Friday, April 4, 2014

Huawei MediaPad X1 review

The CNET have published their review of the Huawei MediaPad X1, which contributes even more to blur the boundaries between tablet and smartphone, thanks to the integration of a tablet 7-inch 4G-LTE module that allows you to not only access to the data network but also the ability to make and receive calls.
The tablet is very well built, with a cover made ​​of aluminum alloy, one very content thick and thin frame around the display. The shell is devoid of pushups and ' great assembly . The screen as said is a 7-inch Full HD that offers a density only slightly inferior to that of a mini iPad Retina. The overall quality is therefore high , the wide viewing angle and vivid colors. Even the hardware platform is generally sufficient to ensure good performance, both during daily use with games. The heart of the system is in fact the SoC Hisilicon Kirin 910 , formed by a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU at 1.6 GHz and a GPU ARM Mali 450 MP4, supported by 2 GB RAM and 16 GB of storage space, expandable with microSD cards , the latter option always greatly appreciated.
The concerns arise instead when you switch to the software . Android is smooth and responsive, but Huawei has adopted a version now quite dated, the Jelly Bean 4.2.2, a choice that has not quite convinced our colleagues, who were expecting, if not Android 4.4 Kitkat, at least the 4.3 release of Jelly Bean. The situation is further worsened by the presence of a proprietary interface, Huawei Emotion , which is not liked for two main reasons. In fact, the GUI is not primarily well optimized and is unresponsive, sometimes requiring a few seconds between the command and its execution or during the various transitions. His organization, far from stock Android, it's not been appreciated, especially for the fact that you have deleted the grid view of all installed apps, but now that they are distributed in six different home, organized by function. Eventually, however, the reserves are essentially limited to these aspects.
Instead affects the quality of the camera : Huawei MediaPad X1 in fact has a 5 megapixel front webcam and especially a 13-megapixel rear camera with Sony Exmor RS BSI sensor, which allows you to take pictures of excellent quality for a tablet. Thumb up eventually also for autonomy, thanks to the 5000 mAh battery , which ensures at least the cover of a workday even under heavy use.
You can buy directly from China via AliExpress cost of 359.99 dollars, or about 260 €, it is therefore a valid device, especially for the price point which is proposed, and the particularity of allowing telephone calls also increases the palatability, braking as mentioned exclusively by a sub-software not entirely satisfactory.



Thursday, April 3, 2014

Amazon Fire TV, not just mini PC but also game console!


Amazon Fire TV is officialThe new TV Box is designed to turn on your Smart TV in the living room and is designed to compete with the Apple TV, the Roku and Google Chromecast, but with better performance, an ecosystem and a more complete Web browsing easier. It 'sold for $99 and is available now, while the controller is priced at $40 (or slightly more). Under the body, there is a quad-core processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 (8064) to 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 320 graphics chip normally integrated in smartphones. The equipment is completed by 8 GB of storage, dual-band MIMO WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI 1.4b and Ethernet 10/100. Supports 720p and 1080p video up to 60 frames per second, 5.1 audio (via HDMI 7.1), and 2-channel stereo. You can play music and video online, but also video games and other applications.

Amazon Fire TV chassis has a simple design, square and thin, and you can attach to the back of your TV. It weighs 283 grams and measures 11.7 x 11.7 x 11.7 cm . And equipped with  Bluetooth remote 2.1 with seven buttons (voice search, play, pause, rewind, home, back, menu) and one 5-way navigation, as well as a microphone for voice commands. You can use it to navigate the interface, including menus, to find movies, TV shows, games and other applications. Amazon Fire TV also has a function "ASAP" which will display the content according to user habits. Unlike many Mini PC market, lenses, with complicated interfaces and closed ecosystems, the Amazon will be able to provide a fluid interface and fast. And this is also one of its strengths.
Apps
During the launch event, Amazon has shown a number of applications that are compatible with your device, including Hulu Plus, Netflix, WatchESPN, NBA, MLB, NBA, YouTube, Crackle, TuneIn Radio and Plex . HBO Go, and Pandora are coming soon. This "optimal" selection of third-party apps, Amazon also has a function "best value" (for now works only with Amazon Instant Video and Hulu Plus) that will help you figure out which service will be cheaper to use to watch a specific program.

The OS is based on Android, just like the software installed on the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, and developers can realize the porting of existing applications Android or HTML5 to make them turn on the set-top box from Amazon. Although it has support for third-party apps, Fire TV also takes advantage of the existing ecosystem with Amazon services like Amazon CloudDrive for storage. For example, you can take a picture with your smartphone, save CloudDrive automatically and immediately see it on the TV.
It 's also possible to use a tablet Kindle Fire HDX as a "second screen" to read information and details on programs and actors thanks to "X-Ray for Movies and TV Shows" and IDMB (also owned by Amazon). Unlike some TV Box, Amazon Fire TV also supports multitasking, so you can listen to music while you are running a different application.
Games
Amazon Fire TV can play video games (very similar to the Kindle Fire tablets), but to keep down the price of the console, the company decided to sell the controller separately from the game (which not everyone will use) for $ 40. The first games available for the TV Box will Minecraft, Asphalt and 8 Sev Zero , one third-person shooter. Some video games will be free but the average price will be around 1.85 dollars (much less of a common title for the Xbox and Playstation). The pads, called TV Game Controller , optional features analog sticks, a D-pad, buttons Android including Home, Back, Menu button, multimedia playback and gaming keys (A, B, X, Y). Both the controller and the remote control are powered by AA batteries.