Boost Mobile announces the LG Venice: a $220, 4.3-inch handset with Ice Cream Sandwich

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/26/boost-mobile-announces-the-lg-venice/

It's only been a few days since we saw those leaked shots of what was rumored to be Boost Mobile's own variant of that Optimus L7 -- and, well, today the LG handset sees its official debut on the prepaid carrier. The LG Venice, as it'll be more commonly known around these parts, boasts a 4.3-inch, WVGA screen alongside a 1GHz CPU, a 5-megapixel camera on the rear (VGA quality on the front) and a video mode capable of shooting up to 720p recordings -- of course, this is all running LG's UI 3.0 flavor of Ice Cream Sandwich. As we've become accustomed to, Boost Mobile is pricing its new Android handset at a decent price ($220), with the device expected to start hitting "exclusive" shelves on October 10th and other "select" retail shops later the same month.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Boost Mobile announces the LG Venice: a $220, 4.3-inch handset with Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung SGH-T799 tablet turns up at the FCC wearing T-Mobile's 4G colors

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/26/samsung-sgh-t799-tablet-turns-up-at-the-fcc/

If you liked the look of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 when we reviewed it back in May, but were holding out for a T-Mobile 4G variety, then your patience might soon be rewarded. A Tablet-shaped device from Samsung sporting the model number SGH-T779 has just popped up at the FCC. While that code name might not tell us much, the T-Mobile branding, and the 4G logo are a little easier to make sense of. There was another model, SGH-I497, that went through the FCC with the same ID -- which had a distinct AT&T / Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 flavor to it -- so betting fans might consider the odds of this being the same thing, but for another operator, as being reasonable. Those who prefer not to chance the hand of fate, likely only need wait a short while, however, for this to pop up on the network's store to find out.

Filed under: Tablets

Samsung SGH-T799 tablet turns up at the FCC wearing T-Mobile's 4G colors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 5 Review: Apple Has The Closest Thing To A Perfect Phone, Ever (AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-5-review-2012-9

Apple's iPhone 5 fulfills the true potential of everything a smartphone should be able to do.

The iPhone no longer feels like a device with compromises.

In the past, the iPhone was great for everything but making phone calls. It is now good for making phone calls. It was a good camera, but struggled in low-light situations. It's now good in low-light situations. It was great for checking the web, but it took forever to get the web to connect on 3G. With LTE, that's not an issue.

After using the iPhone 5 for five days, I feel like it is pretty much a perfect smartphone. I upgraded to a Verizon iPhone 5 from an AT&T iPhone 4 and the difference is almost night and day.

Design

The iPhone 5 is slim, light, and solid. It looks good, but compared to the iPhone 4 design, it's somewhat pedestrian.

The iPhone 4 with its all glass back and silver band around the edge was a much more striking design. I would pull out the iPhone 4 and admire the design even after I had owned for more than two years.

The iPhone 5 looks great but I don't feel compelled to stare at it in awe of the design. It's almost like a really nicely designed remote control for a TV. It's all black and flat.

That said, I still think it looks better than any other smartphone on the market.

The Screen

The new four-inch screen on the phone is great. It makes the old iPhone's screen seem tiny and old.

Speed

It's the speed of the phone that makes it feel like the most significant upgrade to the iPhone yet.

When the iPhone 4 came out I couldn't come up with a particularly strong argument for why people should upgrade other than, it's new and it looks great.

The iPhone 5 is so much faster than the iPhone 4, it's mind-blowing. The speed of the iPhone 5, which is the fastest smartphone on the market, makes it worth the upgrade.

The web loads lightning-fast on LTE, the "4G" wireless network on Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T (where available). Apps like Tweetbot, Foursquare, and email load fast and pull in data as quickly as a desktop computer.

This is how an iPhone is supposed to work. You're not supposed to try to check-in on Foursquare only to see it spinning its wheels for a minute. You're supposed to get tweets instantly. You're supposed to have web pages load in a second.

Maps

Apple's decision to kick out Google-based maps for a new maps app using a blend of data from TomTom and other companies has overshadowed the launch of the iPhone 5. While some people say they're having problems with the maps, I have only good things to say about the new maps app.

I think the new maps app looks much better. It moves more smoothly. The integration with Yelp is fantastic. Turn-by-turn directions work very well and look better than any turn-by-turn app I've ever seen.

I live in New York City, and! it seem s like the New York metro area has been thoroughly mapped out, so I could be an exception. Basically, you're going to have to use them and find out if they suck where you live. If they do, then use Google's web-based maps.

A lot of complaints about Apple's maps seem to center on its 3D maps. The 3D images don't look all that 3D in some cases. That's embarrassing, but it has close to zero impact on your ability to get around the world. 3D maps are a lot of fun to play with when exploring New York City, but I see no practical use for them. If they don't work, it's really not a big deal.

No public transit is a bit of a drag, but jumping from Apple maps to a transit app like Embark is pretty simple.

Siri

Siri is not a great product. But I don't think it's a disaster. It just needs work.

My first experience with Siri was asking for the weather in New York City. I got the weather in New York, Texas.

I use my iPhone as an alarm. Every night I put in airplane mode so it's not buzzing and blerping in the night to wake me up. I told Siri, "Turn my phone to airplane mode." Siri said, "I can't do that." Siri should be able to do that.

It's not all bad. I've used Siri to send text messages while I'm on my bike, to set an alarm, to set reminders, to give me driving directions, and to tell me sports scores. It works 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time Siri just spins and spins and then craps out.

Phone Calls

If you're on AT&T and you can afford to switch to Verizon, do it. I've had no dropped calls, and the call clarity has been off-the-charts great. For the last four years I've struggled to hear people on my cell ph! one. I w as worried something was wrong with my ears. Now I hear people easily. It's better than a land line.

Camera

The camera is huge upgrade over the iPhone 4, but in normal lighting it's not much better than the iPhone 4S. In low light, the iPhone 5 demolishes the iPhone 4. It also beats the iPhone 4S.

Here are some comparisons between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 I took at dinner the other night.

Here's one more comparison shot:

Battery

Battery life is about the same as the iPhone 4. It would be nice if Apple could figure out a way to make a big leap with battery life in the future.

iOS 6

Apple made some nice tweaks to iOS. I like the new look of the music app. The App Store looks great and updating apps is easier than ever. There's also Facebook integration, if that's your cup of tea. Aside from Maps, it doesn't feel like a huge upgrade, which is a good thing. The last thing Apple needs to do is add a bunch of features that are pointless.

Conclusion

The iPhone 5 is pretty much a perfect phone.

I've asked around the office for complaints from people with an iPhone 5 and the only thing they've come up with is the new cord. Yes, the new cord is annoying, but Apple had to make it smaller to fit everything into the phone. Plus, at some point in our lives, we had no iPhone charging cords. We're back at square one. It doesn't affect the actual phone's performance.

The number one reason this phone feels like a significant leap forward is the speed. Now that Apple's on LTE it feels like I'm using the iPhone as I've always wanted.

I'! m sure i n two years I'll think this thing is a hunk of crap. But for now I couldn't be happier with the phone.

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Nikon D600 Review: Images This Spectacular Have Never Been So Cheap [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5946258/nikon-d600-review-images-this-spectacular-have-never-come-so-cheap

Earlier this year, we fell in love with the Nikon D800. How could you not? It's a 36.6-megapixel hulk of a professional camera. But if you don't have $3000 lying around, too bad.

For a lot of serious photographers, the Nikon D600 sounds like an ideal compromise: the camera you can still afford with many of the professional specs you want.

Why It Matters

The Nikon D600 has a 24.3-megapixel, full-frame sensor and costs only $2100 for the body alone. Let's just come out and say it: That "only" is relative. This is a camera for people who are willing to shell out some dollar for photography. Still, this is the cheapest full-frame sensor camera Nikon has ever made, and amongst the cheapest you can buy in this class, period.

Until now, there has been a huge price gap between full-frame sensor professional cameras (like the $3000 D800) and the alternatives (like the $1200 D7000). For $2100, the the D600 (along with the forthcoming Canon 6D) splits the difference.

Full-frame sensors are the professional standard: Compared to the APS-C sensors found in most inexpensive DSLRs, a full-frame sensor is 2.3 times larger. Spreading the camera's roughly 24 million pixels over a larger area means larger photodiodes, which in turn do a better job capturing light—less distortion, and better performance in the dark. Suddenly, there's a middle ground for serious photographers whose budgets can't stretch all the way into pro prices.

Using It

Hardware

As a rule, pro cameras look the part: They're big, heavy and covered in customizable buttons. The D600, as you might expect, is smaller and lighter than the D800. It's shocking that dropping five ounces can make such a difference when you're carrying the camera for hours.

The drawback of course, is that you lose the D800's unparalleled operability. The D600's streamlined design has fewer buttons, and though you can customize everything, it's just not the same. You also lose the but incredible cup on the D800's viewfinder.

Image quality

Simply put, the D600 takes some of the highest quality photos we've ever seen—better in some cases than much more expensive cameras like the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, which at 22-megapixels is a nearly identical resolution camera. You can see what we're talking about in this quick comparison. Here are two full-resolution crops from both cameras, taken in broad daylight. Both photos are equivalently exposed at the same focal distance. We used the 24-85mm f/3.5 kit with the D600 and our trusty 24-105mm f/4 with the 5D. The D600 is sharper. (Download the image or view it on its own in your browser to see it at full size.)

As for ISO performance, here's a side-by-side of the D600 and the 5D at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400. This is the highest light sensitivity you generally want to use, and at this setting, the D600 images have less noise. (Download the image or view it on its own in your browser to see full size.)

Performance

Now, of course, these benchmarks don't really mean anything if they're not backed up with performance. From the start, the D600's 39-point autofocus system is no match for the super-customizable new 61-point system in the 5D. That said, the D600's system is adequate in most conditions. It fell short, especially in darker or low-contrast settings, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it.

The camera's overall performance, though, is quite fast. The shutter fires instantly when you press the release. The D600's 5.5 fps continuous shooting speed is comparable to much more expensive full-frame sensor cameras. Still, photographers who like to shoot action might be disappointed that it's not faster.

Video

Nikon has been a step behind Canon on video for ages, and though it's made some strides recently, the D600 suffers from many of the same drawbacks as the D800. The video quality is sharp in broad daylight, but the quality falls apart in low light. Moire and rolling shutter distortions are evident. Inexplicably, you can't change the aperture of the lens in Live View mode.

Like

Excellent image quality in a lightweight low-priced package with all the essentials.

No Like

If anything, we're just sad the D600 can't be a D800. We'd love more hardware buttons and more powerful autofocus, sure. It would be nice to have the video quality on par with what Canon offers these days. But considering the price, these drawbacks aren't the end of the world.

Should I Buy This?

This camera's so good, we'd even say that a lot of people who would otherwise shell out for the D800 or 5D Mark III might consider the D600 instead. It's really more than just a scaled-down professional camera for amateurs. This is a different tool altogether. It's a leaner, more efficient DSLR. And that's exactly what most people need.

The crazy DSLRs that war and wedding photographers have dragged into their respective fields of battle have been both a physical and financial encumbrance. Take, for example, the D800. Yes, its sensor has unbelievable resolution, but it comes with two problems. First, processing files that large is very time-consuming—we know many D800 shooters who end up dialing down their sharpness to make life easier. Second, really truly taking advantage of that kind of resolution requires an arsenal of extremely high quality lenses.

In a lot of ways, the D600 gives you the power basically everyone wants, but without going overboard. If you're a serious photographer considering it because the price sounds right, it's almost definitely the one you should buy. If you're interested in shooting video, hold off until December, when we'll have a chance to review the new, comparably priced, Canon 6D.

Nikon D600

• Price: $2100 (body only)/ $2800 w/ 24-85mm f/3.5 lens
• Sensor: 24.3-megapixel, full-frame (35.9 x 24mm)
• Max ISO: 6400 (Standard)/ 25600 (expanded)
• Max Image Size: 6,016 × 4,016 pixels
• Video: 1920 x 1080 30/25/24 and 1280 x 720 60/50/30/25
• Max Drive: 5.5 frames-per-second at full resolution
• Screen: 921,000-dot dot, 3.2-inch LCD
• Storage: Dual-SD card slots
• Weight: 26.8 ounces
• Gizrank: 4 stars

Video by Michael Hession. Additional photography by Nick Stango.

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MIT's real-time indoor mapping system uses Kinect, lasers to aid rescue workers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/25/mit-realtime-indoor-mapping-kinect/

We've seen the Kinect put to use to help you find your groceries, but the sensor's image processing capabilities have some more safety-minded applications as well. The fine minds at MIT combined the Kinect with a laser range finder and a laptop to create a real-time mapping rig for firefighters and other rescue workers. The prototype, called SLAM (for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) received funding from the US Air Force and the Office of Naval Research, and it stands out among other indoor mapping systems for its focus on human (rather than robot) use and its ability to produce maps without the aid of any outside information, thanks to an on-board processor.

Continue reading MIT's real-time indoor mapping system uses Kinect, lasers to aid rescue workers

Filed under: Alt

MIT's real-time indoor mapping system uses Kinect, lasers to aid rescue workers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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