Gadgets, gadgets everywhere: TechRadar hits CES

This week, the great and good of the tech world headed for Vegas for the most important date of the year - our official US launch. What's that? Oh yes, there was the CES technology show too. CES is enormous, and so is our coverage: if it beeped or blinked at CES, we've got everything you need to know in our comprehensive CES round-up.

Fancy some highlights? We had chips - Samsung's octo-core Exynos 5, which you just know is going to be in the Samsung Galaxy S4, AMD's Temash and Kabini processors, new Qualcomm Snapdragons and Nvidia's new Tegra 4 - but CES was more about the devices than what's inside them. That's why Nvidia turned up with its Project Shield, a gaming system that looks awfully like somebody glued an Xbox controller to an Android tablet.

Project Shield wasn't the only gaming device we saw at CES. Remember Project Fiona, the long-awaited Windows 8 gaming tablet? It's got a new name - the Razer Edge - and it's very nearly A Thing rather than a promise: Razer says it'll hit the US in Q1 of this year. There will be two models at $999 (around £620) and $1,299 (£810) respectively.

Did someone say tablets? Yes, Lenovo did - as did Microsoft and Panasonic, who also brought along an enormous 20-inch tablet with a 4K display - the worthy recipient of one of our Best of CES Awards.

4K mania

4K is the latest buzzword in display technology, although some firms prefer the term "Ultra HD": if you think 1080p HD is tasty, wait until your eyes get to look at a 3840 x 2160 Ultra HD TV. This year's CES was stuffed with 4K screens: we had the S9 UHD 4K TV from Samsung, 56-inch 4K TVs from Sony and Panasonic and a 4K multi-touch monitor from Sharp.

Not all of the TVs we saw will become real, however: the likelihood of Samsung actually making a 110-inch Ultra HD TV is as remote as the likelihood of anyone being able to afford to buy one.

As our very own Dan Grabham points out, 4K tech is still very much in its infancy: "While it's all very exciting, it's worth remembering that 4K isn't known outside of the consumer electronics buzz bubble," he says. "Mass adoption of 4K is still distant - primarily because UHD broadcasts are still a few years away." If you fancy taking the 4K plunge while 4K content is relatively rare, it'd be a good idea to choose a TV that can upsample HD to Ultra HD.

Then again, maybe you should hang on. As James Rivington says, "technology is a fickle business" - the last few CES shows have all been about 3D, "despite a comprehensive lack of interest from consumers", and now that lack of interest has spread to the manufacturers. "Stay tuned for CES 2014, then, where it'll all be about 3D again - glasses-free flavoured - and Ultra HD will be just another feature. The technology carousel keeps turning. Rest assured, TechRadar will be there!"

Windows Phone finally outsells Symbian thanks to Lumia handsets

Nokia finally caught a break this week with better than expected sales of its Lumia and Asha smartphones, but the real story may be how Symbian has finally been surpassed by the Windows Phone platform.

Unwired View reported Thursday that Nokia was doing some well-deserved chest thumping in a press release touting 4.4 million Windows Phone-powered Lumia handsets sold in Q4 2012, a 51 percent increase over the 2.9 million sold in Q3.

While that may sound impressive, the reality is that Nokia's Windows Phone sales made up a mere 1.7 percent of the total smartphone market from July to September last year, a number that jumps to 3.7 percent when Symbian devices are added to the mix.

Those numbers were nearly reversed in Q4, but Symbian isn't quite dead and buried just yet.

Symbian lives on

It hasn't been quite two years since Nokia announced the retirement of Symbian, but the aging platform still managed to squeak out an impressive 2.2 million units during the last three months of 2012.

The fourth quarter was more notable for Windows Phone sales finally eclipsing Symbian for the first time, mostly led by strong sales for Nokia's newest Lumia smartphones.

Nokia won't release its full earnings report for Q4 2012 until January 24, but analysts are likely already looking ahead to the first quarter of this year to see if the onetime mobile giant can maintain its momentum.

Via Unwired View

Hands on: Asus Transformer AiO P1801 review

Asus killed it at CES this week with new products like the VivoTab Smart ME400C, the Google TV 3.0 Qube, and the Transformer AiO P1801.

The Transformer AiO is one of the most unique computers we at TechRadar have ever seen: a hybrid tablet and desktop with two separate processors.

But the strangeness doesn't end there: each of those processors runs a separate operating system, one Windows 8 and the other Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

TechRadar spent a few minutes playing around with Asus's Transformer AiO at CES and checking out its rather unique functionality.

Two heads or one?

The Transformer AiO's base unit packs a third-gen Intel i5 or i7 processor, and it's where the Windows 8 magic takes place.

The screen is removable, though, and acts as a tablet when it's not on the base. The tablet portion carries its own Nvidia Tegra 3 and runs Jelly Bean.

Alternately, the Intel-powered base unit can stream Windows 8 over Wi-Fi to the tablet. So the tablet can really do either.

Each portion has its own storage, as well; the tablet has 8GB of eMMC while the base packs between 500GB and 2TB of hard drive space.

The tablet runs Jelly Bean

The tablet specs

The Transformer AiO also features up to 8GB of RAM and an unidentified discrete graphics chip using 1GB of virtual memory, all housed in the tablet.

So the tablet can run Jelly Bean totally separate from the base, while the base does nothing on its own - the tablet has to be docked or connected via Wi-Fi to take advantage of the base's Intel chip and kick into Windows 8 mode.

The AiO tablet itself is rather massive; an 18.4-inch 10-point multi-touch screen and 2.5kg of bulk make it rather unwieldy. It's more of a couch or kitchen table device than a carry-in-your-bag tablet.

That said, its 16:9 1080p IPS display is rather gorgeous in person.

It does feature a few nice usability quirks; a handle lies flush with the top of the tablet's backside and flips out when you need to lift it off or place it on the base unit. Likewise for a stand that makes it possible to prop the tablet up on its own.

The Transformer AiO's included keyboard and mouse

And all the rest

The base is home to the DVD drive plus four USB ports, an MMC/SD/SDHC card slot, and more. The tablet itself carries its own set of connectors, including a card slot and miniUSB.

The included wireless Asus keyboard and mouse are functional, though not exactly anything to write home about. TechRadar experienced no issues using either accessory in both Windows 8 and Jelly Bean modes.

The Transformer AiO is certainly an odd duck when it comes to hybrid computers, but with both Windows 8 and Jelly Bean running smoothly it could potentially replace a whole host of other devices in the home.

Many people are likely satisfied with just one OS per device, but we have no doubt that someone out there has been dreaming of something like Asus's Transformer AiO for some time.

Asus informed TechRadar that the Transformer AiO will be available in Q1 this year starting at $1,299 (UK£805, AU$1,232).

Huawei confirms slim P series handset for MWC

As CES 2013 comes to a close companies are not wasting any time with teasing their Mobile World Congress lineups, as Huawei reveals it will have a slim new smartphone ready for the show.

Consumer Business Group CEO at Huawei, Richard Yu, confirmed to Engadget today that the company will unveil a new addition to the P series of Android smartphones, which includes the Ascend P1.

Yu also hinted that the new handset will have a "beautiful metallic body" and thinner form factor than the newly announced Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra, the world's thinnest smartphone at 6.45mm.

At Huawei's CES press conference Yu had already confirmed that the Chinese firm will launch two "exciting innovative products" at MWC, so those playing tech bingo at home can now check one of those devices off the list.

Other rumors, like the leaked Ascend W3, suggest that Windows Phone 8 announcements could make up the other half of Huawei's MWC lineup.

Octo-cores for everyone

Yu also revealed that Huawei is not giving up on its race with Samsung, and will launch its own eight-core processor this year.

At CES Samsung announced the Exynos 5 Octa, an eight-core chip said to be 70 percent more efficient than quad-core CPUs. It is based on Cortex A15 CPUs using ARM's big.LITTLE processing technology.

Huawei will have its own chip based on the same technology, which the Chinese company plans to launch in the second half of 2013 with an unspecified device.

Yu did not, however, confirm that the eight-core chip will make an appearance at MWC. Samsung may beat Huawei to the punch in that regard, as Exynos 5 Octa chips are suspected to power the Galaxy S4.

Whatever Huawei brings to the table next month, TechRadar will be in attendance at MWC 2013 in Barcelona to bring you all the news from the Huawei camp.

Via Engadget

Windows Phone finally outsells Symbian thanks to Nokia Lumia handsets

Nokia finally caught a break this week with better than expected sales of its Lumia and Asha smartphones, but the real story may be how Symbian has finally been surpassed by the Windows Phone platform.

Unwired View reported Thursday that Nokia was doing some well-deserved chest thumping in a press release touting 4.4 million Windows Phone-powered Lumia handsets sold in Q4 2012, a 51 percent increase over the 2.9 million sold in Q3.

While that may sound impressive, the reality is that Nokia's Windows Phone sales made up a mere 1.7 percent of the total smartphone market from July to September last year, a number that jumps to 3.7 percent when Symbian devices are added to the mix.

Those numbers were nearly reversed in Q4, but Symbian isn't quite dead and buried just yet.

Symbian lives on

It hasn't been quite two years since Nokia announced the retirement of Symbian, but the aging platform still managed to squeak out an impressive 2.2 million units during the last three months of 2012.

The fourth quarter was more notable for Windows Phone sales finally eclipsing Symbian for the first time, mostly led by strong sales for Nokia's newest Lumia smartphones.

Nokia won't release its full earnings report for Q4 2012 until January 24, but analysts are likely already looking ahead to the first quarter of this year to see if the onetime mobile giant can maintain its momentum.

Via Unwired View

Google gives devs a voice with Play comment response

Android developers will soon be able to respond to users' comments about their apps on Google Play.

While major Android devs have had this option for some time, all the signs point to Google extending the privilege to more, if not all, app makers.

"The feature originally rolled out to top developers and we're gradually expanding it to additional Google Play developers," a Google spokesperson said.

Dev dev goose

The new feature will be a welcome addition to many developers whose apps live and die by customer feedback - one bad experience can turn countless app shoppers off.

It makes sense to give developers a right to reply; it almost seems ridiculous that there has only been one-way communication since day one.

As longs as the whole thing doesn't descend into one massive flame war like, y'know, YouTube.

From Droid Life via TNW

Kogan releases super-cheap dual-SIM Android phone

The Kogan Agora smartphone has something of a chequered past, but the Australian technology company seems to have put that behind them, this week announcing a dual-SIM Agora handset running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The phone, which boasts a 5-inch 480 x 800 pixel screen, dual core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor and 4GB of internal memory, will sell exclusively via Kogan's retail shop.

Also featured in the Android handset is a 5MP rear-facing camera, a 0.3MP front facing camera, integrated FM Radio and support for the 850, 900, 1900 and 2100MHz 3G frequencies.

Super cheap

The asking price for the new Agora handset is AUD$149/$US149/£119, plus delivery. Kogan are selling the phone exclusively through their website, and will ship to 11 countries, including Australia, the US and the UK. The product will ship from mid-February.

The move to release a dual-SIM Agora smartphone comes a month after the online retailer launched its the Kogan mobile network in Australia running on Telstra's network infrastructure.

Naturally, Australian customers are automatically offered a free SIM during the order process for the new handset, but it does give an indication of where Kogan hopes to grow in 2013.