Turns out the Stream 14 wasn't the only affordable(ish) device HP had cooking, though its latest offerings are decidedly cheaper, smaller and less Chromebook-rivaling than the last one.
The company is out with a duo of tablets and a pair of laptops running Windows and carrying the Stream name to less sizeable screen sizes.
The HP Stream 7 and Stream 8 are Windows tabs with display girths to match their names. Intel processors tick inside. HP didn't cough up many other details, though Engadget has word the tablets feature 32GB of on-board storage, a microSD slot to expand, 1GB of RAM and Bluetooth 4.0.
Both tablets come with a one-year Microsoft Office 365 Personal subscription, including 1TB of OneDrive online storage and 60 Skype minutes/month. Stream 8 owners will have an optional 200MB of free 4G data to play with if they choose for as long as their tablet is kicking, no contract required.
The Stream 7 starts at $99.99 (about £61, AU$114) while the Stream 8 price begins at $149.99 (about £91, AU$171. Both tablets will be available in the US sometime in November.
Stream laptops
As for the keyboard-fitted Stream devices, HP introduced laptops with 11.6- and 13.3-inch displays.
The machines are flush with touch-optional HD displays and a fanless design. An Intel Celeron processor hums in both machines' inner chambers, and each counts 32GB of eMMC flash memory on its spec sheet. They will apparently feature 2GB of RAM, an Intel HD graphics card and boast a one-charge lifespan of 8.5 hours.
For better or worse, the Stream laptops come in either Orchid Magenta or Horizon Blue because, "Who doesn't love color?" as the Windows blog wonders.
Like their tablet cohorts, the Stream laptops comes with one year of Office 365 personal, 1TB of OneDrive online storage included. There's also a $25 gift card in the box because Microsoft REALLY wants you to buy its Windows Store apps.
The 11.6-inch Stream laptop starts at $199.99 (about £123, AU$229) and the 13.3-inch will get buyers going at $229.99 (about £141, AU$264). They too will be available stateside in November.
Amazon has launched its Kindle Unlimited service in the UK, offering subscribers unrestricted access to a library of thousands of titles for a monthly fee.
For £7.99 per month, Amazon's 'Spotify for books' gives users over 650,000 books and thousands of audiobooks, all of which can be enjoyed on Kindle ereaders and other devices running the Kindle app.
But while that collection of titles might be plenty, it's just a portion of Amazon's entire library, so you won't be getting the whole shebang.
Still, it's certainly not a bad deal, and one that's sweetened by a 30 day free trial. Amazon's also enticing would-be users with the promise of both the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series.
You can go try it out right now.
Looking for a Kindle? Maybe hold out for the Kindle Voyage
Tesco recently announced that it shelved plans for a smartphone, but it's ploughing ahead with its tablet range, with the Hudl 2 to be announced on October 3.
A new section has popped up on Tesco's Hudl page, letting visitors register for more information on the Hudl 2 and promise of a "sneak peek". All of those colours are probably hints that we're in for a range of different hues.
The site has the date as "coming soon" but we've received an invite confirming that the big reveal is on October 3.
The original 7-inch Hudl was a surprisingly accomplished tablet, though the big plus was of course the price. We expect the second will be in for a spec bump, though probably not a bump in price - or at least that's what we hope.
Microsoft's play into the world of tablets has been of mixed success. The original Surface and Surface Pro were bulky, underpowered and ran Windows 8, with very little external support from developers or the community at large. As a result, they flopped, selling very few units in comparison to the iPad and other laptop hybrids available on the market.
Microsoft wasn't phased, however, and brought out the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2, both big improvements on their predecessors and devices that normal people might actually want to own.
The Surface Pro 2, especially, made big leaps in terms of hardware whilst Windows 8 progressed on the software side, eventually leading to Windows 8.1, a vast improvement over the original version of Windows 8.
Third time's the charm
In early 2014, Microsoft held an event dedicated to the Surface Pro 3, "the tablet that will replace your laptop". The new tablet/laptop hybrid is thinner, quicker and runs a better version of Windows 8 that is more suited to the Surface Pro.
The accessories – the (additional) keyboard cover and pen – also received hefty upgrades, increasing the available uses of the tablet exponentially.
The Surface Pro 3 beats neither the MacBook Air – the device Microsoft used on stage to compare the laptop-like qualities – or the iPad at laptop or tablet specific uses, but it does a pretty good job at both and, crucially, means only one device is in your bag, as opposed to two.
Whether you should buy the Surface Pro 3 still isn't a given. Many of the early reviews praised the new pen for creative tasks, and Microsoft does seem to have done an excellent job.
OneNote, Microsoft's note-taking app, has been improved alongside the pen meaning that the two interact well together. For example, clicking the button atop the pen brings up OneNote on the Surface Pro 3, even if the device is idle.
Due to the larger 12.9-inch, 2160 x 1440 display, notes look fantastic and the pen is sensitive enough to capture lighter and heavier inputs. In fact, one of the major selling points of the Surface Pro 3 is the pen integration. Third-party styluses are available for the iPad, but none come with the deep integration with the operating system that Microsoft is offering here.
One or two devices?
I wrote originally that the Surface Pro 3 might turn out to be a "jack of all trades, master of none" and, fortunately, this does not appear to be wholly true. Of course, it is preferable to have two devices.
I carry around a MacBook Air and iPad mini when I travel simply because both are the best at their individual tasks – I mainly read on my iPad and write on the Air – and a Surface Pro 3 would not perform each task better. But there are other use cases where the Surface Pro 3 makes sense.
In business, for example, having one device that is good at a range of tasks, and is an improvement over the cumbersome nature of carrying two devices is a big plus. The note-taking aspect of the Surface Pro 3 is extremely useful for jotting down things and Windows 8.1 offers support for legacy desktop apps which many businesses rely on.
The Surface Pro 3 packs some serious internals, with Microsoft offering up to 512GB of SSD storage, an Intel Core i7 processor and 8GB of RAM. These components would rip through even an intense task such as gaming and are more than enough for loading up multiple Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents.
Click the button atop the stylus and OneNote fires up
Notable improvements
Microsoft has worked hard on improving OneNote, creating a viable alternative to other third-party note-taking apps such as Evernote, including making it available on all of the major platforms. If you have OneNote opened on multiple devices simultaneously, the screen can be shared via OneDrive creating a slick experience that could be useful when making a presentation or brainstorming an idea with co-workers.
This vision is basically what Microsoft has been working towards since the company's inception: a multitude of devices working together in harmony using Microsoft services with the cloud providing the connections between the devices.
Many of the Surface Pro 3's detractors will point to the multiple financial write-downs Microsoft has taken with the Surface line-up. At last count, Microsoft has taken nearly $1 billion (around £610 million, AU$1.13 billion) in write-downs in terms of unsold stock.
While this could be seen as failure on Microsoft's part – and it undoubtedly is – the company has a hard sell with the Surface Pro.
Consumers have been conditioned by Apple and Samsung to want one device for one specific purpose – an iPad to read, an iPod to listen to music, a Mac to work on – and now Microsoft is trying to undo all these years of expectations.
Dual purpose
Whether they have, or will, succeed remains to be seen. In terms of the actual device, Microsoft has done a sterling job – the Surface Pro 3 does, just about, manage to work as a laptop or a (very large) tablet, and it performs both roles acceptably.
Should you buy one though? That rather depends on if you need to take notes or have such limited bag space that you need one device, and having a MacBook Air and iPad in the same space is unrealistic.
If this is true in your case, then go ahead and buy a Surface Pro 3. If you are looking for a new laptop, the Surface Pro 3 should definitely be on the list of potential candidates, especially as a Surface Pro 3 is far cheaper than its MacBook Air counterpart, and it can act as a tablet.
The Tesco Hudl was a true bargain, initially coming in at just £119 and now even cheaper. It was notable mostly for its rock-bottom price, undercutting even the likes of the Nexus 7, but that would mean nothing if it was an awful bit of kit, so thankfully it was well up to the basic tasks expected of a tablet.
Plenty more slates have arrived since then (including the ill-fated Argos MyTablet), but that aside there's still not much direct competition to the Hudl.
So the Hudl 2 should have a clear run at super-budget tablet victory, just as long as it makes meaningful improvements to the specs while keeping the price low. Here's what we've heard about it so far.
What will it cost? Hopefully around £120 like the first one
Tesco Hudl 2 release date and price
Tesco sent us an invitation confirming that the Hudl 2 will be announced on October 3. It may not actually launch on that day, but we'd be surprised if Tesco kept us waiting much beyond that given it needs to get it out before Christmas so everyone can buy it for that person that was thinking about getting a tablet.
The supermarket chain has said nothing about the price yet, but the Hudl's main USP is its affordability, so we'd hope and assume that the Hudl 2 will be similarly priced, coming in at around £120 at launch. Though with substantial improvements expected it's possible that the price may creep up.
Tesco Hudl 2 specifications
Almost nothing is known about the Hudl 2 yet, despite us being close to the announcement date. All Tesco initially said on the matter was that it plans to release an 'enhanced' version of the Hudl, which could mean anything, since the Hudl 2 is obviously going to be improved in some way.
But alongside its announcement that the Hudl phone had been shelved, Tesco revealed that the Hudl 2 "improves on just about every area of its predecessor, from screen size to speed, design and accessories.
"Where the first hudl was used by many as a secondary device, hudl 2 has the capability to take its place as customers' primary tablet in the home."
So it's clear that we're going to be seeing a larger, more powerful slate and one which will perhaps be redesigned too.
Credit: Daily Star
We don't know anything more specific than that, but there are a few clues. For one thing the invite to the October 3 event says 'we want to show you the bigger picture'. That's almost certainly a reference to the increased screen size, but the mention of 'picture' may also be a hint at camera improvements.
That's certainly something we'd be happy to see, as while we tend to feel tablet cameras are a little pointless it's clear that some people do use them and the snapper on the first Hudl was appalling.
As the original Hudl came with a microSD card slot the Hudl 2 almost certainly will as well and we'd imagine it will ship with the latest version of Android too, but don't expect to see the back of Tesco's apps.
Tesco Hudl 2 screen
As mentioned above, Tesco has specifically stated that the screen size will be increased, or changed anyway, which presumably means increased, especially as the announcement invitation mentions the 'bigger picture'.
As for the exact size of the screen we may be in for an 8-inch display, as the announcement invitations were accompanied by magic 8 balls.
We also fully expect that it will be at least Full HD at the screen size, with many rumours pointing to that being the case. That would be a modest-ish upgrade on the 7-inch Hudl, though we hope the resolution will be increased too, as the original is just 1440 x 900.
Tesco Hudl 2 design
The announcement invitation also includes a number of brightly coloured squares and the Hudl 2 page on Tesco's site (which currently just says 'coming soon') is also distinctly colourful, which may mean we're in for a wider range of colour options on the Hudl 2 itself.
Since Tesco has specifically mentioned the design of its new slate we imagine it will be more than just the colour which changes though. One obvious area of improvement would be to shrink the positively massive bezels.
An all-new CPU?
The older Hudl came with a quad core offering, and we're thinking the same will be happening here. But if this truly is going to be a primary tablet in the home, we're hoping there's a big name behind the processor, perhaps a Qualcomm or Intel, and that will result in whizzy-fast graphics and speeds.
With the larger screen we should be able to get a longer battery life too (despite the increase in pixels) so it should be possible to use the CPU to gain those efficiencies.
Microsoft's Windows 8 didn't just shake up the company's entire software empire, but the mobile computing industry to boot. Given the dualistic nature of the new Windows, laptop and tablet makers responded in kind with devices commonly known as 2-in-1 laptops, or hybrid laptops.
These are devices that are able to serve as both a laptop and a tablet, either in a detachable design that sees the touchscreen doubling as a tablet, or a convertible approach in which the notebook's hinge rotates 360 degrees for a similar effect. In the past, neither have been all that successful in providing both experiences in equal measure, but that's slowly changing.
Considering their similarity to Ultrabooks in terms of build quality, thinness and lightness, 2-in-1 laptops are generally priced in the same range: between $899 (about £525, AU$958)and $2,000 (around £1,169, AU$2,131). These are sleek, powerful devices that look good and serve multiple use cases to varying degrees of success. With that, here are the best 2-in-1 laptops that we've reviewed thus far.
This is not only Microsoft's most striking and versatile device to date, but the most convincing poster child for the hybrid category yet. And this ringing endorsement comes from a long-time skeptic of such devices.
That said, the Surface Pro 3 (starting at $799, £639, AU$979) is hamstrung by flaws that cannot be ignored. Namely, the battery life might be in line with most Ultrabooks, but isn't close to what Apple's leading laptop and top tablet. And the Type Cover billed as an accessory doesn't help Microsoft's cause – it's quite pricey to boot.
At any rate, this version of the tablet comes in cheaper than the most affordable iPad Air and 13-inch MacBook Air combined, even with the Type Cover, and that's the point. On paper, this slate is more powerful than either Apple device, not to mention most other comparably priced laptops and tablets. The Surface Pro 3 might not be perfect, but it's far and wide the brightest shining example of a potential tablet takeover.
Read our Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review
Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro
With the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (starting at $1,099, £999, AU$1,599), we can now confirm that 3,200 x 1,800 pixels is delicious indeed. On top of the winning Yoga form factor, we loved the solid performance, backlit keyboard, and the snappy SSD, creating mobile device-like response times.
However, in our experience, a Haswell-based ultrabook this thin should run twice as long as the Yoga 2 Pro does on a full charge; we got about five hours in our testing. Even with cloud services like Google Drive, a 128GB SSD is hard to recommend for even your grandparents.
Drawbacks considered, the Yoga 2 Pro is a winner of a laptop, pure and simple. At the $1,000 price point, you could put the Yoga 2 Pro in just about anyone's hands and make them quite pleased.
Read our Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro review
Asus Transformer Book TX300
The Asus Transformer Book TX300 (starting at $1,499, about £878, AU$1,649) is encased in brushed aluminium, giving it a quality sleek finish, enabling it to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the MacBook Air in the looks department.
However, it has a hidden trick up its sleeve. The screen unclips from the keyboard base to turn this 13-inch laptop into a 13-inch tablet, for playing games, surfing the web or watching movies.
Along with 4GB of RAM, the chip inside is an Ivy Bridge Intel Core i7 3517U 3rd Generation model. The 4th Generation, nicknamed Clover Trail, which came out in early 2013, boasts better speeds and dramatically improved battery life.
Read our Asus Transformer Book TX300 review
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S
The 11.6-inch Lenovo Yoga 11S (starting at around $799, £599, AU$1,299) laptop is a flexible machine that can fold over from a typical laptop stance to a stand position, to a position with the keyboard behind the screen, ready for delivering presentations.
It comes with HDMI, SD card and USB ports, and boasts a surprisingly impressive Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage. The screen is sharp and bright, though not full HD, and works well with Windows 8. It's also nicely light and small for portability. You can easily use the Yoga 11S as you would any other laptop, replete with a full QWERTY keyboard.
Read our Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S review
Sony Vaio Duo 13
From the slim line and attractive design to the top-notch components included, the Sony Vaio Duo 13 (starting at $2,999, £1,352, AU$1,899) looks every inch the expensive product. We also really liked the improvements to the sliding design, which makes it much easier to open and close.
While the sliding design has improved, it still feels a tiny bit delicate around the hinges, which isn't great for such an expensive product. Having the hard drive filled with bloatware is also an avoidable annoyance.
Regardless, the Vaio Duo 13 is one of the best laptop-tablet hybrids we've seen yet. Just be prepared to pay the big bucks for that experience.
Update:Apple issued the iOS 8.0.1 patch today, one week after the iOS 8 launch, however, the release notes for the update don't address the Wi-Fi and battery drain problems being reported.
Further compounding the problem, iOS 8.0.1 introduced new glitches for Touch ID and cellular reception. It has since been pulled, so in addition to our troubleshooting advice below, don't update from iOS 8 just yet.
Original story...
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That means nearly half of the active iPhones and iPads already running the software are open to the same problems we've seen during every recent launch.
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Luckily, if you're looking for a quick Wi-Fi and battery drain fix, you won't have to wait until the inevitable iOS 8.0.1. There are solutions to hold you over until the next update.
Can't connect to Wi-Fi? Try resetting Network Settings on your iPhone or iPad
Wi-Fi problems
A small, but vocal group of users have experienced slow Wi-Fi or have been unable to connect to their router. They shouldn't have to resort to using their data plans.
We found that diving into Settings > Reset > Reset Network Settings solved the iOS 8 Wi-Fi problems. Don't worry, this reset only wipes your Wi-Fi logins.
Others have found that heading into Privacy > Location Services > System Settings (all the way down at the bottom > and turning off Wi-Fi Networking did the trick.
This suggestion doesn't actually turn off Wi-Fi. It simply voids using nearby Wi-Fi networks to assist GPS in determining your location more quickly and accurately.
It's a useful feature, but one you can live without until a proper fix for slow Wi-Fi launches in the next update.
iOS 8 battery drain is nothing new. But there are new ways to combat
Battery drain
Even with the massive iPhone 6 Plus and its solid 24 hours of talk time, battery drain remains an issue. There are new solutions, though.
Apple actually helps resolve many of our battery problems in iOS 8 with a convenient battery usage breakdown. It's a bit buried, but worth looking at every now and again.
To find out which apps are draining your battery life, visit Settings > General > Usage > Battery Usage and be sure to close or uninstall energy-sucking apps you don't need or use.
The second suggestion is to back out of there as far as the General settings menu. Head into Background App Refresh and turn off any apps that don't demand your immediate attention (Dropbox, Podcasts and Weather are three prime examples)
Beyond that, you can use the usual anti-battery draining techniques in your toolbelt.: dim the brightness, turn off email push notifications, limit app notifications and disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when it's not in use. It's easier than ever to toggle Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with the swipe-up-from-the-bottom Control Center overlay introduced in iOS 7.
Looking to the future
When all else fails, hold on tight for another month. iOS 8.0.1 should be here in October if Apple's pattern holds true.
After all, Apple still needs to launch Mac OS X Yosemite in October and relaunch its Health app. It may have new MacBooks and an iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 on October 21 to boot.
In the meantime, if you have your own crafty way of fixing iOS 8 problems or need help, feel free to troubleshoot in the comments.
See Why Apple Pay is a really, really big deal for, well, everyone
New rumours have again tied HTC to the much anticipated Nexus 9, suggesting that 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 in store with the Nexus 9.
Google has done well with its Nexus line, particularly the PGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cDovL2hvc3RpbmdraXRhLmNvbQ0iIHRhcmdldD0iX2JsYW5rIiByZWw9Im5vZm9sbG93Ij5OZXh1cyA0IDwvYT4=and Nexus 5, which delivered high end smartphone specs on a budget and both versions of the Nexus 7, which did the same for slates. So it's no surprise that the company is seemingly looking at adding another device into the mix, specifically the Nexus 9.
Numerous mentions of the device, which may be closer to 9 inches than 8, have popped up over the last few months, alternately referring to it as the Nexus 8, Nexus 9 and Volantis, so it's starting to look like a safe bet that it's coming in some form.
That still leaves a lot of questions unanswered, such as when it's arriving, how much it will cost and what its specs will be. But as more news and rumors roll in we're picking them apart and putting them all in one place (here) so you can learn everything there is to know about the Nexus 9 before it's announced.
Cut to the chase
What is it? A new tablet set to fill the gap between the Nexus 7 and the Nexus 10
When is it out? Possibly October 8, failing that maybe November
What will it cost? Around £275 / $464 / AU$498 is our best guess
Nexus 9 release date and price
We were hoping that the Nexus 9 might show up at Google I/O, but, er, it didn't. HTC is believed to be behind the tablet, but either way, it will probably be Google's event, not HTC's.
Evidence is mounting that HTC will indeed by the manufacturer of the Nexus 9. At the beginning of September court documents pertaining to Nvidia's patent lawsuit again Qualcomm and Samsung claimed that HTC is working on the Nexus 9 tablet, which would be running on Nvidia's Tegra K1 processor.
A source apparently close to the Nexus 9 development also contacted the Wall Street Journal to confirm that HTC would be the manufacturer of the new Nexus device.
The court documents also suggested that the Nexus 9 would be launched sometime in the third quarter of 2014. HTC is gearing up for a media event on October 8 which just about misses the third quarter, though not by much.
However, even if HTC is the manufacturer of the Nexus 9, it is more likely to be announced at a Google event, as in previous years.
No other possible release dates have been put forward but perhaps we'll see it alongside the Nexus 6, which itself is rumored for an October or November debut. A PGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy5ob3N0aW5na2l0YS5jb20NIiB0YXJnZXQ9Il9ibGFuayIgcmVsPSJub2ZvbGxvdyI+dGFibGV0IDwvYT4=codenamed the HTC 'Flounder' has made its way through Wi-Fi certification, and has been listed with different SKUs (unique model identifiers) that mean it will probably come in both Wi-Fi and 4G flavors as usual.
We're guessing on the price too, but it's likely to fall somewhere between the Nexus 7 (£199 / $336 / AU$360) and the Nexus 10 (£319 / $538 / AU$578), so maybe it will be around £275 / $464 / AU$498.
Nexus 9 display
Originally dubbed the Nexus 8, recent rumours suggest a screen size of up to 8.9 inches, along with a new moniker that's more suited to the size of the display; the Nexus 9.
Initial rumors pointed to an LG built device with an 8.3-inch 1920 x 1200 screen. However more recent ones point to an 8.9-inch slate, while LG is seemingly out of the picture, with HTC being the likely maker.
That 8.9-inch size has popped up more than once while the idea of an 8.3-inch slate seems to have disappeared into the ether, so 8.9 inches is looking likely. 8.9 inches might also make more sense, as 8.3 inches isn't drastically bigger than the Nexus 7. Now, 8.9 inches could encroach on the Nexus 10 but that's been MIA for a while.
The first resolution rumors for the 8.9-inch size pointed to 2048 x 1440, however @evleaks, who's shared a number of details on the device and is fairly reliable as tipsters go, claims that the slate is being tested with a 1680 x 1050 screen, but that it will ship with a 2560 x 1600 display, so we could be in for some seriously crisp visuals.
What's big, has everybody talking and will cause a great deal of joy and sadness on Friday morning? No, not the Scottish independence referendum: we mean the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which go on sale Friday - but not to many of the people who ordered theirs from Phones 4u, which went into administration this week after everybody else's pre-orders had already sold out.
This week we discovered whether Apple still leads, or if others have taken its crown. Not only that, but we've got the latest Sony Xperia, a bunch of new Kindles, the Moto 360 and a date with Destiny.
Has Apple perfected the phone?
The iPhone 6 is bigger, better, sleeker and faster than ever before - but the days when Apple had the good smartphone market to itself have long gone. How does the iPhone 6 fare against Android's finest? Gareth Beavis knows, and he reckons it's "sensational, but not flawless."
The screen isn't full HD and, as we're sure you already know, it's awfully expensive - although not as expensive as the even bigger iPhone 6 Plus. The good Mr Beavis reckons you should make sure you really want one: it's designed for "a very particular client base." We think he means rich giants.
iOS: is 8 great?
New iPhones mean a new version of iOS, and the arrival of iOS 8 appears to have many iPhone 4S owners cursing Tim Cook as their PGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cDovL2hvc3RpbmdraXRhLmNvbQ0iIHRhcmdldD0iX2JsYW5rIiByZWw9Im5vZm9sbG93Ij5zbWFydHBob25lcyA8L2E+slow to a crawl. On more recent devices, though, there's a lot to like - and Matt Swider can explain what, where and why. Not everything works yet (don't enable Cloud Drive until Yosemite ships if you want to keep syncing with your Mac) but there's lots of cool new stuff. We're particularly pleased about the third party keyboards.
Sony's premium push
Sony, it's safe to say, isn't doing very well at the moment. Its solution? Shift strategy and in mobiles, concentrate on the premium smartphone market. Sony's problem isn't so much the hardware - devices such as the new Xperia Z3 are great - as Sony's relationship with carriers, particularly those in the US and China.
Amazon's Kindle Kollection
You can tell Christmas is coming: Amazon's announced a whole bunch of new Kindles it hopes you'll buy for everybody you know. There's a new Kindle Fire for kids called the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition, updated Kindle Fire HDs and Kindle Fire HDXes, and a new higher resolution ebook reader called the Kindle Voyage.
Moto 360-uh-oh
Matt Swider has spent a week with Motorola's Moto 360 smartwatch, and that time has exposed a fatal flaw: its battery life is terrible, which means that after a long day it's not much more useful than a sundial. It does look quite nice, though.
A date with Destiny
This week Bungie's Destiny broke records: its launch is the most successful of any new gaming franchise, which is a corporate way of saying it's sold a bajillion copies. Unlike Bungie's Halo franchise it's available on PS4 too, and that encouraged us to revisit our PS4 review to see how it looks now there are lots of decent games and streaming services for Sony's console. It's still the most powerful console in the world, and now it's starting to deliver on its promises [].
Google 2.0
The Scots aren't the only people who want to change the world this week. Google wants to change the world too, and CEO Larry Page has set up a special Google 2.0 task force to solve issues such as, er, making Google more accessible to kids. Thankfully Google 2.0's other plans are more ambitious: they're designing cities of the future, more efficient airports and better forms of security. Google's Calico still beats them on ambition, though: it's trying to cure death.
Galactic revelations
And finally, Samsung has confirmed the release date for the Galaxy Note 4. The phablet will go on sale in the UK on October 10 and in the US on October 17, with pre-orders now open. You can see what we thought of the phone in our Galaxy Note 4 hands on review.
There are now over 1,300,000 apps on the iOS App Store; the Google Play Store is home to around the same number of Android apps right now. What we're trying to say is - there are a lot of apps out there, and unsurprisingly, a lot of them are crap.
We're sure you've stumbled on some stinkers yourself, but we hope you've not come across any as bad of these. You see, at TechRadar we're making it our mission to scour the underbelly of both app stores to find the truly terrible, the truly disgusting, and the truly WTF, all in the name of technology.
Each week we'll be nominating an app that deserves the crown of "worst of the worst", with an aim to complete a list of the ten truly most terrible apps we've ever seen.
So let us begin our dangerous journey through the bowels of humanity's ideas. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.
1. Pet Baby
iOS Price: Free
Here's how I imagine the meeting at Trashicon HQ happened the day the idea for Pet Baby was born.
"Hey guys, people like sharing pictures of their pets. I think I've spotted what they call a 'market opportunity'."
"You sure have, Jerry. But our app budget is focused on babies right now. Babies are funny, remember?!"
"But wait, why don't we combine the two?"
*The room falls deadly silent. A single bead of sweat runs down Jerry's forehead. He's eyeing up his desk across the room, mentally packing up his belongings*
"Careful Jerry, that's the sort of thinking that'll get you a… PROMOTION."
*Everyone claps*
And thus, Pet Baby was born. An app that asks the question that's been on the collective lips of humanity since the dawn of man: "What would your pet look like… as a human baby?" Given that most babies look the same, the answer is probably 'just like every other baby ever', right?
WRONG. Your pet baby is a mutant child that will devour your soul.
You see, rather than making any effort whatsoever to morph your dog's face into some sort of funny canine-baby mashup, the app lazily hacks the two together with an opacity tool to create what can only be described as a pure evil.
But does the fun stop there? Oh no. No, once your rabid demon child has been conceived, you can expose your friends and family to the horror via Facebook and Twitter.
Just look at some of the beauties we came up with:
Then we tried it with some humans. That should work better, right? WRONG AGAIN.
And God forbid the app ever does produce anything looking mildly sentient, you can expect something like the following:
This app had zero reviews at the time of publishing.
When it comes to enterprise mobility, the message coming out of Dell's recent Solutions Summit in Brussels was loud and clear: business users still aren't making the most of their tablets. Dell reckons this is partly down to the still widespread perception that tablets are companion devices to laptops and are meant for lightweight, rather than heavy-duty work.
The PC maker is hoping to change that with the launch of the Dell Cast, a media streaming device that is set to come to the UK following a stateside launch earlier this month. The hardware shares similarities with Google's Chromecast: both are small enough to easily slip into a pocket, connect using HDMI and and let you beam content being displayed on a mobile device to a larger display.
Small, but perfectly formed
There are, however, a few key differences that set them apart. Dell's product is aimed primarily at business users, costs more than twice as much ($80 versus the Chromecast's $34) and is currently more limited in terms of compatible devices.
Dell's Venue 8 Pro is supported
Where the Chromecast supports a wide range of Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, the Dell Cast only works with the company's own Venue 7 and Venue 8 Android tablets, with support for Windows (including the Dell Venue 8 Pro), in addition to its upcoming Venue tablets, arriving later in the year.
Setup and operation
The Dell Cast takes just minutes to set up. It slots into a spare HDMI port, along with a micro-USB cable that goes into the TV or PC monitor to supply power. There's also a full-sized USB port, which allows you to connect a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi receiver for pairing a keyboard and mouse - or a wired peripheral.
Well-connected
Our demo was given on a Venue 8 Android tablet, which had the Dell Cast companion app pre-installed (it's available as a free download from the Google Play Store). You're presented with two modes after launching it: Productivity and Mirror.
A tale of two modes
Productivity mode maximises the Android user interface to fill the entire display, but instead of mirroring the screen, you get a Windows-like desktop mode complete with a taskbar along the bottom edge that shows which Android apps you have open.
A larger display brings media to life
It's in this mode that you can interact with screen contents with a cursor using a keyboard and mouse, clicking at icons and menu options as you would on a desktop. Operation is fluid, with apps opening and minimising in a second, web pages opening quickly and 1080p YouTube videos play without any stutter.
Desktop mode is attractive and smooth
A nice touch is the way that you still get Android-like features - from the Notification bar that can be dragged down from the top of the display to the way the lock screen comes on when you've been idle for a certain amount of time.
The lock screen works the same
Mirror mode offers a more classic screen-mirroring experience, blowing up the tablet screen's contents onto the larger display. Apps are once again maximised, but they're controlled by physically interacting with the tablet in your hand rather than using the keyboard and mouse. Whereas Productivity mode is more geared toward the individual, Mirror mode would be more useful for giving presentations or collaborating with others by passing the device around.
Mirror mode directly replicates your screen's contents
Mirror mode is equally as smooth as Productivity mode and produced hardly any stutter as we opened and closed Gmail, YouTube and other apps.
Unfortunately during our brief demo we didn't get chance to put it through its paces with anything more demanding, and it will be interested to find how it copes during more intensive use cases - such as editing large spreadsheets or multimedia in the cloud.
Verdict
The Dell Cast is certainly a more headache-free way of getting your tablet's contents onto a big screen than snaking cables under carpets and buying adapters, and Productivity mode goes a long way to reproducing the classic Windows desktop experience on Android. As such, it's a boon for anybody looking to work within cloud-based apps using a keyboard and mouse but wants to avoid using Windows 8.1.
On the down side, the fact that you need a (supported) Dell device limits the appeal somewhat, although our Dell representative said that extending the Dell Cast's compatibility to other Android tablets in the future is a possibility. It's also assumed that you'll have a spare Wi-Fi (or Bluetooth) receiver lying around, in addition to a keyboard and mouse.
There's limited appeal for regular users, who could pick up a Chromecast, which comes with mirroring functionality (but lacks keyboard and mouse support), for more than thalf the cost.
One of the big absentees at this year's IFA in Germany was the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro, the Chinese company's third generation convertible laptop, one that set the standard for other to follow (or copy).
It looks though that it won't be long before the follow up of the Yoga 2 Pro hit the market. German website MobileGeeks has confirmed that some unnamed Scandinavian vendors have already listed the 2-in-1 convertible.
The Yoga 3 Pro will apparently come with an Intel Core M-5Y70 system-on-chip, the fastest of the three Broadwell-based processors that were announced at an Intel keynote at IFA.
That particular chip runs at 1.1GHz but can ramp its clock speed to up to 2.6GHz via Turbo Boost. It packs 4MB of cache, has two cores and four threads and comes with an Intel HD Graphics 5300 (which has a base frequency of 100MHz and can overclock to 850MHz).
Being one of the first chip on 14nm, it consumes only 4.5W, a fraction of what the Haswell-based Core i7-4510U consumed. The rest of the listing also revealed that the laptop will likely use the same 13.3-inch qHD+ display as its predecessor, one that sports a 3200 x 1800 pixel resolution.
At just under 1.4Kg, it remains one of the lightest Ultrabooks on the market with such a configuration; the new Yoga 3 Pro will face competition from Asus' new Zenbook as well as Dell's XPS 13 and Toshiba's Portege range.
Best Ultrabooks: top 5 thin and light laptops reviewed
Nvidia's patent lawsuit against Qualcomm and Samsung has already had many twists and turns, but the latest surprise to emerge from the lawsuit doesn't actually involve any of the participants.
As part of the lawsuit Nvidia disclosed that it expects a HTC Nexus 9 tablet, powered by its Tegra K1 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operating system, rather than anything Nvidia says in a lawsuit.
Still, if the claims turn out to be true HTC might be a pretty upset that Nvidia has spoiled its big surprise, and it can be added to the list of companies that Nvidia has annoyed with its lawsuit.
Similar to its great buddy Microsoft, Intel found itself horrifically late to the tablet party. Both companies had tried to push the form factor before.
The 2002's Tablet PC was a thick and clunky eight-year early tablet based around Windows XP Tablet Edition and failed to get any traction outside of businesses.
Both companies made a fatal error at the time – they believed that people wanted 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with detachable keyboards
The Atom experiment was a disaster; some of the designs from well-known OEMs offered an extremely poor user experience for using Windows 8. The CPU just wasn't up to the job.
The 2-in-1 market, however, is a sizable area of potential gain for Intel. The market is still very young, but the signs are encouraging – 50 per cent of people that have bought a 2-in-1 say they were previously considering a tablet, while there are more 70 system designs now on the market across all screen sizes. 2-in-1s are for people that still want to use x86 and x64 apps and have a device that can be used as a tablet.
While Intel has long produced CULV (Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage) processors for tablets including the Haswell Core i3, i5 and i7 variants in the Surface Pro 3, something still needed to change. Intel has the computing power, but battery life was a major weakness until now.
Enter the 14 nanometer die shrink of Haswell. Codenamed Broadwell, this is a launch that – relatively unusually for Intel in recent times - has been delayed, and after originally being promised the bulk of the CPUs (including those for desktops and full laptops) in late 2014, these will most likely hit in early 2015 (Intel says they "will be in volume production before year end"). We expect them to see a full launch at CES 2015.
But today sees an advance party for Broadwell in the form of Intel Core M. These Broadwell CPUs are designed specifically for tablets and 2-in-1s as well as very thin laptops (whether they'll fit into the Ultraboook category remains to be seen).
And they're fanless, yet with Core-level performance. The key to this is 14nm die shrink that has enabled the TDP (thermal design power) of the system-on-chip to sink below 6W and even down to 4.5W depending on design.
This compares to TDPs of 17-18W only a couple of years ago. Improved packaging also enables more compact designs – the equivalent Haswell Core package was 960mm^2, whereas Core M's packaging is almost half that. This translates into designs that are designs that are thinner than 9mm.
Intel sees the biggest market for 2-in-1s are people who bought a PC around 3-5 years ago and who are now looking to upgrade.
Intel also believes Core M powered devices can entice those who were previously just looking for an Android or iOS tablet, but who value the multitasking value of Windows, flexible file storage and capabilities of a full Windows PC.
Core M is available in dual core versions for now, the latter having 1.3 billion transistors. 4MB of L3 Cache is shared across the cores and the on-die graphics. Core M utilises Intel's HD 5300 Graphics which supports resolutions up to 4K (3,840 vs 2,160).
There are three variants of the Core M; 5Y70, 5Y10a and 5Y10 (capable of going to 4W). The key difference is the clock – 2.6Ghz for the 5Y70, while the others are 2.0Ghz. All these chips are dual-core, four thread processors but expect some other variants as time goes on.
With Core M, Intel is promising performance improvements for graphics and video of 7% and a more modest increase of around 2% for productivity tasks over 'a four year-old notebook' – that's comparing a Core M-5Y70 with the Core i5-520UM chip. The key thing here though is that there has been a significant reduction in TDP, 18W vs 4.5W.
That power reduction means a significant uplift in battery life – Intel is talking somewhere in the region if 1.7 hours versus a previous generation system. As you can see from this chart, the main power consumer is the screen (no surprise), but Broadwell brings a distinct saving when it comes to the system-on-chip as well as, interestingly, audio. This is down to Intel's SmartSound audio processing technology that enables features such as wake -on-voice.
Also part of the Core M platform is 802.11ac wireless (Intel Wireless-AC 7265) and 5Y70 is compatible with Intel's vPro for business deployments, Windows InstantGo and Platform Trust Technology. There's also support for Intel's Rapid Storage tech.
As for pricing, Intel is predictably talking about the 2-in-1 market predominantly – machines around the $900 mark (around £550, AU$950). But Intel reckons Core M could easily be homed in cheaper tablets – those around the $500 mark (around £300, AU$530) - and we'll have to wait to see what OEMs announce in due course.
Intel says somewhere in the region of 20 system designs are being developed using Core M and a handful of systems will arrive in October across both consumer and business SKUs. The first of these – launched at IFA 2014 - is the new-generation Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 2 in 1 that clocks in at 800g. It's 9.6mm thick, with a 11.6-inch Full HD display.
iOS is the smartphone platform that, some argue, started it all, and with iOS 8 arriving very soon, it's easy to forget where it all began. Although it was only 2007, the launch of the Apple iPhone and its nascent iPhone OS seems millennia ago.
With that in mind, we decided to dig deeper and take a trip down a grid-based memory lane, so here's our look at the software side of PGEgaHJlZj0iaHR0cDovL2hvc3RpbmdraXRhLmNvbQ0iIHRhcmdldD0iX2JsYW5rIiByZWw9Im5vZm9sbG93Ij5BcHBsZSdzIDwvYT4=mobile revolution.
You remember the iPhone right? Not the one with the Retina screen that's all the rage on public transport, but the one that started it all nearly six years ago.
The mobile market has never looked the same since WWDC 2007. The leader at that time, BlackBerry, is now struggling, and nigh on every smartphone adorned with a massive touchscreen. Powering the first iPhone was Apple's iPhone OS, a touch-optimised version of OS X.
With its black background and App grid, the iOS platform was pretty bland. However, it had multi-touch capabilities, and it carried a mobile-ised version of Safari, the precursor to the mobile versions of Chrome, IE and FireFox, albeit without Flash (something that has remained omitted to this day).
These elements might have seemed small, but a great touch-based interface and strong web browser were killer features.
iPhone OS 2
The next major iteration of iOS came along with the iPhone 3G, the second version of the iPhone. Whilst there were some notable hardware upgrades, such as 3G support, people began to realise that the big difference was the software.
The iPhone 2.0 software gave birth to the App Store, housing what has become the staple of the smartphone diet: apps.
True third party apps could be created and distributed easily, with a whopping 500 applications at launch. Apps could even be downloaded directly to the iPhone, skipping iTunes if you wanted.
For many users, the other major update to iPhone OS 2 was nothing to get excited about, but don't underestimate its importance.
It pushed Apple's devices towards the business market as Microsoft Exchange came built in, alongside Cisco IPSec VPN and WPA2 Enterprise support, opening up a whole new revenue stream for the brand.
iPhone OS 3
Again, the next iteration of Apple's mobile OS was launched with a phone, the iPhone 3GS.
Once more there were big features that now seem commonplace in both the mobile and iOS markets, such as landscape typing now available in third party apps.
The first really big update came in the form of Spotlight, that search page to the far left of your home screens, allowing you to search through contacts, Mail and Calendar apps.
The other major update was copy and paste, something that has been on desktops for as long as we can remember. (Apple, incidentally, was the company to bring it to the fore on the Lisa and Macintosh systems of the early 80s.) Text and even imagery could be copied across, and placed in the upgraded Messages app, meaning the iPhone finally packed MMS support.
iOS 4
Cue 2010 and a refresh of name. Unhappy with dominating just the mobile market, Apple spied the next big thing in the form of the tablet.
With many writing it off as a large iPod, the iPad took the world by storm. Yes, the original shipped with iPhone OS 3.2, but it meant that iOS was no longer locked to small displays, making it across to the 9.7-inch screen.
So what did iOS4 bring to the iPad, and the newly launched iPhone 4? Wallpapers would be the first thing to change: the dull bland black background was replaced, and customisable lock screen wallpapers arrived as well. iBooks made its first appearance, optimised to turn the iPad into an eReader.
Video calling also popped over in the form of FaceTime, although limited only to Wi-Fi connections. The new decade did herald two other new features to iOS, and they were big features: multi-tasking and folders.
A double tap of the home button allowed access to the strictly controlled multi-tasking bar along the bottom for easy switching between your apps, meaning navigating iOS became easier, and battery life got longer. Win win.
A folder system was also implemented, and to this day many can't see its integration ever being beaten (although it's often copied).
Dragging and dropping icons onto each other meant you could hide away system apps, and group your games together. We're sticklers for neatness, so we don't know where we'd be without folders.
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