Sources Say Samsung Will Show off a 4.99 Inch 1080p AMOLED Screen at CES 2013: It's hard to believe, but the Consumer Electronics Show is less than two months away. For those unfamiliar with CES, it's basically the Superbowl or World Cup of trade shows. Anything and everything that runs on electricity will be at this event. As a journalist, you're not expected to sleep for 72 hours, because if you do you're going to miss something.
iTunes 11 Is Available: Download Now Open: For more than eleven years, there is Apple's media platform now already. At the time there were few changes to the look and functionality. After the new version of the in-house software was postponed in October, the time has come, iTunes 11 is available for download. Here Apple iTunes has missed 11 some new features to refresh the whole thing and build on the existing look of the iOS App Store in the sixth.
Lavi S21i - New iMac Clone Emerged in China: The Chinese have an iMac clone before the release of the original? A so-called all-in-one PC comes from the company and is lavi by the manufacturer as LAVI S21i. Unfortunately, this PC looks exactly the same as a new iMac with Windows. Herman Lai of MIC Gadget has the brazen iMac clone spotted on the Chinese news site Shanzhaiben
Tele2 has agreed with Vkontakte, MTS introduced a smartphone
with an interface from Yandex and Megafon launched LTE network in two new
cities. These and other important news from the world of the Russian cellular
operators - on.
Tele2. Service for "Vkontakte"
The company Tele2 signed a new agreement with a social
network Vkontakte, through which subscribers of the operator is now able to use
SMS-services website using their mobile phone.
The new service allows subscribers of Tele2 operator receive
a completely free SMS-notification of missed personal messages and news groups
and communities VKontakte. In addition, the service allows you to use SMS to
add comments to the news community, post entries on your wall and respond to
new messages. To activate the service subscriber Tele2 enough to register your
phone number on the settings page profile in the social network Vkontakte, then
request and confirm the activation code. Activation of the service for free,
and the monthly fee will be charged for it.
MTS. New branded smartphone interface Yandex.Shell
MTS has officially announced the start of sales of the new
smartphone under its own brand. Novelty called MTS 968 and running the
operating system Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich interface Yandex.Shell, which
allows you to create an unlimited number of desktops and has support for a
variety of unique widgets. The interface itself is built it into a
three-dimensional carousel.
MTS 968 specifications are pretty standard for carrier
smartphone. It is integrated chipset Qualcomm MSM7227 clocked at 1 GHz, 512 MB
RAM, 4-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. The
available physical memory is only two gigabytes, but they can add a microSD
memory card up to 32 gigabytes. Wireless capabilities new items include support
for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and aGPS. Built-in 5-megapixel camera is fine for when
the camera is not fully with him. Smart phone battery has a capacity of 1500
mAh and can support its work for 5.5 hours of talk time and 325 hours of
standby time. Dimensions are 968 MTS 124x64x12 mm, weight - 150 grams. The
question price - 7490 rubles.
Megaphone. LTE for Tomsk and Seversk
Operator Yota and MegaFon recently jointly announced the
launch of the Tomsk and Seversk mobile services of the fourth generation - LTE.
Both operators offer their own solutions for access to the network through the
new technology. Which of either choose - it's up to you.
Yota offers unlimited Internet access for all users. The
price depends on your connection speed - from 300 to 1200 rubles a month. For
those who use the Internet regularly, Yota offers access at no additional
charge at speeds up to 128 kbit / s. If necessary, the maximum speed can be
switched on for 24 hours for $ 100. Everyone who buys a device to access the
network Yota can during the week for free online test 4G. If the user is not
satisfied with the quality of service, Yota will return money for the device.
At least, so says the official web site. To connect to the 4G mobile Internet
with a modem can Yota, which is sold in the online store, retail outlets Yota,
as well as the partners of the company and is 2900 rubles.
Megaphone also offers subscribers Tomsk and Seversk 4G-modem
you pack a "Test" (20 gigabytes per month with a speed limit of 20
Mbit / c) - you can buy them in stores and online shop operator at a price of
1990 rubles. The device is universal, that is, not only works in networks 4G,
but also in the 3G and 2G. Acquiring modem kit from November 15, the subscriber
is able to connect up to date January 31, 2013 to use the mobile Internet
without subscription fees. Also offers users a megaphone in Tomsk and Seversk
other 4G-device: Russia's first 4G-tablet Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE and
Wi-Fi-Router "Megaphone MR100» with built 4G/3G-modulem.
Operators have promised to provide a highway link
Russia, because of its geography, is a country where the
least expensive to cover the mobile operators. But maybe, very soon, this
problem will be not so obvious. MTS, VimpelCom, MegaFon and Rostelecom
announced a joint project to provide mobile communication highways of federal
importance "Baikal", "Caspian", "Ural" and
"Ussuri" total length of about 9,000 kilometers. The construction of
the operator's base station will begin in the first quarter of 2013, the
project will take up to nine months. The estimated cost of the work on the
organization of the coating is about 3.2 billion.
Implementation of the planned project will provide full
coverage of cellular communication of key road arteries of the country. To
ensure uniform coating operators have installed more than 200 new base stations
in addition to the existing telecommunications infrastructure. According to the
work plan, each of the participants of the project will establish its own
antenna mast structures at approved sites, which will then be used for
co-location of equipment four operators. Costs for the construction of aerial
structures operators share on an equal footing. Costs of organizing power of
communications infrastructure will take the state.
The complexity of both the
development of the project itself and the subsequent implementation of the
specific regions and is caused by the peculiarities of passing routes away from
major population centers. Mobile communication roads of Russia is an integral
part of the federal program for full deployment of the "ERA-GLONASS",
designed to ensure safety on the highways and reduce the severity of accidents
due to speed incident response and relief.
Getting hands-on with
the iPad mini could just as easily be called a "hand-on" since it's so
easy to hold one-handed, and tap with the other. The first thing you
notice when you pick it up is just how thin and light it is. With a
smooth aluminum back, you feel like you could flip it like a coin, or
spin it on your palm. It's as thin as a pencil and as light as a
legal-size pad of paper - both nearly insignificant feeling objects. You
can grip the iPad mini with a couple of fingers on the bottom, or even
stretch your hand across the back like you're holding an iPhone 5 or iPod touch. It's 5.3 inches (13.5 centimeters) wide, and feels nicely balanced at 7.87 inches (20cm) high. It's
just 0.68 pounds (308 grams), slightly heavier at 0.69 pounds (312
grams) if you opt for the cellular version. We were so tempted to just
start flipping it in the air like a pancake, that's how light it feels.
This makes it even better as an e-reader than the larger iPad models,
since you can hold the iPad mini in one hand for much longer before
feeling fatigued.
The aluminum back meets the glass front at a
super-shiny, diamond-polished chamfer reminiscent of the one on the new
iPhone. The white version is stunning, with a matte silver back, and the
black version's charcoal aluminum back matches the black iPhone 5
perfectly. The iPad mini has an 4:3 aspect ratio, different than the 16:9 ratio preferred by the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD. The wider screen (holding it in portrait orientation) gives you more room for content.
Apple's
Phil Schiller gleefully compared the iPad mini's 7.9-inch screen to the
Nexus 7's 7-inch screen, pointing out how the iPad mini's viewing area
is 40 percent larger when you hold it in portrait, and a whopping 67
percent larger in landscape orientation. The iPad mini's 1024x768-pixel screen is 163 pixels per inch, the same pixel density as an iPhone 3GS. It's also the same pixel dimensions as iPad 2
and the original iPad, so all of the existing iPad apps can run
natively, no scaling or waiting for developers to push out updates.
In
our testing, we noticed that typing on the smaller onscreen buttons and
keys will take a bit of getting used to. They're smaller than on the
large iPad, of course, but still tappable.
The buttons you're
aiming at aren't any smaller than they'd be on an iPhone or iPod touch,
but since they appear on a larger screen than either of those devices
have, they feel even smaller.
Everything down to the app icons on
the Home screen are smaller than on the big iPad, even as they float in
a 4x5 grid with generous space around them. At
one point, an Apple rep demonstrating the iPad mini had to try a few
times to hit a Back button at the top-left of the interface, but to be
fair, he was holding the iPad mini a fair distance from his body so
journalists could see and photograph him using it.
The thin
bezels on either side of the screen (when held in portrait) give you
enough of an area to grip while still minimizing how far your fingers
will have to stretch to reach the screen's edges. The screen is bright
and bold, with deep blacks and sharp text although it's not quite Retina
quality.
We tested the front camera's 720p FaceTime calling over
Wi-Fi to see if looked much sharper than on an iPad 2. (The front
camera also takes 1.2-megapixel stills, and the rear camera takes
5-megapixel stills and records 1080p video.)
The call streamed
without lag and we could even hear each other over the crowd noise, but
due to the poor lighting, the image still looked grainy, not like the
glamour shots Apple uses in its advertising.
The iPad mini we
played with was Wi-Fi only - like its bigger sibling as well as the
iPhone 5 and new iPod touch, it has dual-band 802.11n at 2.4GHz and
5GHz, plus Bluetooth 4.0. The LTE version (a $130 extra) will work with
20 carriers around the world.
Its dual-core A5 chip might be the
same as in the $399 iPad 2 (introduced in 2011 and still on sale)
although it's possible Apple added more RAM, since the iPad mini
supports Siri, and the iPad 2 (which has 512MB of RAM) doesn't. Naturally,
the small iPad mini sports Apple's new Lightning connector, which can
be inserted facing either direction and locks into place with a
satisfying click. Apple's Lightning adapters will let you connect a VGA
display or projector ($49), a digital display or projector with HDMI
($49), a USB camera ($29), or an SD card ($29), and Apple also offers a
$29 Lightning to 30-pin adapter and spare Lightning to USB cables for
$19 (one cable comes with the iPad mini).
Preorders begin this
Friday, Oct. 26. iPad mini starts at $329 for 16GB Wi-Fi only. 32GB and
64GB versions are $429 and $529, and you can add LTE cellular for $130
extra.
Wi-Fi versions start shipping Nov. 2, and the LTE versions
two weeks later. Its size and weight let it compete with smaller
e-readers, while its power and access to the full ecosystem of iPad apps
make it a capable, extremely portable tablet, too.
Early verdict
The
smaller touch targets take some getting used to on the iPad mini,
although they're not any smaller than on an iPhone. What's more, $329
for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version is significantly more than the 16GB
Kindle Fire HD ($199), or 16GB Google Nexus 7 ($249).
However, the
iPad mini runs native apps, has a whopping 10 hours of battery life,
and is extremely light and portable. It's also comfortable to hold for
long periods of time and won't lead to wrist fatigue when you're
watching a movie. The 4:3 aspect ratio also allows you to fit more on
the screen when you're reading or surfing the web, which is a boon for
7-inch tablet fans.
