Behold the advertised use: connecting this projector to an iPod (or an iPhone, iPad, etc.) This is the AAXA L1 v2 Laser Pico Projector “Week With” review, an extended look at this lovely little device and how it fares in the hands of your humble narrator. Today’s entry is the final of several posts, this one both showing how nice the device works with Apple products (an iPod Touch 2nd generation, to be exact,) and finally what our final verdict is on if you should get one for yourself.
Attachments
If you plan on plugging your iPod Touch or other Apple product into this projector (or any other, for that matter,) you’re going to have to buy at least one more cord. I decided on the standard Apple Composite AV Cable. This cable is available from the Apple store or several other locations such as Target. Incidentally, this cord will end up being useful for those of you whose iPod cord is on its last leg (like mine was) since it also connects via USB. This cord connects easily to the AV cord included in your projector’s box. As you may know if you’ve been following along with these reviews, the most obviously simple ways to utilize the projector are by plugging in a USB flash drive or by transferring files to the internal memory of the projector itself. You’ll need to have your own USB cord (not included in the projector package) to transfer and/or your own flash drive to work with in these cases. It’s important to remember that you’re probably not going to be able to use this projector straight out of the box unless you’ve got these cords already handy (or don’t mind stopping by your local electronics store.)
iDevices
As noted, the demo you’re about to see is done with a 2nd gen iPod Touch. It’ll end up working basically exactly the same for any other iDevice from that generation forward, I can’t speak for anything behind. When you’ve got the gigantically long Apple-official cable connected to the quite-short AV cable included with the projector, you’ll probably want a couple of twist-ties or a rubber band handy so you’re not tripping over yourself. Once you’ve got it all in your hands, you should be set to go to watch videos. It’s important to note that without hacking your iDevice, you’ll only be allowed to project videos. No gigantic Angry Birds for you.
Adjustments and Angles
If you’ve ever been in a classroom setting with one of those gigantic projectors with infinite buttons, you’ll be used to perfectly sharp images and lots of adjustments available for the size and shape of the picture. This is not that. This projector requires that you physically move back and forth to get the image to be bigger or smaller, and there’s basically no adjustments to be seen as far as if you’re trying to shoot the image up on a wall at an angle – straight on is the only way if you’re trying to make sure your box is perfectly boxed.
Wrap-Up
We’ve seen this projector in action for over TWO weeks now (extended because of the wacky holidays) and have only been disappointed by a few things: battery time, the loudness of the fan (which is basically always on,) and image breakdown. The image breakdown (which you can see if you take a look back at the first demo,) can be excused by the fact that this only seems to happen when playing a video file that wasn’t necessarily meant to be played outside its dvd confines (aka it wasn’t the best quality in the first place,) but still, imperfections in translating a video might be foremost in your mind when your buying a projector made for that single purpose.
The battery time and loudness of the fan are things you’re going to have to deal with whenever you use a projector, especially if you’re talking about one as small as this that you’re going to be carrying around in your pocket. This device is definitely fun, transports with great ease as its tiny and weighs basically nothing, and I can think of a dozen different ways to use it without even brainstorming that hard.
Is it worth the price? You betcha. Are you going to be able to use it in a professional setting? Depends on what profession you’re in. If you’re a freelance artist looking to show off your wares in odd places – yes! If you’re a businessman looking to project weekly earnings and charts – maybe not. This is not a big projector you’re going to use to show movies to crowds of people, but the cool factor is definitely here. If you want to be pro, go bigger (AAXA has lots of more substantial, but less mobile projectors if you wish,) if you want to be totally cool, buy the L1 v2 Laser Projector. Do it NOW!
Fast, silent and power-efficient; it seems like the only thing not to like about SSDs is the price. OCZ has sent over its Vertex 2 SSD, a 120GB model that straddles the performance/price boundary at around $220. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Hardware
The OCZ Vertex 2 on our test bench is a 2.5-inch 120GB model weighing in at 77g and 9.5mm thick. In the retail box, OCZ bundles a 3.5-inch adapter bracket, for using the drive in a desktop rather than a notebook. Maximum speeds on the box are up to 285 MB/s read rate, 275 MB/s write rate and up to 250 MB/s sustained writes.
The Vertex 2 uses the well-esteemed SandForce SF-1200 controller, which has quickly moved to a strong position particularly among OS X users for whom the Mac OS lacks Windows’ TRIM support. TRIM – which the Vertex 2 does support – is used by some platforms to notify not only the OS file system that a file has been deleted but the SSD itself; that means slightly slower deletes but less degradation of performance over time. Apple is yet to add TRIM support to OS X, but the SandForce controller works around that absence with its own “garbage collection” routines at the drive level.
One unfortunate side effect of the SandForce firmware initially used on the Vertex 2 is the amount of NAND memory set aside for over-provisioning leaving a grand total of 119.69GB left of usable storage space. This is used to boost overall write performance and reliability, the latter by replacing bad memory blocks from the reserved memory. On the original Vertex 2, a huge 28-percent of the memory was set aside; newer firmware has slimmed this down to just 13-percent.
Performance
We installed the Vertex 2 into a MacBook Pro running OS 10.6.5 and tested it using Xbench 1.3. In sequential write testing, the SSD managed 191.00 MB/sec with 4K blocks and 153.53 MB/sec with 256K blocks. In random write testing, it achieved 148.42 MB/sec with 4K blocks and 165.07 MB/sec with 256K blocks.
As for read rates, in sequential read tests the SSD scored 29.09 MB/sec with 4K blocks and 179.13 MB/sec with 256K blocks. Finally, in random read tests it managed 22.53 MB/sec with 4K blocks and 172.99 MB/sec with 256K blocks.
Compared to the Samsung 470 Series SSD we tested last month, the OCZ is generally stronger at random reads and writes, but slower at sequential read and writes.
Wrap-Up
As ever, when you’re coming at an SSD from a HDD perspective, it’s tough to argue with the speed increase and the sudden disappearance of noise and vibration from a spinning drive. However, not all SSDs are created equal, as the OCZ’s benchmarks prove.
Samsung’s 470 Series bests it on sequential performance, but the OCZ fights back with random performance; it’s also cheaper, coming in at around $220 street price versus the 128GB Samsung’s roughly $260. Given daily use is more likely to throw up random I/O with various cache files and other temporary documents, and the benefit of the SandForce controller, we’d opt for the OCZ in preference.
Mophie’s Juice Pack Air for iPhone 4 impressed us back in September with its minimal bulk and ability to almost double runtime versus the standard Apple battery. Still, there are some power users – or weekend travellers – for whom “virtually double” still isn’t good enough, hence the Mophie Juice Pack Plus. Bigger battery, bigger price; is this Mophie good value or overkill? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Hardware
The key difference between the Juice Pack Air and the Plus version is the battery: 1,500 mAh in the Air, versus 2,000 mAh in the Plus. For that Mophie charge $20 extra, bringing the Juice Pack Plus to $99.95. In comparison, the iPhone 4′s own battery is 1,420 mAh, and while the fourth-gen smartphone generally manages longer runtimes than its predecessors, the tactile charms of iOS often mean users run the phone down well before the end of the day.
Despite the larger capacity battery, the Juice Pack Plus measures and weighs exactly the same as the Air: 5.07 x 2.51 x 0.68 inches and 2.5 oz. Yes, it adds some bulk to the iPhone 4, but it’s minimal in practice, and the curved, soft-touch rubber back panel actually makes the Apple smartphone more comfortable to hold.
Around the case there are cutouts for the volume buttons, ringer switch, headphone socket and sleep/power button, as well as a hole at the back for the camera and flash. While there’s no docking connector cutout – the bottom edge of the Juice Pack Plus has a button and four LEDs to show battery status – you do get a microUSB port for recharging both the phone and the Juice Pack, as well as sync’ing with iTunes. A physical power switch on the bottom corner rounds out the main controls.
The iPhone 4′s speaker on the bottom edge of the handset gets a “virtual speaker box”, basically redirecting audio out the front of the case. As on the Air, it does make for louder music playback. Build quality in general is high, and while there’s no fascia protection (bar a slightly raised rim around the edge, holding the touchscreen off the table if placed face-down) the rest of the case is sturdy and feels well constructed.
Performance
Mophie claim the Juice Pack Plus is capable of boosting iPhone 4 talktime by up to 8hrs on a 3G network or up to 16hrs on a 2G network. Alternatively, you should see up to 7hrs extra 3G browsing time or 11hrs WiFi browsing. Audio playback is boosted by up to 44hrs, or video playback by up to 11hrs. Those numbers all exceed Apple’s estimates for the iPhone 4′s own battery, usually by at least an hour, suggesting you can more than double usage with the Plus in place.
As with the Air, the Juice Pack Plus can work in two ways. With the Mophie switched off, you can use your iPhone 4′s own power until it’s close to expiring, and then turn on the Juice Pack to recharge the handset as if plugged into the mains. Alternatively, you can turn the Mophie on straight away and rely on its external power initially, leaving the iPhone 4′s internal battery for when the Juice Pack Plus runs out.
Though we tried both approaches, the overall result was the same. With normal use we managed two days with no downtime – several hours longer than the Air had managed to prolong the iPhone 4. Of course, with some judicious use of the Juice Pack Plus’ power switch, we were able to prolong the power on offer through into a third day.
Wrap-Up
Barring the extra $20, we can’t see any reason why iPhone 4 owners would opt for the Air over the Mophie Juice Pack Plus. With no bulk or weight compromise, you’re getting several hours extra use together with the same protection for the smartphone. Equally appealing to power-users and those making trips during which time they’d rather not concern themselves with toting an AC adapter and finding somewhere to plug in, the Mophie Juice Pack Plus is perhaps the company’s best model to date.
Google’s first Chrome OS notebook, the Cr-48, has landed on the SlashGear test bench, and to say it’s an interesting machine would be an understatement. The stealth-black 12.1-inch ultraportable is, like the color-scheme suggests, intended to fall into the background and let the Chrome OS platform take center-stage. Check out our full review after the cut.
Hardware
The Cr-48 isn’t for general sale, instead being distributed as part of Google’s preview program for Chrome OS, and as such there’s not a huge amount in terms of accessories in the decorated cardboard carton. The removable battery, AC adapter and power lead – together with the Cr-48 itself – just about covers it, in fact.
At 3.6 pounds it’s not the lightest ultraportable we’ve seen, though we’re big fans of the rubberized matte black coating applied to the chassis and keyboard. At first glance you could easily mistake it for a Colorware-treated MacBook, in fact, and build quality seems strong. The 12.1-inch display runs at 1280 x 800 and is a fair panel, if not the best we’ve seen; its matte finish makes colors appear a little more muted than we’re used to from glossy displays, but we’ll gladly trade that for more resilience to reflections. Unfortunately the webcam above it produces dark, generally murky photos unless you give it plenty of light.
Google’s keyboard modifications extend to the function key row – which has been replaced with a line of navigation controls, window, brightness and volume buttons – as well as the Caps Lock key being swapped for a dedicated Search button (that opens a new tab in the process) and oversized CTRL and ALT buttons to the left of the spacebar. It’s a decent typing experience, too, thanks in no small part to the textured coating. Underneath, the single-panel trackpad isn’t quite up to Apple standards, but is still reasonable; you can call up a context menu with a two-finger tap.
Ports are limited to a single USB 2.0, a VGA output (you can either use the Cr-48′s LCD or an external screen, but not both simultaneously), a full-sized SD card reader and a headphones socket. No optical drive, obviously. The SIM card slot for the Gobi combo EVDO/UMTS modem lives inside the battery compartment; Verizon grabbed some attention by promising 100MB of 3G data per month to Cr-48 users. That deal is good for the first 24 months of ownership, after which you’ll have to pay if you want to use it.
Plans start at $9.99 for a single day’s access (and unlimited usage), or you can opt for a Verizon monthly agreement. $20 gets you 1GB per month, $35 gets you 3GB or $50 gets you 5GB. It’s worth noting that, even if you don’t plan on using anything more than the bundled data, you’ll still have to enter billing details and a credit card.
Software
A cold boot takes around 15 seconds to reach the login screen, and the Cr-48 takes your regular Google credentials. Subsequent resuming from standby proved almost instantaneous. The Chrome OS software environment takes some getting used to; for the first few minutes we found ourselves pushing the mouse to the edges of the display, trying to call up a hidden Start menu or Dock. Neither exists, however: instead, you get a grid of apps, most recently visited sites and recently closed tabs similar to the regular Chrome browser’s launcher tab. Verizon’s 3G and the Cr-48′s WiFi are easily managed with a drop-down panel in the top right hand corner; that’s where the clock and battery status also live.
If you’re familiar with Google’s web app offerings, you’ll probably feel at home in Chrome OS. Internal storage is just 16GB of SSD memory, but you’ll keep all of your content in Google’s cloud since there’s no provision for actually saving media files like photos, video and music to the drive. Unfortunately, there’s a distinct lack of applications in Google’s Chrome App Store – unsurprising, perhaps, given the relatively young age of the platform – but it leaves using the Cr-48 difficult for anything more than the basics.
For mainstream consumers, the glaring omissions usually kick in when you try to integrate the Cr-48 into the rest of your digital life. Although a digital camera was recognized over USB, and we could upload photos to Picasa, there’s no support for iTunes sync with iPhones, iPods or iPads; similarly, there’s no Windows Phone 7 sync client or Zune Desktop app, and no provision for Android management suites like DoubleTwist.
If you need FTP access or anything slightly out of the ordinary for business, such as VPN support, you’ll also have a tough time getting things done on the Cr-48. Skype won’t run, and right now there’s no USB drive support. Document creation and editing is catered for with Google Docs, but if your company requires any specific software then you’ll soon find yourself reaching for a regular PC or Mac.
Performance
Performance is mixed, with Gmail feeling snappy on the single-core Atom N450 processor but Flash-based sites, although functional, proving less than impressive. Adobe has confirmed it’s working on Flash 10.1 for Chrome OS, but until then there’s no hardware acceleration of Flash content. That means jerky YouTube video and higher-bitrate video on sites like Vimeo are often non-starters.
It’s not the only streaming media issues we’ve faced, though at times it’s Chrome itself that’s the stumbling block. Some sites – such as Netflix – simply won’t work with Google’s browser, instead suggesting you use another; obviously that’s not possible on the Cr-48. In time, we’d expect content providers would get up to speed with Chrome, but for now there’s no workaround.
The limitations on local media shortage mean it can be similarly frustrating trying to work with your own photos, video and audio too. Since you have to upload it before you can work with it, you’re reliant on a decent network connection; there’s no slapping in an SD card from your camera and quickly cropping and tweaking a few stills.
That given, it’s easy to burn through the 100MB of bundled data if you don’t have WiFi access. Thankfully Chrome OS prioritizes WiFi over cellular data, but the limitations of the platform are stark when you’re out of your allowance. Cached data for things like email and calendar mean you’re not entirely cut off, but relying on cloud storage for multimedia does leave the Cr-48 feeling underwhelming when you’re offline.
Battery
Google estimate around 8hrs of runtime from the Cr-48′s battery, or alternatively up to eight days of standby. In practice, the frugal Atom CPU and the fact that the notebook automatically goes to sleep after three minutes of inactivity meant we were able to reach that target.
Wrap-Up
It’s going to take time to get used to seeing the notebook as merely a window to the cloud, but the Cr-48 certainly has us curious. The hardware itself isn’t the story here – after all, it’ll never actually go on sale, only be used to bring developers up to speed. We’re hopeful that by the time Chrome OS notebooks are launched commercially in mid-2011, the dual-core processors Acer and Samsung intend to use will leave the experience brisker. By then, too, Adobe should have been able to polish GPU support for Flash Player, tidying up the online media experience.
Nonetheless, the audience for whom Google Chrome OS is suitable is surprisingly small. Only the very basic of business use is catered for, and we imagine most network admins will shy from the prospect of entrusting Google’s servers with all of their users’ data. Mainstream consumers would ostensibly seem a better fit, but Chrome OS’ absent support for PMPs and other devices undermine its usefulness as a main computer.
Like with the iPad, Chrome OS doesn’t do enough to replace your notebook or netbook full time. Yes, you could take the Cr-48 away for a weekend and get along fine, checking email and the like, but you’ll likely return with a list of tasks – media editing, etc – that you’ll have to reach for a regular computer in order to complete. Too often we began tasks on the Cr-48, only to give up part way through and return to our regular notebook when the limits of Chrome OS became clear. As a concept it has clear strengths, but Google has plenty to do before the full Chrome OS launch next year to make the platform a realistic competitor.
Having looked at several models from Nokia’s Symbian^3 smartphone range over the past few months – including the range-topping Nokia N8 – today it’s the turn of more basic fare from the company. The Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type may have a touchscreen but it also keeps a numeric keypad, albeit one with an unusual layout, for those for whom T9 has yet to be eclipsed by on-screen keyboards. Is Nokia still the king of budget cellphones? Check out our full review after the cut.
Hardware
The X3-02′s hardware is unmistakably Nokia in origin, but even having come from the slender C7 its compact dimensions are a pleasant surprise. Measuring in at 106.2 x 48.4 x 9.6 mm and weighing a mere 78g, the chassis is plastic – with a brushed metal battery cover – but feels sturdy and high quality. It’s still unusual to see a candybar phone with both a touchscreen and physical keypad, but Nokia squeeze in both: the X3-02 gives you a 2.4-inch QVGA display and a well-sized, nicely-clicky keypad.
Both have some compromises, to accommodate the X3-02′s size and relatively low £159 ($247) SIM-free price. The touchscreen uses a restive panel, though it’s a decent example of the technology; you don’t get multitouch gestures, but neither do you get lag or an overly squeeze feel to the display. Meanwhile the keypad has an unusual 4 x 4 layout, with the star, zero and hash keys shifted to the side of the 1-9 buttons rather than underneath them. Dedicated call-end, messaging, media and call buttons run along the top row; we’d prefer them down the side instead and a more regular layout, but our fingers did eventually get used to the change.
Inside, there are quadband GSM and quadband WCDMA modems (850/900/1900/2100) along with WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and an FM radio; you also get a microUSB port and a separate Nokia charging port. Disappointingly absent is GPS, which means one of Nokia’s key advantages, Ovi Maps with free turn-by-turn navigation, isn’t available. Internal storage is a mere 50MB but you can use up to 16GB microSD cards. That’s handy, considering the X3-02 has a 5-megapixel camera.
Software
Unlike the N8, C7 and C6-01, the X3-02 uses Nokia’s ageing S40 OS. That puts it resolutely in the feature-phone category, rather than smartphone, but it’s actually a solid platform for those with less ambitious expectations from their mobile device. The combination of touchscreen and physical keypad works well, with decent-sized on-screen icons and text. The only real stumbling block is scrolling, which tends to be more jumpy as a result of the touchscreen technology, but it’s a minor issue.
The S40 homescreen supports widgets, shortcuts and themes, though the flexibility isn’t as broad as with Symbian^3. Think more customizable launcher than anything else. Preloaded apps include the usual Nokia Messaging Service 3.0, which offers POP/IMAP compatibilty along with Gmail, Yahoo!, Windows Live and Ovi Mail, with up to ten simultaneous accounts supported. There’s also Ovi Chat, the Ovi Store for downloads – though these are general Java applets and lack the complexity of what you’d find in, say, the Apple App Store or Android Market – and the Opera Mini browser.
The internet experience on a 2.4-inch QVGA display is nothing to write home about, and heavy webpages generally brought the X3-02 to a standstill (or at least a timeout warning). Opera’s rendering system does its best to strip out most of the complexity to suit the Nokia’s capabilities, but if you’re planning on doing much in the way of mobile web browsing then you should probably look to a smartphone not a feature-phone.
Camera, Phone and Battery
5-megapixels is impressive stuff for a feature-phone, though we’ve been spoilt by Nokia’s optics over recent years. While the X3-02 produces decent stills with a fair amount of detail and nice color balance, video is limited to 30fps QVGA resolution or just 15fps VGA resolution; that’s likely a shortcoming of the handset’s processor rather than the camera unit itself.
Phone performance is strong, with clear audio to both parties, and we had no problems using a Bluetooth headset either. Nokia claim up to 300 minutes talktime or 430 hours standby; in practice, even with several calls and some messaging, the X3-02 lasted multiple days between charges.
Wrap-Up
With the focus on mid- to high-end smartphones, it’s easy to forget that there’s a considerable market for capable, well-designed feature-phones. The X3-02 isn’t perfect in that respect – we’re not keen on Nokia’s tendency over the years to tinker with their keyboard layouts – but the numeric keypad isn’t as outlandish as some we’ve seen from the Finns, and the tactile buttons go a long way to making up for it. The touchscreen may not be capacitive but it does the job, and S40 lacks the finesse and ambition of a smartphone platform but should satisfy most mainstream users.
At £159 SIM-free and unlocked, or around £89 ($138) on pre-pay, it’s also reasonably affordable. Entry-level smartphones like the Android-powered Orange San Francisco offer strong competition at around the £99 ($154) pre-pay mark, but at the expense of the camera performance and battery life. If your focus is on calls, pecking out SMS/MMS messages, snapping photos and going the distance between recharges, the X3-02 will likely fit the bill. Still, cheap Android devices provide a tempting step-up onto the smartphone ladder.
Welcome back to our “Week With” series starring the L1 v2 Laser Pico Projector from AAXA. If you’d like to see this little monster being taken out of its box, head back to the Unboxing and Hands-On post – if you’d just like to see it in action, feel free to proceed below. In this first review post we take a look at everyday uses of this device from bringing it to school to keeping it at home to watch a movie on your wall (or projector screen.) Keep your eyes peeled for usability and functionality.
Hardware
If you take a look back at our original post announcing availability of this projector, you’ll see that this device is a three-color laser light source projector, one they call “revolutionary.” It also includes proprietary despeckling technology, and an LCoS imager to produce 800 x 600 resolution and 20 lumen output. It has a built-in speaker, ports for VGA, A/V, USB, and power (for both charging and using whilst plugged in,) plus there’s a headphone jack on the other side.
It fits right in the palm of your hand and all the controls are in plain sight. Once you get into working the menu, you’ll more than likely have a short learning session as the UI is slightly imperfect. But just speaking on behalf of the hardware here, everything seems really slick, all buttons extremely responsive and hearty. Once the projector is running, you’ll hear that the fan has its work cut out for it. You will hear the fan running more than 60% of the time you’ve got the device on. It’s not the quietest fan I’ve ever heard, but you’ll probably get used to it quick after you hear it.
As far as cords go, you’ll have to see what your situation is when you get to the point where you’re going to decide what to use this device for. You’ve got a few cords included in the package, but there’s definitely room for want. For instance you might want a USB to USB cord to connect the device to your computer to add files to the device’s onboard storage.
Software
Once you have the device in your hand and you’d like to start playing some movies or looking at some photos projected high up in your classroom when the teacher isn’t looking, you’ll notice that there’s no screen from whens you can see selections. Wait a second, you’ll say, of course there’s no screen, this is a projector! So you turn the device on and sure enough, the menu is staring you right in the face, right over there on the wall.
The menu is confusing. Apple didn’t design this user interface, and sure as heck Google and the people at Android didn’t take a whack at it. It’s got five different items on the screen that you can highlight – four of them around an image of your controller (same as on the device,) and two more to the right. Around the controller are Documents, Photos, Video, and Music. To access each of these, you’ve only to press up, down, left, or right. When you’ve highlighted an item, its name is also highlighted at the top of the screen. This would be great, but the rest of the names are up there too, flanking the highlighted name. Say what? Confusing, very confusing. Then to get to the other two options: Sources (Input) and Settings, you’ve got to press right two times. You’ve got to select movie, but continue moving to your right to access these two additional items. Weird. Once you’ve got it, you’ve got it though, and the confusion doth never return.
A couple of the greatest things about this device are it’s ability to play and project all sorts of files and its ability to hold files inside itself for playing without anything connected. The most convenient way you’re going to end up using this device is to bring a USB stick along with all the content you’d like to display. Your stick plugs right into the side and your files appear basically instantly.
Picture
The picture is really nice, especially for such a tiny projector. I’ve used it to watch a couple of movies in my wife and I’s living room in the dark and have had basically no complaints. There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to getting certain movies and etcetera to project at full quality, but it’s nothing a person who can read the instructions manual (a very nicely laid out manual I remind you) wouldn’t be able to understand quite quickly. The picture is bright, the picture is colorful, and the picture is always in focus. Always always always. As I mention in the video, I remember the teachers and professors at the schools I went to constantly having to set the projector up to focus on the screen. No more of that, I say.
The picture projects as well as you’d expect it to in light and dark. Projected images obviously look better in the dark than they do in the light because, you know, there’s no competition. On the other hand, this projector deals a better game than they speak of in the advertisements as far as displaying in the light goes. NOTE: In the video when you see lines (or “waves”) moving through the projected image, note that these are only the result of my video camera having a different frame rate than the projector projects. The video is indeed clean.
Everyday Use
In most instances you’ll end up placing this device down while you’re displaying the media you’d like to display. This device is small though, and was clearly designed to be brought along for presentations in the office, school, or otherwise to be held in the hand. When you do either of these, your primary concern should be the heat. This device does get pretty hot pretty quick. You’re not going to be wanting to hold the projector in your hand for the entirety of its battery life (about an hour, a little more), because your hand will thusly become uncomfortable. The device does not become so hot though that you should worry about it overheating and breaking, but don’t go wrapping it in a warm towel just to test it.
We (my wife and I) have used the projector at home now to watch a couple movies up on the wall before we go to bed. We generally like to watch terrifying horror movies so we can’t sleep for weeks, so we watched one of those and Anchorman, a comedy movie you may have heard of, and both worked out really well. We of course turned the lights down for both (got some popcorn too), and definitely recommend doing this when watching anything on the projector if you’ve got the option. Poltergeist is, of course, terrifying either way. This device is clean.
A Week With the L1 v2 Laser Pico Projector from AAXA
Take a look at all of our “Week With” posts for the L1 v2 projector in this ever-growing list right here, starting with the first announcement and ending with the final word:
Google shook up the Android world with the Nexus One, throwing down the gauntlet to manufacturers to step up their hardware game and pushing the open-source platform to the bleeding edge of smartphone functionality. Now the search giant is back with its second self-branded device, the Nexus S, a Samsung-made handset with a few unique features of its own. Is this the best Android smartphone today, or just another Galaxy S sibling? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Hardware
With the Nexus S, Google shifted its allegiance from HTC – who produced the Nexus One – to Samsung. It’s perhaps a timely move, too, echoing Samsung’s recent announcement that the company’s phones have seized the top sales spot in the US Android marketplace. That’s primarily down to the success of the Galaxy S family of devices, a range with which the Nexus S shares significant overlap.
Out goes HTC’s over-engineered metal chassis and matte-finish casing, replaced by Samsung’s glossy black plastic. It’s a design decision that has earned the Nexus S some criticism, but in the hand it doesn’t feel cheap. There are only a few grams between the two devices, but we prefer the lightweight Nexus S and a willing to make the trade-off. Samsung’s weight distribution also makes a significant difference to hand-feel; the HTC-made myTouch 4G feels far heavier, despite only a minor difference on paper, predominantly because of how the handset is balanced.
Up front is Samsung’s 4-inch Super AMOLED display running at 800 x 480 WVGA resolution, just as on the Galaxy S. As ever it’s a beautiful, color-saturated panel with inky blacks and crisp edges; in daily use, there’s little difference between it and the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, despite the Apple handset’s greater resolution. New with the Nexus S is the so-called Contour display technology, a single, curved fascia that leaves the handset with a slight chin. It reminds us of the curve of the Palm Pre, or indeed a revisiting of the original G1 design, finessed to suit Android’s own improvements. Samsung hasn’t confirmed it, but we don’t believe this is Corning’s Gorilla Glass, since from what we’ve heard the company hasn’t made curved panels of their toughened glass suitable for smartphones.
Although it’s not a huge arc, the Contour shape does make single-handed use more straightforward: we were able to hold the Nexus S a little further up and still reach the touch-sensitive buttons – bizarrely in a different order to those on the Nexus One – under the display. Going back to the Galaxy S felt foreign afterwards. The curvature also helps avoid screen scratching, lifting the display off of the table when the handset is placed face-down. On the front there’s a VGA-resolution camera for video calls, while on the back there’s a 5-megapixel autofocus camera.
Hardware controls are limited, with only a power button on the right edge and a volume rocker on the right; no camera shortcut key, sadly. Ports have all been shifted to the bottom of the phone, with the 3.5mm headphones jack next to the microUSB port for charging/syncing. We prefer the placement of the audio port, since it keeps the headphones cable out of the way. Gone, though, are the Nexus One’s dual-microphones, which helped the smartphone with noise reduction, and the color-changing trackball; in fact the Nexus S lacks any sort of LED indicator light.
Also gone is the microSD card slot; peel off the battery cover and you’ll find the SIM reader and a 1,500mAh battery – the same capacity as that in the Galaxy S, but physically a little smaller – but no way to augment the 16GB of onboard storage. It’s unclear whether this is a conscious move by Google to push Android handsets in the direction of Windows Phone (and iPhone before it), a compromise Samsung were forced to make in order to fit in NFC, or something else.
NFC – or Near Field Communications – is the newest of the Nexus S’ wireless connectivity options, and it joins WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 (not, as in the Galaxy S, Bluetooth 3.0) for short-range communication. Cellular connectivity, like with the original Nexus One, supports quadband GSM/EDGE and triband UMTS/HSPA (900/1700/2100): that means T-Mobile USA and broad European/Asian carrier support. Unfortunately it also means no AT&T 3G in the US, and no support for T-Mobile USA’s faster HSPA+. Perhaps, again, it’s a matter of fitting hardware into a finite space, but when Nokia can include pentaband UMTS/HSPA in their recent handsets, we wonder why Samsung can’t do the same. Google may well end up releasing an AT&T-specific Nexus S, but the inability to roam between the two key US GSM networks is a frustrating limitation.
Similarly frustrating can be GPS performance; we haven’t observed the dire positioning problems originally found on the Galaxy S, but at times the Nexus S proved simply incapable of getting a GPS lock: we drove for around 30 minutes of open, clear freeway and the handset continued to show “Searching for GPS.” The issue is intermittent, however, with the phone not liking it if you try to get a fix while moving.
It’s a shame, because performance in general from Samsung’s own 1GHz Hummingbird processor is swift and satisfying. It’s paired with 512MB of RAM and 1GB of ROM, and while it may not be a dual-core chip like the Tegra 2 – which we’re expecting to show up in handsets like the LG Star come early 2011 – the Nexus S is still very fast. Google could’ve chosen a Tegra 2 or other dual-core handset to launch Gingerbread, but the Nexus S shows it’s simply not necessary: the Samsung does a fine job showing off the performance of Android 2.3 on a single-core processor. Unfortunately we could only run benchmarking tool Quadrant once – the Nexus S scored over 1,600 – as the app crashed on subsequent attempts.
Software
While Android went through its share of significant updates, particularly in the jump from 1.6 to 2.0, the progression from Froyo to Gingerbread is less dramatic. That’s not to say it’s a meaningless upgrade, of course; simply that Android is already a solid, well-developed platform in its own right.
The Nexus S appeals as a pure Google experience, something many users are looking for in the hope of seeing earlier OS updates, and the untampered Gingerbread UI is the most usable to-date. The color scheme has been tweaked, with the grey status bar replaced by a black version; rather than being merely aesthetic, it also reduces power consumption. The call screen is much slicker than before, and call logs are now threaded like emails; you also get all of Google’s usual Android apps, including the recently updated Gmail app, and the promise of v5.0 of Google Maps with its 3D city rendering and offline caching when it’s released imminently.
Demo of Google Maps in Android 2.3
The tweaks continue throughout the OS. There’s a new, dedicated download page which shows everything you’ve pulled down onto the phone, and a new battery page which augments the previous horizontal usage bars with a matrix showing power consumption over the course of the Nexus S’ uptime. It’s not entirely polished, however. On some occasions we were unable to add app shortcuts to the homepage. We’d also like to see the ability to set different times for when the display shuts-off and when the phone actually locks, as on the DROID X.
Gingerbread’s biggest change is in text entry and editing, with a refresh both of the on-screen keyboards and of how copy/paste is handled. The latter, despite being something taken for granted on traditional computers, still remains controversial on mobile devices: Microsoft omitted it completely in Windows Phone 7, and it took Apple years to get it right for iOS. Google’s approach falls short of the consistent UI on the iPhone, though it’s an improvement over Froyo. Instead of double-tapping to select a word, the new Gingerbread method is to tap and hold; you then get easily dragged highlight cursors. Unfortunately, it seems the new system is yet to propagate throughout the OS, as some apps continue to offer the old double-tap method.
It’s a shame, because the keyboard is much improved. Google has added multitouch support, meaning you can now hold down a modifier, such as the shift or number buttons, with one finger and tap at the changed layout with another. The keys themselves are a little smaller than on the Froyo layout, though it’s not an especially dramatic change, and Google’s auto-correct and predictive systems are strong and reasonably accurate. Voice control also works well, though you’ll still need a network connection for the servers to crunch your dictation.
As with Froyo, Gingerbread supports Flash Player 10.1 for in-page video and games in the Android browser; oddly, though, we had to install the Adobe package ourselves, since it wasn’t pre-loaded. The Hummingbird CPU and Gingerbread’s own enhancements kept things running smoothly, with less of the sluggishness in scrolling and panning that we’ve occasionally seen in 2.2 when using Flash, but also appears to have introduced some issues of its own. Some Flash sites simply refused to work, such as Dropcam’s live video streaming, whereas we had no problems whatsoever viewing them on a Froyo handset.
Near Field Communications (NFC)
Near Field Communications looks to be one of Google’s key drives for 2011, a short-range wireless technology that will – eventually – allow for two-way communications between devices. We say eventually; at present, all the Nexus S’ chip can do is read tags, such as the Google Places business sticker bundled in our reviewers’ pack. They, Google expect, will be snapped up by companies keen to link their online presence in with the real world – simply run the new Tags app on the Nexus S, hold the phone near the sticker, and you get whatever information is encoded on it popping up on your handset. That could be a link to a website, online video (as in the case of the bundled sticker) or a contacts entry.
(Watch NFC in action in hands-on video below)
In the future, though, there’s a lot more potential for NFC. Once Google unlocks the functionality, you should be able to exchange data – such as your contact details – by holding two handsets near each other. You’ll also be able to write to NFC tags, potentially creating your own smart business cards to hand out. There are undoubtedly security concerns still lingering over the technology, but with Google betting strongly on the system there’s plenty of motivation to get that ironed out.
Camera & Multimedia
As with the Galaxy S family, Samsung has used a 5-megapixel camera for the Nexus S, complete with auto-focus and an LED flash. The biggest difference is in the UI, with Gingerbread bringing a new camera control layout, which makes much more sense for everyday use. Quality is also strong, a little better than on the Galaxy S, though as ever the low-light performance with the LED flash is heavily dependent on whether you’re in the sweet spot of not-too-close, not-too-far-away. It’s actually easier to get stronger low-light shots with the flash turned off, in fact.
Video, meanwhile, is underwhelming, being limited to 720 x 480 resolution whereas the Galaxy S manages 720p. It’s perhaps a concession to the non-expandable storage – 720p HD takes a fair chunk of memory space – but remains an obvious gap on the spec sheet. Still, the clips the Nexus S can produce are “good enough” for a phone, though you’re unlikely to be replacing your Flip camcorder with the new handset.
Nexus S sample video
As with the missing 720p support, there have been complaints over the Nexus S lacking either HDMI connectivity or DLNA streaming. While some users will certainly rue their omission, we can’t say we’re particularly disappointed not to have them onboard. Although we’ve had HDMI ports on smartphones before, we’ve only ever used it a handful of times and on several occasions encountered problems with the TV we’ve connected it to anyway. Similarly, DLNA remains a niche option, with consumers uncertain on both what it is and how to use it, and it demands a compatible device (whether TV, STB or other). Neither is a deal-breaker, we’d wager, to most users.
The front-facing camera will take stills but, at VGA resolution, they’re hardly impressive. Instead it’s intended for video calls, though the glaring absence is any sort of video chat functionality baked into Gingerbread itself. Apps like Fring and Tango do take advantage of it, however, and will work over WiFi and 3G, unlike Apple’s WiFi-only Face Time. Still, we can’t see video calling on Android reaching a tipping point until Google packages the functionality in the core OS.
Phone & Battery
Despite lacking the Nexus One’s microphone array, audio quality on the Nexus S is particularly strong. Callers reported hearing us loud and clear, despite whatever ambient noise was around us, while the Nexus S’ earpiece and speaker were both loud and crisp even at the highest volume settings. Obviously you’re limited to T-Mobile’s 3G network in the US, though you could still use an AT&T SIM for GSM/EDGE calls and data. Another option is VoIP, with native SIP support baked into Gingerbread. You’ll need an account with a VoIP provider, of course, but with that – and assuming your carrier doesn’t mind data use for VoIP purposes – you can bypass regular calls altogether.
Battery life, meanwhile, is also much improved. We’re not sure if it’s the UI tweaks, Gingerbread’s own frugality, Samsung’s power management or something else – most likely a combination of all these factors – but the Nexus S bucks the trend for high-powered Android smartphones to run out of juice sooner rather than later. A full charge from 0-percent to full power took 4hr 15min, and we managed a full day with extensive use without needing to top the Nexus S up. Some apps proved more hungry than others, however, and Gingerbread’s new battery monitoring tools helped pick them out: Twitter app Seesmic proved one such culprit. We’ve spoken with Google about the perhaps excessive full charge time, and have been told that subsequent recharges should be faster as the battery is conditioned.
Wrap-Up
The Google Nexus One was a game-changer among Android devices, and it set a blueprint for hardware that has persisted throughout 2010. The Nexus S, meanwhile, has a tougher challenge: a balance between hardware and software that, the search giant hopes, will shape the development and feature-adoption of future Android devices from third-party manufacturers. With Gingerbread, Google has hit the reset button on a worrying trend of increasingly power-hungry handsets, and that’s something we particularly hope new devices continue.
Google’s other big investment will take more time to mature: NFC. With applications limited at present – Google’s Places stickers are currently only available in one trial market in the US – it’s going to be a harder sell for manufacturers than, say, a higher resolution camera or faster processor. Nonetheless, Google isn’t the only company pushing for it: Apple has several patents for NFC-related mobile technologies, such as payments and digital event ticketing, and rumors persist of an NFC-enabled iPhone refresh in 2011, while Microsoft has long been touting NFC in its vision of the future.
There’s the potential, then, for Google to shape the NFC field by virtue of being first to market, but only if it can persuade other Android device manufacturers to follow suit. Happily, the Nexus S is a strong contender in the smartphone space whether or not NFC catches on, though it remains to be seen how 2011′s dual-core handsets will change the field once again. There’s a compelling argument for the Nexus S, especially if you want your future OS updates sooner rather than later, but we’re also keen to see how Gingerbread affects the performance of similarly specified Android handsets on the market today. It’s the best Android device around, and a strong alternative to the iPhone 4, but a big part of that appeal is – at the moment – the rarity of the platform it runs.
Whole-house audio isn’t new, and – as Sonos has shown – it isn’t necessarily complicated, but nor has it generally been all that affordable. Orb plans on changing that with the Orb Music MP-1, a $69 wireless audio adapter that – along with some free software to turn your Apple or Android smartphone into a remote control – promises Sonos-style streaming without the sky-high price tag. Check out the full review after the cut.
Hardware
The MP-1 itself is a small plastic disc 3.28-inches across, about the size of a drinks coaster, with a rubberized base and an Orb logo on the top inside an illuminated status ring. Ports and controls are minimal: a miniUSB is used for initial setup and then power, while a 3.5mm stereo output is the only way to hook up speakers; meanwhile the only hardware button is a recessed reset nub on the bottom of the unit.
Inside there’s WiFi b/g/n, and in the box Orb include an AC USB power supply, a USB to miniUSB cable and a 3.5mm stereo audio cable. There’s also a brief “Getting Started” sheet and the warranty information.
Software
Orb rely on two different software components, each available to download rather than included in the retail box. First up is Orb Caster, the music “server” side of the system and which is currently available for Windows and Mac. It’s this app that pulls together your multimedia and squirts it out to the MP-1, and it means you’ll need to have a computer running full-time if you want to use the Orb system; there’s no standalone component. You can index local and network-shared media, including an iTunes library, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4), AAC, Lossless, WMA and WAV files are supported.
Second is the Orb Controller app, which is available for iPhone/iPod touch, iPad (as a native app) and Android. This is the free remote control, and the useful thing is that you can download it to as many devices as you own: if you’ve got an iPad in the lounge and then an Android smartphone, you can have Orb Controller running on each.
Setup proved trickier than it should, with neither our PC or Mac able to see the MP-1. After some head-scratching, that was tracked down to a bent pin in the supplied USB cable, which meant the Orb Music was powered but not connected for data. There’s no way of knowing whether we bent the pin ourselves or if Orb supplied a broken cable.
Once plugged in with a working cable, the Orb Caster app quickly recognized the MP-1 and allowed us to select the default WiFi network for it to connect to. After that, when powered up it showed up in the Orb Devices list – on all the Orb Caster installs, not just the one that set it up initially – after twenty seconds or so of network registration. The Orb logo on the MP-1 flashes orange while it’s finding the WiFi connection, double-flashes if it can’t find the Orb Caster server, and then lights green when it’s ready.
As for the Orb Controller app, that’s available in the Apple App Store or the Android Market, and is free in each. Loaded up, and it automatically finds whatever Orb Caster servers are running; you can then choose which one you want to control, based on the server name you set during installation. The homescreen offers the core audio library along with any playlists, together with Pandora and Sirius if you have access to them, internet radio (sorted by country, genre and favourites), any internet radio you’ve recorded using Orb Caster, and the settings page. The latter allows you to reset the controller and, remotely, Orb Caster, together with triggering a rescan of the media library.
Media itself can be browsed by artist, album, genre, composer, song or folder, or alternatively you can search for a specific track. Album art is supported, though not downloaded on-demand. Using the bar at the top of the screen you can see all the MP-1 units on your network and their current activity, including pausing or stopping playback on all of them. Tapping the first track plays it; tapping subsequent tracks allows you to choose between playing them immediately, playing them next or appending them to the end of the current ad-hoc playlist. If you have two or more Orb Controllers running simultaneously, they can each control a single MP-1: you can see track changes and even volume adjustments, synchronized across all of the controllers.
Performance
Audio quality is highly dependent on the speakers you plug in, and as long as those you choose have a 3.5mm input, you’ll have no problems hooking up the MP-1. With only analog audio to choose from, rather than some sort of digital output, the Orb Music won’t be quite as good as a Sonos system with a top-notch HiFi, but that sort of setup is obviously expensive and also demands that your digital music collection is encoded at suitably high bitrates. All that considered, we had no issues with the MP-1′s audio performance.
Overall responsiveness of the Orb system is, as you’d imagine, dependent on every stage the music has to pass through; the speed is only as good as the weakest link in the chain. With the Orb Caster app pulling tracks locally and from a USB hard-drive, linked via WiFi b/g to the MP-1, playback started after a second or two of delay. Streaming music from a NAS, meanwhile, added an extra second or two into the process.
As for the Orb Controller apps, the iOS version seems more polished than its Android counterpart. On the iPad it updated quickly and moved swiftly between pages, only encountering minor delays when getting long lists of albums, artists or tracks from the server. The Android app was a little more buggy, occasionally freezing and sometimes causing the device to slow down and become unresponsive altogether. These were intermittent issues, but we noticed them on both a Samsung Galaxy Tab and a Google Nexus One.
Wrap-Up
Viewed against Sonos’, Raumfeld’s or Logitech’s systems, the Orb Music has some obvious omissions. Its remote app is more sluggish – and demands that you have an Android or iOS device to run it – and it lacks connectivity options like digital audio outputs and wired ethernet. On the flip side, a single MP-1 is $69; assuming you already have a suitable device to act as the remote, that means you can be up and running with a single-room wireless audio streaming system for a fraction of the cost of a Sonos setup.
Adding an extra room is another $69, and Orb’s recent Orb TV VP-1 adapter – at $99 – promises to do for video and photos (along with music) what the MP-1 does for audio, all running from the same Orb Caster server. Yes, you’ll need a computer turned on all the time, but the same is true with SqueezeBox, and if you’re buying into Sonos then you’re basically getting a standalone PC in their units. We’d like to see a NAS plugin, as with SqueezeBoz, to run Orb Caster from a network-attached storage device, but the target audience for the Orb Music is probably going to be able to work around leaving a computer switched on 24/7.
Orb still has work to do finessing the Orb Controller app, particularly the Android version, and we’d like to see Rhapsody support (which the company says it is working on) in the US and Spotify in the UK. An open API for third-party developers would be grand, too. The company does say a wired ethernet version of the MP-1 is also under consideration, if there’s enough user demand. Still, on balance this is an affordable and flexible way to stream music without installing huge lengths of cable or spending massively on proprietary remotes and other hardware. What shortcomings there are pale considerably when you take into account the Orb Music MP-1′s bargain price.
Our initial speed benchmarking with Verizon’s LTE service was enough to get us seriously interested in the high-speed 4G network, but there’s more to a mobile broadband service than just raw throughput. Has the LG VL600 LTE modem lived up to expectations? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Hardware
The LG is undoubtedly a big USB modem, feeling oversized in comparison to the thumbdrive-scale 3G versions we’re used to seeing. We can forgive the bulk given the combination of 3G and LTE hardware packed inside – unlike some WiMAX modems, the VL600 can roll back onto Verizon’s EVDO Rev.A network when LTE coverage isn’t available – though if you’ve a notebook with tightly positioned USB ports you may have issues plugging something in alongside the LG.
The most likely victims are Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro ranges, the USB ports on which are closely clustered on the side. Still, at the moment there’s no point in hooking up the VL600, since there are no Mac drivers for the modem. Verizon tells us they’re “working quickly” to address that, but there’s no public timescale for their release. On a PC, we were up and running in seconds, and we’ve noticed no greater battery drain than with a regular 3G USB modem.
One ongoing frustration was the handover between 4G and 3G. Sometimes the VL600 would switch automatically, other times we had to physically unplug and reinsert the modem before it would transition from 4G to 3G. It was an intermittent problem, and one that hopefully fresh drivers will address.
Performance
Our first impressions of the VL600 were that it offered regular broadband levels of speed, and over our longer testing that’s certainly been borne out. Obviously you’ll require LTE coverage to get 4G speeds, and right now Verizon claims to be serving 38 markets and over 60 airports. Their aim is to cover their current 3G footprint with 4G by the end of 2013; until then, you can check out coverage here [http://network4g.verizonwireless.com/#/coverage].
We tested the service in three locations: Phoenix, AZ; Charlotte, NC; and Philadelphia, PA. In Phoenix, the figures generally kept to the top end of Verizon’s rough guidelines of 5-12 Mbps downlinks and 2-5 Mbps uplinks, with an average download speed of 12.21 Mbps and a healthy 6.18 Mbps upload speed.
Things improved considerable in Charlotte, with uplinks taking a 100-percent jump according to SpeedTest.net. Downloads on average reached 11.37 Mbps, while uplinks blasted to 12.24 Mbps. Ping times were also less variable than in Phoenix.
Finally, Philadelphia, achieving average download speed of 20.92 Mbps, while uplinks were 5.63 Mbps.
Now, it’s worth bearing in mind that right now the LTE network is seriously under-utilized, and these speeds most likely won’t persist as load increases and more users get online. Still, they’re considerably higher than we encountered with HSPA+ and WiMAX in their first bloom, and that bodes well for longer-term performance.
Pricing
Both the LG VL600 and its Pantech UML290 equivalent are $99.99 with a new, two-year agreement. Alternatively, Verizon is offering them at $249.99 apiece contract-free, with the same choice of data plans.
Verizon had originally promised innovative pricing for LTE service, with talk of bandwidth-related tariffs and communal data allowances. We’re still waiting for that to happen; the first 4G packages on offer stick to the tried & tested concept of a single monthly allowance and overage fees. There are two plans, one offering 5GB per month for $50, the other 10GB for $80, and a further $10 per GB over those allowances.
That’s at the top end for non-unlimited 3G plans, certainly, but when you factor in the high speeds involved with 4G, it’s not difficult to burn through 5GB or 10GB in double-quick time. If you’re simply checking email and surfing the web then it’s not going to be a problem, but realistically that sort of usage pattern is unlikely among LTE early-adopters. We can understand Verizon’s caution in the early stages – it’s easier to start off conservative and then ease open the floodgates, rather than try to take things in the opposite direction – but the sooner we see more accommodating plans (that offer data bundles which live up to the speeds on offer) the better.
Wrap-Up
There’s no denying that LTE is fast, although we’ll be returning to benchmark the service in a few months time when the network will presumably be under heavier loading. Still, if you demand the fastest mobile broadband around and live or work in an area with Verizon 4G coverage, LTE certainly lays takes on the challenge set by HSPA+ and WiMAX and rises to it admirably.
We’re less enamored with Verizon’s reticence over game-changing data plans, and the 5GB/10GB limits are likely to disappoint those considering LTE as a fixed broadband alternative. The absence of Mac support and occasionally temperamental 3G/4G handover is also frustrating, though both could be readily addressed with a software update.
Verizon has promised 4G mobile hotspots, and they may be more realistic options for the sort of user tempted by LTE. Still, until they arrive, the LG VL600 is a solid way to get your PC online while on the move, and do so at a rapid pace as well. Verizon may not have been first to market with their 4G offering, but the wait has been worth it.
Low-cost Android tablets aren’t unusual; good low-cost Android tablets are a different matter. Advent’s Vega slate – on sale through DSG’s PC World, Currys and Dixons in the UK – bucks the Android trend by carrying a low sticker price of £249 ($395) and decent hardware specs, including NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 processor. It’s a combination that has seen DSG struggle to keep the Vega in stock for more than an hour at a time, but is this really the bargain Froyo slate we’ve been waiting for? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Hardware
Compared to the brushed metal of the iPad or the sturdy compactness of the Galaxy Tab, the Vega’s plastic construction and uninspiring design feels more mundane. Still, it’s also around half the price of those rivals, so we’re more forgiving of the bland aesthetic. The rear panel sounds somewhat hollow when tapped, and squeezing it in the middle causes distortion on the LCD; the edges – where you’re more likely to be gripping – are sturdier. At 275 x 177 x 14 mm it’s reasonably thin, though it’s longer (and narrower) than the iPad.
Advent Vega unboxing & hands-on:
Up front is a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 resolution display with a capacitive touchscreen, and we’re not all that impressed by Advent’s choice of panel. Colors are reasonable, and it’s a bright screen, but the viewing angles are poor, particularly the vertical angles. Viewed dead-on in landscape orientation and it’s fine, but lay the Vega down on a table or beside you on the sofa and there’s considerable distortion of the picture, particularly along the bottom edge (where the shortcut bar lives on the homescreen. Flip into portrait orientation, and the shallow angles are even more frustrating, with websites suffering from glare and discoloration.
Image taken with Vega and Galaxy Tab at full brightness, showing same 1024 x 600 image.
Bar the 1.3-megapixel webcam – which takes unpleasantly fuzzy stills – the Vega’s bezel is completely bare, with all of the hardware controls pushed to the edges of the slate. On the top edge there’s a microphone, power/lock button, a switch to lock screen orientation and a back button, while running down the right side there’s a volume rocker, headphones socket, MicroSD slot (with a 4GB card preloaded), USB port and HDMI port, along with the power connector. A docking connector is on the bottom edge, though so far there are no accessories that take advantage of it, and a pair of stereo speakers are on the back. There’s no dedicated home, search or menu keys, as you’d expect to find on an Android device, though a long-press on the back button calls up the context menu, and a long-press on the power button offers home as an option.
Wireless connectivity is limited to WiFi b/g and Bluetooth; Advent tells us that a 3G-enabled Vega is in the pipeline, but this first model has no cellular modem. While that doesn’t present much of an issue for home use, it does have an impact on what software Advent can use; more on that in the next section.
Software
The Vega scores points for using Android 2.2 Froyo, rather than an earlier version of the Google platform, though if you’ve come to the tablet from an Android smartphone then you’ll likely find plenty missing. Google’s mandatory specifications for Android devices – which the Vega doesn’t achieve – means the tablet lacks Android Market access together with all of the custom Google apps, like Gmail, Google Maps and Google Voice. In fact, the application launcher is surprisingly bare: out of the box you get the browser (with multitouch pinch-zooming but no Flash), calculator, camera app (for use with the webcam), clock, WHSmiths ebooks app, email, gallery, iFileManager, music, search, Sound Recorder and a shortcut to the online Vega help portal. There’s no native PDF or Office File viewer, though, which means downloaded instructions and guides from that portal can’t actually be read on the Vega itself.
Third-party apps can be loaded via their raw .apk files – you can browse to them at a site like GetJar.com, download and install them with no issues – or you can opt for a third-party application store, such as SlideMe or AppsLib. Still, where Samsung took the core Android 2.2 experience and boosted it to suit the larger-screen Galaxy Tab, the Vega feels like a backward step in comparison.
Advent’s changes to Froyo are minor, the most obvious being to accommodate the missing hardware buttons. A toolbar along the top of the display has a home shortcut on the far left and menu/back buttons on the far right. There are also WiFi, battery and clock indicators. The battery gauge can be sluggish to respond; on several occasions we hit the power button to glance at how much juice was left, then had to wait as the gauge updated to the latest figure. Five homescreen panes mock the absence of apps to fill them with, and a persistent shortcut row along the bottom links to settings, mail, browser, My Media and then the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube sites.
The absence of apps is frustrating, because we can’t really fault Tegra 2′s performance. The browser whips along nicely, rendering even complex sites quickly, and multitouch zooming suffers no stuttering or lag. Screen rotation (in all but the homescreen, which is locked to landscape orientation) is similarly fast. Angry Birds – the .apk install file for which we downloaded in the browser and then installed manually – looked great on the 10-inch screen and played with no issues. We could only access YouTube via the m.youtube.com mobile site – the full site wouldn’t recognize the Flash Player 10.1 plugin Advent had installed – and quality was mixed.
The Vega’s salvation is likely to be in the hands of the Android homebrew community, and there’s already at least one alternative ROM that adds unofficial access to the Android Market along with all the usual Google apps. The process of rooting and installing the Vega is apparently straightforward, and the end result is a far more flexible slate.
Battery
Advent suggest you’ll see around 6.5hrs of HD movie playback or up to 16hrs of audio playback (with the screen off) from a full charge of the Vega. In practice, with mixed use – predominantly browsing – we managed a full day’s use before the battery expired, though power draw while in standby was higher than on the Galaxy Tab or iPad. Overnight, the Vega dropped from 93-percent to 69-percent with no use whatsoever.
Wrap-Up
There are times – web browsing, for instance – when we had to remind ourselves how cheap the Vega is, given its performance lived up to other far more expensive tablets. At other times, the cost-cutting required to hit that price reared its head, with the lacklustre viewing angles of the display being a particular frustration. Reading text or looking at photos or video is simply a more enjoyable experience with the iPad or Galaxy Tab’s displays.
Out of the box, there’s definitely a sense that you get what you pay for. Advent could have done themselves major favors by throwing in some custom apps for social networking, IM or video calls, or by preloading things like Fring or Skype. Instead, there’s a webcam that only gets used to take vanity stills and a processor that’s massively under-utilized.
Spend some time tinkering, however – whether that be the basics of installing a third-party app store, or going the more complex route of flashing an alternative ROM – and the Vega proposition is far more appealing. That appeal seems to have caught the Android dev community, for whom Advent’s limitations are of no real consequence. Mainstream users, however, will likely find the Vega underwhelming in its pure form.
asted to 12.24 Mbps. Ping times were also less variable than in Phoenix.
