In previous generations, GIGABYTE has often been ambitious with the number of models it produces and supports. X99 is no different, so while the other manufacturers have four or five models coming through launch and September, GIGABYTE is starting with eight. These are split into three categories: Gaming, OC and Ultra Durable (aka ‘channel’).

The gaming line will be headed by the X99-Gaming G1 WiFi, an E-ATX motherboard aimed at four-way GPUs and as much functionality as possible. This means dual network ports (Intel + Killer), 2T2R 802.11ac WiFi, the Creative Sound Core 3D audio codec, AMP-UP audio, ten SATA 6 Gbps ports, twelve USB 3.0 ports, two M.2 ports (One 2.0 x4, one 3.0 x4), dual DAC-UP for clean USB power and the styling to complement GIGABYTE’s brand of gaming graphics.

Interestingly enough GIGABYTE is going with sockets and slots with a higher gold content than standard. In previous generations we saw 15-micron gold pin connectors being advertised, however for X99 the advertising point has doubled to 30-micron. The aim of more gold in the socket and pins is to stave off corrosion in extreme environments as well as provide a path of lower resistance for signalling.

Also in the gaming line up are the Gaming 7 WiFi and the Gaming 5, which are both cut down versions of the Gaming G1. The Gaming 7 is still E-ATX but cheaper due to the lack of heatpipes connecting the heatsinks, and the Gaming 5 uses a single Killer network interface with fewer USB 3.0 ports and no WiFi connectivity.

There is only one model in the for GIGABYTE’s X99 OC range so far, the X99-SOC Force. This is designed by GIGABYTE’s in-house overclocker HiCookie, with help from overclockers like Sofos and Dinos22 to add in more support for extreme system builds. The SOC Force keeps the orange and black color scheme, using an Intel NIC with Realtek ALC1150 audio with AMP-UP. The main functionality for the overclocking boards is with the add-in buttons on the side allowing for easy adjustment under extreme conditions:

Going by HiCookie’s facebook page, it would also seem that an LN2 (liquid nitrogen) version is in the works for DDR4 memory overclocking. These OC versions also include features like the 30 micron gold connectors, M.2, SATA Express and USB 3.0 support. Previous OC boards have incorporated a USB connector on the board itself, however due to the chipset SATA ports this is not possible. GIGABYTE is experimenting with a new feature to help users attach the board to the case, by expanding the clean area around the screw holes:

In the Ultra Durable line, GIGABYTE plan to release four models: the X99-UD7 WiFi, the UD5 WiFi, the UD4 and the UD3. As you can imagine this is a scaling from high end to low end, with the UD3 sporting single DIMM per channel but still focused on four-way gaming platforms. The WiFi models use dual Intel NICs along with 2T2R 802.11ac solutions, while the UD5/UD3 are single Intel network port enabled only. All four boards have dual M.2 and SATA Express as well as Realtek ALC1150 audio.

The main differences between the models will be in the WiFi/network connectivity, USB ports, heatpipe design and power delivery. All GIGABYTE models should be coming with an ‘ambient LED’ rear panel which causes the rear bracket to light up:

We are waiting on a full list of MSRPs for the North American market, and will update when we have the information.

The launch today is one of the biggest in the last few years, with DRAM, CPU and Chipset all getting a refresh. Understandably ASUS is getting in on the action, and they sent over their PRs detailing what they have in store. The primary mainstream model is the X99-Deluxe, which we have in for our initial X99 coverage (stay tuned for that), but it takes a significant detour from previous ASUS color schemes. Rather than the gold or grey of recent times, here we go with a black and white livery.

Aside from dual SATA Express, dual Intel NICs, a vertical M.2 x4 arrangement and the Crystal Sound 2 shield around the audio and rear panel we also get a tri-stream 802.11ac setup included. This makes the X99-Deluxe the first consumer motherboard to come with a 3T3R shipped, and makes sense given that the Deluxe is to be the flagship ‘mainstream’ X99 model.

One of ASUS’ new features is a patent-pending OC socket that contains extra pins to connect to normally unused pads on the Haswell-E CPUs. Via propriatery circuitry, ASUS is expecting this innovation to lead to higher memory frequencies, lower latencies and stability while overclocking.

Due to the large space requirements of M.2, ASUS has decided to turn it vertical with an included bracket to support up to full length M.2 cards. For most users in a case this should not be an issue, but it is a good way to save precious PCB space for other features. The system also comes with an M.2 to PCIe converter card, allowing users to add a second M.2 card:

Also out on an extra daughter board are a series of fan headers on a controller card, useful for placing them where you need them in a case. These extra fan headers, like those on board, will be DC and PWM compatible.

Another new feature that ASUS likes to mention is the multi-GPU switch on board. For those users who have two or three GPUs, this switch will light up an LED next to the ports you need to use. It is a simple idea that negates having to look at the manual. We have the X99-Deluxe in for review, so check that out when it gets published. The ASUS X99-Deluxe will be available from launch at an MSRP of $400.

ASUS is planning to launch their X99-A at $280 in early September, and the X99-Pro in October, price still to be determined. For both of these boards we are waiting on images to see what they will be like.

Gallery: ASUS X99-Deluxe

Also on the cards for launch day is the highly anticipated ASUS ROG Rampage V Extreme motherboard. Users who follow the industry will know that Z97 never received a Maximus VII Extreme model, and the Rampage V Extreme is the reason why: because ASUS sees the Extreme line as the top of the top, when a major socket release comes around it requires extra time and effort to ensure day one satisfaction.

Aside from the big EXTREME on the rear panel, the red and black make the system look relatively normal. We see an eight-phase power delivery with a full assortment of DRAM slots. Next to these on the right is an M.2 slot, supporting full side 110mm drives. The SATA ports look extensive due to the dual SATA Express included.

There is the header for the included ROG OC Panel on the bottom of the motherboard, as well as the Thunderbolt header and a button for ASUS’ new Keybot system. At the top of the motherboard are the voltage check points, an LN2 mode header, a slow mode switch, the MemOK button, a Retry button and the usual array of power/reset buttons alongside a two-digit debug. ASUS is keen to point out that the power delivery has been upgraded to a PowIRstage IR3555 design with user-controllable VRM switching under Extreme Engine DIGI+ IV.

ASUS has equipped the motherboard with SupremeFX audio and their SoundStage functionalisty.  Additional PCIe power comes via a molex connector, and the system has two extra USB 3.0 headers for good measure.  The TPU and EPU custom ICs from ASUS feature on the Extreme, making good use of the 5 Way Optimization software included.

The X79 based Rampage IV Extreme was a best seller for that platform, and ASUS is hoping that the Rampage V Extreme can do similarly well.  ASUS is also reaching out to aid overclockers, especially with fine-tuning the recently announced Corsair DDR3-3300 Dominator Platinum modules specifically for motherboards like the Rampage V Extreme.

The Extreme should be out today at an MSRP of $500.

Gallery: ASUS ROG Maximus V Extreme

It is safe to say that all the motherboard manufacturers have been ambitious for the X99 launch. While I recently gave kudos to one of the others for supporting eight motherboards at launch, it would seem that ASRock is keen to top that with nine models, including two microATX sized motherboards.

One of our most popular X79 reviews was the comparison between the X79 Extreme4 and the X79 Extreme4-M. ASRock has continued this duality trend by offering an X99 Extreme4 and an X99M Extreme4 (notice the small nomenclature change).  This microATX part pairs off with the X99M Killer we wrote about in the last week.

The top of the mainstream range will be the X99 WS, a motherboard designed to support 160W Xeon E5 v3 CPUs as well as up to 128 GB of ECC/RDIMM memory. In light of other workstation boards from other manufacturers, the WS will be an E-ATX form factor with dual Intel network ports, extensive heatsink arrangement, eSATA, Ultra M.2, a twelve phase 60A power delivery and support for five-way PCIe 3.0 devices.  The WS naming should be indicative of extensive testing with prosumer add-in cards, such as RAID, Thunderbolt and others.  ASRock has also kept the z-height to a minimum to allow the motherboard to fit into a 1U chassis.

It would seem that ASRock is avoiding SATA Express for their X99 products, in contrast to MSI who is putting it on every model.  Similarly to MSI though, the overclocking range also gets an update from ASRock, with the X99 OC Formula we reported on previously:

Aside from the superhydrophobic Conformal Coating that makes its way over from previous generations, ASRock’s in house overclocker Nick Shih has designed the motherboard to support up to 1300W of CPU power.  In our overclock tests with the i7-5960X, we found the CPU can consume around 350-400W when approaching 4.7 GHz, so understandably for extreme overclockers moving above 5.5 or 5.7 GHz, the extra headroom will be needed.  The OC Formula is also aimed at 24/7 overclocked builds, with support for ten SATA devices, two M.2 devices (one PCIe 3.0 x4, one PCIe 2.0 x4) and four-way GPU arrangements.

ASRock’s Gaming range seems to have dropped the Fatal1ty part from the SKU name, but still adorns the motherboard with the logo:

The gaming range will have three models at the start – the X99 Professional, the X99X Killer and the X99M Killer. These are aimed at the gaming crowd for 4-way, 3-way and micro-ATX respectively, with the last one having one-DIMM per channel due to the reduced motherboard size.  All these boards will support dual network ports, one Intel and one Killer, as well as the Fatal1ty mouse gaming port, 15 micron-gold connectors, 2oz copper PCB inner layers and extra-large aluminium heatsinks.  Each Gaming motherboard will also come with a 3-month subscription to the XSplit broadcasting software.

ASRock’s X99 microsite is currently live, and US pricing is as follows:

X99 WS: $324
X99X Killer: $290
X99 Extreme6: $280
X99 Extreme4: $241
X99M Extreme4: $224

The other motherboards are set to launched thought September.

While the JEDEC standard for DDR3 slowly creeped up from 800 MHz to 1600-1866 MHz, the new DDR4 modules will come out of the gate at DDR4-2133 CAS 15. Similarly with DDR3, the JEDEC specifications seemed a little slow for the memory manufacturers who are all keen to get more market share than anyone else. To that extent, Corsair in conjunction with ASUS is launching today the highest specification DDR4 announced to date.

The king on the plate is a DDR4-3300 Dominator Platinum kit, designed to work with all motherboards but especially with the ASUS X99 Deluxe and Rampage V Extreme motherboards. Corsair and ASUS have formed a partnership to expedite validation on ASUS’ high end motherboards along with fine tuning: I imagine we might see a specific memory profile or two on the Extreme for users wanting to overclock these particular modules.

One of the interesting things to note is that DRAM module manufacturers all bid on batches of JEDEC or near-JEDEC specification ICs. It is then up to them to bin the ICs (either automated or by hand) to place on the modules. The higher the specification of module, typically the more ICs (or the more batches) the system has to go through, which in turn puts more pricing pressure on the kits. Pricing for these modules will be higher than most, and due to their timings will initially only be available in 4x4 GB kits. We will find out the pricing and the sub-timing when Corsair puts the kits on its website.

The 3000 and 3200 MHz kits will play up against the modules from other DRAM manufacturers, but it would seem that Corsair is first to market with the 3300 MHz modules. We plan on testing a fair amount of DDR4 in the next month, especially as it forms a significant cost of a Haswell-E build.

Gallery: Corsair Launches DDR4-3300, DDR4-3200 and DDR4-3000 Memory Kits

Additional: Specifications for the 4x4GB kits have just come in, giving:

DDR4-3000 at 15-17-17-35, 1.35V (CMD16GX4M4B3000C15)
DDR4-3200 at 16-18-18-36, 1.35V (CMD16GX4M4B3200C16)
DDR4-3300 at 16-18-18-36, 1.35V (CMD16GX4M4B3300C16)

With the X99 and Haswell-E platforms being launched today, MSI is coming to market officially with four models on sale with another coming soon. We took a look at the MSI X99S SLI PLUS when it was leaked earlier this month, and I have since learned that the release price will be $230, making it a very attractive model at the lower end of the X99 pricing bracket.

The other models from MSI are the X99S Gaming 9 AC, the X99S Gaming 7, the X99S XPower AC and the X99S MPower (the MPower being released later). You may notice that all these names start with ‘X99S’, which MSI says indicates the presence of SATA Express. It may be one of their defining naming characteristics going forward, but it seems that MSI is keen to support this storage technology in advance of retail drives coming to the market. MSI is also supporting ‘Turbo M.2’ on all its models, which means PCIe 3.0 x4 connectivity for future drives. Some motherboards will support up to 2280 sized drives, whereas others will go all the way to 22110. MSI is also keen to point out that all its motherboards will come with dual USB 3.0 headers.

The X99S MPower and X99S XPower AC are both members of the ‘overclocking certified’ motherboard segment that MSI has been developing over the past 12-18 months. Features for X99 XPower AC include a modified back plate for sub-zero copper-pot overclocking, a direct USB Type-A connector on the motherboard so users do not have to reach around to the rear, a set of easy buttons for fine tuning adjustments and PCIe disable switches to reduce unwanted electronic jitter. Interestingly MSI has included its Delid Guard should anyone want to de-lid their Haswell-E CPU, though this is short sighted as de-lidding Haswell-E will usually break the processor due to the bound epoxy being used.

The Gaming range will start with two models, both aiming at the high end. The gaming range for MSI has boosted its sales in more ways than one, particularly because as a company they adopted a styling that appealed to the gaming community. With aesthetics in mind, these motherboards will be using a cleaner PCB look with the Gaming 9 AC using protective covers to keep the feel of the board consistent. The Gaming 9 AC is the more interesting model of the two here, with its inclusion of an AVerMedia Streaming Engine in a mini-PCIe slot. The goal of this add-in card is to provide an FPGA like device that handles streaming data conversion rather than relying on the CPU which might take away the frame rate of the game being played.

MSI is claiming that this add on has a $150 value, and it is an interesting thing to see on a motherboard straight out of the box. The Gaming 9 AC will come with a 2 year Premium Licence to XSplit, and the Gaming 7 will have a six month equivalent. The WiFi module will be a 2T2R 802.11ac implementation, alongside a Killer network port with bundled traffic shaping software.

The sole member of the ‘classic’ range from MSI at launch will be the aforementioned X99S SLI PLUS, which will be one of the first X99 motherboards we review for the platform. MSI is keen to point out that the SLI PLUS, the MPower and XPower AC are all certified with a number of Xeon E5 v3 processors for prosumers. The SLI PLUS has also been put through its paces by extreme overclockers and hit 6253 MHz:

The final pricing list at launch is as follows:

MSI X99S Gaming 9 AC: $430 / £300

Gallery: MSI X99S Gaming 9 AC

MSI X99S XPower AC: $400 / £280

Gallery: MSI X99S XPower AC

MSI X99S Gaming 7: $290 / £200

Gallery: MSI X99S Gaming 7

MSI X99S MPower: $NA / £190

Gallery: MSI X99S MPower

MSI X99S SLI PLUS: $230 / £160

Gallery: MSI X99S SLI PLUS

I kind of want MSI to come to market with a micro-ATX motherboard as well, and I have no doubt that a Gaming 3 or Gaming 5 might be on the way. It would be interesting if we saw an ECO MSI X99 board, in white or green, although power efficiency is not one of Haswell-E’s strengths.

We hope to review most of these motherboards during their life cycle, particularly that Gaming 9 AC. First up will be the SLI PLUS, so stay tuned for that review.

Today marks the release of Intel’s latest update to its Extreme processor line with a trio of Haswell-E models including Intel’s first consumer socketed 8-core product. This is the update from Ivy Bridge-E, which includes an IPC increase, a new X99 chipset, the first consumer platform with DDR4 memory, and a new CPU socket that is not backwards compatible. We managed to get all three CPUs ahead of launch to test.

Every quarter, Jon Peddie Research analyzes the market for graphics and gives us a chance to see where the industry is at. The market for discrete graphics is seasonal, much like other segments of technology, so it is important to compare them not only to the most previous quarter, but more importantly to the same quarter from last year. Q2 is often a weak time in the discrete graphics industry, and 2014 was no exception. For the quarter, the market for graphics cards dropped 17.5% compared to Q1 even though the desktop PC market actually grew 1.3%. On a year-to-year comparison, the discrete graphics market dropped 17.6%, as compared to the desktop PC market as a while which fell only 1.7%. The seasonal drop was higher than the ten year average.

The total number of Add-in boards (AIBs) shipped in Q2 was 11.5 million units, with AMD decreasing 10.7% from last quarter and NVIDIA decreasing 21%, however overall market share still shows NVIDIA holding strong at 62% compared to 37.9% for AMD. Remember this is for discrete graphics only with AIBs, so we will need to examine more data to get a feel for the entire market.

Discrete Graphics Market   AMD Matrox NVIDIA S3 Total Q2 2014 Shipments (Millions) 4.36 0.01 7.13 0.00 11.50 Q1 2014 Shipments (Millions) 4.90 0.00 9.10 0.00 14.00 Q2 2013 Shipments (Millions) 5.32 0.00 8.68 0.00 14.00 Q2 2014 vs Q1 2014 -10.7% flat -21% flat -17.5% Q2 2014 vs Q2 2013 -18% flat -17.9% -0.1% -17.5%

The attach rate of GPUs including integrated and AIBs was 139% which is up 3.2% from last quarter. 139% may seem too high, but practically all desktop, notebook, and x86 tablets ship with some form of integrated GPU, but many desktops and notebooks also have extra graphics, and some have more than one AIB attached as well, which is why the number is over 100%. 32% of PCs have discrete GPUs which means 68% of PCs sold are relying on integrated graphics.

Looking at the total market for all PCs, the numbers shift quite a bit. Intel, which has all of zero discrete graphics cards for sale, commands an amazing 67.34% of the total GPU market. AMD, who trailed NVIDIA in the discrete GPU market owns 17.94% of the market once you combine in the integrated graphics. NVIDIA, being that they only sell discrete graphics, and based on only 32% of PCs even having discrete graphics, falls to third with 14.72%.

Another data point we can use though would be the Steam Hardware and Software Survey. Steam, with over 75 million users, is far and away the largest gaming network on the planet. Every month, they collect opt-in anonymous data to get a feel for where the gaming industry is at. These kinds of data points would be very useful for developers to get a sense for where they can target the graphical fidelity of their upcoming games in order to hit their target market. On the Steam survey, the GPU manufacturer changes dramatically, with NVIDIA holding 50.93% of the market, Intel falling to 18.89%, and AMD holding the middle ground at 29.8%.

GPU Market   AMD Intel NVIDIA All Graphics 17.94% 67.34% 14.72% Discrete Graphics 37.9% 0% 62.0% Steam Users 29.8% 18.89% 50.93%

From the data, we can see some interesting trends. Integrated GPUs are unsurprisingly the bulk of the market. Intel is the volume king here, even though their integrated solutions are not as powerful as AMD APUs for graphics, but by the market share it appears that people are choosing CPU power and efficiency over GPU power for most devices. The majority of users who do not play any sort of graphical game can get by on just integrated graphics alone whether they are from AMD or Intel. Once you move to discrete cards, NVIDIA is a 2:1 seller of discrete graphics over the only other rival AMD. The greater than normal drop in AIBs when the PC market actually grew can most likely be attributed to an upswing in business PC sales which seems to be bringing the PC market back for the time being.

Sources:

Jon Peddie Research AIB Market

Jon Peddie Research GPU Market

Steam Hardware & Software Survey

It is the end of August already, which means two things. School is back, and Xbox Games with Gold has released the upcoming games for September. On the Xbox One, as usual, there are two games for the entire month but unfortunately one of the games is carried over from last month. The Xbox 360, with its much larger catalogue of games has two new games to the program though, but as is standard with the Xbox 360, one game is for the first half of the month, and the second game is for the latter half of the month.

Xbox One Crimson Dragon

“Available Sep. 1-30, Crimson Dragon, originally an Xbox One launch title, and acts as a spiritual successor to the much-beloved Panzer Dragoon saga. It’s a fast-paced rail shooter set in a beautiful fantasy world, where you can join with up to three other players for online co-op battles. You have a half-dozen majestic draconian steeds to choose from, and they level up as you progress through the game’s epic story. Crimson Dragon also features a killer soundtrack, courtesy of Panzer Dragoon composer Saori Kobayashi.”

This is the carryover game from last month. The game is set in a science fiction universe where humans have recently colonized a planet inhabited by dragons, which can be befriended and controlled. The game is a spiritual successor to the Panzer Dragoon series, however critical and user reviews of the game have been mixed. The game scores a 56/100 on Metacritic and 6.6 for the User score. Crimson Dragon normally sells for $19.99.

Super Time Force

“Super Time Force is an action-packed platformer with a time-travelling twist! You’re in control of time itself, bending and stretching it to your advantage on the battlefield. Rewind time and choose when to jump back into the action, teaming-up with your past selves in a unique single-player co-op experience! Take control of up to 16 unique characters, and battle across 6 different time periods, from the long-ago past to the far-away future.”

Super Time Force is from the developer Capybara Games, and was originally released May 14th, 2014. This unique take on the side scroller allows the player to rewind their timestream when they die or if they choose in order to play as a previous character. It has a Metascore of 81 from Metacritic, and a 6.6 user score. Super Time Force normally sells for $14.99.

Xbox 360 Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine

“Assemble a crack team of thieves and execute the perfect crime. Sneak, steal, and run for your lives in single player or with up to four friends in local or online co-op. Find out why it won the 2010 IGF Grand Prize and has been described by Rev3Games' Anthony Carboni as "quite possible the best co-op ever."

The first game for the Xbox 360 is available starting September 1st, and comes from developer Pocketwatch Games. Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine is a stealth action game where you can play single player or co-operatively with up to four players that plays out on a top down perspective, but you can only see what is in your character’s line of site. The game scored an 81 Metascore with a 7.2 User Score on Metacritic, and normally retails for $14.99.

Halo: Reach

“Halo: Reach,” developed exclusively for Xbox 360, is theblockbuster prequel to the landmark “Halo” video game franchise and is the biggest game yet in the Halo series.“Halo” is one of the biggest video game series in history, and is the top selling franchise on Xbox. It has defined a generation of gamers and changed how people view video games.

“Halo: Reach” tells the tragic and heroic story of Noble Team, a group of Spartans, who through great sacrifice and courage saved countless lives in the face of impossible odds. The planet Reach is humanity’s last line of defense between the encroaching Covenant and their ultimate goal, the destruction of Earth. If it falls, humanity will be perched on the brink of destruction.”

The second game for the Xbox 360 is Halo: Reach by Bungie. On September 16th, Xbox 360 owners with Xbox Live Gold will have access to the prequel to the biggest Xbox franchise ever – Halo. This game got an outstanding 91 Metascore and 7.8 User Score on Metacritic, so if you have not played it this is a great chance to try it out. Halo: Reach normally retails for $24.99.

As seems to be the norm, the Xbox 360 lineup appears quite a bit stronger than the Games with Gold for the Xbox One, but that is not hard to understand with eight years of titles to choose from. If you happened to miss last month’s games, you still have a couple of days to grab them so pick them up soon before they are gone.

 

 

I originally bought Bioshock for PC a number of years ago during one of Steam's summer sales. It was $2, and I had heard good things about it so I decided to buy it. Unfortunately like many of the inexpensive purchases I made, the game sat in my library unplayed for a long period of time. A couple of years after purchasing it, a friend of mine mentioned that I had quite a number of unplayed games in my Steam library and insisted that I play some of them. At that time I finally sat down and played Bioshock, and it became one of my favorite first person shooter games of all time. While some of the visuals seemed dated as a result of me playing it so long after its release, the atmosphere, setting, environments, and the story were some of the best I had experienced in a video game.

When I recently heard that Bioshock would be coming to iOS, I felt both excitement and worry. The excitement was obviously due to my love of the game and the appealing prospect of being able to play it on a smartphone. The worry came from my fear that the game would be severely crippled to run on mobile devices. Deus Ex: The Fall was a recent disappointment for smartphone gaming based on a successful PC and console franchise, and I worried Bioshock would meet a similar fate. But I was hopeful that it would be a faithful experience so long as they maintained the original experience which wasn't designed for the limitations of mobile hardware. Thankfully from my experience with the game so far, my hope wasn't misplaced.

Getting Set Up

Bioshock was originally released in 2007, and includes support for DirectX 9 on Windows XP and DirectX 10 on Windows Vista. Windows 7 has never really been an officially supported operating system, and I find that Bioshock gives me more trouble than other games do. Just do a Google search for "Bioshock crash windows 7" and you'll see what I mean. The issues seem to relate to audio, as on a new Windows install I will either have issues with crashes to desktop or a lack of audio in an otherwise functioning game. Disabling all sound output devices except for the one in use seemed to fix the issue this time.

Once the game was booted I jumped into the graphics settings menu to make sure everything was at its highest setting. For the purposes of these comparisons the PC versions of the game was run at 1920x1080 for a 16:9 aspect ratio matching that of the iPhone 5s version.

There's one option here that needs to be discussed and that's the option for "Horizontal FOV Lock." Essentially this setting keeps the horizontal FOV at the same value it would be on a 4:3 display regardless of the aspect ratio of the monitor being used. For 16:9 displays this means a more zoomed in appearance. Below I've put screenshots of the game with this option on and off, as well as the iPhone version for reference.

Top: FOV lock off. Middle: FOV lock on. Bottom: iPhone version

The iOS version of the game doesn't have any sort of graphical settings menu. As you can see above, it definitely uses the horizontal FOV lock setting and the field of view is essentially the same as on a PC or console with the setting enabled. At the very least, this ensures a consistent experience going from iPhone to iPad, but I'm still not a fan of how zoomed in it feels at times.

Bioshock on iOS doesn't really require any setup like the PC version. There are settings for difficulty, subtitles, object highlight, the quest arrow, and vita chambers, but like other mobile games there's nothing involving graphical settings. The menus themselves are the same as the PC version which really helps to make it feel like you're playing the full Bioshock and not a cut down mobile experience.

Graphics

The first thing to talk about here is what devices Bioshock runs on. This is definitely the most demanding game on the App Store, and despite the visual concessions in bringing a PC game to mobile it still requires significant processing power. Because of that, only devices sporting Apple's A6 or A7 chips can run the game properly. It will open on an older device but the frame rate is very low and the game becomes essentially unplayable. This means that every Apple A5 (and A5X in the third generation iPad) device is unsupported which is quite a long list of devices. First generation iPad Mini owners may be especially disappointed since their device is still sold and isn't even two years old, but given that it launched with the same hardware platform as the iPad 2 from 2011 it was to be expected that it wouldn't have a record setting length of time for software support. 

Top: PC. Bottom: Mobile

The game looks very impressive for a mobile shooter. Scenes like the introduction with the plane crash and the burning wreckage on the water have impressive fire and smoke effects that compare well to the PC version. However, there were definitely sacrifices made with the lighting and the shadows. The images for the HUD and the menus are also surprising low resolution, and I think the quality reduction there had more to do with fitting inside Apple's 2GB limit for applications than any issue with hardware capabilities.

Below are some more comparisons of Bioshock on iOS compared to on PC. In all cases the mobile version is on the left and the PC version on the right. I've tried to take screenshots of several different areas and objects to give an idea of where the graphics were toned down to work on mobile, and where they really hold up well compared to the PC version. You can click the images to view in a larger size.

I feel like 2K did a good job in maintaining the quality of the models in the game when bringing it over to mobile. The effect for the electro bolt plasmid is really close to the PC version. Something that needs to be kept in mind is that some of the areas that look low quality in the iPhone screenshots are harder to notice when the game is in motion on a 4" display.

I chose the last two comparisons for a reason, as they do well to demonstrate the affect that the reduced lighting and shadows have on the game's atmosphere. Graphical fidelity aside, the game just isn't as dark and creepy on mobile. The shadow of the splicer playing with the baby carriage being missing was especially disappointing as that's a very disturbing scene and it doesn't have the same impact without it.

The aliasing is also a significant issue as well. I don't know what resolution the game has to render at to run at an acceptable frame rate but I think I would have taken some more graphical reductions for either anti-aliasing or a higher rendering resolution. My big concern is that the aliasing is really noticeable even on a 4" iPhone 5s which has the best CPU and GPU speed relative to its resolution of all the devices the game runs on. While the iPad Mini Retina and iPad Air are less thermally constrained and can sustain higher clock speeds for a greater period of time, they're likely to have even more issues with aliasing with the game being scaled up to larger displays. I also began to wonder about the overhead impact of OpenGL ES and if the game could look even better if it had been made to run using Apple's Metal API that will be launching with iOS 8. I emailed 2K and they were unable to comment on any plans for using Metal on Bioshock or any future releases so we'll have to wait and see how future iOS games can look with Metal.

Below I have an album of all the screenshots I took while playing. At the time of writing I was at the medical pavilion level and I do intend on completing the game on mobile. One final thing to note is that there's no significant compression to the game's audio to reduce the size. The audio contributes greatly to the atmosphere of Bioshock and I'm very happy it was preserved.

Gallery: Bioshock iOS Screenshots

Gameplay

In my opinion the gameplay is really what matters. I would rather have a game that visually mediocre but enjoyable to play than one that looks amazing but feels like a glorified tech demo when played. I don't have access to a Bluetooth controller so I'll be evaluating the touch control experience for Bioshock on iOS. I believe that's how most users will play the game anyway.

Before I talk about how the HUD functions, I really do need to reiterate that the blurriness of all the controls is distracting and annoying. I don't know why they're so low resolution and I really hope 2K updates the game to fix them.

Bioshock has a more complex control scheme than other first person shooters. This is partly due to the inclusion of plasmids which necessitates a way to switch between them and your weapons. Before the game released I had wondered if the game would be altered to allow plasmids and weapons to be used simultaneously like in Bioshock 2, but the original system has been preserved.

Movement is controlled by a virtual control pad on the left side which only appears when in use. Crouching and standing is controlled by the button on the left of the screen. On the right side of the screen there is a button with three bullets on it which is used for reloading weapons. When using plasmids the icon of this button changes to an eve hypo syringe. The section below the reload icon controls switching between weapons and firing. Tapping on the icon for the selected weapon or plasmid fires it. Tapping the other icon is how you switch between weapons and plasmids. When using a weapon or plasmid, the arrow icon cycles through them. This can be troublesome when trying to switch from the wrench to a weapon like the chemical thrower which requires several presses. Update: I've just been informed that holding the button brings up a quick menu with all weapons which is a very fast way to switch between them. The last menu section is the ammo selection menu at the top which allows you to cycle through the various ammo types for your weapon.

In practice these controls work fairly well as far as touch controls go, although I really want to try the game out using a Bluetooth game controller. The one control you may notice is missing is for jumping. Bioshock for iOS actually doesn't have a way to jump, and some levels have had changes made as a result. For example, the very first level in the PC version has a fallen pillar on the ground and when approaching it the game tells you to hit the space bar to jump over it. Since the iOS version has no jumping, this tutorial and the fallen pillar was removed. While this does feel like a concession to make the game work on mobile, jumping was never a big part of Bioshock to begin with and when playing I never wanted to jump but was unable to.

One thing I would like to see is an update to allow the placement of the controls to be changed. The current position of the controls for firing and weapon switching end up covering the viewmodel for your weapon and I would like to move it further to the right side of the display.

The rest of the gameplay is very faithfully brought over to mobile. Plasmids, hacking, upgrades, and everything else is still in the game. The hacking in particular translates very well to mobile, it may actually be better on mobile than it was on PC.

Conclusion and Thoughts on Handheld Gaming

As I'm writing this I'm actually anxious to get back to playing because it's very exciting to have a full fledged first person shooter game that can be put right in your pocket. When I was younger I remember that Call of Duty 4 for the Nintendo DS was the best you had for a handheld first person shooter and as you can see in the image on the right it's not too impressive. We've come a long long way with what phones and handheld gaming devices can do. Although you often hear the term "console quality" thrown around regarding mobile GPU capabilities, I don't think we're quite there yet. But the gap between current generation smartphones and the previous generation of game consoles is certainly closing, and there's nowhere for the quality of mobile games to go but up. I'm very excited to see what the future holds for mobile gaming.

Bioshock for iOS is available on the App Store now for $14.99. The download is 1.65GB in size (and takes up 2.6GB installed on my iPhone 5s) and it only runs on devices with Apple's A6, A6X, or A7 chips which includes the iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, iPad 4, iPad Mini Retina, and iPad Air. I really think it's worth checking out if you can spare the money and are a fan of the original game.

Last year, we saw the introduction of HomePlug AV2 (HPAV2) silicon from both Broadcom and Qualcomm Atheros. In conformance with the usual product development cycle, we saw the announcement of various HPAV2 products at CES in January. TP-LINK and TRENDnet were the players that seemed to be taking the lead in getting them to the market. Even though their products were supposed to ship in Q2 / Q3, we are yet to see them outside tradeshows.

ZyXEL is springing a surprise by launching two powerline adapters based on the HPAV2 standard with confirmed ship dates

• PLA5206
  • Broadcom BCM60333 HPAV2 SISO Chipset
  • PLA5206KIT contains a pair of adapters, MSRP of $160
  • Available Sept. 1
  • Delivers speeds of up to 1Gbps
  • Utilizes HomePlug AV2 standard to transmit multiple HD video streams simultaneously
  • 128-bit encryption
  • Green power saving options
• PLA5405
  • Qualcomm Atheros QCA7500 HPAV2 MIMO Chipset
  • Pricing TBD
  • Available Oct. 1
  • Delivers speeds of up to 1.2Gbps
  • Line-Natural / Line-Ground MIMO smart-antenna technology allows data to be sent simultaneously over different wires, delivering faster throughput / extended coverage
  • Utilizes HomePlug AV2 standard to transmit multiple HD video streams simultaneously
  • 128-bit encryption
  • Green power saving options

Things have been relatively quiet on the powerline networking front from a home consumer perspective (with Wi-Fi advancements being the primary networking market driver right now). That said, these solutions will be a welcome addition in buildings where Wi-Fi remains ineffective due to reach issues. Powerline technology remains attractive for service providers and consumers in the EMEA / APAC markets.

The Internt of Things (IoT) revolution is in the process of taking off in a big way with the rising popularity of wearables and home automation platforms. Different vendors have placed their bets on different radios / protocols for IoT. For example, Sigma Designs is heavily promoting Z-Wave, while Freescale and some other vendors are pushing 802.15.4 (ZigBee). Broadcom's play in the IoT market is the WICED (Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices) platform. The strategy involves a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, with Bluetooth being the primary focus.

The WICED platform has been around for some time now. A couple of days back, Broadcom announced an update in this category by launching a new development kit, the WICED Sense. In addition to the BCM20737 Bluetooth SiP, the kit also integrates five different MEMS sensors (gyroscope, accelerometer, e-compass, barometer and humidity/temperature measurement).

The kit is already FCC certified. It has a micro-USB connector for simplified application development. Apps exist for both iOS and Android. iBeacon support is also touted. Best of all, this kit is available for around $20, enabling enthusiasts and developers to economically develop and prototype their IoT product concepts.

Along with the product announcement, Broadcom also let us in on a select list of IoT products with communication enabled by their silicon.

• Galaxy Gear2 by Samsung
  • BCM4334 Single-Chip Dual-Band Combo Device Supporting 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0+HS & FM Receiver
• Smoke + CO Alarm by Nest
  • BCM43362 WICED 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Controller
• Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat by Honeywell
  • BCM43362 WICED 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Controller
• MyQ Garage Door Controller by Chamberlain
  • BCM43362 WICED 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Controller, BCM20702 Bluetooth Processor and BCM20732 Bluetooth SMART SoC
• LED Smart Bulb by Lifx (X2)
  • BCM43362 WICED 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Controller
• LeapPad Ultra by Leapfrog
  • BCM4319 single-chip device, with radio, MAC, baseband & integrated power amplifier (PA)
• Halo Hearing Aid by Starkey
  • BCM20732S WICED 2.4GHz Bluetooth SMART SIP Module
• Toy Car by UPRTek
  • BCM20732S WICED 2.4GHz Bluetooth SMART SIP Module 
• iGrill by iDevices
  • BCM20737 WICED 2.4GHz Bluetooth SMART SoC
• Nimbus by Quirky
  • BCM43362 WICED 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Controller
• ViSi Mobile System by Sotera Wireless
  • BCM43341 Quad Combo Dual-Band (2.4 GHz/5 GHz) 802.11 g/n MAC/Baseband/Radio with Integrated Bluetooth 4.0, NFC & FM Receiver
• Wi-Fi Weight Scale by Blip
  • BCM43362 WICED 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Controller

The above list includes some of the hottest IoT products in the market right now. Z-Wave and ZigBee have been around for a long time. But, it is Wi-Fi which is helping IoT products reach out to a larger market. Bluetooth support enables a different kind of IoT use-case where the device is better off communicating with a smartphone or similar mobile device directly. Broadcom seems well set to target this market with a comprehensive solution set for all kinds of IoT developers (from the enthusiast in his garage to companies delivering high-volume products).

In 2011 AMD took the first step in expanding the Radeon brand and partnered with Patriot and VisionTek to provide AMD branded memory. With the launch of the Radeon R7 SSD AMD is continuing this strategy by jumping into the SSD market. Just as they did with memory, AMD is partnering with a third party that handles the development, manufacturing and support of the product, which in the case of the R7 SSD is OCZ. Based on OCZ's Barefoot 3 controller, the R7 is positioned between the Vector 150 and ARC 100 with its four-year warranty and 30GB/day endurance. Read on to see what AMD's first SSD adds to the market.

PROMISE Technology launched a private Dropbox-like cloud storage solution for enterprise file synchronization and sharing last week. Dubbed 'FileCruiser', this is a comprehensive solution targeting SMBs and SMEs (particularly those who still rely on FTP as a mode of data exchange between users).

As the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend proliferates, mobile apps become an essential part of the enterprise file sharing solution. FileCruiser's apps provides access and sync capabilities across a variety of devices (Android / iOS, Mac / Windows). The IT administrator can set limits on file types and sizes that users can upload to the FileCruiser storage. The platform also provides support for team collaboration, link sharing with password protection and expiry dates. Data security is also important in this market segment. In addition to the standard 256-bit AES encryption, we also have two-factor authentication for mobile apps, audit trail and remote wiping capabilities for lost devices. The FileCruiser app also supports streaming of media files. This avoids the need to download the complete stream to the mobile device prior to playback.

FileCruiser can be implemented on multiple hardware platforms, but PROMISE also provides dedicated SKUs combining both hardware and software. The specifications of the FileCruiser VA2600 and VR2600 are presented below.

LG isn't the only company announcing a new smartwatch today. Samsung has announced a new device in their line of Gear smartwatches. Their latest watch is the Samsung Gear S, and it's one of the only smartwatches on the market that sports 3G connectivity. This allows it to function on its own without having to be forever tethered to a smartphone to access notifications and other content.

The other unique feature of the Gear S is its 2" curved OLED display with a resolution of 320x480. Samsung believes that a convex display allows for a more ergonomic and comfortable smartwatch. With its curved rectangular display the form factor of the Gear S is like a cross between fitness bands and smartwatches.

Inside it features an unnamed 1GHz dual core CPU paired with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of NAND. Samsung rates the 300mAh battery inside for two days of usage. Like most of Samsung's other smartwatches, it includes a heart rate sensor and IP67 dust and water resistance rated for 30 minutes of submersion in up to 1 meter of water.

Unlike most other smartwatches, the Gear S runs Samsung's Tizen operating system rather than Google's Android Wear platform. It includes some of Samsung's software like S Health and their smartwatch music player. Between Tizen's built in applications and the watch's support for WiFi and 3G networking, the Gear S may be the first smartwatch that can act as its own device rather than an extension of a user's smartphone.

Samsung will begin sales of the Gear S in early October. Pricing is yet to be announced.

It looks like LG really isn't keen on waiting for IFA to reveal some of its new products. Yesterday we detailed the announcement of the LG G3 Stylus, and today LG is giving a sneak peak at its first smartwatch with a round face. It's called the LG G Watch R, and as you may have guessed, the R stands for round. 

At its core, the G Watch R is basically the same device as the original G Watch. It uses Qualcomm's APQ8026 quad Cortex-A7 part running at 1.2GHz, paired with an Adreno 305 and 512MB of RAM plus 4GB of NAND. It also retains the G Watch's IP67 rating for submersion in water up to 1 meter deep for 30 minutes. The battery receives a small 10mAh bump from 400mAh to 410mAh. A heart rate monitor has been added, taking away one of Samsung's points of differentiation with their Gear Live smartwatch.

The real changes come with the display and the build. The original G Watch has a square display. The G Watch R sports a 1.3" plastic OLED (P-OLED) display with a 320x320 resolution (which likely means the vertical and horizontal resolution at the watch's widest points in those directions) that takes up 100% of the watch face. This contrasts with the yet to be released Moto 360 which has a 1.5" rounded display but has a segment at the bottom which isn't part of the usable display area. The display is surrounded by a stainless steel bezel and frame, and comes with a leather strap.

The G Watch R is the first smartwatch I've seen that really looks like a traditional analog watch. The Moto 360 is definitely up there with it, but for me the gap in the display on the Moto 360 takes away from it significantly.

LG says that the G Watch R will be available in Q4 of this year. There's no word on pricing but it'll likely be higher than the standard G Watch which currently sells for $229. More details about the G Watch R will be revealed soon at IFA Berlin.

Source: LG via Android Police

Dropbox was one of the first of the major cloud file storage and sharing services that still exist today. But since its inception, there has been increasing competition from other companies. One way that these companies have competed is on their features for creation and collaboration. Microsoft offers Office, and Google offers Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Another area of competition has been with pricing and storage. All these services offer their user a certain amount of free storage, with options to pay a monthly or annual fee to upgrade to a larger amount. For quite some time now there has been a disparity between the price per gigabyte of storage on Dropbox and the price on Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive. Microsoft offers 1TB (defined as 1024GB) of storage plus a Microsoft Office subscription for a fee of $6.99 per month for a single user, or $9.99 per month for a family of up to five people to share plus 5 Microsoft Office installs. Google Drive also offers 1TB (defined as 1000GB) for $9.99 per month. Until today Dropbox Pro offered only 100GB to subscribers paying $9.99 per month, but with this update Dropbox is bringing their pricing in line with the competition and giving Dropbox Pro users 1TB (defined as 1000GB) of storage. This 1TB tier is now the only plan for Dropbox Pro, and I personally think some users would have appreciated a less expensive plan that maintained the old 100GB of space.

The enhancements to Dropbox Pro also include new features on top of the greatly increased storage. Dropbox Pro users now have access to new sharing controls like passwords on shared links, shared links that expire after a certain amount of time, and view-only permissions on shared folders. A new remote wipe feature has also been created to be used in the event that a device is lost or stolen.

It looks like competition in the cloud storage space is really paying off for users. With Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Google Drive all adopting essentially the same pricing it's now up to Apple to deliver their new iCloud pricing and replace their current price of $100 per year for a measly 50GB of storage.

NVIDIA has been anything but shy about their GPU virtualization aspirations, making it a focal point for the company’s development since the launch of their first GRID cards back in 2012. The company sees GPU virtualization as becoming increasingly important for enterprises – just as CPU virtualization has over the last decade – and in the last 2 years has been working on executing a plan on break into the GPU virtualization market. Their hardware was in many senses the easy part, and served to solve the chicken and egg problem that many technologies face. The hard part? Bringing up the software ecosystem to make use of this hardware.

Which is why the company is particularly excited about this year’s VMworld conference, VMWare’s annual virtualization technical conference. After seeding the market with hardware and spending their time working with major virtualization software developers such as VMWare and Citrix, NVIDIA’s efforts are finally coming to fruition as these products integrate support in their hypervisors for the GPU virtualization mechanisms required to make the most of NVIDIA’s hardware. To that end NVIDIA and VMWare are announcing a pair of NVIDIA-centric developments from this year’s show.

First and foremost, GRID vGPU support on VMware’s vSphere product is nearing completion. With the final version expected to be launched next year, NVIDIA and VMware are now in the process of launching an early access program for existing users to begin end-user trials.

This program is targeted at existing GRID users who are already making use of VMWare’s more limited functionality vSGA and vDGA modes, which utilize graphics API wrappers or directly mapped (1:1) GPUs respectively. With vGPU support now up and running, clients can now experiment with time sharing the GPUs directly. This offers potentially much greater density than vDGA’s directly mapped GPUs, but is still going through real hardware and allowing full access to NVIDIA’s GPU drivers and features instead of the much more limited generic Direct3D 9ish feature set that vSGA offers. In NVIDIA’s world vGPU support doesn’t fully supplant either vSGA or vDGA, but it offers a middle ground between the high density of vSGA and the performance of vDGA, while also offering a higher density option that maintains full GPU access and functionality.

Meanwhile NVIDIA’s second announcement of the day is focused on the client side of the usage model, specifically when it comes to Chromebooks. As previously announced by Google and VMware, the firms have been working to bring VMware BLAST support to Chromebooks, and today NVIDIA is announcing that they will be the hardware launch partner for this project. The company’s Tegra K1 SoC will be the first Chromebook SoC to support BLAST, with NVIDIA leveraging K1’s hardware video decoder to decode the BLAST video stream.

Acer’s recently announced K1-powered Chromebook 13 devices will in turn be the first Chromebooks out the door with this functionality. With the Chromebook software stack already bordering on being a thin client environment, NVIDIA, Google, and VMware believe using Chromebooks as actual thin clients is a natural extension of the device’s functionality. Meanwhile Chromebooks’ mass-market appeal means that the cost of these devices kept low due to their high production volume, allowing for what amounts to a 13” 1080p thin client laptop to sell for under $300, a much lower price than previous thin client devices.

Ultimately for NVIDIA this furthers their own efforts in a twofold manner. By providing a strong economic incentive for virtualization this helps server hardware sales, but it also means NVIDIA gets a piece of the pie through client hardware sales. Meanwhile for VMware this furthers the reach of their own virtualization platforms, both figuratively and literally by getting more laptop-style thin clients on to the market.

Finally, as part of their keynote presentation, VMware has a short video from NVIDIA on the announcement, including a brief showcase of the Chromebook thin client in action.

Seagate recently rebooted their NAS offerings, completely revamping their 2013 Business Storage lineup and dropping that software platform altogether. In its place, they adopted a Debian-based offering, NAS OS, development of which was started by LaCie prior to their acquisition by Seagate. In their 2014 lineup, Seagate has two classes of products, the NAS and the NAS Pro. While the former is suitable for workgroups of 1 to 25 clients, the Pro version pushes that up to 50. Read on for results from our evaluation of the 4-bay NAS Pro offering.

While normally one might expect high end phones to get the latest and greatest features first, this time we see a bit of a surprising reversal. The Desire 510 is HTC's first 64-bit phone, and the first announced device with Snapdragon 410. For those that aren't familiar with Snapdragon 410, it has four Cortex A53 CPU cores running at 1.2 GHz, along with an Adreno 306 GPU which suggests that it is a mild modification of the current Adreno 305 GPU that we see in the Snapdragon 400. Overall, this should make for a quite fast SoC compared to Snapdragon 400, as Anand has covered in the Snapdragon 410 launch announcement.

While it may seem strange that ARMv8 on Android phones is first to appear on a budget smartphone, it's quite easy to understand how this happened. Looking at Qualcomm's roadmap, the Snapdragon 810/MSM8994 is the first high-end SoC that will ship with ARMv8, and is built on a 20nm process. As 20nm from both Samsung and TSMC have just begun appearing in shipping chips, the process yield and production capacity isn't nearly as mature as 28nm LP, which is old news by now.

At any rate, outside of the SoC the Desire 510 is a relatively standard budget phone. As this phone ships with Android 4.4 it's likely that it is running in AArch32 mode only, with AArch64 coming with Android L. The display is a 4.7" size, with FWVGA resolution (854x480) which makes for a rather low 208 DPI. This will be the cheapest LTE phone in HTC's product line, and also has support for a Dot View case. I've included the rest of the specs below, but for the most part the key point of interest is the SoC.

  HTC Desire 510 SoC MSM8916 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 RAM/NAND 1 GB RAM, 8GB NAND + microSD Display 4.7” FWVGA (854x480) Network 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x25 UE Category 4 LTE) Dimensions 139.9 x 69.8 x 9.99mm, 158 grams Camera 5MP rear camera, .3MP/VGA FFC Battery 2100 mAh (7.98 Whr) OS Android 4.4 with Sense 6 Connectivity 802.11b/g/n + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, DLNA SIM Size MicroSIM

The only additional comment I have to make is that there is no 5 GHz WiFi. This is probably a WCN3620 part like the Moto G. While there's no word on pricing, HTC will have to price this near the price of the Moto G for it to be reasonably competitive. The Desire 510 should find its way to Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Today Google has rolled out an unexpected update to an app that seemed long forgotten. It's the News & Weather application that comes on Android phones running software maintained by Google like Nexus and Google Play Edition devices. The big change with the update is a complete design overhaul that implements Google's Material Design principles. The app previously sported a design that was like a relic from the distant past, with an interface that seemed like a mixture between Android Gingerbread design and some parts of Google's original Holo design from Android Ice Cream Sandwich. There was heavy use of black, with horizontal scrolling sections and gradients throughout.

Old News & Weather on the left, new on the right.

The new design is like a breath of fresh air. I had not even used the old app to change the temperature units from Fahrenheit to Centigrade because the design was so outdated that I looked to other apps to get weather and news information. The weather images had also not been updated to support very high resolution devices in the 400+ ppi range, and looked quite blurry. The new design does away with the black color scheme and features information displayed on white cards with high resolution weather images. The tabs at the top have also been removed, and all weather and news information is displayed in a single vertically scrolling list. Specific news topics can be accessed by the navigation pane that slides in from the left. Information about temperature and precipitation trends can be revealed by tapping the downward arrow on the weather card.

Old News & Weather widgets on the left, new on the right.

The widgets for the app also receive a makeover. The app maintains the options for news + weather, news only, and weather only, with the weather only widget being changed to display the forcast for the coming days rather than just the current weather. The widgets also have a semi-transparent border around them, which may be another element in Google's new design language.

News & Weather 2.0 is out on Google Play now. Like all of Google's updates, it may take some time before your device receives it.