by Dean on September 18, 2009
This article written for TechRadar looks at what the recent ratification of the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard means for consumers. For example:
Q. Will my old kit work with the final 802.11n standard?
A. Yes. And no. It’s a “Yes” if your router is based on Draft 2.0 of the 802.11n specification and was officially certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
It’s a “No” if your router is based on Draft 1.0 and calls itself Pre-N. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, all existing Wi-Fi Certified Draft N wireless products will be compatible with the final standard.
Some wireless manufacturers have also been quick to reassure consumers, announcing “full compliance” with the final version of 802.11n.
Belkin, for example, has already stated that its products currently on the market are “already compliant and do not require firmware upgrades or other software downloads”. Netgear told TechRadar that its current Draft-N models “will be upgradeable via a firmware upgrade”.
You can read the full article on Techradar.com
by Dean on September 4, 2009
The Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) is unarguably the greatest tech show in Europe. Sadly, I didn’t get to go. I actually spent an enjoyable few days in the TechRadar offices covering the latest product announcements from afar.
I wrote the following articles for TechRadar.com:
The 9 hottest tech trends at IFA 2009
Just bought a new 1080p HDTV? The bad news is that there’s a more advanced screen technology around the corner, promising better contrast, greater clarity, enhanced eco-friendliness and improved motion-handling.
Tech firms gear up for day of IFA launches
Panasonic says that it’s IFA 2009 slogan is ‘revolutionary technology’ and its line-up includes full HD TVs, digital cameras, Blu-ray decks and HD camcorders.
10 things you need to know about OLED
Not sure what OLED is? Wondering why you’d want an OLED TV when all the chatter these days is about LED and 3D telly? Here’s what you need to know.
The top 14 buzzwords of IFA 2009
So what have people been talking about at this year’s IFA? From Panasonic’s ‘Digital Hearth’ to Sony’s new land of ‘make.believe’, we look at the buzzwords that have defined the show.
9 IFA showstoppers you’d sell your gran for
After the rush of press conferences on Thursday, we dispatched the TechRadar bots to scan the stands for the most exciting IFA products. Here’s what rocked the show…
by Dean on August 18, 2009
The next-generation of HDMI interface has been rubber-stamped by the HDMI Licensing consortium. HDMI 1.4 isn’t just a small upgrade either. There are several significant improvements to the technology, including integrated data connectivity and support for 3D. Here’s an excerpt of my recent article:
1. HDMI 1.4 features an integrated Ethernet channel
The new version of HDMI adds a bi-directional IP data channel to allow devices to send and receive data at full Ethernet speeds (i.e. up to 100Mbps). This basically eliminates the need for a separate Ethernet cable and enables web-capable devices (with HDMI 1.4 connectors) to share their Internet connection with other HDMI gadgets. For example, an HDMI 1.4-equipped amp could act as the Internet hub of a home cinema system, sharing its broadband access with a connected TV or set-top box.
2. There’s support for dual-stream 1080p 3D
HDMI 1.4 defines several 3D formats for HDMI-enabled devices, including ‘frame alternative’, ‘line alternative’ and ‘field alternative’ methods, ‘Side by side’ methods (full and half) and ‘2D plus depth’ methods. The new specification is also capable of handling dual-stream 3D resolutions up to 1080p. Having already made an impact on the big screen, 3D is arguably the ‘next big thing’ in home entertainment. BSkyB has recently announced its intention to launch a 3D channel, while 3D gaming experiments have already been conducted on the PC and PS3.
Read the full article on Techradar.com.
by Dean on August 12, 2009
My quick quide to Freeview+ (or Freeview Plus) takes a look at what Freeview+ represents, what you can do with it and what sort of devices use the technology today. Here’s an excerpt:
Freeview+ isn’t new. Originally launched under the ‘Freeview Playback’ banner in 2007, the platform was rebranded as Freeview+ in mid-2008. The move positioned Freeview+ alongside its plus-badged video recording rivals – Sky+, Virgin Media’s V+ system, Freesat+ and BT’s Vision+ box, which acts as a Freeview/VOD combo device.
What all of these devices have in common is a built-in hard disk drive. It’s mandatory in the Freeview+ specification, giving Freeview+ devices the ability to record any programmes listed in their 8-day Electronic Programme Guides. In fact, the HDD is constantly recording, enabling Freeview+ systems to pause live TV for up to 30 minutes and to rewind it for personalised instant replays.
You can read the full article on TechRadar.com.
Mobile phones, and smartphones in particular, are big business. The technology has come along way since I first owned a brick-like Motorola phone in the 1990s.
Post-Apple iPhone, manufacturers like LG have rushed to embrace similar touchscreen control systems. But while it might look like an iPhone wannabe, the LG Viewty Smart (aka the Viewty 2) is actually pitched against digital cameras.
The 8 Megapixel Schneider-Kreuznach lens is the dominant technology and it makes it obvious that less attention has been lavished on some of the phone’s other features.
So rather than compare the LG Viewty Smart to the iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre and the HTC Magic, it slots into a segment of the market where the Samsung Pixon, Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905 and Nokia N86 do battle.
These handsets aren’t designed specifically to rival the iPhone. Yes, they’ve been inspired by it, and yes, they often blatantly ape some of the iPhone’s better features.
But, without the core iTunes integration and without an App Store that can deliver hundreds of new games, widgets, applications and utilities over-the-air, the Viewty Smart and handsets like it are second class smartphones.
Read the full LG Viewty Smart (GC900) review on TechRadar.
Haven’t done many reviews recently. So it’s nice to get back into the swing of things with these two Panasonic camcorder reviews for TechRadar.
The Panasonic HDC-TM10 is a full HD (1920×1080) camcorder that features a clever dual storage system, combining 8GB of internal flash memory and slot-in SD/SDHC memory cards.
This gives it a maximum storage capacity of around 40GB if you use a 32GB SDHC card. The TM10 also features a 16x optical zoom, 2.7-inch touch-sensitive LCD and advanced optical image stablization.
The Panasonic HDC-SD10 (pictured) is its almost identical twin brother, boasting the same core specifications but lacking the TM10’s built-in flash memory. The SD10 is an SD-only model.
Read the full Panasonic HDC-TM10 review.
Read the full Panasonic HDC-SD10 review.
Just how important is the new Pre smartphone to Palm? It’s a fantastic phone, a true iPhone rival. But then it has to be. Palm is now a shadow of its former self, a company that’s a million miles away from the innovative PDA-builder that ruled the mid-1990s.
An article I wrote for TechRadar charts the fortunes of Palm, from its first steps with pen computing to missing its ride on the lucrative netbook boat when it cancelled the Foleo. Here’s an excerpt:
It’s a far cry from Palm’s golden years, when Palm Computing Inc. revolutionised mobile computing with a string of must-have PDAs that ruthlessly killed off the Filofax, inspired Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and defeated a plucky British company called Psion. Let’s rewind 17 years…
1992 Palm Computing was founded by Jeff Hawkins, an electrical engineer who’d previously worked on pen computing technology for GriD Systems.
1993 Palm’s first real product was the ‘Zoomer’ – a $700 pen-based handheld (sold as the Casio Z-7000 and Tandy Z-PDA) that was launched just after Apple’s Newton. Neither the Zoomer or the Newton were hugely successful (although the Newton is still fondly remembered).
1994 Hawkins concentrated on developing more advanced handwriting recognition technology, which he saw as key to a better user experience. The result was the speedy and surprisingly accurate Graffiti system.
1996 The Graffiti UI is built into Palm’s first own-brand PDA – the Palm Pilot 1000. The Palm Pilot 1000 had a 16MHz processor, a 160×160 monochrome screen and 128K of memory – enough to hold 500 addresses and 600 appointments. Palm sold more than a million of them in the following 18 months.
You can read the rest of The highs and lows of a pre-Pre Palm on TechRadar.
It’s easy to be wowed by the Palm’s new Pre smartphone and webOS – possibly because our expectations before CES were so low. The platform has real iPhone-rivalling (not ‘killing’) ambition.
The Palm Pre fresh and innovative, built firmly around the principles of simplifying people’s lives and making technology invisible to the user.
But can the Pre really save Palm? Because Palm really needs saving.
The decline of Palm
While its iconic Palm Pilots digitised the Filofax and fulfilled an organisational need in the late 90s, Palm’s Treo smartphones have found it difficult to compete.
According to Gartner’s last analysis of smartphone sales by OS, Palm is languished in sixth place with a 2.1 per cent share.
Symbian led the way with 49.8 per cent thanks to a massive installed base of Nokia phones, followed by RIM (15.9 per cent), Apple’s Mac OS X (12.9 per cent), Windows Mobile (11.1 per cent) and Linux (7.2 per cent).
Read the rest of How the Pre could revive Palm’s fortunes.
Updated: See the companion article: The highs and lows of a pre-Pre Palm.
by Dean on March 13, 2009
It’s nine years since Sony launched the PlayStation 2 in Japan. Since then, Sony has sold over 140 million PlayStation 2s worldwide.
And, incredibly, the nine year-old console is STILL selling.
Long after rivals like the Microsoft Xbox, the Nintendo GameCube and the Sega Dreamcast have been consigned to the scrap heap, the PS2 continues to be the world’s best-selling games machine.
In fact, over 130 games were released for the PS2 in 2008. They added to an enviable back catalogue that now totals around 1,800 titles.
The PS2 is the console that gave us the first 3D Grand Theft Auto (GTA III), Ico, God of War, Splinter Cell and untold hours of Final Fantasy. And there are still over 50 new games planned for the PS2 this year.
This staying power shouldn’t come as a surprise. Sony initially imagined a 10-year lifespan for the PlayStation 2 and now the £95 console provides a reliable, low-budget option alongside the still-pricey PlayStation 3.
Read the full Why the PS2 still remains the console to beat article on TechRadar
by Dean on February 16, 2009
In the recent Digital Britain report, the UK government committed itself to making DAB the “primary distribution network for radio”. But with internet radio booming and FM prevailing, is DAB really the future of radio?
On the surface, everything looks rosy. DAB radio sales are buoyant and the number of people listening to digital radio stations is on the up. It’s estimated that nearly one third of the UK population tunes into a digital radio station every week.
According to the most recent RAJAR figures, digital listening rose by 10 per cent in Q4 2008, while DAB ownership received a 35 per cent boost.
Even so, digital radio is having a bumpy ride…
Read the full As internet radio booms, is DAB doomed? article on TechRadar.
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