighted to have him join our team.”

To which the CEO of Tumblr, David Karp continued with his own statement:

“Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission — to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve — certainly isn’t changing. But we’re elated to have the support of Yahoo! and their team who share our dream to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas. Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from.”

So it looks as though the rumors where true, but is this good news? Sound off in the comments below.

Via: The Verge

Source: Yahoo

Acer has today unveiled their latest Windows 8 based tablet, dubbed the Acer Iconia W3, it’s a device that has been rumored for some time now, but finally the company have revealed it, posting details on their website.

The spec sheet reveals the tablet with an 8.1 inch WXGA display with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution, Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of in-built flash storage.

There’s also Intel GMA graphics, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi connectivity, a micro USB port, micro HDMi port, a 2 megapixel webcam and Bluetooth 4.0.

Apart from that however, details are a bit on the short side, with no availability or pricing details just yet.