kindle fire - Realview

The Pantech Breakout gives you every reason to step up 

to 4G: the Android operating system, a large, four-inch 

touch screen in a sleek design, and, oh yeah, 4G speed. 

So the only question is, what are you waiting for The 4G 

Breakout. Another smart solution brought to market by PCD. 

pcdphones.com 

©2012 Personal Communications Devices LLC. All rights reserved.

JANUARY 2012 

Cover Story 

Tap any 

headline 

to jump to 

story. 

Amazon On Fire 62 

Find out why Amazon’s Kindle tablet gives 

the iPad a run for its money. Plus, our 

favorite apps. 

FEATURES 

Tech to 

Watch 2012 

Quad-core power and HD 

screens go mobile, and how 

Windows 8 really shakes 

things up. 

How Digitally 

Rude Are You 

Don’t be a dunce. Use these 

expert-approved dos and 

don’ts to fine-tune your digital 

etiquette. 

Ultimate 

iCloud Guide 

Apple’s new online service 

can keep all your content in 

sync across gadgets, if you 

know how to use it. 

Ultrabook 

Showdown 

Can these MacBook Air challengers 

really compete 

news & trends 

Arrivals 10 

A smartphone with built-in 

Beats Audio, the first Tegra 

3 tablet, and a 

boxy camera 

that can focus 

after the shot 

are among the 

newest mobile 

products of the 

month. 

52 59 72 76 

The Siri 

Effect 14 

How the natural voice recognition 

that lives inside the iPhone 

4S changes everything. 

By the Numbers 18 

Charting the wireless world, several revealing statistics at a time. 

Inside the New Android 20 

What you need to know about Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich 

mobile operating system. 

On the 

Radar 22 

Using your arm as 

a touchpad may 

be part of your 

mobile future. 

Tech to 

Keep Your 

Resolutions 24 

Hoping to meet your goals for 

the new year There’s an app 

(or a gadget) for that. 

(continued on p. 4) 

2 Laptop | January 2012 www.laptopmag.com

Cordless & Wi-Fi Mobile Color Scanner 

Experience the Freedom of True Mobility 

Available at participating Staples ® stores and on-line at Staples.com 

The Visioneer® brand name, logo and AutoLaunch® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Visioneer, Inc. Eye-Fi is a registered trademark of Eye-Fi, Inc. 

Staples® are trademarks of Staples Inc. All other companies and products mentioned may be trademarks of their respective holdings and are hereby recognized. 

Prices, features, specifications, capabilities, appearance and availability of Visioneer products and services are subject to change without notice. 

AutoLaunch Patent No.: 5,499,108 

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Geek’s Geek 

Ultrabook Makers: 

Listen Up 27 

Avram Piltch outlines the lessons that can 

be learned from the MacBook Air. 

SpoonFed 

iPhone 4S vs. 

Android 28 

Which smartphone is really better—as 

seen by Mark Spoonauer. 

Accessories 

Double Chargers 12 

Handy and super portable 

new gadgets to keep two 

devices juiced up on the go. 

4G Hotspots 38 

Find out which carrier offers the speediest 

connections wherever you go. 

Business 

Split-Personality 

Smartphones 82 

How your company can keep 

corporate data secure by separating 

work and play profiles. 

(continued from p. 2) 

BUSINESS (cont.) 

Online Overseas: 

5 Ways to Save 

Money 84 

Tips and tricks for staying connected without 

zapping your wallet while traveling abroad. 

Password 

Chaos 86 

Poor security logins 

are a bigger risk to 

your business than 

you might think. 

upgrades & tips 

Get Free eBooks 

from the Library 88 

Follow these directions 

to check out 

books using your 

Kindle or Nook. 

How to Dual Boot 

Windows 7 & 8 89 

Step-by-step instructions to get up and 

running with Microsoft’s new OS before 

your neighbor. 

UPGRADES & TIPS (cont.) 

Social 

Streamlining 90 

It’s easier than you think to effectively manage 

an overwhelming number of friends 

and followers. 

Tablet Buyers’ 

Guide 92 

Five questions you need 

to answer before buying 

that new 

slate. 

Back Page 

Out of Range 96 

Comic book-inspired cosmetics are among 

this month’s news of the strange. 

Motorola revamps its RAZR brand by adding the little green robot; 

the iPhone 4S gets compared across carriers, and we identify the 

hottest mobile games for Apple’s new smartphone. 30 

Motorola Droid 

RAZR 

30 

iPhone 4s Carrier 

Showdown 

36 

4G Hotspots 

38 

Dell Inspiron 14z 44 Hot iPhone 4S 48 

Games 

Notebooks 

Acer Aspire S3 77 

ASUS Zenbook UX31 78 

Dell Inspiron 14z 44 

Dell Vostro V131 47 

HP Elitebook 8560W 46 

Lenovo IdeaPad U300s 79 

Toshiba Portégé Z835 80 

Tablets 

Acer Iconia Tab A100 70 

Amazon Kindle Fire 64 

Archos 80 G9 70 

Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet 71 

HTC Jetstream 41 

Pandigital Supernova 71 

T-Mobile Springboard 40 

Velocity Micro Cruz T408 71 

Vizio 8-inch Tablet 71 

SmartPhones 

Apple iPhone 4S 36 

HTC EVO Design 4G 32 

Motorola Droid RAZR 30 

Samsung Stratosphere 34 

eReaders 

Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3G 42 

Accessories 

AT&T Mobile Hotspot 

Elevate 4G 38 

Sierra Wireless Overdrive Pro 

3G/4G Mobile Hotspot 38 

T-Mobile Sonic 4G 

Mobile Hotspot 39 

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE 

Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L 39 

Apps 

Anomaly Warzone Earth 48 

Dark Meadow 48 

Infinity Blade 49 

Real Racing 2 49 

Shadowgun 49 


Protecting your technology 

is just the beginning. 

allantcases.com

BEST OF CES 2012 

Get the scoop from our reporters on the 

floor at this year’s Consumer Electronics 

Show, from January 10 to 13th, 2012. 

www.laptopmag.com/ces-2012 

Nook Tablet vs. 

Kindle Fire 

We go round by round to 

determine which eReader/ 

tablet is best. 

www.laptopmag.com/ 

nook-vs-fire 

Samsung Galaxy 

Nexus Reviewed 

The first Ice Cream 

Sandwich handset gets 

tested. Find out how it 

fared. 


galaxy-nexus-reviewed 

First Thunderbolt 

Drive Tested 

Check out the full review 

of the LaCie Little Big 

Disk, which supports 

Apple’s new Thunderbolt 

technology. 


lacie-little-big 

Get Us On 

your Tablet 

Read the insight of 

LAPTOP on your 

iPad or PC with a 

free trial of our 

digital edition. 


digital-edition 

READER COMMENT 

Join the conversation @ blog.laptopmag.com 

5.5 Fixes Windows 7.5 Needs Now 

“Developers need to update their apps to Mango faster, but I 

do not agree that Microsoft should let their partners ‘innovate’ 

or change anything in the UI. 

A major change by the OEM 

would make updating a hassle, 

like on Android.” —Kent 

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Accessories : Evo 

NotePal Infinite EVO is an innovative 

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editor’s letter 

The Tablet 

Wars Begin 

(For Real) 

This time last year, tablets powered by Android were supposed to set the world on fire. 

But as 2012 begins, sales of those slates have been lukewarm at best. Now a tablet 

called the Fire is giving Apple a run for its money. In addition to costing just $199, 

Amazon’s first color Kindle provides an iTunes-like shopping experience for all sorts 

of content and apps. 

To be clear, the Fire targets a different kind of shopper than the iPad 2 (see p. 64). 

While both devices are geared toward consuming content, Apple’s slate sports a larger 

display, making it better for reading magazines and surfing the web. But the 7-inch 

Fire is more portable and a lot more affordable. So affordable that Amazon is willing 

to take a loss on each device it sells. 

This month’s cover story sizes up the Fire’s impact on the still-young tablet market 

and includes both our full review of the tablet and the apps you need to download. 

Now that Barnes & Noble has released the $249 Nook Tablet, and other companies 

are dipping below $200, there’s no question that low-cost tablets will be one of the 

big trends of 2012. 

But what else is on the horizon From fitness gadgets that motivate and natural 

voice recognition to quad-core mobile chips, we break down the biggest things in tech 

for the coming year (see p. 52). The biggest questions I have are whether consumers 

will warm up to Windows 8’s bold new interface and whether Microsoft can leverage 

this OS to run two completely different types of devices in tablets and PCs. There’s a 

reason why shoppers didn’t like those words together the first time around. 

Another big thing for 2012 is Ultrabooks, a cross between a traditional laptop and 

a tablet that Intel is hoping to push into the mainstream. Although Apple forged this 

category with the Air, everyone from Acer and ASUS to HP to Toshiba is now making 

notebooks that are ultra-thin and instantly responsive. Turn to p. 76 to see which models 

are worth the splurge. 

If you’re one of those people who can’t seem to follow through on their New Year’s 

resolutions—okay, that’s pretty much everyone—you’ll want to check out our top picks 

for gear and apps to help you stick to it (see p. 24). I personally want to learn guitar 

by the time I write this letter for January 2013. But don’t hold me to it. 

mark spoonauer 

editor in chief 

mspoonauer@laptopmag.com 

150 Fifth Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10011 

(212) 703-5800 Fax (212) 703-5801 

E-mail: questions@laptopmag.com 

www.laptopmag.com 

Twitter: @laptopmag 

Facebook: facebook.com/laptopmag 

Publisher 

Edward D. Brown 

EDITORIAL 

editor in Chief Mark Spoonauer 

Online Editorial Director Avram Piltch 

managing Editor Anna Attkisson 

reviews Editor Michael A. Prospero 

associate Editor Sarah Silbert 

senior Writer Brian Oliver Bennett 

staff Writers Davey Alba 

daniel Howley 

sherri Smith 

Web Producer/Writers Meghan J. McDonough 

Kenneth Butler 

editorial Intern Oliver Renick 

ART & DESIGN 

Design Director Jeff W. Sass 

Web Art Director Dom Rinaldi 

Director of Production 

& Creative Services Mark Morton 

Informational Graphics Artist Karl Tate 

Photography Editor Qiydaar Foster 

Producation Intern Greg Barone 

Vice President/Publisher, 

Integrated Media 

Regional Sales Managers 

ADVERTISING 

Matt Weiner 

Archer Montague 

Erica Singer 

ADMINISTRATION 

Director of 

Publishing Operations Lisa Brisbane 

Director of Circulation Michael Gerardo 

Accounting Manager Jim Cruz 

Office Manager Jeannie Mitchell 

CORPORATE 

Chief Executive Officer Jerry Ropelato 

President Stan Bassett 

Chief Financial Officer Randall Bambrough 

Chief Revenue Officer Mark Westlake 

Chief Content Officer Robert Roy Britt 

Chief Information Officer Gerald Nichols 

Chief People Officer DeLonie Call 

Vice President 

Business Development Michael Eltzroth 

Vice President 

Creative Development Jared Page 

Executive Producer Dave Brody 

Vice President Sales Gary Strauss 

Volume XXXII, Issue #1, (S.C. 399) 2012 copyright. 

LAPTOP (ISSN: 1089-36x) is published monthly (12 issues per year), plus 1 special issue by Tech- 

MediaNetwork, 150 Fifth Avenue, 9th floor, New York, NY 10011. Edward D. Brown, Publisher. 

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8 Laptop | January 2012

ARRIVALS 

The hottest new mobile products. 

by Anna Attkisson 

Tablets Go Quad Core 

Look out, iPad 3. The sequel to the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer 

has a blazing quad-core processor under the hood. 

The Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU promises up to five times the 

performance of its predecessor, enabling much better 

graphics in games while consuming less power. There’s 

still an optional keyboard attachment that turns the 

tablet into a mini laptop, but the slate itself is now 

just 0.3 inches thick. Available in either Amethyst 

Gray or Champagne Gold, the Transformer Prime 

comes standard with a microSD card slot and a 

mini HDMI slot. If you attach the $149 mobile 

keyboard dock, you also get full-size USB and 

SD card slots. 

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime; $499 

(32GB); usa.asus.com 

Bring the Noise 

As the first superphone in the 

U.S. to sport Beats Audio, the 

HTC Rezound makes music 

sound the way artists intended, 

and it even comes with a pair of 

lightweight headphones. With 

Verizon’s 4G LTE speeds, you’ll 

be able to download new tracks 

in 5 seconds. This black-andred 

Android handset packs a 

1.5-GHz dual-core processor, a 

sharp and bright 720p display, 

and an 8-megapixel camera 

that can record 1080p video in 

slow motion. 

HTC Rezound; $299; 

www.verizonwireless.com 

Wireless Meets Paperless 

The Eye-Fi card that comes with the 1.5-pound Visioneer 

Mobility Air means now you can eliminate both wires and 

paper when you’re on the road. This 11.5 x 2.8 x 2-inch 

wireless scanner can transfer scanned documents over 

Wi-Fi to a PC, Mac, Android, or iOS device, as well as to 

online destinations such as Evernote and Facebook. The 

Mobility Air lets you convert documents to JPEG or PDF 

formats, and you scan up to 300 receipts, business cards, 

photos, and documents on a charge. 

Visioneer Mobility Air; $199; www.visioneer.com 


News & Trends 

Arrivals 

Have Tablets Will Travel 

The deceptively thin Tablet Messenger V.3 from Skooba 

includes 16 brightly colored interior pockets that can carry 

files, a water bottle, cords, and a 10-inch tablet (or possibly 

even an 11-inch MacBook Air). There’s even a dedicated 

USB drive compartment. And at just 25 ounces, this stylish 

nylon bag won’t weigh you down. Uniquely, the top flap 

latches when you turn the blue Skooba logo. 

Skooba Tablet Messenger V.3; $129; 

www.skoobadesign.com 

Audio Heaven 

On a Budget 

The Sol Republic Tracks are anything 

but conventional headphones. For 

starters, the company says its thin 

headband is virtually indestructible, 

thanks to a proprietary polymer 

called FlexTech. Passive sound 

isolation means taking calls using 

the in-line controls is easy. Available 

in black, red, and white, the 

large on-ear cushions pump out 

powerful bass and clear highs, 

thanks to the company’s Sound 

Engine speakers. 

Sol Republic Tracks; $99.99; 

www.solrepublic.com 

Get more online 

Nook Tablet Reviewed 


Laptop | January 2012 

11

News & Trends 

Arrivals 

Shoot Now, Focus Later 

Out-of-focus photos could be a thing of the past thanks to 

the Lytro, which focuses images after the fact. The Silicon 

Valley startup behind the light-field camera says it can 

also switch images from 2D to 3D perspectives, 

because the 4.4 x 1.6 x 1.6-inch aluminum Lytro 

captures every light ray in a scene using a sensor 

that creates a “living image.” Currently, the 

software for manipulating the images is 

only available for Mac. 

Lytro; $399 (8GB, blue and gray), 

$499 (16GB, red); www.lytro.com 

Double 

Chargers 

Great new ways to keep two gadgets 

going at once. 

Powermat Power Dual 1850 

Charge two devices 

simultaneously with the 

Powermat Power Dual 

1850 Rechargeable 

Backup Battery. The 

extendable arm has 

a microUSB port, and 

you’ll find a 30-pin iOS 

connector on the side. 

Simply drop your smartphone on the Powermat to recharge 

it, or plug it into a USB port. 

$49.99; www.powermat.com 

Seidio Charging Vault 

A wall charger and external power source in one, the Seidio 

Charging Vault offers two USB ports for simultaneously 

charging two devices. The charger shuts off automatically 

when a device is fully juiced, and the Charging Vault 

features blue LED lights that tell you how much power is left. 

Plus, it comes with a USB-to-Apple connector. 

$59.95; www.seidioonline.com 

The Social Reading Tablet 

Thanks to the new Pulse feature, the 7-inch Kobo Vox tablet/eReader combines social 

networking and a digital book club. At the bottom of your current page, you’ll find a colored 

half-circle that brightens based on how many people around the world have responded 

to that text. Kobo’s slate also takes aim at the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet by offering an 

anti-reflective 7-inch FFS+ capacitive touchscreen, which makes reading in direct sunlight 

effortless. This Android 2.3 slate features Wi-Fi and comes pre-loaded with PressReader, 

Rdio, and Zinio, as well as standard Android apps such as Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and 

YouTube. 

Kobo Vox; $199; www.kobobooks.com/kobovox 

Tylt PowerPlant Portable Battery Pack 

Power up any mobile 

device via USB with the 

Tylt PowerPlant. The 

flexible arm extends 

from the side to reveal 

a built-in microUSB 

port, and a flap opens 

on the end to reveal a 

full-size USB port for 

charging two devices 

at once. The company 

claims a fully charged 

PowerPlant can charge 

your phone twice. And 

this super-portable green-and-black battery pack will easily 

fit into any pocket, so you’ll never lose juice. 

$59.99; www.tylt.com 


News & Trends 

The Siri Effect 

Why natural voice recognition changes everything. 

by Ned Smith, BusinessNewsDaily Senior Writer 

When Tim Cook 

introduced the 

iPhone 4S, it quickly 

became evident that the star 

of the show was not the phone 

itself, but Siri, the device’s 

new speech-controlled 

personal assistant. Unlike 

traditional voice-recognition 

(VR) software, Siri doesn’t 

make you bark commands; 

it understands natural 

language—the language 

we use to navigate the world. 

This giant step in the evolution of the way 

humans and machines communicate has 

the power to rock our world, both for users 

and companies. Even Microsoft, Apple’s 

arch-competitor in Redmond, WA, gives the 

devil his due and praises what Apple has 

done to raise the profile for devices with a 

natural user interface (NUI), such as Siri. 

Natural User Interface 

“Apple has done a great job capturing the 

public imagination,” said Ilya Bukshteyn, 

senior director of sales and marketing 

with Microsoft’s Tellme group. “We’re 

really happy to see Apple help shift the 

experience and get over the barrier to 

using natural user interfaces.” 

Apple is far from the only game in 

town. Microsoft has advanced voice- and 

gesture-recognition functionality baked 

into its Windows 7, Xbox Kinect, and new 

Windows Phone 7.5 software. The company’s 

Tellme speech-recognition platform 

is being incorporated in products spanning 

automobiles, mobile devices, gaming, and 

personal productivity technology. 

Siri-like apps for Android, such as Speaktoit 

Assistant, are also helping to spread 

the NUI word. And software developers 

are waiting in the wings for Apple to open 

Siri’s application program interface to the 

outside world so they can begin creating 

complementary apps. 

“Talking personal assistants is a new 

generation of user interface,” said Ilya 

Apple’s voice-recognition software, Siri, understands and responds to natural-language questions. 

Gelfenbeyn, founder of Speaktoit. “In the 

past, we used command line and graphical 

interfaces and are now starting to explore 

opportunities to speak naturally to the 

computer. This is the most natural way for 

people to communicate.” 

Genie in a Bottle 

Unlike earlier voice-recognition applications, 

which users quickly came to hate for their 

obtuseness when faced with normal human 

speech, Siri and other new applications understand 

natural speech. It’s an amalgam of 

speech-recognition algorithms with a hint of 

artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language 

processing blended in, all connected to apps 

on your device or databases around the web 

such as Bing, Google, or Yelp, which have 

the information you’re looking for. 

Tap the new iPhone and you enter a 

world of instant information and interaction. 

You ask Siri questions and she gives you 

answers. But you don’t have to remember 

keywords and use specific commands. You 

can use her to send messages, schedule 

meetings, place phone calls and fire up 

applications. And like a flesh-and-blood 

human assistant, she becomes more 

helpful as she gets to know you better. 

“When using Siri today, it feels magical 

about 65 percent of the time,” said Chris 

Ulm, CEO of Appy Entertainment, a game 

developer for iPhone and iPad. “It really 

seems to understand natural speech, 

and when it does what you want—like 

turning on ‘American Idiot’ on your phone 

or setting a reminder for stopping by the 

market on the way home—it starts to feel 

like a genie in a bottle. As Siri is used, 

it will start to be patched and steadily 

improved so that magical feeling will be 

95 percent of the time.” 

User Friendliness 

In terms of user-friendliness, natural voice 

recognition is a quantum leap ahead of the 

early VR apps, which users quickly came 

to hate and abandon. 

“What sets Apple’s efforts apart from 

what has gone before is that I don’t have 

to learn commands,” said Michael Gartenberg, 

research director for Gartner, the IT 

research firm. “It uses natural language 

processing and has enough connection 

to external databases. It lives up to the 

demos and hype and makes life easier.” 

Consumer acceptance for voicerecognition 

applications was a long time 

coming. Users were easily frustrated by 

cumbersome limitations. Because they 

quickly abandoned apps that didn’t provide 

good results, they also didn’t provide the 

kind of user data that developers needed 

to improve the quality of the apps. 

“Speech recognition had a hard time 

getting traction with users,” Microsoft’s 

Bukshteyn said. “On day one it was as 

good as it would get. I had to train myself, 

and the failure rate was pretty high. Users 

would try it at most three times. The 

industry was stuck in a vicious cycle.” 

Adoption was also stymied by this fact 


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News & Trends 

siri 

of human nature: People don’t like to be 

embarrassed in public. Consumers didn’t 

like using speech recognition in public 

because they thought they sounded foolish 

using language that sounded like robots 

in a B movie. 

Processing Moves to the Cloud 

Two things changed the acceptance of 

voice recognition and helped improve the 

quality of the apps and user experience, 

said Bukshteyn. The data processing role 

was moved to the cloud, which not only 

added horsepower to the processing and 

provided access to infinite databases of 

information, but also opened up user data 

which the scientists needed to improve 

applications. And VR was integrated with 

the entire user experience. 

“Speech came out of the cold,” said 

Bukshteyn. “Speech was always a separate 

app. When speech became part of the 

natural user interaction, usage went up.” 

Gartner’s research director agrees that 

integration is the key. 

“It’s not the technology itself that’s so 

important,” said Gartenberg. “At the end of 

the day, it’s how the technology is integrated 

into the larger experience that matters.” 

This new generation of speech-controlled 

devices is changing the way we interact 

with the world and how companies interact 

with consumers. 

Changing the Way We Interact 

“Voice interface simplifies the way 

people communicate with services and 

devices,” said Gelfenbeyn. “There is no 

need to search for a particular app or 

web service—just ask your personal 

assistant for what you want and get it 

done. Voice interfaces will also become 

a new important channel for companies 

communicating to consumers.” 

These apps, said Appy’s Ulm, are making 

computers behave more like us instead 

of the other way around. In the future, he 

said, machine interaction will become 

more natural and human-centered and 

our devices will be able to understand 

body language, expressions, voice tone, 

and complex emotional content. 

“Siri is a good step in this direction in that 

it carves off a piece of ‘fuzzy’ interaction 

that humans do and builds the AI around a 

very functional role, that of an assistant with 

very expected behaviors—helping make 

appointments, reminders, turning things on 

or off, and taking dictation,” he said. 

Voice is only the first step, according 

to Microsoft. The company envisions an 

interactive landscape that involves touch 

and gesture recognition as well as voice 

input, said Bukshteyn. In fact, Microsoft is 

also beginning to bake that functionality 

into products such as the Xbox Kinect, 

where the user’s body functions as the 

on-screen controller. 

“TV is probably the next frontier,” said 

Bukshteyn. 

The consumer is also going to have to 

do his or her part to make the interactive 

vision a reality, he said. Remember, people 

had trouble learning how to use the mouse 

when it first was factored into the humancomputer 

equation. His hope is that it proves 

to be a shorter learning curve because it’s 

a more natural experience. 

But it will require training to get used to 

this new way of interacting. 

“Consumers will require education 

on this kind of different paradigm,” said 

Gartenberg. 

Commerce as a Service 

So will companies. Stefan Schmidt, vice 

president of product strategy at hybris, a U.K.- 

based company that develops e-commerce 

software, believes that the introduction of 

these new interactive 

interfaces 

will create a 

new paradigm 

for 

companies: 

commerce 

as a 

service. This 

means creating a 

commerce platform 

that is equipped to 

support all consumer 

touch points. 

“Online, offline, 

it doesn’t matter,” 

Schmidt said. “They 

have to open up their 

systems so that other 

systems like Siri can 

access them.” 

A personal assistant, after all, is only 

as good as the databases it is able to 

connect with. 

The rise of the concept of commerce 

as a service will also cause retailers and 

companies to revisit the definition of the 

store, Schmidt said. 

“The store is not dead and isn’t going 

away,” he said. “But retail has to redefine 

the role of the store.” 

Future stores may serve more as 

showrooms that carry a limited stock of 

merchandise and allow consumers to touch 

and feel the company’s products than as 

full-line operations that stock all models, 

shapes and sizes, Schmidt said. 

Great Expectations 

All of this is going to put pressure on 

manufacturers to deliver the kinds of 

devices and integrated experience that 

consumers want. They started the ball 

rolling; now they need to eat their dog 

food with gusto. 

“Consumers are going to expect a 

different kind of experience,” said Gartenberg. 

“Vendors are going to have to 

live up to that.” 

The children may lead them, Microsoft 

believes. 

“The next generation is going to grow 

up expecting to be able to interact naturally 

using speech, touch, and gestures 

with every device they encounter in their 

lives,” Bukshteyn said. 

Article provided by BusinessNewsDaily, 

a sister site to Laptopmag.com. 

The Siri-like Speaktoit Assistant app works on Android 


Part # PS600-ME

News & Trends 

Charting the wireless world, several industry-relevant 

statistics at a time. 

By Anna Attkisson 

eReligion 

Percentage of churches 

using technology to 

communicate with 

congregations 

E-mail 90.4% 

Website 69.2% 

Blog 12.7% 

Facebook 41.3% 

Podcasts 11.6% 

 

Source: Hartford Seminary 

U.S. wireless 

traffic will 

increase by 

1,800% by 

2015. 

Source: FCC 

More than 80% of HR 

professionals use 

social networks 

to recruit 

#nowhiring!! 

candidates. 

Mobile Browser Share 

8 % 

Symbian 

26 % 

Java ME 

12 % 

Android 

1 in 10 

U.S. adults uses a tablet for 

an average of 

90 minutes every day. 

4 % 

Black- 

Berry 

1 % 

Other 

December 

2010 

Source: Pew Research Center 

49 % 

iOS 

Source: Net Market Share 

13 % 

Java ME 

19 % 

Android 

4 % 

2 % 

Black- 

Berry 

Symbian 

1 % 

Other 

October 

2011 

61 % 

iOS 

50% OFF 

70% OFF 

OTHER 

$50,000 was 

awarded to 

16-year-old Austin 

Wierschke for 

winning the LG 

U.S. Texting 

Championship. 

Source: LG 

Source: SelectMinds 

What Makes a 

Good Deal in 

Electronics 

Source: Retrevo 

18 


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News & Trends 

Inside the New Android 

The 11 tastiest features of Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS. 

by Daniel Howley 

With Android 4.0 Ice Cream 

Sandwich, Google is looking to 

challenge—and even surpass— 

Apple’s new iOS 5. The OS sports a sleeker 

interface that’s designed to work on both 

phones and tablets–no hardware buttons 

here. There’s also Face Unlock for unlocking 

your phone just by staring at it, Android 

Beam for sharing info between phones 

with a tap, and a new People app that 

combines contacts and social networking. 

You’ll also find a much-improved browser 

and a souped-up camera app. 

These are just some of the highlights of 

Google’s deliciously innovative Ice Cream 

Sandwich. Here’s a quick tour of Android 

4.0’s best new features. 

1 Interface Makeover 

The first major enhancement you’ll notice 

when you switch on Ice Cream Sandwich 

is the improved user interface. The new UI 

completely forgoes the standard Android 

physical buttons (Home, Back, Search, 

Settings) in favor of three soft-touch keys 

for Back, Home, and Recent Apps located 

in the system bar at the bottom of the 

screen. Other UI enhancements include 

improved gesture-based navigation (a live 

demo showed how users could delete old 

message threads by swiping them off of 

the screen), a customizable favorites tray, 

and a new typeface dubbed Roboto. You’ll 

also find some much-needed improvements 

to the stock Android keyboard, including 

a new spell-checker and a slicker word 

suggestion box. 

2 Android Beam 

One of the coolest features of Android 4.0 

is the new Android Beam app. Users can 

instantly send photos, websites, apps (via 

a link to the Market), videos, and music to 

any other NFC-enabled Android phone by 

touching them together. The app essentially 

accomplishes the same task as the Bump 

app that’s been out on the Android Market 

for quite some time, but it takes advantage 

of the NFC chips embedded in the latest 

generation of smartphones. 

3 Face Unlock 

Facial recognition on laptops has been 

around for years, but Face Unlock marks 

the first time this technology has been 

integrated into a smartphone or tablet’s 

operating system. The feature is simple 

enough; you register your face using your 

device’s front-facing camera and unlock 

it by holding the camera up to your face. 

If you’re not a registered user, the phone 

won’t unlock. 

4 People App 

Android’s contacts list has been completely 

revamped. Now called People, the app 

integrates your contact’s phone number, 

address, and more with his or her status 

updates from Facebook and Google. 

Tapping a contact’s profile photo will bring 

up a Quick Contacts menu that provides 

shortcuts to a user’s phone numbers, text 

messages, and other features. We guess 

you could say that Google is sprinkling 

some of HTC’s Sense magic on its OS. 

5 New Unlock Screen 

If you’ve been using a Honeycomb 

tablet, the new lock screen won’t seem 

like much of a change, but it’s a big improvement 

for Android smartphone users 

who have been stuck with the standard 

Gingerbread lock screen. Swiping to the 

right unlocks the phone, similar to the 

current Honeycomb setup. But with Ice 

Cream Sandwich, you can also slide the 

lock icon to fire up the camera. What’s 

more, you can now view and access 

notifications in the notification bar at 

the top of the screen while your device 

is locked. Tired of having to unlock your 

phone to change songs in your music 

player app Ice Cream Sandwich will 

also let you manage your music from 

the lock screen. 


News & Trends 

ICE CREAM SANDWICH 

6 Improved Multitasking 

Ice Cream Sandwich provides a 

much more visual multitasking 

experience than Gingerbread 

did. The new Recent Apps button 

located in the system bar lets you easily 

jump from one app to another. When tapped, 

the button brings up a thumbnail list of your 

most recent apps. Tap on a thumbnail to 

open that app, or swipe the app to the left 

or right to remove it from the list. 

7 Better Web Browsing 

The new web browser in Ice Cream Sandwich 

offers a slicker interface more akin to the 

desktop version of Google’s Chrome, right 

down to the shape of the windows’ tabs. 

Thanks to Ice Cream Sandwich’s improved 

multitasking, the new browser lets you open 

up to 16 browser tabs at once and provides 

live previews of each one. You can also sync 

bookmarks from your Google Chrome account 

with the new browser. If you’re tired 

of looking at mobile versions of your favorite 

websites, you’ll be glad to hear that the new 

browser gives you the option of opening 

the full desktop version of any website 

out there. Offline reading lets users save 

specific web pages for viewing when they 

don’t have an active Internet connection. 

In addition to boasting improved features, 

Ice Cream Sandwich’s web browser is also 

faster than its predecessors. 

8 Calendar Enhancements 

If you’ve used the Android calendar in the 

past, you’re well aware of its shortcomings. 

To remedy that, Google has updated the 

app to allow integration with other apps. 

For instance, if you use Facebook, you 

can give the app permission to sync with 

your calendar, so any Facebook events 

you have saved will be automatically 

uploaded to your calendar. The same 

goes for any other app you give permission 

to integrate with the calendar. Better 

still, the calendar lets you use the OS’ 

pinch-to-zoom feature to give you an 

expanded view of your events. No more 

staring at one or two lines trying to figure 

out what you have planned for the day. 

Just zoom in, and you’ll get a full view of 

your events. Pinch the screen to return 

it to normal. 


9 Gmail Gets Some Love 

Android 4.0 slaps a slick new interface 

on top of the standard Gmail layout. You 

now get a two-line message preview and 

a context-sensitive toolbar, and can swipe 

left or right to dismiss messages. Business 

users will appreciate that Ice Cream Sandwich 

includes enhancements to its native 

e-mail app, such as auto completion of 

recipients’ names and customizable quick 

responses. The app also supports nested 

mail subfolders that can help you better 

organize IMAP and Exchange mail. Each 

subfolder supports its own synchronized 

rules set. The best part The app finally 

includes server side search. 

Upgraded Camera App 

Ice Cream Sandwich offers significant 

upgrades to the OS’ Camera app, including 

continuous focus and zero shutter lag 

exposure. Google also pumped up the 

shutter control speed, so you can shoot 

one photo after the next with no delay 

between shots. You’ll also be able to 

take quick screen grabs of videos—even 

those recorded at full video resolution—by 

tapping the screen as the video records. 

A new face detection feature will automatically 

locate faces in your shot and 

focus in on them. You can also use the 

new tap-to-focus option to zoom in on 

any part of the frame you’d like by tapping 

the location on your screen. One of the 

best enhancements to the Camera app 

is the single-motion panorama 

mode. Using this 

option, you can capture 

a large panoramic image 

by moving the camera 

slowly from left to 

right in front of you. 

New photo-editing 

options let you quickly 

remove red eye, crop, 

rotate, and add effects 

to your images. 

Data 

Management 

Android’s new Data 

Management feature 

should prove to be a 

godsend for those 

who are constantly 

chewing through their 

monthly data plan. It works by giving 

users a bird’s-eye view of their overall 

monthly data usage and letting them 

drill down to individual apps to see how 

much data they are using. You can set 

warnings that will go off when you use 

a certain amount of data. You’ll also be 

able to set hard caps that will cut off 

your data usage entirely when you hit 

a predetermined limit. 

■ 


Samsung Galaxy Nexus 

Reviewed. 


21

News & Trends 

On the radar 

A sneak peek at your mobile future. 

by Sarah Silbert 

Anything’s a Screen 

For a hot minute, it seemed that pico projectors would 

provide a compact solution for projecting movies and 

slideshows on the go. But their popularity fizzled out 

quickly, no doubt in part because they still require 

a screen or a free wall for projection. 

Chris Harrison, a Microsoft Research Ph.D 

Fellow, has devised a system that makes those 

picos much more dynamic. Called the OmniTouch, 

his project is a wearable device that transforms 

virtually any surface—including the palm of your 

hand—into a touchscreen. 

A user wears the OmniTouch system on his or her 

shoulder, and thanks to a short-range depth camera 

that tracks finger placement and viewing angles, anything 

from a notebook to a wall becomes a surface for 

input. Harrison’s demonstration included applications 

such as a phone interface projected on a hand and 

users finger-painting on a wall with a digital palette 

of colors. Best of all, Harrison’s system can interpret 

multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom. 

ETA: Harrison could not comment on any exact 

deadline for bringing the OmniTouch to market, 

but he said that the research stage generally takes 

two to five years, and that miniaturizing the system 

will be the next step. 

Right on CUE 

Life on the road can be 

hard for a gadget fanatic. 

How do you balance 

the desire for high-tech 

infotainment with the 

need for safety and few 

distractions Cadillac 

feels your pain, and it’s 

gearing up to introduce 

a full-fledged solution 

called CUE. 

Short for Cadillac User 

Experience, CUE is an 

in-vehicle system that 

can pair up to 10 Bluetooth-enabled devices with your car’s entertainment 

system, and it lets you control media playback and other features via just 

four buttons. The hub of the CUE system is an 8-inch capacitive touchscreen 

integrated into the top of the central instrument panel. The display features 

a smartphone-like interface with command icons that appear as your hand 

approaches the screen. There’s also Natural Speech Recognition on board, 

so drivers can send texts and have them read aloud hands-free. 

Other mobile-friendly features include a customizable gauge cluster that 

can mix and match critical data (such as speed and fuel) with entertainment 

info and a five-way controller on the steering wheel. 

ETA: Cadillac will debut its CUE system in 2012 in Cadillac XTS and ATS luxury 

sedans as well as the SRX luxury crossover. 

Finally Flying 

Who wouldn’t want a flying carpet, not to mention an airborne car Researchers 

at Tel-Aviv University are laying the groundwork for some of these outlandish 

dreams with their Quantum Levitation project. 

The researchers coated a sapphire wafer with a thin superconductor 

layer, poured liquid nitrogen over both, and then held the disc over a 

magnet. The combination of the liquid nitrogen and the magnet penetrating 

the wafer and superconductor cause “quantum trapping,” where the 

magnetic field only penetrates the object in certain spots, called quantum 

flux tubes. These quantum flux tubes are what pin the superconductor in 

space, essentially trapping it in one position. 

But hovering over the ground is the tip of the iceberg, as the researchers 

have also devised a setup in which their disc can fly about 40 millimeters 

above the track of a magnetic 

rail. We’re already imagining 

a cityscape filled with Star 

Wars-style flying vehicles. 

ETA: The Quantum Levitation 

project is still in the thick of the 

research phase, led by Professor 

Guy Deutscher. Researchers 

still need to learn much 

more about the mechanism 

of superconductivity in hightemperature 

superconductors 

before we’re anywhere near 

getting our flying cars. 


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News & Trends 

Tech to Keep Your Resolutions 

Hoping to meet your goals for the new year There’s an app (or a gadget) for that. 


Learn a New Language 

Maybe you’re planning to take that long-talked-about 

trip to Spain, or perhaps you’re hoping to relearn the 

grammar from high school French. Wherever your 

linguistic ambitions take you, mobile apps can get you 

there quicker. 

Rosetta Stone TOTALe Companion App 

Available for the iPhone, iPhone, or iPad, 

TOTALe Companion supplements Rosetta 

Stone’s full TOTALe language-learning software. 

Choose from 33 languages—including 

Italian, Mandarin, Russian, and Thai—and 

jump right into the pre-programmed and 

online lessons. The mobile app adds value by 

letting you do your learning on the road (or 

on your trip abroad, perhaps). 

Free; www.rosettastone.com 

Paragon 

Software 

Foreign 

Language 

Dictionary 

Apps 

While 

Android 

users can’t 

take their Rosetta 

Stone 

learning 

with them 

on a mobile 

device, Paragon 

Software 

offers an equally invaluable language tool: 

deluxe, full-length dictionaries that include 

every word you could ever need to know in 

the language of your choice. Options include 

Czech, German, Italian, Polish, and Russian. 

Starting at $9.99; 

android-software.penreader.com 

Get Fit 

Everyone’s favorite resolution is also one of the easiest to break. Make sure you don’t slouch by using gadgets 

and apps that track your progress and keep you motivated. 

Nike+ Sportband 

Nike’s Sportband fastens around your wrist 

to monitor pace, 

distance, time, 

and calories 

burned on 

all your 

post-holiday 

runs. (The 

included 

sensor 

slips in your 

sneaker to track 

your steps.) Once you’re done 

sweating, connect the device to 

your PC via USB to upload your workout info 

to the Nike+ website, where you can chart 

your progress and share your activity on 

Facebook and Twitter. 

$59; store.nike.com 

Motorola Motoactv 

This wearable fitness 

tracker records information 

from your runs, 

walks, and biking workouts—and 

it can also 

serve as your MP3 player 

while you’re pounding 

the pavement. The Motorola Motoactv even 

learns which songs motivate you the most 

based on your performance. Like Nike’s Sportband, 

the device stores your workout data for 

review online. That’s a lot of functionality, but 

when paired with your Android smartphone 

(with Motorola’s free app) the Motoactv 

becomes even more versatile, letting you 

answer calls and text messages and view 

your workout data on the phone. 

$249 (8GB), $299 (16GB); 

www.motorola.com 

iMapMyRUN 

(iOS) 

If you don’t want 

a dedicated 

device to keep 

you motivated, 

an app can 

pinch-hit as a 

workout buddy. 

The iOS-only 

iMapMyRUN 

tracks all your 

workout stats— 

pace, distance, 

elevation, and 

more—and includes a live route map and 

heart rate info (with the purchase of a monitor 

accessory). This free app also offers route 

suggestions via its associated website. 

Free; www.mapmyrun.com 


Manage Your Money Better 

If you’re looking to get on top of your finances, your smartphone or tablet is your best 

friend. Armed with your bank’s mobile app (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and 

many others offer them) and some expense-tracking tools, you’ll never be surprised 

by that monthly statement again. 

News & Trends 

rESOLUTIONS 

Mint 

Rather than 

logging into 

each of your 

accounts 

separately, 

use Mint’s 

mobile app to 

get a real-time 

overview of all 

your financial 

transactions. 

The app separates 

your info 

into categories 

for cash, credit 

cards, loans, 

investments, and property, so you’ll never 

have to second-guess your current balances. 

Beyond helping you keep track of accounts, 

Mint calculates your average spending and 

helps you set a budget and savings goals. 

Free (Android, iOS); www.mint.com 

Expensify 

Like Mint, Expensify lets you upload bank 

account information so you can track your 

spending. 

But this app 

goes one step 

further, providing 

a handy 

way to submit 

work expenses 

for reimbursement. 

You can 

capture receipts 

via your 

smartphone’s 

camera and 

record your 

mileage to 

submit with the 

app’s report 

template. 

Free (Android, BlackBerry, iOS, 

webOS); www.expensify.com 

Coupon 

Sherpa 

Though 

scores of 

coupon apps 

are available, 

most 

of them only 

offer rebates 

at obscure 

retailers or 

online stores. 

With deals 

for Barnes 

& Noble; 

Macy’s; Target; and more, Coupon Sherpa is 

one discounts app that’s worth the download. 

You can tweak the settings to display coupons 

for only the stores you shop at and load 

grocery coupons onto store loyalty cards so 

you simply have to scan the app at checkout. 

Free (Android, iOS); 

www.couponsherpa.com 

Get Organized 

A new year is a great opportunity to 

cut down on clutter, be it physical 

or digital. Streamline your e-mail 

inbox, lists, notes, and more 

with software and gadgets that 

practically do the work for you. 

Evernote 

If you’re a 

fanatical list 

maker (and 

even if you’re 

not), Evernote 

can simplify 

your life by consolidating 

your 

notes, ideas, 

and reminders. 

With the 

free program, 

all your digital 

notes are 

synced across your devices so you’ll always 

have the info you need. Plus, you can save 

web pages and snap photos to remember 

for later. 

Free (60MB per month), $5 per month 

(1GB per month); www.evernote.com 


Xobni Smartr 

Inbox 

E-mail inboxes 

are a notorious 

source 

of clutter, but 

Xobni’s Smartr 

Inbox sidebar 

transforms your 

Gmail account 

into a superefficient 

communications 

hub. In addition 

to automatically 

creating 

contact info 

for everyone 

you’ve ever 

mailed, called, 

or messaged, 

the service 

provides an 

in-depth history 

of your communication 

with each contact (such as when 

you last spoke) and pulls in their updates 

across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. 

Smartr Inbox is compatible with Chrome, 

Firefox, and Safari. 

Free; www.xobni.com 

Livescribe Echo Smartpen 

Whether you’re a notebook-ridden student or 

a business type with way too many memos, 

Livescribe’s Echo Smartpen can help you 

out by digitizing your notes. Available in 4GB 

and 8GB models, the pen records all your 

scribbles (and even your audio) and syncs it 

to the Livescribe Connect desktop software 

for easy sharing via Evernote, Facebook, 

Google Docs, e-mail, and more. 

$149 (4GB), $199 (8GB); 

www.livescribe.com 


25

News & Trends 

rESOLUTIONS 

Learn to Play the Guitar 

That Fender’s been sitting in the corner gathering dust 

long enough. With these fun tools, you have no excuse 

for not fretting it up. 

Rocksmith Guitar Bundle 

for Xbox 360 

If light-up chords aren’t 

enough to get you practicing, 

an Xbox game surely 

will. Rocksmith works 

with any guitar, though 

the bundle comes with 

the Epiphone Les Paul 

Jr. Simply plug into 

your console and start 

Fretlight Guitar 

Memorizing finger placement for chords is 

one of the major roadblocks for newbies, but 

there’s a guitar that will show you the light 

(literally). Available in Standard Electric, Traditional 

Electric, and Vintage Electric styles, the 

Fretlight Guitar includes lights on the frets, 

and they glow red to indicate where to place 

your fingers. The guitar comes with software 

for learning chords, scales, and songs, and 

an included USB cable lets you connect to a 

Mac or PC. 

Starting at $399; www.fretlight.com 

playing; the game adjusts the song selection 

based on your skill level. If you’ve never 

strummed a chord, the game starts you out 

with tablature and how-tos. Advanced players 

can choose songs from The Black Keys, 

Nirvana, Pixies, and more. 

$199; www.gamestop.com 

Quit Smoking 

You can do it! Kicking the habit just takes some supportive friends, 

a helpful app, and a healthier alternative to those cancer sticks. 

Oh, and tons of will power. 

Quitter 

No one can 

keep you 

from that 

Nicotine but 

you, though 

an app that 

shows how 

much money 

you’re saving 

will certainly 

provide some 

incentive to 

stay smokefree. 

Quitter 

tracks how 

many days 

you’ve gone 

without indulging—though it’s on you to fess 

up if you relapse. 

Free; pazeinteractive.com 

blu Electronic Cigarette Premium 

Starter Kit 

Okay, so they’re 

not exactly good 

for you, but the blu 

E-cigarettes take ash, 

smoke, and tobacco 

out of the equation. 

These batterypowered 

cartridges 

come in a variety of 

flavors (Cherry Crush, 

Classic Tobacco, and 

Magnificent Menthol, 

to name a few) and 

deliver a small dose 

of nicotine to satisfy 

your quitter’s cravings. Social smokers will 

also appreciate the Premium Pack’s feature 

for detecting other blu users in the area. 

$79.95; www.blucigs.com ■ 


y Avram Piltch 

News & Trends 

Ultrabook Makers: Listen UP 

The MacBook Air offers lessons you should learn. 

Ever since Intel announced its Ultrabook initiative 

last spring, I’ve been lusting after this new line 

of super-slim, fast-resuming, and long-lasting 

laptops. Now that the first Ultrabooks are finally shipping, 

though, the bloom is off the rose (see p.76). 

These svelte systems were supposed to be the PC 

equivalents of the MacBook Air; sex appeal with a 

Start menu. But like Lady Gaga trying to channel 

Marilyn Monroe, Ultrabook makers get the look 

mostly right but so many little things wrong. 

ASUS claims you’ll fall in love with its Zenbook 

UX31 at first sight. And we did, thanks to the brushedmetal 

chassis and very svelte dimensions. But that 

infatuation comes to an end as soon as you get it 

home, pop open the lid, and start fondling the terrible 

touchpad. Just one touch on that slick surface 

will send your pointer jumping to the other side of 

the screen or getting stuck mid-glide. Caressing 

the creaky keyboard yields no pleasure at all, as 

you have to pound these keys with plenty of force 

just to register each stroke. 

An ASUS rep told us the company is working 

on a driver update that will improve the Zenbook’s 

touchpad, but it rolled to market with a navigation 

experience that would never make it out of 

Apple’s test lab. Did anyone at ASUS even try the 

touchpad before shipping this product 

Acer’s Air impersonation is the worst, a Lindsay 

Lohan interpretation of Marilyn. With its short 

battery life, cheap plastic chassis, and slow hard 

drive, the only thing the Aspire S3 aspires to be 

is the next Woot daily special. 

Sure, the 13.3-inch S3 is $100 less than the 

entry-level 11-inch MacBook Air and $400 less 

than the 13-inch version, but at $899, it’s not a 

budget notebook by any stretch of the imagination. 

Bargain hunters would be better off buying 

a less-expensive ultraportable such as the HP 

Pavilion dm3t, while users who want superior 

performance and build quality should pony up a 

little more money for the MacBook Air or high-priced 

PC competitors that aren’t called Ultrabooks, such 

as the Samsung Series 9 and the ThinkPad X1. 

When we spoke with him at the Zenbook launch 

event in New York, ASUS CEO Jonney Shih emphasized 

his company’s commitment to design and 

building an incredible experience. “We still believe 

the technology is important, but how do we really 

utilize the technology and then try to drive the best 

user experience” he asked rhetorically. “That’s 

the right way to think about innovation.” 

While ASUS thought a lot about looks, sound, 

display, and even high-speed storage, it ignored 

the feel of its user input devices. Acer didn’t even 

give its Ultrabook the college try, achieving a body 

that is rail-thin but made of cheap plastic. 

Both companies failed to learn Apple’s most 

important lesson: Focus on the ways humans 

interact with the product first. Users touch a 

notebook’s keyboard and touchpad all day long. 

They stare at its screen and listen to its speakers. 

They place it on their laps. 

At LAPTOP, we have a mailbox (helpme@laptopmag 

.com) dedicated to answering user questions. 

We get queries all the time from people asking 

us which notebook to buy. Usually these e-mails 

contain a line like this one: “I’m thinking of buying 

this Acer laptop, but how is the keyboard” or “I’m 

between this HP and that Dell. Which has the better 

touchpad” Nobody ever asks, “Is the Core i5 on 

this notebook that much better than the Core i7 

on the other one” Usability is the priority. 

If PC vendors want to build notebooks that truly 

outclass the Air, they need to focus on usability over 

raw sex appeal and even performance. ■ 

Online Editorial Director Avram Piltch guides LAPTOP’s web coverage. He devised several of our real-world benchmarks. Read his semi-monthly 

column at www.laptopmag.com/geeksgeek, and follow @geekinchief on Twitter. 



27

News & Trends 

iPhone 4s vs. Android 

Which smartphone OS is best for you 

You know your smartphone is doing well when 

4 million people buy it in the first weekend 

and it temporarily sells out on all three of your 

carrier partners. The overwhelming demand for the 

iPhone 4S is understandable, given the much-talkedabout 

Siri voice-controlled assistant (see p. 14), 

as well as the device’s faster dual-core processor 

and fantastic 8-megapixel camera. But today’s top 

Android phones—such as the Samsung Galaxy S 

II—offer plenty of features you won’t find on Apple’s 

blockbuster sequel. How do you know which OS to 

choose Here’s my breakdown. 

by Mark Spoonauer 

Interface 

I would never call the 

row-of-icons interface 

on the iPhone 4S 

fresh, but its ease 

of use means a lot, 

especially to first-time 

smartphone owners. 

I can’t tell you how 

many times I’ve shown 

Android phones to 

people only for them 

to ask how to get to 

the apps. At the same time, iOS 5 catches up to 

Android with its Notifications area, which is cleanly 

designed and dynamic (thanks to the addition of 

weather and stock info). 

However, some Android phones let you do more 

from the notification area. On the Samsung Galaxy 

S II, for example, you can toggle the wireless radios 

on and off. And on HTC Sense phones, you can 

switch between apps from this menu as well as 

tweak several settings. 

The other edge Android has in the interface department 

is widgets, which allow you to access all sorts 

of info at a glance. Provided you put in a little effort, 

Android is more customizable. The problem with 

Google’s OS is that it’s so customizable for phone 

makers that the user experience can vary drastically 

from one phone to the next. 

Winner: iPhone 4S While Android is more flexible, 

it can also be more confusing. Simplicity wins 

this round. 

Multitasking 

You just double-press the home button and swipe to 

either side to switch apps on the iPhone 4S. To shut 

down apps, you press and hold the screen and then 

tap the X next to 

an app’s icon. 

On Android, 

you must longpress 

the home 

button, but you 

might only see a subset of all of your running 

apps—and you can’t close programs from this 

view. Android Ice Cream Sandwich (see p. 20) 

will offer a better user experience, with a Recent 

Apps button that displays live thumbnails of your 

running apps. And you’ll be able to dismiss apps 

with a swipe. 

Winner: iPhone 4S (for now) But it looks like Android 

4.0 will put Google’s phones ahead. 

Screen Size and Quality 

One of the chief complaints people have about the 

iPhone 4S’ screen is that it’s the same size of the 

original iPhone’s: 3.5 inches. But what many don’t 

realize is that this LCD’s resolution is higher than 

the vast majority of screens on Android phones. The 

display is not only crisper but brighter than most of 

the Android competition. 

On the other hand, bigger screens are just easier 

on the eyes, and they don’t force you to zoom in as 

much to read text. And although they’re not as bright, 

the Super AMOLED displays on phones such as the 

Galaxy S II and the Droid RAZR offer better contrast 

and more vibrant colors. 

Winner: Draw The iPhone 4S has the superior 

display right now in terms of detail and brightness, 

but some shoppers just prefer a larger screen. 

Keyboard/Typing 

Amazingly, Apple’s multitouch keyboard remains 

second to none, despite the fact that in most cases 

you’re typing on a smaller display. Both in portrait 

and landscape mode, I can type quickly and accurately. 

I’ll certainly make more errors than when 

using a physical keyboard, but overall the iPhone 4S 

keyboard just works. 

With Android phones, keyboards vary quite a 

bit from one phone maker to the next, with HTC, 

LG, Motorola, and Samsung all putting their own 


News & Trends 

SPOONFED 

spin on the layout. I’ve found HTC’s keyboards 

to be the best, with Android’s stock keyboard on 

the Samsung Galaxy S 4G being a close second. 

What I like about the Android keyboard is that you 

can usually access special characters (such as 

numbers) by long-pressing on a letter. 

Android has a few more advantages. One is that 

you can download third-party keyboards, such as 

Swype, from the Android Market. Second—and this 

is really important—only Android phones come 

with physical keyboards. 

Winner: Draw For its size, the iPhone 4S keyboard 

is great, but some prefer a bigger screen and more 

customization options. 

Web and Data 

Speeds 

The iPhone 4S may 

have a fancy new dualantenna 

system and the 

ability to reach 14.4 Mbps 

(theoretically) on AT&T, 

but it gets blown away by 

4G Android phones. For 

example, the AT&T iPhone 

4S delivered speeds as 

high as 5.3 Mbps but averaged 2.2 Mbps. Both the 

T-Mobile Galaxy S II (12.6 Mbps) and the Motorola 

Droid Bionic (11.6 Mbps) are faster. 

The iPhone 4S takes about 10 seconds to load 

many mobile sites (regardless of the network) versus 

about half that for true 4G phones. Everything on an 

iPhone 4S that involves data—whether it’s streaming 

YouTube videos or updating your Facebook news 

feed—will require more patience than on an 4G 

Android phone. The only caveat is that 4G radios 

(especially LTE) can drain your battery in a hurry. 

Winner: Android 4G speeds make a big difference 

in everyday use. 

Social Networking 

Apple is making a big deal about Twitter integration 

with iOS 5, and it’s certainly welcome. You can share 

photos, websites, and more with just a couple of 

taps. However, Android goes deeper by including 

Facebook, as well as nearly any other service that 

uses Android’s APIs. 

For example, you don’t have to use Twitter on 

Android; you can use Tweetdeck instead. Android also 

works with Evernote, Flickr, GroupMe, and LinkedIn. 

We just wish the Sharing option wasn’t two clicks 

away from the browser page. 

Winner: Android The iPhone 4S makes it easy to 

share stuff on Twitter, but you need to use dedicated 

apps for everything else. 

Camera 

Apple has raised the bar for photo quality—both in 

terms of camera speed and low-light performance— 

with the iPhone 4S, thanks to new optics and an 

improved backside illuminated sensor. It also 

captures sharp and smooth 1080p video. Android 

phones such as the Galaxy S II, though, are only a 

step behind in terms of speed, and they take equally 

good outdoor photos. Indoors, the iPhone 4S reigns 

supreme without a flash. However, the S II produced 

better images with the flash on and better video 

when there was lots of motion. 

While the iPhone 4S has an HDR feature, there’s 

not much else you can do when taking photos. An 

advanced Android phone such as the Amaze 4G has 

a panorama mode, HDR, burst shot mode, and more. 

And although the iPhone 4S has some editing features, 

the best Android phones go further, letting you add all 

sorts of effects without using a separate app. 

Winner: Draw The iPhone 4S has the best camera 

we’ve used yet, but Android phones give you more 

control of your images—before and after the shot. 

Apps 

After trailing iOS for years, Android is finally catching 

up to Apple in terms of the number of apps available 

in their respective stores. Apple has about 360,000 

iPhone apps, compared to approximately 320,000 for 

Android (according to research firm Research2Guidance). 

You’ll also find that both app stores stock a lot 

of the same stuff, from Angry Birds and Words with 

Friends to Kindle and Pandora. 

But if you dig deeper, you’ll find that the iPhone 

4S has a better selection of high-quality games 

with more impessive graphics, such as Infinity 

Blade and Shadowgun (see p.48). You’ll also find 

that apps either come to the iPhone first (such as 

Netflix) or exclusively (such as Instagram) and just 

look more polished (Facebook). 

Winner: iPhone 4S The iPhone has always been 

known for its apps, and at least for now it still has a 

quality and slight quantity edge. 

Secret Weapons 

Only the iPhone 4S has Siri, 

a fantastic voice-controlled 

assistant that can show you the best 

restaurants nearby and answer all 

sorts of questions. The best part 

about Siri is that she understands 

context, so it’s almost like you’re 

having a conversation. 

Other advantages unique to the 

iPhone 4S include iTunes, which allows you to use a 

single account to download music, movies, TV shows, 

books, magazines, and apps. Google only offers a 

subset of that content. And then there’s iCloud, which 

ironically does a better job than Google of keeping all 

of your content in sync across multiple devices. 

Last but not least is the iPhone’s vast number of 

available accessories. Having a single standard connector 

makes things a lot easier on makers of add-ons. 

Android has plenty of unique strengths as well. 

In addition to offering 4G speeds, only Android has 

free GPS navigation built in. And only Android phones 

support NFC, which enables mobile payments and 

will gain even more power with Ice Cream Sandwich. 

With the beam feature you’ll be able to share all 

sorts of info with a tap. 

Unfortunately, on Android not everyone gets 

the latest software at the same time. In fact, it can 

sometimes take several months, though Google is 

working on shortening the timetable. 

Winner: iPhone 4S Siri + more content + more 

accessories give Apple the win in this round. 

Bottom Line 

It looks like this head-to-head was a decisive victory 

for the iPhone 4S. But it really comes down to what 

you value most in a smartphone. If it’s ease of use 

and better apps you’re after—as well as smooth 

performance and a great camera—the iPhone 4S 

can’t be beat. As long as you can live with 3G speeds, 

you can’t go wrong with the iPhone 4S. 

On the other hand, the fact that Android phones 

offer 4G should not be overlooked. It speeds up practically 

everything you do. Android also integrates with 

multiple social networks—instead of just Twitter— 

and you have a wider range of design choices. If 

you like the idea of customizing your interface to 

your heart’s content and want the option of a bigger 

screen, Android is the way to go. 

■ 

Editor in Chief Mark Spoonauer directs LAPTOP’s online and print editorial content. He has been covering mobile and wireless technology for more than a decade. 

Read his weekly SpoonFed column at www.laptopmag.com/spoonfed, and follow @mspoonauer on Twitter. 



29

TESTED 

iPhone 4S Carrier 

Shootout 36 

A&T vs. Sprint vs. Verizon Wireless. 

4G Hotspots 38 

Get superfast speeds for all your 

gadgets. 

Awesome iPhone 

4S Games 48 

Console-quality graphics to go. 

Super Sharp 

The Motorola Droid RAZR is the slimmest smartphone 

yet, offering a gorgeous Super AMOLED screen along with 

screaming 4G speeds. 

If you’re going to revive the venerable RAZR brand for an Android 

phone, you had better bring it. And Motorola definitely 

does with the Droid RAZR, which sports the thinnest profile 

of any smartphone and a gorgeous Super AMOLED Advanced 

screen. Priced at $299, this slim stunner for Verizon Wireless 

also boasts serious speed in the form of a dual-core processor 

and 4G LTE connectivity. 

The Droid RAZR is equal parts super thin, tough, and elegant. 

Measuring 0.3 inches at its thinnest point, this 4.5-ounce device 

has the lowest profile of any handset on the market. Although the 

4.3-inch screen gives the Droid RAZR a fairly large footprint, we 

barely noticed it in our pocket. 

Thanks to a Kevlar fiber back, a scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla 

Glass screen, and a water-repellent coating, Motorola has crafted 

a very durable device. 

Motorola calls the 4.3-inch display on the Droid RAZR Super 

AMOLED Advanced, as opposed to the Super AMOLED Plus screens 

on the Samsung Galaxy S II line. “Advanced” stands for the extra 

resolution, as the panel on this phone packs in more pixels (960 x 

540) than the Samsung (800 x 480). 

Whether we were enjoying photos, videos, or games, the 

Droid RAZR’s panel delivered high-contrast and rich colors. 

Plus, you get fantastically wide viewing angles. Still, we had 

more trouble in direct sunlight on this phone than on the Droid 

Bionic when we held them up together, and the Droid RAZR had 

more problems with glare. 

Like the Droid Bionic, the Droid RAZR is powered by a 1.2-GHz 

TI OMAP 4430 processor and 1GB of RAM, yet we found the RAZR 

to be the swifter performer both anecdotally and in benchmark 

tests. For instance, the Droid RAZR notched a CPU score of 

3,802 in the Benchmark app, compared to 2955 for the 

Bionic. That’s also better than the Galaxy S II (3,341). 

In graphics tests such as An3DBench, the Droid RAZR 

also outpaced its predecessor, notching 7,412 to the older 

phone’s 6,990. However, the S II scored 7,937. Nevertheless, 

30 


www.laptopmag.com

tested 

SMARTPhones 

the RAZR provided smooth gameplay and consolelike 

graphics when we fired up Madden NFL 12. 

The good news is that the Droid RAZR is capable 

of fantastic 4G speeds. In one Brooklyn location, 

the phone averaged 12.3 Mbps downloads and 

5.8 Mbps uploads, slightly above Verizon’s claims. 

Our problem is that the RAZR took longer than the 

Bionic to latch onto a 4G signal when traveling 

out of a 3G area. 

One of the most unique features of the Droid 

RAZR is MotoCast, a program that lets you stream 

and download files from a PC over the web to the 

smartphone. We could stream iTunes tracks from 

our computer right to the handset just by firing up 

the Music app and tapping My Library. Provided 

your PC is powered on and connected to the web, 

you can listen to your tunes remotely. 

We weren’t blown away by the RAZR’s staying 

power. When using the phone regularly, we were 

down to just 30-percent juice after 3.5 hours. To 

be fair, though, we had the phone’s screen set to 

100-percent brightness. In another test, the Droid 

RAZR’s battery was down to 40 percent after an 

hour of mobile hotspot usage. 

The Motorola Droid RAZR is easily one of the 

best smartphones on any network, thanks to its 

ultra-thin but strong design and beautiful Super 

AMOLED Advanced display. However, we wish it 

switched from 3G to 4G networks faster. 

Some will prefer the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, 

which runs the newer Android Ice Cream Sandwich 

OS on a larger and sharper 720p screen. But that 

device doesn’t feel as solid. And those who prefer 

HTC’s Sense software might want to pick up the 

Beats Audio-packin’ Rezound. But the Droid RAZR 

is certainly Motorola’s best smartphone yet—and 

one of the best Android devices on the market. 

 

—Mark Spoonauer 

The RAZR’s 

Super AMOLED 

Advanced screen 

has a high 

resolution (960 

x 540) and wide 

viewing angles. 

Motorola $299 

★★★★☆ www.verizonwireless.com 

CPU: 1.2-GHz TI OMAP 4330 Operating System: 

Android 2.3.5 RAM/ROM: 1GB/16GB Display 

Size/Resolution: 4.3 inches/960 x 540 GPS: 

Yes Wireless: 802.11b/g/n, EV0-DO Rev. 

A, LTE, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Front Camera: 

1.3-MP Rear Camera: 8-MP Camcorder: 

1080p Talk/Standby Time: 12.5 hours/8.5 

days Ports: Headphone Size: 5.2 x 2.7 x 0.3 

inches Weight: 4.5 ounces 

Thinnest smartphone around 

Sturdy and sexy Kevlar-infused design 

Impressive Super AMOLED Advanced screen 

Very fast 4G speeds 

Snappy dual-core performance 

Versatile MotoCast app 

Slow to hand off between 3G and 4G 

Mediocre battery life 

Display has some trouble with direct sunlight 

www.laptopmag.com Laptop | January 2012 31

tested 

SMARTPhones 

World-Class Phone 

The HTC EVO Design 4G offers world phone capability and swift 

data speeds in a sleek aluminum body. 

The EVO’s going global with Sprint’s latest smartphone, 

the HTC EVO Design 4G. While this Android 

handset looks like a slightly larger version of the 

HTC Rhyme on Verizon, this EVO adds global connectivity 

and 4G speeds for a reasonable $99 (with 

two-year contract and mail-in rebate). 

At first glance, the EVO Design 4G looks like 

the HTC Rhyme minus the polarizing purple 

exterior. But closer inspection reveals key differences, 

including a larger 4-inch display that 

occupies most of the face, leaving just enough 

room for a thin earpiece and the 1.3-megapixel 

front-facing camera. A barely-there black matte 

aluminum strip wraps around the front, forming 

a thick brushed-aluminum band in the rear with 

an etched HTC logo. 

The 4-inch 960 x 540p glossy Super LCD 

qHD touchscreen display was bright with vibrant 

color, and at 411 lux, was much brighter than 

the Galaxy S II (284 lux), but still a bit below the 

iPhone 4 (511 lux) and iPhone 4S (549 lux), not to 

mention the LG Marquee (684 lux). However, we 

noticed some noise when watching The Avengers 

trailer on YouTube. Thor’s usually stunning 

crimson cape was diminished by pixelation, as 

were night scenes. 

The EVO Design 4G’s single-core 1.2-GHz 

Qualcomm MSM8655 processor with 768MB of 

RAM turned in some pretty solid scores. On the CPU 

portion of the Benchmark app, the phone notched 

2541, well above the EVO 4G Slide (1,702), the Nexus 

S 4G (1,688), and the LG Marquee (1,602). 

Overall, the Design 4G showed no signs of 

lag when launching apps or switching between 

applications. The camera took only two seconds 

to launch, and navigating between home screens 

was a breeze. 

Once the pages were fully loaded, gestures such 

as scrolling and pinch-to-zoom were seamless. 

We really liked that we could navigate between 

windows by zooming out of the current window 

and cycling through all our open windows. 

The Design 4G’s 5-megapixel rear-facing camera 

took sharp photos with bright colors in both indoor 

and outdoor settings. The phone captured impressive 

shots of a chalk-drawn mural as dusk fell. In 

a side-by-side comparison with the EVO 4G, we 

noticed the Design 4G gave us sharper, clearer 

images, especially in dimmer settings. 

Voices came through loud and clear on the 

EVO Design 4G. Even when we were placed on 

speakerphone, we could easily hear our caller 

sing “His Eye Is On the Sparrow,” though the song 

sounded somewhat hollow. 

Sprint’s international rates vary by country, so 

you’ll definitely want to check out the rates before 

placing a call or streaming video overseas. Data 

pricing is a flat $0.019/KB, but the voice plan fluctuates. 

In the United Kingdom, it’s $1.29 per minute 

with international roaming charges, while voice 

calling jumps to $1.99 in Japan and Sweden. 

Sprint claims the EVO Design 4G’s 1520 mAh 

battery can get up to 6 hours of talk time. The 

phone lasted 5 hours and 25 minutes during the 

LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous web surfing via 

4G). That’s 5 minutes short of the 5:30 Android 

average. The EVO 4G lasted 5:39, while the Nexus 

S 4G clocked in with 5:32. 

The $99 HTC EVO Design 4G takes some of 

the EVO 4G’s best features and puts them in a 

smaller, sleeker package. This Android phone 

offers snappy performance, fast 4G speeds, and 

The EVO Design 4G’s sleek looks are matched by its 

fast speeds and good price. 

720p video recording, plus world phone capability. 

Our only major complaint is the relatively 

short battery life, but this handset wasn’t far off 

the average. Overall, the HTC EVO Design 4G is a 

very good choice for budget-conscious shoppers. 

 

—Sherri L. Smith 

HTC $99.99 

★★★★☆ 

www.sprint.com 

CPU: 1.2-GHz Qualcomm Operating System: 

Android 2.3 RAM/ROM: 768MB/4GB Display 

Size/Resolution: 4 inches/960 x 540 GPS: Yes 

Wireless: 802.11b/g/n, EV-DO, HSDPA/UMTS, 

Mobile WiMAX Front Camera: 1.3-MP Rear 

Camera: 5-MP Talk/Standby Time: 6 hours/6 

days Ports: microUSB, headphone Size: 4.8 x 

2.4 x 0.5 inches Weight: 5.2 ounces 

Sophisticated design 

Strong performance 

Fast 4G speeds 

World roaming capability 

A bit thick 


32 


www.laptopmag.com

tested 

SMARTPhones 

4G Meets Keyboard 

The Samsung Stratosphere gives Verizon customers fast 4G LTE 

speeds and a physical keyboard, but it has short battery life. 

Verizon started selling 4G LTE smartphones way 

back in March, but the new Samsung Stratosphere 

is its first with a slide-out keyboard. If you want 4G 

speeds on Verizon and a full QWERTY, this is it. 

This $149 device has a lot more going for it too, 

including a brilliant Super AMOLED screen and a 

sharp 5-megapixel camera. 

Nearly identical to Samsung’s Epic 4G on Sprint, 

the Samsung Stratosphere sports a familiar but 

attractive look with its rounded edges, glossy 

screen, dark silver sides, and textured gray back. 

Thanks to its generously spaced, curved keys, 

the Stratosphere’s five-row QWERTY keyboard is the 

real star of the show. The keys provided excellent 

tactile feedback. 

The Stratosphere’s 4-inch 800 x 480 Super 

AMOLED screen offered gorgeous, colorful images 

with deep hues. When placed next to the Droid 

Bionic’s 4.3-inch qHD screen, the Stratosphere’s 

display was a little less bright, but much more rich 

and colorful. 

In using Speedtest.net to measure bandwidth 

speeds across four locations, we saw an average 

download rate of 15.4 Mbps and an average 

upload speed of 6.2 Mbps. Those numbers beat 

out our previous champ, the HTC Thunderbolt, 

and its 14.1/4.6 Mbps and the Droid Bionic with 

its 11.6/3.4 Mbps. 

For $30 a month, you can sign up for Verizon’s 

mobile hotspot service, which allows you to share 

the Stratosphere’s speedy data connection with up 

to eight other devices via Wi-Fi. In our office, a Dell 

Inspiron 14z managed got an average download speed 

of 9.7 Mbps and upload speed of 5.6 Mbps. 

If you sign up for the hotspot plan, you can 

also use direct USB tethering to connect the 

Stratosphere to your notebook. However, we found 

setting it up difficult. The checkbox for enabling 

tethering on the phone remained grayed even 

The Stratosphere’s slide-out keyboard is nearly identical to the Sprint Epic 4G’s. 

after we subscribed to the service, set our USB 

mode to Internet connection only, and disabled 

the Wi-Fi hotspot. 

The 1-GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor 

was state of the art a year ago, but it’s now a 

generation behind the dual-core CPUs inside the 

latest Galaxy S IIs. The good news is that we were 

able to play games such as Need for Speed Shift 

without a hitch and stream high-quality YouTube 

and Netflix videos very smoothly. 

On a few occasions, we noticed that letters we 

had typed into the browser address bar showed 

up after a second or two of delay. The camera 

application was also a source of sluggishness, 

as it sometimes took a while to change modes. 

On one occasion, the entire phone locked up, 

forcing us to reboot. 

When making phone calls, the Stratosphere sent 

and received loud, clear audio. Friends and family we 

talked to reported that our voice sounded strong, as 

their voices were pleasant and detailed as well. 

LTE phones are notorious for having short battery 

life, and the Samsung Stratosphere might be 

the worst. Though our battery test failed on several 

runs, we noted that the battery level declined to 

88 percent after just 30 minutes of web surfing at 

40-percent brightness. Extrapolate that result and 

you get a time of 4 hours and 10 minutes, which 

seems consistent with our anecdotal use. 

Even with the $50 extended battery attached 

and a day where the phone spent most its time 

in our pocket, we found the battery running low 

by the early evening. We consider this accessory 

essential for this phone. 

Unlike so many of its competitors, the Samsung 

Stratosphere’s rear-facing camera is only capable of 

capturing of standard-def, 480p video. A clip of cars 

rolling down the street was bright and colorful but 

not high-res enough to justify playing the video on 

an HDTV or computer. 

If you want a phone 

with a physical keyboard 

and access to Verizon’s 

4G LTE network, the 

Samsung Stratosphere is 

your best choice, but it’s 

also your only choice. The 

Stratosphere’s five-row 

keyboard is a joy to use, its gorgeous Super AMOLED 

screen really pops, and it offers the fastest data 

speeds we’ve seen yet. However, the performance 

and battery life of this Android handset leave 

something to be desired. Overall, the Stratosphere 

is pretty good for its $149 price, but it’s not great. 

 

—Avram Piltch 

Samsung $149 

★★★☆☆ www.verizonwireless.com 

CPU: 1-GHz Samsung Hummingbird Operating 

System: Android 2.3 RAM/ROM: 384MB/4GB 

Display Size/Resolution: 4 inches/800 x 480 

GPS: Yes Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 

3.0 Front Camera: 1.3-MP Rear Camera: 

5-MP Camcorder: 480p Talk/Standby Time: 

480 min/212 hours Ports: microUSB, headphone 

Size: 4.9 x 2.5 x 0.6 inches Weight: 

5.8 ounces 

Blazing 4G speeds 

Gorgeous Super AMOLED screen 

Comfortable keyboard 

Good call quality 

Short battery life 

Single-core performance 

Records only 480p video 

Tethering difficult to set up 


See It In Action 

34 


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tested 

iPhone 4S Carrier Shootout 

AT&T vs. Sprint vs. Verizon Wireless: Which is best 

by Davey Alba 

The AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless versions 

of the iPhone 4S all sold out after their release 

last October. And the overwhelming demand 

is understandable, given the brilliant Siri voicecontrolled 

assistant, faster dual-core processor 

and super-sharp 8-megapixel camera. But which 

of the carrier models is best We evaluated all 

three versions based on pricing plans, data speeds 

and call quality to help you decide which iPhone 

4S is right for you. 

Pricing Plans 

Let’s say you opt for the minimum amount of 

minutes on each of the carriers (450 minutes), 

unlimited text messaging, and 2GB of data (it’s 

unlimited for Sprint). If you factor in the cost of the 

$199 iPhone 4S, over two years you’d pay $2,120 

on Sprint, versus $2,240 on AT&T and $2,360 on 

Verizon. If you went with Sprint, you’d save $120 

versus AT&T and $240 versus Verizon. However, 

Sprint charges more than the other carriers to use 

your phone as a hotspot—$30 versus $20. 

Winner: Sprint. Provided you don’t want to use 

your phone as a hotspot—something we wouldn’t 

recommend with a 3G phone anyway—Sprint’s 

plans are much more affordable than AT&T’s 

and Verizon’s. And you don’t have to watch the 

data meter, either. 

Data Speeds 

The AT&T version of the iPhone is the only one that 

supports speeds up to 14.4 Mbps on the carrier’s 

HSPA network, while the Sprint and Verizon versions 

are tied to older and slower EV-DO networks. So 

it wasn’t a surprise that AT&T turned in the fastest 

download and upload speeds in our three testing 

locations using the Speedtest.net app. 

For uploads, the AT&T iPhone 4S pulled off an 

average rate of 1 Mbps and 250 Kbps for uploads. 

36 


www.laptopmag.com

Pricing + Speed 

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MINUTES TEXTING DATA 

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tested 

SMARTPhones 

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160 Kbps/ 

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450 Unlimited 2GB $2,360 

140 Kbps/ 

380 Kbps 

By comparison, Verizon only mustered 380 Kbps on 

the download, and Sprint was even slower at 290 

Kbps. Verizon’s iPhone 4S consistently offered the 

slowest upload speeds, with an average of 140 Kbps 

versus a not-much-better 160 Kbps for Sprint. 

Winner: AT&T. While all three iPhone 4S models 

trail true 4G phones by a mile, the AT&T iPhone 

4S consistently delivered the fastest download 

and upload speeds. 

Web Browsing 

Our Speedtest results were backed up by our 

real-world testing: the average times it took to 

load different websites. It took an average of 19 

seconds for the AT&T iPhone 4S to load the full 

website of The New York Times on the AT&T iPhone 

4S, 20 seconds faster than Verizon’s overall average 

time (39 seconds) and 40 seconds faster than 

the average time it took for the Sprint iPhone 4S 

to load the page (59 seconds). It loaded the full 

website of Laptopmag.com and ESPN’s mobile 

website fastest as well, at 20 seconds and 10 

seconds, respectively. The only site it did not 

load faster than the other two carriers was CNN’s 

mobile website, which it loaded in an average 

of 10 seconds, compared to Verizon’s average 

of 9 seconds. 

Winner: AT&T. The AT&T iPhone 4S loaded sites 

considerably faster than the Verizon and Sprint 

versions of the device. 

Call Quality 

We found the call quality on Verizon’s iPhone 4S to 

be top-notch. Sound was loud, clear, and exhibited 

no choppiness. In the first 

and third locations where we 

tested for call quality (a noisy 

coffee shop in New York and 

a private residential area in 

New Jersey), our callers had 

the same comment: We sounded the loudest, and 

background noise was present. On our end, we 

heard some scratchiness and static during calls, 

but there was less of it compared to the AT&T 

experience, and none during silences. 

On Sprint, calls weren’t as loud, which some 

people said they appreciated, especially after two 

very loud calls (AT&T and Verizon). With Sprint, 

background noise was less of an issue. One caller 

from our second location even said we sounded 

like we were in an office cubicle; initially he 

couldn’t tell we were using a mobile phone at all. 

However, in every location where we tested for call 

quality, callers commented that the Sprint iPhone 

4S sounded choppy. On our end, we sometimes 

heard a strange sort of echo to our voice. 

Winner: Verizon Wireless. Verizon beat out AT&T 

and Sprint with the clearest and loudest call quality 

on both ends of the line. 

Overall Winner: AT&T. 

AT&T has shaken its 

reputation for poor 

service on the iPhone in 

this shootout, offering better data speeds than 

both Sprint and Verizon. And while Sprint offers 

unlimited data, AT&T’s 2GB plan is cheaper than 

Verizon’s. Verizon wins out for best overall call 

quality, but that’s not why people buy smartphones. 

Whether you’re asking Siri to find nearby 

steakhouses, downloading an app or sending a 

tweet, AT&T’s iPhone 4S is just faster. And that’s 

why it’s your best bet. 

■ 


Watch Them Compete 

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go to 

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tested 

4G Hotspot Torture Test 

Which carrier offers you the speediest device for staying connected on the go 

by Meghan J. McDonough 

❶ ❷ ❸ 

❹ 

Do you feel the need for speed Then you’ll 

want to take a good look at the latest 4G 

hotspots, which let you share a high-speed 

Internet connection with multiple gadgets at once. 

We tested hotspots from the four major carriers 

to see which one offers the best performance 

for your money. 

How We Tested 

Website load times were measured by averaging the time it took for CNN.com, ESPN.com, Laptopmag. 

com, and NYTimes.com to load in the Chrome browser on the Dell Inspiron 15 (M5030). We used 

Speedtest.net for our synthetic upload and download tests, averaging 10 tests results for each hotspot 

in our three testing locations around Chicago. And to get real-world benchmarks, we downloaded a 

151MB OpenOffice file from our FTP server. 

❶ AT&T Elevate 4G 

Mobile Hotspot $69.99 

★★★ ☆ 

What We Like 

Meter on the display lets you keep track of how 

much of your data plan you’ve used. Fast uploads, 

depending on where you are (we saw faster speeds 

in Houston than in Chicago, for example). Lets you 

share storage via a microSD card. 

What We Don’t 

Connection drops occasionally, forcing users to 

restart upload or download. AT&T has limited 4G 

LTE coverage, with support for just 15 cities by 

the end of 2011. 

Verdict 

While it wasn’t as fast as Verizon’s MiFi 4510—and 

we’re a little concerned about it dropping our 

connection—we love the Elevate’s super-useful 

information bar that lets you know how much of 

your monthly data plan remains. 

❷ Sierra Wireless Overdrive 

Pro 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot (Sprint) 

$49.99 

★★★☆☆ 

What We Like 

Sports a large, easy-to-read screen. microSD card 

slot (up to 32GB) is easily accessible. Competitive 

website-load times. 


Slower download speeds than competing hotspots. 

Makes irritating beeps when you turn it on and 

when you connect or disconnect devices. Gets 

very warm during use. 

Verdict 

The Overdrive Pro is a decent 4G hotspot, especially 

if you’ll primarily use it to surf the web. However, 

now that Sprint has nixed its unlimited 4G data 

plans for devices like this, it’s not the best deal. 

We would rather spend $5 more per month to get 

Verizon’s faster 4G LTE speeds. 

❸ T-Mobile Sonic 4G 

Mobile Hotspot $99.99 

★★★☆☆ 

What We Like 

The most fashionable hotspot design we’ve seen, 

with a smooth reflective face and glossy black side 

panels. Includes a 32GB microSD slot for sharing 

files among multiple gadgets. Download speeds as 

fast as 15.43 Mbps. Works when tethered. 


Very inconsistent data speeds, with rates varying 

from minute to minute. Slower website-load times 

than competing hotspots. 

Verdict 

While we like the design of the $99 Sonic 4G and 

T-Mobile’s overage-free service, the inconsistent 

data speeds are a problem. When this hotspot is 

fast, it’s very fast. When it’s slow, it’s workable, but 

not knowing which type of speed you’re going to 

get is frustrating. 

38 


www.laptopmag.com

tested 

networking 

Hotspot Performance Compared 

Large File DOWNLOADS/ 

UPLOADS (Minutes:Seconds) 

Speedtest.net Downloads/ 

Uploads (Mbps) 

Website Load Times (Seconds) 

AT&T Elevate 4G 

Mobile Hotspot 

0:58 

1:50 

3.3 

6.7 

7.3 

Sierra Wireless 

Overdrive Pro 3G/4G 


(Sprint) 

0:41 

2:21 

1.2 

5.6 

8 

T-Mobile Sonic 4G 


1:00 

2:31 

1.3 

7.5 

12 

Verizon Wireless 4G 

LTE Mobile Hotspot 

MiFi 4510L 

0:14 

1:21 

4.7 

23.5 

6.8 

❹ Verizon Wireless 4G LTE 

Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L $99 

★★★★☆ 

What We Like 

Blazing-fast data speeds, even with multiple 

devices connected. E Ink display shows signal 

strength and battery life. Includes port for an 

external antenna. 


Shorter battery life than Samsung LTE hotspot. 

No microSD card slot for storing and sharing 

files. Doesn’t broadcast a signal while charging 

over USB. GPS chip is deactivated; no MiFi 

OS support. 

Verdict 

Not only does Verizon Wireless’ $99 4G 

MiFi 4510L pack all the power of LTE, it 

nudged past Verizon’s competing 4G 

LTE hotspot, the $99 Samsung SCH-LC11 

hotpost, in our real-world speed tests. 

However, its battery life is shorter than the 

Sprint 3G/4G 4082 Mobile Hotspot, and, unlike the 

Samsung LC11, the MiFi 4510L lacks GPS, onboard 

storage, and the ability to charge while plugged 

directly into a notebook. But the MiFi 4510L has fast 

speeds and a more reliable connection. Ultimately, 

that’s what matters most. 

■ 


4G Tested Nationwide 

FOR 83% OFF THE 

COVER PRICE, FIND 

OUT WHY MILLIONS 

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MAGAZINE 

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Subscribe now and get 12 issues for only $14.99 

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Laptop | January 2012 39

tested 

tableTS 

One Connected Tablet 

The 7-inch T-Mobile Springboard offers solid performance, 4G speeds, and Android Honeycomb in a 

slim, attractive package, but the battery life could be better. 

The T-Mobile Springboard with Google represents 

the carrier’s attempt to make 4G Android tablets 

more wallet-friendly. Made by Huawei, this 7-inch 

Android Honeycomb slate costs a low $179 up front 

then $10 per month for 20 months thereafter, adding 

up to $379 (not including data costs). 

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, HTC 

should feel honored. The rear of the Huawei-designed 

Springboard mimics the HTC Flyer’s elegant design, 

with an aluminum panel ensconced between two 

white matte plastic panels. 

The Springboard’s 7-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel display 

delivered sharp text and rich colors on CNN.com 

and VGCats.com. Over Wi-Fi, YouTube trailers for 

The Avengers and The Three Musketeers were crisp 

and detailed, but over T-Mobile’s 4G connection, 

images became much more pixelated. 

When listening to Big Sean’s Kanye West-assisted 

track “Marvin & Chardonnay” on the Springboard, 

we heard flat vocals with little to no bass. 

T-Mobile’s My Account app allowed us to check 

our data usage for the month as well as our current 

plan and bill. The My Device app lets you manage 

storage space, post feedback in the T-Mobile Forum, 

and troubleshoot problems. 

Other apps include a 30-day free trial of AccuWeather.com, 

Amazon MP3, Google Talk, Qik 

Video Chat, Skype, Slacker Radio, T-Mobile TV, 

Yelp, and YouTube. 

T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42 network provided solid 

data rates in our New York City testing locations, 

averaging 7.9 Mbps downloads and 1.4 Mbps 

uploads on Speedtest.net. That’s better than the 

G-Slate, which averaged just 1.4 Mbps down and 

548 Kbps up (though that was months ago). 

Opening apps and navigating between home 

screens and browser windows on the Springboard 

was fast and seamless, thanks to its 1.2-GHz 

The Springboard looks a lot like the 

HTC Flyer, but that’s a good thing. 

Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 dual-core CPU. 

The tablet juggled multiple apps with relative ease. 

However, after we started running Let’s Golf 2, we 

noticed a bit of lag when switching between apps 

and watching video. 

On the Benchmark CPU test the Springboard 

notched 2,494, below the 2,708 Android tablet 

average. The Iconia Tab A100 and the Galaxy Tab 

8.9—which both have 1-GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 

2 CPUs—scored 3,019 and 3,112 respectively. 

The Springboard offered solid graphics performance, 

scoring 7,052 on the An3DBench test, on 

a par with the 7,036 average and the G-Slate and 

EVO View 4G (7,277 and 6,996 respectively). 

The rear-facing 5-megapixel camera captured 

crisp images in 720p, but we noticed a slight haze 

that caused colors to appear muted even after 

we switched to the daylight setting. 

It was the same story when we took 

video of New York City traffic. We could 

read the ads on top of taxis, but the 

vibrant yellow we’re used to seeing 

came off looking rather drab. 

During the LAPTOP Battery Test 

(web surfing over 4G), the Springboard 

lasted 5 hours and 10 minutes, about 

an hour and a half less than the tablet 

average. 

Perhaps in a nod to today’s 

economic climate, T-Mobile doesn’t 

require consumers to pay the full 

$379 for the Springboard at the time 

of purchase. Instead, they can fork 

over $179 down and spread the remaining $200 

over 20 interest-free monthly payments. 

The T-Mobile Springboard provides a full Android 

Honeycomb experience with tons of apps and 

speedy 4G data in a lightweight 7-inch package. 

Just don’t be fooled by the $179 up-front price, 

which at first seems cheaper than the $199 Kindle 

Fire. Over time you’ll be paying $379 for this tablet, 

plus at least $19.99 per month for data. Another 

drawback is this tablet’s less-than-stellar battery 

life. Overall, the T-Mobile Springboard is a solid 

choice for shoppers who want an attractive and 

portable multimedia Android slate, but you’ll want 

to make sure you really need 4G connectivity 

before signing up. 


T-Mobile $379 

★★★ ☆ www.t-mobile.com 

CPU: 1.2-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Operating 

System: Android 3.2 RAM/ROM: 1GB/16GB 

Display Size: 7 inches/1280 x 800 Wireless: 

802.11b/g/n Front Camera: 1.3-MP Rear Camera: 

5-MP Camcorder: 720p Ports: microUSB, 

microHDMI Card Slots: microSD Size: 7.4 x 

4.8 x 0.4 inches Weight: 0.8 pounds 

Attractive, slim design 

Loud, clear audio 

Crisp display 

Robust pre-installed apps 

Good 4G speeds 


Camera captures drab colors 

40 


www.laptopmag.com

Versatile But Pricey 

The HTC Jetstream offers pen input and 4G data in some 

locations, but this Android tablet costs too much. 

To make an Android tablet stand out from the crowd, 

device manufacturers have to offer something more 

than just a standard Android experience. Enter the 

HTC Jetstream by AT&T, a 10-inch tablet that is the 

first to ride the carrier’s 4G LTE network and has 

an optional digital pen. 

The Jetstream has a handsome and distinct 

look. Most of the tablet’s backside is a silver 

brushed-metal surface with an inlaid HTC logo at 

its center. The back also features two swooping 

rubberized surfaces—one at the top and one at 

the bottom—that run the length of the device. 

On the left side of the Jetstream is a volume 

rocker, the size and location of which resulted in 

frequent accidental input when we were holding 

the tablet in landscape orientation. A proprietary 

microUSB port on the bottom of the tablet is the 

only other connector port. Conspicuously absent 

A dock for the HTC Scribe digital pen. 

The Jetstream’s 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 Super 

LCD display is one of the best we’ve seen. An HD 

trailer for Marvel’s The Avengers looked spectacular. 

Viewing angles for the Jetstream were nice and 

wide; we could view The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

trailer at a roughly 45-degree angle without the 

image washing out. 

The Jetstream’s stereo speakers could easily 

fill a small room. They blasted T.I.’s bass-heavy 

“Bring Em Out” with ease, while still being able 

to make Johnny Cash’s guitar sing sonorously in 

“Hurt.” Unfortunately, the speakers are located 

where most people would place their hands while 

holding the Jetstream in landscape orientation, 

which muffles the sound. 

For those who like to take notes on their tablet, 

the Jetstream supports 

digital pen input. The pen 

is only included when you 

purchase the Jetstream on a 

two-year contract for $699. 

You can always purchase 

the pen separately for an 

additional $79. 

To use this feature, you 

tap on the pen icon in the 

status bar with the stylus. 

From here, you are given the 

option to take a screenshot 

(a helpful tool), create 

a new note, or change 

The Jetstream is attractive, 

but pen input wasn’t as 

smooth as it should be. 

your pen 

settings. 

Pen input 

didn’t work as well 

as we had hoped. Palm 

rejection is virtually nonexistent. 

When we leaned our hand 

on the screen while writing notes, for 

example, the virtual keyboard popped up 

and blocked off half the screen. The usefulness of 

the audio recording feature is negated by the fact 

that the Jetstream’s microphone picks up each pen 

tap you make while writing on the screen. 

The Jetstream’s 1.5-GHz dual-core Qualcomm 

MSM8260 processor and 1GB provided mixed 

benchmark results. On Linpack, the Jetstream 

pulled past the competition, scoring a 77.7 in 

multi-thread mode. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 

10.1 and the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet, both of 

which have Nvidia Tegra 2 processors, scored 

63.3 and 53.7, respectively. 

When we used the SpeedTest.net app in Chicago 

to gauge the Jetstream’s download and upload 

speeds, the tablet averaged 4.9 Mbps down and just 

680 Kbps up. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 running 

on Verizon’s 

4G LTE 

network, on the 

other hand, averaged 

a lightning-quick 13.5 Mbps 

down and 2.6 Mbps up. It should 

be noted that the Galaxy Tab tests 

were conducted in New York. 

On the LAPTOP Battery Test (web surfing 

via 4G), the Jetstream lasted an outstanding 8 

hours and 30 minutes. That crushes the category 

average of 6:56 and blows past the Galaxy Tab’s 

time of 6:03. 

The HTC Jetstream is a sleek Android tablet 

with a friendly interface. Unfortunately, its main 

draw, the HTC Scribe pen, doesn’t work as well as 

advertised. But our biggest issue is the Jetstream’s 

price. For $699 you get the tablet, as well as a 

two-year 4G data plan with AT&T. That’s $70 more 

than a similarly equipped Samsung Galaxy Tab 

10.1 for Verizon, which is lighter and offers faster 

4G speeds. If AT&T decides to drop the price on 

the Jetstream, it might be worth picking one up. 

For now, though, it’s just not worth the premium. 

 

—Daniel Howley 

HTC $699 

★★ ☆☆ wireless.att.com 

CPU: 1.5-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 

Operating System: Android 3.1 RAM/ROM: 

1GB/16GB Display Size/Resolution: 10.1 

inches/1280 x 800 Wireless: 802.11b/g/n, 

4G LTE, Bluetooth Front Camera: 1.3-MP 

Rear Camera: 8-MP Camcorder: 1080p 

Ports: microUSB, headphone Card Slots: 

microSD Size: 9.9 x 7 x 0.5 inches Weight: 

1.5 pounds 

Stylish design 

Excellent display 

All-day battery life 

Pen included 

Expensive 

Subpar note-taking features 

Poor speaker placement 

No pen slot 

tested 

tableTS 


tested 

ereaders 

Kindle Classic 

The Amazon Kindle Keyboard 3G gets better with new features, 

such as eBook lending and interface enhancements. 

Just as the iPhone 4S is merely an update to the 

insides of the iPhone 4, the Kindle Keyboard 3G 

is simply an evolution of the Kindle 3G that was 

released last year. It sports the same physical 

QWERTY keyboard, 6-inch E Ink screen, and 

soft-touch finish. But the features inside that 

software update—combined with new features 

Amazon has rolled out over the last year—make 

this device newsworthy. 

Right down to the graphite paint job and softtouch 

back coating, Amazon’s Kindle Keyboard 

3G looks identical to the Amazon Kindle 3G. At 

7.5 x 4.8 x 0.3 inches and 8.7 ounces, the Kindle 

Keyboard 3G isn’t as light as its little brothers—the 

Touch and the ad-supported base Kindle—or the 

Nook Touch, but that’s because of the QWERTY 

keyboard that sits beneath the display. 

We found this eReader’s physical keyboard 

refreshing in an eReader market flush with touchscreen 

keyboards. The small, round keys responded 

well when we searched for bestsellers in the Kindle 

store, and typing notes was a cinch. 

The joystick of Kindles past has been replaced 

with a directional pad that sits next to the keyboard. 

The arrow keys are very narrow, and occasionally 

caused us to accidentally hit the Menu and Back 

buttons, which have moved down to the keyboard 

area along with Home. 

Reading books is clearly the Kindle’s main 

purpose. The 6-inch E Ink Pearl display, with a 800 

x 600-pixel resolution at 167 ppi, is comparable to 

what’s found on the Nook. Just as with a paperback 

book, outdoor reading was a delight. 

With 4GB of internal storage, the Kindle can hold 

up to 3,500 books—and with more than 1 million 

options, Amazon certainly offers enough content 

to max out that space. We had no trouble locating 

all of the top 10 hardback fiction books 

on The New York Times’ bestseller list, 

including A Dance with Dragons by 

George R.R. Martin. 

Amazon, like Barnes & Noble, lets 

users lend some Kindle books to other 

Kindle and Kindle app users. Eligible 

books—those marked as Lending Enabled 

on the product details page—can be 

lent for up to 14 days. Recipients have 

seven days to accept, or the book is 

returned to your archives. 

The Kindle can now connect to 

more than 11,000 libraries in the 

U.S. for borrowing eBooks for free. 

Those eBooks retain all the fun Kindle 

features such as notes, highlights, and 

last page read. 

As with the previous Kindle, you can 

post on Facebook or tweet your favorite 

quotes from what you’re reading. On the 

final page of a Kindle book, Amazon 

invites you to share your thoughts on 

that book via Twitter and Facebook. 

Though the new WebKit browser is an 

improvement over previous versions, it still 

isn’t as seamless as the surfing experience on 

the iPad. Users still have to hit Next Page to scroll 

down a page, which isn’t intuitive. 

The Kindle Keyboard 3G costs $139, but you can 

shave $40 off the price if you opt to go without 

3G access. Since you do have free access to AT&T 

hotspots and you keep Wi-Fi connectivity, this is a 

very compelling option. 

Amazon claims that the Kindle Keyboard 3G 

will run for two months on a single charge with 

wireless off and up to 10 days with wireless on. 

With 3G on and an hour of use for 

three days, the device had lost about one-eighth 

of its battery life. 

Between library lending, friend-to-friend lending, 

social sharing, access to more than 1 million 

pieces of content, and a full QWERTY keyboard, the 

Kindle Keyboard 3G brings a lot to the table. While 

it’s not a new device in the strictest sense, it’s a 

sturdy, useful, and enjoyable eReader. However, 

we’d recommend the ad-supported, Wi-Fi-only 

model for just $99. 

—Anna Attkisson 

Amazon $139 

★★★★☆ 

www.amazon.com 

Crisp E Ink screen 

Full-sized QWERTY keyboard 

Library eBook lending 

Kindle-to-Kindle lending 

Relatively expensive 

Tiny direction pad buttons 

Only a basic web browser 

While the keyboard isn’t new, 

the Kindle Keyboard 3G has 

improved software. 

Get more onlineTablet 

Kindle Fire 

42 


www.laptopmag.com

tested 

thin-and-lightnotebooks 

More for Less 

The base model of the Dell Inspiron 14z has the same great 

looks as the higher-priced model, but even longer battery life. 

When we reviewed the $829 model of the Dell 

Inspiron 14z, we praised its sleek and stylish aluminum 

design and fast performance. However, its 

price was on the high side for a budget-conscious 

consumer looking for a portable system. At $599, 

the base configuration has the same slick chassis, 

but a less powerful Core i3 processor, only 4GB of 

RAM, and no backlit keyboard. 

The only markings on the outside of the 14z are 

a chrome-colored Dell logo situated in the center 

of the lid and a single Inspiron logo stamped in 

the bottom-left corner. The black coloring continues 

onto the deck, where it 

contrasts nicely with the 14z’s 

black keyboard and bezel. 

During our heat test, which 

involves streaming a full-screen 

Hulu video for 15 minutes, the 

14z kept its cool. Between the 

H and G keys, the 14z only 

reached 85 degrees Fahrenheit, 

about the same temperature 

we measured in the center of 

the system’s underside. 

Benchmarks 

The Inspiron 14z’s chiclet-style keyboard offered 

excellent responsiveness and tactile feedback. The 

base model doesn’t come with a backlit keyboard, 

but we think it’s worth the $25 upgrade. 

Navigating around the screen with the 14z’s 

3.1 x 1.7-inch Synaptics touchpad was smooth and 

accurate, but the pad had trouble with multitouch 

gestures. Two-finger scrolling and three-finger 

flicking worked fairly well, but pinch-to-zoom and 

rotate were inconsistent at best. 

The 14z’s 14-inch 1366 x 768 glossy display 

provided great image quality when viewed headon. 

Colors were vibrant and text appeared sharp. 

While watching a trailer for The Avengers, we 

noted plenty of contrast, and images were crisp 

and clear. The display’s glossy coating, however, 

Score 

Category 

Avg. 

PCMark 07 1,815 2,171 

3DMark06 3,509 4,722 

LAPTOP Battery Test 

(h:m) 

LAPTOP Transfer Test 

(MBps) 

Spreadsheet Test 

(min:sec)* 

7:15 5:29 

21.5 27.8 

8:57 6:10 

Boot Time (min:sec)* 1:06 1:05 

W.O.W. 

(autodetect/max) 

28/12 fps 77/30 fps 

* Lower is better 

kicked back reflections. 

Images also washed out 

significantly when viewed 

from a modest angle. 

All of the ports on the 14z 

are protected by flap covers. 

While this helps prevent dust 

from entering your system, 

these covers just got in the 

way and slowed us down. 

A 2.2-GHz Intel Core i3- 

2330M processor and 4GB of 

RAM powered the system to a score of 1,815 in 

PCMark07, about 300 points below the thin-andlight 

average. The $829 version of the Inspiron 

14z, which has a Core i5 processor, scored much 

higher. Regardless, if all 

you’re doing is surfing the 

web, checking Facebook, 

and doing e-mail, the Core 

i3 model will have all the 

power you need. 

The Inspiron 14z’s integrated 

Intel HD 3000 GPU 

certainly won’t break any 

graphics performance records, 

but it managed to hold its own 

on our testing. In the 3DMark06 

benchmark, the 14z notched 

3,509, which is below the 

category average, but on par 

with the HP Pavilion dm4t. 

While playing World of 

Warcraft with the graphics set to 

autodetect, the 14z managed 

28 frames per second. That’s 

The Inspiron 14z cuts a slim figure, 

but the port covers are annoying. 

equal to the 27 fps turned in by the HP dm4t, but 

nowhere near category average of 77 fps. 

The one area where the starting model of the 

14z beats its higher-priced version is endurance. 

The $599 model lasted 7 hours and 15 minutes 

on the LAPTOP Battery Test, nearly an hour longer 

than the $829 version. That also beats the category 

average of 5:29. 

We liked the Inspiron 14z at $829, but the $599 

version is an even better choice for bargain hunters. 

While you give up some performance, you get 

an hour more of battery life in return. We’re just 

not fans of the port covers or the way the laptop’s 

touchpad handles some multitouch gestures. Other 

than those minor issues, the Dell Inspiron 14z is a 

very good value. —Michael A. Prospero 

Dell $599 

★★★★☆ 

www.dell.com 

CPU: 2.2-GHz Intel Core i3-2330M Operating 

System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) 

RAM/Expandable to: 4GB/8GB Hard Drive 

Size/Speed: 500GB/5,400 rpm Optical 

Drive: DVD SuperMulti Drive Display Size/ 

Resolution: 14.1 inches/1366 x 768 Graphics/Video 

Memory: Intel HD 3000/256MB 

shared Wireless: 802.11b/g/n Ports: Two 

USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, eSATA, HDMI, Mini 

DisplayPort, Ethernet, headphone, mic, Kensington 

Lock slot Card Slots: 4-in-1 memory card 

reader Size: 13.6 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches Weight: 

4.4 pounds Warranty/Support: One-year 

limited/24/7 toll-free phone 

Sleek design 

Good battery life 

Affordable 

Annoying port covers 

Below-average performance 

Some multitouch gestures hard to execute 


Watch it Work 

44 


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tested 

mobileWORKSTATIONs 

Power Player 

The 15.6-inch HP EliteBook 8560w combines workstation-class performance 

with a full HD screen and durability, but it’s seriously expensive. 

Creative professionals who are serious about 

performance have a new laptop to lust after. The HP 

EliteBook 8560w is a quad-core workhorse ready 

to handle any task you lob its way. This 15.6-inch 

notebook features a chiseled design that’s industrial 

chic, and HP backs up those rugged good looks 

with a full 1080p HD display with a dedicated 

color calibrator, ISV-certified AMD graphics, and 

support for five displays at once. Our souped-up 

configuration costs a borderline-obscene $3,788, 

nearly triple the $1,349 starting price. 

The EliteBook 8560w is all about function, but 

that doesn’t mean it can’t look good while performing 

well. The gunmetal magnesium-aluminum 

hybrid lid has an attractive brushed radial design. 

The chassis’ hybrid material isn’t just for show. 

Called HP DuraCase, it has gone through MIL-STD 

810G testing for drop, dust, vibration, temperature 

shock, altitude, and high 

temperature resistance. 

At 8 pounds and 15 x 10.1 

x 1.3 inches, the EliteBook 

8560w is a beast, but this 

laptop is crammed full of 

heavy-duty components. Still, 

the system manages to make 

the 6.2-pound, 14.7 x 9.7 x 1.4- 

inch Lenovo ThinkPad W520 

look absolutely svelte. 

The EliteBook 8560w’s 

backlit, island-style keyboard 

has a full number pad and 

Benchmarks 

spans the expanse of the notebook’s interior 

with only a quarter inch on either side. The keys 

felt springy and responsive, and we were able 

to reach our typical score on the Ten Thumbs 

Typing Test. 

Watching The Avengers YouTube 1080p 

trailer on the EliteBook 8560w’s 15.6-inch 

LED backlit, anti-glare 1920 x 1080p 

DreamColor display was spectacular. 

We saw deep, rich hues of amber 

and crimson in explosions, and Thor’s 

blood-red cape popped against beautiful 

shades of obsidian and cobalt as he 

struck the ground with mighty Mjolnir. 

Music played on the EliteBook 8560w 

was loud and engaging. Powered by 

SRS Premium Sound, three speakers 

located on the bottom-front lip of the 

notebook easily filled a small room. 

However, the speakers’ downward angle made 

many of our selected tracks sound flat. 

The 8560w’s quad-core 2.3-GHz Intel Core i7- 

2820QM CPU with 16GB of RAM offers blistering 

performance that should satisfy the most demanding 

users. On PCMark Vantage, the 8560w scored 

2,269 points higher than the desktop replacement 

category average, and better than many gaming 

systems. Even the Alienware M18x (Intel Core i7- 

2920XM overclocked Turbo Boost to 4-GHz, 16GB 

of DDR3 memory at 1600 MHz, dual Nvidia GeForce 

GTX 580M GPUs) scored less. 

On 3DMark06, the EliteBook 8560w notched 

11,309, just below the average. The ThinkPad 

W520’s Nvidia Quadro 2000M GPU performed 

slightly better with a score of 11,683, while the 

ASUS G53SW-A1’s Nvidia GeForce GTX460M with 

1.5GB of VRAM blew the competition away with 

Score 

Category 

Avg. 



(h:m) 


(MBps) 

2:30 3:21 

29.8 36.2 

PCMark07 2,883 3,298 

3DMark06 11,309 11,435 


(min:sec)* 

W.O.W. 


Far Cry 2 


4:46 4:18 

100/65 fps 147/69 

140/100 

fps 

97/47 fps 


14,070. 

When work is done, this HP 

can easily handle 3D games. 

When we played World of Warcraft 

on Good at 1920 x 1080, 

the EliteBook 8560w returned 

a very strong 100 frames per 

second. Even with effects set to 

maximum, gameplay remained 

smooth at 46 fps. 

The 8560w’s eight-cell Li-Ion 

battery clocked in a disappointing 

2 hours and 30 minutes on the 

LAPTOP Battery Test, 51 minutes 

short of the 3:21 desktop replacement average. 

HP bundles the EliteBook 8560w with a number 

of system-management and security utilities. 

HP Power Assistant 

This business-rugged EliteBook 8560w is designed 

to withstand drops, dust, and extreme temperatures. 

allowed us to create different power profiles and 

review a summary of past power usage. We used 

HP Support Assistant to configure a tune-up designed 

to preserve system performance, as well 

as run diagnostic tests. 

The HP EliteBook 8560w provides fantastic 

workstation performance and a gorgeous 1080p 

display in an attractive and durable package. Some 

may prefer the Lenovo ThinkPad W520 workstation 

because it offers much longer battery life along 

with a better pointing stick. But if you want a 

more modern design and better audio quality to 

go along with your muscle, the EliteBook 8560w 

is a smart choice. 


HP $3,788 

★★★ ☆ www.hp.com 

CPU: 2.3-GHz Intel Core i7-2820QM Operating 

System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) 

RAM/Expandable to: 16GB/32B Hard Drive 

Size/Speed: 500GB/7,200 rpm Optical 

Drive: DVD±RW DL Display Size/Resolution: 

15.6 inches/1920 x 1080 Graphics/Video 

Memory: AMD FirePro M5950/1GB Wireless: 

802.11a/b/g/n Ports: Two USB 3.0, one USB 

2.0, eSATA/USB 2.0, DisplayPort, VGA, Ethernet, 

Firewire, headphone, mic, Kensington Lock 

slot Card Slots: ExpressCard/54, 2-in-1 memory 

card reader, smart card Size: 15 x 10.1 x 1.3 

inches Weight: 8 pounds Warranty/Support: 

Three-year limited/24/7 toll-free phone 

Very strong performance 

Rugged good looks and durability 

Full HD display with rich color 

Comfortable keyboard 

Three-year warranty 

Expensive 

Poor battery life 

46 


www.laptopmag.com

SMB Stunner 

The 13.3-inch Dell Vostro V131 offers small-business 

users long battery life and strong performance in a 

slim and stylish design. 

The Dell Vostro V131, Dell’s update to the SMBfocused 

Vostro V130, rectifies one of biggest the 

missteps of its predecessor with a longer-lasting 

battery. The V131 further sweetens the pot with 

a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a comfortable backlit 

keyboard, and a fingerprint reader. 

We were immediately struck by the Vostro V131’s 

Lucerne Red aluminum chassis. The lid is cool to 

the touch, fingerprint- and smudge-resistant, and 

offset by a black matte magnesium-alloy strip on 

the front lip of the machine. 

The chiclet-style backlit keyboard on the V131 

is large and spacious, spanning nearly the whole 

of the deck, save for a quarter inch on each side. 

Despite all that space, the right Shift key and the 

space bar are slightly undersized to make room 

for the direction keys. 

Our fingers glided effortlessly across the 3.3 

x 1.8-inch touchpad. Multitouch gestures work 

well, but we had to enable most gestures in the 

Dell Touchpad Control Panel. 

Featuring a 13.3-inch LED backlit HD matte 

display with 1366 x 768-pixel 

resolution, the Dell Vostro 

V131 offered bright images 

with fairly wide viewing 

angles. When we watched The 

Avengers trailer on YouTube, 

the details in Iron Man’s suit 

were crisp, but the contrast 

was not as strong as what you’d 

get from a glossy screen. 

Audio was a mixed bag. 

Mickey Rourke’s dialogue in 

Benchmarks 

the 1080p Immortals trailer was loud and clear 

thanks to the SRS Premium Voice PRO software. 

However, the speakers, located on the front edge, 

became obstructed when we placed the notebook 

on our lap, which caused sound to be muffled. 

Thanks to its 2.3-GHz Intel Core 15-2410M CPU 

with 6GB of RAM, the Dell Vostro 

V131 scored 7,730 on 

PCMark Vantage, 

blowing past the 5,891 

thin-and-light average. It also 

outperformed the TimelineX 

3830TG, the Portégé R835-P56X, 

and the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 

E420s, all of which have Core i5 

processors. We were able to run 

a full virus scan with nine open 

tabs in Google Chrome and five 

tabs in Internet Explorer—all 

while watching a full screen 

video in Hulu. 

While the Dell Vostro 

131 can stream video 

and run casual games, 

it doesn’t perform as 

well with full-blown 

titles. Playing World of 

Warcraft on Good at 1366 x 768p netted a frame 

rate of 40 fps, certainly playable but below the 

Toshiba Portégé R835 (44 fps). With effects set to 

maximum at 1366 x 768p, the V131’s frame rate 

Score 

Category 

Avg. 



(h:m) 


(MBps) 

6:12 5:29 

27.5 27.8 

PCMark07 2,423 2,171 

3DMark06 4,622 4,354 


(min:sec)* 

W.O.W. 


5:30 6:14 

40/16 fps 77/30 fps 


plummeted to an unplayable 

16 fps. 

One of the more noticeable 

and appreciated differences 

between the Vostro 

V131 and its predecessor is 

the addition of a removable 

battery in place of an integrated 

unit. During the LAPTOP 

Battery Test, the V131 lasted 

6 hours and 12 minutes, 43 

minutes longer than the 5:29 

category average, and more than twice as long 

as the V130 (a disappointing 2:45). 

DigitalPersona Fingerprint Software let us 

use our finger to log into the notebook as well 

as password-protected websites. There’s also a 

shortcut to IDMonitor, identity protection software 

from TrustedID. For $39.99 a year, users receive 

credit- and debit-card scanning, Lost Wallet 

Protection, and Identity Monitoring. 

Cool to the touch and fingerprintresistant, 

the Vostro V131 sports 

a striking red aluminum lid. 

businessnotebooks 

The $889 Dell Vostro V131 is one of the better 

small-business notebooks you can buy. The machine 

retains the incredibly attractive aluminum 

chassis of its predecessor and improves upon it 

with a comfy backlit keyboard; a longer-lasting, 

user-replaceable battery; and a fingerprint reader 

for security. While the Acer Aspire TimelineX 

3830TG-6431 offers better graphics performance 

and endurance for the same price, the Vostro V131 

is a solid SMB system with style and substance. 

 


Dell $889 

★★★★☆ 

www.dell.com 

CPU: 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5-2410M Operating 

System: Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) RAM/ 

Expandable to: 6GB/8GB Hard Drive Size/ 

Speed: 500GB/7,200 rpm Display Size/ 

Resolution: 13.3 inches/1366 x 768 Graphics/Video 

Memory: Intel HD 3000/256MB 

shared Wireless: 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 

3.0 Ports: Two USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, HDMI, 

VGA, Ethernet, headphone, mic, security 

lock slot Card Slots: 8-in-1 memory card 

reader Size: 12.9 x 9.4 x 0.8 inches Weight: 

4 pounds Warranty/Support: One-year limited/24/7 

toll-free phone 

Sleek red aluminum chassis 

Fingerprint reader 

Good battery life 


Comfortable backlit keyboard 

Mediocre graphics performance 

Speakers could be better 

tested 


tested 

Top iPhone 4S Games 

Flex the graphics muscle of Apple’s latest smartphone. 

by Russ Frushtick 

Anomaly Warzone 

Earth $3.99 

★★★★☆ 

There was a time when tower 

defense games were all the 

rage for mobile gaming. It 

would take a seriously original 

twist on tower defense to 

bring people back, and that’s 

just what Anomaly Warzone 

Earth offers. 

In most tower defense games, you set up immobile 

turrets around a map to prevent a constantly 

advancing force from breaking your defenses. In 

Anomaly Warzone Earth, you are that constantly 

advancing force. 

The touch-based interface works perfectly for 

this game, letting you quickly set routes and drop 

power-ups to aid your crews. Anomaly Warzone 

Earth was originally released on PC, but this new 

interface works far better than a mouse ever did. 

That being said, more casual players might find 

the level of micromanagement—even in the early 

levels—overwhelmingly difficult. 

Anomaly Warzone Earth plays from a top-down 

perspective, giving you a clear view of the action 

from the sky. From this vantage, you can fully 

appreciate the game’s visuals, from smoldering 

buildings to electrified wires. 

It’s hard to imagine any strategy gamer not 

enjoying this new twist on the tower defense 

genre. Provided you’re up for the challenging 

gameplay, you’ll really enjoy the great graphics 

and spot-on controls. 

crossbow, and a sword. Don’t worry; you’re supposed 

to be confused by this iOS game. 

The structure of Dark Meadow owes a lot to 

another popular iOS game, Infinity Blade. Instead 

of being able to walk freely around the creepy 

Overlook Hotel-esque building, you can only travel 

and interact with glowing hot spots. 

Dark Meadow is stunningly gorgeous and 

looks incredible on the iPhone 4S (as well as 

the iPad 2). It’s powered by the Unreal engine, 

which brings impressive lighting and particle 

effects that aren’t far from console quality. The 

fact that this is a mobile game really shows how 

far things have come. 

If you enjoy classic adventure games with creepy 

monsters and a mysterious plot, Dark Meadow is 

well worth your time. The stunning graphics are a 

testament to the power of the iPhone 4S. 

Dark Meadow $5.99 

★★★★☆ 

Dark Meadow starts in, well, a dark meadow. In the 

distance stands a tall, foreboding house that looks 

right up Norman Bates’ alley. And then suddenly 

everything goes dark. You wake up moments (or 

hours) later, in a dingy room with an old man, a 

48 


www.laptopmag.com

tested 

APPS 

Infinity Blade $5.99 

★★★★ 

If you’re looking for the grandaddy 

of graphics on the iPhone 4S, you’ll 

find no more impressive contender 

than Infinity Blade. Even though the game has 

been out for a year, constant updates for each 

new iOS device mean that the title remains 

cutting edge. 

In Infinity Blade, things don’t start out very 

well for you. In fact, you die in the first minute, 

run clean through by the merciless God King. 

Thankfully your downtime is short, as you quickly 

take on the role of an ancestor of the knight who 

died. Your quest: to bring down the God King and 

avenge your pappy. 

The gameplay itself is a fascinating mix of roleplaying 

and reflex-based action. You’ll take on evil 

knights by swiping at them with swords and axes 

while dodging their attacks. 

If you’re looking for console-quality graphics 

on a mobile device, Infinity Blade takes the cake. 

Thanks to Unreal Engine 3 technology, character 

models and environments look equal to efforts 

in games such as Gears of War and Uncharted. 

Anti-aliasing and high resolution textures specific 

to the iPhone 4S are also sure to make even 

iPhone 4 owners jealous. 

Infinity Blade is easily the best 

way to show off the graphical might 

of the iPhone 4S. The fact that it has 

compelling gameplay in addition to 

gorgeous visuals is just the icing 

on the cake. 

Real Racing 2 $4.99 

★★★★☆ 

Hopping into the App Store, you’re 

likely to be overwhelmed with the 

sheer number of racing game options, 

ranging from realistic racers to more 

arcade-style affairs. They all have one 

thing in common, though: They pale in comparison 

to full-fledged console racers such as Forza and 

Gran Turismo. Well, almost all of them. 

Real Racing 2 is the sequel to the enormously 

popular racer that raised the bar for gaming 

expectations on mobile devices. Developer 

Firemint didn’t pull many punches for the second 

installment, offering 15 tracks, 30 cars (with real 

licenses such as BMW, Ford, and Jaguar) and a 

host of multiplayer options. 

If you have an Apple TV and an iPhone 4S, you 

can host a split-screen match on your television. 

Three other iPhone users (even non-4S owners) 

can connect to your device, and it’ll send the four 

game screens wirelessly to the HDTV. This is the 

first time anyone has been able to do this sort of 

wireless split-screen play on iOS, and we’re really 

hoping that it’s not the last. 

iPhone 4S owners also get some big visual 

improvements. The game already looked great 

on non-A5 devices, though it did suffer from 

frame rate issues. On the 4S, though, those are 

long gone, replaced with real-time shadows and 

lighting on car interiors, as well as better lighting 

and textures on the tracks. 

If you love racing games, Real Racing 2 is 

easily the slickest-looking one around. Exclusive 

4S features make this title a great deal. 

Shadowgun $4.99 

★★★ ☆ 

Shadowgun from Madfinger Games is very 

clearly inspired by one of the biggest console 

franchises around, Gears of War. But despite its 

similarities to the massive console series, this 

$4.99 iOS game has been cleverly designed to 

work on a touchscreen. 

It’s important that you go into Shadowgun 

with very low expectations regarding the narrative. 

Michael Bay’s work comes off as art-house 

snobbery when compared to the story and dialog 

of this title. All you need to know is that there’s a 

mad scientist and you’ve been sent in to capture 

him from deep within his evil base. 

Shadowgun boasts excellent controls. The game 

uses a virtual analog stick for player movement 

on the left thumb, while swiping your right thumb 

will swing the camera around. Holding down the 

fire button not only unleashes devastation on 

your enemies, but also allows you to adjust your 

aim, letting you make small adjustments for your 

target’s movements. 

Powered by the Unity engine, the graphics in 

Shadowgun are top-notch. Levels, ranging from 

underground military bases to mining camps, 

are nicely detailed, and the enemies you face 

are gruesome enough to make you want to shoot 

them in earnest. 

The similarities with Gears of War are obvious 

from the very first level of Shadowgun. Standing 

in the middle of an open courtyard, attempting to 

run and gun your way to victory, is a guaranteed 

death sentence. Instead, you have to use cover, 

which is liberally placed around the levels you’re 

traversing. 

Unfortunately, the variety of enemies and 

weapons doesn’t extend to the gameplay, which 

is pretty repetitive throughout Shadowgun’s 

4-hour campaign. 

Shadowgun may not be the most innovative 

game available for iOS platforms, but it’s certainly 

one of the prettiest. 

■ 


tested 

Our Top Picks 

The best gear to get right now. Visit www.laptopmag.com to find full reviews. 

Budget notebook 

HP Pavilion dm4t 

★★★★☆ $579 

An attractive aluminum 

design, a fingerprint reader, 

and long battery life make 

the dm4t an excellent and 

affordable laptop. 

Thin-and-Light 

(13 to 14 inches) 

Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch) 

★★★★☆ Starting at $1,199 

A second-gen Core i5 processor 

and Intel HD graphics make this 

MacBook Pro powerful and 

long-lasting. 

Ultraportable (10 to 13 inches) 

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch) 

★★★★★ Starting at $1,299 

Apple’s ultimate ultraportable gets even 

better with a faster Core i5 CPU, a backlit 

keyboard, and Thunderbolt support. 

All-purpose 

notebook 

HP Pavilion dv6t 

★★★★☆ Starting at $599 

The 15.6-inch dv6t offers a 

great multimedia experience 

thanks to Beats Audio and fast 

performance. 

Small Business 

notebook 

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s 


Lenovo lends a dash of style to this 

notebook’s strong combination of 

an excellent keyboard and long 

battery life. 

Business notebook 

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 

★★★★☆ Starting at $1,299 

Second-gen Core i5 power, a backlit 

keyboard, and a rugged body make 

this an ideal traveling companion. 

Multimedia notebook 

Dell XPS 15 


Dell’s 15-incher delivers a 1080p display, 

Blu-ray, Nvidia graphics, and powerful 

JBL speakers. 

50 


www.laptopmag.com

tested 

Get more online. 

Click on the products 

below to view complete 

review online. 

TOPPICKS 

Gaming Notebook 

Alienware M17x 

★★★★★ Starting at $1,499 

Record-breaking performance, a 

super-slick design, wireless HD 

streaming, 

and 

5 hours of 

battery life. 

Perfect. 

BUDGET TABLET 

Amazon Kindle Fire 

★★★★☆ $199 

Half eReader, half Android tablet, the 

Fire has a great Gorilla Glass display 

and the speedy Silk browser. 

Tablet 

Apple iPad 2 

★★★★☆ 

Starting at $499 

A thinner and lighter 

design, dual cameras, 

11 hours of battery 

life—and gobs of 

apps—keep this 

tablet ahead of the 

competition. 

Mobile Broadband 

Device 

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE 

MiFi 4510L 

★★★★☆ 

(with two-year contract; $50 per 

month for 5GB) 

The faste 

s t 4G 

speeds in 

a compact 

design. 

SmartPhone 

Apple iPhone 4S 

★★★★☆ $199 (16GB) 

(with two-year contract) 

Offered on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, 

this superphone has a superb 8-MP 

camera, bright Retina display, and the 

Siri voice-controlled assistant. 

Sprint SmartPhone 

Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 

4G Touch 

★★★★☆ $199 


With a supersized 4.5-inch display 

and an excellent 8-MP camera, 

the Epic 4G impresses. 

T-Mobile SmartPhone 

Samsung Galaxy S II 

★★★★☆ $229 (with two-year contract) 

Ultra-slim design includes 

a gorgeous 

screen, dual-core 

performance, and 

4G speed. 

Verizon Wireless 

SmartPhone 

Motorola Droid RAZR 

★★★★☆ $299 


This flagship phone is just 0.3 inches 

thick, sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED 

Advanced screen, and offers blazing 

4G LTE speeds. 

AT&T SmartPhone 

Motorola Atrix 2 

★★★★☆ $99 


A dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 4G, an 

8-MP camera, and a qHD display—and 

a bargain at less than $100. 


Tech to 

Watch 2012 

The top trends that could define the coming year in tech. 

by LAPTOP Editors 

This year in tech may have been dominated by Apple—from 

the company’s new MacBook Airs and the iPad 2 to the 

game-changing Siri—but 2012 promises to be anything 

but a one-player game. Whether it’s Apple and Google racing 

to perfect their versions of the cloud or Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, 

and others one-upping each other with super-thin Ultrabooks, 

there are plenty of horses in the mobile tech race. 

To say that the coming year will see plenty of hardware 

and software innovations is an understatement. From widespread 

adoption of mobile payment systems to Apple’s Siri 

inspiring a rash of voice-recognition competitors, our tech 

predictions for 2012 reflect the impressive innovations of 

this last year. Read on for a sneak peek of what’s in store 

for your mobile future. 

52 


www.laptopmag.com

Windows 8: microsoft (finally) answers the ipad 

What Is It 

Microsoft Windows 8 operating system is Microsoft’s long-awaited 

answer to the iPad. But this touch-friendly OS isn't just designed 

for tablets. By late 2012, Windows 8 will find a home on everything 

from laptops and slates to huge all-in-one PCs. 

Similar to Windows Phones, Windows 8 sports a Start screen 

with dynamic Live Tiles and sleek panoramic interface. Although the 

OS has been optimized for touchscreen input, it also supports mice 

and keyboards. This is a vastly different strategy than Apple’s, which 

is using iOS for phones and tablets and Mac OS for computers. 

Why It’s Important 

Today, Windows XP still accounts for 38.1 percent of global desktop 

operating system usage. Microsoft is hoping to convince the more 

than one billion people who use Windows to upgrade—and to fend 

off Apple. As part of that effort, Windows 8 supports ARM processors, 

in addition to Intel and AMD x86 CPUs. These low-power chips 

will enable fanless designs with long battery life. 

“Windows 8 is a big deal for the industry,” said Stephen Baker, 

director of industry analysis of NPD. “It’s a radical deparature from 

what Microsoft has done in the past. And they’re being pushed in 

that direction by smartphones and tablets and Android and iOS.” 

How It Will Change Your Life 

The look and feel of Windows is getting the first major overhaul in 

several years. The traditional Start menu has been replaced with a 

tech to watch 2012 

whole new look and feel. 

Live Tiles present more 

info at a glance than static 

icons, and you’ll see lots of 

full-screen apps in Microsoft's 

new Windows Store, 

from productivity tools to 

games. This UI could prove 

jarring, but users will be 

able to fall back on the more traditional Windows environment and 

run desktop apps. 

This dual-pronged approach worries some analysts. “Depending 

on which application you open, you may be getting the new 

UI or the old UI, which can be clunky,” said Al Gillen, program vice 

president at IDC. 

Outlook 

The early reaction to Windows 8 has been mostly positive. However, 

it’s not clear whether Microsoft’s one-size-fits-all approach for tablets 

and PCs will resonate with consumers. “The other players in the 

market view the tablet as the upscale smartphone OS, while Microsoft 

looks as it as a 

downscale PC OS,” 

said Baker. “How 

they excecute that 

will be critical.” 


See Inside Windows 8 

iPad 3, iPhone 5, and a Real Apple TV 

What Is It 

How do you top a year in which you became the biggest 

company in the world, had the best-selling smartphone and tablet, 

and inspired an entire category of MacBook Air copycats called 

Ultrabooks You keep pumping out hit products—while forging 

completely new categories. 

Expect the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 to hit store shelves in 2012. 

Additionally, rumors of an upcoming voice-controlled Apple iTV are 

growing increasingly loud. 

“Apple needs to refresh [its] products,” says John Jackson, vice 

president of research at CCS Insight. “Every year—and it’s their 

own fault, really—they have to outdo themselves.” 


According to its Q4 earnings, Apple raked in $28 billion revenue 

and $6.6 billion profit. And even though the iPhone 4S sports the 

same design as its predecessor, Apple sold 4 million handsets in its 

first weekend. 

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst for Gartner, stressed that Apple’s 

continued success will rely on delivering a compelling user experience. 

“Ecosystems are important. Consumers are looking at things 

like services, applications, cloud functions, synchronizations.” 

This is where Apple has excelled, thanks to iCloud and Siri. 


Details are scant, but the iPad 3 is expected to feature a class-leading 

2048 x 1536-pixel display, double the iPad 2’s resolution. Also, 

look for a new 4G chip 

from Qualcomm for those 

models with integrated 

mobile broadband. 

Meanwhile, rumors 

point to the iPhone 5 

having a larger screen, 

multiple color options, and a 10-megapixel camera. We also 

wouldn’t be surprised to see a quad-core processor. 

Due to the company’s secrecy about new products, it’s almost 

impossible to paint an accurate picture of Apple’s future. However, 

Jackson expects a change in design during the next year. “The 

iPhone is due for a design overhaul,” he said. He also acknowledged 

the possibility of a voice-controlled iTV, saying there was 

great potential to be found in Siri. 

Outlook 

Now, Apple’s task is to continue out-innovating the competition, 

especially since Amazon has started to encroach on Apple’s turf 

with its ecosystem-centric Kindle Fire. 

Gartenberg wouldn’t share any predictions, but he 

emphasized that Apple will continue to forge its own unique path. 

“The market said that the lack of Flash was a weakness for iOS 

devices and Apple said, ‘We don’t think it is.’ Then we saw Adobe 

abandon [its] mobile Flash efforts. People said Apple needed to 

build netbooks, and the company said it didn’t. It sort of ignores 

conventional wisdom.” 



Quad Core Goes Mobile 

What Is it 

Mobile CPUs are about to leap into another dimension 

as quad-core computing power comes to mobile devices. 

Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chips use a whopping four Cortex A9 cores. 

Think PC-like performance without compromised battery life. 

In fact, quad-core chips should be even more battery-efficient than 

their dual-core predecessors. 

Qualcomm is also getting into the game with its quad-core 

Snapdragon S4 chip, expected to hit tablets during the second half 

of next year. 


Designed to be the brains of bleeding-edge mobile devices, Tegra 

3 will intelligently divide the computational workload among all four 

cores. If just one core is needed, then it will run at 1.4 GHz, but when 

multiple cores are required, all will operate at a slightly slower 1.3 GHz. 

According to Nvidia, the division of labor depends on the 

intensity of the workload and the nature of an application. For 

example, while you’re playing a graphically challenging game, 

all four cores will be called into action. More mundane tasks 

such as checking email or viewing simple web pages may need 

only one core. 

But wait—there’s more. Nvidia says a fifth processor, called the 

companion core, steps in to take care of the least intensive tasks 

(such as background app operations). This core ticks away at a much 

slower 500 MHz to minimize the hit to the battery. 

Qualcomm’s S4 chip goes a step further by integrating a 

HD Screens in your hand 

What Is It 

Most Android smartphones have been stuck on the same 800 

x 480-pixel resolution for a couple of years, while the iPad 2 

has maintained a mediocre 1024 x 768 resolution. Thankfully, 

with the advent of larger phones such as the 4.6-inch Samsung 

Galaxy Nexus, manufacturers are turning attention back to 

making better images. With higher resolutions and wider viewing 

angles on mobile devices, 2012 promises a mobile feast for 

the eyes. 

That means adding more pixels, because high pixel density— 

measured in Pixels Per Inch (PPI)—is critical for image quality. Too 

few pixels in an area make an image appear grainy. A typical 1280 

x 800, 10-inch Android tablet has a mere 150 PPI. 

Some experts believe a PPI of 300 to 350 is ideal, because the 

human eye can’t perceive anything higher. The iPhone 4S’ 326 PPI 

Retina display reaches this threshold, but most manufacturers have 

room for improvement. 

Higher-resolution screens, such as the 1280 x 720-pixel display 

found on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, also mean users can view 

HD movies without downscaling, and can see more of their favorite 

web pages without scrolling or zooming out. 

Device manufacturers are promising enhanced color 

quality, better viewing angles, and lower power consumption. 

For instance, IPS (In Plane Switching) displays have started to 

proliferate because of their wide 178-degree viewing angles. On 

phones, AMOLED displays are becoming more popular because 

of their power efficiency. 

3G/4G modem, allowing for more compact designs and even 

more power efficiency. 


Quad-core computing is the closest a mobile handset or tablet has 

ever come to matching the muscle of a laptop or desktop. With this 

power you’ll enjoy eye candy mobile users have never seen before, 

such as lifelike water effects, dynamic lighting, and scary-real physics. 

Plus, the platform supports 3D graphics and hardware acceleration. 

Imagine swiftly stitching shots together into panoramas, splicing 

video clips, and editing multiple audio tracks using your tablet or 

smartphone. Soon it will be seamless, while also minimizing the 

impact on battery life. 

Outlook 

The first mobile device to harness the power of quad core is the 

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet. Quad-core smartphones 

should follow not too long after. Windows 8 tablets with quad-core 

processors inside, such as Qualcomm’s S4, will likely surface 

toward the end of the year. 


“The picture quality is more 

noticeable because it’s closer to 

your face,” said DisplaySearch 

analyst Richard Shim. 


Higher-resolution screens will be 

a major selling point for the nextgeneration 

of mobile devices. With 

your sharper screen, you’ll want to 

consume more HD content on the 

go. You may also find yourself reading 

and surfing the web more on 

those devices. 

“Smartphones really are just 

miniaturized computers,” said 

Eunsun Jun of Samsung Mobile 

Displays. “For things like multimedia 

and especially web browsing and watching movies on the phone, 

larger and brighter screens are helpful.” 

Outlook 

Last year the first 1280 x 720-pixel phone screens appeared, but 

according to NDP’s Rubin, that resolution will become the new 

standard for high-end phones in 2012. We also expect a significant 

bump in tablets’ pixel density this year. 

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The Cloud Eclipses Gadgets 

What Is It 

The cloud isn’t new. The personal cloud is. 

“The current state [of the cloud] is this type of digital 

locker,” explained Gartner Research’s Michael Gartenberg. But 

with last year’s release of iCloud and Microsoft improving its 

Windows Live Skydrive, the cloud has begun to move toward a 

multi-device synchronization model, with users able to sync and 

update files across all of their gadgets. 


The cloud is fast becoming the next great frontier in personal 

computing, offering users near-limitless amounts of online storage, 

processing power, and content. 

“We are at a point where brands and platforms and even 

devices are ultimately going to be defined not by [processing] 

speeds, but the services they offer. And those services are almost 

entirely going to become cloud based over time,” Gartenberg said. 


According to Dharmesh Mehta, director of Microsoft’s Windows Live 

division, the cloud as it currently exists can be broken down into 

three divisions: the file cloud, the device cloud, and the app cloud. 

The file cloud is made up of file storage services, while the device 

cloud is made up of services such as iCloud and Windows 8’s 

upcoming Windows Live Mesh improvements. The app cloud is the 

use of connected apps that allow users to bring their information 

and settings across the web. 

Thunderbolts of Speed 

What Is It 

USB 3.0 is so 2011. During the last year, Intel partnered with Apple 

to develop Thunderbolt for high-speed data and video transfers. 

The new technology offers nearly 20 times the speeds of USB 2.0, 

but the benefits don’t stop there. 

Essentially a combination of Mini DisplayPort and PCI Express, 

Thunderbolt can transfer data at a blistering 10 Gbps and port 

high-definition video simultaneously over the same cable. USB 3.0, 

found in today’s PCs, only supports 5 Gbps data transmissions. 

Thunderbolt technology premiered in the 13- and 15-inch 

MacBook Pros. The first peripherals to work with this new port, such 

as the Promise Pegasus storage line (starting at $1,149), appeared 

shortly afterward. But more products are on the way. 


Sony was first to implement a variation on Thunderbolt technology 

with the VAIO Z. The ultraportable connected to a Power 

Media Dock with discrete GPU and Blu-ray burner. Acer and ASUS 

have committed to releasing Windows PCs with a bona fide 

Thunderbolt port in 2012. 

Meanwhile, LaCie’s Little Big Disk (starting at $549), and the 

Black Magic Ultra Studio 3D video capture and playback box ($995) 

have hit the stage. Western Digital will release Thunderbolt storage 

products in mid-January. Belkin’s upcoming Thunderbolt Express 

Dock will feature three USB ports, Firewire, Gigabit Ethernet, and a 

Thunderbolt port. And Intel sees increasing interest in Thunderboltconnected 

external graphics cards. 


Within those cloud divisions are 

the service providers such as Amazon, 

Apple, Google, and Microsoft. These 

divisions create compatibility issues 

between brands. But we're beginning 

to see a paradigm shift away from a 

reliance on one company’s cloud service. “Over the next 6 to 18 

months, you are going to have more innovation on bringing these 

together,” Mehta said. 

With a less fractious cloud, users will be able to move and 

access their files using any device with any service. 

“For 2012, one of the important aspects of getting people to 

recognize the value of cloud is how it can be a unifying influence over 

their complex lives and straddle areas like entertainment and documents 

and messaging and communications and address book,” said 

Dana Gardner of Interarbor Solutions. 

Outlook 

A device- and OS-agnostic cloud might end our obsession with getting 

the most powerful gadget. “We are talking about a whole new 

wave of, not only technology, but services,” said Gartenberg. “And 

that means platforms 

become less relevant, 

devices become less 

relevant, they are 

all just connected 

screens.” 


According to Intel, Thunderbolt lets 

users to transfer full-length HD movies in 

less than 30 seconds. A user could also 

back up a year’s worth of MP3s in a little 

more than 10 minutes. The emerging 

technology will enable a person to run a 

display with a resolution higher than 1080p while simultaneously 

pumping out eight audio channels. Plus, Thunderbolt will enable 

consumers to connect up to six devices via a process called 

daisy-chaining. 

Outlook 

Outfitting a device with Thunderbolt can be a pricey choice for a notebook 

maker, an expense that is ultimately passed on to the consumer. 

But Intel’s Jason Ziller argues that it’s just a matter of time before prices 

come down. “Some OEMs may not offer Thunderbolt at [the sub-$500] 

price initially,” he admitted, “but eventually Thunderbolt will be available 

at just about every price point.” 

Thunderbolt will also have to contend with USB’s strong lead and 

brand recognition with consumers. But Intel sees the technologies 

complementing one 

another, recommending 

to OEMs that new 

notebooks support 

both USB 3.0 and 

Thunderbolt ports. 


Apple vs. Google vs. 

Microsoft 


First Thunderbolt 

Drive TESTED 



Working Out, Geeking Out 

What Is It 

Your excuses for not getting in shape are dwindling fast, thanks to 

a new breed of fitness gadgets. Devices from Fitbit, Jawbone, and 

Motorola are designed to leverage the power of mobile computing, 

the cloud, and social networking to get couch potatoes off their 

duffs and keep them motivated. 

Priced at $99.95, the Fitbit Ultra follows up the original 

Fitbit—an elegantly designed pedometer that tracks all your 

steps using its built-in accelerometer. On the first-generation 

device, users could sync results to the company’s website for 

detailed analysis, compare their activity with other Fitbit owners, 

and see if they met their daily exercise goals. 

The Fitbit Ultra offers the same features, but adds a stairtracking 

feature, stopwatch, and clock. Also new is iOS app support 

to log workouts and meals, plus track your overall progress. 

For motivation, the Fitbit Ultra rewards software badges, à la 

Foursquare, to encourage more activity. 

Jawbone, which has up until now focused on Bluetooth 

headsets, has branched out to another type of wearable 

gadget with the Up. This $99 wristband works in tandem with 

an iOS app to track everything from steps walked to calories 

burned, and it will even vibrate when you’ve been sedentary 

for too long. 

Motorola’s Motoactv packs even more advanced features in 

a wearable device. At $249, this watch is more akin to a smartphone 

thanks to the built-in GPS sensor and what Motorola calls 

AccuSense, which measures your performance. Also on board is a 

music player that monitors which songs were playing during your 

best workout, and a Bluetooth radio for connecting to other fitness 

peripherals, such as heart rate monitors. 

Motoactv works in tandem with a companion Android app and 

the Motoactv website to let you dive into your performance stats. 

Even better, the watch syncs data with the cloud whenever you’re in 

range of your home Wi-Fi network. 


According to the Centers for Disease Control, a disturbing one third 

of U.S. adults are obese. Just as troubling is that 79 million Americans 

20 years and older have an increased risk of developing Type 

2 diabetes; a staggering 35 percent of the public. The prevalence 

of this illness can be prevented through a sensible regimen of diet 

and exercise, which is precisely what these smart fitness products 

promise to help people do. 

When asked why Motorola decided to enter the fitness space, 

a company representative told us, “Getting out there and doing 

exercise is something we encourage and having the technology 

background that we have, we thought hey, we can help out. We 

can provide smart solutions that are fun and simple to use.” 


For many, going to the gym isn’t the most enjoyable activity, and it’s 

often hard to track progress. Intelligent fitness changes the equation 

by providing feedback in real time. These devices also seek to tap 

into human nature by forcing users to set goals and offering rewards. 

Social support also plays a big role with these devices. On 

Fitbit.com, for example, you can share your progress with public 

groups or create private groups to set collaborative or competitive 

goals. The Jawbone Up offers similar community features. 

“The ability to upload and share activity data can bring a level of 

community sharing and competitiveness to what are often solitary 

activities,” said Jonathan Collins, principle analyst for ABI Research. 

Outlook 

Collins estimates that nearly 10 million fitness gadgets shipped in 

the U.S. last year. “Year-on-year growth from 2011 to 2012 in the U.S. 

could be nearly 50 percent,” he said. Compatible Bluetooth technology 

in most smartphones and tablets—plus the health industry moving 

toward greater patient involvement and preventive care—will also help 

smart fitness tech gain traction. 

Motorola's Motoactv measures your 

performance with its Accusense technology 

56 


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NFC: Digital Wallets and Beyond 

What Is It 

Last year mobile payments finally became a reality with the Google 

Wallet service. Isis, a conglomerate of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon 

Wireless, has entered the space too and signed on major phone 

makers, including HTC, LG, Motorola, RIM, and Samsung. The real 

story, though, is the enabling technology behind tap-and-go payments, 

called Near Field Communication (NFC). 

NFC is capable of much more than simply buying stuff. It 

relies on circuitry to transmit and receive data between very short 

distances and is compatible with existing RFID (Radio Frequency 

Identification) tags, which are already widely deployed across the 

country. What makes NFC really exciting is its potential. 


The growing adoption rate of RFID technology is step one in NFC’s 

coming of age. Analyst firm ABI Research estimates the RFID 

market has increased 11 percent over last year. The second factor 

at play is the swift integration of NFC into smartphones. According 

to Nick Holland of The Yankee Group, a whopping 40 million NFC 

chipsets hit the market in 2011.“While the vast majority of these 

chips went into handsets, we expect NFC to quickly cascade into 

other devices this year.” 

NFC is integrated into such devices as the Samsung Nexus S 

and the Samsung Galaxy S II. Unfortunately, users can’t do much 

with the feature yet. 

NFC-related technology may also already be in your home. 

Voice Recognition Gets Siri-ous 

What Is It 

“Will it be sunny in Miami this weekend” 

“Bring your sunglasses, it’s going to be nice in Miami.” 

No, this isn’t a conversation between two friends. It’s an exchange 

between user and a smartphone. The iPhone 4S—equipped 

with Apple’s Siri Personal Assistant, which can understand and 

respond intelligently to what you say, without preset commands. 

“Siri is a massive new source of semantic data,” says CCS 

Insight’s Jackson. “It’s something between a useful tool and a 

novelty. But Apple has succeeded in capturing human interest.” 

As frustrating as it is for competitors that have occupied the 

space even before Siri came out, it also poses an opportunity for 

them to catch up—or even reinvent the space. 


Until now, users have mostly interacted with mobile interfaces by 

typing in search terms. Natural language recognition changes 

that. “You suddenly have the possibility of saying what you want, 

and the system—if properly designed—can go off and grab what 

you want,” said Vlad Sejnoha, CTO of Nuance Communication. 

Moreover, Nuance has garnered interest on the developers’ 

side for programming for speech-recognition user interfaces. From 

late summer to October, the company saw the number of signups—those 

looking to integrate speech into their Android and iOS 

apps—grow from 2,000 to more than 5,000. 


Google Voice Actions already lets users send texts, play a song, and 

That $200 bottle of 2008 wine from Napa’s Opus 

One, for instance, has an NFC chip to keep better 

track of inventory and to thwart counterfeiting. 


How it will change your life 

Google sees NFC’s potential. Baked into Android 

4.0, Google’s Beam feature uses NFC to let users do 

some nifty tricks, such as transferring videos, pictures, 

contacts, and websites by touching two Android phones together. For 

example, a YouTube video shared via Beam will pick up on another 

device exactly where it was last played. 

In regards to Beam and NFC, a Google rep told us, “Beam takes 

a technology like NFC, which has always been associated with 

something like mobile payments, and found an infinite number of 

use cases.” 

Outlook 

The future looks bright for NFC, but at the moment the cost of NFC 

chips prevents the technology from reaching critical mass. “By 2014, 

we expect the number of NFC-enabled handsets [in use] to be 20 to 

30 percent. The costs are going to come down rapidly, at which point 

you’re going to see 

developers really 

experiment with it.” 

navigate to an address. But new Ice 

Cream Sandwich software will bring 

more features, including user interface 

navigation via voice and voice-typing. 

Meanwhile, Nuance is working 

with IBM to apply the breakthrough 

Watson engine to answer questions. 

For example, instead of flipping through 

your car’s manual to find out where to 

put the windshield-washer fluid, you 

could ask your car and it would give you 

a specific spoken answer along with a 

photo or video. 

To understand the scope of voice 

recognition, Mr. Sejnoha says we 

should realize that it will show up in household appliances. 

Outlook 

With Siri, Apple has gone beyond the scope of traditional voicerecognition 

technology. Now users can literally carry on a conversation 

with their smartphone. And Apple has restarted the 

race to reinvent 

voice recognition. 

Sejnoha says we 

should expect 

leaps and bounds 

in the technology 

in the upcoming 


Hands-On With Google 

Wallet 


Guide to Siri 



Android Fights Back Against Malware 

What Is It 

Android is the leading smartphone operating system, but it’s not just 

its ubiquity that makes it a juicy target for hackers. The open Android 

Market is highly vulnerable to software threats. According to Juniper 

Networks, malware in the Android Market has skyrocketed 472 percent 

since July 2011—although Google refutes those figures. 

Google can’t seem to keep up with the bad guys. To help shape 

up Android’s defenses, some of the leading PC security software 

companies have released security suites for the OS, complete with 

virus and malware protection. Plus, Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich 

OS beefs up security. With 200 million Android devices activated as 

of October, those improvements can’t come soon enough. 


According to Mark Kanok, Symantec product manager, malware 

developers working hard to develop new types of malicious code. 

Some of the more dangerous known types of malware are premium 

dialers. These nasty apps force a device to call or text “premium” 

numbers, which rack up huge wireless charges. 

Another growing threat preys on users who look up trending 

search terms. Text- and email-based attacks are also on the rise, 

as are attacks that use a phone’s near field communications chip 

against it. For now, there are just a few NFC-enabled smartphones, 

such as the Galaxy Nexus, but malware writers and hackers could 

wreak havoc with the identities of users who participate in programs 

such as Google Wallet or who share information via Android Beam. 


Beyond not opening links sent 

to you from strangers, consider 

adding McAfee’s Mobile Security 

for Android ($29.99 per year), 

Symantec’s Norton Mobile Security 

($29.99 per year), or Lookout 

Mobile Security ($29.99). Each 

provides users with antivirus, 

anti-spyware, anti-fishing protection, 

as well as backup, remote 

lock, wipe, and tracking features. 

Each app is also available as a free version with fewer features. 

In Android 4.0, Google will help protect devices by featuring full 

encryption and by making it harder to install malicious code. 

“This is a very important feature for these devices to be considered 

enterprise-ready,” said Stacy Crook, senior research analyst 

for mobile enterprise at research firm IDC. 

Outlook 

While Ice Cream Sandwich plugs some of Android’s security 

holes, it will take a long while for the OS to become the most 

popular flavor. In the meantime, expect mobile security suites 

to help protect devices running older software, as well as help 

even the latest Google-powered phones stay one step ahead of 

the bad guys. 

App My Ride 

What Is It 

Forget cupholders. The next time you go car shopping, count 

the number of apps. So far, automakers have mostly focused on 

integrating apps such as Pandora, Facebook, and Twitter directly 

into their vehicles’ entertainment systems. But because those 

proprietary systems are difficult to update—and smartphones offer 

a much wider array of apps—providing connectivity for mobile 

devices is quickly becoming the way to go. 

From Chrysler and Ford to General Motors and Hyundai, car 

manufacturers are allowing users to connect their smartphones 

directly to their car’s infotainment system via a USB cable or 

Bluetooth connection. Once the device is connected, the vehicle is 

able to identify it and automatically render its user interface on the 

car’s infotainment screen. 


By developing a link between a user’s smartphone and car, automakers 

are now able to give drivers access to their apps through a 

simple, easy-to-use interface. 

“The basic idea is to extend digital use [of these apps] inside 

the car in a hassle-free manner, not to allow unlimited access of all 

apps inside the car, as it can be dangerous for driving conditions,” 

explained Praveen Chandrasekar, global program manager with 

Frost & Sullivan. 


Imaging hopping into your car, connecting your iPhone 4S, and 

asking Siri about your day’s schedule. Or telling your car to record 

your shopping list. Ford has already reached this level of smartphone 

integration with its MyFord Touch Applink system. 

Several manufacturers and technology companies have 

formed the Car Connectivity Consortium. The CCC—which counts 

among its members General Motors, LG, Nokia, Toyota, and 

Volkswagen—has developed the Mirror Link standard. Like Ford’s 

AppLink system, MirrorLink connects a user’s smartphone to the 

vehicle through Bluetooth. Both systems also feature their own 

programming interface, which is available to app developers. 

Outlook 

Ford has a head start. Its AppLink system premiered in 2011 

editions of the Ford Fiesta, and will land in all of the automaker’s 

models this year. Toyota is also expected to make strides with 

MirrorLink this year, implementing it across its vehicle lineup as part 

of its Toyota Touch Life system. 

Ford says it is working to unveil a host of new apps within the 

next year. “What we are going to be revealing a series of partners 

in new categories,” explained Doug VanDagens, global director of 

connected services solutions with Ford. 

■ 

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Brush up on your etiquette 

with these expert-approved 

dos and don’ts. 


Last February, the American Red Cross garnered 

attention on Twitter—and not for charity-related reasons. 

No, the organization was in the spotlight after 

an employee accidentally tweeted about “getting slizzerd” 

on Dogfish Head beer. The employee at fault quickly issued 


etiquette 

an apology tweet, blaming her 

“inability to use Hootsuite.” 

Luckily, the mishap had a happy 

ending, with the errant tweet 

inspiring a rash of donations 

to the organization. 

But not all digital hijinks 

turn out so positively. From 

inappropriate tweets and 

Facebook status updates 

to phone calls taken at the 

very worst moments, the list 

of tech-related faux pas is 

nothing if not lengthy—and it’s growing every day as the 

digital landscape continues to morph. So how do you know 

if you’re being polite 

According to Daniel Post Senning, manager of web 

development and online content at The Emily Post Institute 

and the great-great-grandson of the eponymous etiquette 

expert, proper mobile manners can be boiled down to 

one simple concept. “Whenever you think of good use 

of a device, it’s a great rule of thumb to think about the 

human interaction that’s going on,” Senning said. “The 

most important thing is to think about the people and how 

they’re affected.” 

So with that teched-up twist on the Golden Rule in mind, 

we present some more in-depth guidelines for ensuring your 

mobile etiquette is in tip-top shape. 

Gadget Use 

A recent study conducted by the Pew Research 

Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that 

about 13 percent of mobile phone users have faked 

a call to get out of real-life conversations—but that’s 

hardly the only digital blunder you can make. 

❶ Do Be Aware of Your Surroundings. 

When you’re riding the bus or are in another situation where 

those around you can’t simply move away, it’s safe to say that 

it’s not the right time to make a call or turn the sound on while 

you play Angry Birds. 

❷ Don’t Make Your Smartphone Secondary to 

Your Friends. 

If you and a friend are having lunch, conversation should 

be happening in reality, not in the back-and-forth texts on 

your phone. 

Of course, there are always exceptions, such as when you 

get an emergency call from family or work, but the key idea is 

to be mindful of the way your gadget use affects those who are 

with you. If you have to take a call when you’re with company, 

Senning recommends keeping it as short as possible and 

moving to another room. 

❸ Do Know When to Leave Your Device Off— 

Or at Home. 

When we asked Senning whether checking email at your 

child’s little league game falls under bad digital etiquette, he 

“It’s really important to act 

like you would in person.” 

—Meghan Peters, community 

manager, Mashable 

emphasized that sometimes 

the decision to use or put away 

your gadget is not so straightforward. 

“In some ways, that’s a parenting 

question,” Senning explained. 

“The device is neither rude or 

polite. If you’re someone whose 

device is constantly drawing 

them away... it’s important that 

you not only don’t talk on your 

phone, but you power it down and 

leave it at home in the morning 

when you go spend time with your kids.” 

However, Senning added that it might be the ability to be 

reachable by cell phone that makes it possible to go to that 

game in the first place. 

❹ Don’t Text During Dinner. 

Some occasions simply aren’t made for toying with your favorite 

tech, and social situations such as dining out and parties 

top the list. 

❺ Don’t Take Personal Conversations in Public. 

Whether you receive a non-work–related call at the office 

or in a restaurant, find a private place to talk. This not only 

shows consideration for others; it protects your privacy as 

well. “When someone hears half of a phone call, it’s almost 

impossible to ignore,” Senning explained. “It’s a little 

bit like a whispered conversation, and in the absence of 

knowing, oftentimes we default to a negative assumption 

or impression.” 

Social Networking 

A 2011 study found that 85 percent of female 

Facebook users feel that their Facebook friends 

overshare or brag too much. Make sure you’re not 

crossing the line. 

❶ Don’t Share Anything Remotely Private. 

It may sound obvious, but don’t post photos or status updates 

that you wouldn’t want the world to read. Thankfully, 

social networking sites such as Facebook offer increasingly 

dynamic privacy controls. If there are some friends you don’t 

want seeing all of your information, consider adding them 

to a separate friends list with tighter restrictions. 

❷ Don’t Think the Rules are Different Online and Off. 

Just because you’re not communicating with friends and 

followers face to face doesn’t mean you can be less polite 

or considerate. Meghan Peters, community manager for 

social media and news site Mashable, puts it this way: “It’s 

really important to act like you would in person.” Moreover, 

she refers back to that simplest of etiquette axioms, “If you 

don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all... 

That’s not to say you shouldn’t share negative opinions, but 

there’s another person on the other end and they still have 

feelings.” 

60 


www.laptopmag.com

etiquette 

❸ Do Engage with Your Followers and Friends. 

Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer), a tech evangelist with more than 

200,000 followers on Twitter, stresses the importance of reaching 

out and responding to followers and friends on social networking 

sites. “This isn’t TV where you just put signals out and you never 

have to respond to everybody,” he said. “It’s a two-way medium, 

and the power in this stuff is being two ways about it.” 

❹ Do Know Where to Share What. 

In addition to asking yourself, “Would I care if the whole world 

sees what I’m about to post” it’s a good idea to consider how 

most users interact with the top social networking sites. “Read 

for a while and see what the default usage pattern is on each 

[of these sites],” Scoble recommended. “Twitter has a default 

usage pattern of signaling—in other words, here’s an important 

piece of news.” Facebook, on the other hand, is generally more 

personal and photo-driven, as users tend to interact more with 

friends and family than fans and other acquaintances. 

❺ Don’t Feel Obligated to Follow and 

Friend Everyone. 

You gain a new follower on Twitter, but after a cursory glance 

at their profile, you’re positive that their tweets aren’t of 

interest to you. Do you still have to follow them back Scoble 

says no. “If you’re following just because somebody follows you, 

you’re opening yourself up to spammers, you’re going to open 

yourself up to noise, and you’re going to destroy your inbound 

feed. You should only follow people you care about.” 

Peters agrees, adding that who you choose to follow 

or friend will depend on the network. “On Twitter, I tend 

to follow people who follow me even if I don’t know them, 

whereas Facebook is a little more private because that’s 

where I communicate with my personal friends.” She points 

to Facebook’s recent Subscriptions feature, which lets users 

follow select updates without having to be your friend on the 

site, as a good compromise for separating the personal and 

professional. 

❻ Do Remember That the Web Is Not Private. 

“The places that we interact with social media are often some 

of the private places in our lives, whether it’s at the office, or 

home, or our car. You can close the door to your office... but the 

second you turn on your computer, you’re back in the street 

in your hometown,” Senning cautions. 

Video Chat 

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 

19 percent of adults had tried video calling in 2010, 

with an even-higher 19 percent of 18 to 29-yearolds 

admitting to using a video-chat service within 

the same time period. Knowing when and when not 

to text or chat on your smartphone may be straightforward 

enough, but what do you do when video 

gets added to the mix 

❶ Do Try to Prevent Tech Glitches. 

If you’re scheduled to dial into a meeting via ooVoo, Skype, 

“[Twitter] 

isn’t TV 

where you 

just put 

signals 

out and 

you never 

have to 

respond to 

everybody.” 

— Robert Scoble, 

tech evangelist 

or another video conferencing service—or even if you’re 

just slated to catch up with grandma—it’s considerate to 

check your system for possible technical problems ahead of 

schedule so any issues are resolved before your conversation 

partners join the call. This includes making sure your 

audio works properly. 

❷ Don’t Call from An Inappropriate Location. 

In addition to ensuring that you’re not disturbing those around 

you, consider your physical surroundings and what they communicate 

about you. For example, if you’re on a business call, 

make sure that your background looks professional. In other 

words, signing in for a business call when there’s dirty laundry 

in the background is a no-no. 

❸ Do Make the Experience As Natural As Possible. 

“If it’s at all possible, position your camera near the screen that 

you’re going to be talking to, so that you’re able to look at the 

person who you’re speaking to,” Senning recommends. “It can 

make for a much more seamless experience.” 

If you’re using a notebook with a built-in webcam and 

repositioning it is not possible, try to make eye contact by 

adjusting the angle of the lid. Just because you have Tweetdeck 

open doesn’t mean you should be scanning the latest updates 

instead of engaging with your conversation partner. 

Bottom Line 

When it comes to manners and technology, follow the above 

rules and your instincts. If you’re second-guessing whether 

you should pull out your phone or send that bawdy tweet, 

chances are you shouldn’t do it. 

When all else fails, remember the Golden Rule and why 

you’re using those gadgets and social networking services 

in the first place: to connect with people you care about. ■ 


Amazon 

on Fire 

Why the mega-retailer is finally giving the iPad a run for its money. 

by Mark Spoonauer 

It has a smaller screen 

than the iPad. It doesn’t 

have a camera. And it 

has half as much memory. 

Yet Amazon’s Kindle Fire has 

managed to upend the tablet 

market. The Fire is already 

so big that many are saying 

that Amazon has become the 

number-two player. 

Chew on these numbers: 

Amazon was projected 

to sell between 3 and 5 

million Kindle Fires before 

the end of 2011, according to 

Forrester Research. To put 

that in perspective, Motorola 

sold a measly 100,000 Xoom 

tablets during the third 

quarter, and RIM reported 

200,000 BlackBerry PlayBook 

shipments during its first 

quarter on sale. 

No doubt the Fire’s $199 

price tag is a big reason for 

its early momentum. “What 

this tablet does is throw this 

market open to a much larger 

percentage of the population,” 

said Tom Mainelli, research 

director for mobile connected 

devices at IDC. 

But a low price is only part 

of the Fire’s appeal. It’s this 

device’s unique strengths 

that finally give Apple’s tablet 

some real competition. 


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kindle fire 

It’s the Ecosystem 

On a typical Android tablet, 

you might go to one store for 

music, another for books, 

another for magazines, and 

yet another for apps. With 

the Kindle Fire, Amazon 

leveraged its vast array of 

content and 1-Click ordering 

system to make purchasing 

content dead-simple. From 

magazines and books to 

music, movies, and apps, 

one account is all you need. 

And Amazon ships the Fire 

pre-configured with your 

credentials so you can just 

start shopping. 

That’s why Amazon can 

price its tablet so low. It’s like 

a 7-inch vending machine 

guaranteed to keep revenue 

streaming in for the megaretailer. 

“Clearly one of the 

reasons that Amazon is selling 

its tablet inexpensively 

is because they have significant 

lock-in over the media 

consumption experience,” 

said Ross Rubin, executive 

director of industry analysis at 

NPD. The interface of the Fire 

reflects this reality. Nearly 

everywhere you turn, you’ll 

see a big Store button in the 

upper right-hand corner. 

Until now, most iPad 

competitors have focused 

on speeds to go up against 

Apple—and that trend 

continues with quad-core 

processors and high-res 

displays. But Amazon strongly 

believes that specs take a 

backseat to the user experience. 

“It’s becoming pretty 

clear to us that consumers 

are choosing what devices 

they want based on the 

ecosystem,” said Dave Limp, 

vice president of Amazon 

Kindle. “It’s no longer just 

the device. If you just cobble 

multiple apps together and 

pre-install them the consumer 

gets confused.” 

Amazon is still opening 

the door to third-party apps 

such as Hulu, Netflix, and 

Zinio. But the Fire prioritizes 

Amazon content and apps, 

including Amazon Instant 

Video for TV shows and 

movies, which is exclusive 

to this tablet. 

The Fire Knows You 

and Rewards You 

Name another tablet that 

recommends content to you 

out of the box. Only the Fire 

does, because it knows what 

you’ve purchased in the past, 

whether it’s books, movies, 

music, or apps. 

“The Fire shows up and I 

turn it on, and it knows who I 

am and it’s already connected 

to the dozens of Kindle books 

I’ve bought over the years,” 

Mainelli said. 

Plus, only Amazon is 

giving content away with the 

Fire—if you’re an Amazon 

Prime member. For $79 

per year, you get free twoday 

shipping, plus access 

to 10,000 movies and TV 

shows and one book per 

month from Amazon’s Kindle 

Lending Library. These Prime 

perks go a long way toward 

reinforcing customer loyalty. 

If you’re an Amazon Prime 

member, there’s an opportunity 

to enjoy an array of 

movies on this product that 

isn’t available elsewhere, said 

Rubin. Mainelli added that 

Prime encourages users to 

look to Amazon for content 

first. 

So how good is that 

free content According to 

Amazon’s Kamp, the Prime 

Instant Video collection is 

getting closer and closer to 

Netflix’s every day, which 

now includes popular TV 

shows such as 24 and Arrested 

Development. However, 

the movie selection 

is somewhat lacking, and 

the Fire doesn’t support 

high-definition video. Rubin 

argues that video will be a 

key feature for the Fire, because 

it’s one of the primary 

(continued on p. 66) 

fire 

REVIEWED 

The Kindle Fire is already a hit. That’s because this 

$199 tablet delivers so much for so little that many 

shoppers are wondering whether they should skip 

the iPad. For $300 less, the Android-powered Fire provides 

easy access to books, magazines, video, music, and apps 

using a single account—just like iTunes—in a design that 

doesn’t look or feel cheap. But is this tablet really as sweet 

a deal as it seems 

Amazon Kindle Fire $199 

★★★★☆ 

www.amazon.com 

WHAT WE LIKE 

Solid Design 

Having tested a lot of sub-$300 tablets this year, we can 

say with confidence that the Kindle Fire has the best build 

quality of the bunch. There’s no creaking to the body here. 

While a bit thick, the 14.6-ounce Fire looks and feels a lot 

like the BlackBerry PlayBook, which is a good thing. The 

soft-touch finish on the back provides a sure grip. 

Good Display 

The Fire outshines most other budget tablets with its 7-inch 

display (1024 x 600 pixels), which uses IPS technology to 

offer wide viewing angles. When watching Horrible Bosses, 

we could easily make out the folds in Jason Bateman’s 

shirt, and colors popped. Websites also looked crisp. 

However, the glossy panel is pretty reflective, more so 

than the Nook Tablet’s screen. 

Very Intuitive Interface 

Talk about a clean slate. Although it’s 

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based on Android 2.3, the Fire offers a completely unique 

user experience. The home screen has a carousel-like interface 

that automatically places the last thing you had open 

in front. Tapping a small button on the top right pulls down 

a Quick Settings menu, while a button on the top reveals 

the notification drawer. 

Beneath the carousel is a shelf where you can store favorite 

content. The easiest way to add stuff to favorites is to press 

and hold an icon in the carousel. Too bad you can’t rearrange 

items on the favorites shelf; the most recently added shortcut 

automatically moves to the top. 

One Account for Purchasing Content 

One of the key advantages the Kindle Fire has over pretty much 

every tablet (other than the iPad) is that you can purchase all 

sorts of content using a single account. In fact, Amazon goes 

a step further than Apple because your device comes preloaded 

with your credentials. You can just start shopping for 

books, magazines, music, movies, TV shows, and apps. 

You Get Free Stuff 

If you’re not an Amazon Prime member ($79.99 per month) 

you’ll probably want to sign up after picking up the Kindle 

Fire. You’ll get access to more than 11,000 movies and TV 

shows. The Fire’s Video app has a dedicated Prime Instant 

Video section, and there are plenty of titles you’ll actually 

want to watch. Prime members can also check out one book 

per month from Amazon’s Lending Library. 

can stream or download it to your Android phone using 

the Amazon MP3 app. 

Good (But Limited) App Selection 

Amazon told us the Kindle Fire will have more than 5,000 apps 

at launch, and it could be 10,000 before too long. That’s a lot 

less than the Android Market’s 250,000+, but Amazon says it’s 

going for quality over quantity. So far the selection includes 

popular apps such as ESPN Score Center, Facebook, Hulu 

Plus, Netflix, Pandora, Rhapsody, and Twitter. The Fire also 

has plenty of games on tap, from Angry Birds and Words with 

Friends to Fruit Ninja and Plants vs. Zombies. 

WHAT WE DON’T LIKE 

Missing Features, Not Much Storage 

Strangely, the Fire’s power button is located on the bottom 

of the device, along with the microUSB port for power and 

headphone jack. Two speakers line the top of the tablet. And 

that’s it. No HDMI. No cameras. You won’t find dedicated 

volume controls, either, which we found annoying. The Fire 

also lacks an SD card slot, which means you’re limited to 

the relatively meager 8GB of onboard memory. 

Occasionally Sluggish Performance 

With a dual-core 1-GHz TI OMAP 4 processor under the 

hood and 512MB of RAM, the Kindle Fire was responsive 

for the most part during our testing. However, at times 

we had to tap icons and menu options more than once for 

them to register. And the keyboard sometimes had trouble 

keeping up with our fingers. We suspect that Amazon will 

work out at least some of the kinks with software updates, 

but you’re definitely sacrificing some speed versus the 

iPad 2 at this price. 

It’s Cloud-Friendly 

The Kindle Fire lets you store content in the cloud for streaming 

and downloading to the tablet. You’ll see two tabs in Music, 

Newsstand, and other apps that let you toggle between the 

device and the cloud to see what’s stored where. If you’ve 

previously purchased Amazon content or uploaded it to Cloud 

Drive, you’ll also see it on the Fire. 

Skimpy Parental Controls 

Amazon leverages the cloud in other neat ways. For While you can set a PIN for purchasing in-app content on 

example, Whispersync technology lets you pick up where the Fire, there’s no way to set a password for buying apps 

you left off in a book on your smartphone’s Kindle app, and themselves or other content. In other words, parents will need 

the same thing goes with movies played on such devices to keep a close eye on their children when they’re using the 

as the Roku. Once you’ve purchased music on the Fire, you (continued on p. 62) 




reasons why a consumer 

would choose a color tablet 

over an E Ink Kindle. 

Can the New Nook 

Compete 

Even with all of the Fire’s 

benefits, most shoppers have 

avoided 7-inch tablets like 

the plague up until now. Can 

Amazon really change that 

It doesn’t have to. Though the 

industry initially classified it 

as a tablet, the 7-inch Barnes 

& Nook Color paved the way 

for the Fire. But the bookseller 

isn’t willing to cede the market 

for low-cost tablets. 

Barnes & Noble is trying 

to fight the Fire with fire by 

releasing the $249 Nook 

Tablet, as well as lowering 

the price on the Nook Color 

to $199. During the launch 

event, the company went out 

of its way to justify the $50 

price delta between the Fire 

and the Nook Tablet, citing 

twice as much memory 

(16GB vs. 8GB), twice as 

much RAM (1GB vs 512 MB), 

HD video support, and a 

screen that’s less prone to 

glare. All of these features 

could help Barnes & Noble 

stay competitive at the newly 

energized low end of the 

tablet market. 

Barnes & Noble has one 

other advantage: a retail 

environment all to itself. 

“The main thing B&N has 

that Amazon hasn’t is that a 

lot more people are going 

to walk into a B&N store 

between now and the end of 

the year, and they’re going to 

lay hands on those devices,” 

said Mainelli. “I think they’ll 

be competitive.” 

On the other hand, 

Barnes & Noble has two 

significant holes in its content 

strategy: It doesn’t sell 

music or video content. The 

bookseller is plugging those 

holes with third-party apps. 

If you ask Kamp, Amazon’s 

leadership and experience 

in the cloud give the Fire 

(and its successors) yet 

another edge. “We have a 

lot of credibility built up 

around our content offerings. 

And, we understand 

the cloud.” 

Amazon vs. Apple 

As you see in our full review 

of the Kindle Fire (p. 64), it’s 

not an iPad killer. But it has 

already made a lot of competing 

tablets an afterthought 

in the eye of consumers. 

Assuming Amazon refines 

its software and releases a 

version with a larger screen, 

should Apple be nervous 

As of press time, some 

analysts reported that 

demand for the iPad had 

begun to wane, suggesting 

that the company may have to 

lower prices to stay on top. 

For now, though, the two 

devices occupy two distinct 

segments of a fast-growing 

category. The iPad is more of 

a general-purpose tablet that 

juggles media consumption 

and productivity, whereas 

the Fire is purely a contentconsumption 

device. 

Apple also has an 

enormous lead in the apps 

war, offering more than 

140,000 apps just for the 

iPad, compared to 5,000 to 

10,000 for the Kindle Fire. 

Ultimately, though, Amazon’s 

hot-selling device will spur 

more developers to write 

apps for its wares. Heavy 

hitters such as Netflix, 

Twitter, and EA were on 

board from day one, which 

simply wasn’t the case for 

the HP TouchPad and the 

BlackBerry PlayBook. 

So is it really game 

over for everyone else 

Although Amazon will need 

to improve its products with 

the help of user feedback, 

the tablet market could be 

a two-horse race for the 

foreseeable future. 

testing the fire 


device. The Fire doesn’t have any 

parental control settings based 

on content ratings, either. 

Standard-Def Video 

We could start watching our 

48-hour, $3.99 rental of Harry 

Potter and the Deathly Hollows 

Part 2 within 15 seconds when 

we downloaded the flick in the 

background (about 80 minutes). 

However, the video quality was just fair. Details were 

good during close-ups, but we noticed some blurriness 

in action scenes. In addition, the bars straddling the 

playback window make it feel a little squished. 

Silk Browser Still Getting Up to Speed 

One of the Kindle Fire’s claims to fame is its cloud-accelerated 

Silk browser, which promises faster page load times using 

a split architecture that can divvy up the workload between 

the tablet and Amazon’s armada of servers. However, in 

order for Silk to work the way it should, Amazon needs a 

lot of people to start using the browser. That’s because Silk 

was designed to pre-fetch pages and cache them based 

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on millions of users’ page loads. 

On our tests, the Fire was actually slower to load most 

sites when we had the Accelerate Page Loading feature 

turned on. The Fire also trailed the iPad 2. We expect (hope) 

these results will improve as more people get their hands 

on Amazon’s tablet. 

Verdict 

The Kindle Fire isn’t an iPad killer, but it is a killer deal. For 

$199, it’s really hard to beat the package Amazon has put 

together. It combines an easy-to-use interface and one-tap 

access to loads of content in a well-built design, though 

you'll have to make do with a smaller 7-inch display. While 

you do need to sacrifice some features, such as dedicated 

volume controls and a camera, the Fire has single-handedly 

made pretty much every other tablet for less than $400 irrelevant. 

Yes, the Fire exhibits lag at times, but overall we 

highly recommend this slate for shoppers on a budget. 

Tale of the Tape: 

How the Competition Stacks Up 

Amazon 

Kindle Fire Nook Tablet Kobo Vox 

Price $199 $249 $199 

CPU 

DISPLAY SIZE/ 

RESOLUTION 

Size 

(inches) 

Weight 

(pounds) 

Storage 

(built-in) 

Storage 

(expandable) 

Front 

Camera 

TI OMAP 

Dual-Core 

1-GHz TI 

OMAP4 

800-Mhz 

Cortex A8 

Samsung 

Galaxy Tab 

7.0 Plus 

Starting at 

$399 

1.2-GHz 

Dual-Core 

Acer Iconia 

A100 

$329 

Toshiba 

Thrive 7 iPad 2 

Less than 

$400 

Nvidia Tegra 2 Nvidia Tegra 2 

Starting at 

$499 

Apple A5 

Dual-Core 

OS Android 2.3 Android 2.3 Android 2.3 Android 3.2 Android 3.2 Android 3.2 iOS 5 

7 inches/ 

1024 x 600 

7 inches/ 

1024 x 600 

7 inches/ 

1024 x 600 

7 inches/ 

1024 x 600 

7 inches/ 

1024 x 600 

7 inches/ 

1280 x 800 

9.7 inches/ 

1024 x 768 

7.5 x 4.7 x 0.5 8.1 x 5 x 0.5 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.5 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.4 7.6 x 4.5 x 0.5 7.4 x 5 x 0.5 9.5 x 7.3 x 0.3 

0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.9 0.9 1.3 

8GB 16GB 8GB 16GB 8GB 16GB 16GB 

None 32GB 32GB 32GB 32GB TBA None 

None None None 3-MP 5-MP 2-MP VGA 

Back Camera None None None 2-MP 2-MP 5-MP 720p 

Wireless Wi-Fi Only Wi-Fi Only Wi-Fi Only Wi-Fi, 3G/HSPA Wi-Fi Only TBA 

Battery Life 

(rated) 

Wi-Fi and/ 

or 3G 

8 Hours 11.5 Hours 7 Hours TBA 5 Hours TBA 11 hours 



Best 

Amazon 

Apps 

by Davey Alba 

While Amazon's app store 

is not as big as Apple’s, 

the launch of the Kindle 

Fire has many people asking what 

worthwhile apps are available from 

the retail giant. Our answer: plenty. 

Here’s our list of what you’ll want to 

get on your $199 tablet. 

❶ Fruit Ninja ($0.99) 

There is something oddly 

addictive about wielding a 

finger-sword on your screen 

to slash through every type of 

fruit imaginable and watching 

it splatter on the wall like 

something out of a massmurder 

crime scene. Different 

dojo backgrounds, blade types, 

and three game modes provide 

plenty of variety, and there’s 

even multiplayer capability 

to go all samurai on fruit with 

nearby strangers. 

❷ Quickoffice Pro 

($14.99) 

Nothing is more straightforward 

than this productivity app, which 

lets you create, view, and edit 

Microsoft Office files—Excel, 

PowerPoint, and Word—and 

view PDFs with an integrated 

viewer. You can also access 

files remotely from any number 

of cloud services including 

Box.net, Dropbox, Huddle, and 

SugarSync; or straight from your 

SD card with the app’s Connected 

File Manager. 

❸ Plants vs. Zombies 

($1.99) 

The zombie apocalypse is 

not forthcoming; it’s here, 

and your only defense is your 

humble abode. And plants! 

Pea-shooting, butter-sticking, 

corn-throwing, melon-lobbing 

plants. Plant some sunflowers 

and gather light to sow 

more crops, then formulate 

a winning setup to keep the 

hobbling undead at bay. As 

the levels progress, more 

challenging and creatively 

mutated zombies emerge, and 

you’ll have to be more clever 

to eradicate them. 

❹ Pulse News (Free) 

Pulse News offers a tidy 

alternative to RSS readers, 

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slurping up your favorite feeds 

and reorganizing them into a 

layout of neat boxes arranged 

by source. Tap the refresh icon 

on the upper-right corner of 

each row to get new content, 

or scroll through the list of 

stories by panning to the right. 

Pulse lets you curate your news 

by prepackaged topic (Art & 

Design, News & Analysis, Science, 

Sports, etc.), or you can 

choose from the directory of 

(close to complete) sources. 

❺ Rdio (Free) 

Though the app is free, Rdio 

operates on a subscriptionbased 

model: $10 a month. 

Still, forking over the dough 

gives you unlimited access to 

a trove of 10 million songs, 

which you can listen to on 

your Android device over Wi-Fi 

or 3G. You can also create 

playlists, sync music to your 

device for offline listening, 

follow friends and persons of 

interest in the music biz, read 

user reviews, and get recommendations 

based on your 

listening history. 

❻ Netflix (Free) 

Completely redesigned for the 

7-inch tablets, the Netflix app 

allows users to watch unlimited 

on-demand video using a 

Netflix account (starting at 

$7.99). The new interface 

displays twice as many movies 

and TV shows as the previous 

app. You can swipe through 

rows of titles, which feature 

larger thumbnails. 

❼ Words With 

Friends (Free) 

Never miss a move with access 

to this popular Scrabble-like 

word game on your Kindle Fire 

tablet. With this free app, you’ll 

be notified when it’s your turn 

and you can chat with your 

opponents. The multitouch 

interface makes it simple to 

drag and drop tiles, as well as 

navigate menus. Plus, your 

games will be kept in sync 

whether you’re playing on your 

PC, phone, or tablet. 

❽ ESPN ScoreCenter 

(Free) 

Your favorite teams are longer 

trapped on your small smartphone 

screen. Now you can 

access the latest sports news, 

scores, and stats on a 7-inch 

display with ESPN ScoreCenter. 

With this smooth app you 

can personalize scoreboards 

and follow your favorite teams. 

The links to videos on ESPN's 

mobile website also can come 

in handy for the sports fanatic 

who needs to see that buzzer 

shot for himself. 

❾ Hulu Plus (FREE) 

With your $7.99 subscription 

to the Hulu Plus service, you 

can catch all of your favorite 

shows on the Fire. Through 

this app you can access 

current season episodes of 

hits such as The Daily Show 

with Jon Stewart, House, and 

Modern Family. You also get 

access to Hulu’s library of 

popular new movies, all with 

limited exposure to ads. 

❿ Exchange by 

Touchdown Key 

($9.99) 

Put your Kindle Fire to work with 

this app that connects your 

company Exchange e-mail account 

(complete with contacts, 

calendar, and tasks) to your 

new tablet. This way you get 

get messages delivered immediately 

through push technology. 

You can also edit contact 

lists, accept meeting requests, 

and manage notes, all while 

keeping data encrypted. 



kindling 

We test the best Amazon Fire alternatives under $350. 


The market is littered with Android 

tablets, and with many priced at 

less than $300, they’re certainly 

tempting for budget-conscious shoppers. 

However, some models offer lots of value, 

while others are cheap in the worst sense 

of the word. Which Fire competitiors are 

really worth the money 

❶ ACER ICONIA 

TAB A100 $329 

★★★ ☆ us.acer.com 

What We Like: Light and attractive 

design. Runs the latest Honeycomb OS, 

Android 3.2. 1024 x 600-pixel display 

delivers bright, crisp images and 

relatively wide viewing angles. Good 

audio for a tablet. Helpful bundled 

apps, such as Android Movie Studio 

and Docs to Go. Snappy performance 

and smooth gameplay. 

What We Don’t: Mediocre video 

quality. 5-megapixel camera takes grainy 

photos. Battery only lasts 5 hours and 30 

minutes on a charge. 

Verdict: While it should have more 

endurance, the Iconia Tab A100 is a great 

tablet value thanks to its fast dual-core 

performance, light design, and the latest 

Honeycomb OS. 

❷ ARCHOS 80 G9 $299 

★★ ☆☆ www.archos.com 

What We Like: Strong benchmark 

performance for a budget tablet. Built-in 

kickstand convenient for viewing movies. 

Display offers vivid and colorful images. 

HDMI output for connecting to a big-screen 

TV. Includes app for using the tablet as a 

remote. Supports wide variety of media 

formats. Long battery life. 

What We Don’t: Plastic design feels 

cheap. Tablet runs hot in some places. 

Display picks up smudges easily and 

has limited viewing angles. 

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store. Smooth performance and solid 

benchmark scores. 

What We Don’t Like: Unattractive, 

bulky plastic design feels cheap. Poor 

resistive touchscreen. Cameras take 

blurry stills and video. No access to the 

Android Market; limited app selection. 

Short battery life. 

Verdict: Though it boasts a rockbottom 

price, the Pandigital SuperNova 

doesn’t cut it as a tablet. 

❺ VELOCITY MICRO 

CRUZ T408 $239 

★★ ☆☆ www.velocitymicro.com 

What We Like: Attractive design 

with glossy bezel and rounded edges. 

Responsive capacitive touchscreen. 

Long battery life. 

What We Don’t: No rear-facing 

camera or HDMI port. Low-res 800 

x 600 display. Awkward customized 

Android interface. Sluggish performance 

and slow page-load times. 

Weak, tinny audio. 

Verdict: For $239, the Velocity Micro 

Cruz T408 offers students and other 

budget-minded shoppers a decent slate 

experience, though its somewhat sluggish 

performance and low-res display 

are turn-offs. 

Verdict: The 80 G9 is one of the 

better sub-$300 Android tablets, but 

its lackluster build quality, high temperatures, 

and less-than-stellar screen 

give us pause. 

❸ Barnes & Noble 

Nook Tablet $249 

★★★ ☆ www.barnesandnoble.com 

What We Like: Slimmer and 

sleeker design than Kindle Fire. 

VividView touchscreen offers wide 

viewing angles. Better video quality 

than Kindle Fire. Innovative Read and 

Record feature for kids' books. Social 

reading features. 

What We Don’t: Costs $50 more than 

Kindle Fire. Small selection of apps. Lacks 

integrated video and music stores. 

Verdict: The Barnes & Noble Nook 

Tablet offers a superior eReading 

experience, a great display, and smooth 

performance for an affordable price. 

❹ PANDIGITAL 

SUPERNOVA $199 

★★☆ ☆ ☆ 

www.pandigital.net 

What We Like: Cheap, at $189. 

Plastic design resists fingerprints. 

Good eReading experience with 

access to the Barnes & Noble Book- 

❻ VIZIO 8-INCH TABLET 

(VTAB1008) $289 

★★ ☆☆ www.vizio.com 

What We Like: Includes a built-in IR 

blaster and a universal remote app for 

controlling your home theater. Comes 

pre-loaded with TouchType Swiftkey X 

keyboard for typing in both landscape 

and portrait mode. Available for a reasonable 

price through online outlets. 

What We Don’t: Bulky design for 

8-inch tablet. Dim display picks up 

fingerprint smudges quickly. Outdated 

Android Gingerbread OS. Front-facing 

VGA camera takes blocky images and 

video. Slow performance, even for everyday 

tasks such as opening apps. 

Verdict: If you want a slate that can 

control your home theater, Vizio’s 8-inch 

tablet is worth a look. 

■ 


Apple’s iCloud promises to make whatever you 

have on one gadget accessible on all the others. 

Here’s how to get the most out of this service. 

by Sean Captain 

Even before Apple’s iCloud came along, the idea of 

“the cloud” was, well, nebulous. Apple’s definition 

is a method for synchronizing all your data—such 

as photos, music, calendars, address books, and eBooks— 

wirelessly between all your devices over the Internet. No 

sync cables, no drag and drop. The cloud also provides 

backup, since copies of all that data live not on puffy white 

cushions but on servers in a warehouse. 

Apple’s new, mostly free iCloud service is a latecomer 

to the genre. Google’s been at it for nearly a decade. Gmail, 

Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Reader—basically all 

its apps—live on servers and can sync across gadgets including 

Android phones, PCs, Macs, and even Apple mobile 

devices. Amazon has offered a Cloud Player for storing and 

syncing music since last March. 

But Apple promises to replace the handful of tools you’ve 

needed for syncing different types of data with one service. 

Well, as long as you own newish Apple products. (Android 

users are out of luck.) However, iCloud does work with PCs. 

For a brand-new service, iCloud works pretty well. But it 

has bugs and peculiarities that are important to understand. 

Here’s a comprehensive guide to the service, with a breakdown 

of what iCloud’s features and tips for maximizing the 

service’s usefulness. 

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icloud 

iCloud: What You Get 

• Syncing photos, music, videos, and eBooks 

purchased from Apple 

• Syncing music from other sources, such as MP3s 

ripped from CDs 

• Synchronizing calendars, e-mail, and 

contacts 

• Syncing documents produced on any iDevice 

or computer, sometimes including PCs 

• Pushing mobile app purchases to all iDevices 

• Backing up data from mobile apps 

• Locating a lost iDevice or finding friends with 

Apple devices on a map 

iCloud provides unlimited storage for media 

purchased from iTunes—music, apps, books, 

and TV shows. And it comes free with 5 gigabytes 

of storage for e-mail, documents, songs 

not from iTunes (say, from Amazon), and other 

data. You can rent more storage for an annual 

fee: adding another 10GB for $20, 20GB for 

$40, and 50GB for $100. 

What You Need 

To get all the iCloud goodies, you will need 

the free upgrade to Apple’s mobile operating 

system, iOS 5. It will run on any iPad and on a 

recent iPhone (3GS, 4, and 4S) or iPod touch 

(generation 3 and higher) but not other iPods, 

such as the nano. 

On the computer side, Mac users will 

need the Lion OS ($30 upgrade or free with 

a new Mac), and PC users will need the free 

iCloud Control Panel for 

Windows 7 or Vista, as 

well as the latest version of 

iTunes. PCs get extra sync 

features with Microsoft 

Outlook 2007 or 2010 and 

Internet Explorer (version 

8 and higher) or the 

latest Safari for Windows 

browser. 

Pushing Mobile App 

Purchases to All 

Devices 

This part of iCloud is wonderfully 

simple. If you enable automatic downloads 

for apps in the Store menu (under 

Settings for iOS 5), an app installed 

on any iDevice—say an iPhone—also 

installs on any other device, such as 

an iPad or iPod. The one exception: 

An app designed only for the iPad 

won’t download to an iPhone or iPod, 

and vice versa. 

Whether or not an app is pushed 

to other iDevices, it will also download 

to iTunes on your Mac or PC. Likewise, 

you can purchase apps on your 

iCloud web home 

computer and watch them appear on the mobile 

devices that have auto downloads enabled. 

Media Syncing 

Keeping media up to date began as a headache with 

the original iPod and grew into a nightmare with 

the addition of iPhones and iPads. Any device can 

download music, videos, and now eBooks, which 

means you can have different collections on each 

device. You can regularly sync them all through 

iOS settings iTunes over a cable, but that’s about as likely as you 

making it to the gym three times a week. 

With iCloud, whatever you buy on any device— 

mobile, Mac, or PC—shows up on all the others. It’s 

your choice, though, whether you want it to download 

the entire song, video, etc., or just display the name 

with the option to download. That’s quite handy: 

The 50 gigabytes of media on your PC wouldn’t 

fit on that 8GB iPhone. But now you can see your 

entire library and simply click the iCloud icon to 

download what you want. 

As with apps, you can enable automatic downloads 

for songs and books in the Store menu on 

each mobile device. What about videos There’s 

OS X Lion control panel 

no option to automatically download them, but their 

titles and the iCloud download button appear in the mobile 

iTunes app, as they do for songs and albums. In order to delete 

a song, video, album, or TV series, you generally swipe a 

finger across the name. But on the iPad, where albums and 

TV series appear as icons, you hold your finger on the icon 

for a few seconds and then press the X symbol. 

Media syncing is stunningly easy—if all your mobile 

gadgets are from Apple. If you have an iPad and an Android 

phone, for example, they won’t sync through iCloud. 

iOS automatic 

downloads 

Photo Stream 

To sync photos, turn on Photo Stream under the Photos section 

of the iOS 5 Settings, and any iOS 5 devices will share their 

pictures (when connected by Wi-Fi). iCloud stores up to 1,000 


icloud 

photos for up to 30 days. It’s a conduit for passing 

photos among devices, not a permanent storage 

space like Flickr and Picasa. To view pictures from 

Photo Stream on a Mac, you’ll need the latest version 

of iPhoto ($15) or Aperture ($200). On a PC, the 

iCloud Control Panel syncs photos with a folder on 

your computer. You can then use any photo app, such 

as the free Picasa, to view and edit them. 

The Photo Stream folder on an iDevice has a 

1,000-photo limit. When the number is exceeded, 

the oldest photos roll out to make room for the new. 

To keep a photo permanently, you can save it to the 

local Camera Roll folder on the device. That’s also 

where you make edits. 

iTunes Match 

That effortless (and free) syncing of iCloud only works 

for music purchased from Apple. Syncing other tunes, 

such as songs ripped from CDs or purchased from 

Amazon, happens through iTunes 

Match. This new service costs $25 

per year. 

If Apple’s store has the same 

song—even if you didn’t buy it from 

Apple—iTunes Match plays it from the 

cloud—that is, from Apple’s servers. 

Even better, you don’t have to upload 

a copy to your iCloud account, a tedious 

process that eats into your free 

5GB of space. With 16 million tracks, 

iTunes is likely to have a lot of your 

music. To activate matching, click 

the Store menu 

in iTunes and 

select Update 

iTunes Match. 

But remember, 

iTunes Match is 

a subscription 

service. If you 

don’t renew, 

you lose cloud 

access to all 

the music you 

didn’t buy from 

Apple. 

Uploading 

music is 

a chore, but 

iTunes Match 

cuts that work 

down tremendously 

with no 

effort on your 

iTunes Match 

part. If most of your music isn’t from iTunes, $25 per year 

may be a fair price for the convenience. 

Calendars, Contacts and E-mail 

With iCloud syncing, any change to your virtual DayTimer 

is automatically updated on all Apple devices, and in some 

Photo “Save to Camera Roll” option 

cases on PCs. Add 

an appointment 

or contact on your 

computer, and it 

appears on your 

iPhone, or vice versa. 

This probably sounds 

familiar to Android 

users, as it’s been 

a free, built-in function 

of that OS from 

inception. If you 

have an Android 

phone or tablet you 

want to keep in sync, 

you’ll use Google’s 

service, not iCloud. 

And since Google and iCloud do not sync with each other, 

Android users will have to put everything on Google—even 

Apple devices—to sync across all the gadgets. 

To sync only iOS 5 devices, go to Settings, then iCloud, 

then turn on whatever apps you’d like to sync: Calendars, 

Contacts, Mail, and Reminders. On a Mac, syncing with iCal 

or Address Books simply requires going to the preferences 

menu of each app, selecting iCloud under the accounts pane, 

and checking Enable This Account. Reminders also show up 

in iCal. 

To set up syncing on a PC, download the free iCloud Control 

Panel for Windows (Vista or 7). It resembles the Settings menu 

in iOS 5, with checkboxes to select syncing of e-mail, contacts, 

and calendars with Outlook. It can also enable Photo Stream 

and sync browser bookmarks between Safari on a Mac or 

mobile device and Internet Explorer or Safari for Windows. 

iCloud can also sync e-mail, but people won’t need that 

feature if they already use a cloud-based service such as 

Exchange (for work), Google, Yahoo, or a type of e-mail called 

IMAP. Why switch to a new e-mail account to get a syncing feature 

you probably already have with the present account 

Ironically, getting e-mail, contacts, and calendars requires 

74 


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icloud 

you to configure the e-mail, 

address book and calendar 

applications separately on 

a Mac. It’s actually easier 

with a PC, where one 

control panel handles it all. 

Syncing Documents 

It’s fantastically simple to 

sync documents between 

iDevices such as an iPhone 

and iPad. For example, 

type something in Notes 

on one device, and it appears 

on the other within 

a minute. To find it on a 

Mac, however, you’ll have 

to look, of all places, in 

Apple Mail. There is no syncing with PCs. 

The process is even more awkward with productivity 

software. Apple makes its iWork office apps for both iOS and 

Mac. On iOS, each app— Keynote, Numbers, and Pages—sells 

for $10. On a Mac, each goes for $20. iWork apps sync across 

iDevices. So, for instance, you can start a document on your 

iPad and pick it up on your iPhone. But iWork on a Mac doesn’t 

sync with iCloud. The best you can do is upload and download 

with iCloud using its web interface by setting up an account at 

www.icloud.com. But it’s a drag-and-drop process. No syncing. 

You can also use the web interface to move documents in 

other formats, such as Word, to or from a Mac or a PC. 

To seamlessly sync documents across any devices, skip 

iCloud and spring for mobile apps such as QuickOffice Pro 

($20 for iPhone and Android phones, $25 for iPad and Android 

tablets; www.quickoffice.com). After they are configured with 

an online service such as Dropbox or SugarSync, the apps 

allow Microsoft Office files to sync almost instantly between 

Macs, PCs, and any iOS and Android devices. 

Bottom line: iCloud works for keeping documents in sync, 

but there are better and easier-to-use tools out there. 

Finding a Phone or Friend 

Apple has long had a Find My 

iPhone feature to locate a lost 

or stolen iPhone (or iPod or 

iPad) using its GPS capability 

and to show the map on another 

iDevice or a secure website. 

That feature continues in iCloud, 

along with a new one called 

Find My Friends. 

Both services require free 

app downloads, and Find My 

Friends is opt-in. Someone 

sends an invite over e-mail, 

and the person who accepts will 

be visible to just the sender. 

You can also make yourself 

visible for a limited time, such 

as during a group outing when 

people to get lost. 

Finding an iPhone, iPad, or iPod is a dead-simple task that 

you hopefully will never need to do. Friend-finding may become 

popular in the future, but for now the process of inviting, accepting, 

and trying to decide the time frame for visibility is a 

bit awkward. 

OS X Lion address book iCloud control panel 

Is iCloud Worth It 

iCloud has two great aspects: It’s free (generally) and it 

comes in pieces. For no money, you can try out most parts 

of the service to find the ones that work best. And the mostpolished 

parts—syncing apps and media—are probably 

the most important. iCloud finally banishes the awful sync 

cord that no one likes to use. (By the way, you will be able to 

update iOS 5 wirelessly, too.) Even if you have a mix of Apple 

and Android gadgets, iCloud at least makes managing the 

content on your Apple devices easier. 

■ 

Backing Up Data 

By definition, nearly everything covered in iCloud is a kind 

of backup, since copies of media, appointments, bookmarks, 

and more live on Apple’s servers. But iCloud also backs up 

some data that isn’t synced with 

multiple devices. For instance, it 

stores ringtones, SMS messages, 

and the arrangement of app icons 

on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. If you 

lose a device—or if it gets so 

mangled that you have to wipe it 

and install the OS from scratch— 

iCloud restores the way it looked 

and worked previously. 

Non-Apple apps—such as the 

MadPad audio-mashup app, the 

Omnigraffle graphics suite, and 

the game PocketGod—can also 

back up data to iCloud. 

iOS app backup 

iOS Invite 

Friends 

iOS Find My Friends 


Ultrabook 

showdown 

Can the new wave of Windows-powered ultraportables take on the MacBook Air 


As soon as the MacBook Air was unveiled, it prompted 

the envy of Windows notebook makers. Suddenly, all their ultraportables 

seemed bloated. But it wasn’t just a razor-thin profile 

that made the Air one of the most compelling notebooks on the 

market. Instant-on functionality, a large touchpad, and a comfortable 

backlit keyboard helped the Air set the standard. 

Seeing a market opportunity, Intel invested $300 million 

into an Ultrabook campaign to help Windows notebook makers 

create their own versions, but it imposed a few rules. These 

Ultrabooks could be no thicker than 0.8 inches, and had to last 

at least 5 hours on a charge and wake from sleep instantly. 

Intel also specified that the notebooks should cost less than 

$1,000. The first four Ultrabooks to reach the market meet 

many of these requirements, but do they have what it takes 

to truly rival the Air 

76 


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Acer Aspire S3 $899 

★★ ☆☆ www.acer.com/us 

The 13-inch Acer Aspire S3 

parrots the MacBook Air’s 

sexy aesthetic with a brushedaluminum 

lid, 3-pound weight, 

and a chassis that’s just a 

half-inch thick. And, at $899, 

it’s less expensive than competing 

systems such as the 

ASUS Zenbook UX31, making 

it all the more appealing to 

those looking to save a few 

pennies. 

Acer had to make some 

sacrifices to keep its price 

low—no duralumin or unibody 

designs here. The lid of the S3 

is brushed aluminum, but the 

underside and deck are made 

of a silver-colored plastic. The 

laptop is made to look like a 

unibody design even though 

it is not. 

At just 0.5 to 0.6 inches thick, 

the S3 is a shade thicker than 

the 13-inch MacBook Air, which 

tapers from 0.1 to 0.7 inches. 

This system easily slipped 

into a small messenger bag 

and was barely noticeable 

on our subway ride home. 

The S3’s island-style 

keyboard isn’t the worst 

we’ve ever used, but it is a 

bit stiff; keys are large and 

well spaced, but we would 

have preferred more travel 

and responsiveness. 

We were underwhelmed 

by the S3’s low-quality, 13.3- 

inch 1366 x 768 display. We 

noticed plenty of pixelation and 

splotchiness in darker areas, 

and blacks weren’t as true as 

we’d like. Viewing angles were 

also pretty poor. 

Two speakers, located 

on the underside on the left 

and right edges, provided 

adequate sound, but were 

limited by their size. We 

could barely fill a cubicle 

when playing Notorious 

BIG’s “Big Poppa” at full 

volume, and even then it 

was overly tinny. 

Because it relies on a 

mechanical hard drive, the 

Aspire S3 took 1 minute and 5 

seconds to boot into Windows 

7 Home Premium. That’s dead 

on with the ultraportable category 

average, but far longer 

than the MacBook Air and the 

Toshiba Z835’s boot times. 

Using its 20GB SSD 

hibernation partition, the S3 

resumed from sleep in a very 

fast 3 seconds. However, the 

notebook would not wake at 

all if we lifted the lid within 

just a few seconds of shutting 

it. 

Inside the Aspire S3 is 

a second-gen 1.6-GHz Intel 

Core i5-2467M processor, 

4GB of RAM, and a 320GB, 

5,400-rpm hard drive, which 

powered the system to a 

PCMark Vantage score 

of 5,489. That’s a good 500 

points above the category 

average, but the MacBook Air 

notched a far-higher 11,230 

when we ran the same test in 

Boot Camp. 

Sadly, the mechanical hard 

drive was sluggish; it took 3 

minutes and 35 seconds to 

duplicate a 4.97GB folder of 

multimedia. That’s a rate of 

ultrabooks 

23.7 MBps, which is far below 

the category average of 37 

MBps. 

On the LAPTOP Battery 

Test, the S3 lasted just 4 hours 

and 25 minutes, 2 hours less 

than the ultraportable average. 

With a price like $899, 

it’s clear that Acer is trying 

to undercut its Ultrabook 

competitors, but in doing 

so, the company made too 

many sacrifices. The chassis 

is plastic, and the system has 

a mechanical hard drive, not 

an SSD. It’s also missing a 

high-res display and a backlit 

keyboard. While we might be 

willing to compromise on those 

issues, the one area where we 

can’t compromise is battery 

life, and unfortunately the S3 

falls way short. 

Pros 

Thin and light 

Less expensive than competition 

Good performance 

Cons 

Short battery life 

Plastic deck 

Slow hard drive 

Limited viewing angles 

Poor audio 


ultrabooks 

ASUS Zenbook UX31 $1,099 

★★★ ☆ usa.asus.com 

The ASUS Zenbook UX31 is 

a slim, stylish Ultrabook that 

not only packs a robust Core 

i5 processor and a 128GB 

SSD into its 3-pound unibody 

aluminum chassis, but also 

a high-res 1600 x 900-pixel 

display and excellent audio. 

The super-thin laptop wakes 

from sleep almost as soon as 

you lift the spun-metal lid. 

From the first moment 

we saw the ASUS Zenbook 

UX31, we were taken with the 

brushed-aluminum chassis 

and slim design. The circular 

pattern on the lid is slightly 

darker in color, and the deck 

has a linear brush pattern. It’s 

subtle, but it’s a nice touch. 

Overall, typing this review 

on the UX31 was a pleasant 

experience, but we had to hit 

the keys slightly harder than 

we’re used to make sure the 

notebook registered all of our 

presses. One big omission: 

backlighting. 

Navigating the desktop with 

the UX31’s Sentelic-powered 

touchpad was fairly smooth, 

but it took us more swipes than 

we’d like to get from one side 

of the screen to the 

other. In ad- 

dition, sometimes 

the cursor would 

jump. Two-finger 

scrolling was almost 

too sensitive, and 

pinch-to-zoom gestures 

stuttered on Firefox and 

Internet Explorer. 

We were thrilled to find 

that the UX31’s 13.3-inch display 

has a resolution of 1600 x 

900 pixels. It’s far more fitting 

for a premium system than 

the standard 1366 x 768, and 

even higher than the MacBook 

Air’s 1440 x 900 panel. We 

liked that we could see more 

of web pages and even have 

two documents open side by 

side. 

When we watched the 

1080p trailer for The Avengers, 

explosions were wonderfully 

fiery, but blacks could be truer, 

and we noticed some pixelation 

in darker areas. 

You can’t see the speakers 

on the UX31, but they make their 

presence felt. Audio, by Bang & 

Olufsen’s ICEpower and ASUS 

SonicMaster, radiates from 

underneath the keyboard, 

and is not only surprisingly 

loud, but quite good. 

The UX31 booted 

Windows 7 Home Premium 

(64-bit) in a fast 29 seconds, 

half of the category average 

(59 seconds). It was only 

bested by the MacBook 

Air, which launched OS 

X Lion in just 17 seconds, 

and the Toshiba Z835 (21 

seconds). 

Like the MacBook 

Air, the UX31 

resumed 

f r o m 

sleep 

in 1 to 2 

seconds. It 

really is great 

to use a Windows 

notebook that’s ready 

to go back to work when 

you are. The S3 took about a 

second longer than that. 

On the PCMark Vantage 

benchmark, the system scored 

10,233, which is almost double 

the ultraportable average and 

the Acer Aspire S3’s score. 

Having an SSD really makes 

a difference. Duplicating a 

4.97GB folder of multimedia 

took just 52 seconds, a rate of 

97.9 MBps. That’s nearly three 

times faster than the ultraportable 

average (36.8 MBps). 

On the LAPTOP Battery Test, 

the UX31 lasted 5 hours and 58 

minutes, about 30 minutes less 

than the ultraportable average 

(6:33) as well as the MacBook 

Air’s endurance (6:25). 

The ASUS Zenbook UX31 

takes a lot of what we loved 

about the 13-inch MacBook 

Air—a wafer-thin aluminum 

chassis, fast performance, 

instant resume, and good battery 

life—and adds superior 

audio and a higher-resolution 

display. Even better, the UX31 

costs $200 less than the Air. 

The ASUS’ design also looks 

and feels more premium, 

thanks to the brushed-metal 

treatment. However, while 

we can live with not having a 

backlit keyboard, the touchpad 

simply doesn’t work as well as 

it should—and you interact with 

that the most. 

Pros 

Slim, sturdy aluminum design 

Fast wake from sleep 


Execellent audio 

Cons 

Erratic touchpad 

Keyboard not backlit 

78 


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Lenovo IdeaPad U300s $1,095 

★★★ ☆ www.lenovo.com 

Lenovo has entered the 

Ultrabook race with the 

IdeaPad U300s, a 13-inch allaluminum 

system that weighs 

just 3 pounds. Starting at $1,095 

($1,495 as configured), the 

U300s packs an SSD and a fast 

Core i7 processor. And this 

notebook isn’t a MacBook Air 

knockoff, either. 

Where Acer and ASUS 

largely aped the look and feel 

of the MacBook Air, Lenovo 

opted to take a different design 

route. Instead of a thin wedge 

shape, the U300s maintains 

the same 0.6-inch thickness 

throughout, making it more 

like a slimmed-down version 

of its IdeaPad U260. 

Our review unit came in a 

staid Graphite Gray, but consumers 

can opt for the more 

colorful Clementine Orange 

finish. The inside of the U300s 

is as spartan as the outside: a 

gray keyboard deck, bezel, 

and touchpad, black keys, and 

a small metal power button on 

the upper right. 

While not as good as the 

layout on Lenovo’s businessclass 

X1, the U300’s keyboard 

was easier to type on than the 

ASUS UX31’s, though the keys 

did not have as much travel as 

the Air’s. We were disappointed 

by the lack of backlit keys. 

When viewed head on, the 

13-inch 1366 x 768p glossy 

display on the U300s was 

wonderfully bright and crisp; 

we could make out the lint on 

Kermit the Frog in a 1080p 

Muppets trailer, and the entire 

cast was an explosion of colors. 

However, viewing angles are 

pretty much limited to the 

person sitting directly in front 

of the display. 

Backed by SRS Premium 

Surround Sound technology, 

the U300s’ stereo speakers produced 

slightly above-average 

audio. We were impressed that 

such a thin notebook could 

pump out enough sound to fill 

our office. 

Given the U300s’ design, we 

were somewhat disappointed 

by the spread of ports. We wish 

Lenovo included an SD card 

reader. 

The U300s booted Windows 

7 Home Premium (64-bit) in 34 

seconds—half the category 

average—but it trailed the 

UX31 and the Toshiba 

Portégé Z835, not to 

mention the Mac- 

Book Air. 

A 1.8-GHz Intel Core 

i7-2677M processor, 4GB 

of RAM, and an ADATA 

JM616 256GB SSD powered 

the U300s to some impressive 

scores. In PCMarkVantage, the 

Ultrabook notched 10,174; more 

than double the ultraportable 

average. 

While the SSD in the U300s 

was fast, it fell short of the top 

Ultrabook performers. The 

Pros 

Attractive metal design 

Good webcam 

Boots fast 

Runs cool 

Cons 

Relatively low resolution 

Limited viewing angles 

No SD card slot 

Keyboard not backlit 

ultrabooks 

256GB drive duplicated 

a 4.97GB 

folder of multimedia 

in 61 seconds, a rate of 

83.4 MBps. While that’s 

nearly three times as fast 

as the category average, it 

was beat by the UX31 (97.9 

MBps) and the MacBook Air 

(127 MBps). 

Like the ASUS UX31, the 

Lenovo IdeaPad U300s gets 

many things right, but not 

enough to best the 13-inch 

MacBook Air. While it may not 

be as flashy as other options, 

we like this Ultrabook’s solid 

aluminum design, excellent 

performance, and nearly 7 hours 

of battery life. Yet, for $1,495 (as 

configured), we would expect 

a backlit keyboard, a higherres 

screen, and an SD card 

slot. We’re still waiting for the 

perfect Ultrabook, but the U300s 

is a very good choice for those 

pining for a Windows-powered 

Air alternative. 


ultrabooks 

Toshiba Portégé Z835 $799 

★★★★☆ 

www.toshibadirect.com 

Toshiba’s Portégé Z835 is the 

lightest 13-inch notebook on the 

market and avoids some of its 

competitors’ pitfalls by providing 

an accurate touchpad, long 

battery life, a backlit keyboard, 

and plenty of full-size ports. At 

$799, the Z835 is a good value 

when compared to the $1,299 

MacBook Air and the $1,099 

ASUS Zenbook UX31, but it 

makes a few compromises. 

One of the sleekest Ultrabooks 

yet, the Toshiba Portégé 

Z835 eschews bling in favor 

of understated elegance. The 

gray brushed-metal lid and 

deck combine with a smooth, 

gray bottom to provide a unity 

of color and a feng-shui-like 

simplicity. 

At just 2.4 pounds, the 

Toshiba Portégé Z835 is significantly 

lighter than 3-pound 

competitors such as the 13- 

inch MacBook Air, the Lenovo 

IdeaPad U300s, and the ASUS 

ZenBook UX31. 

The island-style keys on 

the Portégé Z835 are well 

spaced and for the most part 

large, with the exception of 

a small Esc key. And unlike 

other Ultrabook keyboards, 

the Z835’s is both backlit and 

spill-resistant. The palm rest 

is deep enough to cradle one’s 

wrists and stays cool and 

comfortable as you type. 

Unfortunately, the keys felt 

somewhat stiff and shallow. 

There’s not a lot of travel here. 

On the Ten Thumbs Typing 

Test, we managed our average 

80-word-per-minute speed 

but with a 4-percent error rate 

(1-percent is our usual). 

In a welcome change 

from other Ultrabooks, many 

of which use jerky clickpads 

with embedded buttons, the 

Z835’s highly accurate (but 

small) touchpad has two discrete 

buttons below it. 

The 1366 x 768 glossy 

display provided images 

that were sharp and bright, 

but not overly colorful. In a 

1080p QuickTime trailer for 

The Avengers, objects were 

crisp and motion smooth, but 

the orange of an explosion and 

the red in Thor’s cape seemed 

washed out. 

Unlike other Ultrabooks 

that leave out critical ports to 

save space, the Portégé Z835 

has a complete array of fullsize 

connections, including 

USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, and a 

full-size VGA port. 

With its 128GB Toshiba SSD, 

the Portégé Z835 cold-boots to 

Windows 7 Home Premium (64- 

bit) in just 26 seconds. Toshiba 

also includes an application 

called High-Speed Start Mode 

which, upon launch, shuts down 

the notebook and 

allows it to boot 

even faster— 

sometimes 

as fast as 

21 seconds—on the next cold 

boot. 

When the Z835 was 

asleep for just a few 

minutes, it was 

able to wake in 

about 3 seconds. 

However, after we 

let the laptop sleep 

overnight, it took 10 

seconds to resume. 

With its 1.4-GHz 

Intel Core i3-2367M 

CPU, integrated Intel 

HD graphics, and a 128GB 

Toshiba SSD that writes files 

like a hard drive, the Toshiba 

Portégé Z835 provides 

performance that’s good 

enough for productivity 

and HD movie watching, but 

won’t blow anyone away. On 

PCMark Vantage, the Portégé 

Z830 scored a mere 6,039, 

above the 5,029 category average 

but weak in comparison 

to more expensive competitors 

such as the MacBook Air 

13-inch. 

Though the 128GB Toshiba 

SSD allowed the Portégé Z835 

to boot in as little as 21 seconds, 

the drive suffers from poor 

write speeds that are more 

typical of a 7,200-rpm hard 

drive than a solid state drive. 

It took the Z835 2 minutes and 

59 seconds to complete the 

LAPTOP File Transfer Test, 

which is significantly lower 

than the 38.5 MBps ultraportable 

average. 

On the LAPTOP Battery 

Test, the Toshiba Portégé Z835 

lasted a solid 6 hours and 48 

minute. That’s a step above the 

6:26 ultraportable notebook 

average and noticeably longer 

than the Apple MacBook Air 13- 

inch (6:25) and ASUS Zenbook 

UX31 (5:58). 

The Toshiba Portégé Z835 

is arguably the best Ultrabook 

yet—and certainly the best 

option under $1,000. For $799, 

you get the lightest 13-inch laptop 

around, full-size ports, and an 

accurate touchpad. Almost 7 

hours of battery life is another 

big plus. The MacBook Air offers 

better performance and a richer 

display, but the Z835 is a better 

value. 

Pros 

Long battery life 

Very light weight 

Plenty of full-size ports 

Accurate touchpad 

Backlit keyboard 

Cons 

Slow write speeds 

Stiff keyboard 

Screen a bit washed out 

Wake from sleep not always fast 

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ultrabooks 

Ultrabooks Compared: 

Specs & Performance 

ACER 

ASPIRE S3 

ASUS 

ZENBOOK UX31 

LENOVO 

IDEAPAD U300s 

TOSHIBA 

PORTÉGÉ Z835 

Price 

$899 

$1,099 

$1,095 

$799 

CPU 

1.6-GHz Intel Core i5- 

2467M 


2557M 


2677M 


2367M 

RAM/EXPANDABLE 

TO 

4GB/4GB 

4GB/4GB 

4GB/4GB 

4GB/8GB 

HARD DRIVE SIZE/ 

SPEED 

20GB SSD, 320GB/ 

5,400 rpm 

128GB/SSD 

256GB/SSD 

128GB/SSD 

DISPLAY SIZE/ 

RESOLUTION 

13.3 inches/1366 x 768 

13.3 inches/1600 x 900 

13.3 inches/1366 x 768 

13.3 inches/1366 x 768 

GRAPHICS/VIDEO 

MEMORY 

Intel HD/256MB shared 

Intel HD/256MB shared 

Intel HD 3000/256MB 

shared 

Intel HD/64MB 

WIRELESS 

802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 

802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 

802.11b/g/n, 

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR 

802.11b/g/n 

PORTS 

Two USB 2.0, HDMI, 

headphone, mic 

One USB 3.O, one USB 

2.0, microHDMI, mini 

VGA, headphone, mic 

One USB 3.0, one USB 

2.0, HDMI, headphone, 

mic 

One USB 3.0, two USB 

2.0, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, 

headphone, mic, Kensington 

Lock slot 

CARD SLOTS 

2-in-1 card reader 


None 


SIZE (inches) 

12.6 x 8.5 x 0.6 

13.3 x 8.9 x 0.7 

12.8 x 8.5 x 0.6 

12.4 x 8.9 x 0.6 

WEIGHT (pounds) 

3 

3 

3 

2.4 

BENCHMARKS 

PC mark07 

1,861 

3,606 

3,533 

2,498 

LAPTOP Battery 

Test (h:m) 

4:23 

5:58 

6:52 

6:48 

LAPTOP Transfer 

Test (MBps) 

23.7 

97.9 

83.4 

28.4 

Boot Time (min:sec) 

1:05 

0:29 

0:34 

0:26 

3DMark06 

3,257 

3,761 

3,389 

3,620 


(min:sec) 

8:03 

5:50 

5:50 

11:36 

World of Warcraft 

(autodetect/ 

max; fps) 

11 

26 

13 

26 

13 

31 

12 

32 


B U S I N E S S 

split-personality 

smartphones 

The new trend in securing corporate data Giving handsets separate work and play profiles. 

by Dan Howley 

It’s not quite Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but it’s pretty 

close. Software developers and corporations 

are working on ways to give your smartphone 

split personalities: one dedicated to work and the 

other to play. The BYOD, or “bring your own device,” 

movement—along with the “open” nature of 

Android—is helping make dual-purpose smartphones 

a growing trend. 

One of the benefits of BYOD is reduced overhead 

for companies because they can minimize or eliminate 

hardware and wireless plan costs. Encouraging 

employees to use their own smartphones can also 

reduce calls to the IT department, as employees 

generally have a better understanding of their personal 

devices than corporate-issued ones. 

But with those benefits come significant risks. 

Storing corporate data on a user’s personal 

phone puts that information in the crosshairs of 

any malicious software the user may encounter 

through the web or apps. And with app stores— 

particularly the Android Market—serving as veritable 

playgrounds for spyware and viruses, the need to 

protect corporate data on employees’ phones has 

become more important than ever. 

So far, organizations have turned to mobile device 

management solutions to clamp down on the spread 

of malware and potential data leaks. But this approach 

often requires employees to grant their company’s 

IT department complete access to their personal 

devices, something most privacy-conscious users find 

less than desirable. That’s where split-personality or 

dual-profile software solutions comes in. Offered by 

companies including Enterproid and VMware, these 

new solutions separate a user’s smartphone into two 

profiles: one for work life and one for personal life. 

The New Dual Mode 

Here’s how the solutions generally work: When logged 

into your personal profile, you can use your smartphone 

just as you normally would, without worrying about 

whether someone from IT can see which apps you 

downloaded or websites you’ve visited. “It’s really helping 

with the privacy issue, because as an end user, I may 

not want IT to see everything I’ve downloaded onto 

my personal phone,” explained Stacy Crook, senior 

mobile enterprise research analyst with IDC market 

research. “It’s about a separation of the data.” 

But it’s not just about privacy. The dual-profile 

approach creates a virtual barrier, ensuring that 

apps you download can’t interact with any important 

corporate data stored on your phone. These work 

profiles also give IT departments the control they 

need. Logging into your work profile also means you 

are automatically bound by the restrictions placed 

on your phone by IT, giving businesses the ability to 

lock down the app store, camera, and web browser. 

Log back into your personal profile, and you’ll have 

access to your phone’s features again. 

Because the space is still in its infancy, there 

are only a few major players working on dual-profile 

solutions. Here’s a quick breakdown. 

❶ Enterproid 

Although it was only founded in 2010, Enterproid 

recently teamed with AT&T to bring its Divide dualprofile 

solution to the carrier’s business users under 

the name Toggle. Toggle functions by creating a work 

profile on a user’s phone that can only be accessed 

via password. By default, you are automatically 

logged into your personal profile. Only after opening 

the Toggle app and entering your password can you 

access your work data. To help differentiate the two 


Enterproid’s Divide dual-profile technology creates a work environment on a personal phone that can only be 

accessed via password. 

profiles, Enterproid has skinned the work side with 

Toggle-specific backgrounds and icons. 

To get Toggle on your phone, you simply download 

it from the Android Market. Once it’s installed, your 

IT department connects your work profile to your 

company’s corporate server. From there, IT can 

let you download specific apps as well as updates 

for those apps to ensure you’re running the latest 

and most secure versions. The software gives IT 

the ability to wipe corporate information from an 

employee’s device and manage employee access 

to company resources. 

Employees gain the ability to access their 

corporate e-mail, calendar, and other data. The 

software also features a set of native Android 

business apps. And because they run in your work 

profile, they are encrypted and compliant with your 

company’s use policies. 

Enterproid CEO and co-founder Andrew Toy said 

his company jumped behind the dual-profile concept 

because “it enables companies to have what they 

want in terms of management and control and 

security. And on the personal profile, there is no 

effect whatsoever. The IT guys simply don’t have 

visibility in that area.” 

According to IDC’s Crook, the Divide/Toggle solution 

is better suited for small and medium businesses 

because of its simplified method for dealing with 

BYOD. The one downside to Toggle, however, is that 

it only works on Android devices. 

❷ VMware MVP 

Best known for its desktop virtualization software, 

VMware has teamed with Verizon Wireless to bring 

its Mobile Virtualization Platform to Verizon’s line of 

Android phones. The service puts a hypervisor on 

employees’ devices, providing access to a virtualized 

Android operating system. When logged into MVP, 

your company’s IT department can remotely manage 

and provision a corporate workspace on your Android 

device while leaving your standard Android operating 

system completely untouched. 

“If I decide to go with the VMware/Verizon 

solution, I’m going to actually have two separate 

operating systems, one real and one virtual,” Crook 

said. Users can log into a virtual desktop where 

they can securely access corporate information. 

No information accessed through the virtual desktop 

can be saved or copied to a user’s Android 

profile either. All information is isolated from an 

employee’s personal profile. 

While MVP and Enterproid offer similar services, 

they differ in how they are managed. “With AT&T it’s 

the same instance of the operating system that the 

data is operating on,” Crook explained. “With the 

Verizon solution, you are going to have a partition 

of operating systems. So you are going to have the 

base Android operating system where your personal 

information is going to sit and then you are going to 

have a virtual operating system where your corporate 

information is going to sit.” 

Unlike Toggle, MVP is built into the kernel of a 

phone’s operating system. As a result, it will be limited 

to users who have phones with that kernel built in. But 

Verizon says it is already in contact with its Android 

OEM partners—including LG and Motorola—to have 

them include the software on their phones. 

And while Toggle could work well for small and 

medium businesses, Crook told us that MVP is 

better optimized for an enterprise setting. That’s 

not to say it’s a better solution. But VMware already 

has the ear of the enterprise thanks to its other 

virtualization solutions. 

❸ BlackBerry Balance 

RIM’s BlackBerry is synonymous with mobile 

enterprise network access. The company pioneered 

a solution for employees connecting to corporate 

Business 

WORK & PLAY 

SMARTPHONES 

data while away from 

the office. RIM is acutely 

aware of the BYOD trend’s 

growing momentum and 

has introduced its Black- 

Berry Balance service 

to meet that challenge. 

Like Toggle and MVP, 

the service separates an 

employee’s personal data 

from corporate data. But 

unlike those solutions, 

Balance doesn’t create 

separate work and personal 

profiles. Instead, 

Balance lives directly on a 

user’s smartphone and is 

accessible by IT through 

a standard BlackBerry 

Enterprise Server. 

That, according 

to Crook, is a result of RIM’s decision to build the 

software directly into the BlackBerry BBX operating 

system. “It’s a micro-kernel architecture so there is all 

kinds of partitioning already going on in the OS that 

allows them to do the BlackBerry Balance model,” 

she explained. 

With BlackBerry Balance, users are prevented 

from copying and pasting corporate information into 

their personal applications. IT can also remotely wipe 

business information from a user’s BlackBerry if he 

or she loses their phone or leaves the company. 

Users also don’t have to open another program 

to access corporate data. If an action they are 

trying to perform isn’t permitted by IT, then they 

will simply see a blacked out box. For instance, 

if you try to copy something from your corporate 

e-mail to your personal e-mail, the copy command 

will be locked. But like VMware’s MVP solution and 

AT&T’s Toggle, BlackBerry Balance is limited to a 

set user base: BlackBerry owners. 

Bottom Line 

If there is one drawback to this dual-profile approach, 

it’s that it limits IT departments’ access to employees’ 

devices, making it a poor fit for industries dealing 

with extremely sensitive material. Healthcare and 

financial companies, for example, may need to take 

complete control of an employee’s phone if it stores 

sensitive information. 

So which of these solutions is best Because 

the BYOD market is still new—and dual-profile 

services are even newer—a clear leader has yet to 

be established. There are also several other solution 

providers looking to make some noise in this space, 

including OK Labs and Red Bend Software. One thing 

is for certain, though. More and more employees will 

want to bring their smartphones into the workplace, 

and businesses can either prepare now, or be left 

out in the cold. 

■ 



83

Business 

Online Overseas: 

5 Ways to Save Money 

Stay connected abroad without zapping your wallet. 

by Daniel Howley 

Between hotel costs, airfare, and dining out, 

overseas travel can get expensive quickly. 

But nothing can empty your wallet faster than 

calling home from halfway across the globe. It’s 

not uncommon for travelers to unknowingly rack up 

more than $1,000 in international roaming charges. 

Then there are the data costs; you could pay as 

much as $20,480 for one gigabyte of data. 

Thankfully, there are several options to help keep 

your calling and surfing needs from draining your 

bank account. International calling plans—along 

with pre-paid and rental SIM cards—can save you 

money, but they require a compatible handset. 

Rental cell phones, mobile hotspots, and VoIP 

services will also save you some cash, but they 

have some drawbacks as well. Read on to find out 

which option is best for you. 

1 

Carrier Options 

Most carriers offer reduced rates 

for calling abroad through special 

international calling plans. But before you sign 

up, you’ll have to make sure your phone will work 

where you’re traveling. There are two types of cell 

phone systems in wide use: CDMA and GSM. In the 

U.S., Sprint and Verizon Wireless use CDMA, and 

it’s also used in South America and most Asian 

countries. GSM, on the other hand, is used by 

AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S., as well as in most 

of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. 

If your phone uses an antenna that’s compatible 

with your international destination, you’ll still have 

to make sure that it works on the radio bands used 

in the area. Certain GSM phones known as world 

phones (such as the iPhone 4S and the 

Samsung Galaxy S II) can support 

up to four radio bands, 

meaning 

they accept signals from the two GSM signals used 

in the U.S. as well as the two used in Europe. 

Although signing up for an international calling 

plan with your carrier is cheaper than paying 

international roaming rates, it will still cost you a 

pretty penny. “Because of international tariffs, or 

whatever arrangements U.S. carriers have, it’s almost 

always less expensive to buy a 

prepaid phone in Europe to call 

the U.S.,” explained Consumer 

Reports’ Michael Gikas. 

Calling the U.S. from 

Germany on your 

AT&T phone without an international plan will cost 

you $1.39 per minute, while data will cost $19.97 

per MB of data. Under AT&T’s World Traveler plan, 

however, you’ll pay a $5.99 monthly fee and still 

pay as much as $0.99 a minute to call Germany. 

And with AT&T’s DataConnect Pass, you can get 

50MB of data for $24.99. That’s better than the 

carrier’s pay-per-use costs, but still much 

more expensive than what you’ll 

pay in the U.S.: $25 

for 2GB. 


Verizon Wireless customers with GSM-capable 

phones can also take advantage of their carrier’s 

international plan. Standard calling rates to Italy 

cost $1.29 per minute. Under the company’s Global 

Traveler plan, you can expect to pay $0.99 per 

minute. Data gets the same treatment as well. 

Standard data rates can cost you $20.48 per MB 

of data. With a monthly global plan, though, you 

can expect to pay $30 for 50MB of data. Go over 

that and you’ll pay an additional $5.12 per MB. 

Yikes. 

2 SIM 

Cards 

Renting a SIM 

card is a viable option that 

can save you more money 

than roaming fees and most 

international calling plans. 

Sprint and Verizon offer 

only a small selection of 

SIM-enabled phones that 

can be used overseas, but 

all of AT&T and T-Mobile’s 

handsets use SIM cards. 

To install a rental card, 

you’ll first have to call your 

carrier and request a SIM unlock code. If you’ve 

had your phone for more than 90 days and your 

account is in good standing, your carrier should 

provide you with the code. Don’t meet those 

requirements, and you won’t get it. 

Both prepaid and pay-as-you-go SIM cards let 

you make voice calls and provide access to data 

from your own phone without having to pay onerous 

long distance fees. Companies such as Telestial, 

Truphone, and XCom Global let you purchase 

or rent international SIM cards for as low as $5 

a card. Beyond that, you’ll pay the companies’ 

price-per-minute charges. 

Telestial, for instance, charges $5 for its Passport 

Lite Travel SIM card with $5 of calling credit. 

Calling the U.S. from the U.K. will run you $0.99 

per minute, but received calls in France, Italy, and 

the U.K are free. Sending a text will cost you a bit 

more: $0.79. Data runs $0.79 per MB. 

Truphone’s cards will cost $29.99 with a $15 

starter credit, and the company charges users 

$0.10 a minute for calls from the U.K. to landlines 

and cell phones in the U.S. You’ll pay more for 

incoming calls: $0.17 per minute. Texts will cost 

you $0.08 to send, but receiving them is free. Data 

costs $0.15 per MB. 

You can also rent local SIM cards from the 

country you’ll be visiting, explains Ken Grunski, 

president of global retail sales at Telestial. And 

while he admits that getting a SIM card in the U.K. 

may be easier and cheaper than Telestial’s service, 

Grunski says that picking up a card in most other 

countries will be more expensive. 

The downside to getting a rental SIM card, 

Gikas says, is that you’ll have to provide the SIM’s 

number to anyone you expect to be in contact 

with, since it will differ from your phone’s normal 

number. You can also expect many of your phone’s 

features, including e-mail access, to be disabled 

when the rental card is installed. Most phones’ 

clocks will also stop working properly when a 

rental SIM is installed, although resetting them 

manually will fix that. 

3 VoIP 

Voice over Internet Protocol services 

such as Skype and Vonage can also 

provide travelers with a cheap and easy way to 

get in touch with their relatives back home. “Our 

general advice is that services such as Skype are 

definitely less expensive... for making international 

calls anyway you look at it,” Gikas said. 

With Skype, calls to landlines or cell phones 

in the U.S. cost 2.3 cents per minute on a pay-asyou-go 

plan or $2.99 per month. Text messaging 

costs 11.2 cents per text. Skype’s Unlimited World 

plan lets you call North America, as well as four 

Skype VoIP call 

other countries around the world, for $13.99, and 

calling another Skype user is free no matter where 

you are. 

Vonage offers similar services through its 

Vonage World Plan. For $25.99 a month, you can 

add a mobile extension to your Vonage home 

number that can then be used to make free calls 

from anywhere to all U.S. land and mobile lines. 

Vonage-to-Vonage calls are free. 

The problem is that VoIP services require a 

data connection. And finding free Wi-Fi access 

while abroad can be tough. That’s why it pays to 

rent a mobile hotspot that you can pair with your 

existing smartphone. 

Business 

TRAVEL SAVINGS 

4 

Rental Phones 

If your phone doesn’t accept SIM cards 

or use the same radio bands as the 

country you’re visiting, you may want to look into 

renting an international phone. Companies such 

as Telestial and Tep Wireless rent out smartphones 

for a predetermined amount of time and charge 

you significantly reduced calling rates. 

With Tep Wireless, you can rent a phone for 

five days at a rate of $45 and pay as low as $0.04 

per minute for calls to the U.S. Tep can also set 

you up with an unlimited data connection for 

$41.30 for five days. That’s a pretty good deal. 

Telestial’s services will cost you $19 for a basic 

phone with calls to U.S. landlines and cell phones 

costing $0.99 per minute. All received calls are 

free. You won’t get data or Bluetooth with this 

phone, though the company does offer other 

handsets that include both. 

5 

Mobile Hotspots 

If you’re traveling for business and 

want data access on your laptop and/ 

or smartphone, a mobile hotspot is the way to go. 

Both Tep Wireless and XCom Global rent mobile 

hotspots and charge based on the MB you use. 

A standard hotspot rental through Tep Wireless 

for a trip to France, for 

example, will cost you 

$56.33 for the unit and 

five days worth of data 

at 150MB a day. You 

can also add 100MB of 

data and enable Skype 

calling for an additional $5.95 a day. If you’d like, 

Tep can send your hotspot to any destination in 

Europe for $14.95 

With XCom Global, you can rent a hotspot with 

unlimited data access for up to five devices at 

a rate of $14.95 per day. USB modems are also 

available. If you order within 10 days or less of 

your trip, you’ll have to cough up an additional 

$29.99 for shipping. Order before that and shipping 

is free. If you plan on traveling across Europe, the 

company can also provide you with a European 

SIM for the hotspot. 

Choose Your Connection 

No matter how you decide to connect, 

expect to pay more for data and voice 

than you would in the U.S. But if you do your 

homework, you can save big. Connecting with 

your carrier’s international plan lets you use 

your phone, but is costly unless you sign up for a 

international plan. Rental SIMs are less expensive 

but force you to use a different number. VoIP is a 

great solution but will require a data connection. 

Overall, mobile hotspots are probably your best 

bet, because they’ll supply data to your laptop 

and smartphone and let you make VoIP calls from 

your handset with a single device. ■ 



85

Business 

PASSWORD CHAOS 

Poor security logins are a bigger risk to your business than you might think. 

by Chad Brooks for BusinessNewsDaily 

A 

fundamental lack of IT security awareness— 

particularly in the area of password control 

and privileged logins—could pave the way 

for more waves of data breaches. The Password 

2011 Survey (conducted by the Lieberman Software 

Corporation) paints a vivid picture of password 

chaos among IT professionals and a general 

apathy about password security among senior 

management. 

More than a quarter of the 300 IT professionals 

surveyed said they were aware of an IT staff 

member abusing privileged login information to 

illicitly access sensitive information. 

At the same time, nearly half of the IT professionals 

surveyed said they work at companies that 

are not changing their privileged passwords within 

90 days—a violation of most major regulatory 

compliance mandates and one of the key reasons 

hackers are still able to compromise the security 

of large organizations. 

“This survey shows that despite the huge 

number of frequent data breaches, over the 

past 12 months senior management in many 

organizations have not yet grasped the fundamentals 

of IT security,” said Philip Lieberman, 

president and CEO of Lieberman Software. 

“Password anarchy among the IT staff at major 

organizations is mirrored by password apathy 

at the top of the management hierarchy, where 

senior management seem almost criminally lax 

in the enforcement of IT security policies, to the 

detriment of their organizations.” 

The survey also found that the sheer volume 

of passwords needed by IT professionals could 

be a source of the problem. More than half of 

the IT professionals surveyed said they had 10 

or more passwords to remember for work, while 

42 percent said the IT staff in their organizations 

is sharing passwords or access to systems and 

applications. 

“Management will have to pay far more attention 

to their basic security practices or be forced to 

apologize to their shareholders and customers for 

major data losses and subsequent damage to brand 

loyalty,” Lieberman said. “The simple, unpalatable 

truth is that senior management generally is not 

policing their IT security departments enough to 

avoid further massive data breaches.” 

Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData—a developer 

of password management solutions for smartphones 

and personal computers—said there are a number 


Password Management Apps 

These six programs do the remembering for you and toss in data protection for good measure. 

eWALLET 

Available in both 

desktop and mobile 

versions, eWallet 

secures your passwords 

with 256-bit 

encryption. eWallet takes its name seriously; 

customization options let you assign credit cardstyle 

backgrounds to different login credentials. 

The software can sync across your devices, and 

Android users can view their desktop “wallet” of 

login information on their phone. 

$9.99 (smartphone), $19.99 (PC), $29.98 (PC 

and smartphone); www.iliumsoft.com/ewallet 

LASTPASS 

Once you 

c r e a t e a 

LastPass account, 

you’ll 

only have to 

remember 

one password: the one you use to sign into this 

helpful program. The app will automatically fill in 

your credentials for whichever sites you specify, 

and your login information is encrypted to protect 

against identity theft. The Premium version adds 

support for mobile devices and browsers. 

Free (basic), $1 per month (LastPass Premium); 

lastpass.com 

KASPERSKY PASSWORD 

MANAGER 

Brought to you by own of the leading antivirus 

software providers, the desktop-only Kaspersky 

Password Manager takes a different tack than 

programs that remember all your different logins. 

The software generates random passwords that 

of password safety measures which businesses can establish to ensure 

the safety of critical data. 

One step is to use passwords with eight characters or more. 

According to Slane, one way to create secure passwords that are easy to 

remember is to use phrases with short words and spaces in between, such 

as “eat cake at 8!” or “car park city” 

In addition, Slain discourages having the same username and password 

combination on multiple sites or applications. Since many websites don’t 

adequately protect that information, hackers are able to obtain the data 

from the servers and try the same username and password combinations 

on more valuable sites and services such as email, online banks, or PayPal. 

“There is a cascading risk that you incur,” Slain said. 

For those with numerous passwords, Slain recommends organizing them 

on some sort of secure password-management application—a digital safe 

of sorts—rather than writing them all on a slip of paper. 


are designed to protect 

against hackers—and 

it saves the login info 

so you don’t have to 

remember that jumble 

of characters. Choose 

from versions for one or two users. 

$24.95 (one-user), $29.95 (two-user); 

kaspersky.com 

KEEPASS 

This password 

manager lets you 

pre-load login 

information to 

most-frequented 

sites and secures 

your data with 

several encryption 

algorithms. Because KeePass is open-source, 

it’s completely free, and privacy-minded contributors 

continually strengthen the program’s 

functionality and security. 

Free; keepass.info 

Article provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to Laptopmag.com. 

Business 

password security 

ROBOFORM 

With a RoboForm 

account, you simply 

click on an icon in your 

toolbar to automatically 

enter login and credit card information 

on website forms. The password manager itself 

is a free download, but the paid RoboForm 

Everywhere online service lets you sync your 

stored credentials across devices. 

Free (RoboForm), $19.95 (RoboForm Everywhere); 

www.roboform.com 

STICKY PASSWORD 

This free program 

keeps 

you as safe 

as possible by 

generating and 

saving strong 

passwords and 

organizing your 

data in a password 

database. 

Sticky Password also automatically populates 

forms with your saved information so you don’t 

have to do the typing. The pro version includes 

stronger security safeguards, including protection 

against phishing and key logging attempts. 

Free (basic), $29.99 (Sticky Password 5.0); 

www.stickypassword.com 

Screen Glare Eliminator 

The NuShield TM DayVue 

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protector film lets you 

read your LCD display 

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The film installs in seconds and offers superior scratch 

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up to 50 inch diagonal. Use LM06 for 10% discount!! 

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Visit www.NuShield.com/lpt 

Call us at 877-900-9192 

or 215-500-6426 


87

UPGRADES 

&TIPS 

Get Free eBooks 

From the Library 

How to check out books with your Amazon Kindle or Barnes 

& Noble Nook. 


Love your eReader, but not a fan of buying books 

that you’ll read only once Just as with traditional 

books and media, libraries are your salvation. While 

the millions of volumes contained in your local library 

system aren’t all available as eBooks—yet—thousands 

of popular titles are just a click away. For example, the 

Chicago Public Library alone has more than 5,200 titles. 

Plus, Amazon recently introduced library lending to its 

Kindle readers, and Barnes & Noble’s Nook supports the 

widely used ePub format, making it easier than ever to 

support the virtual branch of your local library. 

Just like traditional books, an eBook has to be 

“on the shelf” in order to check it out. Our library kept 

tabs on the number of digital copies in its collection, 

as well as how many copies were available and how 

many people were on the waiting list. 

Above all else, you’ll need a current library card in 

good standing and a library that supports OverDrive 

digital lending (more than 11,000 libraries currently 

use it). Here's how to take out books without being 

there. 

Kindle 

• Once your checkout is confirmed, you’ll be taken to 

a page with a button that says Get for Kindle. Clicking 

on this takes you to Amazon’s site, where you can 

select which Kindle device or app you own. You can 

also download the book and transfer it via USB. 

• Turn on your Kindle or connect it to Wi-Fi, and your 

freshly checked-out library book will download. After 

the lending period, it will disappear from your device 

and return to the library. 

Nook 

• Download Adobe Digital Editions from www.adobe. 

com/products/digitaleditions. Because the Nook uses 

• The book will download as an .acsm file. Click 

on the file to open it in Adobe Digital Editions and 

automatically add it to your Adobe library. 

• Connect your Nook to your laptop via USB. The Nook 

will appear as a location in Adobe Digital Editions in 

the Library view. Drag the book you just downloaded 

to the Nook icon to transfer it. 

• Eject your Nook from your laptop and start reading. 

At the end of the lending period, the book will be 

inaccessible on the Nook and the desktop. Reconnect 

your Nook via USB, click on the Nook icon, and 

click on the upper-left corner of the book to return 

it to the library and remove it from your Nook and 

desktop. 

■ 

Getting Started 

1 Visit your library’s website to make sure it supports 

eBooks and digital lending. For this how-to, 

we used the Chicago Public Library system (www 

.chipublib.org). We found eBooks in two ways: 

• Searching in the general catalog and looking for 

designated eBook editions 

• Searching through the Downloadable Media section 

of the library site 

2 Once you’ve made a selection, click “Add to my 

cart.” From here you can choose another book or 

proceed to checkout. 

3 When you check out, you’ll be asked to enter your 

library card number and zip code. We were able to 

check out up to six titles at once through our library 

and could choose from a one-, two-, or three-week 

lending period. 

the ePub version of eBooks (as 

opposed to Amazon’s proprietary 

version), Adobe Digital Editions 

is used to manage the digital 

rights. If you want to download 

audio books as well as eBooks, 

download the OverDrive Media 

Console from www.overdrive 

.com/software/omc. 

• Follow the steps above for 

borrowing a book. Once your 

checkout is confirmed, you’ll be 

taken to a page with a button that 

says Download. Clicking this will 

download the eBook. 

88 


www.laptopmag.com

UPGRADES & tips 

How to Dual-Boot 

Windows 7 & 8 

You don’t have to wait until 2012 to get Microsoft’s new OS. Follow 

these step-by-step instructions to run both versions simultaneously. 

by Avram Piltch 

Microsoft’s next operating system isn’t 

due until sometime later this year, but 

you can try an early “developer preview” 

version of Windows 8 on your computer today 

without erasing your primary Windows 7 installation. 

All you need is a modern PC with a 1-GHz 

or faster CPU, at least 1GB of RAM, and 20GB of 

free disk space. 

Follow these steps to dual-boot 

Windows 8 with Windows 7 on 

your computer: 

❶ Download the ISO file from Microsoft. Navigate 

to bit.ly/pnsrKM. Download the 64-bit version if your 

current Windows install is 64-bit and the 32-bit 

version if your current install is 32-bit. If you don’t 

know which you have, right-click the Computer/ 

My Computer icon and select Properties. 

❷ Burn the ISO to a DVD or USB flash drive. 

• To burn to DVD, simply insert a blank disc in your 

optical drive and double-click on the ISO file to 

launch Window 7’s built-in burning software. 

• If your computer doesn’t have a DVD drive, just 

take a 4GB or larger USB drive, format it with the 

FAT32 file system, and then use Microsoft’s free 

Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool (bit.ly/q9949l) 

to copy the install files to it. 

❸ Create a new partition on your drive. You need 

to install Windows 8 on a separate partition from 

Windows 7. If you don’t have any secondary partitions 

with at least 20GB free, select Computer 

Management from the Administrative Tools menu 

in the Windows control panel. Then select Storage 

> Disk Management. 

A menu showing your physical disks and partitions 

will appear. Right-click on your C drive and 

select Shrink Volume. Then select the amount to 

shrink by and make sure it is at least 20GB. 

❹ Create a new partition by right-clicking on the 

unallocated drive space and selecting New Simple 

Volume. Then enter a size of at least 20,000MB 

and confirm your choice. 

❺ Reboot your PC and select the DVD or USB flash 

drive as your boot device. 

❻ Click Next > Install > Accept the license terms. 

Click Next again. 

❼ Select Custom Install, choose the blank partition 

you just created, and click Next. Wait while the 

install does its work. The system will reboot and a 

menu will appear. 

❽ Click “Change defaults or choose other 

options” then “Choose the default operating 

system.” Pick Windows 7 so your computer will 

boot into Windows 7 any time you don’t choose 

which OS you want. 

❾ Choose Windows Developer Preview after clicking 

the back arrow to return to the main menu. 

The computer will boot into the new 

operating system for the first time. 

❿ Give your computer a name and 

select a network connection. 

⓫ Select Express Settings. 

⓬ Enter your Windows Live account 

e-mail address. If you don’t have a Windows Live 

account, click the link to sign up. 

⓭ Add a security question. Windows 8 is now set 

up. Now, every time you boot up your computer, 

you’ll be presented with a menu that lets you choose 

between Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you walk 

away or wait 20 seconds without making a choice, 

the system will boot into Windows 7. ■ 


Windows 8 On A Laptop 



Social Streamlining 

Overwhelmed by the number of friends and followers you need to manage 

Follow this advice. 

by Davey Alba 

With all the poking, liking, following, circling, 

and friending that we do on a daily basis, it’s 

no wonder that many of us have woken up 

one day with a tangle of followers and friends—many 

of whom we don’t even interact with—and asked 

ourselves, “How could I let this happen” 

If this situation sounds familiar, you may 

want to consider social streamlining—keeping 

your networks lean and mean. But how do you 

accomplish this We’ll walk you through the 

options to tailor your Facebook profile to your liking 

using the best third-party customizers and teach 

you how to prune your Twitter feed to get it down 

to the most efficient scroll possible. 

90 

1 

Use a Facebook 

Customizer 

Facebook recently debuted a number 

of updates that add a lot of functionality, but these 

features also made the service more confusing for 

some users. The biggest and most visible change is 

Timeline, a chronological representation of your life 

via every post that has ever existed on Facebook. 

There’s also Ticker (a scrolling real-time feed of 

friends’ activities), Open Graph apps (which let you 

add app activity to the Ticker sans the annoying 

dialogue box), and new ways to discover and share 

with your friends. 

Fortunately, some innovative (and frustrated) 

members of the community have built Facebook 

customizers—extensions and user scripts that 

work with web browsers—to help you tweak the 

settings to your liking. Of these, Social Fixer is the 

one you should consider using. 

A browser extension that works with Chrome, 

Firefox, Safari, and Opera, Social Fixer is the most 

robust Facebook customizer available today. With 

more than 75 ways to customize your profile, you can 

streamline your Facebook to get a more familiar look 

so you know just where everything sits. The options 

to help you accomplish this are wide-ranging: Social 

Fixer lets you add tabs to your news feed for apps and 

status updates, skin your profile, filter posts, tweak 

the left navigation bar, get pinged when someone 

unfriends you, and more. It’s completely free and 

available at socialfixer.com 

2 

Organize Your Friends 

into Lists 

One of the newer Facebook features 


that you may not utilize fully right now is Lists. 

First announced back in September, Lists was 

Facebook’s answer to Google+ Circles. But while it 

takes time and effort to organize Google+ contacts 

into intersecting circles, Facebook makes it much 

easier by automating the entire process. Smart 

Lists slurp information from user profiles to classify 

your friends into three categories: coworkers, 

classmates, and people who live within a 50-mile 

radius of your current location. 

You can create and edit lists manually as well. 

Just navigate to your News Feed, look to the lefthand 

column, hover over the title called Lists, and 

click on More. From here, you can create a new 

List or click on the pencil 

icon beside each label to 

drill down to the particular 

one you want to edit. Select 

the drop-down button on the 

upper right-hand corner, 

Manage List, and choose 

Social Fixer is a browser extension that 

can ping you when someone unfriends you. 

from options to add or remove friends. When you’re 

in a list, you can pick out which types of update 

types you want to see from these friends, or post 

something viewable to just that group. 

3 

How to Unfriend 

Facebook Friends 

The last thing you can do to get your 

Facebook to a manageable state is to remove a 

few people from your roster of pals. No, we don’t 

suggest going on a ban hammering spree and 

obliterating all the college and work acquaintances 

you’ve accrued. But it seems like everyone has at 

least a handful of contacts that they’ve approved— 

only to realize that they 

never really talk to these 

people and aren’t sure 

they even know them. 

Here are the literal steps 

to unfriend someone. 

• Type the person’s name 

www.laptopmag.com


SOCIAL STREAMLINING 

in the search bar across the top of the Facebook 

home page to get to their profile. 

• Navigate to the Friends button on the upper-right 

corner of the page (it should have a check mark). 

• When you hover over the button, a menu 

appears. Select the last link on the list, which 

should say Unfriend. Confirm the activity when 

the pop-up appears. 

From news feeds and celebrities to lots and lots 

of random people, it’s easy to wind up following 

thousands of Twitter accounts. And that’s the 

problem—at some point the service can become 

too overwhelming, especially if you’re using a 

desktop client such as TweetDeck that chirps 

every time there’s an update. However, there are 

ways to cut the clutter. The key lies in curating 

a selective list of personalities and accounts to 

follow and cultivating your own list of followers. 

We’ll teach you how to do both. 

1 

Get Following with 

WeFollow 

When you first get on Twitter, it can be 

quite the challenge figuring out where to begin. 

How do you even determine who the key people 

are On the other hand, it is more than likely that 

you’ll have at least an idea of a broader topic you’re 

interested in. That’s where WeFollow (wefollow 

.com) enters the picture. 

The website serves as a directory that compiles 

popular Twitter users and sorts them into categories 

including celebrity, news, tech, television, etc.—even 

top twitter users. Within each topic, WeFollow lets 

you sort users in one of two ways: most influential 

or most followers. Once you identify a theme you’re 

interested in, follow away. It’s entirely kosher in 

Twitter etiquette to follow people whom you don’t 

know personally, and WeFollow is an extremely 

useful tool to get you started on generating a 

Twitter feed. 

2Organize Your Friends 

into Lists With Formulists 

Once you’ve followed enough people, 

it inevitably becomes necessary to sort Twitterers 

into lists for easier management. Formulists 

(formulists.com) is a gem of a web app that helps 

you auto-create these lists, organizes Twitterers you 

TM 

follow using criteria you define, and periodically 

updates them. It can even help you track your followers’ 

moves and act as a discovery tool to help 

you expand your network. 

This is how it works: Link your Twitter account 

to Formulists, and the web app asks you if you 

would rather organize your network, expand it, 

track your followers and competitors, or strengthen 

social ties. For each Twitter goal, Formulists provides 

suggestions for stock lists—automatically 

creating the ones you choose. You can create lists 

filtering Tweeps by location, bio, or how often they 

tweet; create a list to discover Twitterers like you 

or someone that you like; or track who recently 

followed or unfollowed you and who isn’t following 

you. You’ll be impressed by how powerful and 

flexible this tool can be. 

3 

Figuring Out Who to 

Unfollow 

Let’s say you’ve filled out your Twitter 

Formulists tracks your preferences and organizes your feed. 

Facebook makes it easy to 

unfriend people you don't stay 

in touch with. 

with an impressive number of individuals you’re 

following. Congratulations. Except, well, now you’ve 

got the creeping suspicion that you’ve been a little 

too trigger-happy with that Follow button. Don’t 

worry, there’s a way to fix that. 

We recommend a web app called ManageFlitter to 

help with this quandary. ManageFlitter connects with 

Twitter and sorts users it finds in your account into 

handy categories, so you can get an idea of which 

Twitterers would be the best candidates to unfollow. 

For instance, you can see all the Twitter users you 

follow who don’t follow you back, who has been 

most inactive on their account, who is quiet, who is 

talkative—it even creates a grouping of which users 

don’t have a profile image up. After you’ve identified 

the contacts you wish to nix from your list, follow these 

steps to unfollow for each one: 

• Visit the user’s Twitter profile. It will be in the 

format of www.twitter.com/#!/USERNAME. 

• That big green button with a check mark found 

right under the person’s profile image Hover over 

it. It should transform into a big red button with an 

X mark that says Unfollow. 

• Click the button and never look back. ■ 

WeFollow sorts Twitter users by category to help you find influential or popular people 

to Follow. 



Tablet Buyers’ Guide 

Five questions you need to answer before buying that new slate. 

by Avram Piltch 

In the past two years, tablets have gone from 

being expensive, niche devices to the hottest 

product category in technology. According to 

research firm Gartner, consumers will have purchased 

a whopping 63 million tablets in 2011, up 

from just 17 million in 2010, and heading toward a 

forecasted 326 million units in 2015. 

If you haven’t jumped on the tablet bandwagon 

yet, now is a great time to purchase your first device. 

With a slew of slates in sizes ranging from 7 to 10 

inches and prices starting south of $200, consumers 

have never had more choices. But before you buy 

a tablet, consider these five questions. 

92 


www.laptopmag.com

❶ iPad or Android 

Just as the computer world has Windows and Mac 

as its main OS choices, the tablet world currently has 

two main competitors: Google’s Android operating 

system and Apple’s iOS. (Microsoft won’t be taken 

seriously until Windows 8 arrives, and the BlackBerry 

PlayBook has been a flop thus far.) Here are the pros 

and cons of the two major platforms. 

iPad + iOS: 

Running iOS 5, the super-slim iPad 2 has the most 

intuitive interface and more than 140,000 dedicated 

apps, from console-quality games and video 

programs to productivity tools and music apps. The 

iPad also has the best selection of accessories. 

Plus, FaceTime is the only mobile video chat app 

we’ve tested that works reliably. 

iOS 5 brings a lot of welcome enhancements 

to the table, including a new Notifications center, 

Twitter integration, and iCloud for syncing your 

media and documents across multiple devices. 

We also really like Newsstand for easily purchasing 

newspapers and magazines. 

On the other hand, the iPad only comes in one 

size, and the device lacks some features available 

on Android slates, such as higher-resolution screens. 

The Android universe has a lot more variety, and 

lower-priced options. 

Android: 

Google’s operating system is available on scores 

of tablets in different versions. Android version 

3, also known as Honeycomb, was built from the 

ground up for tablet input, including such features 

as easy task-switching and hi-res display support. 

Android gives you multiple home screens that you 

can customize with widgets. 

One other plus for Android tablets is that you’ll 

find a lot of hardware choices, including some 

slates that accept pen input (such as the ThinkPad 

Tablet) and some that include physical keyboards 

(such as the ASUS Eee Pad Slider). 

Some tablet makers, such as Lenovo and 

Samsung, have added a few tweaks to Android’s 

default look and feel while others, such as Amazon, 

have made wholesale changes to the OS. The 

Kindle Fire is so customized that you wouldn’t 

recognize Google’s influence. 

Unfortunately, there are much fewer apps 

available for Android tablets, and the Honeycomb 

interface can be complicated to use, even for those 

coming from an Android phone. Android 4.0 (Ice 

Cream Sandwich) should be more streamlined. 

❷ How much do 

you want to spend 

You can purchase a 7-inch media tablet for $200 

to $300. However, if you’re looking for the full 10- 

inch experience, expect to pay $400 to $500 for 

a 16GB model with Wi-Fi. 

If you require a lot of local storage for music 


TABLET BUYERS' GUIDE 

Top Tablets 

Our picks for the best slates, no matter what 

your needs are. 

Best Overall 

❶ Apple iPad 2 

Apple’s ever-popular tablet continues to set the gold 

standard thanks to its rich ecosystem of apps and 

the simplicity of the iOS operating system. At 1.3 

pounds, the iPad 2 is surprisingly lightweight for 

a device with a 9.7-inch screen. Apple’s bundled 

FaceTime is also the only consistently reliable 

mobile video chat option we’ve used. 

$499; www.apple.com 

Best Value 

❷ Amazon Kindle Fire 

With a brilliant screen and a weight of just 14.6 

ounces, Amazon’s device is the most portable and 

affordable tablet on the market. Featuring a uniquely 

attractive Amazon interface on top of the Android 

OS, the Kindle Fire gives you access to Amazon’s 

huge library of Android apps, on-demand movies, 

music, and books, in addition to cloud-accelerated 

browsing. 

$199; www.amazon.com 

Best for Note Taking 

❸ Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 

The first Android slate built for serious note-takers, 

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet works with a $30 active 

stylus and amazing software that converts your 

handwriting into ASCII text. Business-friendly 

features such as data encryption and remote wipe 

make this device a must-have for enterprise IT 

departments, but the pen makes it a great choice 

for students as well. 

$499; www.lenovo.com 

Best for Media 

❹ Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 

Lighter than the iPad 2 but with a bigger, more 

colorful screen, the 1.2-pound Galaxy Tab 10.1 

provides the best video-viewing experience of 

any tablet on the market today. Add in powerful 

speakers, more than 8 hours of endurance, and 

a great on-screen keyboard and you have the 

ultimate media tablet. 

$499; www.samsung.com 

Best for Productivity 

❺ ASUS Eee Pad 

Transformer Prime 

The first tablet to feature Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 

3 processor, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime 

promises a whole new world of speed and efficiency. 

Better still, the device’s optional QWERTY keyboard 

dock turns the Transformer Prime into a clamshell 

Android notebook, perfect for editing serious documents 

or spreadsheets. 

$499; usa.asus.com 



TABLET BUYERS' GUIDE 

94 

or video files, you’ll pay a hefty 

premium for 32 or 64GB models. 

For example, the 32GB iPad 2 costs 

$599, and the 64GB configuration 

sells for $699. You can economize 

by keeping your media files in the 

cloud and getting a device with 

only 8 or 16GB of memory. 

You can spend much less on 

a 10-inch Android tablet than on 

an iPad. Both the ASUS Eee Pad 

Transformer and the Acer Iconia Tab 

A500 sell for less than $400. 

❸ What screen size 

do you need 

If you’re looking for a lightweight 

device that fits in a purse or bag 

and allows you to read and watch 

video on the go, you’ll want to 

consider a 7-inch tablet such as the Amazon Kindle 

Fire, the Toshiba Thrive 7, or Acer Iconia Tab A100. 

Weighing less than a pound, 7-inch tablets are 

easy to hold with just one hand, but they don’t 

provide the most immersive experience. 

An 8.9- or 10-inch tablet provides a bigger canvas 

for surfing the web and watching video and more 

real estate for editing documents. With a typical 

weight of 1.2 to 1.6 pounds, 10-inch slates aren’t 

quite as portable as their 7-inch siblings, but they 

easily fit into a bag or sleeve. 

Bottom line: If you want simple eReading, music 

playback, web surfing, and light video viewing, 

consider a small media-consumption tablet such 

as the Amazon Kindle Fire or the Barnes & Noble 

Nook Tablet. If you want a tablet for productivity 

as well as entertainment, look to larger and more 

powerful 10-inch devices. 

❹ Do you need mobile broadband 

If you frequently need to use a tablet outside of 

an area with Wi-Fi, you can purchase a model 

with a built-in 3G or 4G radio. You’ll pay a 

premium to purchase a mobile broadband-enabled 

tablet. For example, the 16GB 3G iPad costs 

$629, $130 more than the Wi-Fi-only version. 

Data charges vary based on the amount of data 

you plan on consuming. For example, Verizon 

charges $30 per month for 2GB, $50 for 5GB, 

and $80 for 10GB. 

If you use a smartphone, you’ll find yourself paying 

for data on two different devices, which can add up 

to a huge monthly bill. A better solution might be to 

pay a $20 to $30 monthly 

tethering fee to turn your 

phone into a hotspot. This 

feature will get your tablet, 

your laptop, and any other 

devices you want online. 

Some carriers also offer 


tablets at a subsidized price if you agree to sign up 

for a two-year data plan. But considering the high 

cost of data over the course of 24 months, these 

prices are hardly a bargain. For example, AT&T sells 

the 4G version of the Acer Iconia Tab A501 for $329 

with contract. That’s $80 less than the Wi-Fi-only 

Acer Iconia Tab A500, but a $1,170 commitment 

over two years. You’ll need to think long and hard 

about whether that premium is worth it. 

❺ Where will you get content 

Tablets are great for media consumption—whether 

you’re watching videos, reading eBooks, or playing 

games—which is why the media store(s) baked into 

a slate should influence your purchasing decision. 

If you are partial to iTunes, you’ll want an iPad so 

you can easily purchase and enjoy music and 

videos from Apple’s store on your tablet. You can 

use that same iTunes account to purchase apps, 

books, and magazines. 

Google has beefed up the Android Market over 

the past year with books, movies, and now music. 

However, you’ll need to get your TV and magazine 

fix elsewhere. Both HTC and Samsung offer their 

own video stores, which include TV shows. Sony 

sells music, video, books, and PlayStation games 

on its Tablet S. You can always access third-party 

apps such as Netflix and Slacker for media, but many 

consumers want an integrated experience. 

The Kindle Fire is uniquely compelling because 

it’s the only tablet that lets you access Amazon video 

on demand, as well as Kindle books, magazines, 

apps, and music—all with a single account. ■ 


Top 10 iPad Alternatives 

Asus; zenbook.asus.com...............................1 

Ambir; ambir.com.................................... 9, 17 

Avenues In Leather; 

www.allantcases.com................................5 

Booq; www.booqbags.com ................... 11, 26 

Cooler Master; 

www.coolermaster-usa.com ...............7, 95 

CTIA; www.ctiashows.com .................... 11, 26 

Jotto Desk/Assembled Products Corp.; 

blog.jottodesk.com..................................31 

Lind; www.lindelectronics.com................... 23 

Mobile Edge; 

www.mobileedge.com/laptop............15, 95 

Newegg; 

www.newegg.com.....................Cover 4, 95 

Neat; www.neat.com/ltpdf.................... 19, 95 

NuShield; www.nushield.com..................... 87 

OCZ Technology Group; 

www.ocztechnology.com.........................13 

Samsung; www.samsung.com.............Cover 3 

PCD; www.pcdphones.com................. Cover 2 

TopTenReviews; 

www.toptenreviews.com/mag1......... 33, 43 

Visioneer; www.visioneer.com.......................3 

www.laptopmag.com

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Makeup for Geeks 

Beyond v Comic-Con conventions, 

will lady geeks ever get the full 

recognition they so richly deserve 

Probably not, but now there is a 

cosmetics line made especially for 

silicon-devoted women (the other 

kind of silicon). Geek Chic Cosmetics 

makes cruelty-free makeup in 

bold colors such as “Back to the 

Fuschia,” “Newb,” and “Hipster 

Ariel” for their lipsticks, which the 

company calls JoySticks. Ladies will 

also find game-inspired eye shadow 

lines, from “Geeks vs. Zombies” to 

“Mushroom Kingdom.” 

Our picks for this 

month’s most 

fantastically weird 

happenings in the 

world of mobile tech. 


Please Don’t Become a Trend 

In the depths of winter, talking about 

last night’s episode of Private Practice 

while waiting for the bus can be a chilling 

proposition. Do you get the latest 

gossip or keep your ears warm Now, 

thanks to Listen and Leap Earmuffs, you 

don’t have to choose. These earmuffs 

come in a Real Housewives-friendly 

cheetah-print fake fur and have a wired 

headset with an in-line microphone. 

We just have one question: Where’s the 

Bluetooth option 

Catroulette 

Bored at work Thinking about Garfield at 

home, playing with his toys and napping 

in the sun all day Instead of setting up 

multiple cameras and a surveillance 

website to track your cat’s daily movements, 

play with underprivileged kitties 

at animal shelters around the country. 

iPetCompanion.com has installed motorized 

feather toys and webcams in cagefree 

playrooms which site visitors can 

control for two minutes at a time. Though 

the cats aren’t always interested (go 

figure), when they are, you can give them 

some much-needed stimulation—and 

give yourself a diversion from cubicle life. 

Don’t Text the Cops 

Few things are more embarrassing than 

sending a personal text message to the 

wrong person. For Amy Leigh Brown of 

Scooby Doo Drive in Marion, NC, it cost 

a lot more than just a red face. Brown 

texted the number of someone who was 

interested in purchasing the prescription 

drug Xanax from her. Unfortunately, she 

mistyped the phone number and texted, 

“Hey, it’s Amy. Do you want business 

tonight” to a police officer. The cop 

decided to go along with it and before 

Brown knew it, she was arrested. Oops. ■ 

96 Laptop | January 2012 

www.laptopmag.com

The Samsung SSD 830 Series: your PC transformed. 

The SSD 830 Series with SATA 6Gb/s 

A new standard of performance from the World’s #1 SSD Manufacturer. 

Whether you’re upgrading or building new, the Samsung SSD 830 Series will instantly 

transform your PC into a top performer. Start up faster, render quicker, and download 

sooner than before. And with the Samsung multi-core MCX Controller, you can take 

multitasking to a whole new level. That’s the Wonder of Samsung. 

©2011 Samsung Electronics America, Inc. All rights reserved. Image simulated.

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