Items tagged with preview
If you keep a pulse on the premium smartphone arena, you probably have a line on the fact that there might be something special about the forthcoming LG V30. Set for an official IFA 2017 unveiling, the new handset has been leaked, rumored and even teased by LG itself. LG in fact has been on a consistent marketing blitz, releasing bits and pieces of LG V30 features to keep the buzz factor and discussion of its new device at peak volume. Regardless, with a complement of features that may not be earth-shattering, but when combined add up to what could be handset nirvana for many, it's beginning to feel like LG may truly have something compelling in hand for Android power users with the V30....
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Is it possible to love a game too much? One reddit user may be testing the fanboy limits. Redditor daymeeuhn reportedly paid $1,300 for a leaked copy of No Man’s Sky and then bragged about it with videos of gameplay. Daymeeuhn claims he bought the game from a seller on eBay and had it shipped via FedEx. He proved that he did so through a video on DailyMotion of him opening and installing the game. Sean Murray of Hello Games warned viewers on the No Man’s Sky Twitter account that they would see a bunch of spoilers if they chose to watch Daymeeuhn’s video. We’ve spent years filling No Man’s Sky with surprises. You've spent years waiting. Please don't spoil it for yourself :(— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky)...
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Lenovo just unveiled a duo of affordably priced multi-mode tablets, the Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10. As their names suggest, the Yoga Tablet 8 features an 8” screen, while the Yoga Tablet 10 sports a larger 10.1 display, and like Lenovo’s Yoga-branded ultrabooks, these two devices also feature a unique design that allows them to be used in multiple orientations. Here’s a quick video we put together of the two devices in action that better demonstrates what we mean. The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 Out of the box, the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 and Yoga Tablet 10 feature Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). The devices are powered by quad-core MediaTek 8125 (1.2GHz, four...
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For Windows users of all kinds, the Windows "Blue" 8.1 update has been long-awaited. Those who've been using the base OS since launch have no doubt been anticipating some of the enhancements that are coming, while many others have been waiting patiently to see if the update manages to right enough wrongs to help persuade them to make the move. Has Microsoft succeeded in either of these cases? That's what we hope to find out. At the moment, Windows 8.1 is available only as a preview, and if you are looking to give it a try, there are a couple of things to be aware of... Microsoft Reacts But Did It Get Windows 8.1 Right?...
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For Windows users of all kinds, the Windows "Blue" 8.1 update has been long-awaited. Those who've been using the base OS since launch have no doubt been anticipating some of the enhancements that are coming, while many others have been waiting patiently to see if the update manages to right enough wrongs to help persuade them to make the move. Has Microsoft succeeded in either of these cases? That's what we hope to find out. At the moment, Windows 8.1 is available only as a preview, and if you are looking to give it a try, there are a couple of things to be aware of. The most important is the fact that once you upgrade, you can't easily downgrade - so you may wish to try the update in a...
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It's the small steps, Sally! Some say big things come in tiny packages, and in this case, a big plus has come in the form of a small magnifying glass. Google's latest subtle tweak to the mobile browsing experience is shaping up to make a major difference in how people surf, and save them an awful lot of time along the way. Back in November 2010, Google started to showcase emergency phone numbers at the top of the results page for searches around poison control, suicide and other common emergencies in 14 countries. This week, the company is making it even simpler to quickly reach the help you may need by adding click-to-call capabilities for all of these emergency information search results. They...
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Just when you think you have everything figured out, you come across something that turns your world upside down. Long known for their blue motherboards, Gigabyte has finally decided to enter the dark side and will release mainboards featuring black PCB. Up to this point, it was the only major motherboard company that did not offer models sporting a black paint job. We first saw the P67A-UD7 at IDF 2010 in San Francisco, but finally have a retail unit in our hands. The P67A-UD7 is an enthusiast class, LGA1155 based motherboard designed specifically for Intel's upcoming line of Sandy Bridge processors. It features a 24 phase CPU power design, Ultra Durable 3 with two ounces of copper...
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It's hardly a game-changer, but it's pretty cool. Anyone who's looked at the comments on YouTube posts know that they are certainly not works of literary art. Well, if you heard your comment read back to you, would you still post it, with all its grammar and spelling errors? Perhaps not. YouTube has added an audio preview feature to its comments. They didn't publicize it, so we only happened to notice it as we were going to comment on a video myself (which we don't do that often). You can see it below. Our guess is, the lack of publicity is because: they didn't think of it themselves. As a friend of ours pointed out, a couple of weeks ago, xkcd posted a strip called "Listen to Yourself" (below)...
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With the release of EA/Maxis's Spore (one of the most hotly anticipated games of 2008) only a mere 10 days away, more details about the $49.99 game have come out as well as another sneak-peek video of what gamers can expect come September 7. In the meantime, players have been busy creating creatures for Spore, with the $9.99 Spore Creature Creator, which has been available since June 17. And the many varied user-created creators have been quickly populating the Sporepedia for users to admire and even download if they wish. For the truly die-hard Spore wannabe, EA/Maxis even sponsored an "Ultimate Spore Creature Creator Dance Off Contest" on YouTube, where users uploaded videos of their creatures...
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Physics: as geeks, we just have to love the subject. We loved learning about geniuses like Isaac Newton and concepts like gravity, acceleration and inertia. Also, typical of geeks, we love gaming. So, combining physics acceleration and gaming just sounds like a really cool idea. For the past several years, we've been learning more and more about physics in gaming in the form of PhysX, a technology created by a company called Ageia. The original approach to PhysX by Ageia was a dedicated PhysX card that sported a PPU (physics processing unit). Ageia partnered with companies like BFG and ASUS to bring the PhysX cards to market. We actually reviewed the BFG version here in the HotHardware labs over...
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Physics: as geeks, we just have to love the subject. We loved learning about geniuses like Isaac Newton and concepts like gravity, acceleration and inertia. Also, typical of geeks, we love gaming. So, combining physics acceleration and gaming just sounds like a really cool idea. For the past several years, we've been learning more and more about physics in gaming in the form of PhysX, a technology created by a company called Ageia. The original approach to PhysX by Ageia was a dedicated PhysX card that sported a PPU (physics processing unit). Ageia partnered with companies like BFG and ASUS to bring the PhysX cards to market. We actually reviewed the BFG version here in the HotHardware labs...
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With Intel's recent launch of the Centrino 2 mobile platform, aka Montevina, you can be sure virtually all of the major notebook OEMs have been peddling their wares in an effort to hit the ground running during the back to school season this fall. First out of the gate, delivering a Montevina thin-and-light to our labs, is Lenovo with their ever-popular, consistently well-built ThinkPad series. The X200 is here. All .8 inches thick and just under 3lbs of it... In typical fashion Lenovo has engineered the X200 with clean, simple lines and a fit and finish second to none, as far as business class notebooks go. This machine also just sips...
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Today at Computex, Intel has officially launched an updated lineup of x45-series chipsets, which will likely be the last major mainstream chipset release from Intel for the Core 2 platform as we know it today. The names and specifications of these products have been rumored and reported on for the past few months, although today everything is set in stone and products are beginning to hit the market. The products which are launching today will make up the lion’s share of Intel’s chipset lineup until their next generation high-end X58 chipset launches with the Core 2’s successor, codenamed Nehalem.While all of these new chipset products are based on the same core architecture, Intel has segmented...
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Today at Computex, Intel has officially launched their updated lineup of x45-series chipsets, which will likely be the last major mainstream chipset launch from Intel on the Core 2 platform as we know it today. The names and specifications of these products have been rumored and reported on for the past few months, although today everything is set in stone and products are beginning to hit the market. The products which are launching today will make up the lion’s share of Intel’s chipset lineup until their next generation high-end X58 chipset launches with the Core 2’s successor, codenamed Nehalem. While all of these new chipset products which are being launched today are based on the same core...
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EA has released a video preview of the "Cell Phase" of Spore--the hotly-anticipated brainchild of Sim's creator Will Wright. The video shows vivid samples of what a game player might experience when first starting out with a new creature in the first phase of the game, called the "Cell Phase" or "Tide Pool Phase." Spore is "an epic journey that takes you from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and eventually all the way into the deepest reaches of outer space." The game is made up of five phases:Tide Pool PhaseFight with other creatures and consume them to adjust the form and abilities of your creature. It's survival of the fittest at the most...
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In the last half year, Dell has been busy revamping their entire desktop XPS lineup. First came the XPS 420 late last year, a premium multimedia workstation. Then Dell introduced a new mid-range gaming oriented desktop, the XPS 630 early this year. The 630 is a mid-tower sized gaming desktop styled after the flagship XPS 700 series but with more affordable components and a relatively thrifty price tag. We found the XPS 630 to be an excellent machine in our evaluation. While these new additions to Dell's desktop XPS lineup were certainly welcome, we hadn't seen a major update to the flagship 700 series in over a year and we were beginning to wonder if Dell would ever get around to it. With...
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In the last half year, Dell has been busy revamping their entire desktop XPS lineup. First came the XPS 420 late last year, a premium multimedia workstation. Then Dell introduced a new mid-range gaming oriented desktop, the XPS 630 early this year. The 630 is a mid-tower sized gaming desktop styled after the flagship XPS 700 series but with more affordable components and a relatively thrifty price tag. We found the XPS 630 to be an excellent machine in our evaluation. While these new additions to Dell's desktop XPS lineup were certainly welcome, we hadn't seen a major update to the flagship 700 series in over a year and we were beginning to wonder if Dell would ever get around to it. With the...
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We're always on the lookout for Asus Eee PC updates and today we've come up with some breaking news for you relative to the Windows XP variant that is due to hit the market in April. Actually, it's more than just some breaking news; we've got one. Though the machine isn't due out until sometime mid-next week, we were able to get our hands on a full retail bundle well before they hit store shelves in the US. More here...
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We're always on the lookout for Asus Eee PC updates and today we've come up with some breaking news for you relative to the Windows XP variant that is due to hit the market in April. Actually, it's more than just some breaking news; we've got one. Though the machine isn't due out until sometime in the next few weeks, we were able to get our hands on a full retail bundle well before they hit store shelves in the US. The included operating system, software and add-in bundle is really the only thing that differentiates this Eee PC version, versus the Linux-based 4G model that we looked at for you back in November 2007. Let's take a...
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Just in case you missed it, we’re hitting the news page to let you all know that we have just posted a new article here at HotHardware in which we evaluate the features and performance of AMD’s new 780G Chipset with integrated graphics and the new low-power Athlon 64 4850e processor. Here's a snip from the piece...“The 780G platform launching today combines the core logic expertise and graphics technology brought in from ATI with AMD’s latest low-power Athlon X2, yielding a very fast, very inexpensive platform that won’t rack up a substantial energy tab. Additionally, the chipset supports a new feature called Hybrid Graphics—a Vista-only capability that harnesses the power of an add-in...
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We generally don’t use integrated graphics. You might not use integrated graphics. But there are more motherboards with integrated graphics sold than discrete cards, according to data published last year by Jon Peddie Research. That means you probably have friends and family buying systems with built-in graphics engines. Guess what happens when the work day is done and you take them into battle with you through a little Enemy Territory or Company of Heroes? Poor performance likely gets them killed over and over. Talk about a real bummer. We're WoW junkies ourselves, and you can’t imagine how many of the guys blame raid wipes on the speed of their graphics cards. Fortunately,...
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NVIDIA has been the forerunner in multi-GPU rendering for a long time now. With years of maturity and performance tuning, their SLI technology has shown very strong scaling when chaining a pair of GPUs together to tackle the 3D graphics processing workload. We’ve seen quad-SLI on mid-range GPUs previously with NVIDIA’s GeForce 7950 GX2 but what about three GeForce 8800 Ultra cards strapped in under the hood? Green-friendly, eco-minded, tree-huggers or those of you with weak constitutions for that matter; look away. This might not be for you. Put the kids to bed early - NVIDIA's 3-Way SLI is in the house. We'll show you exactly what it can and can't...
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