Is that a speaker? Or a router? Those are questions my colleague actually asked me when I showed him my photos of the HP Pavilion Wave. He was wrong on both counts, but it's easy to see why he was confused. The Pavilion Wave is a 10-inch tall desktop that will be available September 23rd at a starting price of $550, and from my brief experience with a preview version, it'll be a beautiful, adequate addition to a modern house.
HP was able to squeeze a sixth-generation Intel chip, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB hard drive (or 1TB solid state drive), into this compact tower thanks to a triangular, tri-chamber design. Inside the device are three separate zones that house the motherboard,
a hard drive and thermals. These three chambers surround a speaker, which pumps
out sound upwards. At the top of the tower is a parabolic reflector which then sends the music out in 360 degrees and also acts as a vent to let out heat.
The Pavilion Wave was designed around its audio system, and I enjoyed the crisp, round notes coming out of the speaker during our demo. It offers Bang & Olufsen Play tuning for enhanced sound in low, mid or high ranges.
Wave blends in with most home furniture. It's not small enough to be completely inconspicuous, but I appreciate its subtle, understated design.
If you want to fully deck out your home office, the Wave is there for you, too. With three USB 3.0 ports and slots for USB 3.1 Type C, HDMI, DisplayPort, Gigabit ethernet and microphone/headphone, there are plenty of connectivity options. The PC will also
support up to two 4K displays at once, and its onboard dual microphones make it ready to listen for your Cortana voice commands.During our demo,
the Pavilion Wave correctly heard a request for the weather, and Cortana returned the
answer through the device's speaker. Although it has Bluetooth capability,
the Wave can't be used as a standalone wireless speaker, but you can always play your music through the Windows 10 OS then shut off your monitor to get a similar experience.
Gallery: HP Pavilion Wave product gallery | 12 Photos
While it's easy to get a mini PC to replace your chunky desktop tower, those machines don't often provide satisfying power for intensive tasks. The Pavilion Wave, despite its familiar looks, could be a great option for those who need speedy performance in a pretty, relatively petite package.
Scorpion continues his body-crippling blood feud with Sub-Zero, leaving blood, guts, and broken bones in his wake. The stoic Ryu once again dons his hobo gi to obsessively pursue a false sense of purpose. Cerebella and other cutesy, cartoon-like combatants exchange fists, feet, and projectiles against art deco backdrops in hopes of making their wildest dreams come true. Yes, fighting games are back, my fellow digital pugilists, having returned to popularity after an extended lull.
Traditionally, the genre has thrived on the home video game consoles, leaving the PC master race feeling rather plebeian. In a bizarre twist that's not unlike Dhalsim's limb-lengthening attacks, the Windows PC platform has recently doubled as the dojo for many great fighting games. Yes, fighting games are now great PC games. Anyone hungry for martial arts action has plenty of options, including comical, macabre, 1-on-1, and team-based fighting games. The selection, however, isn't quite as broad as what you'd find on the PlayStation 4$279.00 at Amazonand Xbox One$244.95 at Amazon. Gems such as Capcom vs. SNK 2 or The Last Blade aren't available on'she PC (well, at least notlegally), but there's enough variety among PC fighting games to please genre fans.
favorite PC fighting games are highlighted below. This isn't a hastily crafted roundup designed to simply appease the Google gods. Uh-uh. You'll find links to in-depth reviews, as well as summaries for those of you who are pinched for time. And rest assured that all these reviews are penned by fighting game fans. It's all love.
We recognize that there are a few coverage gaps. We're working on that. In fact, this article will be updated with a new fighting game whenever we give one a star rating of 3.5 stars or higher; we're very much looking forward to reviewing Guilty Gear Xrd –SIGN-, Skullgirls, and Tekken 7. So, please, return. Often. And if you really feel jumpy, drop yourSteamhandle in the comment section. I'll see you when I see you.
Apple just introduced the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, the latest iterations of its premium smartphone. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus look remarkably similar to the phones they replace -- this is the smallest generational design shift in the iPhone's history -- but that's not to say nothing has changed.
The antenna bands on the back of the previous models have been made more discreet; they now hug the edges of the device.
This repositioning
has allowed to Apple squeeze in larger camera bumps on the back.
For the first time in the iPhone's history, the new phones are "water and dust resistant," up to IP67 (i.e., splashproof, not submersible). As we expected headphone port to be seen, but there's at least a stereo speaker for the first time. The home button no longer physically clicks in, but a haptic-feedback mechanism will trick your finger into thinking it has.
Moving on to what you can't see, the new iPhones are powered by Apple's latest in-house SoC, the A10 Fusion. As usual, Apple isn't giving firm figures on performance here. It says it's 64-bit, 4-core chip, with two high-power cores and two low-power cores to save battery life. The iPhone 7 lasts two hours more than the iPhone 6S, while the iPhone 7 Plus lasts one hour more than the iPhone 6S, apparently.
As for the nitty-gritty, Apple's sticking with comparative and superlative statements, like "40 percent faster processing" and "two-thirds the power" graphics performance when compared to the 6S's A9. It's "the most powerful chip ever in a smartphone" and capable of rendering "400 flying monkeys" in Oz: Broken Kingdom. Expect to see companies like Chipworks tearing the A10 down to tell us exactly what's inside once the 7 and 7 Plus are available.
One area that Apple has traditionally excelled in is cameras, but with the Galaxy S7 and Note 7, Samsung basically caught up this year, even besting the 6S and 6S Plus in some areas. To that end, Apple has thrown improved cameras into both its new phones. For both devices, the new FaceTime HD camera ups the resolution from 5 to 7 megapixels. The big-ticket item for the smaller model -- following the addition of 4K video last year -- is a new f/1.8 12-megapixel "low-light loving" camera with optical-image stabilization. There's also a new four-color LED flash, a "flicker-sensor" to avoid flickering lights in videos and RAW DNG capture, plus Apple says shutter lag is down to 25 milliseconds.
Optical-image stabilization has been around in the larger iPhone models since their introduction, so with that ace removed from its sleeve, the 7 Plus is getting a new feature to differentiate itself: a dual-camera system. The new cameras, both at 12 megapixels, operate together in ways we've seen before from other manufacturers. They're set at different focal lengths -- one wide, the other telephoto -- which allows you to "optically zoom" to 2x by switching cameras. You do this by tapping on a button above the on-screen shutter key, and you can also swipe across to zoom digitally up to 10x. We saw a similar trick used to great effect with the LG G5, and with Apple's penchant for high-quality optics and sensors, it's likely to be even better here.
The dual lenses will also allow you to play with depth of field via a software update later this year. When you're taking a photo, you can select a "portrait mode" that, with a bit of (OK, probably a lot of) processing, will allow you to choose different points of focus and add effects like blurry backgrounds. It's not quite a Lytro, but again it's something we've seen work fairly well in past phones (namely HTC's One M8).
So we now have a phone that's storing more image data than every before, along with potentially a short Live Photo video clip: We're talking upward of 6MB of storage taken up every time you press the shutter. To remedy that, Apple has finally dropped its much-maligned 16GB storage option. The lowest storage tier is now 32GB, with the middle- and top-tier options sitting at 128GB and 256GB, respectively. Essentially, it's doubled everything.
Sticking with the forced segues, it would be remiss of Apple to let you look at those photos you've stored on last year's screen, and so it's improving both models' displays. There's no resolution bump -- we're still talking 1,334 x 750 for the 4.7-inch 7 and 1,920 x 1,080 for the 5.5-inch 7 Plus -- but there is an improvement in color gamut. Both phones now support the P3 color space, which debuted on the iMac range before heading to the iPad Pro 9.7.
P3 is a cinematic standard, and it covers a color range 25 percent larger than the sRGB gamut used in the 6S. There's an argument to be made -- and it's been made, believe me -- that Apple should've gone with the widely used Adobe RGB gamut, which is similar in size but covers more green and blue than P3. But Apple is sticking to its guns. As for what all of this means for you, dear reader: You'll see much deeper reds and yellows than you would have previously, which is handy for viewing images with things on the red-and-yellow spectrum (sunsets, fall leaves, white people) in them.
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have landed and there are some big differences between them. The iPhone 7 is expected to comfortably outsell its bigger brother, but should you upgrade when it looks so similar to the iPhone 6S – especially as last year’s model has just received a price cut andsurprising storage boost?
Let’s break it down…
.The iPhone 7 (left) and iPhone 6S (right) are virtually identical on the outside Image credit: Apple
Design & Size – Good And Bad News
There’s no avoiding the most obvious external design change between the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6S: the removal of the headphone jack.
Yes, Apple has done the unthinkable, citing “courage” to advance standards and advising users switch to wireless headphones if they want to be able to listen to music and charge the iPhone 7 at the same time.
Understandably the move will polarize users, especially with no wireless or quick charging to make scenario this less painful. Apple will include a 3.5mm to Lightning adapter in the iPhone 7 box, but for some this risky change will prove to be a deal breaker.
Updated:We've added the Samsung TabPro S to our round up of the best Windows 10 tablets around.
Microsoft's been pushing tablet computers for the best part of a decade, so you can imagine how happy the success of great slates like the iPad Air and Samsung Galaxy Note series makes the software maker feel.
But Microsoft doesn't give up easily, and Windows tablets have been trickling out since Windows 8 first introduced touched controls. The focus on tablets that can double as PC has only been getting bigger as with Window 10 being here now. The range of devices with is huge from simple slates to fully convertible laptop-tablet hybrids, including those where keyboards slide out from beneath the screen, as well as those with styluses and detachable keyboards. We've even seen tablet/all-in-one hybrids.
There's as much variety in Windows tablet world as there is to the plethora of tablets running other operating systems.
Now the question is what sort of Windows-powered tablet do you want. Are you looking for something mainly as a reading device, perhaps a dedicated Hearthstone, typing out documents on your commute or sketching ideas for a new artwork?
To help you decide, here's a rundown of the best Windows tablets that we've reviewed so far.
1. Surface Pro 4
The best all-around Windows tablet
CPU: 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-6300U | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 520 | RAM: 8GB | Screen: 12.3-inch, 2,736 x 1,824 PixelSense display | Storage: 256GB SSD |Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 | Camera: 8MP rear-facing; 5MP front-facing | Weight: 1.73 pounds | Dimensions: 11.5 x 7.93 x 0.36 inches
The Surface Pro 4 is by far the best Windows 10 tablet. Though it comes at a pretty penny, it's well worth the expense from the nearly premium built quality, perfect screen and ample power. Microsoft's latest tablet introduces a larger and sharper screen, plus a redesigned island that makes typing feel almost as good as a real laptop. The Surface Pro 4 the tablet that really can replace your traditional laptop and this is why the it's our Windows 10 tablet king.
HP's Spectre x2 bears a striking resemblance to Microsoft's Surface Pro 4. However, it's thinner and lighter thanks to being powered by a fanless Intel Core M processor. It also comes at a more affordable price tag than Microsoft's premium slate and with an included keyboard to boot. Equipped with an Intel Core m7 processor offers nearly the same performance as the Core i5 chip on the Surface Pro 4, while being more economical and efficient with battery life.
The Samsung Galaxy TabPro S is a knockout 12-inch tablet that's thinner and better built than most Windows 10 slates. It also offers a uniquely vibrant Super AMOLED screen you won't find on any Windows device either, plus a pair of punchy speakers that actually sound good. Its keyboard feels a bit lackluster but if you get over this short coming, it's the perfect Windows 10 tablet to use while streaming media and games.
Getting into the world of Windows 10 convertible's isn't cheap unless we're talking about the Pavilion x2. This 10-inch hybrid comes packing a surprising amount of goods considering its small size. It comes packed with a HD screen and more than enough power to get you through a simple day of web browsing and even image editing. When you're ready kick back with some streaming media, you can pop off the 10-inch works as a portable tablet. And if you're looking for something with a bit more screen real estate there's the 12-inch HP Pavilion x2.
If you interested in a Surface Pro 4 but you're worried about the 12-inch form factor being too unwieldy, the Surface 3 might be perfect for you. Sporting a smaller 10.8-inch screen and Intel Atom processor, the Surface 3 is meant to be less of a laptop replacement and more of a solid Windows 10 tablet. Though the kickstand is limited to a smaller range of motion, it's nearly as versatile and works well with Microsoft's nearly perfected type cover.
Starting at $700 (£437 and AU$800), the Venue Pro 7000 offers a nice balance of performance and portability in a travel-friendly size. However, unless you find yourself accessing CPU and GPU taxing apps, you might find more value in an Atom-based convertible. Going with Atom will lower your cost and give you better battery life.
For those who need power and performance, the confines of a 10.8-inch display may be too rigid to maximize productivity. Opening more than a few tabs or windows on the small display will trigger claustrophobia. If you need to be more productive, there are bigger convertible options, like the Surface Pro 3, to choose from that may fit that need better.
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