The Droid Gets Super Sized– Meet the All New Motorola Droid X June 24, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones , add a comment
We had a feeling this was on the way, and now Motorola, Google, and Verizon have confirmed the rumors of this beast of a phone with their official announcement of the Motorola Droid X. And when I say beast of a phone, I MEAN beast of a phone.
Review: Slim Xbox 360 June 23, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : E3, Video Games , add a comment
Last week at E3, Microsoft announced the all new sleek, stylish and Kinect-friendly Xbox 360. Offering things like built in WiFi wireless N (the first Xbox to offer built-in WiFi and the first game console to offer support for the latest, fastest and greatest WiFi wireless N), a 250 GB hard drive and that oh so nice new black design it seemed like a great update to usher in the next generation of the Xbox 360.
For new Xbox 360 owners this of course seems like a great deal, but what about for those with the older, original Xbox 360?s from the launch days in 2005– is it worth it to spring for the new update? Read on because we’ve got all those answers and more at the more link.
Intel Core i5: Multitasking Awesomeness June 21, 2010
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, First Look/Reviews, Teen Info, Web , add a comment
Intel Core i5. Whoooosh!
OK, let me say this from the beginning – if you are buying a new laptop for school, for anything – get a Core i5.
I’ve had the opportunity to be able to try out a laptop with the new chips, and to sum it up – it’s fast. Really, really fast. Think of things that you do often on your computer – web browsing, gaming, note taking in word, watching videos on Youtube, listening to music on iTunes, chatting with friends in AIM, updating things on Twitter, watching shows on Hulu.
I went through a few days worth of these usual things – and the experience is insane. Load times when opening applications is effectively non-existent. Hulu videos just played, at full resolution, with almost 0 lag. CDs ripped into iTunes in minutes, and huge downloads – including the entire game of Portal on Steam, a task that brought my not underpowered Macbook down for almost a day, finished in under an hour. The game itself ran flawlessly. Flash games ran so fast that a friend of mine had trouble playing, being so used to a slower speed. Youtube videos streamed and loaded in seconds, even in HD. The Zune software, which I had been running at a snails pace on my netbook, was fluid and fast. Word, always a pain to load, taking forever to open, just was there.
Can the Tablet Replace the Laptop as the School Computer? June 20, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Apple, Opinion, Tablets , add a comment
Ever since the iPad was announced back in January, I wondered if it and other tablets could replace the laptop as the computers in our daily lives, and in particular if they were in fact the perfect school computers. So I decided to put it to the test, and for the past few weeks I’ve been carrying around the tablet of the moment– an iPad WiFi+3G– to school in place of my laptop to see if it could live up to the challenge (I know, probably not the smartest thing to do with finals only a few weeks away….). What I’ve found out may surprise you.
New Droids Coming this Week? June 20, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Cell Phones , add a comment
If your on Verizon and looking for a new Android phone you may wanna hold off getting that Droid Incredible or Motorola Droid just yet, as Motorola and Verizon have some big news, and when I say big news I mean REALLY BIG news.
First High-End Android Phone Coming Soon to AT&T June 18, 2010
Posted by Zev Rosenbaum in : Cell Phones , add a comment
So much for AT&T not having a high-end Android. AT&T announced has finally announced that they are officially entering the high-end Android game (meaning that they are finally launching an Android phone on par with Sprint’s EVO and Verizon’s Droid Incredible) by getting the Samsung Captivate on their side. And wow is the Captivate high end.
Running Android 2.1 with a custom Samsung interface (though one that is by far not as drastic as HTC Sense on the recently announced HTC Aria), the Captivate will also be the first AT&T Android phone to have a 1 GHZ processor (which Samsung calls “Hummingbird” and may be Samsung’s version of Apple’s A4 processor), which is a great particularly when you are running multiple apps. Among these AT&T firsts, the Captivate has a numerous amount of handy specs, such as:
- A 4-inch Super AMOLED multi-touch touchscreen– Remember those great AMOLED screens on phones like the Samsung Impression and Moment? You know, ones with insane clarity? Not only is this screen much bigger than those (it’s pretty much on par with the EVO’s minus .03 of an inch), this does all of that but in a much thinner design– which when you look at this phone you can tell it’s paid off, as well as fix one of the biggest problems facing AMOLED phones, the horrible quality they produce when in outdoor or bright light areas.
- 3G, WiFi and GPS– With the WiFi supporting the latest wireless N. Oh, and the Captivate also is loaded with Bluetooth 3.0, something we have yet to see a lot of (or pretty much at all) in phones (Bluetooth 3.0 should make for things like wireless transfer between say a computer and phone much quicker among other things, but we also have yet to see many devices take advantage of the new Bluetooth, so take that as you wish).
- 3D graphics with gyroscope for better gaming
- Support for Google Maps, YouTube, Android Market and other standard Android apps– Though we couldn’t tell if AT&T is allowing Google Maps Navigation to be put on the phone. Let’s hope they do.
- 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus and 720p HD video recording– On par with the iPhone 4
- 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to your favorite songs
- 16GB of built-in storage, with the ability to add another 16GB via a microSD
Wow is right. I personally am really excited for this over the upcoming HTC Aria because the captivate is AT&T’s first really good Android phone (just look at those specs!), and I plan to get it. Of course, we will have to wait until this phone comes out to see how the Hummingbird processor and Super AMOLED handles in real life and if this is more this just talk, but until then, my plans for the Aria have been shelved and I am waiting anxiously for this phone.
The Samsung Captivate will be coming out “in a couple of months, for an undisclosed price” according to AT&T. In the meantime, check out AT&T’s “Coming Soon” page for the Captivate here. So, anyone else planning on holding off on getting their AT&T Android fix Sunday with the Aria for this?
Nintendo At E3– The 3DS Becomes Real June 16, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : E3, Video Games , 5comments
Nintendo didn’t disappoint at E3 yesterday, showing off not only the what looks to insanely cool 3DS (with a whole bunch really cool games to go with it), but also some little surprises that look to show Nintendo raising the bar on mobile gaming yet again. Read on for all the info.
HTC Aria Landing in Stores June 20th June 15, 2010
Posted by Zev Rosenbaum in : Cell Phones , add a comment
Enough about video games, lets talk phones. AT&T announced yesterday the first not horrible Android phone for its’ customers. The HTC Aria is a 3.2 inch Android phone coming to stores June 20th. This phone will have a 3.2 inch multitouch screen and Android 2.1, unlike AT&T’s first Android phone the Motorola Backflip (which is still running 1.5). Like pretty much all new HTC phones such as the Droid Incredible and the EVO 4G, the Aria will come with HTC Sense which will allow you to keep in touch with your social life while on the go, with HTC’s FriendStream app making Twitter and Facebook just a swipe of the finger away– all while also offering a much nicer and cooler Android homescreen.
Personally, I am excited about this phone because it will stand out as a viable iPhone opponent. Sure it’s not crazy high spec’d and powerful like Verizon Droid Incredible or Sprint EVO 4G (phones designed as true iPhone competitors), but for those on AT&T not looking for an Apple phone, the Aria will be AT&T’s first good Android phone. The thin, sleek design and beautiful touchscreen will rival the iPhone, and when combined with HTC Sense and Android 2.1, offer a nice change and in my opinion a big step up from the Motorola Backflip. It really looks to me that the HTC Aria will blow the Backflip out of the water.
Other specs for the Aria include 3G, GPS (with Google Maps Navigation), and WiFi, a microSD card slot, and a 5 megapixel camera. The Aria will be available starting this Sunday (June 20th), for $129 after a $100 mail in rebate and new 2 year contract.