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Hands On with Samsung’s LED ES9000 75-inch LED TV
309 days
Hands on with Samsung’s LED ES9000 75-inch LED TVReviewed by Marshal Rosenthal on Aug 10Rating: 4.5You’ll also come away, as I did, with the fact that the Samsung LED ES9000 is not sacrificing size for quality: it’s a honking big screen, but it’s a honking big screen displaying a honking high-resolution, high-quality image. You’ll also come away, as I did, with the fact that the Samsung LED ES9000 is not sacrificing size for quality: it’s a honking big screen, but it’s a honking big screen displaying a honking high-resolution, high-quality image. for sure it deserves being called their Flagship model and I don’t begrudge their having first shown it back at CES 2012 in January and just now begun the roll-out. And if the ES9000 can look good in a dealer showroom-type environment, just imagine how impressive it would be in your living room or (joy of joys) bedroom. not that I will be seeing that happen anytime soon. but I can dream, can’t I?
Consumer Electronics by its very nature demands the up-close and personal touch. That’s been pretty much destroyed by the big-box stores who stack TVs in rows and treats you like annoying fans of a rock star who’s trying to get too close. but there still exists the specialty store where displays can live on their own terms, and potential buyers dob’t have to be afraid of being tased for getting too close. The VIdeo & Audio Center in Santa Monica (California) is just such a store. It caters to those who are not only looking for high-quality HDTVs, but to be guided along in their choice by knowledgeable sales associates who know their stuff (and aren’t constantly looking at the time to see when the next break is coming along).
There’s’ a bit of a party like atmosphere when I get inside — which makes sense since Samsung is footing the bill for munchies and drinks as they call attention to their flagship “big dog,” the 75-inch Samsung LED ES9000. that doesn’t mean that the other HDTVs on display, including those made by Samsung, have been put into any “sleep” mode, however. but you’d be hard pressed not to want to gravitate over to the crowd crunching themselves against one another in trying to hear what David Albers, Samsung’s Content Development Manager, has to say about the ES9000. Fortunately the display is big enough for me to see without having to get so close as to endanger the drink in my hand. I know my priorities.
But the “island” like setup does allow me to duck behind the ES9000 while Albers talks on. I can see the usual suspects on the back panel for connectivity: multiple HDMI, a Component and Composite, an Ethernet for a wired network connection and USB sockets (for drives providing local content or to power an indoor amplified antenna as some might wish to do) and optical digital output for sending the sound elsewhere. I’l find out later that the 15 watts of the built-in stereo speakers are more than adequate for TV viewing, although it’d be madness to rely on just them and some pyschoacoustic surround effect when it’s time to watch a movie in glorious 1080p high-definition.
But I’m also able to see two interesting things on its back; one is the top mounted video camera that mechanically “pops” up when needed — no motorized mechanism here. The camera is suitable for applications to use (i.e., “apps”) like Skype as well as others, which includes one baked into the “Smart TVs” “smart hub” that controls access to online connectivity/content. The resolution of the camera varies — it’s not HD but close enough for government work. Since the owner can “lock out” specific functionality of those using the ES9000 — there are up to 10 online accounts that can be created — some parental control over the camera’s use can be enacted. not that anything can stop a teenager if he/she wants to do something….
But it’s that second addition on the back that really intrigues me. The Samsung LED ES9000 has a user-serviceable “Evolution” capability — in that a kit will become available next year for swapping out the processing card in favor of one with newer or updated features. think of this like swapping out an old computer’s “brains” for a new one, if you will. not that the Samsung LED ES9000 is short of power now — a dual core processor takes care of functions quite nicely, thank you — but this provides a form of future-proofing that seems only fair when you’re dealing with a TV that comes with a $10,000 price tag.
Albers should be done talking in a moment, so I take the time to make a few mental notes about the ES9000 as I watch images play over its surface. first off, it’s truly a beautiful chassis and as thin as you’d expect, being that it’s not some high-faulting new OLED technology or the like, but the same technology as found in their other LCD-based HDTVs. The ES9000 has a nice coloring too that extends from the base to the micro-thin bezel (sort of a reddish gold, but that’s just how I see it). I guess that 75-inches was seen as being within the boundaries of what can be done with this technology for providing a big screen that still could perform — as I found out during the course of the evening, the Samsung LED ES9000 certainly could.
But as Albers has wrapped things up and the crowd has dispersed to give the food being served a play (and either gawk or try to talk to comedian Jon Lovitz who has popped in with his small dog in tow), here’s my chance to ask a few questions.
One is whether the Samsung LED ES9000 does 3D — duh, of course. It’s an active-based system, and Albers points out that this is the only way to go since there’s little reason to have a big screen like the ES9000 if you’re going to cripple the resolution of the image. He also notes that — unlike some of the competition — Samsung provides multiple pairs of active 3D glasses with the ES9000 (as they do for other sets in the line). having to ask someone to make a significant purchase and then telling them to go pay more is a bit of a bummer, I would think. Albers agrees. I also find out that 3D and the camera don’t mix. Such is life.
The other thing about 3D that I’m curious about is just how much “oomph” the 2D to 3D converter provides — or is it just the equivalent of an on/off switch. Albers shows me that there’s depth control that can be used here — the Samsung LED ES9000 doesn’t try to make images “pop” off the screen but works with perspective in an intelligent and sensible manner. It goes great guns with photos where there’s good contrast and perspective, he tells me.
Working our way to the front of the Samsung LED ES9000, Albers gives me the quick tour that shows me just how hipped to the Internet world the display is: there’s apps to use that were made to be displayed on a TV, not mobile device, and it’s not long before various folks start to take turns playing angry Bird using the gesturing control system. I can see that this can be an appealing way in which the Samsung LED ES9000 can be controlled — as hand gestures can be translated into mouse/game control/remote control-like movements. There’s also voice control but, due to the din of the crowd, that’s not going to get much play tonight.
But Albers snags the remote (there’s actually two he says), and I can dig the touch-sensitive pad that lets you move a mouse-like pointer around on the screen with flicks of your finger (Bluetooth control means a fair amount of distance and no line-of-sight issues). My hand would get tired too fast and, if I was back in New York, I couldn’t be sure that any gesturing I was doing would be family-friendly anyway.
But what IS family-friendly is the overall way in which the Samsung LED ES9000 is set up — the menus and “Smart Hub” all make sense to anyone looking at them. This might seem a silly thing to call out, but there’s some displays that are about as user-friendly/accessible as the main fence at Area 51.
You’ll also come away, as I did, with the fact that the Samsung LED ES9000 is not sacrificing size for quality: it’s a honking big screen, but it’s a honking big screen displaying a honking high-resolution, high-quality image. for sure it deserves being called their flagship model and I don’t begrudge their having first shown it back at CES 2012 in January and just now begun the roll-out. And if the ES9000 can look good in a dealer showroom-type environment, just imagine how impressive it would be in your living room or (joy of joys) bedroom. not that I will be seeing that happen anytime soon in my case. but I can dream, can’t I?
New D Link Dir-827 and Dir-857: The First Wireless Routers With a USB 3.0 Port
313 days
by TwiddleGeek
in d-link
Being able to share an external storage attached to the wireless router is an advantage to support your multimedia wireless environment. This is particularly advantageous if your wireless router supports a built-in media server. Wireless routers with a built-in media server allow you to stream multimedia files stored in the attached storage to the Blu-Ray player, XBOX console, and HDTV seamlessly.
Standard home wireless routers do not include a USB port, but mostly home wireless routers which fall into high performance router category are embedded with one or two ports. USB 2.0 port can deliver data rate transfer up to 480Mbps. if you have 5 or ten users or even more on your network either via wired or wireless connections access the files stored in the attached storage intensively time to time, you will experience a slow performance in accessing or transferring the files to and from the storage. This is due to the maximum data rate transfer the USB 2.0 device can deliver is up to 480Mbps. What if the router is embedded by Superspeed (aka USB-3.0) port?
Intel specifies the speed of Superspeed port as fast up to 10 times as the speed of traditional USB 2.0 port with the data rate transfer up to 5Gbps. in CES 2011 D Link showcased two wireless routers which are embedded by Superspeed port: the Dir-827 and the Dir-857 wireless dual band routers with data rate transfer up to 2Gbps. It’s not as fast the maximum speed transfer as Superspeed port specified by Intel (5Gbps), but it is still as fast 4 times as those traditional routers with USB 2.0 port.
Both Dir-827 and Dir-857 are true simultaneous dual band routers with USB 3.0 port but with different speed. The Dir-827 is engineered by wireless N600 technology with the speed up to 300Mbps similar to the Wndr3800 N600 router, while the Dir-857 is engineered by the wireless N750 technology with the speeds up to 450Mbps similar to the Linksys E4200 N750 router.
How do you compare Dir-827 with Linksys E4200 router? The main differences between Dir-827 and E4200 wireless routers are the speed, the USB port and the guest network. Firstly, the total bandwidth Dir-827 can deliver is up to 600Mbps (300Mbps each band) but Linksys E4200 is up to 750Mbps. secondly, the Dir-827 includes one Superspeed port but Linksys E4200 includes traditional USB 2.0 port. not just that, Superspeed port in Dir-827 is powered by Shareport technology to let you easily host an external storage or printer which can be accessed by users on the network. And the last but not the least, Linksys E4200 supports guest network to provide your guests internet access without compromising your private network, but D Link Dir-827 doesn’t support guest network.
Except the Superspeed port compliant, the D Link Dir-827 is similar to Netgear WNDR3800 premium edition which the USB port can be used to share the storage or the printer. Is the Superspeed port in both Dir-827 and Dir-857 important for your need? You will judge, but I prefer the wireless router which includes two USB ports for hosting both storage and printer concurrently to support my work and play environment.
Leap promises a pocketable, compact 3D user interface
370 days
by TwiddleGeek
in usb
San Francisco startup Leap Motion today unveiled its killer product, a small USB-attached three dimensional sensor (a la Microsoft’s Kinect) which is meant for use in small spaces on small screens. The product is called Leap and is available in limited quantities for just $70.
Leap creates an eight cubic foot interaction space, and Leap Motion says the tiny device is “200 times more sensitive than existing touch-free products and technologies.” this is appealing because the current motion control interface of choice, Microsoft’s Kinect, is a “living room” experiences which requires users to stand anywhere from six to eight feet away from the sensor. Leap can sit right on your desk and utilize only the space in front of you and around your PC if you so choose. this is one of the next big frontiers in interface design, as Belgium’s Softkinetic announced a similar innovation at CES earlier this year, and notebook PC makers are looking to integrate similar features with stereoscopic webcams.
The peripheral is designed to be used on Windows 7 machines, and lets the user click, grab, scroll and use “touchscreen” gestures like swipe and pinch to zoom in 3D space. Leap can also determine when the user’s hand is holding an item like a pencil or pen, and can change the input accordingly.
The team says it will be ready to support Mac OS, Windows 8, and Linux machines in the near future, but does not have a release date yet for even the first batch of devices. We’re all pretty excited about the possibilities here, but we haven’t gotten to see the device first-hand, and all the imagery is mocked up. We’re trying to find out if this is worth getting worked up over.
Currently, Leap’s launch goal is Winter 2012, but developers will be able to get their hands on one of “thousands” of free developer kits in the next one to three months by applying to participate in the developer program.
Z77 Motherboard Round-Up: MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Intel
387 days
In preparation for the impending arrival of the company’s 3rd Generation Core processor products based on its Ivy Bridge microarchitecture, Intel has readied a new chipset dubbed the Z77 Express. We have already been able to show you a number of Z77 Express-based motherboards, thanks to a handful of sneak peeks while out at CES early this year and a few briefings that took place afterwards, but today we can finally give you the full monty on the chipset itself.
We have been playing with a few Z77 Express-based motherboards for the past couple of weeks, evaluated their performance, and have gathered up our data for you here. on tap in this round-up we have motherboards from MSI, Gigabyte, Asus and Intel. considering the fact that the Z77 Express is designed for next-gen processors and targets the high-performance desktop segment, it should come as no surprise that all of the motherboard we’ll be showing you here are aimed at enthusiasts. the MSI Z77A-GD65, Gigabyte Z77Z-UD5H, Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe, and Intel DZ77GA-70K are all high-end motherboards, packed with integrated features, and a full complement of overclocking tools. however, while they may all be built around the same chipset, these boards are configured quite differently in terms of their I/O capabilities and their UEFI menus. As you’ll see, nearly gone are the days of similar-looking, blue-and-yellow, text-based BIOS menus. one thing we should point out though, is that we tested all of these motherboards using a Sandy Bridge-based processor; a Core i7-2700K to be more specific. Intel is ready for the Z77 Express to officially make its debut, but Ivy Bridge and Intel’s 3rd Generation Core processor products are still a few weeks out. Regardless, at least you’ll get to see what Intel and its motherboard partners have in store…
Intel Z77 Express Chipset Block Diagram
Before we show you the motherboards themselves, we should take a bit about the Z77 Express chipset at the heart of all the ‘boards. the high-level block diagram above gives a good visual representation of the Z77 Express chipset’s main features. Like the Z68 (and a few generations to come before it), the new Z77 Express chipset is essentially an I/O hub, as all of the traditional Northbridge functionality previously found in a Northbridge chip has long since been integrated into the processor itself. As you can see, Intel’s socket 1155 Core processors offer 16 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 or 3.0 connectivity on-die, which can be configured in a number of difference ways (i.e. 1×16, 2×8, etc.) and they feature integrated dual-channel, DDR3 memory controllers with maximum officially supported speeds of up to 1600MHz (much higher speeds are possible with overclocking, however). the processors are linked to the chipset via Intel’s FDI (Flexible display Interface) and 20Gb/s DMI 2.0 interface. the chipset itself is outfitted with 8 more PCIe 2.0 lanes, along with various other I/O, like six ports of SATA (II and III), an integrated Gigabit MAC, and digital display outputs for up to three displays. Making its debut in an Intel chipset is also native USB 3.0 support. the Z77 Express has four USB 3.0 and ten USB 2.0 ports built in. the chipset also has support for Intel’s Rapid Storage Technology (RST), RAID, Smart Response Technology, or SRT, and other features like FastBoot.
First 802.11ac routers emerge promising faster WiFi at greater range
393 days
by TwiddleGeek
in belkin
With wireless home networks becoming increasingly crowded as more and more mobile devices appear under our roofs jostling for bandwidth, many will be pleased to see the upcoming 802.11ac WiFi standard stepping out from the planning meetings and laboratories and into the real world. both Netgear and Belkin have announced plans to release dual-band routers supporting the new 5G WiFi standard that will boast speeds of up to 1,300 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and 450 Mbps on 2.4 GHz.
While Netgear has announced its R6300 Dual-Band Gigabit WiFi Router, Belkin is yet to make any specific product announcements. However, Netgear’s R6300 and Belkin’s upcoming line of wireless dual-band routers will feature Broadcom’s fifth generation (5G WiFi) 802.11ac chip. first unveiled at CES 2012, Broadcom says the first family of 802.11ac chips are three times faster and up to six times more power efficient than their 802.11n predecessors.
With the range of the average dual band 802.11n router also decreasing sharply as distance from the router increases, the 802.11ac WiFi standard promises a boost in range capabilities and reduction in “dead spots” through advances such as Beamforming technology that directs content in the direction of the intended receiver.
What does 1.3 Gbps mean for the average user? HD video mostly, as the increased bandwidth ensures that the router can handle multiple devices streaming full resolution video, which could make a big difference in the home filled with iPads and Smart TVs, all connecting to streaming services. in contrast, for power users who subscribe to top tier speeds from their internet provider, an AC router could essentially render your stash of Ethernet cables useless, thanks to blazing download speeds once reserved for wired connections only.
Much like B, G, and N, the AC standard of Wi-Fi will gradually take over the landscape of home networking. Of course, you’ll need to upgrade not only your router, but your various wireless devices to get the full benefits of the shift to 802.11ac. Thankfully, routers built around Broadcom’s 802.11ac chip are backwards compatible with all legacy 802.11 standards.
Netgear’s R6300 Dual-Band Gigabit WiFi Router will be available this month for US$199.99, while we expect Belkin to announce details of its 802.11ac compatible dual-band router line in the near future.
Source: Broadcom, Netgear, Belkin
Polaroid shows off Apple compatible GL10 mobile printer concept – SlashGear
396 days
by TwiddleGeek
in pda Printers
We’ve seen the Polaroid GL10 mobile instant printer before. The printer surfaced back during CES. at the time, the printer was designed print via USB or wirelessly over Bluetooth. It uses second-generation smudge free printing technology to make 3 x 4-inch prints. Polaroid is now showing off the new Apple compatible version of the GL10 at CTIA as a concept device.
The printer concept works with all Apple compatible devices and has the same small size and design as the printer we saw at the beginning of the year. It also prints 3×4-inch photos in less than a minute that are smudge proof. The printer weighs 15-ounces and is powered by lithium-ion battery.
The new concept version uses the same Zink zero ink printing technology. that printer tech uses no ink inside and instead uses a paper with cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals embedded inside. this is very much like an advanced version of the old Polaroid cameras we had back in the 80s.
Story Timeline
Cisco launches app-enabled router
434 days
by TwiddleGeek
in linksys
The Cisco Connect Cloud portal lets you manage your home network, powered by a EA Series router, from anywhere in the world.
(Credit:Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)
While Netgear and D-Link introduced their approaches to app-supporting and cloud-enabled networking products at CES 2012, Cisco, which didn’t have anything to announce atCES, turns out to be the first to materialize the new concepts.
Cisco today unveiled a line of Linksys Smart Wi-Fi routers that promises to change the face, and the body, of home networking.
The Linksys EA4500, EA3500, and EA2700 — the “A” designation being short for “app-enabled” — look like models in the earlier E Series but have more-powerful hardware and support Cisco Connect Cloud, the next generation of Cisco Connect software. the EA4500, for example, looks exactly the same as the original Linksys E4200, but the differences inside are significant.
Cisco Connect Cloud is a Web-based portal that is designed to make it possible to quickly and easily manage multiple home networks from anywhere in the world. and in the category of “home network,” Cisco now includes home appliances, not just computers and electronic equipment. the company says it has been working with top device manufacturers to simplify the process of getting their network products — such as TVs and home appliances — connected, and to get them communicating more with one another to offer new consumer experiences.
In a demo, Cisco showed me how a user can remotely, via the Cisco Connect Cloud portal, carry out tasks that were quite impossible before, such as finding out the status of a refrigerator.
Brett Wingo, a Cisco vice president and general manager, said the new line of cloud-enabled routers will be game-changing products that “enable users to take total control of their home, and not just the Wi-Fi networks.”
Speaking of Wi-Fi networks, the new routers are all true dual-band Wireless-N routers, with the EA2700 supporting the 300Mbps standard on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, the EA3500 also supporting the 450Mbps standard on the 5GHz band, and the EA4500 supporting 450Mbps on both bands. they come with one USB port to host an external hard drive and work as a network storage server with media-streaming capability. they also support IPv6, guest networking, and other popular features found in the previous E Series models.
Cisco says that Cisco Connect Cloud will work with just the EA routers and not the existing E Series, with the exception of the Linksys E4200v2, which will get the support via a firmware update. the supported routers will also be able to run apps designed to quickly add or change their features and settings.
The new Linksys EA4500, EA3500, and EA2700 routers are available now and cost $199, $139, and $99, respectively. Cisco promises that a full range of its cloud-enabled services will be available by June. Check back soon for the review of the Linksys EA4500.
USB 3.0 is Finally Rolling Out
463 days
by TwiddleGeek
in usb 2.0 Hubs
USB 3 is finally out on the street. since USB connections to external hard drives for backup are very common, this offers a huge improvement in speeding up the transfer. but as usual, there are a few caveats for being on the leading edge of technology. the USB 3 was a big hit at the CES show in January of this year.
USB 2 has a speed rating of 480 mBits/s, which means about 57 megabytes per second. but those are mystical numbers since most users are lucky to get 25 megabytes per second and even that is dependent on file size. the new USB 3 is rated at 4.8 Gbit/s or 570 megabytes per second but that too is far beyond the real speeds we got during testing. once again it’s very dependent on file size and type but we did manage to hit 58 megabytes per second in a few tests.
So in the real world out tests showed at least a doubling of speed and often half the time to copy the same amount of data. in some cases where there were a lot of bigger files (1 GB or above) we did get bursts of over 80 megabytes per second but that was the exception to the average copy speed. but I’ll take a 50% increase in speed and often a third of the time to copy files any day of the week.
Moving around large and dense files like graphics or music will see a very big improvement. Video cameras and music devices will get a big improvement in moving files to a computer. Server class machines and large workstations designed for AutoCad, video editing, and music will certainly get a big boost from the new USB 3 speeds.
Moving my music collection around has always been a huge pain. I have over 55 GBs of music and waiting for it to copy is intolerable. or doing a complete fresh back up of my main workstation with over 120 GBs can be about as much fun as watching paint dry. in testing the new USB 3 I got a huge improvement over both tasks and dropped the time well over two thirds which is a big improvement.
Now for the not so good news about USB 3: they changed the connector side that goes to the device so all your existing USB 2 devices will never see the new speeds. and as far as I could find right now, there are only a few flash drives and external hard drives that are fully USB 3 compliant. and this also means you’ll need the new USB 3 cable to connect with any new device.
One issue with current and older motherboards is that they may be limited by their bus interface speeds. the PCI Generation 1.0 is limited to 2.5 GB transfer rate so it doesn’t matter how fast any connection is beyond that limit. and the new standard for USB 3 is a minimum of a 5 GB transfer rate to be certified. you will see an increase in speed but never achieve the maximum transfer rate with these older models.
And you won’t see USB 3 offered in many new computers yet. there are a couple of forward thinking companies like Startech who sell a PCI board with USB 3 connections for about $50. and some computer companies are slowly adding USB 3 to their newest computer models. this is especially important for laptop users since the only way now to upgrade is to use a media card adapter.
Both HP and Fujitsu announced that they would be offering USB 3 on their new laptop computers. Western Digital was first out of the gate with a new version of my Book 3.0 external hard drive that also comes with a USB 3 PCI adapter in a bundle deal. Seagate has indicated it will offer similar external hard drives by mid summer 2010. and flash drive maker Super Talent is offering a 16 GB flash drive that is USB 3 compliant.
So if you want to speed up your file and data transfers, USB 3 will certainly provide some real world improvements in transfer speed. and when the new computers catch up and offer USB 3, and the all the device manufacturers get the new USB 3 compliant models in the supply line, it will quickly become the new standard.
CNET 2012 networking product billboard: Meet the new Top 5
472 days
by TwiddleGeek
in wired Routers
CNET editor Dong Ngo gives his latest picks of the top networking products.
It was clear from CES that 2012 is going to be a year of many changes in home networking. to help you keep up with these changes, here’s our list of the top five networking products currently available.
This Top 5 list will be updated on a regular basis. This means if you don’t see your favorite router or brand on the list, don’t be discouraged, you might see it next time. This also means that the products mentioned here won’t necessarily be the top five of 2012, which we’ll determine at the end of the year.
Since this list consists of only five products, as time goes by there will be products that have to leave this group. you can scroll down to find out what has to say goodbye in the “Previously on top list” section.
Without any further ado, these are our current top picks for networking devices, as of February 2012. This list is sorted by the review date, starting with the most recently reviewed.
Clear Spot Voyager the Clear Spot Voyager is a mobile hot-spot router that provides very fast 4G Internet access to up to eight Wi-Fi devices. it also comes with affordable and unlimited data plans and has good battery life. It’s not for everyone, however, since it only supports Clear’s 4G network, meaning when out of the coverage area, it’s useless. Make sure you live and travel within Clear’s 4G coverage before purchasing.
The reason it gets on this list: other than the fact that it’s very fast and functional, it’s also supercute and compact. Read the full review of the Clear Spot Voyager.
Amped Wireless R10000G With that many zeros, it’s almost impossible for the Amped Wireless R10000G not to catch your attention. the good thing is that’s not the only thing that’s special about the router. the R10000G offers by far the longest wireless range I’ve seen, making it a great for those who need Wi-Fi coverage for a large area. Read the full review of the Amped Wireless R10000G.
D-Link Amplifi HD Media Router 2000 DIR-827 the D-Link DIR-827 is the latest true dual-band Gigabit router with very good performance and a nice set of features. It’s on this list because it’s the first router that supports USB 3.0, and it also comes with a customized QoS-based feature called HD Fuel that automatically prioritizes Internet bandwidth for gaming, VoIP apps, and HD streaming. Read the full review of the D-Link DIR-827.
Cisco Linksys E4200 v2This is the latest wireless router from Cisco’s E-Series and it may be the best router on the market, all things considered. Though it looks exactly the same as the previous version, the E4200 v2 is a completely different beast on the inside.
The router supports true dual-band with the 450Mbps speed available on both bands. it also comes with a much faster processor running at 1.2GHz, which offers excellent performance, especially for the built-in network storage feature. for the first time a router, when coupled with an external hard drive, is capable of offering storage throughput comparable to that of some dedicated NAS servers. the Linksys E4200 v2′s storage performance is about three or four times what you get from other routers with similar features.
On top of that, together with the E4200 v2, Cisco released the first version of its Cisco Connect Express app for managing the home network from a mobile device, such as aniPhone oriPad. Read the full review of the Cisco Linksys E4200 v2.
Asus RT-N56U This is another true dual-band router that offers the traditional 300Mbps speed on both bands. This sleek and extremely compact router offers very fast real-world throughput speeds, even faster than some routers that support the 450Mbps standard, in my testing. on top of that, it’s a fun router to use if you like tweaking, and it offers built-in support for network storage when coupled with an external hard drive. Read the full review of the Asus RT-N56U.
Looking for specs and pricing? Compare these routers head-to-head.
Previously on Top 5 list following are products that were on our previous Top 5 list. but even though they’re no longer at the very top, they’re still among the best products in the category.
The original Cisco Linksys E4200Despite the release of the second version, the original Linksys E4200 is still a formidable router. It’s inferior to its successor only because it supports the 450Mbps speed only on the 5GHz band, and it has a slower processor.
While the router doesn’t offer the same network storage performance as it successor, when coupled with an external hard drive it has very good Wi-Fi performance and coverage. it also works with Cisco’s new Cisco Connect Express mobile app. and the best part is, the E4200 is much more affordable than the E4200 v.2. Read the full review of the Cisco Linksys E4200.
Netgear WNDR3800 (N600) This is an accidentally top-notch router from Netgear. It’s supposed to be the third-tier model after the WNDR4500 N900 and the WNDR4000 N750, but it turned out to be the best router that Netgear had to offer in 2011. it provides great performance, true dual-band wireless, and Gigabit Ethernet.
The router also has built-in support for a network storage feature via its USB port, with personal cloud capability. Read the full review of the Netgear WNDR3800 (N600).
Trendnet TEW-692GR the TEW-692GR is the first router on the market to offer true dual-band with both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and is able to handle the new and higher 450Mbps wireless speed. it gives very good performance and is simple to use. It’s a pure wireless router since it doesn’t have a USB port for storage or print serving. when first released, the router had a very high price tag, which is now significantly lower, making it a great buy. Read the full review of the Trendnet TEW-692GR.
AnandTech – The Archos G9 Returns: Reclocked GPU Raises The Pace
so, yes. They're back. not long after our review of the Archos G9 tablets went live, we got wind from our commenters that Archos had released a new test firmware that brought the GPU clock to 384MHz. The news was surprising, but not entirely unexpected. We first got to run the G9 Turbos through their paces at CES when they were still running Honeycomb, so we had a baseline performance bar. When the tablets arrived for review with ICS loaded, one of the first things we noticed was that the GPU performance was well below what we expected.
Indeed, the numbers suggested the tablets might be clocked 25% below what we were told. so, we checked in with Archos USA, while trying to dig through logs to find a way to confirm the actual GPU clock. Our worst fear was that Archos had a thermal or electrical limitation that prevented them from using the full GPU clock speed while rendering 3D graphics, but were still quoting the high GPU clock for PR. Best case was that the GPU was clocked at 384MHz, but that another limitation (perhaps a memory bottleneck) prevented the performance we expected. Archos asserted that the advertised clocks were real, and so we went ahead with our review.
After seeing the comments, though, we checked in with Archos again, and wound up speaking with Marc de Courville, Archos Director of Software Engineering, and Francois Caron, an Archos R&D Engineer. As it turns out, the initial Android 4.0 firmwares that were distributed to the G9 Turbos had a clock dependency mistakenly included that pegged the GPU at just 266MHz. both engineers were incredibly frank about the situation and were up front about their mistake. their most recent firmware (4.0.6 TEST 4 by their nomenclature) has corrected the GPU clock, and the team is actually hard at work optimizing the GPU for even more performance.
We got a peek at the latest test build, and ran the tablets through their paces once again. Let's take a look at how things play out now.
GLBenchmark 2.1 – Egypt – Offscreen 720p GLBenchmark 2.1 – Pro – Offscreen 720p Archos 101 G9 Turbo – Honeycomb 32 52 Archos 101 G9 Turbo – Ice Cream Sandwich @ 384 MHz 34 54 % Delta 5% 4%
Performance is now a few points above the Honeycomb build's throughput. so far so good.
CPU performance tracks with the prior builds, no surprise there.
Here we see the performance we knew was waiting. Benchmarking isn't easy on mobile platforms right now, but GLBenchmark seems to be pretty reliable at stratifying GPU performance. this means, of course, that even with the 30% higher GPU clock the trusty SGX540 is still lagging its more potent competitors.
The Standard test runs at device resolution, and as such left us a little concerned. Performance was equivalent between the builds, apparently a result of some under the hood tweaks. Whatever the case, we found gaming performance at the screen resolution to be smooth and without visual artifact before, so this limitation shouldn't be too much worry. We'll dig a little further just to be sure.
BaseMark results are a mixed bag, and are puzzlingly close to the Galaxy Nexus despite a 25% clock advantage. this could be related to the tweaks that held back the GLBenchmark Standard tests, but the results are at least consistently higher than the prior builds.
so, the gap between the old build and the test build jibes with what we expected. And though the performance improvement is a bit hit or miss, the new firmware bests the TF Prime and iPad 2 in some tests.
a full year on from the original G9 announcement, we expect to hear from Archos about their next generation of tablets soon. this leaves us to wonder, given the pending announcement, how long would Archos' software engineers be supporting the G9s? Marc was quick to answer that the G9 would get software updates through the next generation tablet's life cycle. with so many devices still waiting to be updated to Android 4.0, it's heartening to hear an OEM commit to actively supporting a device through its successor's life.
so, World's Fastest? not quite, but it's much closer than before. all told, the properly clocked Archos G9 Turbo tablets do live up to expectations for the platform. Does this change our position on the tablets? No, not this. The GPU performance wasn't bad to begin with, just not what we expected. what does make us pause is the impressive commitment to providing timely software updates that Archos has demonstrated. Maintaining software parity across two generations of Android tablets is unprecedented, and we can only hope that other manufacturers take note of Archos' commitment to its customers. The Archos G9 tablets aren't the cheapest, they're not the sexiest, and they're not quite the fastest. But if Archos keeps their word, they'll be one of the best supported.