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Nikon Coolpix S3100 review
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 delayed: supply constraints or fierce competition to blame?
The HTC money machine: Record revenues can’t be stopped?
Samsung Galaxy S II sales hit three million: will the next million be powered by Windows Phone?
Best Android apps of the week
HP makes its own Touchpad obsolete, first glasses-free 3D laptop, and Google + causes a stir: Lunchtime Lowdown
5 lessons HP needs to learn from the Touchpad
New MacBook Air: super-fast flash storage plans teased
Toshiba Qosmio F750 3D: world’s first glasses-free 3D laptop, but is it already doomed?
Portal 2 soundtrack: volume 2 out now and free!

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 08:21 AM PDT

The Nikon Coolpix 3100 is the successor to last year's S3000, and as such it shares a lot of its predecessor's qualities – it's a cheap and cheerful compact that'll fit easily in any pocket. And it comes at a price that's easy on the wallet. But that's not to say its specs are straight from the bargain bin, far from it: 14-megapixel sensor, 720p HD movie recording, and a 5x optical zoom.

We took it out for a spin to see just what it could do.

Photos

As you can see from our sample shots, image quality is good, but not amazing. But then what do you expect for a snapper that's under a ton. Colours are good, and quite impressive ion low light, but overall images can lack detail and sharpness. Skin tones can appear a little unnatural too.

It's a shame, as this camera's fully equipped for portraits, with blink detection, smile shutter, a mode for eliminating red eye, and skin softening – all handy features we didn't expect on a camera at this price. Though useful as they are, they can't compensate for the overall picture quality.

Video

Despite being 720p HD, the videos are a little disappointing. While again, colour reproduction is impressive, our videos lacked sharpness, appearing fuzzy as if a swarm of flies were hovering in front of objects. Move a little while filming and edges are reduced to a blur; not great, especially considering Nikon is keen to big up its anti-blur abilities.

We do love the dedicated video button on the top right though. It's marked with a red Record sign – one touch and you're filming, so you can start in a flash. Great for catching that vital video opportunity. And it's a lot more intuitive than delving into menu after menu. So kudos to Nikon for realising that users of this camera want something that's quick to hand.

Build and layout

Despite being slim enough to fit in a pocket without creating any embarrassing bulges, the S31000 is sturdy and a well put together piece of kit. It comes in seven fetching colours, though we tested the slightly dull-looking black one. (We think of it as the goth of the group, sulking in the corner while the yellow, pink, purple, blue and silver ones play in the sunshine.)

What really impresses is the button layout though. All the main functions you'll need are brought to the fore, and easily accessible without having to navigate fiddly menus. (If only there was a way to achieve this on mobiles.) Flash, Macro, Scene Selection and more are all there waiting, plus of course the aforementioned Video button. For casual users, this camera’s target audience, it's a godsend.

The screen is ample, though not a patch on some of the higher end models. It's not amazingly bright or sharp, though it does the job well enough. And at this price you can't be too picky.

Overall

So, worth a look? It's a fun compact that's a doddle to pick up and start shooting with. Your results probably aren't going to win any awards, but if you want something that's not going to weigh you down on a night out, or you're looking for a gift for someone intimidated by higher end models, you could certainly do a lot worse.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 delayed: supply constraints or fierce competition to blame?

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 08:04 AM PDT

Outside the tech world a delay of a few weeks for a product launch is nothing to write home about. Unfortunately when it comes to smartphones and tablets, weeks carry the weight of months and months age like years. This is particularly true in a crowded space such as the world of Android Honeycomb tablets where even the smallest manufacturer has come out of the woodwork to offer a tablet. Are supply constraints or the fierce competition from the crowded Honeycomb market to blame for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 delay?

Despite a delay not all is lost with the smaller Galaxy Tab. To Samsung's credit, an 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab would fit right between the 7-inch HTC Flyer and Samsung's own Tab 10.1. The slightly smaller form factor could be the breath of fresh air the tablet market so desperately needs. Honeycomb apps still number less than 300 and the slow adoption of Android tablets has done little to motivate developers. At 8.9-inches, the upcoming Galaxy Tab could fit inside a purse like the HTC Flyer, but offers the latest build of Honeycomb, a thinner design and improved specs.

There's two leading theories to why Samsung has delayed the launch of the Tab 8.9: supply constraints and overwhelming competition. Since the 8.9-inch form factor requires a new display, manufacturing setbacks as a result of the earthquake in Japan is certainly a possibility. Even if the quake was not the culprit, Apple's white iPhone 4 release has proven what seems like a subtle change. like going from 10.1 to 8.9-inches, may be a tremendous pain. A manufacturing delay is the odds on favorite.

CES 2011 was a trade show dominated by Android tablets. Though sales might be falling short of expectations there's no shortage of choices for consumers. In addition to Android tablets, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 must compete with the BlackBerry PlayBook, HP TouchPad and Apple iPad 2. The unique 8.9-inch display should go a long way in helping differentiate the device, but this might just be another case of stage fright. Following the iPad 2 announcement, Samsung decided to re-invent the Galaxy Tab 10.1 by making it both thinner and lighter. It's entirely possible Samsung is cooking up some last minute change for the Tab 8.9.

If last minute changes were to blame for the delay of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and not manufacturing issues or supply constraints, what changes would you like to see? Let us know what you would do to change the Galaxy Tab 8.9.

The HTC money machine: Record revenues can’t be stopped?

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 07:17 AM PDT

Taiwan's number one brand name supplier of smartphones recorded record revenue for the third consecutive month. Thanks to revenue of £963 million for June, HTC was able to beat second quarter projections and calm fears that the company's revenue would decline in 2011. Can anything stop HTC's record revenues?

If this was an awards show and HTC was standing at the podium giving its acceptance speech for best second quarter revenues, the company would first like to thank Android. Way back in 2008 when Google introduced Android, HTC made the decision to welcome the platform with open arms. It's that move that took the Taiwan manufacturer from just a company building smartphones to a household name.

To put HTC's success into perspective, we must take a quick look back at 2008. Total yearly revenues for 2008 were NT$ 12 billion, up 52 percent from 2007's NT$ 7.9 billion. In just the second quarter of 2011, HTC recorded NT$ 124.3 billion. That's more than 10 times the company's entire 2008 revenues.

The tremendous growth over the past three years seems like a script of a Hollywood blockbuster. Unfortunately the realist inside of us is quick to point out, "all good things must come to an end". The question is whether we'll see that end in 2011? The numbers show June revenue was 10.9 percent higher than May and second quarter revenue represented a 19.43 increase over the first quarter of the year. Looking at the first half of 2011, HTC total revenue has spiked 131 percent year on year.

In order to continue a 10 percent monthly growth over the next sixth months the HTC Sensation and EVO 3D will need to live up to their titles as company flagship handsets. These sales, when combined with Windows Phone and mid and low-range Android sales, should deliver the necessary growth to continue record revenues throughout 2011. There's no guarantees when it comes to device sales, but a diverse product portfolio of smartphones and a tablet (soon to be two?) should do the trick.

Samsung Galaxy S II sales hit three million: will the next million be powered by Windows Phone?

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 06:28 AM PDT

Global sales of the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone have officially topped three million units. By way of an official press release, Samsung confirmed it took just 55 days to accomplish the feat. Coincidentally a rumor surfaced this morning that a Windows Phone variant of the Galaxy S II may be coming. Will the next million Galaxy S IIs be power by Windows Phone?

There's two obstacles preventing the wide-scale adoption of Windows Phone: a Mango update and new hardware. Three million units sold is all the proof Microsoft and the Windows Phone team need to confirm a WP7 Samsung Galaxy S II is the way to go. Imagine a dual-core, Super AMOLED Plus smartphone measuring a razor-thin 8.9mm was available. The combination of outstanding hardware and Windows Phone 7 Mango is an attractive proposition.

As tempting as this may sound, the sole governing body behind all things Windows Phone is Microsoft. The hardware guidelines for Mango would make it very difficult for the dual-core Cortex-A9 processor of the Galaxy S II to fly under the radar. Although we haven't seen a dual-core Windows Phone device, rumors last month suggested the first wave of Nokia Windows Phone hardware would use the 1 GHz Qualcomm MSM8x60 chipset.

The Qualcomm MSM8x60 chipset is currently being used in the HTC EVO 3D and offers clock speeds up to 1.5 GHz. Bundled with an Adreno 220 GPU, 1080p video capture and playback, HDMI mirroring and Dolby 5.1 support, this chipset could find its way inside the Galaxy S II. But what about the Galaxy S II's 1.2 GHz clock speed? To our knowledge, the 1.5 GHz single core processor of the rumored HTC Eternity will be the fastest to date. Of course, that's assuming the HTC Eternity earns itself a retail launch.

So will the next million Samsung Galaxy S IIs be powered by Windows Phone? As enticing as the idea may sound, Microsoft runs a tight ship. Hardware guidelines will always be the limiting factor for device innovation on the platform. If Samsung was willing to drop the Cortex-A9 processor for a Qualcomm-based solution, a variant of the Galaxy S II running Windows Phone is very much possible.

Best Android apps of the week

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT

Come shelter from the sweltering summer heat and feast your eyes on the Best Android apps of the week! This time around we've got some truly scrumptious slices of download brilliance for you to savour, with games and apps that you'll be proud to have on your smartphone.

The most expedient way of plucking these lovely apps from the ether and installing them onto your phone is to use Barcode Scanner (in conjunction with your phone's camera) and simply zap the QR codes we've supplied below. You can also click the title of the app to achieve the same effect.

Sports Tracker

Free

There's a surfeit of fitness-related applications available on the Android Market right now but the recently-released Sports Tracker is by far the most polished. It does everything you could possibly want from this kind of application – you can track your runs and cycle routes, analyse your performance and share your activities with other like-minded fitness freaks. It's backed up by a robust social networking framework that allows you to share your regimen with friends, and that encourages a spot of good-natured rivalry that can push your exercise aspirations to new levels.

Zenonia 3 (Xperia Play Compatible)

Free

Gamevil's Zenonia series is about the closest thing that smartphone users are going to get to The Legend of Zelda, and this third entry shows the franchise going from strength to strength. The visuals are crisper, the storyline is more engaging and the quest is even more expansive. Intuitive touch-screen controls make the gameplay a real pleasure, and it even comes with support for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play's physical interface, too. Amazingly, it's being offered entirely free of charge at the moment – something that cannot be said for the iPhone version of the game. Yet another reason for Google Phone lovers to feel unbearably smug in the presence of their iOS-loving peers.

Path

Free

Photo-sharing on social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter isn't anything new, but Path's objective is very noble. Instead of broadcasting your snaps to all and sundry, Path limits you to a network of just 50 people. That ensures you only add those who are really important to you – so the kid you barely said two words to who used to sit behind you in maths at school is out, but your closest buddies and family members are in. It's a more intimate way of showing your world to others, and it makes sharing more rewarding as you know the people who are seeing it are those you trust – and not complete strangers that you haven't seen for the past twenty-odd years. If you don't believe us, check out the heart-warming and very slickly-produced promotional video below.

Google+

Unless you've been stuck under a rock for the past week you'll be aware that Google has finally launched it own Facebook killer in the form of Google+. The jury is still out on whether or not this concept can really usurp Mark Zuckerberg's insanely popular web portal, but early omens – such as this dedicated Android application – are very positive. It functions in very much the same way as the dedicated Android Facebook app (which should come as no surprise as Google was heavily involved with the design of that program), and everything is straightforward and intuitive. You can post items, comment on the posts of others, organise your 'circles', get involved in 'Huddles' and enable notifications. Time will tell if Google+ can gain traction and avoid the fate of Google Wave and Google Buzz, but right now we're enjoying the experience.

Apparatus

£1.30

If you cast your mind back to the first time you ever played Angry Birds or Cut the Rope or any similarly addictive Android game, then you'll know exactly what it feels like to fire up Apparatus for the first time. This incredibly slick 3D physics-based puzzle title involves dropping a ball into a cage, but to do this you need to make use of various items scattered around each level. At the basic end of the scale, wooden planks must be re-located to provide the ball with a path to follow, but on later levels you literally have to construct your own solution, creating carts, catapults and all sorts of contraptions. You can even build your own fiendish conundrum and share it with other players. At times it can be brain-bustlingly difficult, but it never, ever fails to amaze. It's currently being sold at half price, so grab it as soon as you possibly can.

HP makes its own Touchpad obsolete, first glasses-free 3D laptop, and Google + causes a stir: Lunchtime Lowdown

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 04:30 AM PDT

The morning is done, it's time for a well-earned lunch break. But before you go, let's have a look at what's been happening tech-wise this morning.

It's been a busy one, with Google viagra, the world's first glasses-free 3D laptop being unveiled, and rumours of new MacBook Air plans.

Toshiba has lifted the lid on the world's first glasses-free 3D laptop, borrowing the tech it used for its glasses-free 3D TV. So is this the point 3D goes mainstream, or a last ditch effort to sell it? Have a read and decide for yourself.

HP's Touchpad could be obsolete within a month: the company has leaked plans for a second gen model that wipes the floor with the original. What a mistake-a to make-a. See what else we think HP can learn from its mistakes here.

Is the Samsung Galaxy S 2 incoming in a new Windows Phone 7 guise? Clues to that effect have been popping up all over the web. We can't wait to try it if so – have a read of our review if you need reminding what a great handset it is.

Tried Google + yet? Well beware if not, fake invites are going out that look just like the genuine article, but redirect you to a site called the Canadian Family Pharmacy, where it tries to sell you viagra. Stay vigilant!

The next MacBook Airs will have super fast flash storage, if the rumours are to be believed. Toshiba's new DDR2.0 tech is the name of the game, with transfer speeds of up to 400Mbps. Nifty.

5 lessons HP needs to learn from the Touchpad

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 03:30 AM PDT

The first generation of any hardware is going to be riddled with bugs. Apple's original round iMac mouse was awkward to orientate, then along came the Mighty Mouse with right click and a scroll ball that broke after a week, but now we have the Magic Mouse, which is a dream to use. We're hoping HP's Touchpad undergoes a similar evolution.

Because it's a promising offering, with a great OS and some functionality you won't see anywhere else. So what does HP need to learn to improve it?

We wanted to like the HP Touchpad, really we did. The iPad 2 needs a decent challenger, and competition keeps these companies innovating, which means better products for all of us. It even has cards you can stack up. Cards! But sluggish performance and a lack of support meant we could only give it three out of five. So take note, HP: if you want to build on a promising start, you need to learn from your mistakes.

1 Don't let a successor leak online before the original launches

The Touchpad isn't due until July 20th, yet an internal document has already leaked, letting slip there's a 64GB version incoming in August, with a 1.5GHz dual core Snapdragon processor to boot. Who's going to buy the standard version knowing a better one is just a month down the line?

2 Announce it just before launch

The theory is that announcing months before launch helps build hype, with new rumours spilling out every week, but in reality the product is usually just a disappointment. The Touchpad was announced back in February, yet doesn't land here for another couple of weeks; BlackBerry suffered the same with its PlayBook. It smacks of trying to play catch up with Apple. And five months is a long time in technology, chances are customers will just get bored waiting and buy a similar tablet. It’s not like there’s a scarcity of them around.

3 Choose someone a bit more on brand

Russell Brand? Really? We thought HP was targeting business customers with the Touchpad?

4 Have a rear camera

A lack of a camera was just about acceptable on the first generation iPad (they had to hold something back for the second gen), but now nearly all the competitors have one, it seems pretty shortsighted to launch without.

5 More apps

A tablet isn't an end in itself, no matter how gorgeous the build quality might be. It's a means of doing other things, whether it's watching videos, creating and editing content, social networking, whatever. Hence it's all about apps, which are all about third party support. And faced with Apple's App Store, and Android Market, 300 apps isn't going to win many fans.

New MacBook Air: super-fast flash storage plans teased

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 03:05 AM PDT

The new MacBook Air will get a serious speed boost if the latest rumour about the next incarnation of Apple’s super-skinny laptop comes to pass.

After whispers around the highly likely prospect that the new model will get an Intel Sandy Bridge processor bump and a Thunderbolt port, the focus has moved to the flash storage with speedy new memory chips in the frame…

According to Japanese Mac site, Macotakara, Apple will replace the current Blade X-gale SSD from Toshiba (and the speedier Samsung SSD added to newer models) with Toshiba’s new DDR2.0 technology.

The new Toshiba chips would, the report claims, be soldered directly onto the new MacBook Air motherboard and offer up transfer speeds of 400MB/s. The current MacBook air uses an mSATA connector to hook up the SSD to the motherboard.

Out TBC | £TBC | Apple (via 9to5Mac)

Toshiba Qosmio F750 3D: world’s first glasses-free 3D laptop, but is it already doomed?

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 02:51 AM PDT

Toshiba's just outed the world's first glasses-free 3D laptop, the Qosmio F750 3D. The 15.6-incher uses the same tech as the company's glasses-free 3D, the REGZA GL1, so a lenticular screen sends images with different perspectives to each eye, which your brain reads as a 3D image.

All very impressive, but we've got some reservations. Read on to see why we're not quite reaching for the popcorn just yet.

First up, the specs. It's a Full HD screen, with a 120HZ refresh rate, so we've no doubt picture quality is top notch. Inside is an Intel Core i processor, NVIDIA 3D graphics card, and it has inbuilt stereo Harmon Kardon speakers for punchy sound. The Blu-ray drive even upscales standard discs to the third dimension, breathing new life into your movie collection.

The issue is with the very concept, or at least its execution so far. This kind of tech has been plagued with problems, its biggest success so far being on the relatively tiny Nintendo 3DS, but even on such a small screen users have complained of headaches. At least Nintendo put in a handy slider bar so you can reduce the degree of 3D, or even turn it off altogether. Larger screens that have tried glasses-free 3D have traditionally struggled with blurred images and a lack of depth. Not to mention giving out far worse headaches.

Toshiba's keen to big up the F750's ability to show 2D and 3D at the same time, so you can browse the web in 2D while a 3D movies plays in another window. Sounds like a migraine waiting to happen…

Obviously we haven't used the laptop, and so have no idea what it'll be like in practice. These are just reservations based on a number of glasses-free 3D screens we've seen over the years. Admittedly the tech is improving, and glasses are one of the major barriers preventing mass 3D uptake (as well the still relative paucity of content), but still, we're skeptics.

What do you reckon? Let us know in the comments below.

Out August | £TBC | Toshiba

Portal 2 soundtrack: volume 2 out now and free!

Posted: 05 Jul 2011 02:45 AM PDT

Ah Portal 2, the gift that keeps on giving! After releasing Portal 2 Soundtrack Volume 1: Songs To Test By in May, Valve has outed a whole new batch of tracks to enjoy. Portal 2 Soundtrack Volume 2: Music To Test To.

The second volume of Portal 2 tunes features 18 tracks with all of them available as ringtones for Android and iPhone. If current cache of 40 songs from Portal 2 is not enough for you, Valve is already teasing a third soundtrack volume. Check out our favourite track from new album after the break.

Out now | £free | Portal 2

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Wednesday, 6 July 2011

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