Sony is no stranger to wearable devices. But today they are launching their first device that runs Google's Android Wear operating system. The first is the Smartwatch 3, pictured on the left above. The SmartWatch 3 is similar to the other Android Wear devices launched by other manufacturers. It sports a 1.6" 320x320 LCD display, and is powered by Qualcomm's APQ8026 quad Cortex-A7 part running at 1.2GHz, paired with an Adreno 305 and 512MB of RAM plus 4GB of NAND. The SmartWatch 3 is IP68 rated for submersion in water up to 2 meter deep for 30 minutes. The 420mAh battery is also slightly larger than competing watches like LG's G Watch which is 400mAh.

My concern is that the SmartWatch 3 doesn't really bring anything spectacular compared to competing devices and doesn't have the visual appeal or design of watches like the LG G Watch R. Pricing has yet to be announced but hopefully the SmartWatch 3 is price competitive.

The second announced device is the SmartBand Talk. It's more like some of the fitness bands that we've seen launched, with a 1.4" e-paper  display at 192dpi that integrates into the band itself. Sony hasn't given any specifics about what's inside the SmartBand Talk, but they have said that it will have an integrated speaker and mic for voice calls when paired with a smartphone. It's not clear if the SmartBand Talk is also powered by Android Wear.

The SmartWatch 3 will be available in black and green, while the SmartBand Talk will come in black and white. Both devices are slated to launch in the fall, and pricing is currently unknown.

It seems company sponsored live events are becoming more popular. Not long after AMD hosted their own gaming celebration, NVIDIA is upping the ante with a 24 hour live streamed event with several physical locations around the world, which they're calling GAME24.

NVIDIA describes GAME24 as a celebration of gaming, and several gaming studios will also be involved in the event. However, NVIDIA has not yet announced the studio names. GAME24 will feature eSports competitions, record-breaking gaming stunt competitions, exclusive game demos, prizes, and developer interviews. And of course, along with a focus on gaming products and partnerships, there will be a significant amount of actual gaming taking place both remotely and in-person.

The event will take place starrting 6 PM PST on Thursday, September 18th, and it will last until the same time the next day. Streaming will be provided from start to finish via Twitch. To attend the event, register at http://www.game24.nvidia.com/. Attendance and registration are free. Registration ends at 5 PM PDT the day of the event but NVIDIA warns seats are limited, so it's first come first served.

Confirmed locations include:

• Los Angeles:  Hangar 8, 3021 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica, California. 18 and up only.
• Chicago: Ignite Gaming Lounge, 3341 N. Elston Ave., Chicago, Illinois.
• Indianapolis: eBash Indianapolis Video Game Center, 6609 East 82nd St., Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Mission Viejo, California: 27741 Crown Valley Pkwy, Ste. 223, Mission Viejo, California.
• London: Location TBA
• Shanghai: Location TBA
• Stockhom: Location TBA

I have personally attended a few regional celebration events like this before, and I've always had a good time. Between the gaming, merchandise giveaways, and just the social aspects it should be a fun event.

Source: NVIDIA

Alongside today’s announcement of the Galaxy Note 4, Samsung also used the occasion to announce that they intend to break into the nascent VR headset market with their own device. Dubbed the Gear VR, Samsung is making a very different and very smartphone-centric take on the VR headset concept. For that reason the fact that this device was announced at the same time as the Note 4 was no mistake or even a convenience. Instead the Gear VR is functionally a peripheral for the Note 4; the Note 4 itself is the heart of the device, and the Gear VR is the harness to utilize the Note 4 as a VR headset.

The idea of using a phone or phablet as the basis of a VR headset is not new, but Samsung’s Gear VR project is the most serious and complete implementation of the idea yet. Gear VR follows up on Google’s Cardboard VR concept, replacing the hacked together DIY construction with a retail grade manufactured harness. Otherwise the idea is similar in execution: phones and phablets already have the screens, sensors, and gyroscopes necessary to build a basic VR headset, so why not? And the Note 4 in turn is the newest and most advanced of these devices.

Meanwhile Samsung for their part already has an interest in VR headsets and a business relationship to help make it a reality. Samsung is the manufacturer behind the display used in the Oculus Rift DK2, which uses the 1080p SAMOLED screen from the Note 3. With Samsung already involved in VR headset manufacturing, it’s only a slight extension on their part to take advantage of their in-house technology to go it alone and build their own headset out of the newer Note 4 hardware. As Samsung Display Corp. seems to only be willing to provide the latest and greatest SAMOLED panels to Samsung Mobile, there is potential to ship a VR display more compelling than anything else on the market.

So how does the Gear VR work? With the Note 4 proving the heart of the device – the display, the processing, and the sensors – the Gear VR harness itself provides the mechanism to hold the phone in place, including the lenses necessary to focus on the Note 4 at such a close distance and to adjust that focus. However the Gear VR is also an I/O device of its own to allow access to the Note 4, since the phablet and its touchscreen are inaccessible while it’s locked into the harness.

Utilizing the micro-USB connection at the bottom of the Note 4, the Gear VR grants the combined setup a small touchpad and a back button to allow basic operation and navigation, along with additional controls for volume (note that audio either comes from the Note 4 or an external headset, the harness has no speakers of its own). This setup isn’t a full replacement for the Note 4’s buttons and touchscreen, but it’s meant to offer a basic interface that’s used in conjunction with pointing-by-viewing to allow simple controller-free operation of the headset. It’s also worth noting that the harness doesn’t have a power source of its own, so it’s drawing from the Note 4’s own power supply.

Meanwhile one thing that is important to note is that unlike other VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus, the combined Gear VR headset is designed to be a stand-alone device. It’s not merely a display and I/O interface for an external game console or PC, but as in the Google Cardboard concept is a complete and self-contained device.

This is an important distinction because it sets a baseline for what kind of content Samsung can reasonably offer and support on the headset. The Note 4 is a modern and high performance phablet, but at the end of the day it’s powered by an SoC-class GPU that offers a fraction of the performance of a game console or PC. Which is not to say that you can’t game on it, but given the hardware it’s clear that Samsung is not in direct conflict with Oculus VR or Sony for the hardcore gaming market.

Consequently the bulk of Samsung’s demos were focused on panoramic 3D video playback, which is a low intensity task that the Note 4 isn’t challenged by. In this case the headset can be used to look around the panorama, making it seem as if the viewer is in the middle of the action. Along with the panoramic videos, Samsung also had an Iron Man themed demo to showcase the device’s interactivity potential, using the Gear VR setup to look around a mockup of Tony Stark’s lab and to activate certain gimmicks and informational displays. Finally a simple space sim dubbed Escape Velocity was present to demonstrate the gaming possibilities for the device, though gameplay was limited to looking and shooting due in part to the limits imposed by the hardware and I/O options. In the longer term all of these are closer to technical demos than complete products, so Samsung will need Android developers to embrace the Gear VR setup if they wish to round up a good collection of content.

Meanwhile the hardware itself was solid. In our brief look at the demo units it’s impractical to do a proper side-by-side comparison with any other VR headsets, but Samsung has put together a solid piece of kit. The adjustable headstraps offer enough range to fit most heads – even my own (if just barely) – and the adjustable focus means just about anyone with good vision should be able to make the headset work. However, correction seems to be limited to around -3.5 diopters for those that are near-sighted. In addition, no correction is possible for those with astigmatism. The headset also does not accommodate for glasses.

Elsewhere the inputs live up to their stated goals of providing limited I/O for the Gear VR, though I did manage to accidentally hit the back button more than once. Overall the Note 4 gives the overall setup some heft, but not enough to make the setup heavy or uncomfortable, at least for short periods of use.

Which on that note, Samsung is suggesting a 30/15 rule for the device: 30 minutes of use, followed by a 15 minute break. This limited playing window avoids any concerns about extended use of VR headsets while also bypassing any battery life concerns since the Note 4 needs to power every aspect of the combined setup.

Otherwise the star of the Gear VR is the Note 4’s display, which is currently unparalleled among SAMOLED displays. At 2560x1440 pixels (Quad HD) and with the rapid response time of OLED, the Note 4’s display is a natural fit for a VR headset. With the Note 4 packing a 5.7” screen, the pixel density on the Note 4’s panel works out to roughly 515 PPI, one of the highest pixel densities yet and a good fit for an application that is so density-sensitive. However this is complicated by the now typical use of a pentile subpixel arrangement in a Samsung OLED display. The 515 PPI density makes the pixels harder than ever to see, but they are still visible and the subpixel layout exacerbates this to some degree. Based on our experience this may very well be better than any other VR headset display so far, but the holy grail for VR headsets may be a 4K display in similar dimensions.

Meanwhile it’s interesting to note that while this is a Samsung device it is being promoted as a product of a “deep technical partnership” with Oculus VR. The press release Samsung will be sending out with today’s announcement even specifically notes that the Gear VR is “powered by Oculus technology”. Unfortunately Samsung isn’t going into any real detail on what that partnership entails at this time. Since Samsung is building all of the hardware, the most likely collaboration is on the software and/or the optics. Though in either case any presence that Oculus VR has in the development of the Gear VR is not immediately obvious when you use it.

Wrapping things up, in the longer term we do have some concerns about the viability of the Gear VR compared to other VR headsets, but with the modern incarnation of the VR headset industry so new, these are questions that only development time and consumer adoption can answer. Which is also why Samsung is wisely approaching this in an Oculus Rift-like manner by pitching this first iteration of Gear VR at early adopters under the product title "Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition." The difference is somewhat semantic – Samsung and even certain carriers will be selling the Gear VR harness to anyone that wants it – but Samsung does make it clear that they’re not shooting for wide consumer adoption quite yet.

On the hardware side, one of the biggest technical questions that Gear VR raises is whether the sensor suite on a smartphone is really good enough for this line of use. Oculus VR for their part has been focusing on very low input latency as a major component of VR headsets, for example. And even though this is an early adopter product this is something Samsung has paid more attention to than we would have expected. Samsung is specifically listing the device's "Motion to Photon" latency in their product specifications, which for the Gear VR is stated to be less than 20ms. 20ms is a particularly important threshold for VR headset latency, since among other things this is the maximum amount of latency that John Carmack has stated he feels is acceptable.

Meanwhile on the consumer side there’s the question of consumer interest. Does a Note 4 converted into a VR headset offer enough functionality to satisfy consumers? Gaming still seems like the killer app for VR headsets, and that’s the area where an SoC-powered device like the Gear VR is going to be the most handicapped.

For the answer to these questions and more, we’ll have to see what happens with the Gear VR once the Innovator Edition begins shipping. Like the Note 4 itself, Samsung isn’t committing to a date or a price at this time, but their best estimate for a launch date for the Gear VR is this fall with a price to be determined.

Following on the heels of the Galaxy Note 4, Samsung is also announcing a new product named the Galaxy Note Edge. In terms of basic hardware, not much changes. Same fingerprint sensor, same SoC, same RAM, camera, battery, etc. The one fundamental difference is that the display has a curved edge similar to the patent depictions. Samsung is pushing this as a secondary display of sorts that allows for more information to be shown along the curved edge without disrupting the rest of the content on the display. This is done by extending the display by an extra 160 pixels in width. I've included a spec sheet below to show the rest of the differences between the Note 4 and Note Edge.

  Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Samsung Galaxy Note 4 SoC 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 RAM/NAND 3 GB LPDDR3, 32/64GB NAND + microSD 3GB LPDDR3, 32GB NAND + microSD Display 5.6” 1440p+160 Super AMOLED 5.7” 1440p Super AMOLED Network 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x35 IP block UE Category 6 LTE) 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x35 UE Category 6 LTE) Dimensions 151.3 x 82.4 x 8.3mm, 174 grams 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm, 176 grams Camera 16MP Rear Facing w/ OIS, 1/2.6" CMOS size (Sony IMX240), F/2.0, 3.7MP FFC w/ F/1.9 aperture 16MP Rear Facing w/ OIS, 1/2.6" CMOS size (Sony IMX240), F/2.0, 3.7MP FFC w/ F/1.9 aperture Battery 3000 mAh, 3.85V, 11.55 Whr 3220 mAh, 3.85V, 12.397 Whr OS Android 4.4.4 with TouchWiz UX Android 4.4.4 with TouchWiz UX Connectivity 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, MHL, DLNA, NFC 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, MHL, DLNA, NFC SIM Size MicroSIM MicroSIM

If by any chance this reminds you of the Samsung Continuum, a variant of the Galaxy S exclusively on Verizon, you would be right. However, unlike the Continuum, this has been achieved by curving the AMOLED panel onto the side of the phone instead of putting another display beneath the primary display. This also has a few implications for ergonomics. For example, the power button is relocated to the top of the phone.

While I'm normally not too stringent on top-mounted power buttons, this move felt like a major step back for ergonomics. While it's going to take a full review to really know whether this is a problem or not, my first impression was that this would make it harder to recommend the Note Edge over the Note 4. However, there are a few things that Samsung got right with this phone. For one, palm rejection is incredibly well-implemented. Even though I had my palm solidly on top of the display, I didn't see any touch events occur. The side with the curved display also feels incredibly thin, and seems to disguise the actual thickness of the device.

In practice, the display doesn't really seem to have much area, and tapping shortcuts and other objects on the sidebar tends to require a bit more precision than what I'm used to. For the most part, the use cases are largely similar to what we saw in the Continuum as well. Live news feeds were one possible use case, along with Twitter feeds and Facebook status updates. The other uses that were available included placing camera controls on the curved area to make the viewfinder larger, notifications while watching movies, and some quick tools such as a flashlight or ruler. The curved edge can also serve as an alarm clock. Overall I found it hard to see any particular killer app, but it may be useful to some. To me, the Note Edge doesn't really seem better than the Note 4, just different.

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge will be available later this fall on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon. It will come in either Charcoal Black or Frost White in other select markets.

By now, most people seem to have accepted the concept of a phablet. At first, I was also skeptical, as I wanted a phone that could easily be used with one hand. However, with time I've really come to appreciate the value that comes with the larger display size and S-Pen/Wacom stylus. Simply put, even though the larger size precludes the possibility of easily using the phone with one hand, the increased multitasking capabilities and improved media experience can be well worth the trade-off. While I also find unfortunate that Android OEMs seem to believe that every phone should be a phablet, it’s hard to ignore the incredible success that Samsung continues to have with the Galaxy Note phablets. It’s also increasingly difficult to nail down just what a phablet is. I still firmly believe that a smartphone should be easy to use with one hand, and a phablet requires two. However, the distinction between phablet and tablet is a matter of whether the device can be easily carried in a pocket. Of course, none of that really gives a firm, clear answer. After all, everyone is different, and differences in hand size and thumb length determine what those limits are.

At any rate, this takes us to the Galaxy Note 4. Surprisingly, Samsung has stopped their march of ever-increasing display size for the Note phablets. The Galaxy Note 4 has a 5.7” AMOLED display, with QHD/1440p resolution. This comes out to 515 PPI, which should be high enough for general smartphone usage but in my experience with the Gear VR it isn’t enough for VR usage, which holds the display as close as possible to the eye. Samsung also disclosed that they have a 2.7 GHz quad-core processor for some variants, which points squarely towards Snapdragon 805 for the US. There’s also a 1.9/1.3 GHz octa-core version, which should be an Exynos 5433 SoC. For those that have spent any amount of time following Samsung Systems LSI’s SoC nomenclature, it should be patently obvious that there are four Cortex A15s on the big cluster and four Cortex A7s on the little cluster. I’ve included a spec table below to get a better idea of how things stand.

  Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Samsung Galaxy Note 4 SoC

2.26 GHz Snapdragon 800

2.7 GHz Snapdragon 805 RAM/NAND 3 GB LPDDR3, 32/64GB NAND + microSD 3GB LPDDR3, 32GB NAND + microSD Display 5.7” 1080p Super AMOLED 5.7” 1440p Super AMOLED Network 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x25 IP block UE Category 4 LTE) 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x35 UE Category 6 LTE) Dimensions 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3mm, 168 grams 153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm, 176 grams Camera

13MP Rear Facing, 1/3.06" CMOS size (Sony IMX135), 2.1MP FFC
 

16MP Rear Facing w/ OIS, 1/2.6" CMOS size (Sony IMX240), F/2.0, 3.7MP FFC w/ F/1.9 aperture Battery 3200 mAh, 3.8V, 12.1 Whr 3220 mAh, 3.85V, 12.397 Whr OS Android 4.4.2 with TouchWiz UX Android 4.4.4 with TouchWiz UX Connectivity 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.0, USB3.0, GPS/GNSS, MHL, DLNA, NFC 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, MHL, DLNA, NFC SIM Size MicroSIM MicroSIM

Possibly the most important spec of note is the camera. As with the Galaxy S5 LTE-A, we see a Sony IMX240 camera sensor. Unlike the LTE-A variant, Samsung has also added OIS to the module. In practice, the accommodation angle of the system and general stability was quite strong. While I don’t have an exact value for how much deviation the system can sustain, it felt quite close to the Lumia Icon. While we’re still on the subject of cameras, the front facing camera appears to be upgraded to keep pace with the display resolution, with the same 3.7MP resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. Samsung emphasized that this camera was wide angle, although short focal lengths will cause fish-eye effects.

A noticeable spec omission was the lack of water resistance, which was implemented quite successfully on the Galaxy S5 line. The only other notable regression was a move back to the microUSB 2.0 connector, but it’s likely that this was done out of practicality as the microUSB 3.0 connector is quite cumbersome to use. This doesn't result in worse charging capabilities though, as Samsung advertised that their charger would charge the Note 4's battery to 50% in half an hour compared to the hour that it would take the Note 3. Interestingly enough there is a toggle to enable or disable this feature, presumably for heat and battery longevity concerns.

Of course, there’s a lot more to the Galaxy Note 4 than just specs, and one of the major areas where Samsung has iterated for this generation is the design. Much like the Galaxy Alpha, we see a metal frame with chamfered edges running around the side of the phone. As previously discussed in our article on material choices and in Samsung’s official blog, this move helps to improve drop resistance due to the increased rigidity of the metal frame. This move also greatly improves in-hand feel as it’s no longer glossy plastic, which also helps to improve the overall look. In addition to the new metal ring, the back cover is noticeably different from the Note 3. While still soft-touch for the black model, the stitching pattern has been removed and the back cover now molds closely to the metal sides instead of noticeably protruding. Finally, there’s a noticeable change to the button feel for this generation, with much less slack in the power and volume buttons, and the actuation both feels and sounds much more clean and crisp. The home button is also noticeably larger than what we saw on the Galaxy S5, and it seems that this may be due to an improved fingerprint sensor.

However, there’s more to the Note 4 than just hardware changes. Samsung is also emphasizing new software features. While Samsung is emphasized a more mouse-like experience for S-Pen in the form of easy drag and drop/highlight modes by pressing the stylus button, I found that the improved Multi Window system is really the most noteworthy change. First, the need to long press the back button to bring up the menu is effectively deprecated. Instead, Multi Window is now integrated into the Android L-esque multitasking menu. If an application supports Multi Window, an icon will appear on the top right of the app’s card in the multitasking menu, and tapping it will automatically open it as a second window.

In addition, dragging a window from the corner will automatically turn the application into a floating window if it’s supported. There are no real changes to the appearance of TouchWiz UX, although some aspects have been altered. For example, the settings menus have replaced black backgrounds with white ones. It’s likely that this was done to prevent purple smearing effects that come from transitions to a lit pixel from a fully black one.

To recap, the Note 4 has the latest and greatest SoC and RF. The camera is better for low light with its hardware optical image stabilization. The industrial design is noticeably more restrained and tasteful compared to past designs. The material design is noticeably better for in-hand feel and protecting the phone, and if the GS5 LTE-A was any indication the display of the Note 4 should be head and shoulders above the Note 3. The software continues to be the best I’ve seen in the phablet space in terms of functionality. Overall, if you have bought into the concept of a phablet, the Note 4 should continue Samsung’s lead in this space. Of course, this is merely based upon first impressions. It will take a full review to make a final judgment on the Galaxy Note 4.

The Note 4 will be available in Charcoal Black, Frost White, Bronze Gold, and Blossom Pink in global markets starting in October. In the US, it will be available on AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular.

The popularity of the mobile device market (smartphones and tablets) has opened up an allied opportunity for companies - augmenting the limited storage available in those devices with portable wireless devices while adding extra functionality to make them compelling offerings. Under the 'wireless storage' category, we have already looked at various offerings such as the Kingston Wi-Drive, Seagate GoFlex Satellite, Patriot Gauntlet Node, Buffalo MiniStation Air Wireless Hard Drive and the Seagate Wireless Plus. All these units have a hard drive or flash drive, a Wi-Fi radio and a battery. In conjunction with various mobile apps, they enable a host of interesting use-cases. Given the popularity of this market category, it is surprising that Western Digital has not had any play in it. Things are changing today with the launch of the My Passport Wireless Wi-Fi Mobile Storage lineup.

Even though the device is a late entry into this market, it brings along some interesting features that are not common in other competing devices. These include:

• Presence of a SD card slot with one-touch / automatic backup capabilities from the SD card to the internal storage
• Usage of a 2x2 802.11n MIMO-capable Wi-Fi chipset
• Reuse of Western Digital's excellent My Cloud app (which has traditionally been used in conjunction with Western Digital's NAS units) with a redesigned user interface to support the functionalities offered by the My Passport Wireless.

Western Digital claims that the device allows up to 8 different devices at the same time (with a maximum of four simultaneous HD video streams). The rechargeable battery is rated for 6 hours of video streaming and 20 hours of standby. The USB 3.0 device port allows it to be used as a DAS. Western Digital has also added a Wi-Fi hub feature to the device so that moble devices connecting to it can still access the Internet through the My Passport Wireless while also enjoying access to the huge storage capacity. In addition to access through the mobile apps, there is also a web dashboard for configuration through any standard web browser.

In addition to targeting users with multiple mobile devices in the family, the My Passport Wireless also presents a valid use-case for a team of photographers or videographers on the go. Thanks to the SD card slot, users can quickly upload photographs and share it with the rest of the team easily. The unit also has FTP functionality to allow Wi-Fi enabled cameras to directly upload content to the My Passport Wireless.

The My Passport Wireless comes in three capacities, 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. They are priced at $130, $180 and $220 respectively.

Today, Broadcom is announcing a new WiFi/BT combo chip that succeeds the BCM4354. According to Broadcom, the key features of this new chipset are enhanced WiFi/BT coexistence performance, integrated PA/LNA/TR switch, transmit beamforming and low density parity check codes, and angle of arrival direction finding technology. According to Dino Bekis, VP of mobile wireless connectivity, the biggest difference between this chipset and BCM4354 would be the improved coexistence performance.

This chipset is now in production and should make its way into mobile devices in Q3 2014.

Traditionally Samsung's enterprise SSDs have only been available to large server OEMs (e.g. Dell, EMC, and IBM). In other words, unless you were buying tens of thousands of drives, Samsung would not sell you any. However, back in June Samsung made a change in its strategy and released the 845DC EVO, Samsung's first enterprise SSD for the channel. The 845DC EVO was accompanied by the 845DC PRO a month later and today we have a performance preview of both SSDs, along with a glimpse of our new enterprise test suite.

One of ARM’s most tangible business advantages is its offer of both CPUs and GPUs to SoC designers. Anyone with experience in business to business relationships knows just how complex forming and maintaining a mutually beneficial collaboration can be. Setting up contracts, forming rapport, defining goals, and even just understanding documentation and technical content formatting all takes time. Unless there is significant benefit to investing in two different relationships and technologies, it is simpler (read: cheaper) to single source contributing components of a design. There are down sides of single sourcing (see Boeing 787 battery fiasco), but depending on a business’ capacity for risk, the savings are undeniable. Especially when ARM undoubtedly offers bundle pricing promotions.

The high-end 802.11ac router market has seen two introductions in the recent past. The first was the Netgear Nighthawk X6 which was based on the Broadcom 5G Wi-Fi XStream platform with two discrete 3x3 802.11ac radios. On the other side, we had Asus introduce the first Wave 2 router in the RT-AC87 using the same Broadcom SoC and 2.4 GHz radios as the Nighthawk X6, but choosing the Quantenna Wave 2 solution for the 5 GHz band. In the launch coverage of the RT-AC87, we had mentioned the online leaks of the Netgear Nighthawk X4 router. Today, Netgear is providing us the official details.

Gallery: Netgear R7500 Nighthawk X4

In terms of the configuration of the radios, the Netgear Nighthawk X4 and the Asus RT-AC87 are equivalent. Both of them belong to the AC2350 / AC2400 class, i.e, four 5 GHz (802.11ac) radios (4x 433 Mbps) and three 2.4 GHz (802.11n) radios (3x 200 Mbps) for a net aggregate of 2.333 Gbps. We have already touched upon all the advantages of the Quantenna Wave 2 solution over the current solutions from Broadcom and Qualcomm Atheros. In essence, the 4x4 update (quad-stream Wi-Fi) provides faster Wi-Fi throughput, enables more stable and jitter-free video streaming and provides more robust Wi-Fi connection for a larger number of devices.

There are two internal hardware aspects in which the Nighthawk X4 differs from the Asus RT-AC87:

• Platform SoC (Qualcomm Internet Processor IPQ8064 instead of the Broadcom BCM4709A)
• Interface between the 5 GHz radios and the platform SoC (PCIe instead of RGMII)

Due to the difference in the platform SoC, the external I/O is also different. While the Asus RT-AC87 had a USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port, the Netgear R7500 Nighthawk X4 has two USB 3.0 ports and an eSATA port. The IPQ8064 SoC has two Krait cores running at 1.4 GHz (compared to the two Cortex-A9s running at 1 GHz in the BCM4709A).

While the IPQ8604 does have GMII interfaces, Netgear decided to use the PCIe ports to make sure that they were able to make full use of the radio's capabilities to go beyond 1 Gbps in each direction. The radios also have offloading processors running at 500 MHz to enable the main SoC to devote CPU cycles for other functions (storage, VPN etc.)

Coming back to the R7500, Netgear touts dynamic QoS as one of the main features. The router has a list of devices / apps (which can be updated independent of the firmware) which enables allocation of bandwidth based on the application. The goal is to ensure that latency sensitive apps get the highest priority while also making sure that the lowest priority apps don't get choked off. Netgear also claims to have put in special hooks for video streaming sites to prevent buffering while accessing adaptive bitrate sites (such as Netflix) at the same time as the non-adaptive ones (such as YouTube). Plans are also in-place to support the R7500 on myopenrouter.com.

Netgear plans to carry all three Nighthawk versions in the market for now, as they target different segments. The positioning and key points of the three members are reproduced in the slide below.

The R7500 Nighthawk X4 is priced at $280 which closely tracks the Asus RT-AC87 pricing. It will be an interesting tussle in the market between the two, as Asus will also bring the Broadcom XStream solution demonstrated at Computex to the market soon.

I will be honest, after AMD did not update its FX processor line with the Steamroller architecture, I was not too hopeful for the brand to see anything new in 2014. But since the start of the year the 5 GHz turbo FX-9590 has been rereleased as a consumer part and today AMD is showing it can get four Piledriver modules down to 95W with a few frequency adjustments and cherry picking the dies. This is accompanied with price cuts for the eight-thread FX parts, which AMD is aiming squarely at similarly priced Intel i5 and i3 processors.

ASRock has been one of the few motherboard vendors to focus on mini-PCs targeting the HTPC and portable gaming markets. Starting from the ION-based nettop days, they have consistently refreshed the mini-PC lineup in sync with Intel's product cycle. We have been reviewing members of their CoreHT lineup (rechristened as VisionHT last year) since the Arrandale days, but today, we are focusing on their gamer-targeted mini-PCs. The VisionX lineup marked the departure from NVIDIA to AMD for the discrete GPU component, and their Haswell version, the VisionX 420D combines a Core i5-4200M with an AMD Radeon R9 M270X. Read on to see how the mini-PC fares under both gaming and HTPC workloads.

In our Haswell-E coverage we did some basic 24/7 type overclocking suitable for the system under the desk, and there will be users with custom loops willing to go a bit further. Overclocking beyond this requires a level of skill and exotic coolants not intended for the average user, akin to what drag cars are to normal runabouts. We have previously reported on overclocking events where the world’s best battle it out to see who can get the best results – to see who can do that quarter mile the fastest. With the launch of the new Haswell-E platform, each of the companies invested in overclocking performance products got their best in-house teams for day one results. Both ASUS and G.Skill are two of the big winners.

With a new memory system behaving differently in terms of voltage and setup, G.Skill and ASUS worked together to hit DDR4-4004 MHz using an i7-5930K and an ASUS Rampage V Extreme, with the memory at a rather tame 1.5 volts (compared to 1.2 volts standard, 1.35 volts for high performance kits). This was using a soon-to-be-announced DDR4-3300 memory kit from G.Skill. Absolute DRAM frequency records are similar to CPU frequency records: performed with a stripped out system with the aim to get that frequency number the highest. So while the record was performed under liquid nitrogen and with a single memory module, and ultimately has little real world value, both ASUS and G.Skill can claim together that they have the world’s fastest memory.

ASUS’ level of records go substantially deeper than just memory. After day one of Haswell-E launch, ASUS held no fewer than 37 records across CPU frequency, CPU absolute performance and popular 3D benchmarks such as 3DMark and Catzilla.

26 of these records comes from the new Rampage V Extreme paired with Haswell-E CPUs, with records coming from professional overclockers such as Shamino, 8Pack, Wizerty, Hazzan, Gunsligner, Slamms and Elmor. For example, the 3DMark Fire Strike 4-way record was performed using an i7-5960X at 5.624 GHz (+87% overclock) with four ASUS Matrix R9 290X cards at 1460/1750 (+46% overclock), G.Skill memory at DDR4-3000 C12 and the whole system under liquid nitrogen.

The records are continuously evolving, for example a new 8-core Cinebench R15 record has been posted in the past 24 hours with an MSI motherboard and a CPU at 5930 MHz. As overclockers start to understand the platform and the motherboard manufacturers update their BIOSes to be more amenable to extreme overclocking settings, no doubt there will be more records in the future, especially for benchmarks that can use all eight threads. Ultimately one might ask the point of all this – as an overclocker myself, sometimes getting a bigger number than the other guy is just more fun! Also learning how this hardware works outside their suggested thermal window can be an interesting experience in itself. Many of these manufacturers also use their records as an advertising tool, to say they have/support the fastest on the market as a nod towards their commitment to produce the better hardware with features that help regular users get the most from their setups.

Source: G.Skill, ASUS, HWBot for images

Meet the New Boss. Same as the Old Boss.

If you had told me 15 years ago that I would one day be the Editor in Chief for AnandTech, there’s a very good chance I would have called you crazy. Having read AnandTech since 1998, it seemed obvious to me at the time that I could never know enough to match wits with Anand. Even in the early days of the site Anand brought a high degree of skill and thoughtfulness that few people could ever match, a quality that kept me reading the site for so many years.

Consequently, to be here writing my first comments as Editor in Chief borders on the surreal. Having read AnandTech for 15 years and having worked for Anand for almost 10 of those years, it was until recently hard to imagine reading AnandTech and not seeing articles by Anand, or to be writing for AnandTech but not be writing for Anand himself. Anand has been a constant in the tech world both as a source of news an analysis for us all, and as a mentor to me. These days I can happily say I was wrong about not being able to match wits with The Boss, and now I am going to get to put that to the test.

AnandTech has been Anand’s baby since Anand practically was a baby, having built it up from the ground in the last 17 years and spanning countless generations of technology not to mention the economic booms and busts that come with it. Words cannot express how humbling it is to be asked to be the next Editor in Chief – to be the first person that Anand trusts and believes in to run AnandTech and keep his baby going. It’s an awesome privilege and an awesome responsibility, and it is a task that I aim to do as well as The Boss himself.

When it comes to taking on the duties as Editor in Chief, I suppose it’s the fact that Anand and I are cut from the same cloth that even makes this transition possible. While I wasn’t born to teachers, writing for AnandTech has been a job I have loved for nearly a decade because I love learning just as Anand does. And though it’s a gross simplification of the job, being a journalist for AnandTech ultimately means learning about technology and sharing what we have learned with the rest of the world, which is the ideal job for anyone who loves learning. What this means is that although we’re not interchangeable – I am probably a bit more excitable than Anand – it means that the same force that drives us both, and it’s that same love of learning that will continue to shape AnandTech.

To our readers, we wouldn’t exist without you, and it is my first and foremost goal to continue driving AnandTech to bring the kind of high quality content that you come here for. That content comes from passion, skill, and taking the time and care to do things right, and these are core values that will not be changing. At the same time the editors working for us are among the best, and I know that they will continue writing fantastic articles across the broad range of technologies we cover. AnandTech may no longer have Anand, but it will have the same quality content that it has always had.

To our editors, what little is there to say about you that Anand has not? An Editor in Chief is only as good as the people working under him, and it is the fact that I have you that makes me confident that I can take on this role and fill Anand’s big shoes. You deserve nothing less than the best leadership, and to you I vow to do as well for you as Anand has done over the last 17 years.

And to Anand, it has been an honor working for you for the last decade. To say that I have learned everything I know from you is only the slightest exaggeration – so much of what I know about both technology and journalism comes from what I have learned from you over the years. To be the new Editor in Chief is incredibly humbling, and I intend to prove that AnandTech is still in good hands.

For 17.5 years now the path of AnandTech and the path of Anand have been one and the same. And though that is no longer the case as Anand retires, it is my sincere goal that the next 17.5 years will continue down the same path that Anand has set. And that is to create and curate the kind of high quality content that enlightens and informs all those who wish to learn about technology.

Thanks,
Ryan Smith
@RyanSmithAT

Before I leave, there's one more thing I wanted to write about and something that took me until now to be able to do. I don't talk about the business side of things often here but AnandTech is represented by a 3rd party sales and marketing company known by the name LMCD. They've been our exclusive partner since 1999 and we've got a long history with them. They handle the ads, we handle the content and the two stay separate.

I've worked with the team there for most of my life and last year they unexpectedly lost a member of the family - Cara Hamm. She was only 39 and passed away suddenly without warning or explanation. I remember the day vividly. I had just landed at SFO about to head to Intel for a Bay Trail reviewer's workshop. That week was going to see the release of the iPhone 5s and the debut of the AnandTech Mobile Show at IDF. Cara had passed away between the time that I took off from RDU in the morning to the time that I landed at SFO. I got the call before we pulled into the gate at SFO and began what can only be described as a blur. She left behind her wonderful husband Mike and two sons, Cody and Dylan.

Cara was easily our biggest fan. She believed in the site more than anyone else. She believed in me and exuded so much confidence in me whenever she was around. The reality is that's the effect she had on everyone. Cara could and would take an interest in everyone, she'd make you feel like you could accomplish anything and that your problems and feelings were the most important in the world. She was ridiculously thoughtful, caring and wouldn't take no for an answer.

I remember being at a CES dinner several years ago and discussing our challenges being taken seriously in the mobile market. We were having issues with getting HTC to sample us (a problem that eventually got fixed) and just as we were discussing this Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, walked by our table on the way to his. We recognized him and I remember Cara walked straight over to him, introduced herself and gave him a pitch on working with AnandTech. She did something I don't even think I would've done. She had the courage, confidence and ambition to do anything.

For the longest time I was only able to write to Cara, not about her, in her passing. Cara was a huge part of my life for over the past decade and although most of you never knew her, I wanted to make sure I left behind something remembering her. She was truly our biggest fan and the biggest AnandTech supporter I've ever known. We all miss you very much Cara. If you knew her or if you want to leave some kind words for her family, please feel free to do so here.

Both of my parents were teachers, and for as long as I can remember they both encouraged me to do something in life that would help others. I figured being a doctor would be the most obvious way to do that, but growing up around a pair of teachers must’ve rubbed off on me. My venue wouldn’t be the classroom but rather the Internet. On April 26, 1997, armed with very little actual knowledge, I began to share what I had with the world on a little Geocities site named Anand’s Hardware Tech Page. Most of what I knew was wrong or poorly understood, but I was 14 years old at the time. Little did I know that I had nearly two decades ahead of me to fill in the blanks. I liked the idea of sharing knowledge online and the thought of building a resource where everyone who was interested in tech could find something helpful.

That’s the short story of how I started AnandTech. There’s a lot more to it involving an upgrade to the AMD K6, a PC consulting business I ran for 2 years prior and an appreciation for writing that I didn’t know I had - but that’s the gist.

I’m 32 now. The only things that’ve been more of a constant in my life than AnandTech are my parents. I’ve spent over half of my life learning about, testing, analyzing and covering technology. And I have to say, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

But after 17.5 years of digging, testing, analyzing and writing about the most interesting stuff in tech, it’s time for a change. This will be the last thing I write on AnandTech as I am officially retiring from the tech publishing world. Ryan Smith (@RyanSmithAT) is taking over as Editor in Chief of AnandTech. Ryan has been working with us for nearly 10 years, he has a strong background in Computer Science and he’s been shadowing me quite closely for the past couple of years. I am fully confident in Ryan’s ability to carry the torch and pick up where I left off. We’ve grown the staff over the course of this year in anticipation of the move. With a bunch of new faces around AnandTech, all eager to uphold the high standards and unique approach to covering tech, I firmly believe the site can continue to thrive for years to come.

It’s important for me to stress two things: this isn’t a transition because of health or business issues. I am healthy and hope to be even more so now that I won’t be flying nearly 130,000 miles every year. The website and business are both extremely strong. We’ve expanded our staff this year to include a number of new faces contributing to both mobile and more traditional PC categories. Traffic is solid, we are looking forward to a bunch of very exciting launches especially in the final quarters of 2014. On the business side we continue an amazing run of being self sustaining, profitable and growing for every since year since 1997. We don’t talk about business affairs much on the site but we set a number of records in 2013 and expect that to continue. In other words, you don’t have to worry about the ability of the site to continue to operate.

Even though I’ve been doing this for nearly 18 years, we’ve evolved with the industry. AnandTech started as a site that primarily reviewed motherboards, then we added CPUs, video cards, cases, notebooks, Macs, smartphones, tablets and anything else that mattered. The site today is just as strong in coverage of new mobile devices as it is in our traditional PC component coverage and there’s a roadmap in place to continue to support both sides of the business. Our learnings in the PC component space helped us approach mobile the right way, and our learnings in the mobile space have helped us bring the PC enthusiast message to a broader audience than would’ve ever seen it before.

Over the past year I’ve transitioned many of my personal coverage areas to other ATers. Ian took over CPUs not too long ago and Josh has been flying solo with our mobile coverage for a bit now. Even the articles I helped co-author with Josh were 90% his. Kristian has more or less been running our entire SSD review program at AnandTech for a while now and he’s been doing a tremendous job. I remember editing one of his pieces and thinking wow, this kid knows more than me. In fact I’d go as far as to say that about all of our editors at this point. We’ve got a sea of specialists here and each one of them knows more than me about the area in which they cover. I’m beyond proud of them all and honored to have worked with them.

On a personal level I’ve made myself available to all AnandTech editors for advice and guidance, however I have fully removed myself from the editorial process. I can offer a suggestion on how to deal with a situation so long as describing the situation does not reveal any confidential information to me.

Thank You All

To everyone I worked with in the industry - thank you for the support and help over the years. You were my mentors. You showed kindness and support to a kid who just showed up one day. I learned from you and every last one of you influenced me at a very formative period in my life. The chance you all took on me, the opportunities, and education you provided all mean the world to me. You trusted me with your products, your engineers and your knowledge - thank you.

To Larry, Cara, Mike, Howard, Virginia, Hilary and the rest of the LMCD team that has supported (and continues to support) AnandTech for almost its entire life, I thank you for making all of this possible. I learned so much about the business side of this world from you all and it helped give me perspective and knowledge that I could have never gotten on my own. For those who don't know them, the LMCD crew is responsible for the advertising side of AnandTech. They've made sure that the lights remained on and were instrumental in fueling some of our biggest growth spurts. 

To the AnandTech editors and staff, both present and past, you guys are awesome. You are easily some of the hardest working, most talented and passionate enthusiasts I've ever encountered. Your knowledge always humbles me and the effort that you've put into the site puts my own to shame. You've always been asked to do the best job possible under sometimes insane time constraints and you've always delivered. I know each and every one of you will have a bright future ahead of you. This is your ship to steer now and I couldn't be happier with the crew.

To the millions of readers who have visited and supported me and the site over the past 17+ years, I owe you my deepest gratitude. You all enabled me to spend over half of my life learning more than I ever could have in any other position. The education I’ve received doing this job and the ability to serve you all with it is the most amazing gift anyone could ever ask for. You enabled me to get the education of a lifetime and I will never be able to repay you for that. Thank you.

I’ve always said that AnandTech is your site and I continue to believe that today. Your support, criticism and push to make us better is what allowed us to grow and succeed.

In the publishing world I always hear people talk about ignoring the comments to articles as a way of keeping sane. While I understood the premise, it’s not something I ever really followed or believed in. Some of the feedback can be harsh, but I do believe that it’s almost always because you expect more from us and want us to do better. That sort of free education and immediate response you all have provided me and the rest of the AnandTech team for years is invaluable. I’m beyond proud and honored by the AnandTech audience. I believe we have some of the most insightful readers I’ve ever encountered. It’s not just our interactions that I’m proud of, but literally every company that we work with recognizes the quality of the audience and the extreme influence you all exert on the market. You’re paid attention to, respected and sometimes even feared by some of biggest names in this industry. By being readers and commenters you help keep our industry in check.

I hope you will show Ryan and the rest of the AnandTech team the same respect and courtesy that you’ve shown me over the past 17.5 years. I hope that you’ll continue to push them as you did me, and that you’ll hold the same high standards you have for so long now.

In our About Us page I write about the Cable TV-ification of the web and the trend of media in general towards the lowest common denominator. By reading and supporting AnandTech you’re helping to buck the trend. I don’t believe the world needs to be full of AnandTech-like publications, but if you like what we do I do firmly believe it’s possible to create and sustain these types of sites today. The good news is the market seems to once again value high quality content. I think web publishing has a bright future ahead of it, as long as audiences like AnandTech’s continue to exist and support publishers they value.

As for me, I won’t stay idle forever. There are a bunch of challenges out there :) You can follow me on Twitter or if you want to email me I’ve created a new public gmail account - [email protected].

Thanks for the memories and the support. I really do owe you all a tremendous debt of gratitude. I hope that my work and the work that continues at AnandTech will serve as a token of my appreciation.

Take care,
Anand

September is only a few days away, which means it is only a few days before the next round of games become available at no cost to PlayStation Plus members. Once again, two of the free games will be brand new to the PlayStation Store which is great perk for PlayStation owners.

PlayStation 4 Velocity 2X

The first game for PS4 owners is one of the games that is brand new to the store. Velocity 2X is a sequal to Velocity Ultra, and comes from the developer FuturLab. This space based game lets you pilot the Quarp Jet again in space combat. The original game received very favorable reviews, so let’s hope the sequel can live up to that name. Velocity 2X will also be available on the PS Vita.

“Use the Quarp Drive teleport to outsmart the evil Vokh in race-tuned space combat, then dock your ship, jump out and continue the fight on foot! Velocity 2X is the visually dazzling action packed sequel to Velocity Ultra, featuring amazing puzzle-platforming action alongside award-winning shooter gameplay!”

Sportsfriends

The next game comes from Danish indie developer Die Gute Fabrik. Sportsfriends was released in May 2014, and is a collection of mini-games which include BaraBaraBall, Hokra, Super Pole Riders, and Johann Sebastian Joust. This local multiplayer game received a 82 Metascore, and 7.3 User Score on Metacritic, and this game is also available on the PS3.

“Sportsfriends is a compendium of award-winning local multiplayer games for living rooms, parties, and even backyards. Featuring: retro-styled fighting game BaraBariBall, QWOP-like pole vault dueling game Super Pole Riders, high-velocity sports game Hokra, and face-to-face physical party game Johann Sebastian Joust. All the games are playable with the DualShock®4 wireless controller, while Johann Sebastian Joust can be further enhanced by the PlayStation Move Motion Controller (sold separately).”

PlayStation 3 PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale

The first game from the PS3 owners is PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale from developers SuperBot Entertainment in conjunction with SCE Santa Monica Studio. This fighting game was first launched November 20th, 2012, and allows up to four players to battle using, as you guessed from the name, PlayStation All Star characters such as Kratos from God of War and Rachet and Clank. This game received a 74 Metascore and 7.5 User score on Metacritic. PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale is also available on the PS Vita.

“From Kratos to Sly Cooper, Sweet Tooth to Parappa the Rapper, Sony characters from all over the gaming spectrum are brought together in a fighting adventure that’s both easy to play, and hard to master. Take the battle online for competitive multiplayer action, or go head to head with a group of friends on the couch and prove once and for all who’s really the best!”

Hoard

Originally launched on the PS3 on November 2nd, 2010, Hoard was developed by Big Sandwich Games Inc. This action-strategy game combines a shooter with a real time strategy game. Hoard won the IGN award for “Best Quick Fix” in 2010, and scored a 75 Metascore and 6.1 User Score on Metacritic.

“HOARD is an innovative fast-paced arcade action-strategy title from Big Sandwich Games that puts you in control of conquering a medieval kingdom. Your goal is to build a giant pile of gold to sleep on in your lair. YOU ARE THE DRAGON: Scare villages! Burn castles! Collect treasure! Roast pesky knights and thieves! Compete or co-operate with other dragons in epic multiplayer battles!”

PlayStation Vita Joe Danger

The first game for the PS Vita is the second game on this list that will be new to the Vita store in September. Independent developer Hello Games first launched this game in 2010 for the PS3, and combines the racing and platform genres. The PS3 version scored an impressive 86 Metascore and 7.7 User Score on Metacritic, so hopefully the Vita port will live up to the original.

“Take Joe on a ride from zero to hero in a game that lives up to its big brother with no compromises. Eye-popping super-smooth 60FPS graphics use only the very brightest colours on Vita’s lovely screen, and we’ve revamped the JD control scheme so it plays just as nicely, too, including touch controls for the editor modes!”

TxK

The final game for the Vita comes from developer Llamasoft. Originaly released on the Vita on February 11th, 2014, TxK is a spiritual successor to the Atari game Tempest and features great visuals and sounds. TxK received an 84 Metascore, and 7.9 User Score on Metacritic.

“Glowing vectors, explosive particle effects and a pulse-pounding soundtrack are core elements of many modern arcade shooters – a style that Llamasoft defined with its seminal 90s tube shooter. TxK is the spiritual successor to that genre-defining work and brings you 100 levels of engrossing score-chasing gameplay, married to an outstanding soundtrack that will have your head nodding as you blast your way onto the scoreboards.”

PlayStation has done a good thing for its users to offer new to the store games alongside classics which PlayStation Plus members may already own, and it makes for a great value add. It is also great to see them offer the game on multiple platforms at the same time if it is available. This month may not be the strongest for AAA content, but as always there is a good mix of classic games with new. If you missed last month’s games, be sure to pick them up soon before they are gone.

Source:
PlayStation Blog

Earlier today Nintendo announced an updated version of its Nintendo 3DS handheld gaming console. It's been over 3 years since the launch of the original 3DS, and with Nintendo taking fire from gaming capable smartphones an update to the 3DS is definitely necessary. The new models sport updated form factors and improved specifications. The new Nintendo 3DS replaces what is now the old Nintendo 3DS, and it's slightly thicker, larger, and 18 grams heavier than its predecessor. The new Nintendo 3DS LL (XL internationally) replaces the old Nintendo 3DS LL and it's slightly thinner, larger, and 7 grams lighter than its predecessor. Both models have increased display sizes which explains the increase in dimensions for both of them. Both models feature secondary ZL and ZR triggers as well as a secondary analog control stick, which addresses control problems that Nintendo had to address with the Circle Pad Pro accessory offered for the original 3DS.

Nintendo claims that the new models have faster processors and better camera tracking to improve 3D when looking at an angle. The new 3DS and 3DS LL also include support for NFC and shift from full sized SD support to MicroSD. Nintendo's entire list of improvements is laid out below.

• Better quality 3D.
• Second analog stick.
• NFC built-in.
• Gyro sensor.
• Two new bumper buttons.
• 7 hour battery life.
• microSD support.
• Wireless PC backup support.
• HTML5 browser.
• CPU clock increase.

According to some investigation done by 3dbrew, the internal amount of fast-cycle RAM (FCRAM) in both models has been doubled from 128MB to 256MB. An additional 4MB of VRAM was also discovered.

Nintendo has also announced a line of faceplates that can be installed on the new 3DS and 3DS LL. These range from various patterns to pictures of iconic Nintendo characters, and cost between 1000 and 1500 yen each..

The new Nintendo 3DS and 3DS LL will be available on October 11th in Japan for 16000 and 18800 yen respectively. A launch in Europe and North America can be expected for 2015.

Source: Nintendo via Crave Online

In what has to be one of the most unique designs ever, Alienware announced the revamped Area-51 model which features a triad-designed chassis. True to their name, Alienware has always had a desktop case that appeared to be from another world, but the new triad version is the most interesting yet in my opinion.

According to Alienware, the design of the case is for both thermal management, and ergonomics. Though we will need to wait for reviews to see how they accomplished both, looking at the angled front of the case does make it seem easier to use if the tower is on the floor like my own PC, but with a case so unique, you may want to keep it on your desk just to admire it. Another ergonomic improvement is the case is designed to be pivoted forward to allow easier access to the rear connections, which might work quite well. The case is also designed to be easy to get into for system upgrades in the future.

The second goal, according to Alieware, is thermal management, and here we will just have to wait and see how it performs. The claim is that the larger area at the rear makes it easier for hot air to escape. Internal cable management is also claimed to not impede airflow any more than necessary, but any system with the cost of an Alienware should have good cable management anyway.

The unique shape of the case also does not get in the way when it comes to graphics card installation, with the new Area-51 supporting up to three full-length double-wide GPUs, or up to quad-GPUs assuming smaller cards are obtained. According to the manufacturer, this new Area-51 can then support up to three Ultra HD (4K) monitors for a very immersive experience and an overall resolution of 11520x2160.

The announcement today of the Area-51 was no accident, with the new model featuring the Haswell-E processor with up to 8 cores, and the X99 chipset, both which were just revealed today. Other notable features is support for up to 32 GB of RAM, a 1500 watt power supply, both SSD and HDD, plus 802.11ac wireless.

Finally, on the software end, the Area-51 comes with Command Center 4.0 which allows both overclocking and customization of the case lighting with up to twenty colors in nine zones to make the device your own. I used to own an Alienware M11x R2, and I have to admit one of the coolest things about it was being able to customize the color layout of the keyboard and other lights, and you can also have per-user customizations so that everyone has their own.

Pricing and availability are not yet known, with the system only as “Coming Soon” so if you are in the market for an OEM gaming system, be sure to check this one out.

Source:
Alienware

While it was easy to make an educated guess that the Galaxy S5 LTE-A Broadband had a PenTile subpixel layout to support the higher pixel density, I didn't get visual confirmation of this until now. While this picture is rather boring, it's much more interesting to see the display when turned off.

There are a few observations to be made from this photo. While it definitely looks disconcerting and creepy to some, it's possible to make out that there's something set in between the green subpixels when viewed diagonally. This appears to be where the transistors are placed to control a given subpixel. It also seems that the deposition process isn't perfect, as there's noticeable variance in shape and size among subpixels of a given color. This probably explains why the display isn't quite uniform when viewing it at near-black levels. It also appears that there may be an upper bound to how tightly Samsung can place two distinct emitter materials together, as this arrangement has noticeable levels of dead space in between subpixels. In order to better see the full picture, I've included a short gif of the display turning on and off.