General Gaming Article |
- City's Water Control System Hacked Because of Three-Character Password
- Facebook Is Making A Phone Called "Buffy"
- Adobe Flash Coming To Android 4.0 In 2011 As Last Update
- Tackling the Tablet Conundrum: Which One is Right For You?
- Acer Revo RL100-UR20P Review
- Chrome Web App of the Week: Learn Kana
- Mimo Monitors Puts Finger on World's First USB Capacitive Touchscreen
- Apple To Surpass HP As Top PC Vendor In 2012? Depends On How You Look At Things
- RIM Slashing Price of BlackBerry PlayBook to $199 for the Holidays
- HTC Shifting Focus to Quad-Core Tablets and Smartphones
| City's Water Control System Hacked Because of Three-Character Password Posted: 21 Nov 2011 03:06 PM PST
"This was barely a hack. A child who knows how the HMI that comes with Simatic works could have accomplished this," hacker pr0f said in an email. He went on to call the error an example of "gross stupidity." Pr0f claims to have used a simple port scanner to look for instances of SCADA systems with web interfaces after being angered by the US Department of Homeland Security's downplay of an earlier unrelated SCADA attack. This attack was carried out more as a wake up call, but attackers could do serious damage to utilities. Pr0f is likely far from the only person scanning for these vulnerabilities, but the others are probably more malicious. Let's hope that cities take a long hard look at their security practices. |
| Facebook Is Making A Phone Called "Buffy" Posted: 21 Nov 2011 02:49 PM PST
According to the report, HTC was just recently brought in to design the device after previous favorite Samsung dropped out. That places a finished device as much as 18 months away, depending on software. The goal of the phone will be to tightly integrate Facebook with the core of the operating system. It is unclear if Facebook is planning to fork Android much like Amazon did with the Kindle Fire, or if it will just be a specialized Android phone. One clue is that Facebook is looking at HTML5 as an app platform for the device. That seems to indicate no Android Market, and no Google blessing. Can a Facebook-centric phone be a hit? |
| Adobe Flash Coming To Android 4.0 In 2011 As Last Update Posted: 21 Nov 2011 02:31 PM PST
In the case of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a version of Adobe Flash Player will be developed, and should be in the Android Market before the end of the year. However, this is the last major update the software will get. Adobe is super-serious this time. Really. Whatever the next major release of Android is, there will be no Flash Player plug-in. If Google's release cycle hold up, that means that users have roughly one year until phones start shipping that are incompatible with mobile Flash content. Do you think HTML5 will rule the web in time? |
| Tackling the Tablet Conundrum: Which One is Right For You? Posted: 21 Nov 2011 01:14 PM PST Do you even need a tablet? If so, which one? We review the current crop of tablet mainstays. We explain the hardware and OS features that matter the most. Follow along as we unravel what tablets are actually good for.
When a consumer electronics category confuses the masses, it's usually because the technology is hard to understand on a fundamental level. Have you ever tried to explain texture fill rates to your GPU-ignorant brother-in-law? Or RAID levels to your mom—who shouldn't even be asking about RAID in the first place? Videocards and storage devices can confuse the lay consumer, but at least the prospective hardware buyer usually knows he or she needs a videocard or storage device in the first place. Your game won't play at a high resolution? A new videocard is probably the answer. Your hard drive is full? It's time for more storage. But tablets are different. From a raw technology standpoint, they're not particularly hard to understand. They're closed-box systems, and the specs of competing devices generally fall within a narrow range. The bigger question concerns whether anyone even needs a tablet. TV commercials, tech pundits, and even the struggling magazine and book industries would have you believe that tablets are essential 21st‑century gear. But note-book replacements they are not, and this has to be reconciled before any tablet purchase. Some Maximum PC staffers couldn't live without their tablets, but others show no interest in them whatsoever. It all comes down to individual use cases. No one really "needs" a tablet, but many people are discovering that a tablet is a wonderful supplement to their core hardware arsenals. In fact, Maximum‑caliber tech enthusiasts are often the folks best served by tablets. But you need to know what they do well, what they do poorly, and which hardware and software features really matter at the end of the day. In the following pages, we'll explain all of that, plus review the eight most-talked-about models currently available. Six of the contenders run Google's tablet OS, Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb). Another, the iPad 2, runs the latest version of Apple's iOS. The final entrant is RIM's oddball PlayBook, which is tied to a software ecosystem so funky, the PlayBook can't really be included in any serious tablet conversation. The most oddball tablet of all—HP's WebOS-based TouchPad—was left out entirely because it was discontinued a few weeks before we started working on this article. Excited? Anxious? Maybe a little scared? Simmer down, amigo. Tablets are a confusing proposition, but they need not be feared. Tablet Talents and Tablet FailsBefore you begin comparison shopping, make sure a tablet is right for youWe'll get into specific use cases in a moment, but let's first provide an overview of how tablets trump notebooks, their closest hardware cousins. First, they're imminently more wieldy. By eschewing a hinged clamshell design and mechanical hard drive, a tablet is lighter and less delicate. It's easier to tote in a book bag, and you'll feel more comfortable tossing it on your couch or mattress. Second, a tablet is the perfect device for "kick-back computing." When you're chilling on your couch, supine and relaxed, you'll probably find it easier to hold and manipulate a tablet than a note-book. And thanks to their virtual keyboards, data entry on a tablet is easier, too—assuming you don't have much to enter (more about that soon). All in all, if you want to perform computer-like tasks while lying on your back, tablets are a goshsend. Third, apps. Even in the Android Market (whose offering compare in neither volume nor quality to those of Apple's App Store), there are hundreds of awesome apps that don't have desktop counterparts. Indeed, some of the most interesting software development of the last two years has been focused in the tablet space. These apps make unique use of touch navigation, accelerometers, and location awareness, and will probably never find a home in your Windows computer. Now let's dig a little deeper into what tablets do—and don't do—well. [+] CASUAL GAMING  Tablets absolutely rock for card and parlor games, sim golf, and pinball—like the feature-filled Navy Seals board, which is part of a $2.99 war-themed pinball pack from Gameprom (iOS only). Touch controls suck for first-person shooters and action sports games, but you won't find a better platform for card games, casino sims, virtual pool, trivia challenges, and digital versions of Scrabble, Yahtzee, and other "family game night" fare. Tablets are also tailor-made for physics-based games like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Doodle Jump—all use touch control and accelerometers to fantastic (and addictive) effect. EA just released an iPad version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 (tablets are perfect for golf games), and Gameprom's pinball sims are probably the best tablet games of all. There are currently three tables available for Android tablets, and seven for the iPad. All boast excellent ball physics, and are chock-full of the ramps, targets, and table toys you'd find in a late-model Williams pinball machine. According to a March 2011 survey conducted by Google's AdMob subsidiary, gaming ranks highest among all tablet use cases. Given the survey's timing, the vast majority of the 1,400-plus queried must have been iPad owners, as Honeycomb-based tablets (the first real Android tablets) weren't yet available. In today's climate, where Android devices reportedly account for one out of every five tablets sold, we might expect games usage to slip just a little—if only because Honeycomb supports fewer killer games, and the platform is decidedly more utilitarian than iOS. All of which leads us to… [+] WEB BROWSING AND EMAIL  Available for both Honeycomb and iOS, the IMDB app provides access to the world's best database for checking TV and movie information.
In the March AdMob survey, participants were asked to name all the ways in which they use their tablets. "Playing games" took the lead with 84 percent, but this was followed closely by "searching for information" (78 percent) and "emailing" (74 percent). What's more, 82 percent said they primarily use their tablets at home. The upshot? Tablets are ideal for web-surfing and emailing from the comfort of one's couch, bed, or chaise lounge! And this is really how most people—even power users—use their tablets. To wit: A February 2011 In-Stat survey ranked emailing and web-browsing as the top two tablet uses. Web surfing and email already top the charts of desktop use, and tablets simply deliver those services without the inconvenience of ambulatory visits to a stationary device. So, if you check email about 100 times a day, and are unable to survive without constant fact-checking on Wikipedia, IMDB, and the like, then a tablet might perfectly suit your lifestyle needs. Even better, many notable news, reference, and cooking sites offer slick app wrappers for their web content, providing navigational experiences that better their own web offerings. [+] SOCIAL MEDIA Social media is all about quick check-ins and look-ups wherever and whenever you want, and tablets suit this activity perfectly. Twitter's eponymous app offers a UI that's vastly more feature-rich and user-friendly than the service's website interface, and it's available for both Honeycomb and iPad. Facebook makes smartphone apps for both platforms, but hasn't released any versions optimized for the more generous screen dimensions of tablets. The company expects you to use its web interface when posting and liking on tablets, and that's fine by us, as the site renders well in the neighborhood of 10 diagonal inches. And because Facebook activity rarely involves extended data input, virtual keyboards are suitable for anything you may need to post. [+] VIDEO  On the iPad, you can stream the latest ABC video content—one of a few video streaming services that just isn't available on Honeycomb. You're not going to gather the whole family around a tablet for a night of movies and popcorn, but both Honeycomb tablets and iPads have the rendering power and screen dimensions for satisfying single-person video viewing. Both platforms render onscreen video at 720p, and Honeycomb tablets can output 1080p via HDMI, if you absolutely must assemble the clan around the big screen. Both tablets have slick YouTube apps, but Team iPad pulls ahead of Honeycomb when it comes to streaming Hollywood movies and TV shows. For example: Netflix subscribers can stream "Watch Instantly" content on their iPads, but the Lenovo IdeaPad K1 is the only Honeycomb tablet to support Netflix streaming without a hack. And then there's HBO, ABC, and Xfinity On Demand. All offer video streaming via iOS apps, but Honeycomb support is nowhere to be found. Both tablet platforms let you rent and download content from their online stores, but the offerings in Apple's App Store are vastly better than what you'll find in Android Market. All that said, Honeycomb tablets do support a wide variety of video codecs, and because they don't interface with the clusterfrack that is iTunes, it's much easier to rip DVDs and quickly place video files in your Android video folder. The end result is a very effective platform for video playback—at home, on an airplane, wherever. [+] RANDOM NICHE APPS  Junior astronomers can use Google Sky Map on their Honeycomb devices. Just point your tablet to the heavens, and see what stars lie above. Apple's "There's an app for that" campaign positions the iPad as a platform for sundry lifestyle activities one can only imagine. That's an optimistic promise. If you buy a tablet, you'll find almost all your activity in the realm of gaming, email, and web browsing. Having said that, certain eclectic souls may stumble upon a niche, highly focused tablet app that dovetails just perfectly with their own business or enthusiast needs. For example, OmniGraffle (iOS only) is perfect for creating flowcharts, diagrams, and other quasi-freehand drawing during business meetings. Or let's say you're a hardcore astronomy nerd. With Star Walk (iOS only), you can point your iPad 2 at the skies for augmented reality overlays of constellation and satellite information. Google Sky Map performs a similar function for Honeycomb, but without augmented reality features. Other apps specialize in music and art creation, medical services, and even credit card processing, so you can use your tablet to collect payments on the road. These are all very niche-use cases—but for the people who use tablets in these ways, the benefits are profound. Are you sufficiently stoked to buy a tablet? Not so fast, laddie. We'll now describe what tablets don't do well. [-] E-BOOKS  If you're looking to read e-books into the wee hours of the night, eschew a tablet for an e-reader like the Barnes & Noble Nook. The "first edition" version displays soothing E ink for reading, while a secondary screen uses a color LCD for navigation. There's an undeniable convenience in loading hundreds of e-books into a single hardware device that's already shaped like a book. But, sorry, we're not fans of reading long-form content on tablets. Projected-light displays (like the LCDs found in all tablets) often cause discomfort and eyestrain during long periods of extended, continuous use. So, while we're happy to use tablets to catch up on the latest news headlines, we'll not so happily partake in an all-day George R.R. Martin marathon. If you really want to get your e-book on, invest in a dedicated e-reader like the Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook. Both use E Ink, which displays grayscale text and images with soothing, eyeball-friendly reflected light. Relative to tablets, dedicated e-readers also perform much better in direct sunlight, and are imminently more portable than even the thinnest, lightest tablets, such as the iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. [-] PHOTOS The best smartphone cameras trump the best tablet cameras. In fact, the camera on the iPhone 4 is one of the best phone cameras available, while the camera on the iPad 2 is one of the worst cameras you'll find on any tablet. That should tell you what the market-leading tablet vendor thinks of cameras on its larger mobile devices. Tablet cameras are generally crappy, suffering from compression artifacting, color shifts, and other image-quality problems. And once you consider the truism that the best camera is the one you have with you, then we have to ask why anyone would ever carry around a big-honking tablet for photo-acquisition purposes. Use your phone instead. It's in your pocket. Having said that, we'll reserve just a wee bit of respect for the video creation capabilities of any Android device that comes with Google's Movie Studio app. Chasing the action with a 10-inch tablet in your hands may not be easy, but the app lets you quickly grab all the video clips already sitting in your device, edit them with titles, still photos, transition effects, and audio tracks, and then output everything to a single new video in one fell swoop. It's plenty adequate—and quite convenient—for YouTube vlogging and similarly low-level video projects. [-] TYPING AND OFFICE/PRODUCTIVITY  The virtual keyboards on tablets offer generous layouts, but you won't receive any tactile feedback—and auto-correction can lead to many mistakes. Tapping out sentences on the virtual keyboard of a tablet beats smartphone data input any day, but we don't know anyone who can touch-type on either iPad or Honeycomb tablets. Besides lacking tactile feedback, the auto-correction features of both iOS and Android lead to vexing spelling mistakes. Even worse: Turning off auto-correction leads to text that looks like something Latka Gravas might utter in his native tongue.  Sure, you can buy a keyboard dock for the Asus EeePad Transformer, but you still won't be able to use any Windows apps. Yes, you can connect to a Bluetooth keyboard (rarely a satisfying or even reliable solution), and some tablets—notably the Asus EeePad Transformer—can be teamed with physical keyboard dock accessories. But to what end? You might be approximating a computer workstation, but iOS and Honeycomb don't support any office, productivity, or serious content creation apps that would make you want to ditch your desktop or even notebook (and don't even mention Polaris on Office, which comes on the EeePad—it's quite vexing in and of itself). The upshot is that neither tablet platform makes sense for extended typing projects, and a tablet just can't serve as your only computing device when you're working out of hotel rooms on the road. [-] GAMES—REAL GAMES There's no iOS or Honeycomb version of Steam, and you'll find no Dead Island, Portal, or WoW. Get our drift? 'Nuff said. Platform Battle: Which OS is Best for YouThe decision between an iPad 2 and a Honeycomb tablet comes down to your personality type and your priorities Nvidia is promoting 19 games in its Tegra Zone app. Not much to see here, folks. But, hey, at least someone is trying to promote gaming on Honeycomb. Don't worry, we're not going to make you read this whole section just to find out if you should align yourself with iOS or Honeycomb. It basically comes down to this: As a platform, Honeycomb offers greater UI flexibility and user controls than iOS. It also bests iOS in web browsing (perhaps the most important tablet service) and has superior hooks into all Google products, apps, and features. Honeycomb isn't a refined OS, per se, and it does suffer some vexing user experience issues. But it's the OS we recommend for hardcore PC types who value a more Windows-like experience in terms of multitasking, file transfers, and UI tweakage. The iPad 2, meanwhile, can't be beat for its app support: By huge leaps and bounds, the offerings in Apple's App Store crush what you'll find in Android Market. Apple's iOS is also more intuitive and easier to use than Honeycomb. All in all, if you're a Mac user—or just the type who subscribes to that "let's sacrifice power and flexibility for simplicity" ethos—then get yourself an iPad 2. With that as a preamble, let's compare iPad 2 with the Honeycomb cartel in five key areas, and we'll also explain why Windows and BlackBerry tablets can't even be considered. APP ECOSYSTEM The number of apps designed for iPad and iPad 2 so rudely dominates the number of apps designed for Honeycomb, we're almost tempted to say, "Oh, flunk it—just run down to your local Apple Store and throw down." According to a running list on Androidcentral.com, there are currently 292 apps optimized for Honeycomb. The Apple Store, meanwhile, reported 121,807 iPad apps as of 2:15 PST on Sept. 12, 2011. Honeycomb's most painful app shortcoming is a dearth of killer games. Nvidia is trying to support Honeycomb as a gaming platform via its Tegra Zone shopping center, but with a current inventory of just 19 games, this gateway to fun isn't really hopping. Adding insult to injury, various Honeycomb apps aren't as polished or complete as their iPad counterparts. For example, there's noticeable ball lag in the Honeycomb version of Pinball HD, and Honeycomb's Xfinity app supports "play now" streaming for only a single device. Words of wiz: Check Android Central's Honeycomb app list and also look carefully at the apps that come preinstalled on the Honeycomb tablet you're thinking of buying. If your brain can't resolve the limited offerings of what you find, then buy an iPad 2 instead. Blackberry? No, Not An OptionDespite rumors that RIM is planning to discontinue its much-less-than-celebrated tablet offering, the BlackBerry PlayBook continues to putter along. This gives RIM's QNX-based OS platform a little bit of breathing room before the inevitable axe falls and provides shoppers in BlackBerry App World with a 7-inch tablet on which to download software. Yep, 7 inches. That's the size of the current PlayBook, and all indicators suggest a 10-inch version will never be offered. Instead, BlackBerry is working on a dual-core uber-phone that would be running the QNX-based OS (a different OS than the one powering current BlackBerry smartphones). So, as a tablet platform, the PlayBook doesn't have legs. And as a current tablet option, the PlayBook really can't be considered. It's too small, its app universe can't compete with iOS or Android, and (worst of all) to access email and calendar, you have to use a wireless tether to your damn BlackBerry phone! CORE APPS For those people who intend to use their tablets only for email and information searches, Honeycomb might be the better platform. Honeycomb's built-in Browser app is a dead ringer for Chrome, and supports tabbed windows, direct hooks into Google voice search, and (most importantly) Adobe Flash. These three features are missing from the iOS browser. If you're an iPad user, you can download a third-party iOS browser that supports tabs, but none are very fast or even satisfying. But it's the lack of Adobe Flash that really hurts iOS. Web developers have instituted Flash workarounds in anticipation of all the iOS devices that will access their sites, but we still find web content that won't load on our iPads.
The iPad has a fine email app, but like all iOS apps, you have to exit the app and enter an OS-level Settings app to manipulate fine controls (e.g., font size). In Honeycomb apps, all settings are quickly available in the app itself. We also appreciate that Google voice input is immediately accessible in so many Honeycomb apps. Besides using it to dictate browser searches, you'll also find it surfaced in Maps (a much richer Google Maps experience than you'll find on iPad); Talk (an instant messaging client); Navigation (a turn-by-turn directions app); and on the virtual keyboard itself. Voice control is surprisingly adept at identifying common words, and it takes all the auto-correction pain out of text chat in the Talk app. FLEXIBILITY AND CUSTOMIZATION The more we use Honeycomb, the more we appreciate the freedom it affords Maximum-caliber power users. As stated above, settings menus are located in-app; no trips to a central Settings app are required. Honeycomb also supports true multitasking, whereas iOS does not. For example, let's say you're rendering a time-consuming video project in Movie Studio. An alert for an important email pops up in your Honeycomb system tray (the system tray is another feature not yet available in iOS), and you can jet on over to your Gmail app to read it—all without suspending the video rendering in progress. In iOS and iMovie, you would never get the alert in the first place, and if you decided to jump over to your Mail app on a lark, your iMovie rendering would suspend until you returned. And then there are desktop Widgets. Apple doesn't like a cluttered desktop. You can have icons on it or dead space, and that's it. But Honeycomb supports a thriving ecosystem for desktop widgets that show everything from your latest incoming email and tweets, to snazzy graphical representations of the current time, weather, news headlines, and more. It all puts a vibrant, real-time spin on your desktop, and it's a key reason to buy a Honeycomb tablet over an iPad.
But for true power users, the rebels among us, simply being able to avoid iTunes for file management may be the best reason of all to join Team Honeycomb. Sure, if you've spent your whole life playing in the walled garden of iTunes, you might be OK with the draconian limits and convoluted operating procedures that Apple imposes on music and video transfers. But Honeycomb tablets ain't having none of that—you can simply drag and drop music and video files from your PC to tablet. It's a revelation. Traveling to Asia? Just rip 18 hours of movies to a compatible codec, drop it on your Honeycomb tablet, and you're good to go. Windows Tablets? Too Slow, Too ClunkyWe sometimes forget there's a tablet version of Windows 7—probably because it's a big, bloated mess when running on the underpowered tablet hardware that suffers the indignity of running it. We've been playing with it on the Viewsonic ViewPad 10, which dual-boots between Android 2.2 and Win7, and the Win7 side of the experience is vexing to no end. It's difficult to say whether the tablet's 1.66GHz Intel Pine Trail processor is woefully underpowered for the OS, or if touch navigation in Win7 is a rushed-out, kludge job. But the bottom line is that the OS doesn't offer any of the multitouch gestures available in iOS or Honeycomb. Instead, you use your finger to move a cursor, and this operation is both slow and imprecise. And when the tablet is churning away in apps, it just plain chugs. Forget about Win7. If Microsoft has any future in tablets, it will be tied to Win8. DISPLAY SUPPORT The size, resolution, and aspect ratio of your tablet's display affect your entire user experience. Right now, we feel that Honeycomb devices have the upper hand in this area. As far as total diagonal inches, they're just a tad larger than the iPad (10.1 inches to the iPad's 9.7). But Honeycomb tablets offer a 1280x800 resolution where the iPads clock in at 1024x768. The extra resolution is appreciated for greater pixel density in visual content (132ppi for the iPads; 160ppi for Honeycomb tablets), as is Honeycomb's 16:10 aspect ratio. When you're watching wide-format HD content, Honeycomb tablets don't letterbox nearly as badly as the iPads. Rumors say the next-gen iPad 3 will have an ultra-high definition 2048x1536 "retina display." That's peachy, but this pixel grid would appear in the current 9.7-inch screen size. With more than 100,000 apps coded for a 4:3 aspect ratio, it would be madness for Apple to switch to a widescreen format at this late a date, and a display larger than 10 inches would make for an unwieldy beast. EASE OF USE As we've said before, it's easier to just jab your power button and begin, um, "doing stuff" on an iPad relative to a Honeycomb device. Apple's desktop is cleaner and doesn't suffer much "What am I supposed to do now?" ambiguity. Because it exposes nothing more than app icons, operation is a simple matter of hitting an icon and working within the simple GUI of whatever IOS app you've launched. Honeycomb, meanwhile isn't "difficult," per se (and certainly not to Maximum-echelon users), but its interface is more complex, and Android apps tend to be more clumsily designed in general. You're given more user-controlled options across the OS, and this can lead to confusion among newbs. And while it's true that using iTunes for the file-management of your personal media is a PITA, the entire discovery and downloading process of store content is easier in iOS than in Android. But Honeycomb's biggest user-experience problem is "system fragmentation." Not all Honeycomb updates are available for all Honeycomb tablets at the same time. As a result, the current field of Honeycomb devices is fragmented between OS versions 3.1 and 3.2. Even worse, device support for Honeycomb apps can also be staggered. A glaring example: At press time, only the Asus EeePad Transformer and Lenovo IdeaPad K1 were approved to run streaming video content in the Netflix app. Bottomline: If you're buying a tablet for a tech-challenged loved one, get an iPad 2. Hardware Specs: What to Look ForYou won't find much variation in internal components, making head-to-head hardware comparisons that much more difficultOk, so you're sold on buying a tablet, and you've even chosen between the iPad 2 and a Honeycomb variant. Now it's time to arm yourself with specs knowledge for comparison shopping. Most tablets are markedly similar, but here's what matters most. CPU/RAM  Every Honeycomb we've tested comes with the same 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 chip. Every Honeycomb tablet released thus far contains the same 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 chip and 1GB of RAM. This dual-core Nvidia silicon is based on the ARM Cortex A9 architecture. The iPad 2 also contains a 1GHz dual-core chip—the Apple A5—and it is also of the A9 persuasion. The iPad 2, however, comes with just 512MB of RAM. Smartphones are already shipping with 1.2GHz dual-core chips, so expect next-gen tablets to scale accordingly. DISPLAY All Honeycomb tablets ship with a 10.1-inch, 1280x800 display—per the Android 3.1 spec. What differs, however is screen quality. The display of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is bright, vibrant, and relatively true. The screen of the Motorola Xoom, meanwhile, is so dim and dull (and fraught with bad off-axis viewing), some critics suspect Motorola is using inferior twisted-nematic (TN) display technology. Bottom line: All Honeycomb tablets bear the same screen dimensions and resolution, so make sure the one you purchase looks great on a pixel-by-pixel basis. As for the iPad 2, it uses the same 9.7-inch, 1024x768 display found in the original iPad. Its brightness and color accuracy are laudable, but we prefer the greater resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio of the Honeycomb models. STORAGE Today's tablets typically offer 8, 16, 32, or 64 gigs of solid-state storage. Want more storage? Then buy a more expensive model. And if you suspect that you'll be wanting a lot of storage space—and storage flexibility—look for a Honeycomb tablet that supports SD cards (giving a second life to all those random memory cards sitting in the bottom of your camera bag). The Toshiba Thrive even supports a full-size SD card, good for 128GB of extra storage. WI-FI/3G Every tablet includes Wi-Fi support. Some include 3G support as an option, and some (like the Asus Transformer) currently don't offer a 3G version at all. This is our take on tablet 3G service: It's expensive. It can't be rolled up into our existing smartphone data plans. And we already have 3G service built into our smartphones. If we need to check email or look up a piece of information in an area without free Wi-Fi, we'll use our phones. There's no reason to avoid a tablet with 3G support, and it's nice to have that support in a pinch. But if you're pinching pennies, it's probably not worth the investment. CAMERAS As we stated before, there are very few reasons to care much about camera quality. Still, all modern tablets come with both front- and rear-facing cameras, so you might as well get the best cameras possible. Front cameras are only appropriate for (grainy) video chat, and usually range between 1.2MP and 2MP. Rear cameras typically fall right at 5MP, but we say to focus on image quality instead of cold, hard megapixel numbers. And if you really must give a damn about your tablet's camera, you may as well get one with LED flash. I/O  The Toshiba Thrive stands alone in offering both full-size USB and HDMI ports. Android tablets are relatively cookie-cutter—except when it comes to ports, car slots, and power cables. What kind of USB ports does your tablet include—micro, mini, full, or none at all? What about HDMI—micro, mini, full, or none at all? Full-port support for both USB and HDMI are most welcome. SD card support is also a plus. And get this: The Toshiba Thrive has a user-swappable battery. Unfortunately, all of the tablets we discuss in this article depend on different proprietary power connectors, and none of the tablets with USB ports can charge via these ports. The downside is that you may find yourself powerless and SOL when the inevitable cable misplacement occurs. CHASSIS  The Lenovo tablet has a rubbery back panel that's less cold to the touch and easier to grip than what you'll find on snazzier-looking competitors. We know we'll catch heat for saying this, but we don't think a tablet's weight is that important. Just how weak do you have to be to quibble over the 1.65 pounds of the Lenovo K1 relative to the 1.33 pounds of the iPad 2? We're much more interested in tablet's thinness (the iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 rule this roost), and its backing material. In fact, we rather like the grippy, rubberized back panels of the Toshiba and Lenovo tablets. Tablets Through the Ages:5,300 Years Old and Trendier Than Ever! With simmering iPad 2 rumors and dazzling Honeycomb previews at CES, it was clear within the first week of 2011 that this would be the year of the tablet. But before you settle down to compose a self-congratulatory tweet on your shiny new slate, consider that this year's models are really the culmination of some 5,300 years' worth of tablet ingenuity. That's right: Our current tablet fever can be traced all the way back to the first people to record history on a slab of hardware—really hard hardware. OMG, indeed.  3300 BCE  CA. 1300 BCE  CA. 500 BCE  CA. 1600  1960  1967  1979  1987-2005  1989  1992  1993  1996  2001  2004  2007  2009  2010  2010  2011  2011
Hardware Head-to-Head(to Head, to Head, to Head, to Head, to Head…)In the following eight reviews, some of which appeared in previous issues, we do our best to differentiate among eight popular (or at least talked-about) tablets shipping today. The Honeycomb entries bear exceedingly similar specs, so we did our best to tease out differentiating factors. Please note that at Maximum PC we don't update our official review scores, even when revisiting products in more technologically advanced times. You will find, however, that we provide insight on how scores might change. Apple iPad 2iPad Part Deux is the slickest, most idiot-proof, most aesthetically striking tablet around. It hooks directly into the greatest App Store in the world, and software developer support from both big-name studios and indies isn't showing any signs of fatigue. This second iPad version includes a 1GHz dual-core CPU, and comes in a wide variety of storage and data connectivity configurations (16GB, 32GB, or 64GB, with or without 3G support). Hardware-wise, though, all iterations are hobbled by just 512MB of RAM and a rear-facing camera that we find to be craptacular.
The 9.7-inch display is bright and accurate, but its pixel density isn't world-class, and the 4:3 aspect ratio seems oh-so-déclassé. Still, the iPad 2 is one of the thinnest, lightest tablets available (0.34 inches, 1.33 pounds), but you'll pay a premium for its fancy-pants design. You may be better served by waiting for the iPad 3, which could hit retail by November.
Motorola XoomWhen we reviewed the world's first Honeycomb tablet in March, we gave it a 9 verdict for all the great things that Honeycomb does well. Some five tablets later, however, the Xoom doesn't quite zoom the way it used to. It's been updated to Android 3.1, and there's now a 3G version available, but the base hardware doesn't match up to specs you'll find in newer competitors.
USB is limited to a Micro USB port, the 5MP rear camera isn't as good as those found on competing models, and industrial design is thick and heavy (0.5 inches, 1.6 pounds) compared to tablets that offer more hardware doodads. Most glaringly, the Xoom display is the worst among all Honeycomb devices. It's demonstrably dim compared to the rest of the pack, text rendering is grainy, and off-axis viewing is poor. The Xoom would likely receive a 6 or 7 verdict if reviewed in today's environment.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1Hands down, the Tab 10.1 boasts the most impressive industrial design of any Honeycomb tablet, and its depth and weight (0.34 inches, 1.24 pounds) actually beat the iPad 2—at least in the weight department, which we don't care about much, but still. More importantly, the Tab 10.1 offers the best display in this entire tablet hoedown. Samsung doesn't promote it as one of its extra-fancy "Super TFT" displays, but it's noticeably brighter, more vibrant, and just plain more exciting than any other tablet display we've seen.
If reviewed today, this device (currently running Android 3.1) would still receive the 9 verdict that we awarded it in late June. The industrial design and LCD still garner high accolades. We will note, however, that the Tab 10.1 lacks a few features that make other Honeycomb tablets intriguing. Its rear camera is only 3MP (though image quality doesn't suffer for it), and you won't find built-in USB and SD card ports of any kind.
Asus EeePad TransformerFor folks who really think a Honeycomb tablet can replace a notebook, Asus delivers the EeePad Transformer. Paired with an optional keyboard dock ($150 MSRP), this Android 3.2 tablet delivers the tactile response of real-world chiclets, and provides extra battery life, some quick-launch keys, and two USB ports, to boot. After many months of use, we concede that the included Polaris Office suite isn't a viable long-term substitute for MS Office on a Windows notebook, but it's better than nothing in a pinch.
At 0.51 inches thick and 1.5 pounds, the Transformer is thicker and heavier than the iPad 2 and Tab 10.1. And thanks to speakers lodged at opposing ends, it's also longer by about an inch. But have you seen the price? The Transformer is priced to move. Reviewed today, this tablet wouldn't earn a verdict less than an 8, and still may even deserve a 9.
Lenovo IdeaPad K1It may not be the slimmest or prettiest Honeycomb device, but the K1 is packed with useful features. Specs-wise, you get a nice (but not world-class) screen, Android 3.1, a 5MP camera, and microSD and Mini HDMI ports. Weight and width are portly at 1.65 pounds and 0.52 inches, and 3G isn't enabled in the U.S., but we dig the back panel, which is warm and grippy.
The Lenovo is newbie-friendly and comes packed with apps. The home screen is preconfigured with quick-launch buttons for the browser, as well as for email, e-books, and music and video playback. But the pièce de résistance is the preinstalled Netflix app—and this version plays streaming video! That's such a win. The K1 doesn't have full-size ports, and its screen can't beat Samsung's. But we love the software build and can forgive the chub. It only gets a verdict of 8, because Netflix streaming isn't worth a full verdict point.
Toshiba ThriveWhat we love: the grippy back panel, a user-replaceable battery (buy a second at $90 for double the juice!) and full-size USB, SD, and HDMI ports. That's right: full ports. Now you can drag-and-drop data from USB keys, add up to 128GB of extra flash storage, and hook the Thrive into your living room TV with no adapters. These are fantastic—albeit heft-enhancing—features.
What we dislike: The chassis is chubby (1.6 pounds, 0.63 inches) and screen quality is just so-so. It's also hard to locate and operate the on/off button and volume rocker without looking straight at them, and the front panel is adorned with annoying LEDs reporting on power, battery, and wireless status. 3G isn't available, and you won't find any interesting apps installed, Ã la the Lenovo. But port and juice junkies looking for an inexpensive, solid Android 3.1 tablet must consider the Thrive. You can even buy an 8GB version!
Acer Iconia Tab A500At this point in the arc of the Honeycomb tablet story, there really isn't any reason to consider the Iconia Tab A500, except maybe its bargain-basement street prices. The tablet is pudgy at 0.5 inches deep and 1.6 pounds. It doesn't have full-size HDMI or SD slots. There's no user-swappable battery. There aren't any special app packages or Netflix streaming support. You get a so-so 5MP rear camera, a pretty standard display, and microSD and Micro HDMI ports. Really, the most "exciting" thing of all about the A500 is its full-size USB port (along with a second Micro USB). And that alone generates about as much excitement as a box of raisins on Halloween.
Industrial design? Meh. Even if you can forgive the porkiness of the chassis, we're left uninspired by the brushed-aluminum strips flanking the top and bottom of the display. The A500 gets points just for playing, but we don't know why anyone would buy one.
RIM BlackBerry PlaybookCan you consider a 7-inch tablet viable in a fight where everyone else is wielding 10-inch devices? And when email is such an essential mobility feature, can you accept a tablet that depends on phone tethering for this service? And can you support an app store that makes even the Android Market look like the Mall of America in terms of inventory volume and variety?
In the case of the PlayBook, we have to answer no to each question. Pixel for pixel, this tablet has a perfectly fine 1024x600 screen, and we even appreciate the speedy, fluid OS (though having to swipe the screen perimeter to return home is an unnecessary affectation). But we still can't find a single reason to recommend this tablet outlier—unless you don't care about apps (especially games) or are some kind of BlackBerry fanboy with a nihilistic urge to support a tablet platform without a future. Revisionist history says the PlayBook deserves a 5 verdict.
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| Posted: 21 Nov 2011 12:35 PM PST A barely there home-theater PCPCs make great Blu-ray players, but Acer's Revo RL100-UR20P is the first Blu-ray-equipped PC we've seen that's thinner and smaller than most purpose-built Blu-ray players. If it played high-definition audio discs such as SACD and DVD-Audio, it would be one of the most powerful Blu-ray players on the market, but this machine isn't that ambitious. It is, on the other hand, considerably less expensive than very high-end Blu-ray players that are capable of playing those high-definition audio formats. The Oppo BDP-95, for example, sells for $999 and is almost never discounted.
The Revo RL100-UR20P is street-priced at just $550. That's a compelling price for a home-theater PC with 3D capabilities, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 750GB hard drive, integrated 802.11n, and a wicked wireless keyboard that doubles as an oversized wireless trackpad. Just don't expect to use the Revo RL100 for content creation, video transcoding, or much else besides watching movies, streaming media, and playing the least demanding of games. Outfitted with AMD's dual-core Athlon II Neo K325 running at 1.3GHz, integrated graphics in the form of Nvidia's Ion GPU, and DDR3 memory creeping along in single-channel mode at just 667MHz, this rig will never be mistaken for a powerhouse. But this machine runs as silent as a tomb, and you'll barely notice its impact on your electric bill: It drew 22 watts at idle and power consumption increased to just 32 watts while playing a Blu-ray disc. We encountered no issues streaming high-definition Netflix movies and YouTube videos.
The Revo can disappear inside your entertainment center, where it will operate either horizontally or vertically when mounted to its weighted stand. It has one USB 2.0 port with a tethered cover in front, along with a media card reader. There's a tiny indicator light near the power button, and a red LED flashes when the computer receives input from the trackpad/keyboard. The back panel is similarly bare, with an optical S/PDIF, single HDMI port, Ethernet, two more USB 2.0 ports, and a mic input and headphone jack. The Revo's trackpad/keyboard deserves special attention. It's a thin slab with an integrated battery that gets recharged when you slide it into its slot beneath the Blu-ray tray. When first powered up, it behaves as a touch-sensitive trackpad with support for multi-touch gestures. The only button on the device is for power, so you must tap its surface to click and there's no means of right-clicking. Pressing the power button a second time causes a full QWERTY keyboard, formed by tiny dots of light, to appear on the pad's surface. The touch-sensitive keyboard has dedicated keys to control media-player software and channel selection (although the computer does not have an integrated TV tuner), but you must switch back to trackpad mode to control the cursor. The pad also has a large wheel on the upper left side for volume control, and there's a mute key on the keyboard. The Revo is a 98-pound weakling compared to our favorite HTPC, Asrock's Vision 3D, but it delivers sexier looks, a bigger (albeit slower) hard drive, a keyboard and trackpad, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and a significantly smaller price tag. If you're primarily interested in a home-theater PC for playing Blu-ray movies and streaming media, this is a solid choice. $549 street, www.acer.com |
| Chrome Web App of the Week: Learn Kana Posted: 21 Nov 2011 11:39 AM PST
Learn Kana takes much of the pain out of learning to read and understand hiragana and katakana script, by turning boring old bookwork into an entertaining interactive experience that'll test your noodle and keep you coming back for more. By offering users repetitive online quizzes to help them burn kana into their brains, the application slowly and surely will train users into recognizing the sounds and symbols that make up the Japanese written linguistics. Lessons are broken down into two different groups: hiragana and katakana, making it easy to keep track of what you're learning at any given time. Both hiragana and katakana offer multiple levels of difficulty to keep learners challenged, no matter what their level of competency might be.
While it might not be as comprehensive as some of the paid software solutions available these days, there's no better free way to learn to understand kana, making it a must-try for anyone with even a passing interest in Japanese culture. Be sure to check in with us every Monday for another edition of Maximum PC's Chrome Web App of the Week.
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| Mimo Monitors Puts Finger on World's First USB Capacitive Touchscreen Posted: 21 Nov 2011 11:29 AM PST
Mimo Monitors envisions its Magic Touch being used in a variety of applications, some of which include point-of-sale (POS) input and entry, corporate videoconferencing, smart home entertainment systems, and industrial/manufacturing controls. It can also be used in healthcare, hospitality, retail, education, sound/video editing, and whereever else you may find a USB touchscreen helpful. The Magic Monitor is less than an inch thick and weighs under one pound. The screen supports a 1024x600 resolution, 16ms response time, 300:1 contrast ratio, and 200 cd/m2 brightness. Mimo says you can remove the screen and use it independently, as a tethered tablet, or mounted on a wall (VESA 75). You can pre-order the Magic Touch ($300) tomorrow for December 12th shipping, and the Deluxe ($330) stafor December 20th shipping. Image Credit: Mimo Monitors |
| Apple To Surpass HP As Top PC Vendor In 2012? Depends On How You Look At Things Posted: 21 Nov 2011 11:24 AM PST
What? Sure, Mac sales surged in the US this year, but Gartner's third quarter numbers don't even have Apple in the top five global PC vendors (who are HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer and Asus, in that order). Something seems fishy here. You see, Canalys analyst (try saying that three times fast!) Tim Coulling lumped in iPads with normal PCs when he crunched the data and said that Apple was poised to trump HP in 2012. That seems a bit off to us, especially when Apple's iPad started the whole trumped-up "Post PC" claims. If iPads are post-PC, how can they be counted as PCs? Additionally, there is no word in Canalys' press release whether or not laptops are included in their tally, or even how Coulling came by his numbers. Just for fun, let's look at some third quarter numbers from non-Canalys sources (Apple calls them fourth fiscal quarter numbers, by the way): according to Gartner, HP shipped 16.2 million PCs, far more than the 4.89 million Macs Apple managed to move. In addition, that 16.2 million PCs shipped number for HP is more than all tablets combined managed to ship -- only 13.6 million slates shipped in the third quarter, with 11.12 million being iPads, according to Apple. 11.12 million plus 4.89 million equals 16.01 million -- only a couple hundred thousand less than HP's shipped units. So we can understand Coulling's logic, if you agree that Mac and iPad sales will continue to increase next year and are fine with lumping in tablet sales as PC sales. What do you think, Maximum PC readers? Should tablets be included when counting total PC sales, or are they an entirely different beast all together, as some industry insiders claim? |
| RIM Slashing Price of BlackBerry PlayBook to $199 for the Holidays Posted: 21 Nov 2011 11:09 AM PST
RIM made the announcement earlier today via Twitter. "The #BlackBerry #PlayBook is at select #US & #Canadian retailers starting at $199. Limited time. http://t.co/WQGvO3Cm #HappyHolidays!," @BlackBerry tweeted. Over on RIM's website, a list of participating retailers include all the ones we mentioned above, plus Wireless Giant, Office Depot, Office Max, RadioShack, and Walmart. That's all the details that are currently available -- RIM didn't say when exactly the new pricing will kick off, how long it will last, and whether or not this is a Black Friday-only promotion. Regardless, a $199 PlayBook throws an interesting wrinkle into Amazon's and B&N's plan to attack the lower-cost tablet market with Android devices. Whereas both of those beefed up eReader devices lack certain hardware features found on more expensive tablets, the PlayBook still lacks some important software features, like native email, for instance. Image Credit: RIM |
| HTC Shifting Focus to Quad-Core Tablets and Smartphones Posted: 21 Nov 2011 10:45 AM PST
According to DigiTimes, HTC will shift its focus to the production of quad-core tablet PCs and smartphones starting in the first half of 2012. Other manufacturers eyeing up four-core mobile devices include Asus, Acer, Samsung, and Lenovo. One of the first of these devices will be the HTC Edge, a quad-core smartphone built around Nvidia's Tegra 3 platform and clocked at 1.5GHz. It will have a 4.7-inch display, 32GB of internal storage, and an 8MP camera. There's also the HTC Zeta, which is another quad-core smartphone, this one powered by a Qualcomm chip clocked at 2.5GHz. As manufacturers start to push out mobile devices with more CPU cores, the obvious concern is battery life. With that in mind, Nvidia's Tegra 3 processor actually sports a fifth core that handles the bulk of any boring work loads that aren't too demanding. The other cores only fire up as needed. |
There is a lot of emphasis on computer security these days. Strong passwords, encryption, the whole nine yards. Apparently no one told a community called South Houston in Texas, USA. According to various confirmed reports, the municipality was using a simple 
The rumors have been swirling quite literally for years, but All Things D claims to have a line on the real Facebook phone that is being developed be the social networking company. The device is codenamed "
Early adopters of Google's new flagship phone, the Galaxy Nexus, were a little concerned when Adobe Flash didn't come pre-loaded on the device, and was nowhere to be found in the Android Market. With the recent announcement that Adobe was walking away from mobile Flash, many users expected this to be the abrupt end of the line. Now Adobe has 
Japanese culture? Awesome. Learning to speak or read Japanese? Awesomely challenging. For native English speakers, learning to read Japan hiragana and katakana script can be a painful, frustrating experience of the same order as putting together a set of Ikea shelves all by your lonesome. Luckily, Japanophiles needn't fret over learning to read, thanks to 
Maybe you've heard of Mimo Monitors, maybe you haven't. Either way, the company that's taking credit for "ushering USB touchscreen monitors into the U.S. market" has now conjured up the "Magic Touch," a USB-driven capacitive touchscreen mini-monitor the company claims is an industry first. The Mimo Magic Touch sports a 10-inch display and a single USB 2.0 port, or two USB 2.0 ports if you spring for the deluxe model.
HP's behavior in 2011 has been, well, erratic, to say the least. (The absolute least.) The PR missteps by the world's top PC supplier has opened a crack just wide enough for other companies to sneak in and steal HP's title of king of the PC hill. So which competitor has the gumption to take the top spot? Lenovo recently unseated Dell from the number two position, so it appears to hold the prime position for usurpation. Wrong! says one analyst – who expects Apple to become the global PC leader in in 2012.
Before you go and drop a couple of Benjamins on a Kindle Fire from Amazon or $250 on a Nook Tablet from Barnes & Noble, there's something you should know. Research In Motion is slashing the price of its BlackBerry PlayBook to $199 at Best Buy, Staples, and a bunch of other popular retailers, putting it in direct competition with the two aforementioned tablets.
Don't worry if you just locked yourself into a two-year contract with a dual-core smartphone, there aren't a ton of apps out there that truly take advantage all that computing power anyway. We're not saying that to make you feel bad about purchasing a dual-core phone; on the contrary, we don't think anyone should needlessly stress about all those quad-core devices on the horizon.| You are subscribed to email updates from Maximum PC - All Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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