mytechself

playstation 4 is coming

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:17:00 +0000

When it comes to rumours about the next Xbox, there's some wild speculation to get your teeth into.
But on the PlayStation 4 rumour mill, things were, until recently, turning much slower. As Kaz Hirai said earlier in the year: "we're not deliberating on a PS4 or a next generation machine, whatever you call it."
But on 26 May 2011, that stance appeared to change when Sony's executive vice president and chief financial officer Masaru Kato seemingly confirmed that Sony is working on the PS4. The revelation took place during a conference call to investors where he was asked about increased R&D costs.
"This is a platform business, so for the future platform - when we'll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that - but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there," Eurogamer reported him as saying.
However, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on 31 May 2011, Kato denied that he was specifically referring to the PS4, saying "Some people misread what I said."
So what can we expect from the PlayStation 4?
The PS4 specs could abandon the Cell processor and return to x86…
In February, there were rumours of a failed Sony/IBM research project to develop a PowerPC chip for future PlayStations. Going forward, Sony will surely stick with the advanced, multi-core, bitch-to-develop-for Cell processor that it dropped $3 billion on. Here are three reasons why:
1. Easy backwards compatibility with the PlayStation 3
2. A familiar development environment. By 2015 (or whenever a PS4 comes out), games developers will have had much more experience working with Cell and its software tools
3. Toshiba recently sold its Cell factory in Nagasaki back to Sony for £400 million. Sony is hardly going to abandon the chip now it owns the means to manufacture it in bulk
What are the PS4 features we'd most like to see?
PS4info dreams of a next-gen PlayStation with a 32nm Cell processor an up to 16 SPEs, double the number in the PlayStation 3. While over on gamrConnect, there's talk of a greater partnership with Google. Sony's new fondness for Android on the Xperia Play is an interesting strategy.
Blu-ray on the PlayStation 4 is a dead cert. While digital distribution is undoubtedly the way forward, not every PlayStation owner has access to a fast broadband connection.
As Kaz Hirai told Develop, "we do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn't as robust as one would hope. There's always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium."
As for the PlayStation 4 controller, Dr. Richard Marks (Sony Computer Entertainment's US R&D manager of special projects) says that "anything that lets us get the player's intent into the system more" is technology they'll be looking at. No brain wave gaming just yet.
Could there be a redesign of the PlayStation network too?
According to Reg Hardware, Sony has a PlayStation Network design upgrade in the works to compete with Xbox Live - could it eventually launch alongside the PS4?
What about a PS4 release date?
Tricky. If you side with the likes of ITProPortal, you might believe that "the whole concept of a single lounge-bound gaming device may become obsolete". The future of gaming may well lie in a more portable device/controller that you can play on the move or plug into your TV. Epic's Mark Rein has some interesting thoughts on this here.
Sony claims that the PS3 will have a 10 year lifecycle, suggesting the next PlayStation will arrive by the end of 2016 at the latest. Or we might not get a PlayStation 4 at all. Developers haven't yet maxed out the potential of the PS3, while the release of PlayStation Move has given it an extra dimension…
Senior execs for a big US retailer told their shareholders that they don't expect the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 til 2014.
However, according to Digitimes, Sony is to start production of PS4 at the end of 2011 with Kinect-like body control. Though we're not sure how accurate that can possibly be.
"Where we go after this is an interesting one," says Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire. "The online side is very interesting and is a big part of our business going forward. But in terms of what sort of technology we'll be using, it's far too early to say yet because we're only half way through the lifecycle of PS3 - there are many years to come on that machine."
Long live PlayStation 3.

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Job Interview Tips

Job interviews in many organizations are getting sophisticated these days. Psychological tests, role plays, and challenges to one's "quick intelligence" and street smarts are often part of the package. While it's impossible to anticipate everything you may encounter, here are ten tips that will help you negotiate the interview process successfully.

Prepare and over-prepare
It is assumed that you don't go in with egg on your tie, spinach in your teeth, or without a thorough knowledge of the organization and position for which you are interviewing. Beyond that, there's an important principle that will enable you to be much more confident. It's called, "over-preparing." It goes like this: Plan your strategy--your answers to all the possible questions you may be asked or the challenges that may be thrown at you--and then practice, practice, practice. Role play and repeat your best responses until they are entirely natural, until they simply roll off your tongue with the apparent spontaneity that comes only with successive repetition.
Be particularly clear on what you know and what you want to achieve
If your interview is resume-based (you've had to supply a resume either before or concurrently), have the facts of your stated objective, relevant experience, education, etc. thoroughly memorized and mentally supported. As to your job objective, be clear on what you want, as well as what you don't want. There's little room in the job market for the applicant who's willing to take anything; he or she will usually get nothing!
Make sure your responses match your claims
If, for example, you've taken extra coursework to qualify for a particular position, license, or certification, tie it into your narrative, e.g., "When I took my coursework for my CPA, I learned that ..." Build on your resume, but don't refer directly to it (assuming the interviewer has it in his or her possession); make sure the connections are there, but do it subtly.
Be clear about your strengths
You're almost certain to be hit with questions pertaining to your strengths and weaknesses. Know your strengths and emphasize those that relate specifically to the position for which you're being considered. If, for example, you're applying for a sales position, you might describe

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:18:00 +0000

dating tips for men and woman

for woman

No need to be wistful, though, if you can't afford to hire a matchmaker of this caliber. We've asked Brooks and three other exclusive matchmakers for their best tips on how to find love. Here's what they have to say:

1. Be realistic. "If you look like Roseanne, don't fixate on finding a Tom Cruise look-alike," says Brooks. "I also tell women who seem to be on a money hunt

-- that is, looking exclusively for men with big bucks -- they'll have to change their attitude if their goal is a long-term relationship. Men can sense right away if you're out for their wallet, not their personality." In the long run, the most priceless attributes you should want in a mate are not looks and/or money but a loving heart, dependable nature and commitment to you.

2. Be a hot mama, not a prospective mama. "Men have a radar for detecting women who are baby hungry," warns Christie Kelleher, director of the New York office of Kelleher & Associates, an upscale matchmaking service for successful professionals. Kelleher, whose service has brought together about 6,000 marriages in 19 years, adds, "He's thinking, 'Whoa -- I don't even know your middle name, and I already know the colors you want to paint your kid's nursery.'" Your best bet: no baby talk!

3. Make dating a priority. Janis Spindel, the self-described "cupid in a Chanel suit" and president of the New York-based Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking service, suggests that clients approach finding the right man as they would a job hunt. The key is to always be prepared because you never know when or where you'll meet someone. Wear clothes that make you feel attractive and plan ahead for interesting conversation. "You also need to change your routine," adds Spindel, who in the last 10 years has brought together more than 300 marriages and 400 monogamous couples. "Don't get your newspaper delivered. You might meet someone at the newsstand."

4. Nix the ex talk. On the first few dates, Brooks advises her clients to ex-cise the desire to tell the new man all about the previous boyfriend. If your ex was fabulous, your date will feel he can't measure up. But if you bash your ex too much, your date could think, Whoops -- she might be talking about me that way in a few months! Similarly, you should be wary of a man who can't stop talking about his former paramour. If he's still hung up on her, his heart has no room for you.

5. Neurotics needn't apply. You both need to be emotionally healthy to forge a successful relationship, says Neil Clark Warren, Ph.D., who founded a cyber matchmaking service called eHarmony.com in 2000. For instance, it's not a good sign if you're in the

how to be love by everybody

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:51:00 +0000

how to be love

Sometimes we have the attitude of, "I don't need anybody else. I can do it alone!"

Ahuv literally means "being beloved." Because whether with family relationships, business partners or friends, the human need to be loved is deep and natural. We need it like oxygen.

Of course, that love has to be earned. King Solomon said: "As water reflects a face, so does a person's heart." In other words, if you project coldness, you will attract coldness; if you give out warmth, you will attract warmth.

When people love you, they want to help you become wise and wealthy. They'll invite you to social functions, and patronize your business. They'll give you good advice -- and eagerly accept yours. You will succeed in all areas of life.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT OTHERS?

Let's start with a definition of love: "Taking pleasure in another's virtues." Hence the expression "to know him is to love him."

Make a list of the people you love. Study it and ask yourself: What about them do I take pleasure in? After you see the virtues, you have the basis for a true love relationship.

In return, to be loved by others, you must become virtuous in their eyes. Do for them what you'd want them to do for you. This will identify you as a source of pleasure -- and everyone loves those who bring them pleasure!

A general rule is to be happy and upbeat. It's a drain to be around people who mope and complain about every little thing. Be full of joy and vitality -- and you'll be well-loved!

COMMUNICATING LOVE

All parents love their children. So why is it that many children feel rejected? Because "feeling" love toward others is only a part of it. We also have to "communicate" that love. Many children only hear their parents' anger and criticisms -- and therefore get the wrong message.

To communicate love, you have to show you understand, appreciate and take pleasure in the other person's essence. Stop and analyze the

break ups

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:11:00 +0000

couple love break up

Breaking up is never fun. The end of a relationship means the beginning of a period of mourning and healing for both people. If the break up was mutual both people will experience a period of adjustment where they are getting used to no longer being together. If the break up was not mutual the person who ended things may be dealing with guilt and feelings that they may have made a mistake. The person being broken up with will definitely have to adjust, first to being rejected and second to life without somebody they still care for. How do you get through those first few weeks? Here we list eight essential things everybody must do in the early days of a break up to let the healing begin.

Avoid the former love. Yes, avoid. No, this isn’t being immature. Seeing your former flame can bring out emotions and may cause you do to or say something you will regret. In the first few weeks the best thing you can do for yourself is not be where you

I will help you build 1 blog for 7 days for RM15

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:21:00 +0000

I will help you build 1 blog for 7 days for RM15

Romance Tips for Marriage couple

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:17:00 +0000

Romance Tips for Marriage couple

By: Roxanne Rhoads

Here are some easy romance tips to put the spark back in your relationship. Sometimes romance just takes a little work.

Where to Start?

First, take stock of your marriage. Ask yourself where it stands, how did you get to this point and what happened? Is it normal stuff like stress, time, being tired, work schedules and dealing with the kids that have just sapped the energy from you and your marriage, or is it something else, something deeper and more serious? Anger, betrayal, resentment?

Do you have issues with your spouse that need to be resolved, or have your own feelings gotten in the way? Either way, you need to work it out, together or by yourself. You can't bring the romance back until you get over whatever killed it in the first place. To get back on track for romance, you have to get over the past, get rid of your hang ups and just simply let go.

Try talking calmly to each other without fighting. Start a journal to pour all your thoughts and feelings out. Try therapy for yourself or as a couple. Marriage counselors can offer insight into your issues and give you a chance to look at your relationship through unbiased eyes.

Playstation portable 2 (NGP)

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:08:00 +0000

Playstation portable 2 ( psp NGP )

Sony formally revealed the heavily-rumored PSP2 in Japan today. The device has been codenamed NGP for "next generation portable." It is set for release by the end of 2011. Pricing information was not provided.

Critical Details

She's a beaut.

NGP will use a new game medium, a small flash memory based card, dedicated for NGP software titles. The cards will store full game titles and add-on game content or save data. Sony notes that they'll be able to provide higher capacity cards in the future to allow developers to store more game data. The device also supports PlayStation Network Trophies.

The NGP contains a touch screen on top and a touch pad on the bottom. This will allow players to interact with games through "touch, grab, trace, push and pull" moves of the fingers.

The Release Date and Price

Sadly, the release date and price were not revealed. However, Sony did say that the NGP would be out

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (PlayStation Phone) preview

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:02:00 +0000

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (PlayStation Phone) preview

Oh yes. After all the unbearable teasing since we unveiled the first ever photos of the PlayStation Phone, we've finally managed to get hold of the real deal for an in-depth preview. Honestly, we couldn't wait any longer with this thing floating around in China; we'd otherwise have to wait until MWC, where we expect the phone to be launched as the "Xperia Play" (and we shall refer to this name henceforth). Before you pop the cork for us, do bear in mind that what we're seeing here is subject to changes, so don't be alarmed by any missing features or exposed cables in our preview. When you're ready, head right past the break to find out what Sony Ericsson's cooking up.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (PlayStation Phone) preview

Hardware

In case you haven't been keeping your eyes peeled open for news about this intriguing device, here's a little roundup of what we know so far: various screenshots have revealed the codenames "Zeus" plus "R800i," and it's now clear that this HSDPA phone with Gingerbread will be marketed under the Xperia brand, with a hint of PlayStation here and there. In terms of specs, we can confirm that the Xperia Play has a 4-inch multitouch 854 x 480 LCD, which is what the X10 has as well. In fact, the LCDs on both phones have similarly good color performance and viewing angles, but upon closer inspection we noticed that the Xperia Play's LCD is brought closer to the glass, which may be why it produces a slightly darker black. Rumor from the Far East also has it that, like the Xperia Arc, the Xperia Play's screen is powered by a Bravia engine for improved video playback.

Even though we have the actual device with us, we're still unable to verify our original tipster's claim that it's powered by a Qualcomm MSM8655 chipset; even the Chinese teardown struggled to get past the chip's shield cage to check its ID. Anyhow, both Quadrant and Android System Info indicate that there's a single-core processor inside that clocks from 122.88MHz to 1GHz (and note that the MSM8655 can even go up to 1.2GHz), and it's coupled with an Adreno 205 GPU. This combo, along with Gingerbread and the generous 512MB of RAM, scored a chart-topping 1,689 on Quadrant and an impressive 59fps on Neocore. Other benchmark scores include: about 35 MFLOPS on Linpack, and around 43fps on NenaMark (tying with the Tegra 2-packing LG Star).

Sadly, these numbers fail to reflect one major flaw on our Xperia Play: WiFi doesn't work. Hopefully this is simply to do with a faulty driver for the Broadcom BCM4329 wireless chip (capable of 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, and FM receiver plus transmitter) rather than the prototype being physically faulty. Touch wood.

Before revealing the gamepad underneath the screen, you'd probably first notice the four shiny Android soft keys below the screen. Yep, all four of them -- back, menu, home, and search -- are there, although for some reason the middle two buttons are swapped around in the OS. It could well be a last minute firmware change that occurred after the device was manufactured, or maybe SE is still toying with the

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:41:00 +0000

Top 10 Ways to Protect Yourself From Counterfeiting and Piracy

1. Scrutinize labels, packaging, and contents.

There is no foolproof way to know the difference between a bargain and a fake, but labels and packaging can be revealing indicators. Look for missing or expired "use by" dates, broken or missing safety seals, missing warranty information, or otherwise unusual packaging. For larger purchases, such as mechanical or electronic equipment, seek reputable sellers and check serial numbers with manufacturer databases. If you purchase medicine from a new vendor and it does not match the size, shape, color, taste, and side effects of your usual product, contact your pharmacist or the manufacturer to determine if it came from a legitimate source. You can also verify authenticity by comparing the manufacturer's contact information with another product's packaging, as addresses and phone numbers provided with counterfeit goods could be misleading.

2. Seek authorized retailers.

Companies often publish lists of authorized retailers online or in packaging materials. If you are uncertain whether a retailer acquired its products from a legitimate distributor, ask for verifiable information from the retailer about the source of the goods. Familiarize yourself with the suppliers of retail outlets and encourage your favorite stores to secure their supply chain. Trustworthy vendors work within a secure distribution network that follows steps such as those published in the U.S. Chamber's Supply Chain Tool Kit.

3. Watch for missing sales tax charges.

Businesses trading in counterfeit goods often do not report their sales to financial authorities-a difference you may notice in the price you ultimately

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:39:00 +0000

Pros and Cons of Telecommuting

Telecommute (verb): to work from home, communicating with a central workplace using equipment such as telephones, fax machines, and modems.

Telecommute; the word sounds as though it opposes the freedom that a freelance writing life should bring, and is therefore in no way desirable. But in an age when technology and e-commerce is being embraced by so many organisations, the word ‘telecommute’ has come to represent the key to a door of opportunity for freelance writers, more than any other word in the English dictionary before it.

But like anything else in this world that sounds good, how much of that should be taken with a pinch of salt? Everything has a cost, so let’s take a look at the pros and cons, from a freelance writer’s perspective, of telecommuting.

Pros

Anywhere, Anytime

Look at the word closely, and immediately you will begin to see what it has going for it. Tele – commute: the ability to “commute” anywhere in the world, without actually leaving the comfort of your own home. In other words, the world truly is your oyster.

Being able to work for any company, anywhere in the world, opens up opportunities for freelance writers that were never dreamt of prior to the birth of the Internet. Effectively, it means that there are no longer any barriers to who can work for whom, and thanks to e-mail, communication between the employer and the employee is faster than it has ever been.

Telecommuting cuts out the need for

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:39:00 +0000

famous Love Quotations for upcoming valentine

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love." - Sophocles

"Attention is the most basic form of love; through it we bless and are blessed." - John Tarrant

"We love because it's the only true adventure." - Nikki Giovanni

"Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away." - Dorothy Parker

"Love is friendship set on fire." - unknown

"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." - Goethe

"To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia." - H.L. Mencken

"Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it...It really is worth fighting for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more." - Erica Jong

"Sometimes love is stronger than a man's convictions." - Isaac Bashevis Singer

"Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Maybe love is like luck. You have to go all the way to find it." - Robert Mitchum

"Love stretches your heart and makes you big inside." - Margaret Walker

"Love has no awareness of merit or demerit; it has no scale... Love loves; this is its nature." - Howard Thurman

"Love is like war: Easy to begin but hard to end." - Anonymous

"Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other." - Rainer Maria Rilke

"Where love is, no room is too small." - Talmud

"Loves makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place." - Zora Neale Hurston

"Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." - Mark Twain

"Love is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day." - Nicholas Sparks

"To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven." - Karen Sunde

"A love song is just a caress set to music." - Sigmund Romberg

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit." - Peter Ustinov

"Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever." - unknown

"Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence." - Erich Fromm

"In the final analysis, love is the only reflection of man's worth." - Bill Wundram, Iowa Quad Cities Times

"Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile." - Elizabeth Browning

"Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania."
- Dorothy Parker

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down."
- Woody Allen,

"First romance, first love, is something so special to all of us, both emotionally and physically, that it touches our lives and enriches them forever." - Rosemary Rogers

"First love is a little foolish and a lot of curiosity."- George Bernard Shaw

"The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can never end." - Benjamin Disraeli

"We never forget those who make us blush." - Jean-François De La Harpe

"Young love is from the earth, and late love is from heaven." - Turkish Proverb

"First love is dangerous only when it is also the last." - Branislav Nusic

"Sex is something I really don't understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away." - Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

"Follow your bliss." - Joseph Campbell

"For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it." - Ivan Panin

"To laugh often and love much... to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give one's self... this is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Whenever I have knocked, a door has opened. Wherever I have wandered, a path has appeared. I have been helped, supported, encouraged and nurtured by people of all races, creeds, colors and dreams." - Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers' Garden

"To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten." - Anonymous

"The more I give to thee, the more

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:38:00 +0000

valentine days for single tips

Introduction:

Okay, so Valentine's Day is not the favorite holiday for singles, but it doesn't have to be a funeral either. There are things a single person can do to make Valentine's Day much more enjoyable. Take these tips and avoid watching romance movies in the dark while eating a whole box of chocolate candy.

Friends

Valentine's Day can be about friends, too. Do you realize how many single people are out there feeling the same agony over another "Valentine's Day" as a single? A recent radio show host said that people who have a good friend are less likely to get depressed or sick. So, call up that friend and make Valentine's Day special for both of you. Maybe you have more than one friend that would love to get flowers or a gift, go to dinner and see a movie.

Host a Party

Valentine's Day parties can be just as fun with a bunch of single people that have nothing to do. Ask everyone to bring a dish to pass and a special sweet treat to

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:40:00 +0000

Valentine's Day Dating Tips

Going out witth your love one

Going for a date with sweetheart is the most popular way of celebrating Valentine's Day festival. Those in love start thinking about unique Valentine's Day dating ideas days in advance to ensure a romantic and memorable time with their beloved. However, those without a date start registering themselves for various online and offline dating services so that they do not miss out on the fun the couples enjoy on a Valentine's Day. In case you are looking for perfect Valentine's Day dating idea, here are some tips to inspire the creativity cells in your brain and heart !!

Going for Adventure Sports
If you and your partner enjoy adventure sports, plan out a session on Valentine's Day !! Go for ice -skating, river-rafting, para sailing or any other activity that is possible in your vicinity and have a great time.

Cooking Together
You must have gone to restaurants many times, but this Valentine's Day try cooking a meal with your beloved. It would be great fun! Get a recipe book in case you need some tips and lay out the table in an elaborate manner to add joy to the celebrations.

Take a Tour of Your City
On Valentine's Day you may plan a tour of your city with your beloved. You may show each other your favorite spots or places where you grew up like school, college or office. This would help you get to know each other better and will therefore strengthen your relationship. Alternatively, you may visit museums, art galleries, or other spots you don't usually visit for lack of time or opportunity. This way you can create beautiful memories together.

Go for Picnics
A great Valentine's Day dating idea would be to go for picnic at your favorite spot. Plan out activities you can enjoy in that spot. Places with a river and boating facility are an ideal picnic spot for romantic dates.

Movie and Candle Light Dinner
This is an ideal and an all time favorites Valentine's Day dating idea amongst lovers. You may also go for concerts or theatre for a change. Read out a romantic poetry holding your lover's hand for greater and more bewitching impact.

Valentines Day Ideas

Valentine's Day is one of the most romantic days in a year. So it is natural that each one of us wish to celebrate this day uniquely. But the question arises as to how to celebrate this wonderful day in a special way. Your Valentine's Day must be remarkable and should leave an unforgettable impression in the mind of your beloved. Use your own romantic and thoughtful ideas for creating a unique Valentine's day celebration. There are ample valentine ideas and tips but the first and foremost thing to be kept in mind is to create the love ambience around you and your beloved. Your valentine day gift to your beloved need not be expensive but it should be straight from the heart.

Romantic Valentines Ideas

If you are aspiring for an exquisite Valentine's Day then just go through the touching valentine ideas or tips to make an ideal valentine's day.

A simple 'I Love You' with a kiss can set an awesome mood for a Valentine's Day.
Decorate his/her house with hearts, bows and ribbons.
Make arrangements

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:39:00 +0000

valentine days for single tips

Introduction:

Friends

Host a Party

Valentine's Day parties can be just as fun with a bunch of single people that have nothing to do. Ask everyone to bring a dish to pass and a special sweet treat to

AMD Zacate APU review

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:57:00 +0000

AMD Zacate APU

The Zacate APU chip will beat Intel's Core i5 processors at portable gaming, claims AMD.

While Intel is grabbing the headlines with its Sandy Bridge line at IDF, AMD is continuing its tradition of subverting the event with a little gathering of its own in a nearby hotel - and it's taken the opportunity to unveil Zacate, its first Accelerated Processor Unit.

Part of the company's Fusion range, Zacate combines ATI graphics with an AMD processor in a single chip - and at a claimed power draw of between 9 and 18 watts under load, it's a chip which AMD is going to be aiming at the ultra-slim and portable markets.

Interestingly, the company isn't looking to take on Intel's Atom directly: rather, Maximum PC claims that Zacate is designed to compete with Intel's Core i5 and provide a low-power solution for gamers on the go. While that might seem too good to be true, attendees at the launch were treated to MMORPG City of Heroes: Going Rogue running on a Zacate-based system at perfectly playable framerates.

PC Magazine claims that the Zacate chip was also put through its paces on the Internet Explorer 9 hardware acceleration demo, where it beat a Core i5 2.4GHz chip "by an order of magnitude."

As proof of its performance chops, AMD has posted a video from amd zacate vs intel i5, showing it managing around ten frames per second higher than the comparison Core i5 chip.

Before you get too excited, there is a caveat with these particular examples: although several attendees attempted to get some firm figures regarding the actual specifications of the Zacate chip used in the demonstration, AMD remained tight-lipped and refused to discuss clockspeeds or features beyond confirming that the chip featured a pair of Bobcat cores.

AnandTech managed to confirm that Zacate will ship towards the end of this year, and that it will be joined by the Ontario part for netbooks which drops the power draw even further - despite AMD's assurance that it isn't gunning for the slate market.

While we'll have to wait for firm details as to actual specifications and expected volume pricing, it's clear that Intel's low-end chips could have a serious fight on their hands.

Are you excited about the possibilities promised by a low-power gaming-friendly processor, or will you need to see a proper review with firm specifications before you give up on i5? what say you?

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 07:41:00 +0000

Intel i7 2600K (Sandy Bridge) ReviewThe Sandy Bridge Architecture

Entire Sandy Bridge Wafer

Sandy Bridge Wafer

There are already extremely detailed overviews of Sandy Bridge out there, the most notable of which came our way from AnandTech in September. What we’ll offer today is a shorter version, focused on the details of the desktop enthusiast-level chips.
From the start Sandy Bridge is meant to be a mainstream platform. Aimed mostly at the average user, all of these new chips have on-die GPUs sufficient for non-gaming daily use. They are releasing a new laptop series soon with the same features, however, we want desktop performance and overclocking ability and that’s what we’ll look for today. Sandy Bridge represents the second generation of Intel’s Core line of processors, which is why they have a iX 2xxx naming scheme. The 2 designates that these are second generation Core iX CPUs.

Tick Tock!

2nd Generation Overview

2nd Generation Features

Intel CPU development alternates between “Ticks” (process shrinks) and “Tocks” (micro-architecture redesigns): Sandy Bridge is the latest “Tock”. Intel has been producing 32 nm chips for a little while now and are working hard to perfect their properties.
A couple of things have changed since the last iteration. Arguably the most important change is that the chip’s northbridge and GPU are both on-die with this new generation. The P55 platform from the previous generation had both integrated graphics and northbridge – they were inside the same CPU package, but were on a physically separate chip. This both helps and hurts. With the new ring bus, LLC (Last Level Cache, formerly L3 Cache) is shared amongst all components, including the GPU. This doesn’t affect anyone who uses a discrete GPU, but will potentially make a difference when using the on-die GPU.
Speaking of GPUs: the number of available PCIe lanes remains the same from the P55 platform to the P67 platform, with 16 in total for use as either 1×16 or as 2×8 in crossfire / SLI. Additional lanes will likely come via an NF200 chip as on boards from both P55 and X58 platforms.

Sandy Bridge Die

CPU Architecture Labeled

Turbo boost gets a re-vamp as well and is branded as Turbo Boost Technology 2.0. The implementation seems to be more seamless than in the previous generation. In fact, this is how you overclock these processors – at least on the Intel board used in this review. I could find no way to turn off frequency throttling and maintain a constant frequency. There is a maximum non-turbo multiplier (in this case that’s 34) and then adjustable turbo multipliers. The way to overclock is by raising the maximum turbo multiplier on all cores while raising voltage(s) as necessary. It’s definitely very different but Turbo 2.0 remains seamless even with relatively heavy overclocks.

Intel Turbo 2.0

Intel Turbo Monitor

Intel has two new pieces of software for us as well. First is the Turbo Monitor pictured above and second is their Extreme Tuning Utility which is similar to AMD’s OverDrive. I’m not sure if it will be usable on all P67 boards or just Intel-branded ones, but the comment below about customizing the plug-in or using Intel’s GUI suggests that it may be usable by everyone.

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility

The utility is not without its quirks though. Unfortunately, it requires the PC to be restarted in order to adjust the turbo multipliers, so overclockers using Windows may wish to find something else to keep them in the OS while pushing the clocks. Overall, it’s a pretty useful tool.
Efficiency per clock is a big thing with Sandy Bridge’s release. We’ll show our own results in a bit, but here are Intel’s own benches against the Core i7 870 from the previous generation.

Productivity Comparison

Content Creation Comparison

This is not a bad show. We’ll be comparing our review sample to an i7 870 as well so we’ll see how things work out in our benchmark suite.
Now we get to the most interesting point: overclocking. Just a few years ago, nobody would officially acknowledge overclocking occurred, yet now almost every manufacturer produces parts specifically designed for it. How times have changed!
In the slide on the left below, you can see that the CPU Core, RAM ratio and current limiters are all unlocked on the K-series CPUs. There are only two of these at launch so our choices are limited but with the flexibility it offers, maybe that’s not too bad. The slide on the right is the kicker for extreme overclockers; specifically the box to the left in that slide. I’ll give that a minute to sink in.

Unlocked CPU, Memory and Current

The Other Side of the Coin - Multi Limit

Yep, there is a physical limit to how far these CPUs can overclock. The farthest you will get with an i7 2600K is a multiplier of 57x, or 5.7 GHz at the base clock of 100 MHz. If you are able to push the BCLK up to, say, 106 MHz, than right at 6.0 GHz is where you’d end up. This is a limit “defined by the microarchitecture”, so I’m not sure motherboard manufacturers will be able to do anything about it. Our only hope is that someone comes up with a way to separate the BCLK itself from the remainder of the CPU’s mechanisms, and based on how things look that’s unlikely.
All of that said, the “limitation” affects a very small subset of overclockers, who are themselves a small subset of users. Not many people have access to or even try to overclock with extreme cooling so that limitation is one only a few of us will come up against. For a normal, ambient-cooled overclocker it’s likely to be a non-issue. Last, but certainly not least, we’ll see how these things are priced!

Sandy Bridge Lineup With Prices

It turns out that the pricing is very reasonable. Remember that these are price-per-thousand numbers, but even so a price of $317 for the highest-end unlocked Sandy Bridge CPU isn’t bad at all. It’s even better when you compare the K-series to the non-unlocked brethren. The i5 2500K is only $11 more than the i5 2500 and the i7 2600K is only $23more than its locked counterpart.

The P67 Platform Controller Hub (PCH)

There are two PCH’s coming out to for consumer-level Sandy Bridge – H67 and P67. The biggest addition is native support for SATA 6Gb/s but only two out of the six ports are capable of that speed. The other four retain the SATA II specification of 3Gb/s. According to this chart P67 only allows you to use discrete graphics cards and doesn’t allow use of the on-die graphics at all.

6-Series Chipset Diagrams

One glaring omission here is support for USB 3.0, which still requires a third-party controller. Presumably (and purely speculatively) this may be Intel attempting to help pave the way for its Light Peak technology. Ostensibly, they “…are absolutely committed to USB 3.0 and beyond that,” but with lots of enthusiast boards already coming with USB 3.0 support, it does seem conspicuously missing with the 6-series chips. Enough of my assumptions though: here are the comparison and feature charts for the new chipsets.

6-Series Comparison Chart

6-Series Features

Intel DP67BG - Specifications and Features

Feature packed is a good word for this one: for all the details, check out the feature and specification charts. There will most likely be a raft of new boards from the usual suspects, however this Intel-branded board ticks most of the boxes.

Board Features

Board Specifications

Notable features include:

Support for DDR3 RAM (dual channel)
Support for 1×16 lane PCIe or 2×8 lane (for crossfire or SLI)
Two SATA ports support 6 Gb/s and four run at up to 3 Gb/s
RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
Infra-red receiver/transmitter built in
Two USB 3.0 ports and eight USB 2.0 ports (plus six USB 2.0 ports via headers)

First Impressions and Tour

Intel isn’t known for boards about which overclockers jump up and down excitedly. That said, this looks like a relatively solid offering for the casual overclocker or gamer.

Intel DP67BG Box	Intel DP67BG First Look
Intel DP67BG	Intel DP67BG
Intel DP67BG	Intel DP67BG

You can see the features of the board in the charts above; we’ll just show some highlights that overclockers would find appealing. One nice feature is status LEDs, similar to what you’ll find on ASUS boards. They’ll tell you where your boot is failing if you run into problems.
Very welcome features for overclockers and benchmarkers (who often forgo a case) are onboard power and reset buttons. Also photographed are the BIOS chip and the POST code indicator, for further troubleshooting if necessary.

Status LEDs

Onboard Switches

A cool thing if you’re into lights and such: the skull image (emblematic of Intel’s Extreme motherboards) actually blinks red with HDD activity. It can be switched on and off via the BIOS. It doesn’t help with performance but it looks rather cool.

Skull

Last, but not least the reason we’re all here – the i7 2600K CPU!

i7 2600K

i7 2600K Rear

Functionally the board is pretty decent overall. My only beef is with the BIOS (which is not UEFI, by the way). It really needs an updated BIOS to address some quirks. Four big ones come to mind.

First, getting into the BIOS can be a pain. You absolutely must tap F2 continuously from the get-go just to try and get in. Even then it might ignore you and boot to the OS.
Second is the way it overclocks. You can’t just increase the multiplier. You have to leave the base non-turbo multiplier alone (it won’t allow greater than 34). To overclock, EIST and turbo must remain enabled and you increase the turbo multipliers to overclock. It’s ok once you get used to it, but lots of people would prefer to just raise the normal multiplier, as can be done with the previous generation of chips. This is not how other boards implement overclocking.
Third: memory overclocking. The available memory multipliers aren’t very useful if you can’t use them. I was using DDR3-2400 RAM for this review and it would not boot at any setting greater than DDR3-1600 with any timing combination. The BIOS was re-flashed just to make sure nothing had gone awry and there was no improvement. After plugging the same CPU and RAM into another board (ASRock) and booting up at DDR3-2133, I think it’s safe to conclude the BIOS needs some tweaking.
Last, there was an odd phenomenon with booting to the OS. From a cold boot, or from one where the board had to reset itself after changing overclock settings, the system would stall booting into the OS. Only from a state where the board physically powered down (for a second or hours) did this happen. Any other time it booted right into the OS in seconds. This is another quirk not experienced on another board, so like the other issues this is not platform-related.

This may be stating the obvious, but this isn’t a board for extreme overclockers. With the BIOS quirks (you don’t want to be sitting below zero waiting for the OS to load) and the smaller power section (I count six chokes) extreme benchmarkers will want to go with another solution. However, assuming the BIOS gets ironed out, this one would be a decent choice for overclockers and gamers looking for reasonable everyday overclocks and a good feature set.

“Stock” Cooler

Since the chip and board didn’t come in a retail packages, Intel sent one of their more stout coolers: the XTS100H. It seems half-way decent so it was used throughout this review.

XTS100H Box

XTS100H Box Rear

This is definitely not what one would expect Intel to send, but it is a pleasant surprise nonetheless. The base had a respectable mirror finish and the backplate, while plastic, seems solid enough for the job.

Intel XTS100H Unboxed

Quiet / Performance Switch

XTS100H Base / Mounting Bracket

It turns out that this cooler actually has some pretty decent cooling ability as you’ll see below. This was on a rather slow auto setting too: the Intel BIOS control wasn’t so johnny on the spot. When cranked on another (non-Intel) test board, the fan can get rather loud and is roughly equivalent to the 5870′s fan turned all the way up. Based on past experience, I’d assess it overall as similar to an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro: it’s not record setting, but not bad in its own right.

Overclocking for Stability

Like most new platforms, there was a small learning curve when overclocking. If you’re going from an earlier iX platform to this one it’s not very steep and is a breeze once you figure it out. There are essentially three items you need to increase – Vcore, current limit and multiplier. There are more items that be tweaked but those are the basics. With this Intel board there is really no way to turn off EIST / C-states and retain overclocking ability because you must use the turbo multipliers to overclock.
As mentioned, there is no increasing the base multiplier. On this board, it is called the “Maximum Non-Turbo Ratio” and it tops out at 34. To overclock you must increase the turbo multipliers, of which there are four – one for each core. On other boards the base multiplier can be used instead. To keep results consistent across single- and multi- threaded benchmarks, I went with the same multiplier across all cores.What’s impressive is how far this thing went with relatively small voltage increase.

LinX Stressing at 4.3 GHz / 1.312 v

LinX Passed at 4.3 GHz with 1.312 v

That’s right: 4.3 GHz, using an Intel air cooler no less. Temperatures did get a bit warm, but improving the cooling would decrease those substantially. If Core Temp is accurate, these CPUs don’t throttle until 98° C, so there’s still more headroom for those more daring. Regardless, such speed on a small air cooler yields a completely stable machine with reasonable temperatures for a 24/7 overclock, which is really impressive. Even if extreme benchmarkers pass this generation up, those who want strong daily drivers certainly shouldn’t.

Test System, Opponents and Methodology

We’ve got some stiff competition lined up for today’s review in order to find out exactly how good this CPU is. For all benches except PoVRay and 7-zip (which were all added after the other chips had come and gone), there are two AMD and three Intel entries.
The i7 870, Phenom II x4 965 BE and Phenom II x6 1100T BE were all run at stock and with their 24/7 overclocks of 4.0 Ghz. This speed was determined in part because of thermal concerns. Additionally, the i7 870 was not stable at the 4.3 GHz that the Sandy Bridge chip reached, so results were displayed at its stable overclock. The same applies to the Phenom II chips.
Also included in the result charts are benches of an i5 655K (whose 24/7 overclock was a respectable 4.5 GHz) and a Xeon W3570 (thanks to Overclockers.com writer EarthDog). The W3570 is the Xeon equivalent to an i7 960 and runs on an X58 platform. For a head-to-head platform comparison, it was run at 4.3 GHz, just like the Sandy Bridge chip.
So, all laid out next to each other (in two charts due to width/formatting issues), here is the competition:

Processor	i7 2600K	W3570	i7 870
Stock / Overclocked Speeds (GHz)	3.4 / 4.3	OC only @ 4.3	3.2 / 4.0
Motherboard	Intel DP67BG	EVGA FTW3	EVGA P55 FTW
RAM	Patriot DDR3-2400		G.Skill Pi DDR3-2400
RAM Speed (overclocked)	DDR3-1600	DDR3-1600	DDR3-2400
RAM Timings	8-8-8-24	8-8-8-24	9-11-9-28
GPU (for total 3DMark Score Only)	ASUS Matrix 5870 Platinum	n/a	ASUS Matrix 5870 Platinum
Operating System	Windows 7 x64	Windows 7 x64	Windows 7 x64

Processor	i5 655K	X4 965BE	X6 1100T
Stock / Overclocked Speeds (GHz)	3.2 / 4.5	3.4 / 4.0	3.3 / 3.7
Motherboard	EVGA P55 FTW	ASUS Crosshair IV Formula	ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
RAM	G.Skill Pi DDR3-2400	G.Skill Pi DDR3-2400	G.Skill Flare DDR3-2000
RAM Speed (overclocked)	DDR3-1600	DDR3-1600	DDR3-1600
RAM Timings	8-8-8-24	9-9-9-24	9-9-9-24
GPU (for total 3DMark Score Only)	Gigabyte 5870 SOC	ASUS Matrix 5870 Platinum	ASUS Matrix 5870 Platinum
Operating System	Windows 7 x64	Windows 7 x64	Windows 7 x64

All benches at stock speed were run three times with the average displayed in the results. Overclocked benches were run once.
Important notes regarding the results below; please read! There is a change from my previous reviews. After feedback about the range-adjusted result graphs, I’ve taken a new approach. All of the graphs are now based on relative performance.
The 100.00% point in each graph is the score or time obtained by the i7 2600K at stock. Every other result is expressed as a percentage of that result. For scored benchmarks, above 100% means the score was better than the stock i7 2600K result and below means it was worse. For timed benchmarks, below 100% means the time was faster (better) and above means it was slower (worse).
In parenthesis below the benchmark name inside the graphs, you will see what the benchmark measures (i.e. seconds, scored, MIPS, etc) as well as whether a higher or lower percentage is better. The actual scores / times are displayed in tables below the graphs.

Benchmark Results

Up first, we’ll explore some real-world productivity benchmarks.
Rendering Performance
Cinebench is a solid rendering benchmark. R10 isn’t quite as precise as R11.5 with some variation between runs but it’s still a good tool to show rendering comparisons.

Cinebench R10

Cinebench R11.5

Cinebench R10 and Cinebench R11.5
Processor	R10	R11.5
Phenom II x4 965	14090	4.04
x4 965 @ 4GHz	16268	4.67
Phenom II x6 1100T	19014	5.89
x6 1100T @4GHz	22779	7.05
i5 655K	10076	2.67
i5 655k @ 4.5GHz	14024	3.76
i7 870	18547	5.49
i7 870 @ 4GHz	23260	6.85
W3570 @ 4.3GHz	25192	7.46
i7 2600K	23120	6.92
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	28817	8.54

What a comparison it is, too! Overclocked, the 2600K trounces the X58-based competition by over 15%. At stock it performs equally as good as the overclocked i7 870 and overclocked 1100T. This is what you call starting off on the right foot.
PoV Ray is a new addition to the rendering suite. As this was a late addition not all CPUs made it into this comparison.

PoV Ray 3.7 Beta 40

PoV Ray 3.7 beta 40
Processor	PPS
Phenom II x6 1100T	4887.10
x6 1100T @4GHz	5934.89
i7 870	4271.19
i7 870 @ 4GHz	5353.26
i7 2600K	5447.37
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	6597.64

Same story, different bench. This thing renders like mad compared to its predecessor. The 1100T performed more admirably this time when overclocked but still can’t touch the 2600K when it raises the bar.
File Compression
One more real world test and we’ll move on. Compression is important to any computer user, and with files/programs growing as quickly as they are, compression and decompression are an every day fact of life. No one wants to sit around and wait while their processor, well, processes. Like PoV Ray, this was the other late addition and doesn’t have all CPUs featured.

7zip Compression Benchmark

7-zip Compression Bench
Processor	MIPS
Phenom II x6 1100T	18239
x6 1100T @4GHz	22472
i7 870	18420
i7 870 @ 4GHz	23344
i7 2600K	20684
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	24868

Rendering it is not; with stock results being out-paced by the overclocked Thuban and Lynnfield. It still walks away handily by 12% and 8%, respectively when overclocked.
3D Performance
Real world is important considering that’s how most of us use our computers, but for a lot of us it’s not as fun as benchmarking! So let’s get on with it. First up, 3D benches starting with 3DMark Vantage.

3DMark Vantage - Total Score

3DMark Vantage - CPU Only

		3DMark Vantage
Processor	Total Score		Processor	CPU Score
Phenom II x4 965	15621		Phenom II x4 965	11692
x4 965 @ 4GHz	16791		x4 965 @ 4GHz	13595
Phenom II x6 1100T	17462		Phenom II x6 1100T	17021
x6 1100T @4GHz	18891		x6 1100T @4GHz	20350
i5 655K	14688		i5 655K	9252
i5 655k @ 4.5GHz	17336		i5 655k @ 4.5GHz	12725
i7 870 @ 4GHz	20988		i7 870	19864
i7 2600K	20348		i7 870 @ 4GHz	24613
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	21494		W3570 @ 4.3GHz	26616
			i7 2600K	23781
			i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	29236

Yet again it beats out every competitor. Only the overclocked i7 870 and W3570 beat the 2600K at stock. Overclocked, Sandy Bridge beats everything. Clock for clock, it scored 11% over the X58-based competition’s CPU score. The Thuban didn’t stand a chance.

3DMark06 - Total Score

3DMark06 - CPU Only

		3DMark06
Processor	Total Score		Processor	CPU Score
Phenom II x4 965	18920		Phenom II x4 965	4768
x4 965 @ 4GHz	21405		x4 965 @ 4GHz	5475
Phenom II x6 1100T	20470		Phenom II x6 1100T	5978
x6 1100T @4GHz	22864		x6 1100T @4GHz	7041
i5 655K	17322		i5 655K	3367
i5 655k @ 4.5GHz	22773		i5 655k @ 4.5GHz	4668
i7 870 @ 4GHz	24380		i7 870	5440
i7 2600K	24394		i7 870 @ 4GHz	6479
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	27847		W3570 @ 4.3GHz	7501
			i7 2600K	6707
			i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	8197

The results of 3DMark06 are very similar, but with the overclocked 1100T trading places with the overclocked i7 870. Again, the overclocked 2600K beats the W3570′s CPU score by 11%.
2D Performance
Pifast is a fun 2D bench. It’s quick and it tends to complete runs around the same clocks as SuperPi 1M.

PiFast

PiFast
Processor	Seconds
Phenom II x4 965	25.62
x4 965 @ 4GHz	22.23
Phenom II x6 1090T	24.42
x6 10900T @4GHz	21.99
i5 655K	27.89
655k @ 4.5GHz	20.63
i7 870	24.77
i7 870 @ 4GHz	21.82
W3570 @ 4.3GHz	19.82
i7 2600K	19.87
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	17.02

Talk about a strong performance! The only thing that beats the 2600K at stock is the overclocked W3570, and even then only by 0.25%. After being overclocked it simply trounces the competition.

SuperPi 1M

SuperPi 32M

		SuperPi
Processor	SuperPi 1M		Processor	SuperPi 32M
Phenom II x4 965	20.322		Phenom II x4 965	20:07.603
x4 965 @ 4GHz	17.441		x4 965 @ 4GHz	17:37.260
Phenom II x6 1100T	18.861		Phenom II x6 1100T	18:50.128
x6 1100T @4GHz	17.250		x6 1100T @4GHz	17:06.291
i5 655K	13.104		i5 655K	12:36.063
655k @ 4.5GHz	9.344		655k @ 4.5GHz	9:25.515
i7 870	12.063		i7 870	10:41.453
i7 870 @ 4GHz	10.477		i7 870 @ 4GHz	9:21.789
W3570 @ 4.3GHz	9.500		W3570 @ 4.3GHz	8:42.320
i7 2600K	10.041		i7 2600K	9:05.741
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	8.595		i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	7:57.736

Ahh, SuperPi, how Intel loves ye. AMD hasn’t even been in the ballpark since the Core 2 range of chips with this bench. What I definitely didn’t expect was almost breaking 10 seconds in SiperPi 1M at stock, or actually breaking 8 minutes at SuperPi 32M at a 24/7 overclock! The 655K comes closest here with a 200 MHz advantage but still loses by just under 8%.
So Intel continues to improve its already substantial lead in single-threaded 2D benchmarks. What about multi-threaded?

WPrime 32M

WPrime 1024M

		WPrime
Processor	WPrime 32M		Processor	WPrime 1024M
Phenom II x4 965	11.414		Phenom II x4 965	357.934
x4 965 @ 4GHz	9.824		x4 965 @ 4GHz	309.052
Phenom II x6 1100T	8.019		Phenom II x6 1100T	242.581
x6 1100T @4GHz	6.619		x6 1100T @4GHz	199.051
i5 655K	15.413		i5 655K	428.208
655k @ 4.5GHz	10.971		655k @ 4.5GHz	343.043
i7 870	8.063		i7 870	241.904
i7 870 @ 4GHz	6.378		i7 870 @ 4GHz	193.383
W3570 @ 4.3GHz	6.148		W3570 @ 4.3GHz	178.681
i7 2600K	7.337		i7 2600K	220.967
i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	5.769		i7 2600K @ 4.3GHz	178.044

Well, it didn’t walk away with this one as easily as the single-threaded benches but it didn’t lose by any stretch. Overclocked, it does retain a 5% advantage against the best competitor in WPrime 32M. The closest competition of the day (but with the 2600K still coming out on top) was in WPrime 1024M. Only the W3570 was within striking distance though, with all others falling 7% and more behind.

Memory Subsystem

With a maximum allowable memory speed (if you don’t take small BCLK adjustments into account) of DDR3-2133, it makes you wonder how memory bandwidth and latencies compare with the previous generation, which can run DDR3-2400 as a 24/7 setting. First up, stock performance with both CPUs at DDR3-1600 and 8-8-8-28. Rather than graphs, let’s let the screenshots to do the talking.

Maxxmem - 870 Stock / DDR3-1600

Maxxmem - 2600K Stock / DDR3-1600

It’s barely even a contest. Over five GB(that’s gigabytes)-per-second faster with lower latency. How about when you overclock them both? On the left below is the 870 at 4.0 GHz and its memory at DDR3-2400 with timings of 9-11-9-28. On the right is the 2600K (on an ASRock board because the Intel board didn’t like faster memory settings) at 4.3 GHz and its memory at DDR3-2133 and 9-11-9-27.

Maxxmem - 870 @ 4.0 GHz / DDR3-2400

Maxxmem - 2600K @ 4.3 GHz / DDR3-2133

Not only does the Sandy Bridge chip overtake the Lynnfield when the latter has a higher memory overclock (though it didn’t quite catch the latency), you might want to jump back to the stock 2600K screenshot. The latency is a little slower, but the stock 2600K has higher memory bandwidth, with much lower memory and CPU clocks. Intel really outdid themselves this time.

Pushing the Envelope

While there isn’t a sub-zero component to this review (though one is planned for a future motherboard review), I wanted to push this Intel cooler for all it’s worth. We already have a stellar 24/7 stable overclock at 4.3 GHz, but benchers are never satisfied for long. A clock speed of 5 GHz was the goal, and what do you know? It made it without much fuss!

CPUz Valid at 5.0 GHz

While toying around, with questions surrounding the bclk limitations I checked to see the maximum that would boot, which turned out to be 106 MHz in BIOS (105.76 in Windows). If you’re able to make it to 106 bclk at the maximum multiplier of 57, that’s a 6042 MHz absolute maximum overclock. Not too many will make it quite that far though.

Maximum Bclk @ 106 MHz

Back to the matter at hand though, let’s see how 5 GHz looks in few benchmarks.

Pifast @ 5 Ghz

First up, PiFast, which came in at a very respectable 14.73 seconds. As of 12/30/10, that was the 220th fastest PiFast time in the world on HWBot, which should net about 8.2 global points.

SuperPi 1M @ 5 Ghz

SuperPi 32M @ 5 Ghz

Wow this thing is fast: 5.0 GHz, on air and coming in at 7.426 sec and 7 min 02.605 sec for 1 M and 32 M is just insane. That’s 282nd in the world for 5.5 global points and 279th in the world for 5.4 points, respectively. While it’s not setting records, those results are in there amongst dry ice, liquid nitrogen and cascade scores. This is on air in an un-tweaked install of Windows 7 x64 – and only at 5.0 GHz!

WPrime 32M @ 5 Ghz

This one I was especially happy to do – break the five second barrier. While not as impressive as far as ranking on HWBot (especially against Intel hex-cores), for an air cooled CPU to compete at that level is impressive in and of itself.

Final Thoughts & Conclusion

Sandy Bridge is an impressive microarchitecture to say the least. It beats the platform it’s replacing in every benchmark, humbling the Intel i7 870. Even better, clock-for-clock it beat an X58 setup in every benchmark!
Extreme benchmarkers might want to take a pass (though a lot won’t – few of them can resist playing with a new platform). According to this post at Xtreme Systems, which has been verified by overclockers I know and trust, it seems taking these sub-zero doesn’t necessarily improve results.

Q: How does it do Under Liquid Nitrogen?
A: As the Core frequency scaling capability is inversely proportional with respect to the change of temperature when the CPU temperature goes down too low, the overclock capability of the CPU actually reduces dramatically when it reaches below zero degrees. For example, a CPU may do 5.0GHz @ 0C, but only 4.9GHz @ -40C. The ideal temperature for overclocking the Sandy Bridge processor under the P67 platform is around 15~20 degrees.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to find out for myself, but it does temper expectations. It’s also somewhat frustrating that overclockers are limited to only two processors out of an entire lineup. No K designation means no overclocking with those chips, period. There’s no getting around it. However, when looking at the full lineup, only the i3′s don’t come with an unlocked chip. Both i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge chips have unlocked options. Two out of six chips isn’t too bad. (Two out of eight if you count i3.) Plus the premium you pay for the unlocked privilege isn’t very steep to begin with; a welcome change when talking about Intel.
Anyone that doesn’t focus solely on extreme clocks and is in need of an upgrade would be well served to give the Sandy Bridge platform a good hard look. Efficiency per clock is out of this world. Add to that the potential for 24/7 overclocks easily in excess of 4 GHz and you have a winning combination on your hands. Everything except sub-zero performance is absolutely stellar. Sandy bridge beats out its P55 predecessor handily. It also beats a quad-core X58 setup clock for clock (Intel hex-cores will still have an advantage in multi-threaded programs and benchmarks) and anything AMD has to offer to date (bulldozer, bulldozer; wherefore art thou bulldozer?).
Considering the reasonable price of $317 for the top-of-the-line i7 2600K, this one is hard to beat. AMD’s hex-cores come in about $50 cheaper, but if you have the extra cash to spare, the advantages Sandy Bridge offer in productivity and benchmarking are tough to pass up. Without a doubt, Sandy Bridge (K-series only!) is definitely Overclockers Approved.

what should i do today?

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:19:00 +0000

what is love?

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:14:00 +0000

What is love? It is one of the most difficult questions for the mankind. Centuries have passed by, relationships have bloomed and so has love. But no one can give the proper definition of love. To some Love is friendship set on fire for others Maybe love is like luck. You have to go all the way to find it. No matter how you define it or feel it, love is the eternal truth in the history of mankind.

Love is patient, love is kind. It has no envy, nor it boasts itself and it is never proud. It rejoices over the evil and is the truth seeker. Love protects; preserves and hopes for the positive aspect of life. Always stand steadfast in love, not fall into it. It is like the dream of your matter of affection coming true. heart: what is loveLove can occur between two or more individuals. It bonds them and connects them in a unified link of trust, intimacy and interdependence. It enhances the relationship and comforts the soul. Love should be experienced and not just felt. The depth of love can not be measured. Look at the relationship between a mother and a child. The mother loves the child unconditionally and it can not be measured at all. A different dimension can be attained between any relationships with the magic of love. Love can be created. You just need to focus on the goodness of the other person. If this can be done easily, then you can also love easily. And remember we all have some positive aspect in us, no matter how bad our deeds maybe. And as God said �Love all�

Depending on context, love can be of different varieties. Romantic love is a deep, intense and unending. It shared on a very intimate and interpersonal and sexual relationship. The term Platonic love, familial love and religious love are also matter of great affection. It is more of desire, preference and feelings. The meaning of love will change with each different relationship and depends more on its concept of depth, versatility, and complexity. But at times the very existence of love is questioned. Some say it is false and meaningless. It says that it never exist, because there has been many instances of hatred and brutality in relationships. The history of our world has witnessed many such events. There has been hatred between brothers, parents and children, sibling rivalry and spouses have failed each other. Friends have betrayed each other; the son has killed his parents for the throne, the count is endless. Even the modern generation is also facing with such dilemmas everyday. But �love� is not responsible for that. It is us, the people, who have forgotten the meaning of love and have undertaken such gruesome apathy.

In the past the study of philosophy and religion has done many speculations on the phenomenon of love. But love has always ruled, in music, poetry, paintings, sculptor and literature. Psychology has also done lot of dissection to the essence of love, just like what biology, anthropology and neuroscience has also done to it.

Psychology portrays love as a cognitive phenomenon with a social cause. It is said to have three components in the book of psychology: Intimacy, Commitment, and Passion. Also, in an ancient proverb love is defined as a high form of tolerance. And this view has been accepted and advocated by both philosophers and scholars. Love also includes compatibility. But it is more of journey to the unknown when the concept of compatibility comes into picture. Maybe the person whom we see in front of us, may be least compatible than the person who is miles away. We might talk to each other and portray that we love each other, but practically we do not end up into any relationship. Also in compatibility, the key is to think about the long term successful relationship, not a short journey. We need to understand each other and must always remember that no body is perfect.

Be together, share your joy and sorrow, understand each other, provide space to each other, but always be there for each others need. And surely love will blossom to strengthen your relationship with your matter of affection.

a secret ingredient makes hamburgers taste like steakburgers

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:57:00 +0000

malaysia broadband provider do not care about their own customer

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:40:00 +0000

The state of internet provision in Malaysia is an ongoing hot topic. Broadband penetration rate is low,bandwidth is slow and cost per megabyte speed is higher than other countries in the region. The adoption of the internet in Malaysia however is a crucial element in its next phase of economic growth. The government is banking on the High Speed Broadband project, which is the flagship of the National Broadband Initiative, to help Malaysia catch up with advanced countries such as Japan, Korea and Singapore, which have offered high speed broadband at relatively low prices for the past several years.

Internet provision in Malaysia is increasingly competitive as the number of service providers increases. In the last 12 months, prices have dropped significantly, which is great for customers. However, one issue upon which there is a deadly silence amidst all the bellowing of lower prices by internet service providers is the issue of customer satisfaction.

None of the internet providers is touting customer satisfaction as their strongpoint. However, the poor quality of internet provision in Malaysia is the topic of choice for customers. Forums, webpage, blogs, clever youtube ads (you will have to patient while it downloads) on the topic can be found if you search the internet. Ask anyone in Malaysia today and you will be hard pressed to find someone having anything good to say about any of the internet providers.

One person complemented a provider as being “best among the worse”!

I must declare an interest here in that I am an unhappy customer. I was a subscriber of mobile broadband for over a year. When it works, it’s great. But you’ve got to get your downloads done by 10 a.m. because it slows to a crawl after! I’ve got the customer service line on speed dial on my phone. I call and diagnose the problem for them because disconnection happens on a regular basis and it is a technical fault on their side. During the year as a subscriber, I’ve had many surprises that I was never told about when I signed up.

For example, no one told me of monthly capping and bandwidth throttling. And last week, when I decided to cancel my subscription, I was told I couldn’t cancel over the phone but had to go to a customer service centre and to bring along the USB modem. When I finally got to the customer service centre, they asked me if I brought the box and a cable which came with the USB modem. I said, I was not asked to do so. He replied that he would have to charge me RM60! I protested but he said “It’s in the fine print”. Oh yes, Malaysian internet users are also familiar with other fine print such as “Best effort” and “Expected Speed”. We’re tired of being ripped off.

So do providers take customer engagement and complaints seriously? Where do consumers sit as part of their CSR strategy? A review of disclosure by the top three internet providers in Malaysia finds that all three tout community investment, human capital and nation building as core to their CSR initiatives.

Customers however do not seem to be high on their agenda judging by the lack of disclosure in this area.

The country’s largest internet provider understands that customers are one of its most important stakeholders. On its website, under CSR marketplace initiatives, the company states it has a special focus group, customer advisory panel, customer satisfaction survey, and online feedback. Its annual report states that the company conducts a face to face survey every quarter, based on which it calculates its customer satisfaction index, which is one of the Group’s major Key Performance Indicator. It is even “committed to spending at least 5% of revenue per annum for improvement in quality of customer experience”.

These are all great initiatives and I applaud them. However, nowhere in their Annual Report or website do they disclose what the current level of customer satisfaction is, how has this varied over the years, what their KPIs are, and areas of complaints and initiatives that will lead to “service excellence and operational efficiencies to continually enrich their lifestyles and experiences”.

The other two providers are relatively new internet providers with a strong mobile phone customer base. One emphasises their “Excellent Customer Experience” and highlights the number of customers switching over soon after the introduction of the mobile portability number as a sign of the markets confidence in its customer service. The other company recently listed on the stock exchange. It has a very strong community investment initiative, but does not include customer satisfaction as part of its stated corporate responsibility initiatives.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) database provides a benchmark of CSR disclosure by telecommunication companies. Companies such as British Telecom and Telecom Italia have customer satisfaction and experience at the core of their CSR strategy. They disclose their targets and performance in relation to customer service, access to service, and service quality in clear and transparent manner. It informs investors and customers areas where there are issues and targets for improvement. The GRI is developing a telecommunication sector supplement which is currently at a pilot stage.

Why should Malaysia’s internet providers care about what customers think? It’s simple. Prices of broadband will reach a saturation point where internet providers will be charging approximately the same price. To differentiate from others in a crowded market, internet providers will have to focus on improving and disclose quality of service. On this front, internet providers are clearly behind as consumers are already clamouring for this. Internet providers who can back up the quality of their service with facts and data to show how they are improving users experience will be prepared to battle on this front and gain larger market share.

Nintendo DSi XL review

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:23:00 +0000

Nintendo DSi XL review

Since Nintendo first asserted sole domination over the handheld gaming market with the release of the paperback-sized Game Boy in 1989, the company has striven time and again to make its pocket systems smaller, meeting fantastic financial success along the way. Nintendo did it with the Game Boy Pocket, the Advance SP, the Micro, the DS Lite and again ever so slightly with the DSi -- the last even at the expense of backwards compatibility and battery life. Now, for the first time in the company's history, it's made an existing platform bigger, with questionable reasons as to why. Does the Nintendo DSi XL squash its predecessors flat? Or is Nintendo compensating for something? Find out inside.

Nintendo DSI XL / LL unboxing and hands-on

Form

There's a reason Nintendo calls it the DSi XL, and it doesn't have anything to do with your sweater size. At 6.3-inches long and 3.6-inches wide, it's both taller and wider (closed and held upright) than that 1989 Game Boy, and at two-thirds of a pound it's heftier than either the original DS or PSP. Less than an inch thin, the handheld is still slender enough to slip into your pocket -- assuming you wear cargo pants -- but the thought is daunting enough we don't expect most to even try.

Of course, Nintendo isn't letting that heft go to waste -- every ounce contributes to the DSi XL's phenomenal design. Though practically every port, light and button from the original DSi is duplicated here in its entirety (down to the power jack -- you can use the DSi charger), Nintendo has crammed in a pair of crisp, clear 4.2-inch LCD screens with nearly double the original real estate, and further rounded the corner grips so they no longer dig into our palms during extended play. It's the comfiest DS we've held, and the most durable -- the unit barely flexes even when twisted, and closed we felt completely comfortable sitting on the thing. (Stress testing, anyone?) The only missteps are the two oh-so-dull colors available (which, knowing Nintendo, will soon see remedy), and the glossy plastic fingerprint magnet Nintendo inexplicably affixed to the top of the unit -- which developed hundreds of smudges and miniature scratches well before review time. Please don't fix what ain't broke, Nintendo; you got it right with the matte finish DSi.

Function

Sadly, where it really counts -- actually playing games -- the XL has scarcely seen improvement. The software's exactly the same, warts and all; we still had to wade through menus to set up WPA2 security, even as cartridge-based games forced us back to easily-cracked WEP for their WiFi. The larger screens are a nice touch and do, as Nintendo claims, support wider viewing angles and make text easier on the eyes, but since they are the exact same 256 x 192 resolution, what Nintendo's done is effectively up the size of each pixel. In games that already looked pixelated (especially 3D titles like Mario Kart) the additional aliasing drove us to distraction, and even games with little motion were noticeably made up of tiny squares on occasion. Buttons were similarly a mixed bag; while we liked the additional give on the shoulder triggers, the XL's clicky D-pad and face buttons are even slightly tighter than that of a new DSi, and gave us stiff thumbs after only a single 3-lap race in Mario Kart. The DSi XL is still not a system you'll be playing in a sunny park, also -- a hair brighter than its predecessors, perhaps, but unplayable is unplayable, and as you'll see in our gallery, the XL's a good bit dimmer than an iPhone. Indoors, though, expect to play quite a while; with a 3.7v, 1050mAh lithium-ion battery (compared to the 840mAh in the DSi) we got a solid 5.5 hours of battery on max brightness -- ahead of Nintendo's estimate of 5 -- which means you can reliably eke out double that duration with the backlight turned up halfway.

The one undeniable improvement in the DSi XL experience is audio quality. We're not sure what Nintendo's done to the unit's speakers other than provide larger grills, but where previous DS units provided only a sizable sound bubble, the XL's two speakers can fill an entire living room with clean audio on max volume. Believe it or not, it's the first Nintendo portable where we'd recommend against using headphones.

Wrap-up

The Nintendo DSi XL is a solid handheld; without a doubt, one of the most solid Nintendo's ever offered. But at $190, we're not sure exactly who the system is for. If you've already got a DSi (or even a Lite) it's not a worthwhile upgrade; for every point in its favor, there's a trade-off. We'd recommend it as a fantastic first DS, if the stereoscopic 3DS wasn't just around the corner. For those looking for the latest and greatest, it's an interesting choice, but though portable, it's far too big a bulge in the pants pocket to show off without embarrassment. In the end, the only ones we can think of are those who Nintendo marketing originally identified; old folks and those with eyestrain who simply can't do without the larger screens. Them -- and the younger version of ourselves.

When we were 15, we crammed our shiny new Game Boy Advance into our overloaded school backpack -- but one day we dropped it, only to hear a sickening crunch. If we could travel back in time and stick a sturdy DSi XL in there instead, we never would have had to cry over that cracked, inky black LCD screen.

samsung Nexus S review

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:21:00 +0000

Nexus S review

It can be difficult to review a phone like Google's Nexus S in a world already populated by so many outstanding Android devices. Not only does the manufacturer of this phone make a series of handsets that are all essentially the same (the Galaxy S line), but countless other OEMs are cranking away on hardware for the platform. Of course, the Nexus S is a decidedly different phone altogether. Picking up where the company's Nexus One left off, the S continues Google's legacy of creating standalone, "pure Android" phone experiences, seemingly aimed less at the mainstream and more towards developers. Unlike the failed experiment of the Nexus One, Google appears to be taking a more realistic approach to the S; the phone will be sold through Best Buy (and Carphone Warehouse across the pond), which suggests that the company has bigger plans for this device.

And what a device it is -- the Nexus S boasts a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4-inch, 800 x 480 curved Super AMOLED display (dubbed the Contour Display), 16GB of storage, a 5 megapixel rear and VGA front-facing camera, and near field communication capabilities. But hardware is only half the story here -- the big news is that the Nexus S showcases the next major evolution of the Android OS, namely, Gingerbread (or version 2.3). The update comes with a slew of new features alongside some UI improvements that show Google isn't slowing down when it comes to pushing its mobile operating system forward. So is the Nexus S a real standout in the Android world, or is it more of the "me too" tech we've seen lately? Read on after the break for the full Engadget review to find out!

Nexus S review

Hardware

As you can tell by the photos in the gallery, the Nexus S isn't a plain-Jane slab. Sure, it's got similar design leanings as the other devices in the Galaxy S line, but it's also slightly... freaky. For starters, the shape of the ultra-gloss, stipple-graphic black plastic housing curves and pops in all kinds of unusual ways, with a kind of reverse "chin" sprouting out of the lower half, and a very slight curvature to the front of the phone. You've probably heard the fuss over this, but yes, the screen and front glass of the device have a minor, concave curve which sits nicely when nuzzled against your face. It's not a dramatic difference, but it gives the phone a fairly unique look. In general, however, the design doesn't feel wildly different from other Galaxy S phones -- particularly when it comes to materials. Samsung seems focused on using light (and somewhat cheap feeling) plastic for its housings, though they deviated on the Captivate, which we felt was an improvement.

The front of the device is obviously all screen, save for the earpiece. You can see the proximity and light sensors peeking out from behind the glass, as well as that VGA camera. On the left side of the phone you've got a volume rocker, on the right is the power / sleep button, and along the bottom is the Micro USB and headphone jack. The latter has been the cause of some concern amongst potential buyers, but we actually like having the headphone jack access down below. Overall, the design of the phone is sleek and frankly odd enough to make it stand out amongst contemporaries, but we wish that Samsung had utilized more inspiring materials on this model.

Internals

As we mentioned, the Nexus S packs in a formidable amount of tech into its small frame (2.48 inches by 4.87 inches, and 0.42 inches thick, in case you were wondering). Any device loaded up with a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU is sure to get our attention, and the performance we've been seeing with the S is nothing short of awesome. On a Neocore benchmark, we scored a terrific 55.6fps, and general use of the OS is lightning fast with nary a hiccup in sight. We also haven't run into any memory issues, and though having 16GB of storage onboard is nice, we would have liked to see a microSD option here as well. Still, the method which Gingerbread utilizes the installed flash memory is excellent, and for those of you who can live with a finite amount of space, this won't be an issue.

Besides the storage and CPU, the device sports a Super AMOLED display at 800 x 480 (235 ppi) which looks gorgeous (if slightly yellowish) to our eyes. The device also has its fair share of wireless radios, including tri-band HSPA (900, 2100, and 1700MHz), and quad-band GSM / EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz), WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, A-GPS, and that NFC chip you've been hearing all about. There's also a gyroscope, accelerometer, and digital compass inside. We were a little disappointed to discover that Samsung didn't include a notification light on the device -- we like the reassuring blip telling us we've got an email waiting.

As far as that NFC chip is concerned (pictured above), right now there's not a lot to test it with, though Google is hoping that devs will find all kinds of uses for it. Right now it's read only, so you can't write to the device from a target -- that's a security measure right now. When we spoke to reps, they told us that there were three methods of using NFC: read, write, and exchange. Exchange sounds interesting, because it would (in theory) allow you to simply swipe your phone against or near another NFC device and swap contacts (or other info).

We did see some strange issues with the display -- while it does look handsome in most settings, we noticed some strange inconsistencies in the panel against certain colors or tones. It was particularly pronounced on solid gray backgrounds (as you can see above). We're not sure the cause of the problem (or if it was simply an issue with the device we had), but it was somewhat troubling. One other thing of note -- we noticed a few missed or latent presses on the touchscreen which occasionally led to stuttery behavior or an opened item that we didn't mean to tap. It's hard to say if this was a software or hardware issue (and we know that sometimes Android devices can be particularly finicky when syncing). It wasn't a deal-breaker by any means, but we saw the issue rear its head a handful of times, and felt it was worth mentioning.

Speakerphone / earpiece / call quality / network

The sound quality on the Nexus S is right up there with some of the best phones we've tested. Speakerphone calls and music came through loud and clear over the external speaker, and we were downright wowed with how loud and clear the earpiece sounded. Even when we were having a conversation in a crowded room, the Nexus S pumped out audio that was crystalline to our ears. Coupled with excellent service on T-Mobile's network, we were not only able to make calls where our iPhone failed, but the clarity and volume of those calls were superb.

Connections on T-Mobile's network were excellent in most places, allowing us to make calls where AT&T's network couldn't, though we did see EDGE data crop up on the Nexus S more than our AT&T devices -- and there's no HSPA+ to be found here (unlike T-Mobile's other flagship Android phones), just in case you were wondering. Still, speed certainly wasn't a major issue, and network throughput was decently strong (though not mind-blowing) when we were on T-Mobile's 3G. We averaged about 1.5 Mbps down and up on T-Mobile with the Nexus S, and a slightly higher 2 Mbps down and 1.5 up on AT&T devices in the wilds of Brooklyn.

Camera

We're impressed by the shooter on the Nexus S, but there is something in the quality of its photos that still feel very phone-like to us. In particular, we felt that images looked washed out and grainy even in well lit situations. It could be a fault of the auto white balance or ISO settings, but we certainly were able to produce better results with other phones in this class.

On the bright side, the Nexus S camera seems to excel at low-light images, pulling impressive detail in situations where we expected much less. In fact, we can't say that we've seen a smartphone recently with better low light performance. We're not sure what this is attributable to, but we're certainly happy about it.

Unfortunately for video, the Nexus S is still a slouch -- we're guessing this doesn't have to be the case, but there's no true HD option here. The highest quality video you can shoot is 720 x 480. Kind of a bummer.

As far as the front-facing camera goes, it's pretty standard VGA fare, which mean low-res, grainy, and artifacted. Maybe we're spoiled by all these high resolution shooters, but no matter how you slice it, 640 x 480 is tough to take. We really wish Google would include a native video chat feature with its phones -- we're all for third-party apps, but a dedicated, codified piece of software from the mothership would go a long way to making the presence of this camera more useful. Also, remember how you guys make Google Talk with video chat? It's pretty cool. Obviously this is coming in Honeycomb (Andy Rubin kind of let it slip during his Dive Into Mobile chat), but it would be great to have right now.

Nexus S camera shots

Battery life

The Nexus S' 1500mAh battery showed impressive signs of life in our short period of testing. In heavy use (though not tons of calling), we sustained about 20 hours of life before the phone was crying for its charger. We suspect that amount would be slightly lower if we'd spent a bit more time on calls, but it's still a solid showing considering the amount of downloading apps, screen testing, and general messing around we did with the device.

You'll certainly be able to make it through a day with the Nexus S, but if you're a heavy talker or plan on doing a lot of gaming, you may want to consider a second battery.

Software

The big story with the Nexus S isn't really about the hardware. While there are some notable upgrades and changes on the front, what the phone really represents is a gateway to the next stage of Android, version 2.3 -- otherwise known as Gingerbread. For those expecting a sea change in the OS, we'll tell you up front that you'll be disappointed. When we say evolution, we mean it. This is kind of the Snow Leopard of Android updates -- a lot of motion behind the scenes, but not a load of cosmetic and navigational changes. There isn't a ton here that's dramatically different than Froyo, but there are some notable additions that are worth taking a deeper look at.

User interface

Coming from Froyo, you won't see massive changes to the look and feel of Gingerbread, but there are nice tweaks and some cleanup that shows Google is moving in the right direction. For starters, the status bar icons, window shade, dialer, and some applications (and their icons) have gotten a fresh coat of paint. By the looks of things, Google is moving away from the colorful, almost cartoonish look of previous OSs, and dipping into a more somber a sophisticated palette, mostly featuring shaded grays and blacks with green highlights. The company has made some thoughtful choices in terms of user experience as well -- if you're synced with a Google account, your status bar icons go from white to green, and instead of obscuring menus on the camera app, there's now a row of contextual items at your disposal while shooting.

Other little updates include a new orange burst of color which happens when you reach the end of a long list, and added transparency in menus, giving the OS a glassy feel. Additionally, the battery use and task manager have new views to graphically depict usage on the phone. Speaking of task managers, Google has now seen fit to add a proper menu option to the task manager right from the home screen menu. We're guessing the popularity of third-party killers was enough to convince the company that confronting the issue head on wasn't such a bad thing after all. It's a welcome addition here, and we found ourselves reaching for it fairly often (not due to performance issues... just because we're fastidious when it comes to application management).

Google has also updated some of its live wallpapers (which look nice, but we're not that fond of). We will say that this time around, whether it's the new OS or that Hummingbird CPU, we didn't see the kind of performance issues when running the wallpapers that we saw on the Nexus One. Still, we prefer to use the phone with static backdrops.

The biggest change you'll notice, however, comes in the form of the new keyboard. Not only has the company cleaned up and refined the look of the onscreen QWERTY, but it's added new functionality for word suggestions, copy, paste, and selection. Additionally, the keyboard finally exhibits more expected multitouch behavior, thanks in part to new threading that the company has added. Those changes allow you to do things like tap the punctuation key and then slide your finger to the character you want. We'd be gushing about what a great addition that is, except Google forgot one important thing -- when you lift your finger off of your selected character, the keyboard should then flip back to the ABCs. It does not. Instead, you're left stranded in the punctuation menu, meaning you've got to tap the toggle again to get back to your QWERTY. What kind of sense does that make? The whole point of being able to slide your finger to another character is to save clicks and time -- but having to click back out defeats the purpose. The intention is good, but the way Apple has it working on the iPhone is a much better, smoother method. Another gripe we have about the keyboard is that Google seems to have shrunk the height of the keys, making the keyboard on the Nexus S's 4-inch display feel cramped. We're not sure of this, but it definitely seems like the company has reduced the keys in size.

On a slightly brighter note, there are big improvements in word suggestion and selection, including new markers which you can use to grab selections of text. Well, let's be clear -- Google still has major issues with text selection and editing on Android devices. The first striking problem is that there is not a consistent method of selecting text on the device. None. At all. In the browser, you long press on text to bring up your anchors, then drag and tap the center of your selection -- boom, copied text. In text editing fields, however, in order to select a word you must long press on the word, wait for a contextual menu to pop up, and then select "select word" -- a completely counterintuitive process. In the message app you can long press to select only the entire message, and in Google Reader? You can't select any text at all. Even worse, Gmail has a different method for selecting text from an email you're reading, and it's far more obnoxious than any of the others. There, selecting text goes from being mildly annoying to downright silly. Want to grab some text out of an email? Here's your process: hit the menu key, hit "more," hit "select text," and then finally drag your anchors out. Funnily enough, a little cursor appears when you start selecting -- a holdover from Linux? To have this many options and discrepancies over something as simple as copy and paste should be embarrassing to Google. What it mostly is, however, is a pain to the end user.

And that's kind of the crux of our problem with Android in its current state. We don't question the power of the OS, but the fit, finish, and ease of use simply is still not there. There is something disconcerting about an operating system that changes its rules from app to app -- for a mobile interface to work well, it has to be approached holistically and organically. There is something cohesive in OSs like webOS and iOS -- a language that you can easily learn to speak and feel confident about using to get what you want -- that just seems to be missing here.

New apps

There aren't a ton of new pieces inside 2.3, but there are a few notable new additions to the app lineup. The first one is Tags, which is an NFC app which records all of the links you've gathered using the new tech in one easy to locate bag. You can star and delete these links much like Google Reader or Gmail. The second app which is notable is Downloads. This collects anything you've pulled down from the browser in one easy to reach spot. It certainly makes identifying where specific apps or files came from much easier, though it doesn't offer a ton of day-to-day utility.

Under the hood

Besides all the front-end stuff you can see, there's a lot that's less obvious happening in Gingerbread. Firstly, Google has added integrated support for VoIP / SIP calling, which means you can plug in your favorite service and access it through the native menus in the OS. This won't appeal to everyone, but there's definitely a certain segment of users that will be stoked to see this feature.

What really gets our juices flowing, however, is the fact that Google seems to be going full tilt on making Android a gaming platform. The company has enriched the OS with a handful of new APIs and dev tools which improve native code support and set the stage for faster, better looking games (and other graphics-heavy applications as well). It will be exciting to finally see developers taking advantage of the formidable hardware inside a lot of these devices. We don't know if the Nexus S is already utilizing some of these new tools, but as we said before, the OS seems blazingly fast and silky smooth when it comes to animations and transitions.

Wrap-up

It seems like every couple of weeks we're saying something along the lines of "x is the best Android smartphone on the market right now." We'd like to tell you differently when it comes to the Nexus S, but the truth is, it really is the best Android device available right now. Sure, we'd prefer it was on Verizon, and yes, there are some issues with the phone and OS that detract from the good bits... but there are also a lot of good bits. We'd been longing for a Galaxy S device that wasn't burdened by Samsung's sometimes-clunky TouchWiz, and in joining forces with Google, the company has more than delivered.

There's no shortage of great phones available right now, and there's no question that 2011 will usher in a flood of devices that make 2010's offerings seem forgettable. Like we said earlier, this isn't a perfect device -- and in fact a lot of what's exciting about this phone is what's happening behind the scenes. It's as if the stage is set for the arrival of Honeycomb along with a slew of features. Still, when it comes to state of the art for Android right now, the buck stops here.

iPhone 4 review

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:15:00 +0000

iPhone 4 review

The iPhone 4 is no small thing to review. As most readers of Engadget are well aware, in the gadget world a new piece of Apple hardware is a major event, preceded by rumors, speculation, an over-the-top announcement, and finally days, weeks, or months of anticipation from an ever-widening fan base. The iPhone 4 is certainly no exception -- in fact, it may be Apple's most successful launch yet, despite some bumps on the road. We've already seen Apple and AT&T's servers overloaded on the first day of pre-orders, the ship date for the next set of phones pushed back due to high demand, and die-hard fans in line outside of Apple locations a week before the phone is actually available. It's a lot to live up to, and the iPhone 4 is doing its best -- with features like a super-fast A4 CPU, a new front-facing camera and five megapixel shooter on the back, a completely new industrial design, and that outrageous Retina Display, no one would argue that Apple has been asleep at the wheel. So the question turns to whether or not the iPhone 4 can live up to the intense hype. Can it deliver on the promises Steve Jobs made at WWDC, and can it cement Apple's position in the marketplace in the face of mounting competition from the likes of Google and Microsoft? We have the answers to those questions -- and many more -- in our full review, so read on to find out!

iPhone 4 review hands-on

Hardware

Perhaps the most notable change with the new iPhone is the drastic industrial design overhaul -- Apple seems to have completely rethought its strategy on how the phone should look and feel, and the results are nothing if not striking.

Industrial design

In his WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs likened the design of the iPhone 4 to that of a "beautiful, old Leica camera," and as we've said before, he wasn't off the mark. Instead of hewing to the curved, plasticky, silver-bezeled look of the iPhone 3G and 3GS, the company has turned the casing and face of the device into something decidedly more detailed and sophisticated. From the design aesthetic through to the actual build process, Jony Ive and his team have reset what we expect in an iPhone, coming up with something that clearly harkens back to the retro-future Braun designs of Dieter Rams. The iPhone 4 is made up of three basic parts: two pieces of smooth, strengthened glass, and a stainless steel band which wraps around the sides, top, and bottom of the phone. The effect is clean but not simple, and Apple has added little details, like altered volume buttons (what used to be a rocker is now separated into circular clickers labeled + and -), and notches in that metal band which serve to improve radio connections (more on that in a minute). The phone is noticeably thinner than the 3GS at .37 inches compared to .48 inches, but it weighs the same 4.8 ounces, making the whole package seem tighter and denser. It feels great in your hand, with good heft, although it might take a little time to get used to the lack of a rounded back if you're coming from the 3G or 3GS.

We can't overstate how high-end the design of the iPhone 4 is. The 3GS now feels cheap and chubby by comparison, and even a phone like the HTC Droid Incredible -- which just came out -- seems last-generation.

As we said, there are three main pieces of the phone, which together create an effect not wildly dissimilar to that of an ice cream sandwich. You know, but far pricier... and not edible. The face of the device is made up of extremely strong glass which Jony Ive says is "comparable in strength to sapphire crystal, but about 30 times harder than plastic." A small slit for the earpiece and the front-facing camera are embedded in the glass above the display, with the familiar home button towards the bottom -- a button we should note feels much clickier than on our 3GS. On the left side of the phone you've got the new volume buttons, a redesigned mute switch, and a small notch towards the base of the unit. On the right side is the Micro SIM slot and another notch in the band at the bottom, and up top there's the power / sleep button, headphone jack, another notch, and new noise-canceling microphone. Along the bottom is a speaker, microphone, and the 30-pin dock connector port. The backside of the phone is made from the same kind of ultra-strong glass as the front, interrupted only by the new five megapixel camera, its LED flash companion and, of course, the Apple logo.

Overall, the iPhone 4 outclasses pretty much every smartphone on the market in terms of industrial design. It just comes off like a far more expensive device, like a Mobiado or Vertu -- but better designed. And it's not just the way the phone looks; the materials feel good -- premium -- in your hands. The first few days we had our test unit, we were definitely freaked out about dropping or losing the phone, and some of that had to do with the fact that it's just a really beautiful device to use and hold.

Internals

It's not just the face of the phone that's undergone a transformation -- the iPhone 4 is all new inside as well. For starters, Apple has moved on from the Samsung-built ARM Cortex-A8-based CPU used in the 3GS to its custom A4 chip used in the iPad, which funnily enough... is an ARM Cortex-A8-based CPU. While the company hasn't yet said what the clock speed of the processor is, we're guessing it's something below the 1GHz touted for its tablet cousin. The phone is definitely snappier than the 3GS, so we're not about to volley complaints just yet -- in particular, graphics seemed to render faster, and overall responsiveness was slightly higher, though admittedly, it wasn't blowing the doors off the joint. It's certainly faster, but the 3GS wasn't hurting on speed to our eyes, so it's not as wildly noticeable a leap as the 3G to the 3GS.

As usual, Apple isn't fessing up about the RAM situation, though we have on very good authority that the iPhone 4 has 512MB onboard, a big step up from the 256MB in the previous model and the iPad. We would have liked to see it futureproofed with something like 1GB, but then again, Apple's got to sell a new phone in a year. As far as internal storage goes, you can buy the new iPhone in either 16GB ($199 on contract) or 32GB ($299 on contract) capacity -- fine for now, but since the company has just introduced 30FPS 720p video recording, you could find yourself outgrowing that number pretty quickly. It's a little odd, in fact, that the company didn't double down here and bump the capacity to 64GB, as it's recently done with the iPod touch. In terms of wireless, the iPhone 4 is packed with an 802.11n WiFi radio, as well as a quad-band HSUPA chip and Bluetooth 2.1.

The redesigned housing allows for a much larger lithium-ion battery on the inside, providing improved numbers for Apple's life ratings (more on that in a moment), though it's still not easily replaceable. Additionally, the new phone has those two new cameras (VGA up front, five megapixels with LED flash around back), a new second microphone used to combat background noise while on calls (similar to the Nexus One), a gyroscope in addition to the standard accelerometer, a light sensor, and a proximity sensor. As with the 3GS, an AGPS chip and compass are bundled somewhere in that tiny frame as well.

Of course, the big internal story is what has become external: namely, the UMTS, GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth antennas. Apple has made the stainless band around the phone essentially a couple of big antennae, and they seem to be doing a pretty good job at hanging onto radio signals. The big question is obviously whether or not this fixes or helps with the constant dropped calls iPhone users on AT&T's network have gotten used to. Well in our testing, we had far, far fewer dropped calls than we experienced on our 3GS. Let's just say that again: yes, the iPhone 4 does seem to alleviate the dropped call issue. It wasn't perfect, and we had some connection issues in downtown New York City in particular, though it's tough to say if it was the fault of our phone, the cluster of buildings we were near, or the person we were speaking to, who was on a 3GS in the same location.

Display

By now you should know that iPhone 4 has an all-new display, as well. Apple is calling the LED backlit, 960 x 640 IPS screen the "Retina Display" due to its high resolution and pixel density. At the same 3.5-inches as the older screens, the new display manages an insane 326ppi pixel density along with an 800:1 contrast ratio. Steve made a huge point about the science behind this technology during his keynote, claiming that the resolution of the screen essentially tops what is perceivable by the human eye. There have been some debates as to whether or not this argument holds water, but we can tell you this: to our eyes, there has never been a more detailed, clear, or viewable screen on any mobile device.

iPhone 3GS on the left, iPhone 4 on the right

Not only are the colors and blacks deep and rich, but you simply cannot see pixels on the screen. Okay, if you take some macro camera shots or get right up in there you can make them out, but in general use, the screen is free of jaggies of any type, unless you're looking at a last-gen app that hasn't had its artwork updated. Text rendering is incredibly clear and clean -- webpages that would be line after line of pixelated content when zoomed out on a 3GS (say, Engadget or the New York Times) are completely readable on the iPhone 4, though the text is beyond microscopic. It's impressive, and doubly impressive when you look at higher-res graphics or watch 720p video on the phone -- the detail in moving images is particularly striking. What's nice is that most apps with text in them will benefit from this tech whether or not they've been updated, as long as they're using Apple's font rendering. Text in the Engadget app, for instance, looks cleaner, clearer, and much easier to read on the new iPhone.

Nexus One up top, iPhone 4 below

Because Apple is using IPS and LED technology for its screen, the iPhone 4 is mercifully visible in full sunlight, and performance in low light and at extreme viewing angles are favorable. Overall, you simply won't find a better display on a phone, and that's not just lip service.

Cameras

The cameras on the new iPhone are going to be a topic of much debate, since this has been an area where Apple has been slow to innovate. The 3GS sported a measly three megapixel shooter with few bells and whistles (and no flash), and while it was fine for quick snaps, it wasn't an artist's tool by any means. The company finally seems to be listening to a public that's interested in leaving the point-and-shoot at home in favor of a phone with a capable camera, by adding a five megapixel shooter to the backside of the iPhone 4 and a VGA camera up front.

Let's first take a look at the higher-res main camera. At his WWDC keynote, Jobs said that getting great looking images wasn't just about upping the camera's megapixels, but had more to do with grabbing more photons. Increase the photon count, let more light in, and your images will look better, the thought goes. So Apple's using a newer backside-illuminated sensor that's more sensitive to light in addition to upping those megapixels -- and we must say, pictures on the iPhone 4 look stunning. Our shots looked good right out of the gate, with few problems when it came to focusing or low light. With the flash on, we managed decent if somewhat blown out results (fairly common with smaller LED flashes) though impressively, the iPhone 4 was usually able to take completely useable and even handsome photos in fairly low light without the flash. It seems like that photon situation is definitely in play, because even shots taken in fairly dark lighting came out looking good. Autofocus worked well in most situations, and we were actually able to get some impressive looking macro shots (see the flowers and Penny below). In general, we'd have no trouble using the iPhone 4's camera as a stand-in for a dedicated camera. Not only did it take beautiful shots, but the A4 and iOS 4 combo have considerably sped up the time it takes to snap pictures -- it's now almost instantaneous. Otherwise, you have options for a 5x digital zoom (which produces results that look like a digital zoom) and basic on / off / auto settings for the flash. It's pretty bare bones, and we wouldn't have minded a few basic options like white balance settings -- but c'mon, this is Apple we're talking about. Luckily, the App Store is chock full of applications that improve upon the stock camera app -- we expect to see a handful of new ones that take advantage of the new sensor soon.

iPhone 4 camera shots

As far as video goes, we were definitely impressed by the 720p capture, though there are stability issues with the lens and the all-too-familiar "jellyvision" CMOS issues that tend to rear their head if you're not holding the phone very steady. Still, we can't see carrying around a Flip HD instead of just keeping this in our pocket (though as we said, we'd like to see a higher storage capacity). Everything we shot looked crisp and mostly artifact-free, and we didn't see any hiccups in the 30 FPS rate Apple claims, even in lower light. Adding iMovie to the mix for on-the-fly editing is a nice touch too (more on that in the software section). The video below was shot and edited completely in-phone, so enjoy -- and here's the raw output to download.

Around front, the VGA camera is... well, a VGA camera. It actually does a fine job of capturing your face during video calls, and worked surprisingly well in low light, but it's not going to win any prizes for being the most advanced shooter on a handset. It does provide for some interesting angle options when it comes to video shooting, and we expect a lot of people will be taking advantage of the weirdly video game-like perspective. All in all, it looks good, but it's pretty utilitarian.

Speaker / earpiece

We've never had a particular problem with the speaker or earpiece on previous iPhones (well, the speakerphone has never been loud enough for our taste), but it's obvious that Apple has done some work on getting both call quality and speakerphone quality up. Beyond making the phone considerably and consistently louder in both places, the clarity of the iPhone 4 is noticeably improved from the previous generation. If you read our review, then you know that we thought Motorola's original Droid had some of the best sounding components we've heard on a phone, and the new iPhone definitely gives them a run for the money. The first time we took a call on the device we were walking down New York's extremely noisy Fifth Avenue, and right away it was obvious that the secondary, noise-canceling mic was doing some heavy lifting, at least on the other end of the line. Even though sirens were wailing behind us and we were surrounded by chatty shoppers, it was easy to hear our party on the other end, and they could hear us perfectly (unless we were lied to). There's clearly a difference between the sound in the earpiece on the new phone versus the 3GS, and it ranks highly against newer competition like the EVO. As far as the speakerphone goes, it gets loud without distorting or producing cutting midrange, a problem we've noticed on quite a few recent phones. We'd liken the iPhone 4 in quality to something along the lines of the BlackBerry Bold -- a bearable tone even when it gets hot.

Software

As with the other revisions to Apple's phone line, the hardware is only half of the story. Along with the iPhone 4 comes iOS 4, the re-branded iPhone OS which boasts loads of new features, most notably a very Apple-ized version of smartphone multitasking, a video calling feature dubbed FaceTime, folders so you can organize your apps, enhanced Mail, and lots of other nips and tucks -- both big and small -- that refine the company's growing operating system. Additionally, Apple has ported the iPad's iBooks to the smaller screen, and has created a new version of its popular iMovie just for the iPhone 4. Overall, the OS is still very much the same as it's always been, but there are some big changes here that bear investigation.

Multitasking

This is a big one, and more than just a little controversial. Since the dawn of apps for the iPhone (remember, way back in 2008?), people have been up in arms about the lack of third-party backgrounding for applications. Sure, you could keep Mail, Safari, iPod, and a few other Apple programs cranking while you used your phone, but those privileges were strictly off limits for third-party devs working on the device. It's arguable that one of the driving forces behind the jailbreaking movement was a desire for this feature -- something a phone as powerful as the iPhone was clearly capable of. Apple's argument has always been that multitasking causes an undue amount of battery drain from phones, and had to be approached with caution, lest we all end up with juiceless phones at high noon. Recently, however, that tune has changed. Apple has -- in true Apple fashion -- "figured out" how to "do multitasking right" -- namely, the company isn't allowing full backgrounding as much as it's allowing a handful of APIs that mimic backgrounding. Things like holding onto a GPS signal, letting music play in the background, staying connected to VoIP calls (or receiving them), and fast switching (basically a way for you to return quickly to exactly where you left off in an app).

So, does Apple pull it off? Can this scarce handful of APIs makeup for true backgrounding? In a word: yep.

Here's the thing -- this may not be "true" multitasking for a lot of us, but it amounts to multitasking for most of us. That is, it looks, feels, and acts like multitasking, so it's pretty tough to complain about it. In fact: we're not going to complain about it, especially given the fact that some of our favorite apps -- the IRC client Colloquy being one of them -- do just about exactly what we need them to do, all according to Apple's rules and regulations. Previous to the new OS, we'd been jailbreaking our phone just to keep an IRC session running in the background. Now, utilizing some of those new APIs, the Colloquy developers have created an elegant and useful solution that pleases both users and the Cupertino Cops. The point is: it works, it does so bug free, and without a major drain on battery life (quite the contrary... more on that in a moment). We're not saying we liked waiting for this kind of thing to come around, and yes, we'd prefer something more open and flexible -- but this works, and works well.

So how is Apple making this magic happen? Here's a breakdown of just exactly what multitasking really means (and feels like) on the new iPhone (and the 3GS):

Fast app switching: You know how you can leave off in Mail halfway through writing a response and go back to exactly where you were? Well that happens everywhere now. When you leave the app, you go back in exactly the same place. And it happens quickly. Fast app switching is essentially like toggling between "paused" applications. This combined with Apple's new app switcher (double tap the home button to bring up your most recently used apps) destroys that annoying iPhone feeling of going in and out and in and out. It just doesn't exist anymore, provided all your apps are up to date, which is going to take some time. It's amazing how much this single feature counts -- it's definitely one of the prime movers here, and it's so simple it's stupid. We would have liked to see options for "favorite" apps or some way to prioritize what you're switching to, but once you get used to this system -- which just puts whatever you've used most recently to the far left -- it makes some sense.
Task completion: Basically, task completion lets an app do its thing even if you leave it. So if you're uploading or downloading a picture in Evernote or Dropbox, or saving an article in the New York Times app, even if you navigate away, the job is done when you get back to the app. This accounts for a lot of what we think of as multitasking. Most of your apps are just idling -- it's only when you interact with them that it counts. We don't know the boundaries for this API, though it seems to leave a lot of room for creative use. We know it's not just big jobs, it's little ones too -- Colloquy uses this feature to keep you connected to your IRC host. To be honest, that kind of behavior is one thing we thought we wouldn't see in iOS 4, and here it is. Hopefully Twitter app devs and other instant messaging clients will utilize the API in a similar manner.
Background audio and VoIP: These two are straightforward. The first allows for music playing apps to keep their stream running in the background (and even gives them little widget controls in the app switcher), and the second allows VoIP connections to stay active. That means you can stay on a Skype call and go check your mail, but it also means that the VoIP connection will be aware of incoming calls when you're not actively using an app. Additionally, this API can be used to allow for recording even if you exit an app, as demonstrated effectively in the new version of Evernote.
Background GPS: Basically, GPS apps can keep running in the background... for obvious reasons. This one will drain your battery if you're not docked -- but who's using a GPS app and not plugging that thing in? Okay, we might be a little guilty of that. Regardless, this will keep your navigation software afloat if you have to take a call, and apparently will let GPS-centric apps like FourSquare check in even if you're not running it in the foreground.

Apple combines these heavy hitters with more familiar tricks, like push notifications, to excellent effect. We know that the hardcore users will cry foul because a lot of this doesn't amount to "true" multitasking, but we also know that often solutions to problems come in different colors. Apple found a way in iOS 4 to solve a pretty good amount of its major problems in this department, and so far what we've seen is very promising. If it's only going to get better from here, we don't mind coming along for the ride. But it better only get better, Apple.

FaceTime

If you didn't know anything about video calling, Apple would definitely have you convinced that they just up and invented the concept based on never-aired Jetsons footage judged too futuristic for TV. Of course, the truth is that in lots of other places (and even in the US to an extent), smartphone video calling isn't exactly a new thing. In fact, in much of Europe and Asia, this technology is old hat. But Apple isn't going to let a little thing like facts get in the way of a good marketing play, and in their (slight) defense, no one's effectively brought video calling to the masses just yet. (One of our European editors says that he's gone ten years without seeing anyone make a video call in his neck of the woods.) While this may be an unscientific perspective, it suggests that it's not enough to just have the tech -- the feature needs to be sold to people.

So has Apple done it? Maybe, and maybe not. We're certainly impressed by the concept and Apple's willingness to open up their "FaceTime standard" to anyone who wants to get in on the party. That means that developers on any platform -- provided they can meet all the necessary requirements -- can create applications that talk via the protocol (or set of protocols, really). We're also impressed with the tech itself, which feels polished and slick out of the gate. But right now, there's only one way to do FaceTime calls, and that's via the iPhone 4... and only over WiFi, which means that the opportunity to make these calls is pretty limited for now. Additionally, in our testing, we found that you really need to have a good, strong, nearby WiFi signal to hang onto a connection. More than once we had video freeze on us, and we had one fully dropped call because someone went out of the WiFi range, but hey... you need to be in range for even the most basic tasks, so we can't fault Apple too much for that. It does seem clear that the iPhone video chats are moving quite a few bits around, however. What's nice about FaceTime is that unlike Qik or other third-party options for something like the EVO, there's no setup here and it's completely integrated into the dialer of the phone -- meaning the only hangup is whether or not you have decent WiFi.

But what is it like? Well in truth, it's actually a teensy bit amazing. Yes, we're a little numb to the PR speak about how game changing it is, but there's still something deeply sci-fi about dialing up a friend and being able to hold this thing in your hand and have a video chat. We did a call with Apple's Greg Joswiak while he was in Paris (see the image above), and when he walked outside and flipped the camera to show us the Eiffel Tower, it was a legitimately weird experience -- a "you are there" moment. As you can see in the call below with USA Today's Ed Baig (his take on the iPhone 4 is right here), it's a pretty new way to talk to someone, at least for us. Having a random face-to-face conversation with a kid about what he's having for lunch is just the tip of the iceberg -- we can definitely see this feature coming into play in all sorts of ways in our lives.

Technically speaking, actually making calls is straightforward; you can switch to a FaceTime chat while you're already connected, or you're given to option to launch right into a FaceTime connection. We were a little surprised by the fact that you can only mute the audio on your calls; if you want the video off, you need to cover the lens in the old fashioned way -- with your hands.

All said, it's a fascinating inclusion, and we've got a sneaking suspicion that Apple intends to do more than just basic calls with this. Obviously the addition of conference FaceTime sessions would be huge, and we're also looking forward to using the function on a 3G network -- it's nice to have a chat from your house, but what would really be great is taking these kinds of conversations out into the wide world. We think that coupled with active development for clients on lots of platforms (not just the iPhone) will make FaceTime much more interesting -- it's a curiosity right now, but it could be something else entirely with a little time and elbow grease.

Folders

What can you really say about folders? Basically: it's about time. We're happy that Apple has seen the light and included something like this in iOS 4, and the implementation is elegant enough, but it would have been nice to store more than 12 items at a time. As it stands, if you have a lot of one kind of app, you're going to end up with a group of folders in the same category. We have a second "Games" folder, but some of you out there will have more like six or seven of those. That helps the problem, but doesn't solve it completely. We get why Apple made this decision -- likely a desire to keep it simple -- but it would be nice to be able to make the room if you wanted it.

Mail improvements

For a lot of us, the new tweaks to the iPhone's Mail app have seriously been a long time coming. Among the major improvements in iOS 4 are a unified inbox and threaded messaging (finally!) -- both of which have made dealing with email on the iPhone a considerably more enjoyable experience. We still think that the mail client is lacking in comparison to Gmail, but that has more to do with our addiction to Gmail than anything else, we suspect. Overall, Mail feels much more complete now, and Apple has solved the same problem in Mail that it had with app switching -- that feeling of constantly jumping into and out of your inboxes.

iBooks / iMovie

This isn't a barnstormer, but it's a nice inclusion. If you've used iBooks for the iPad, the experience is about the same... just smaller. There's not a ton to say about it, except that in addition to lots of other great book apps on the iPhone, Apple has now given you its own. We still don't think it stacks up to Amazon or Barnes & Noble in terms of selection, though the presentation is better in many ways, and it will sync your notes and bookmarks across platforms.

iMovie, on the other hand, is something new entirely. We can't say we didn't see this one coming since Apple just added video recording and editing to its arsenal with the introduction of iPhone OS 3 and the 3GS -- but this takes things one step further. The $4.99 app gives you access to more advanced features, like a (very) limited selection of transitions between clips, the option to add audio to your videos, plus a handful of themes and titling effects. We found it to be extremely capable for fast edits, though everything is pretty sandboxed here, so while you do have the most basic editing tools, things like splitting a clip can be a little bit of a hassle. Since you can only edit the beginning and end of a snippet, if you want to split something into multiple parts you have to drag the clip into your edit repeatedly and then scale the start and finish points for each one. It can be a pain if you're doing lots of jump cuts -- though we don't expect everyone to be making the next Casino on this thing... though, someone probably will, right? For a few bucks, it's definitely worth having, and we expect that after a few people start using the thing, Apple might be prompted to add a few more options.

What's not in the new OS

It's not all wine and roses as far as we're concerned. While Apple has made huge strides in many areas here, this wouldn't be an Engadget review if we didn't have our nitpicks. In particular, we still cannot understand or accept the company's approach to notifications. We're at version 4 of this OS, and we're still plagued by these intrusive, productivity-freezing alerts. If you're as busy as we are, then you know what it's like to get invite after invite for your calendar, text messages, and push notifications that just stall the phone out. While every other modern OS-maker has figured out an elegant way to deal with notifications (including the forthcoming Windows Phone 7), Apple clings to this broken system. Why? We can't really say. We find it hard to believe that there aren't folks in Cupertino who feel the way we do -- in fact, we're sure of it. Maybe that explains the hiring of Palm's "notification guru" Rich Dellinger. We sure hope!

The other thing that's driving us crazy is the lack of widgets. Apple almost gets there with its new extensible music player controls, but there are still no good solutions for glanceable information on the iPhone. We'll admit that it's better now that fast app switching is in play, but we'd still like that weather icon to actually show us the temperature where we live. Is that too much to ask? The competition seems to have this one licked -- we'd really like to see Apple take a stab at it.

Accessories

It wouldn't be a new iPhone without some accessories, but Apple has kept it tidy. The company is offering a new dock, of course, for twenty-nine of your US dollars (that's $29), and a selection of colorful "bumpers" that protect the phone for the same price. We've got a few bumpers in-house, and while we're not really big fans of the way they look or feel, they do seem to protect the phone pretty well. On that note, we've actually seen the iPhone 4 tossed with and without a bumper across a room (one hit a wall) with no issue, and we dropped ours pretty hard from about two feet up onto tile with nary a scratch.

Battery life

This is a big one for many people, and we have some fairly surprising news to report. The battery life on the iPhone 4 has been outstanding thus far, exceeding our expectations for longevity during testing. We've only had a short time to use the phone, but in the week or so we've been carrying the device as our main phone, we've had pretty amazing results under normal to heavy use. In fact, we managed to squeeze more than 38 hours -- yes, 38 hours -- of life out of a single charge using the phone as we normally would. We're talking calls, some gaming, lots of push email and calendar invites, playing music over Bluetooth in the car, and just general testing (like downloading new apps, rearranging icons, tweaking settings). We went from 10:30AM on a Saturday morning till 1:00AM on Monday without needing to charge the phone. Of course, it switched itself off just after the clock struck 1, but it was thrilling -- like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer and the car salesman see how far they can get in a car with the tank on E. Sitcom references aside, the battery life seems markedly improved in the iPhone 4, and why not? It's got a much larger battery coupled with that iPad-powering A4, which has already shown that it can sip rather than gulp power.

Once the rest of the team has their iPhones in hand, we'll do some hardcore battery life testing and see what we come up with, but we think under pretty active use, the iPhone 4 blows Apple's previous generation phone out of the water, and makes a lot of the competition look downright needy.

Wrap-up

We're not going to beat around the bush -- in our approximation, the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market right now. The combination of gorgeous new hardware, that amazing display, upgraded cameras, and major improvements to the operating system make this an extremely formidable package. Yes, there are still pain points that we want to see Apple fix, and yes, there are some amazing alternatives to the iPhone 4 out there. But when it comes to the total package -- fit and finish in both software and hardware, performance, app selection, and all of the little details that make a device like this what it is -- we think it's the cream of the current crop. We won't argue that a lot of this is a matter of taste -- some people will just prefer the way Android or Symbian works to the iPhone, and others will be on the lookout for a hardware keyboard or a particular asset that the iPhone 4 lacks -- but in terms of the total picture, it's tough to deny that Apple has moved one step past the competition with this phone. Of course, in the hyper-accelerated smartphone market where the Next Big Thing seems to always be just around the corner, it's anyone's guess how long they keep that edge.

PlayStation Move review

noreply@blogger.com (syahpian) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 08:13:00 +0000

PlayStation Move review

The PlayStation Move. It's funny to think just 15 months have passed since Sony first unveiled its motion controller, and now we're mere weeks away from hitting the retail market. To be sure, it's not like the company didn't have waggle on the mind already -- patents dating as far back as 2005 reveal as much, and of course the incredible success of Nintendo's Wii proved there's a market for more physically exerting gameplay. And it's not just PlayStation; Microsoft's got its controller-free Kinect motion camera system coming this November. So, in the year where all major game consoles now ask you to get off the couch and earn arm muscle, how does Move fare? Read on for more!

PlayStation Move review

Hardware

To borrow a bit from our previous coverage, PlayStation Move is a motion controller system with sensors to detect the player's movements and translate them into gameplay. The primary remote is just about the size of the Nintendo Wii remote / attached MotionPlus combination. Where Move departs from the Wii is that while the Wii detects movement with its built-in accelerometers, pointing (with the sensor bar) or even detecting exact orientation (with the addition of MotionPlus), Move can be tracked precisely within real 3D space instead of just inferring relative movement based on your previous position. For gameplay, this means you'll be performing fewer of those cute little flicks Wii pros have become so fond of -- most gameplay motions require a full and complete movement on Move -- but it also means interesting things for augmented reality. Of course, for AR you need a camera, and lucky for Sony it has the PlayStation Eye already on the market. In fact, the Move system is partly based on what the Eye can detect of those cute colored balls at the end of each Move controller, which helps the PlayStation know how far away from the camera the controller is, and map, say, a tennis racket exactly to a user's hand.

Each wireless Move controller has the four familiar symbol buttons surrounding a new "Move" button, which generally functions as the OK / Accept command input. Under that is the PS button that takes you to the XMB. There's a "T" trigger button on the underside, and on the butt we've got two ports: a mini-USB for charging / syncing and an additional "extension connector" (as it's called in the accompanying manual). When we asked SCEA reps what the mystery port was for, all we got in return was an ominous "TBD." Perhaps it has something to do with that 1950s style ray gun we espied back at E3.

PS Move navigation controller and Eye, unboxing and hands-on

The controller itself is really comfortable to hold, the contours resting perfectly in our hands. Every button is easy to reach, although the 45-degree counter clockwise twist of the command buttons did confuse us a bit initially. The Move controller's not just for games, either -- it can be used to navigate the top menu by holding down the T button to initiate movement and then tilting in the appropriate direction. Sensitivity can be adjusted, but we found the default to be very manageable. We've discussed lag before, and while it does vary from game to game with any controller (motion and otherwise), overall we can say there wasn't anything notably jarring -- although that said, we weren't playing anything as twitchy as a first-person shooter.

Though not part of any of the bundles, Sony's also releasing a companion Navigation Controller (also wireless) that you'll be able to wield with your off hand for more traditional analog controls. It's got a joystick in the standard position, a directional pad just underneath, as well as additional 'X' and 'O' buttons (generally used as "accept" and "cancel" in most games). Below that is another XMB menu button, and on the underside are L1 and L2 triggers. Mind you, if you've already got a DualShock 3 lying around, there's no reason to drop $30 on one of these sticks -- it can be can be used interchangeably -- but comparatively-speaking the joystick here is a good bit more convenient.

PlayStation Move vs Nintendo Wii remote... fight!

Sports Champions

This is the Move's flagship title -- its "Wii Sports," if you will, and in more ways than one. Sports Champions is a collection of titles aimed at showcasing the controller's potential, culled largely from tech demos we've seen since its initial unveil. We're looking at six sports in all: Disc Golf, Gladiator Duel, Beach Volleyball, Archery, Table Tennis, and Bocce. Each sub-game requires a quick calibration before beginning, whereby you stand in the appropriate spot (denoted by brackets overlaying the Eye's visual monitor) and hold the controller at shoulder level, down at your side, and then in front of your belt buckle -- or the general area where one might be. Even if you're using two motion controllers at once (more on that later), only the dominant hand is used for calibration. The process takes seconds, so despite doing it before every single game, it never really bothered us to have to repeat.

Table tennis was frustrating on the Wii given some of the liberties Nintendo's controller takes in 1:1 motion mapping, but here, a number of us on staff (including Show Producer and Pong Aficionado™ Chad Mumm) found the system here much more accurate -- and less frustrating -- than our many experiences using the Wii remote. Not only does the paddle's angle look and feel pretty precise, but the Eye is used to detect which direction you're facing and adjusts your virtual character accordingly. Each game has three difficulty levels -- bronze, silver, and gold. Here, while it felt as if bronze would let you swing as obnoxiously as possible and still hit the ball in bounds, gold was far from forgiving. If you put a hard spin on the ball, it'd fly off the table. Unlike on Wii, however, we never felt as if it was an inaccurate and frustrating failure -- it was obvious to us that we had a bad swing.

Both Gladiator Duel and Archery give you the option to use two motion controllers, and if you bought a second one, we highly recommend using it. In the latter game, the off-handed controller is used to hold the bow, while the dominant hand grabs an arrow from the quiver, brings it up to the front of the bow, and then pulls back in preparation for firing, the combination of the two now used in conjunction for aiming. The entire motion is wholly fulfilling, and if you get tired, you can break with trying to feign reality by holding it at your side, something the in-game tips menu even suggests.

Gladiator Duel follows a similar suit -- shield in one hand, sword in the other. This isn't going to compare to the 1:1 lightsaber game of your dreams -- if you swing through and your in-game sword is blocked, the motion is deferred despite your arm flailing -- but your initial angle of attack is matched pretty well. Holding the trigger button on your shield will instigate your block, and it'll angle pretty appropriately with your own hand. Jumping will either get your character off the ground or, if already poised to attack, initiate an aerial attack. Enough damage and you'll be prompted to do a special attack that, if it connects, will enter your character into a cinematic quick-time event. What you don't get to control is your foot movement, quick dodges notwithstanding, as your character will always stay within blade's distance of the opponent. In our opinion, that could easily be made possible by allowing you to use the joystick-equipped Navigation Controller, but alas, the companion remote doesn't seem to be compatible with this or any other game in the bundle, bummer.

If we had to compare this to the similar motion-centric bundles being offered by the competition -- Wii Sports, Sports Resort, and the still-in-development Kinect Sports -- right now we'd rank this pretty high on the list. Every title felt like something worth multiple playthroughs, and we'll admit, the HD visuals did feel like a value-add. It's a pretty fun title for playing with you friends, and additionally, provides a pretty good showcase for Move's capabilities.

Other software

For this review, we had a chance to check out several other titles, to decidedly more mixed results.

EyePet has come a long way from when we first saw it back in July 2009, but in its more final form, the frustration definitely outweighed the cuteness. The actual process of creating your pet takes forever, and setting up your floor to appropriately play never feels quite right, or maybe it's that we're not used to interacting with an intangible, three-dimensional furry gremlin. Your Move controller isn't always used, but when it is, it turns into an augmented tool -- a hand-held heater, a milk bottle, a baseball mitt, etc.
If you ever played Boom Blox on the Wii -- or even to some extent Jenga in real life -- then you've already got a feel for how Tumble plays. Stack blocks in a 3D space, make those blocks fall / collapse: it's a simple game that teaches you how to use the motion controller in a three-dimensional space. Fun, but nothing too crazy.
R.U.S.E. is Ubisoft's upcoming World War II-based real-time strategy game, and one of the few games we had that was designed to use the Navigation Controller -- in this case, for screen movement and unit selection. The Move controller can also pan / tilt the screen and issue commands based on where you're pointing. The system is very intuitive and even has some crafty options for cycling through highlighted units based on their type. However, it doesn't quite best a keyboard-and-mouse combination for controlling larger groups of units -- blame it on the joystick, mostly. Despite that, it's still one of the better strategy games we've played on a console.
Heavy Rain actually came out this past February, but it's now getting software-patched to work with Move controls. And we're not just talking about a few tweaks. Movement has been mapped to the navigation controller, and all prompts are now specific swings and orientations that feel contextually appropriate with the characters' actions. It took us until halfway through the tutorial section to get accustomed, but once we did, it was fun to just sit back and enjoy. We can't say it enhanced the experience in any way when compared to the old control scheme, but it certainly didn't lessen our enjoyment.

Heavy Rain (with PlayStation Move patch)

We also got hands-on time with a few other titles this past June at E3. To recap those:

SOCOM 4 is probably the most eagerly anticipated of the Move games, and it's easy to see why. SOCOM is one of Sony's most popular franchises, and the Move does legitimately add some extra immersion to the experience. The game controls exactly like any of the various Wii shooters and honestly we didn't notice anything amazing about the fidelity compared to the Wiimote, but unlike most of those Wii shooters this one won't be a stripped-down port. And it'll have multiplayer. That's always good, too.
Fight 3D was not as fluid as we were hoping. With a Move controller in each hand (no navigation peripherals here), we stretched our arms all the way out, and then back in to our chin, for calibration. The lag wasn't too bad, but the precision and fluidity were a bit off in this build. That said, points for good 3D implementation.
Two golf games will give duffers a change to get their mulligan on minus the greens fees. Tiger Woods 2011 is obviously the premier title in this space, but we only got a chance to try out another competitor: John Daly's ProStroke Golf. It's a cross-platform game featuring the former most-controversial figure in golf, and though the game is very early (only allowing hitting drives at this point) changes in aligning the face of the club were reflected accurately and instantly, meaning fades and draws were executed just as we liked. The game will even change your swing type based on how close you stand to the virtual ball.

Cost

From day one -- again, that's September 17th -- Sony's offering several different price points for opting into Move, largely depending on what you already have. The most popular one's gonna be the Starter Bundle, which includes the motion controller, required PlayStation Eye camera, and Sports Champions for just under $100. Conversely, you can buy all those parts separately -- $40 for the game, $40 for the camera, $50 for the controller -- but as you can probably figure out yourself, that'll set you back an extra $30. A navigation controller is $30, but given the DualShock 3 can function in the same scenarios (and be used in traditional games), you might want to stick with what you've got or pay the $55 for a more versatile option. Then again, if you're a complete newcomer to the PlayStation 3 -- or really need to slim down your home theater system -- $399.99 will net you the starter bundle with a DualShock 3 pad and a new 320GB PS3.

At launch, there'll also be an option to pick up a charging station for $29.99, which will charge two controllers (motion or navigation) simultaneously. That's certainly not a bad option, but bear in mind a mini-USB cable will work just fine, at the cost of using something much more fashionable and decorative.

In our experience, to get the most out of Move, you're probably going to want to grab a second Move controller right off the bat, which puts your ideal cost of entry at $150. It's worth noting that lines up within cents of Microsoft's Kinect sensor, which hits retail a couple months later on November 4th. When we initially started hearing about the two, we were hesitant to believe there'd be a price parity between the two -- after all, Kinect's a camera and Move is a camera plus numerous hand waving devices. That's not the case, as it turns out, and Kinect devs are currently only showing two-player action, drawing similarities even further. We'll reserve final judgment on that one when we get a retail Kinect all our own, but coming out of the gate, Sony's definitely got the right stuff.

Wrap-up

"Exactly as with EyeToy in the PS2 days, it's a product that needs to be sampled. You need to get your hands on it. You need to understand it. You need to try it." So says SCE's Senior VP Ray Maguire. And it's true; motion controls are nothing new in the games industry, but PlayStation has really learned from its competitors and delivered a compelling and entertaining experience complemented by the hardware's ability to push HD visuals. But like its rival, the success is going to be largely dependent upon the games that support it. What we've seen so far is very promising, but whether or not the $100+ cost of entry will dissuade one too many customers remains to be seen. The traditional console cycle seems to have been eschewed by all players in favor of new methods of interactions. It's shaping up to be one of the most interesting eras in the history o console gaming, and make no mistake, Sony's got all the right ingredients here.