It is an unwritten rule of sorts that if a device has a display below 5-inches it is considered a smartphone and if the display size crosses the 7-inch mark, it is a tablet. Lately, however, an increasing number of smartphones displays in excess of 4-inches have blurred the line between tablets and phones. Some companies have started to stray into the uncharted territory between 5-inches and 7-inches.
Dell was the first to test the waters with Streak, the first device to come armed with a 5-inch display. Then came Acer with the Iconia Smart. However, neither of these were well received by either customers or reviewers. But, undeterred, Samsung has also been thinking along the same lines. The world's best selling Android brand clearly felt this was an area they own and they came up with the Galaxy Note. It looks like the lovechild of the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Tab, and it packs in some awesome firepower. Lets see if the Note has some noteworthy chops to make the market warm up to this new hybrid concept.
Design
At 9.65mm, the Galaxy Note is the thinnest device in the hybrid category and we dare say it is thinner than most smartphones on the market. It also weighs only 178 grams making the Galaxy Note a very pocket friendly device. This, however, does not necessarily make the Note a small device in itself. In fact, quite the opposite. Its gargantuan 5.3-inch display takes center stage and we had trouble with the phone or tablet struggle. Obviously, the device borrows its heritage from fellow Samsung products like the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Tab, but after handling it for a few minutes it became quite clear the Galaxy Note was basically a slightly plusher and much larger version of the Galaxy S2. Make no mistake, if you use this device to make calls in public places people will stare at you for all the wrong reasons. As usual, Samsung has employed capacitive Android controls right below the display and have also incorporated the front facing 2 megapixel camera on the top of the display alongside the proximity and ambient light sensors.
Samsung has made subtle changes to the design of the Note from the Galaxy S2, where the sides are now tapered with a chrome like metallic material instead of the black one employed on the Galaxy S2. It's an acquired taste - some will like the new design, some will not. We will not desist from passing judgment on the change itself but we will say that it looks a wee bit less fragile than the Galaxy S2. That's a good thing, but still not very reassuring. As with the Galaxy S2, the standard power button is placed on the top right hand side, the volume rockers are placed on the left hand side of the device and the 3.5 mm audio jack is placed on the top. On the bottom end of the device Samsung has placed the microUSB/charging slot and, next to it, a silo for the 'S-Pen' which is a digital pen and a special feature of the Note. Apart from this, the 8-megapixel camera is housed in the rear end of the device along side the flash. For the back cover Samsung employed a similar super slim plastic as it did with the Galaxy S2, but this time around it is tad a softer to touch. Another thing we could not help noticing is an ever so slight contour on the back which makes the device ergonomically sound.
On the whole, we can safely say the device was quite pocket friendly, though not ideal, and light years ahead of the Dell Streak and the Acer Iconia Smart both of which were bulky and would often sneak out of the confines of our pockets.
Display
When it was first shown off at IFA 2011 in Berlin, the display of the Galaxy Note created a lot of hype as it was the first device to adopt a Super AMOLED HD display with a resolution of 1280x800. In our testing we found out the hype around the display of the Galaxy Note was worth it. On the large 5.3-inch display, the Super AMOLED HD panel was a sight to behold. It was just stunning, in spite of Samsung employing the rather ungainly Pentile-Matrix technology for the sub-pixels instead of the one seen on the Super AMOLED+ display of the Galaxy S2.
Obviously, with the massive increase in resolution there was also quite a massive upgrade to the pixels per inch count with the Galaxy Note encompassing 286 pixels per inch (PPi). Compare this to the Galaxy S 2's 218 PPi, which uses an 800x480 Super AMOLED+ panel. It still does not manage the magical retina resolution of the iPhone 4S, but the super gorgeous 5.3-inch panel more than makes up for this variance, as the text looks immensely sharp, colours in photos look vivid and overall viewing angles are absolutely stunning. To put it simply, this display is the best among the Android family at least till the Galaxy Nexus arrives on Indian shores.
Playback on videos is outright gorgeous. In our opinion, the 5.3-inch form factor is ideal for video content but, of course, that comes with a massive ergonomic trade off as the device itself becomes quite large for regular usage.
One area where the Galaxy Note excels due to its large display is typing. In this BlackBerry generation thumb typing is the name of the game and often-full touch screen devices fall short due to their virtual keyboards. Refreshingly with the Galaxy Note, one does not need precise typing skills on a virtual keyboard - a probable first, though the auto correct on Samsung's keyboard is still not the best and does not come close to the iPhone's.
The true strength of the Galaxy Note's display lies in the way it displays webpages. The display shows more content thanks to the higher resolution and that too in a more beautiful way. Suffice to say, it was probably the most pleasurable web browsing experience we've had - more so than on the iPad 2 - and that too with Flash support. What more can one ask for? Obviously naysayers will say the Galaxy Nexus will beat the Note thanks to retina PPi count, but we will cross that bridge once we have the Galaxy Nexus actually in our hands.
Camera Quality
The Galaxy Note boasts of the exact same camera sensor as the Galaxy S2. Its performance is also pretty much the same. We mean superb, of course. More advanced camera devices such as the iPhone 4S have popped up in international markets but till we test them we will reserve comparisons. The 8 megapixel camera on the Galaxy Note offers a plethora of customization options that shutter bugs are definitely going to like. These include: Self Portrait, Scene, Focus, Effects, Exposure mode, Self Timer, ISO, White Balance, Metering, Anti shake, Blink detection and Auto contrast. Clearly, Samsung wants to impress photographers.
On the whole images are very sharp and colour contrast is quiet impressive though at times, due to post processing, the colours tend to look artificial. This though is a problem with most mobile cameras. In low light conditions the camera performs admirably though some glitches do pop in due to the flash and there are a few over exposed grainy images, but for the most part it's more than satisfying. Let's just say you will not need a point and shoot after you purchase the Galaxy Note.
The Galaxy Note ably shoots 1080p full HD video at 30 frames per seconds with minimal hiccups. The performance is at par with Galaxy S2, if not a tad better. On the whole Samsung has packed the Galaxy Note with a very strong camera package, which is easily the best among the current crop of Android devices, but things could change once the iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus get here.
Operating System and Interface
The Galaxy Note runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread on which Samsung has applied its ugly TouchWiz layer. Don't get us wrong, TouchWiz has become quite a useful addition over the years but beautiful is one thing it is not. As we have mentioned many times in our reviews, the iconography on Samsung handsets look like cartoonized versions of iOS icons which is one of the reasons Apple is relentlessly pursuing a patent battle against Samsung. Apart from being copies, they look horrible. But otherwise, TouchWiz is quite handy. Samsung adds its Live Tile widgets for the device and there are numerous interface enhancements, which enrich the Android experience.
There are nice touches inside the contacts and call logs where we can swipe on the name to either message or call. Other niceties include tilt zooming inside the web browser which is assisted by the accelerometer and gyroscope. However, these features are not unique to the Galaxy Note but are part of the TouchWiz user interface.
Samsung has also spruced up the Music player and Video Player apps but they do not offer anything revolutionary. They just look different from their stock Android cousins. All features seem to be the same with the MP3 player playing most of the standard formats including lossless formats such as - FLAC and also offering numerous equalization options.
The video player plays most of the standard formats - except for HD video encoded in .mkv format, unfortunately.
Preloaded Software
Apart from the standard suite of Google apps, Samsung has loaded the Galaxy Note to the teeth with a myriad of apps. Some are handy, some border on bloatware. To start, there are a number of 'S' apps such as the S Memo, the S Planner and S Choice apps store. All these 'S' labeled apps are designed especially for the S-Pen. While most will think the S-Pen is a glorified stylus, in truth it is a full-fledged digitizer. With the S-memo app, we can draw and sketch as if on paper. We can also take screenshots and edit them with the help of the S-Pen according to our whims and fancies. It pretty much became our personal digital notepad. We can even use handwriting recognition capabilities but these are not very accurate.
The S-Pen itself has a buttons placed which activates a variety of different features, such as taking screenshots.
The S-Planner is a calendar app optimized for the S-Pen, there is nothing revolutionary about it apart from cool quotient.
The S-choice is an apps store dedicated to apps optimized for the S-Pen. Samsung has also released a Software Developer Kit (SDK) for the S-Pen, allowing developers to build apps optimized for the S-Pen. As of now, the S-Choice store only offers 10 apps but Samsung expects the number will increase over time, but we are not entirely convinced.
Although the S-Pen is not the first of its kind in a mobile device, Samsung has definitely nailed the implementation. It is way better than the haphazard pen input on the HTC Flyer where the pen cannot be utilized throughout the OS. At the end of the day, however, it's still a novelty function - at least until the handwriting recognition algorithms are nailed because, in our opinion, only a superb handwriting experience will drive forward Pen based devices.
Besides the 'S' apps, Samsung has also loaded Polaris Office, which is a very capable office suite and also doubles as a file manager. It even supports the cloud with .Boxnet integration. It's a pity that .Boxnet does not offer the 50Gb free storage to its Android clients that it offers to iOS users, otherwise this would have been a lethal combination.
As with all Samsung devices, we get the Social Hub which is Samsung's social media aggregator. It integrates Twitter, Facebook, Email and SMS feeds in one. It's not the most intuitive way or not even the most handsome way of accessing ones personal information; frankly, we would rather use the default Facebook and Twitter apps for this.
Samsung has also loaded Kies Air Wi-Fi sync functionality, which works in tandem with a Kies Air desktop app or works directly via web browser. Definitely a handy tool, but Samsung could do a lot more to unclutter the interface especially in light of the iPhone's new found wireless capabilities thanks to iOS 5.
Performance
Samsung has armed the Galaxy Note with their latest Exynos processor dual-core which now clocks 1.4 GHz, a 0.2 GHz boost from the Galaxy S2's 1.2 GHz processor. All this firepower works in concert with I GB of RAM and, needless to say, the Galaxy Note is by far the fastest Android device we have ever reviewed. This is a claim we make on the basis of daily usage rather than on the basis of synthetic benchmarks such as Quadrant where the device scored a class leading 3980, besting the Galaxy S2's score of 3212.
While the performance was stunning there is something suspicious about how Samsung's Exynos processor scores on the Quadrant benchmark as both the results of the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Note are almost 33% higher than phones with different dual core processors. We say this as the performance variance is not so great in real work testing. In fact, because we test such things on a daily basis, we were able to make out minute differences.
Nonetheless, the Galaxy Note has sublime firepower and this fact was further vindicated by the Linpack Pro benchmark where it scored 96.54 MFLOPS in 1.75 seconds on a multi-thread analysis. In comparison to, this the Galaxy S2 lagged behind with 47.75 MFLOPs in 1.77 seconds.
Even on the BenchmarkPi test, the Galaxy Note had the chops to take on the best as it managed to calculate Pi in just 578 milliseconds while the Galaxy S2 trailed slightly at 617 milliseconds.
As far as web browsing went, we already mention it was the best we had experienced with Flash running smoothly. But just to check we ran the Rightware Browsermark test where it scored in excess of 55456 which, again, class leading.
In terms battery performance, Galaxy Note is impressive. Samsung has packed a gargantuan 2500 mAh battery though naysayers expected the 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD display to down Samsung's 12 hour claim. For the most part, the Galaxy Note lives upto Samsung's lofty claims as it managed a decent 10 hours which included us making our regular calls, a bit of web browsing via 3G and Wi-Fi networks, and listening to music for a couple of hours.
Call quality is pretty good, though not top notch especially in crowded areas - like Palika Bazaar in New Delhi - where the call quality dipped a few notches. In comparison, our BlackBerry Bold 9700 maintained stellar calling performance, But this situation was not disastrous like the iPhone 4's antenna gate. At the end of the day, most people will be quite satisfied with call quality.
Apart from all these performance related goodies, Samsung also packs in 16GB of Flash based memory and for a memory card slot for multimedia gluttons.
Verdict
There is absolutely no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy Note currently offers the most cutting edge Android experience with its stunning high definition Super AMOLED display and super fast processor. The questions one should ask is - Am I comfortable with this weird form factor, or will I use the large display for productivity? If your answer is a yes, then go ahead and buy the Galaxy Note because it not only offers the best hardware on the market, but also the most slick form factor amongst all the hybrid devices. If the form factor is not palatable then one will be better off waiting for the Galaxy Nexus which will come with Google's shiny new Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and at the same time will provide all the hardware goodness of the Galaxy Note in a more subtle and sleek package.
Pros
Stunning Super AMOLED HD display S-Pen is actually useful Best in class performance Battery Life
Cons
Average build quality Slightly Expensive Weird form factor if used as phone No confirmed ICS upgrade date
A number of Google properties are getting a redesign. The new designs are a little more sleeker than previous versions and make Google look a little more modern in terms of the interface that millions of people use. To get a look of which way Google is headed in the designs, look at Google search, Adsense, Analytics, Docs as well as Google+ to get a glimpse of how things look.
The image below shows a leaked shot of what Gmail will look like when it gets a new design. The video showing the new design was uploaded by Google to Youtube and for the few minutes it was online (before being pulled), it also showed a number of new features.
The design is based on the Preview theme already available since June in Gmail. New features include a better way to read emails which are now shown as a conversation along with photos (where available) of the person you are having a discussion with.
Search in Gmail is also getting a little more enhanced. When doing a search the regular operators also pop up for you to select from. At the moment Gmail search requires that you type in sent: from: etc... This will be more automated in the new update.
Another nice set of features revolve around resizing the window, setting the size of each email and adjusting the sidebar. Resizing the Windows now makes the whole Gmail window shrink down a little in size so that it adapts to the current condition. For setting the size of emails you get to choose from options such as Cozy or Compact to name 2 of the three so that you can space messages out or squash them up together. Also, the sidebar is also adjustable. If you use labels more than you chat then you can slide the chat bar down a little to make it smaller and provide more space for your labels to appear.
We don't know when Google [GOOG] will launch the new interface and design, but expect it within the next few months, perhaps within days or weeks if the video was uploaded just a little too early. The team in the first source link below managed to get a copy of the video and re upload it. We don't know if this will be taken off line as well, so take a look while it's still available.
Windows 8 looks like it could do extremely well when it launches. When Microsoft [MSFT] first announced it recently, bloggers around the world were positive with what they saw.
Today we get to take another look at how the OS will work when running on a tablet.
The main focus of the video demonstrates how portrait mode can be used and how the apps can adapt to the aspect ratio of the screen which obviously differs from the landscape mode. What we also get to see is a little more of how multitasking can work as well as how to access the menu bar. If you want to open another running app you slide on the left of the screen and if it's not the right app, you repeat the sliding motion to skip to the next app. The menu bar appears on the right side and is hidden when not used.
Overall, Windows 8 on the tablet looks like it could do very well. As you might be aware, the OS isn't just limited to the tablet form factor though as Microsoft has created the OS to be versatile enough to work on a number of screen sizes with a number of input methods. Enjoy the quick demonstration video below:
Next week could see a new BlackBerry Bold launch numbered the 9980. This new model has a design created by Porsche Design. The device has been previously named the Knight. We are hearing rumours today that indicate the Bold 9980 will be unveiled in Dubai by Porsche and RIM on the 27th October which is next Thursday.
The event is being held in the most impressive skyscraper in the world, the Burj Khalifam, in the highest restaurant in the world which is called the At.Mosphere.
It is expected that the device will be more of a limited edition due to the design and the exclusive launch. It isn't known if the device will go worldwide or if it will be restricted to a few regions and for people who are willing to pay a little more than average for it.
The hardware is unknown at the moment but we expect it will be similar in specs and performance to the other BlackBerry Bold, the 9900. The main difference is the design of the device from what we can see although RIM might include a few UI tweaks based on the Porsche brand although we're just guessing at this point.
If it does follow along with the technical specs of the Bold 9900 it will come with a 2.8 inch touchscreen and a 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor. 8GB of RAM is included and the camera can capture at 5 megapixels and has 4x digital zoom.
Windows 8 received quite a warm welcome when it was first announced. The new metro layout along with how it functions on the desktop and tablet was one of the many interesting new features about the operating. Today though, we're taking a quick look at the task manager and although the task manager is a place that's rather boring to visit for most users, Microsoft has made a number of improvements to make it more user friendly.
The image above shows a couple of task managers. The one on the left is what many of you will have on your Windows based PC now. The one on the right is the Windows 8 way of doing things. You'll notice that things are quite a bit more friendly in that the new version simply shows what programs you are running and then allows you to easily close out any programs that cause problems.
The reason it has been made more simple is that research shows that most people navigate around the first 2 tabs and a common thing that users do is kill processes and apps... particularly those that cause the machine to go sluggish.
Although the task manager has been simplified, this is purely in looks from what we understand. Microsoft is making the most used functions available in a more friendly way but also tucks the power away so that it can be accessed if needed.
A heat map has also been added to the task manager and now shows visually which programs are eating up the most resources.
We quite like the look of the new task manager. Take a look at the video below to see a demonstration of it.
Staying true to tradition, Apple completed it's annual revamp of the MacBook Pro lineup in early 2011. The announcement came close to CEO Steve Jobs' birthday.
Although in appearance all the 3 MacBook Pros i.e., the 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch look identical to the previous generation, it's under the hood where these machines have truly been upgraded. So does the new hardware pack a punch or is the upgrade incremental? Read on to find out!
Packaging and Contents
The packaging and content is typical Apple with the aluminum unibody 13-inch MacBook Pro in the standard compact white briefcase-style box. Open it up and you have the device, below which rests the charger, manuals, a soft cleaning cloth and two Apple logo stickers.
First Impression
At first, the device appears to be exactly the same as its predecessor, as beautiful and as sturdy. Even in its simple design, the device is an eye catcher. The only new addition that you will find in the appearance of the device is a small lightning bolt symbol above the mini display port. This is the new high-speed Thunderbolt I/O from Apple. Although there are no devices available in the market that support this interface, they are expected to launch soon.
Performance
The first thing that you will notice in the performance of the device, especially if you are a MacBook Pro user, is that the device feels a bit snappier. Under the hood, this beast is powered by an Intel Core i7 2.7 GHz dual core second-generation processor. Apple has ditched the NVIDIA GeForce 320M that was present in the previous gen 13-inch for integrated graphics. The battery life has improved owing to the new age processors and the absence of a dedicated graphics card. But don't expect to get some serious gaming out of the device as the integrated graphics card will not give you the best of results. You can juice out anywhere between 5 to 7.5 hours of battery life depending on how you use the product.
The full size keyboard is great to type on and is backlit, making it very comfortable and easy on the eyes in the dark. The ambient light sensor on the device ensures that you never have to adjust the keyboard light or the brightness of the screen manually.
The legend-daddy of track pads too is present here. The 13-inch device houses Apple's glass multi touch touchpad, which is undoubtedly the best in the business supporting up to four-finger touch recognition.
The biggest addition to the performance - and, sadly, we can't test it - is the Thunderbolt port which occupies the same physical space as the display port. On paper, the Thunderbolt port can support speeds of up to 10Gbps, but we will have to wait and see if that is true in performance.
The left of the device houses the standard mag safe charging port, Ethernet port, FireWire 800, Thunderbolt/Mini Display port, Two USB 2.0 ports, SD card reader and a headphones port. The disadvantage (and this was there with the previous gen 13-inch pro as well) is the absence of a microphone port. Sure, the onboard mic is accurate but an option would have been nice. Also by now, we would have liked to see USB 3.0 on the MacBook pros. Even if it hasn't turned up as default, a customization option would have been truly satisfying.
The left of the device also houses the battery life indicator, similar to the previous generation Pro.
The right of the device houses the 8x Super Drive that can read/write dual layer DVD's. Again here, the option of a Blu-Ray drive would have been appreciated.
The web cam in the 13-inch MacBook Pro supports 720p HD video for video calls. Apple's FaceTime app also comes pre-installed on the device, which is otherwise available for $0.99 on the App Store for previous generation devices. FaceTime is a great app and works really smoothly. We chatted between the MacBook Pro and an iPhone. The experience was smooth, audio was clear; there was virtually no lag and this reviewer was made dizzy by his colleague constantly rotating the iPhone and changing the orientation on his screen!
In terms of testing the device, it took about 3 min and 30 sec to copy a 8GB .mkv file to the device via USB from a portable HDD.
Converting the same video, which was 1hour 50 minutes in duration and had a resolution of 1920x818 via the free software Handbreak to .m4v (same resolution) took us a whopping two and a half hours!
On GeekBenck (64-bit), the device has an overall score of 7500 as compared to the 2010 model that scored 4012. (Higher score = better performance)
On Xbench the 2011, the 13-inch MacBook pro scored 178.09 as compared to the 2010 model that scored130.99. (Higher score = better performance)
Multimedia
Apart from the regular typing and web browsing, multimedia is what you will primarily use this for. The 13.3-inch LED backlit display has a 1280x800 resolution, which is great for watching 720p HD movies. However, if Apple could give theMacBook Air's display a resolution of 1440x900, why not integrate the same with the new generation 13-inch MacBook Pro?
HD movies stream smoothly on the device. Although 1080p movies ran smoothly on the device we really couldn't take full advantage of the video, as the screen isn't full HD. We watched a bit of Megamind, Iron Man, Tangled and some music videos and the colours were vibrant and the picture detailed. Although, if you sit with the device in an out door coffee shop, you will have some trouble with the glare on the screen.
The sound quality from the in-built speakers is good but the volume could have been better. You can however use third-party software like Perian to improve the audio output. Like its predecessors, the speakers are clear and the audio doesn't distort at high volumes but the speakers lack bass. For everyday music and video needs, the speakers perform very well.
iTunes and iLife comes pre-installed on the device. iLife comprises of the latest version of iPhoto, GarageBand and iMovie. iPhoto is very engaging especially if you are a photos buff. The app is among the best photo managers and it is easy to sync with your iPhone, iPod andiPad with absolute ease.
Verdict
Apple has once again produced a winning notebook. It has great ergonomics, upgraded hardware, superb battery life and the integration of an HD webcam is nice for video chatting. We do wish they had bumped up the screen resolution as they did on the MacBook Air and the option of USB 3.0 and Blu-ray would have been nice as well. But if you around Rs. 85,000 to spend on a new 13-inch laptop, you might want to consider the Dell Alienware M14x or the HP Envy 14.
Specifications:
2.7 GHz dual core Intel Core i7 processor (sandy bridge) 4MB shared Level 3 cache memory 500GB 5400rpm HDD 13.3-inch LED backlit display with a resolution of 1280x800 Intel HD graphics 3000 processor 384MB DDR3 SDRAM shared with the main memory Built in 720p webcam 8x Super Drive slot Thunderbolt I/O port SD card slot Two USB 2.0 ports Wi-Fi Bluetooth Backlit keyboard
Pros Strong ergonomic build Upgraded second generation Core i processors Great battery life Well laid out keyboard Large Multi-touch trackpad
Cons No dedicated graphics card Screen resolution could have been better Thunderbolt cannot be used to its potential yet No option for USB 3.0 or Blu-Ray
Make way for the touchbook - Acer's new dual touchscreen laptop. The device has two touchscreens and no physical keyboard whatsoever. In fact, apart from the power button and the display keyboard button, there are no physical buttons on the device. Put simply, the device looks like two 14-inch tablets glued together on a hinge.
So is the Acer ICONIA dual screen laptop just another trophy for your 'show off' wall or does it pack in some utility as well?
Packaging and Contents
A standard briefcase style box contains the device along with the manuals, CD, charger, a power filter adaptor and an external card reader.
First Impression
The device is quite heavy, weighing in at over 2.5 kgs. Open the lid and instead of seeing the usual keyboard, you will find two 14-inch HD touchscreens screens. The device is quite thick and you'd expect such a thick device to house a CD drive at the least but it doesn't. It doesn't even house a card reader, which is an extra accessory available with the device. An upside - the device houses one USB3.0 port.
Multimedia
Are two 14-inch screens better than one? Well, yes and no.
Both the displays have a resolution of 1366x768. The upper display is a standard touchscreen where as the lower display has gorilla glass making it scratch resistant.
The touch response on the upper display is pretty bad. The close, maximize and minimize icons along with the scrolling bar have been increased in size to make the touch inputs more responsive but it's the little things such as trying to control the volume/navigation on VLC, clicking on File, Menu, etc. that becomes quite problematic. The overall experience of touching the monitor to launch, close or perform any action feels quite inconvenient and after some time this reviewer's arm started hurting with the effort of keeping it up to use the touchscreen.
The bottom touchscreen, however,is an entirely different story. Its response is fabulous,much better than expected. A nifty feature - put all 10 fingers on the display to launch the keyboard, put 5 fingers on the display to launch the Acer ring.
Typing on the keyboard takes some getting used to. The keys are well spaced out and you do get an audio feedback for every key you press a key but the experience isn't the same as a regular keyboard. In fact, the experience feels rather odd. Especially since we are used to a physical keyboard.
The trackpad on the device is very disappointing. There is no way to distinguish whether your finger is on the trackpad or not. So many times while navigating, this reviewer's finger subconsciously left the track pad with resulting confusion about why the mouse wasn't moving. The trackpad could have been bigger and had a different feel to distinguish it from the rest of the surface.
You also have the option to put custom skins on the keyboard display, which is nice.
One Ring to rule them all:
As mentioned earlier, upon touching thesecondary display with 5 fingers, the Acer ring launches. Conceptually, the Acer ring is a good idea. Practically, it's a bit buggy, which is to say that the applications crashed sometimes.
Gesture Editor is a cool feature. You can customize and assign specific gestures to launch certain programs or applications. For instance, one swipe of the finger and your browser pops up, or draw the symbol "D" to show the desktop.
You also have certain essential optionssuch as screen brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen saver, hibernate, sleep, shut down, etc. on one click of the Acer ring. Although this feature isn't a game changer, the availability of the option is nice.
The ring feature also offers one touch access to your music, movies photos and web browsing. Here, the Social Jogger app deserves special mention. This app integrates your social networking and YouTube streams under one roof. The visual representation looks a lot like tweet deck.
Another way in which you can use the dual screen is by expanding the web browser on both the screens. This will reduce the amount of scrolling you do on a particular page but the experience of reading the information feels disjointed. Plus, it's very inconvenient trying to read text on an inclined screen and then text on a flat surface.
In terms of audio, the speakers on the device are average performance-wise. The midrange and vocal output is good but the speakers lack bass. Movie playback on the device was good. We ran Iron Man 2 in 1080p .mkv format and the movie played without any hiccups. The only way to take advantage of the 2 touchscreens while watching a movie is use the second screen for the controls through the videos app in the Acer ring.
Performance
Performance as a notebook is where the Acer ICONIA dual screen laptop truly disappoints. If you do not get used to the touch keyboard typing will be tedious. You would think that integration of touch on the monitor would add to convenience but there are times when it just frustrates you. Good luck trying to see the virtual keyboard if you are sitting out in the open with a lot of direct sunlight hitting the device.
The device is really heavy and scores low on portability factor. In terms of connectivity, the device has the charging port, HDMI out and two USB 2.0 ports on the left. The right has the Ethernet port, VGA out, one USB 3.0 port (nice!!) and the headphones and microphone port. A display keyboard and power button is present at either side of the hinge. The device also boasts of a 1.3MP camera for video chatting and Bluetooth 3.0.
A disappointing factor is that the previous generation Intel core i5processors and not the Sandy Bridge powers the device. It also lacks a dedicated graphics card so don't expect great gaming results. On the 3D mark 06, the device had a score of 2728. The PC mark Vantage gave a score of 6150.
The battery life of the device is bad. The device possesses a 4-cell lithium ion battery that powers two LED displays. Pushing the device to itslimits, the battery barely lasted an hour. But use the device conservatively and you may be able to touch the three-hour mark.
Verdict:
The device has some interesting features such as the Acer ring app and USB 3.0. But the device needs some serious dedicated apps to justify the use of dual touchscreens. As a multimedia device,it is an unique and fun experience but falls short when you decide to use it as a notebook. If you want a new toy to show off then by all means this is for you, but if you if you want the biggest bang for your bucks -all 70,000 of them -look elsewhere, as the Acer ICONIA dual screen notebook is pretty much only good for novelty value.
Pros: Cool Acer ring UI USB 3.0 support Great touch response on the lower display Innovative design
Cons: Uncomfortable typing experience Small trackpad Monitor touch experience is disappointing Heavy No CD Drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS Intel core i5-480m 2.67 GHz processor Dual 14-ich Acer CineCrystal Display with a resolution of 1366x768 Integrated Intel HD graphics 4GB DDR3 RAM 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi Bluetooth 3.0 1.3MP webcam 4-cell li-ion battery
Benchmark scores:
PC mark Vantage scores: PC Mark: 6150 Memories Score: 3420 TV and movies score: 4042 Gaming Score: 3421 Music Score: 6376 Communication Score: 5220 Productivity Score: 5620 HDD score: 3783 3D mark 06: 2728
Battery mark:
By test results: 48 min and 45 sec Forecast Windows: 3 hours, 43 min and 54 sec
Back in 2007 Bowers & Wilkins entered the consumer audio market with the MM-1 desktop speakers and quickly followed it up with the original Zeppelin. The Zeppelin was an unknown quantity when it was initially released because of its now trademark airship-like shape. With the Zeppelin B&W, did no harm to their reputation as the dock sounded like a million dollars and was relatively affordable considering the other products in the company portfolio. The Zeppelin Air pushes the envelope further as it adds Apple Airplay support and includes updated mid-range drivers and tweeters, along side a beefier sub-woofer. So is it worth the hype?
DESIGN
When we saw the Zeppelin initially, inventive was the word that came to mind. The simplest way to describe the product would be to compare it to an abnormally elongated egg. The same holds true for the Zeppelin Air as, looks-wise, nothing much has changed except the fact that the original chrome finish at the rear has been replaced by a more classy glossy black plastic finish.
All ports are housed in the rear. We get the standard auxiliary port, component ports and USB along side the new ethernet port for AirPlay and power port. As always, the dock connector is in the front. Keeping up-to-date with changes in mobile computing technology, the dock connector can support an iPad. Most probably, B&W reinforced the base of the dock connector making it more sturdy for iPad compatibility.
In keeping with the design of the dock, B&W also provides an egg-shaped remote control which, frankly, looks adorable. One gripe one may have with it is that the battery compartment of the remote is covered with rubber which can be quite a pain to attach.
Build quality is exemplary even by B&W standards, with the Zeppelin being constructed of a mesh like fabric and having a rock sold plastic covering in the rear. When paying in excess of Rs 40000 for an iPod dock, quality is what is expected and that is exactly what we get. In comparison to the slightly cheaper Bose and JBL offerings, the build quality is light years ahead and we are guessing that is a tradeoff most will be willing to swallow considering the amount of money being invested.
SOUND QUALITY
The original from 2007 wowed people with its sound quality, a fact that doesn't surprise given that B&W has always had a penchant for superb sound quality. One has to just listen to all the old Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and the Who records as most of them were mastered with the help of B&W monitors placed in London's legendary Abbey Road Studios. As a matter of fact, some of the vintage B&W equipment is still used there. We are talking about some of the most iconic albums in music history here. So, could a relatively inexpensive B&W system sound poor? The answer to that would be no.
The Zeppelin Air is a modern B&W marvel, it incorporates the best sonic technologies developed by the company in their iconic Nautilus line of speakers and combines them with mid-range drivers and tweeters used in their award winning MM-1 desktop speakers. We also get the same DSP sound processing found in the MM-1 which converts to superior sound quality if one bypasses the PC sound card and takes the sound output directly through USB.
While all the tech jargon is alright, the big question is - how does it sound? To put it simply, it is the best sounding iPod dock south of Rs 50k, which is a massive category as we have more than 50 products in the under Rs 50,000 range. In many cases it outclasses docks which are must more expensive - for instance, the Bang & Olusen BeoSound 8 which will set you back by Rs 85,000.
Overall, the sound does have remnants of dynamic compression but acoustically the Zeppelin Air delivers a hair raising sonic quality which one has become accustomed to with B&W audio gear.
The sound is very open and warm, which cannot be said about the much more expensive Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 or the Bose Soundock.
We tested multiple tracks on the Zeppelin Air, covering a plethora of genres. From the brash sonic boom of progressive metal of Tool to the silky suave blues licks of the late great Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Zeppelin conquered a sonic stratosphere only known to audiophiles. All tracks were 320KBPS MP3's and the same files were used for Airplay tests too.
Drums thudded, cymbals blasted and distorted guitars roared on the machine gun riff of Tool's oddly timed Jambi. Interestingly, the guitars maintained the machine gun rhythm interplay of Adam Jone's Les Paul and Danny Carey's drums without sounding overly muddy and providing adequate clarity allowing us to hear every nuance of the flanging and echo effects used by the band. The key here was the ambient reverb which was audible and made the song come alive. Even the pinch harmonics used sat well in the mix and never gave us an ear piercing squeal which can often happen with sound docks.
Next in line was our personal favorite, the '80s classic Sweet Child O' Mine. Here, the sound of the main riff is always the key and, thanks to our good fortune, Slash's Les Paul never sounded sweeter with all the harmonic overtones singing. The midrange was beautifully balanced with all the natural harmonics of the distorted neck-pickup popping in the mix. The treble response was equally impressive and Axl Rose's husky wail never caused our ears any discomfort. The same held true for the lightning fast Wah-Wah laced guitar solo. Most impressive was the bass response, as normally in most hard rock songs we hear the guitars, the drums and the vocals, but the bass gets lost in the mix.
A constant oddity with most speakers is that they perform well with newer music but struggle with music from the '60s - basically, we mean mono recordings. So we had to check out some Jimi Hendrix style psychedelia. In our experience, the fuzz laden tone of Hendrix's albums is the ultimate litmus test for the mid-range of a speaker. Zeppelin was proficient at what ever we threw at it, be it the univibe laced fuzz of his Fender Stratocaster on Purple Haze or the Wah-Wah pyrotechnics on Voodoo Childe. The Zeppelin conquered. We believe this happened due to the newly redesigned mid-range drivers and tweeters as the old Zeppelin did not reproduce audio with such detail.
Impressive as this was, we found that the real forte of the Zeppelin lies in reproducing acoustic music. On the 12-string reverberating bliss called Stairway to Heaven, the nuances of guitar slide, subtle chord changes, hammer-ons and pull-offs, all came forth with a magnificence only seen before in high quality studio monitors. This was quite amazing.
Even for hardcore Texas blues. the Zeppelin was astoundingly competent. The percussive rhythms, the baritone vocal style of Stevie Ray Vaughn and the throaty overdriven Stratocaster were all omnipresent in the mix. Actually, the most satisfying bit was the throaty tone on the solo on Life Without You. Luthiers will tell you that the single coil tone is the most dynamically complex but this complexity is often missing on sound systems, leave alone iPod Docks.
Overall, we were very satisfied with the performance of the Zeppelin Air but, if we were to get really picky, then we would say it could offer better stereo imaging although, as a rule, iPod docks are limited in this aspect due to their general design.
AIRPLAY
One of the more hyped features of the Zeppelin Air is the Airplay functionality giving it the 'Air' moniker. For starters, Airplay is Apple's wireless technology which allows streaming of music via Wi-Fi. Airplay automatically converts your music to Apple-Lossless while streaming but this will never result in any audio quality gains. The most impressive thing about Airplay has to be the potential for wireless playback which is extremely convenientand it even works with other iOS based hardware. While the audio may not be as crisp and clear as a direct wired or docked connection, the quality loss in Airplay is quite minimal. So minimal that the layman will not even identify the difference, only audiophiles will - but, then again, audiophiles flinch at the thought of wireless sound.
When it works Airplay is a delight, but when it does not it is a pain in the neck. We noticed some minor lags in changing songs or changing volume levels but these issues are very trivial. The major issue with Airplay, at the moment, is that it is only as good as one's wi-fi signal. The moment you have issues with your signal you have issues with your audio which is quite a turn-off.
VERDICT
At present, the B&W Zeppelin Air is the reigning king of all iPod docks at present. With the Zeppelin Air, British audio alchemists have managed to enhance an already sublime product. Apart from the upgraded internals and better sound quality, B&W provides AirPlay which is a nifty little addition making it more iOS friendly. We can even connect it to our TV and use it as a sound-bar. The only thing stopping one from buying this dock would be it ultra high price tag of Rs 48,000.
