Notebooks, Tablets, Smartphones, Wearables And Gadgets
In-depth product reviews and news of notebooks, tablets, smartphones, wearable technologies and gadgets. We're now living in a contextually-aware computing world and mobile devices can not only help us enjoy the ride but create and capture new experiences as well.
Periodically, Amazon updates and revamps its lineup of tablets with upgraded models and new names. While the company's tablets have kept the Fire branding over the years, the combination of letters and numbers that follow have changed. This year, for example, Amazon removed the HDX tag and now offers tablets with simply “Fire” or “Fire HD”...
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New processor architectures inevitably lead to a flurry of refreshed product lines from PC makers. That's how things have been playing out with Skylake, a "tock" in Intel's tick-tock design cadence and its 6th generation Core processor family. As usual, ASUS is on the bleeding edge with new Skylake systems ready to...
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You don't need a crystal ball to figure out Apple will release a new iPhone handset every year. It's been doing it since the original came out in 2007, and starting with the iPhone 3G, Apple's naming convention has consisted of introducing a new model number every two years, with "s" variants in between. There was the iPhone 3GS in 2009, iPhone...
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Competing with Apple in the mobile space isn't rocket science, it's just a matter of sticking to a proven formula for success -- build a premium device with superior specs than the one Apple is selling, inject it with Android, and then undercut the iWhatever in price. That's not to say Apple is the only premium slate...
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Laptops are mostly static devices. What we mean by that is, for the vast majority of laptops, what you get at the time of purchase is what you get, and that's that. Unlike a desktop system, in which each individual component is upgradeable without too much fuss, only certain parts of a laptop are user replaceable, at least without some serious...
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Love it or hate it, Apple's MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines have remained a watermark for which the majority of notebook manufacturers aspire to, whether it's enthusiast gaming companies like Razer with their Blade, or mainstream vendors like Dell via their outstanding XPS 13. Enter Asus. They've utilized their ZenBook line to...
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In November, Amazon announced the latest addition to its hardware line-up, the Amazon Echo. The Echo smart speaker doubles as a digital assistant and home entertainment device. It’s an always-connected, always-available Siri or Cortana-like device designed for your home that can provide answers to common questions...
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We've got a fairly well defined set of expectations from today's ultrabooks. What you trade away in performance, you usually gain in convenience with these ultra-light, ultra-portable, and easy to carry laptops. We wouldn't make an ultrabook our primary gaming system or video-encoding cruncher, for example, but we...
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Acer is hoping to attract users who want flexibility with the company’s latest Aspire R 13 convertible notebook. Featuring their semi-unique "Ezel Aero" hinge, the R 13 can convert between various notebook and tablet style modes, giving you six different usage positions in a thin and light design.The Aspire R 13 measures less than an inch...
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The engineering wizards at Apple have designed a laptop that's lighter than Air...the MacBook Air, that is. It's the new MacBook (early 2015 edition), a forward-thinking laptop that measures just 11.04 inches (W) by 7.74 inches (D) by 0.14-0.52 inches (H), and weighs a mere 2.03 pounds. The super thin and light...
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The rate at which the industry is pumping out smartphones these days is staggering. Even more impressive is the rate at which truly outstanding phones are shipping, even from names that weren't significant just a few years ago. BLU, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and ASUS (just to name a few) have all produced handsets in recent months that rival the best...
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Dell’s Alienware gaming team impressed us with its Area 51 desktop earlier this year and we’ve been impatiently awaiting the 2015 version of the Alienware 15 mobile gamer ever since. The laptop is finally here, and there’s a twist: Instead of sending a money-is-no-object configuration (like it did with the Area 51)...
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AMD previously only teased bits of detail regarding their forthcoming 6th Generation A-Series APU, code named "Carrizo." We heard from AMD about this next generation, highly integrated mobile architecture as far back as CES 2015 in January and then again in February and more recently with AMD's HSA (Heterogenous...
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Back in early January, during our coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show, we gave you all a first glimpse of the Asus ZenFone 2. For those unfamiliar with the ZenFone 2, it is an Intel-powered smartphone, rocking Android Lollipop, that’s compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile, and other cellular networks that utilize...
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Asus unveiled its latest addition to the Transformer series at CES in January, the Transformer Book Chi. Available in three sizes, the new Transformer Book Chi Series features a 2-in-1 detachable laptop design. Their flagship Transformer Book T300 Chi offers a 12.5-inch screen, an Intel Core M processor, and a fanless cooling solution. The...
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At this point, it is clear that virtually all of the major mobile device manufacturers are laser focused on the wearables market. While one could argue that the war for the wrist began a couple of years ago, most of the smartwatches that have shipped thus far have served only a small niche. Early adopters have peeked at the Moto 360,...
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Asus announced the super slim Zenbook UX305 during the IFA trade show in Berlin in September. This ultrabook will be available in two models: one with a 1920x1080 IPS display and one with a QHD+ display that boasts a resolution of 3200x1800. Asus claims the latter model is the world’s slimmest 13.3-inch QHD+ laptop. The UX305 is powered by...
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Dell took the wraps off a fresh, new revamp of their popular XPS 13 ultrabook line, out at CES in Las Vegas last week. The new machine was widely considered best-of-show for core computing products and racked-up awards left and right from major publications, including accolades from us here. Dell seemingly hit all the...
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ASUS is a relative newcomer to the smartphone market in the US, but they have had worldwide presence for quite some time. Overseas customers have long enjoyed access to devices such as a giant 7-inch smartphone that makes American phablets look tiny by comparison. Even though most consumers are no longer put off by holding up 5 -...
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We're willing to concede that size matters, but too often in tech manufacturers take advantage of that notion by offering multiple size options of the same product without upping the ante in any other way. Without shaming specific manufacturers by pointing out some examples, let's just say that we've seen both knock-off and name-brand laptop...
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When Microsoft first released Windows 8, the company hoped that hardware manufacturers would get creative with form factors and customers would be enticed by the intriguing new PC designs. One of the clear leaders to emerge since Windows 8's launch is the Lenovo Yoga series of laptops, which fold in half to mimic tablets or can be used in...
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As it does every so often, Amazon recently updated and revamped its line of Fire tablets to include upgraded models and a somewhat simplified naming scheme. The new models abandon the "Kindle" branding and are now simply known as Fire HDX 8.9, Fire HD 7, and Fire HD 6. To flesh out the lineup, Amazon still sells a Fire HDX and a Fire...
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