Thread: Anandtech News

At least one Anandtech editor has an extra spring in his step today! True to their word, Verizon has been adding and expanding LTE coverage across the US, making stops at some of the largest markets, and even some smaller ones. Verizon's announcement of nine new markets included Tucson, AZ, home to cell phone and displays editor, Brian Klug and we can all breath a sigh of relief knowing now that Brian won't have to drive all the way to Phoenix whenever an LTE device lands on his door step. VZW has hitched their future on LTE, including a recent ad campaign that touts LTE's performance as "Twice as fast as any AT&T smartphone." By all accounts the performance is top notch and bests AT&T's '4G' HSPA+ network; now if they could just get a reasonably priced unlmited data plan. Source: Verizon Wireless


More...

This little e-mail hit our desks today, finally giving a date for when TouchWiz would slide onto Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1. We've seen TouchWiz on phones before and had mixed feelings; but this is an entirely different beast, as this will be the first opportunity to see a manufacturer's skin over top Honeycomb's frame. We'll find out how useful the Live Panel and Mini Apps that come with this new TouchWiz UX are at a press event being held next Wednesday. After the event, the public is welcome to stop by with Tab's in tow and have the latest firmware sideloaded onto their devices. No word on when a more traditional Over-The-Air update will be available, but we expect the ROM to be hitting XDA's forums before lunch is served. We'll be their to cover the event and update as needed.

More...

I've always liked ultraportables. Back when I was in college I kept buying increasingly more portable notebooks until I eventually ended up with something horribly unusable for actual work. When Apple introduced the first MacBook Air back in 2008 I fell in love. It finally stuck a fast enough CPU in a small enough chassis and gave me a full sized keyboard to type on. I was set.
Last year Apple introduced the first major update to the MacBook Air, bifurcating the lineup with the first ever 11-inch model in addition to the standard 13. With last year's update the MacBook Air did so well that it actually started outselling the base MacBook. Apple isn't a fan of large complicated lineups so it retired the MacBook. If you want a portable Mac you can buy a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro.
As the mainstream counterpart to the MacBook Pro, Apple had to do something about the performance of the MacBook Air. While last year's updates were great alternatives to cheap, underpowered netbooks, they weren't fast enough to be a mainstream computer in 2011. Last year's Air featured Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, based on an architecture that debuted in 2006. Intel has released two major architectures since then.
Just nine months after the release of the 2010 MacBook Air, Apple fixed the problem. Meet the new Air:

If these systems look identical to the ones they're replacing that's because they are, at least from the outside. With the exception of a backlit keyboard, some differences in the row of function keys and a Thunderbolt logo, these babies look identical to last year's models.
You shouldn't judge a (Mac)book by its cover, because the MacBook Air's internals are much improved.


More...

If you've seen any of the new Thunderbolt Macs torn apart you will recognize the piece of silicon above. That flip-chip package is Intel's first Thunderbolt controller, codename: Light Ridge (clever). It features four Thunderbolt channels (4 x 10Gbps bidirectional = 80Gbps aggregate bandwidth) and up to two DisplayPort outputs. It's used in the 2011 iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac mini.
This is Eagle Ridge, it's little brother:

Images Courtesy iFixit

Eagle Ridge is available in two form factors (normal and SFF) and is effectively half of a Light Ridge chip. That means you only get two Thunderbolt channels and one DP output. Apple used the small form factor version of Eagle Ridge in its new MacBook Air to cut cost and save on motherboard real estate. I'd expect to see Eagle Ridge, not Light Ridge as the Thunderbolt IC of choice for OEMs going forward. At least if price is a concern. Source: AnandTech

More...

Those of you on the fence about Nintendo's 3DS, your wait may soon be over: Starting August 12, the price of the system will fall from its current $249.99 to $169.99, an $80 cut. The price drop, which is also coming to Japan (a cut from 25,000 yen to 15,000 yen on August 11) and Europe (a cut of "around a third" on August 12), is undoubtedly meant to boost sluggish 3DS sales ahead of the holiday season, and to give the 3DS a comfortable market lead over the PlayStation Vita that launches later this year. It is one of the largest single price cuts in the company's history.

To appease early adopters who paid significantly more for the system, Nintendo is planning to make free games available to anyone who logs into the 3DS eShop before the price cut takes effect. These customers, called Nintendo Ambassadors, are eligible to download 10 NES Virtual Console games and 10 Game Boy Advance Virtual Console games at no cost, and to sweeten the deal, the company says it has "no plans" to make the Game Boy Advance games available to the general public at any cost.

This drastic price cut followed by a move to reimburse early adopters has some precedent: in 2007, Apple reduced the price of the original iPhone from $600 to $400, and gave early adopters a $100 Apple Store credit in an attempt to mollify them. It's a smart move on Nintendo's part, and since Virtual Console games are very rarely changed in any way from their original versions, the Ambassador program's cost to the company will be slim.

More...

While SSDs are all the rage these days, Western Digital is still making headway on their 10,000RPM VelociRaptors. The drives come in 150GB, 300GB, 450GB and 600GB capacities in both 2.5” and 3.5” form factors. However, until recently only the 450GB and 600GB variants were available with SATA 6 Gbps and a larger 32MB cache.
But it seems Western Digital has showered some love on the 150GB and 300GB variants, bringing them up to speed with their larger capacity siblings. The new models are now listed on WD’s website here. No word on stateside pricing or availability yet, but it might be reasonable to expect a slight price bump.
A quick look at some online retailers still shows the older SKUs (WD1500HLFS, WD3000HLFS) with SATA II and 16MB cache going for about $119.99 and $149.99 respectively. Although SSDs have become more affordable over the years, from a pure performance per dollar standpoint, these Velociraptors are still hard to beat.
Here are the new SKUs.
WD1500HLHX
WD3000HLHX


More...

Surveillance cameras are increasingly moving away from the analog to the digital domain. Advances in image and video processing silicon, emergence of efficient video compression standards and abundance of cheap storage have all contributed to bringing surveillance cameras to the consumer mainstream. As connected homes become more ubiquitous, surveillance cameras are tending to become network enabled. These IP cameras are used to record surveillance videos while also finding application for casual home monitoring, baby monitors etc. Their networked nature enables users to keep track of the video over the Internet (at work and on-the-go).

We have already reviewed a couple of IP cameras at AnandTech. The Dropcam Echo came across as very consumer friendly, while the Compro IP540 with the Pan-Tilt-Zoom feature was more professional and catered towards businesses.

Today, we will be reviewing Compro's entry level offering, the IP 70. While the hardware itself has been around for quite some time, firmware updates were provided recently to bring support for Seedonk. This is supposed to make the camera more consumer friendly. How good is the Compro IP 70, and what sort of usage scenarios is it suitable for? Read on to find out.



More...

Last year we ran a little series called Ask the Experts where you all wrote in your virtualization related questions and we got them answered by experts at Intel, VMWare as well as our own expert on all things Enterprise & Cloud Computing - Johan de Gelas.

Read on for the first installment of Johan's answers to your questions!


More...

The last several days have seen lots of speculation about an AT&T branded Motorola phone whose model number (MB865) mirrors that of the long awaited Droid Bionic (XT865). So it was with some interest that images of an attractive Android slab appeared on a Chinese forum (the forum requires an account but can be seen with a translated write-up here) with obvious similarities to the Atrix 4G and sporting AT&T branding. The leaker confirmed with us today that the model he saw was the MB865 and sported a dual-core processor. The screen resolution was unknown but rumored to be qHD like the Atrix before it.

Ever since Motorola scrapped the original Droid Bionic, lots of rumors have swirled about what the product would finally look like. The concensus now is that a device codenamed 'Targa' would replace the original Bionic and feature a hump reminiscent of the X2. What has been lacking for this device are specifications. While some have speculated that NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 would be the SoC of choice, battery life concerns would make this unlikely. Instead, a faster dual-core option could be in order, including faster Tegra 2 variants or SoC's from TI that have seen recent attention from Motorola. To be sure, this device is not so angular nor humped as the Targa shots would suggest.
So, is this phone a Droid Bionic cloned Atrix 4G sequel? We're not sure, but we'll be really interested to find out more as AT&T begins it's LTE rollout.
{gallery 1262}


More...

It hasn't been a great year for Logitech, and that's owing in part to the failure of their Google TV platform to take off in a market filled with cheaper alternatives. Amidst their dismal Q1 Financial Statement, Logitech announced that they would be slashing the price of the Logitech Revue below cost in order to boost sales. The box was somewhat well received by reviewers, but the original price of $299 was a sore spot, and the previously discounted $249 price garnered no favor. At $99, though, Google TV is now competing with the likes of Roku and Apple TV, still a tough fight, but not nearly so unbalanced by price.
This is, of course, all as the Google TV 2.0 update is in process, and the opportunity to run Android apps on the big screen for $99 could be a truly enticing opion. It's unclear when this pricing will take affect, but it'll be interesting to see if future Google TV product pursue this aggressive pricing. We hope to get a chance to chat with Logitech reps soon so stay tuned and post any questions you might have.
Source: Logitech


More...