Monthly Archives: February 2016

Nike FuelBand: The rise and fall of the wearable that started it all

It’s four years since the first Nike+ FuelBand went on sale in the US. Despite leaving this mortal coil so soon (two versions, three years) the FuelBand fitness tracker was undoubtedly a pioneer.

And while the wristband won’t be remembered as a sales juggernaut, its importance as a transformative product can’t be understated.

It might have launched after the first ever Fitbit, but this was the fitness tracker that got people comparing Fuel Points, even though no one ever really knew what Nike’s metric meant or how it was calculated. Yet it was exciting. While every device reports back on your activity, this was the first time we’d experienced that insight. It felt personal, refreshing… revolutionary.

Read full post here:
https://www.wareable.com/fitness-trackers/not-so-happy-birthday-nike-fuelband-2351

Sony Xperia X Performance Hands-on review : The Sony smartphone everyone should be talking about

You may have heard by now that Sony announced a new line of Xperia devices at Mobile World Congress, called the X series.

The range has three smartphones within it comprising the Xperia X, Xperia XA and the Xperia X Performance. This latter model is the most interesting though, despite the somewhat muted coverage of it in comparison to its siblings.

Read full post here:
https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/reviews/sony/136843-sony-xperia-x-performance-the-sony-smartphone-everyone-should-be-talking-about

Dell Latitude E5570 Review

A business powerhouse, the 15.6-inch Dell Latitude E5570 offers a compelling combination of performance, security and usability. Armed with a 6th Generation Intel Skylake processor and customizable to a high degree (starting at $779, tested at $2,096), the E5570 wowed us with its blazing speed, colorful full-HD touch screen and strong audio. The notebook also feels built-to-last, complete with 180-degree hinges. Our model came with a Core i7-6280HQ processor, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, which can plow through any workload. We only wish this system were lighter and ran a bit cooler.

Read full post here:
https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/dell-latitude-e5570

Kurio Xtreme 2 Tablet Review

Your child wants your iPad, and you’re understandably hesitant to hand over a $400 tablet. But, there are cheaper alternatives, designed with small, clumsy, grubby hands in mind. The 7-inch Kurio Xtreme 2 comes with more than 60 kid-friendly apps, a rubber bumper case and parental controls to keep young people from overusing the device, all for only $80. Unfortunately, considering the Xtreme 2’s poor display and slow performance, there are better options.

Read full post here:
https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/tablets/kurio-xtreme-2

Unison Research Unico 150 review

Unison Research’s flagship Unico amplifier is something of a beast, albeit one dressed in a crisp smart suit. The numbers reveal a lot about this hybrid integrated – £4,000/$6,000, 25kg and 150W per channel.

But even these take a back seat to the way it looks on our test rack. The Unico dwarfs most of our reference kit thanks to its generously stocky proportions.

That nicely finished casework measures a substantial 18 x 44 x 44 cm (hwd), so make sure you have plenty of space to house it. While the Unico doesn’t run particularly hot it’s still good to leave a decent amount of space around to help with ventilation.

Read full post here:
https://www.whathifi.com/us/unison-research/unico-150/review

Garmin Vivoactive HR preview : The complete training solution

Garmin has unleashed a new version of its popular and impressive Vivoactive called Vivoactive HR because, you guessed it, this one records heart rate.

The Vivoactive HR uses a wrist worn, light-based heart rate monitor to track beats per minute for a more complete training partner.

This new addition to the Garmin line-up means a GPS enabled, heart rate toting, smartwatch that’s able to offer notifications from a connected phone. It pretty much does it all.

So is it worth the £210/$315 price? We went hands-on to find out.

Read full post here:
https://www.pocket-lint.com/

Oppo F1 review: Pole position or pit stop for this affordable phone?

When you look back at how phones have progressed over the last few years, it’s easy to just focus on the top models: your iPhones and Samsung Galaxy S-es. However, for your average person who wants a phone but doesn’t want to blow a massive hole in their bank balance or sign up to a 2-year contract, the cheaper stuff has been more important.

Since 2013 the quality of affordable phones has skyrocketed. And the Oppo F1 is out to get you as close to a £500/$750 phone experience as is possible for just £170/$255.

And you know what? It gets pretty close. If the OnePlus X doesn’t appeal then is the Oppo F1 in with a shout for pole position?

Read full post here:
https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/reviews/oppo/136791-oppo-f1-review-pole-position-or-pit-stop-for-this-affordable-phone

Panasonic Lumix G 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. Lens Announced

Panasonic has announced the weather resistant Lumix G 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. general-purpose zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras.

Offering a significant size reduction compared to equivalent DSLR optics, this lens offers a 35mm equivalent zoom range of 24-120mm and maintains an even more compact design due to the use of a variable f/3.5-5.6 aperture. Along with this, the lens sports a splash and dustproof construction, making it great for travel and inclement weather conditions.

Read full post here:
https://www.dailycameranews.com/

HP Spectre x360 15t Review

While most 2-in-1s have 13-inch or smaller screens, some like having a larger display that can bend back into presentation, tent or tablet modes. Among 15-inch consumer convertibles, the HP Spectre x360 15t stands out by offering a gorgeous aluminum design, a colorful display (with optional 4K) and long battery life. With a starting price of $1,149, the X360 costs around $400 more than similarly specced competitors like the $800 Dell Inspiron 15 7000 and the $700 Toshiba Satellite 15 P55W. However, the differences in quality and endurance are well worth the premium.

Read full post here:
https://www.laptopmag.com/

Xiaomi Mi 5 announced with Snapdragon 820 and plenty of impressive specs

At MWC 2016 earlier today, popular Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi officially unveiled the Mi 5, its newest high-end flagship smartphone. Following the announcement of the new Mi 4S, the Mi 5 features an impressive list of specs, including everything from the processor to the cameras, as well as a new body design with curved edges on the backside reminiscent of Xiaomi’s own Mi Note. Make no mistake, this is a phone that will make other Android heavyweights take notice, from a manufacturer known for its bargain pricing.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/xiaomi-mi-5-announced-with-snapdragon-820-and-plenty-of-impressive-specs-24428819/

Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5 ditch Android Adoptable Storage

As far as Google was concerned, Android devices shouldn’t really have microSD card slots, as seen in all its Nexus smartphones and tablets. But in Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Google accepted a compromise, officially “adopting” external storage into one unified storage. Ironically, now it seems that two of the biggest Android OEMs, who have mostly been sporting such memory expansions, are saying “no” to this feature, with both the Samsung Galaxy S7and the LG G5 not allowing users to use microSD card slots for internal storage.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-lg-g5-ditch-android-adoptable-storage-24428774/

Mercedes-AMG C43 coupe debuts with 362hp biturbo V6

Mercedes-AMG has rolled out another performance car that buyers can choose from called the C43 coupe. The C43 slots into the C family of cars and packs a 362hp 3.0L biturbo V6 engine under the hood. The engine is mated with a new 9G-TRONIC automatic transmission that is able to change gears quickly. The car also sports 4MATIC all-wheel drive.

The biturbo engine has 384 lb-ft of torque to go with the 362hp and can push the car from a standstill to 60mph in 4.6 seconds. The C43 has a top speed of 155mph and that top speed is electronically limited. The 9G transmission has a double-declutch function when shifting down and has fast gear changes when in sport plus mode. The transmission has paddle shifters behind the wheel for manual shifting in sport mode.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/mercedes-amg-c43-coupe-debuts-with-362hp-biturbo-v6-24428808/

Sigma sd Quattro cameras pack major features into a tiny body

Sigma has introduced two new compact cameras, the Sigma sd Quattro and sd Quattro H. Both models feature a Foveon X3 image sensor and are promised to offer high image quality, doing so while retaining a travel-friendly size (sans the lens, that is). These interchangeable lens cameras provide a bit of the best of both worlds, keeping the weight burden low while enabling photographers to switch lenses as situations demand.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/sigma-sd-quattro-cameras-pack-major-features-into-a-tiny-body-23428718/

DisplayMate: Samsung Galaxy S7 is top OLED dog, better brightness

Each release of a new flagship smartphone is always a race to get the highest scores on independent benchmarks, whether it be for the camera or, in this case, the display. DisplayMate has been singing Samsung’s praises for a few years now, so it is not surprising that the Galaxy S7 is once again at the top of the list. And while, at first glance, the Galaxy S7 might seem to have the same 5.1-inch QHD display as the Galaxy S6 before it, it’s the subtle improvements, especially in brightness and contrast, that make all the difference in DisplayMate’s world.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/displaymate-samsung-galaxy-s7-is-top-oled-dog-better-brightness-23428769/

ARM outs 32-bit Cortex-A32, better for IoT and wearables

It seems that smartphones and especially tablets are no longer the darlings of the silicon industry. Chip makers, like Intel, Qualcomm, and even MediaTek are now vying for more embedded products, particularly wearables and the so-called Internet of Things. To sweeten the pot even more, at least on the ARM side of things, ARM Holdings has released the design for a new Cortex-A32. Like the Cortex-A35 it announced last November, this “ultra-efficient” chip is designed for embedded and Iot devices. The difference? It’s even more efficient than that and is only 32-bit.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/arm-outs-32-bit-cortex-a32-better-for-iot-and-wearables-23428776/

HTC One M10 details, backside leak again

HTC may have had smartphones to show off at MWC 2016 but, as earlier speculated, the One M10, or whatever its final name will be, was not one of those. Naturally, there was some disappointment that there won’t be a real HTC flagship to talk about, but that only means there’s more time to talk about what it could be. Like, for example, this latest leak to come out of China. Not only do we have yet another batch of specs, most of which we’ve heard before, but we’re also getting a glimpse of back of the smartphone, which is, admittedly, a bit different from what we’ve seen before.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/htc-one-m10-first-impressions-photos-leaked-with-details-04430305/

Leaked HoloLens app video reveals Start Menu for AR

It seems there really is now escaping Microsoft’s love for tiled-based app launchers, even in augmented reality. While the company did return the Start Menu in Windows 10, it wasn’t the same one we’ve all grown up with since Windows 95 all through Windows 7. That tile-based idiom has even invaded the Xbox interface and soon, even HoloLens. A leaked video for an AR app named Actiongram shows what Microsoft has in mind for an AR app launcher and, suffice it to say, it isn’t exactly a shock.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/leaked-hololens-app-video-reveals-start-menu-for-ar-24428785/

OPPO SmartSensor: first sensor-based, smallest smartphone OIS

Chinese OEM OPPO might not have a new smartphone to show off at MWC 2016 but it is definitely not lacking in things to boast about. For one, it just revealed its Super VOOC fast charging technology that, OPPO claims, can charge a smartphone in just 15 minutes. Now it is making a similarly huge claim but this time in the area of photography. Calling it the SmartSensor, it is claimed to be the world’s first sensor-based stabilization technology for smartphones and also the smallest OIS for any device, smartphone or not.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/oppo-smartsensor-first-sensor-based-smallest-smartphone-ois-24428787/

2016 Honda Civic Coupe First-Drive Review

Honda is on a roll with the Civic, and following the award-winning sedan comes this, the 2016 Civic Coupe. Wearing a redesigned body, but keeping much of the practicality of its four-door cousin, the trimmed-down and tautened Coupe promises a dash more design but without the compromise some two-doors demand.

Style-wise, the Civic sedan donates its nose but the hood is shortened by just over an inch and the roofline dropped by a little under an inch. The biggest changes are at the rear, where not only has the distance between the back wheels and the bumper been cut by over five inches, but the whole trunk lid has been redesigned with more dominant lights and an integrated spoiler.

Read full post here:
https://www.slashgear.com/

Microsoft Lumia 650 Hands-on Review : Windows 10, quality build on a budget

Windows 10 is well and truly upon us and in case you didn’t know Microsofthas made a big deal out of its Lumia phones. Plenty have arrived from the top end Lumia 950 to the Lumia 550. The latest edition is the affordable Lumia 650.

Windows 10 is here to unify Microsoft’s software platform by using cloud services and smart integration. The result is a steady experience from PC totablet to smartphone. This even applies, in part, to lower end devices.

Read full post here:
https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/reviews/microsoft/136821-microsoft-lumia-650-windows-10-quality-build-on-a-budget

Naim Mu-so Qb review

In 2014, Naim took some time out from producing more traditional hi-fi kit to have a punt at the wireless speaker market, and not only gained a legion of new fans, but also proved it could bring hi-fi sound quality to a one-box design, albeit at a price.

Now Naim is taking this a step further, by taking everything that we love about the original Mu-so and squeezing it into a more affordable, more compact design.

The result is the Mu-so Qb, a stylish speaker with a small footprint but a big personality. And with a performance this good, we’re only too happy to stand back and let it work its magic.

Read full post here:
https://www.whathifi.com/naim/mu-so-qb/review

Omate Rise preview: Full Android 3G smartwatch with carbon fibre for $280

Omate, more well known for children’s watches, is making its entrance into the big boys game with an impressive offering. The Omate Rise plans to straddle the boundaries between connectivity, form and price.

Omate says the Rise, when it arrives in June, will offer full Android 5.1 OS plus a decent build with a special carbon fibre option.

Read full post here:
https://www.pocket-lint.com/smartwatches/reviews/136828-omate-rise-preview-full-android-3g-smartwatch-with-carbon-fibre-for-280

Skoda Superb Review : A smart large hatchback with limo levels of legroom

The new Skoda Superb is Skoda’s flagship, famous for offering class-leading rear legroom and Volkswagen levels of build quality for less than the cost of an equivalent Passat, Ford Mondeo orMazda 6 saloon.

Thankfully, Skoda’s gone for a conventional saloon-car body that’s infinitely more handsome than the ‘twin-door’ design of the old car. Those of you with your fingers on the automotive pulse, will note the similarities between it and the five-door coupe VisionC conceptthat was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 2014.

Read full post here:
https://www.carwow.co.uk/

How to Increase Battery Life on the Dell XPS 13

The non-touch version of the Dell XPS 13 lasted for a very strong 11 hours and 54 minutes on the Laptop Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 100 nits of brightness. However, when you use the laptop, its endurance will vary, based on the screen brightness, the workload and your configuration (the 4K screen gets much lower battery life). Here are some tips to increase your XPS 13’s battery life.

Read full post here:
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/increase-battery-life-dell-xps-13

Vaio Z Flip Review

The Pros

Long battery life; Strong performance; Gorgeous display; Comfortable stylus

The Cons

Stiff keyboard; Inconsistent touchpad; Pricey

Verdict

The Vaio Z Flip’s bold display, fast performance and long battery life make it a strong 2-in-1, but the touchpad could be better.

The Lexus of 2-in-1s, the $1,799 Vaio Z Flip offers a bevy of premium features, including a classy gunmetal-gray aesthetic, a unique mechanism that pushes the screen over the lid and high-end performance that rivals the 13-inch MacBook Pro’s. This lightweight, 13-inch convertible throws in a colorful display, comfortable stylus and long battery life for good measure. However, at this price, we would expect a more comfortable keyboard and consistently accurate touchpad.

Design

Though Vaio is an independent company no longer owned by Sony, the Z Flip still has the electronics giant’s attractive but subtle aesthetic. The device’s gunmetal-gray aluminum lid and deck have a distinctive color and texture that you don’t see on most other laptops. The company focuses on using premium materials with lightweight, black carbon-fiber on the bottom and sides.

Today, most 2-in-1s are either detachables with slates that separate completely from the keyboard (e.g., the Microsoft Surface) or are bendables with lids that fold back 360 degrees (e.g., the Lenovo Yoga).

However, this Vaio 2-in-1 has a unique method of changing modes, as only its screen flips around, while the device’s lid and hinge stay put. After I pulled a release lever that sits just above the middle of the keyboard, the bottom edge of the screen popped out, and I flipped it over so that it covered the back of the lid.

With the screen facing backward, I could use the Vaio Z Flip in presentation mode or could close the lid and use the device as a tablet. Unfortunately, while you can position the screen so that it juts out over the keyboard, it’s not rigid in that position, so you can’t use the laptop in easel mode. The flipping mechanism has one advantage over bend-back designs, like the one in the Yoga 900, in that you don’t need to lift the laptop off of a table before converting to tablet mode. But otherwise, the Z Flip’s design offers no real advantages.

When in tablet mode, the Vaio’s display doesn’t completely cover the lid, leaving a small, 0.25-inch lip that looks unattractive but is good for gripping the slate. The device also has a lens in the bottom — something we’ve never seen before on a laptop — which serves as a rear-facing camera when you’re holding the slate up.

At 2.96 pounds and 8.5 x 12.8 x .66 inches, the Vaio is certainly thin and light enough to carry anywhere. However, Lenovo’s Yoga 900 is bit svelter, at only 2.8 pounds, while detachables like the Surface Pro 4 and Spectre x2 are less than 2 pounds. The Microsoft Surface Book is heavier, at 3.34 pounds.

Display and Audio

The Vaio Z Flip’s 13.3-inch, 2560 x 1440 display provided rich, detailed images in our tests. When I watched a 1080p trailer for Captain America: Civil War, I could easily make out the stitches in Chris Evans’ slate-blue sweater and a reddish-brown mole on Scarlett Johansson’s face. Superman’s suit in the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer had a deep, dark blue tone with a highly visible texture pattern.

According to our colorimeter, the Vaio Z’s screen can reproduce 119 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is far more than the 80.9 percent category average and comfortably ahead of all of the Flip’s competitors. However, the Yoga 900, Surface Book, 13-inch MacBook Pro and the Surface Pro 4 all have higher-resolution panels.

The Z Flip’s display is reasonably color-accurate, as it notched a Delta-E rating of 1.02 (zero is perfect), which is better than the category average of 4.4 and the Lenovo Yoga 900’s mark of 2.8. However, the Surface Pro 4 (0.4) and Surface Book (0.6) were more accurate.

The screen on the Vaio Z Flip gets really bright, reaching a maximum of 346 nits, well above the ultraportable category average and the Yoga 900’s score, but not quite as bright as the Surface Pro 4, Surface Book or MacBook Pro, all of which hit 380 nits or higher. Colors stayed true up to 45 degrees to the left or right, but darkened slightly at wider viewing angles.

Audio

Mounted below the front lip, the Vaio Z Flip’s speakers are a mixed bag, producing an interesting separation of sound, but quite a bit of distortion. When I played the disco classic “Car Wash,” the vocals and music sounded like they were coming out of different sides of the deck, but high tones like drums were tinny. Listening to a series of guitar-heavy songs, including “Holy Diver,” I heard the speakers buzz unpleasantly during the highest-pitched riffs. The sound was loud enough to fill a small living room at maximum volume, but noticeably muffled when I put the device flat on my lap.

Keyboard

The Vaio Z Flip’s stiff, shallow keyboard makes for an uncomfortable typing experience, which feels a lot like pressing your fingers into a rock. The keys are well-sized and well-located, but have just 1.1mm of vertical travel, far below the 1.5mm to 2mm we like to see. However, laptops such as the 12-inch MacBook Air manage to provide pleasant, snappy tactile feedback in spite of their short travel by offering some resistance. Unfortunately, the Vaio Z’s keys require only 50 grams of force to actuate (55 to 60 g is typical) which means touch typists will find themselves “bottoming out” or hitting the keyboard base with a lot of force.

When I performed the 10 Fast Fingers typing test on the Vaio Z Filp, I had a whopping 10 percent error rate and reached a speed of just 82 words per minute, whereas my typical scores are 95 wpm and 1 to 2 percent. Because of the weak feedback, I found myself missing a lot of letters and, worse, my fingers felt a bit sore from bottoming out so much.

Touchpad

The 4.2 x 2.6-inch touchpad is comfortable but suffered from accuracy issues in our testing. The first review unit we received had an extremely jumpy pad; as I moved across the screen, the cursor would sometimes teleport itself several pixels ahead of where I was moving. Vaio then sent us a second model on which the pad wasn’t jumpy but was occasionally sticky. It stopped the pointer for a second or two when we were drawing figure eights in Paint or navigating across the desktop.

Because both review units we received are pre-production models, we can’t tell whether these problems were single-time manufacturing defects, driver issues that could be fixed with a software update or endemic problems any consumer would experience.

Unlike with many touchpads, on both units the cursor was stable when I double-clicked. The Vaio Z responded immediately and consistently to multitouch gestures, such as pinch-to-zoom and three-finger-swipe (to minimize windows). The pad’s matte-mica texture also felt pleasant against my finger, offering just enough traction without feeling rough.

Stylus

The Vaio Z Flip’s included active stylus was extremely comfortable to hold and accurate to use. With a rollerball-like tip, metal clip and pleasant rubber finger grip, it looks and feels just like a real pen. The glossy screen did feel a bit slippery when we were writing on it; by contrast, the Surface Pro 4 pen provides friction (and customizable tips), which makes it feel more like you’re scribbling on paper.

Artists and other creative professionals will appreciate how smoothly you can draw lines and shapes with the pen, an experience I had when using both OneNote and Windows Paint. I particularly enjoyed editing a WordPad document by scribbling words into Windows 10’s built-in OCR keyboard. Because of the pen’s accurate performance, my on-screen handwriting looked as good as it does on paper, allowing the operating system to convert most of my scribbles into the correct ASCII words.

With support for 1,024 levels of pressure, the stylus created thicker or thinner lines in OneNote, depending on how hard we pushed the pen against the screen. Vaio says that the Z Flip’s screen is designed to minimize parallax, the difference between where you place the pen tip and where the lines appear. In our testing, dots appeared right where we drew them.

Heat

The top surface of the Vaio Z Flip stayed relatively cool throughout our tests, but the bottom got a little warm. After we streamed a video for 15 minutes, the bottom surface measured 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the keyboard clocked in at 94 degrees and the touchpad was a chilly 77 degrees. We consider temperatures above 95 degrees to be uncomfortable.

Ports

The 0.66-inch thick Vaio Z Flip doesn’t have space for a lot of ports, but it packs in a few essential connectors. The right side houses two USB ports, one of which can charge devices when the laptop is asleep, while the left side contains an HDMI port, a 3.5mm audio jack and an SD card reader.

Cameras

Like most laptop webcams, the Vaio Z Flip’s front 0.92-megapixel lens shoots mediocre photos. When I took pictures of my face, under both the fluorescent lights of our office and the LED lamps in my living room, the picture was bright but grainy and washed out.

However, the 8-MP rear camera, which strangely sits on the bottom of the laptop, delivered really strong lowlight images. When I took a photo of a dark area in my living room at night, the image was significantly brighter than real life, with only a modest amount of noise.

Performance

While most higher-performance 2-in-1s or laptops use 15-watt versions of Intel’s Core i5 or Core i7 processors, the Vaio Z Flip packs a 28-watt Intel 6th Generation Core Series chip that delivers more computing power. Our review configuration of the Vaio offered plenty of pop with its 2.9-GHz Intel 6th Generation Core i5-6267U CPU, Intel Iris Graphics 540 GPU, 8GB of RAM and speedy 256GB PCIe SSD. Even when I had over a dozen tabs open and a 4K video playing in another window, the laptop’s performance was buttery smooth. Just don’t expect to game on this notebook or do graphics-intensive work.

On Geekbench 3, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall performance, the Vaio Z Flip scored a strong 7,235, way ahead of the ultraportable laptop category average (4,774) and noticeably quicker than the Core i7-6500U-powered Lenovo Yoga 900 (6,264), Core m7-6Y75-enabled HP Spectre X2, and Core i5-6300U-powered versions of the Surface Pro 4 (6,811) and Surface Book (6,814). The Apple MacBook Pro, which also uses a 28-watt process — a Core i5-5257U — returned a similar mark, of 7,113.

The Z Flip’s PCIe SSD took just 13 seconds to complete our Laptop File Transfer test, which involves copying 4.97GB of mixed-media files. That’s a rate of 391.5 MBps, more than double the 163.5-MBps category average and much quicker than all of the Flip’s competitors, except the MacBook Pro (386 MBps), which was only 5 MBps behind.

Because of the device’s high-wattage processor, we weren’t surprised to see the Vaio Z Flip do really well on our spreadsheet test, which involves matching 20,000 names with their addresses in OpenOffice Calc. Vaio’s laptop finished the task in just 3 minutes and 47 seconds, more than twice as fast as the category average (7:53) and around half a minute faster than the Yoga 900 (4:18), Surface Pro 4 (4:11) and Surface Book (4:17). The MacBook Pro was just a little faster (3:28).

Graphics

The Vaio Z Flip’s Iris Graphics 540 GPU is supposed to offer better performance than Intel’s mainstream graphics chips, but it still isn’t good enough to play serious games. The Vaio scored a really strong mark of 89,876 on 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, a synthetic benchmark that measures graphics prowess. That’s more than double the category average (40,830) and 50 percent better than the Yoga 900 (60,259) and Surface Pro 4 (60,424).

Despite these high scores, the Z Flip mustered just an unplayable 26.7 frames per second when running Rainbox Six Seige at 1080p resolution with low special effects. That rate rose to an acceptable 42.8 fps at 1366 x 768, but that’s well below the display’s native, 2K resolution.

Battery Life

Vaio miniaturized the motherboard, a feature the company calls the “Vaio Z Engine,” to make room for a large battery and plenty of cooling on this hybrid. As a result, the Z Flip lasted a strong 9 hours and 4 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi at 100 nits of brightness. That time is comfortably ahead of the ultraportable category average (8:21) and the Yoga 900’s showing (7:57), and miles ahead of the Surface Pro 4’s mark (6:05). All of those machines use standard, 15-watt processors. However, the MacBook Pro, which also uses a 28-watt CPU, lasted a full 12 hours and 4 minutes, and the Surface Book (15-watt CPU) endured for 12:29.

Software and Warranty

Vaio includes a couple of useful utilities on top of Windows 10, but this device is thankfully light on the bloatware. The Vaio clipping tool allows you to take and annotate screen shots using the stylus. Vaio control center gives you some control of the power settings, the ability to turn the touchpad on or off, and the ability to use your laptop as an access point. Vaio Pencil Board provides a transparent overlay that you can drag around the screen to help highlight areas for drawing.

Vaio Shortcut Key puts a toolbar on the left side of the screen with buttons you can tap for quick actions you might normally perform with a keyboard, such as Ctrl + C for copy and paste. You can also toggle the fan mode from silent to performance or adjust pen responsiveness from this tool.

Configurations

The Vaio Z Flip comes in three configurations: The $1,799 base model, which we reviewed here, comes with a 2.9-GHz Core i5-6267U processor, a 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home and 8GB of RAM. A $1,999 model upgrades to a 3.3-GHz Core i7-6567U CPU and Windows 10 Pro. The $2,399 top config has the Core i7-6567U CPU but jumps to 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.

Vaio Z Flip vs. the Competition

For $1,199, the Lenovo Yoga 900 offers a sharper screen than the Vaio Z Flip, a much better keyboard and a bit lighter chassis. However, the Yoga lacks stylus support, and the 2-in-1 isn’t quite as powerful or long-lasting.

For $1,699, or $100 less than the Z Flip, you can get a Surface Book with a Core i5 CPU and a 256GB SSD. That system has a better pen and sharper screen, and lasts 12.5 hours on a charge. If you don’t need a 2-in-1, the MacBook Pro 13-inch provides similar performance to the Z Flip but with a much better keyboard, a sharper screen, the best touchpad in the business and 12 hours of battery life.

Bottom Line

The Vaio Z Flip is definitely a head-turning 2-in-1, with its gorgeous, flipping display and sleek design, and the fast performance and long battery life help justify the steep price tag. The pen also works well, even though there’s nowhere to put it when it’s not in use. However, we found the keyboard uncomfortable, and the issues we had with touchpads on two different review units leave us concerned about the experience users will have.

The Lenovo Yoga 900 isn’t as fast as the Flip, but offers more for your money, providing a better keyboard, more reliable touchpad and sharper screen. Overall, though, if you like Vaio Z Flip’s compelling design and have the budget, the 2-in-1’s strong performance and impressive endurance make it a solid choice.

(laptopmag.com)

Under Armour HealthBox review : A dysfunctional family of connected kit

There’s something very promising about what UA HealthBox aims to deliver. I think it will be great one day, but there’s work to be done here, especially around that all important connected element. Then there’s the price. $400 is a lot of money for three bits of kit that you could probably buy alternatives individually for less. The Garmin Vivosmart costs around $90, a Garmin Run heart rate chest strap is about $99 and Garmin’s Wi-Fi scales can be snapped up for $150. That’s three devices for under $350. The software remains the key ingredient here though and if Under Armour continues to add more connected kit that feeds into the ecosystem, it would be worth investing in for the future. If you’re hoping for something that works perfectly out of the box, I’d hold onto your money.

Read full post here:
https://www.wareable.com/

Samsung Galaxy S7 Hands-on Review

It’s been a good 12 months for Samsung Mobile. After a few hit and miss years of uninspiring design and gimmicky software, the launch of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge at MWC 2015 felt like the turning point when everything fell into place.

The company finally ditched the plastic for a more premium metal and glass design, and matched it with excellent software and top-notch hardware to produce two killer handsets that gained many five-star reviews.

Read full post here:
https://www.whathifi.com/

Coolpix hat-trick : Nikon unveils two new superzooms and a 35x travel-zoom model (some with 4K video!)

Nikon has announced three new additions to their Coolpix camera line, the Nikon B700 superzoom, the Nikon B500superzoom, and the Nikon A900 compact travel zoom. All three cameras include Nikon’s new SnapBridge wireless connectivity, which was recently announced in conjunction with the Nikon D500 DSLR at CES last month.

The new A-series replacing the ‘L’ cameras and the B-series replaces the ‘P’ models. All three cameras offer Nikon SnapBridge, which combines Wi-Fi (with NFC) and Bluetooth.

Read full post here:
https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2016/02/23/coolpix-triple-play-nikon-unveils-two-new-superzooms-and-35x-travel-zoom-m

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge hands-on Review

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was unexpectedly one of our favourite phones of last year, proving itself to be much more than the gimmicky sibling of the S6 with a design that really worked and a few nice software touches to boot.

Of course, it came in two versions – the 5.2in S6 Edge and the 5.7in S6 Edge Plus, the latter winning itself an Award in our larger phones category.

This year, Samsung’s Edge contribution sits some way between the two at 5.5in, with a refined design, improved spec list and enhanced usability that makes that edge design more useful than ever before.

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https://www.whathifi.com/

B&O BeoPlay H8 review

Decent-sounding wireless headphones no longer have to cost the earth – just look at the Award-winning AKG Y50BTs (£150/$225).

But when they serve up noise-cancelling and premium material trimmings too, you should expect to pay top whack – as you do for the Award-winning Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless.

But out to rival them are B&O’s BeoPlay H8s.

Read full post here:
https://www.whathifi.com/us/bo/beoplay-h8/review