There’s a reason why Apple is suing Samsung in just about every major world territory — it feels threatened, and so it might.
Samsung is now the top-selling phone manufacturer on the planet, and that’s entirely thanks to the wildly popular Galaxy range of Android smartphones. The latest such handset, the Galaxy S3, has enjoyed the kind of build-up and reception normally reserved for iDevices and that’s no mean feat.
The stats don’t lie, either — over half a million people read our hands-on in just 12 hours!
So do check out our Galaxy S3 page below, as well as all our other reviews this week. It’s been a good one. Happy weekend!
Hands on: Samsung Galaxy S3 review
The headline feature of the new Samsung Galaxy S3 is the 4.8-inch Super AMOLED+ HD screen, packing a whopping 1280×720 pixels into a sub 5-inch space.
That means a resolution of 309ppi, which is encroaching on iPhone 4S territory but at a much larger screen size. Under the hood is very impressive too: a 1.4GHz Exynos quad core processor backed up by 1GB of RAM, and will come in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB flavours, with a microSD slot to boot. In your face, HTC One X!
Samsung is on typically aggressive form with the Samsung UE46ES8000, combining cutting-edge features with a gorgeous space-saving design and some of the best picture quality the LCD TV world has to offer.
Particularly impressive are the set’s attempts at revolutionising the way you interface with your TV, the improvements Samsung has wrought to its picture quality (especially in 3D mode) thanks to its dual-core processing, and the additions to Samsung’s Smart Hub online platform.
The really impressive thing about the Asus P8Z77-V Pro is the fact that, despite its relatively diminutive price-tag, it can easily hold its own against the best its siblings and competitors can muster.
When you compare it against the likes of Intel’s own Z77 and the bargainous ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional, it’s definitely ahead of the curve.
The Samsung HW-E551 is arguably the most sophisticated 2.1 system currently available. The hybrid design is neat and the wireless sub behaves impeccably, shutting down when required.
As a sonic upgrade for a TV, it represents fine value, and the punchy sub is a crowd pleaser. Sonically it’s not perfect, but for general TV viewing these caveats are unlikely to prove an issue.
Acer Aspire Timeline U M3 review
Nvidia has been calling the Acer Timeline U M3 the first true Ultrabook. And the big, green graphics giant has good reason to be backing this svelte-looking machine – at its heart beats the very latest in mobile graphics power, the GeForce GT 640M.
This is the big selling point for this otherwise rather middle-of-the-road machine, and without it there is no way we would be anywhere near as enamoured with it.
Desktops
Chillblast Fusion Mamba review
Laptops
Media Streaming Devices
Honestech nScreen Deluxe review
Monitors
Philips Brilliance Blade 2 239C4QHSB review
Motherboards
ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional review
Software
Televisions
TV tuner cards
When discounting their older product, most companies simply dump it into the market and call it a day. But Apple isn’t just any company — an updated model of the 9 iPad 2 is floating around at retail, and it might improve battery life by as much as 16 percent.
Engadget is reporting that the lower-cost version of the iPad 2 introduced in March has quietly introduced a new 32nm A5 processor, and that could translate to improved battery life for budget-minded buyers.
The discovery was made by AnandTech, who did an extensive review on the upgraded model, which bears the “iPad2,4” model. Instead of the 45nm process used for the A5 processor used in the original iPad 2 last year, the newer 9 model features “special A5 chips manufactured using Samsung’s 32nm chip-making process.”
In testing, the website discovered that the 32nm iPad2,4 model boasted improved battery life of 15.8 percent, including a video playback test that lasted 15.7 hours — far better than the original iPad 2 model at 13.3 hours and even the new iPad with its larger battery, which ran for a mere 11.15 hours.
The problem is, there’s no way to tell which iPad 2 you’re buying until you’ve opened the box and checked the system information with something like GeekBench.
“This particular iPad 2,4 sample came from Best Buy, and several attempts to find one elsewhere came up short. All indications seem to point to the iPad 2,4 being relatively rare, which makes sense considering what’s inside it,” AnandTech reveals.
But fear not — once your fellow human beings have snapped up available inventory, it’s likely this once-rare version will be on store shelves everywhere, should you still be looking for a cheaper model of last year’s technology with a little extra battery life.
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
(Image courtesy of Engadget)
A New Yorker is suing Apple, claiming the company double billed him for an iTunes music purchase and then refused to offer a refund, citing its own Terms of Service — and if he gets his way, it will become a class action.
Justia.com is reporting that New York resident Robert Herskowitz is all fired up at Apple and the iTunes Store, which he claims charged his account twice for the same song. After finding no love with iTunes support, he’s decided to sue the company and is now seeking class-action status for his lawsuit.
As soon as Herskowitz found the duplicate charge, he claims to have contacted iTunes support. The following day, he received a response — but it certainly wasn’t the one he was hoping for.
“Your request for a refund for ‘Whataya Want from Me’ was carefully considered; however, according to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all purchases made on the iTunes Store are ineligible for refund,” the email reply reads. “This policy matches Apple’s refund policies and provides protection for copyrighted materials.”
Herskowitz’s questionable taste in music aside (Adam Lambert — really?!), our own experience with the iTunes Store has been quite the opposite. For example, while playing around with the remote for a first-generation Apple TV, our toddler mistakenly purchased the entire Jaime Foxx album “Best Night of My Life” (yeah, kids don’t have the best taste in music, either) — but thankfully, Apple refunded the charge to our credit card after we explained the situation.
What about you, MacLife.com reader? Any issues with being double-billed or getting a refund for accidental purchases? Sound off in the comments!
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
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