ASUS Lamborghini VX7 Review

Design

Che bella! That's all we had to say when we first saw the VX7. While the wedge shape of the notebook is not all that far removed from the ASUS G53SW, the lid and rear have been modified to resemble the Lamborghini Murcielago rather than a F117 stealth fighter (as with the G53SW). Instead of a soft-touch matte black lid, the VX7 has a glossy black finish with the Lamborghini logo in the center. As with the car, you'll want to keep a polishing rag handy to maintain the VX7's pristine look. You can also get the lid in orange; given the flashiness of the notebook, we'd choose that option.

Around the back, ASUS has augmented the vents with clear red plastic slots that resemble the taillights on a Lamborghini; it would be far cooler if they were also backlit. The deck of the VX7 has its own styling, too. We love the black leather palm rests, complete with elegant stitching. They not only look fantastic, but are also very comfortable to rest your wrists on.

Other automotive touches include a dark chrome plastic lining around the touchpad and "automobili Lamborghini" written above the keyboard. Even the Power button says "Start Engine." When you turn on the notebook, instead of the generic Windows startup sound, you hear a car revving its engine.

Measuring 15.8 x 12.2 x 1.4-2.2 inches, the VX7 is slightly larger than the G53SW, and, at 8.4 pounds, is 3.2 ounces heavier. Even with the black Lamborghini-accented messenger bag that comes with the VX7, you still wouldn't want to carry it around for long.

Heat

After streaming a Hulu video for 15 minutes at full screen, the Lamborghini VX7 remained cool: The touchpad registered 80 degrees, the space between the G and H keys was 88, and the middle of the underside was 90 degrees. The vents at the rear of the VX7 really do the trick.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Just like the G53, the VX7 has an island-style keyboard that's backlit and comfortable to type on, but it could be better. The keys themselves are nicely spaced and have good travel and feedback, but the right Shift key is undersized, and the number pad and arrow keys are smaller than they have to be. Also, we noticed a bit of flex, similar to the G53.

The 2.75 x 1.75 Synaptics touchpad on the VX7 felt slightly small for a notebook of this size (it's the same size as on the G53), and its mirrored surface had a slight amount of friction, but we were able to execute multitouch gestures easily. The trapezoidal, chromed mouse buttons below were large, and provided snappy feedback.

Display and Audio

With a resolution of 1920 x 1080, the Lamborghini VX7's 15.6-inch glossy display provided bright and crisp visuals. We could pick out individual leaves while playingWorld of Tanks and individual strands of hair when watching the 1080p trailer forHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. However, we did notice a bit of noise in the darker areas of the screen, and colors did appear muted at times.

We liked that we could automatically change the color temperature by pressing the middle button on the upper-left of the deck. However, viewing angles were somewhat limited; images started to reverse at 45 degrees on either side.

The small speakers in the top middle of the VX7's deck produced loud but tinny sound. Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" and Kanye West's "All Falls Down" had almost no bass. Even when we were playing games, explosions didn't have the chest-thumping boom we were looking for. The THX Trustudio audio manager did little to help.

Ports and Webcam

The left side of the VX7 has a tray-loading Blu-ray drive and two USB 2.0 ports. The right side houses HDMI, one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port, Ethernet, and headphone and mic ports.

The 2-megapixel webcam on the VX7 can take photos at up to 1600 x 1200 pixels and capture video up to 640 x 480. While a little on the grainy side, the webcam picked up details such as the stripes in our shirt as well as a bright orange cup sitting on the desk behind us. Using ASUS' LifeFrame utility, we were able to make fine adjustments to the picture quality, including brightness and contrast, and could even add fun effects, such as a virtual pair of sunglasses or a black eye.

Performance

The computing equivalent of a 572-horsepower V12 engine, the VX7 comes with a quad-core 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM processor, 16GB of RAM, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M graphics with 3GB of GDDR5 memory. However, the VX7's dual 750GB, 7,200-rpm hard drives made it feel like this machine was filled up with regular unleaded.

On PCMark Vantage, the VX7 scored 7,740, which is about 900 points higher than the desktop replacement average, but the G53SW (which has the same specs, but 8GB of RAM and a single 750GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive) notched a higher 8,470 on the same test. The Alienware M14x (Intel Core i7-2820QM) and the MSI GT680R(Intel Core i7-2630QM) blew past it with scores of 9,293 and 9,184, respectively.

While the VX7 was quick to boot up Windows 7 Ultimate (just 56 seconds), it took the 7,200-rpm hard drive a long 3 minutes and 38 seconds to duplicate a 4.97GB folder of multimedia files. That's a rate of 23.3 MBps, well below the 34.1MBps category average, the 39.1 MBps of the G53SW, and well below the GT680R (62.1MBps).

Graphics and Gaming

The VX7's Nvidia GeForce GTX460M graphics card and 3GB of VRAM powered through the 3DMark06 test with a score of 13,927, which is on a par with the G53SW and the GT680R, and about 5,200 points higher than the desktop replacement category average. The VX7 also outpaced the Alienware M14x's Nvidia GeForce GT555M (12,553). On 3DMark11, the VX7 scored 1,658, which also bested the M14x (1,324), but was below the G53SW (1,825) and the MSI GT680R (1,796).

In World of Warcraft, the VX7 delivered 71 frames per second with effects set to maximum and the resolution at 1920 x 1080. That's 11 fps higher than the category average and the G53SW; the GT680R edged it out slightly (81 fps). The M14x scored 77 fps, but it has a lower screen resolution of 1600 x 900.

In Far Cry 2, the VX7 kicked out 39 fps at its native resolution and effects on Very High. That's a bit above the category average (33 fps), but below the G53SW and the GT680R, both of which saw 55 fps at the same settings at the same resolution. By comparison, the M14x scored 50 fps.

Still, gaming was a blast on the VX7. We averaged 49 frames per second when playing World of Tanks at native resolution and effects jacked up. We could pick out the smallest details, from the foliage on the trees to cobblestone streets to individual treads on our Sherman tank as we rumbled through the boards. Our only regret was that the speakers didn't provide enough low end to really hear the growl of our tank's diesel engine or the boom as we fired our gun.

Battery Life

Like most gaming notebooks (and sportscars), the VX7 is a gas-guzzler. Its eight-cell, 5200-mAh battery lasted 2 hours and 55 minutes, just 5 minutes less than the G53SW. That's slightly better than the category average (2:48), but the VX7's size and weight means it won't be far from an outlet for long. The Alienware M14x lasted a longer 4:11, but it also has a smaller screen to power.

Express Gate Cloud

The VX7 includes ASUS Express Gate Cloud, software that allows users to boot the laptop without using Windows. After pressing the button on the upper left of the keyboard deck, the VX7 launched Express Gate in approximately 15 seconds. Express Gate Cloud features a series of eight sliding tiles (Calendar, Chrome, Game, Music, Online Video, Photo, Social Network) that users can navigate to access the web and a number of entertainment options.

Software

ASUS keeps the software pre-load fairly light on the VX7. Included are ASUS utilities for tweaking the system, such as Power4Gear Hybrid (for adjusting performance settings), and FastBoot (to speed up boot time). Other software includes Cyberlink Blu-ray Disc Suite (for burning discs), Roxio Cineplayer BD (for playing Blu-rays), Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security, and Nuance PDF Reader.

Verdict

The ASUS Automobili Lamborghini VX7 has looks that kill, but even when you factor in the premium for the design, the performance doesn't quite match the $2,269 price. We were a bit disappointed with the lack of bass when playing music and games, and the VX7's keyboard flex gives us some pause. For about $700 less, you can get an ASUS G53SW with the same gaming prowess--but with less storage and no Blu-ray. If you're looking for a true desktop replacement, you can get an Alienware M17x with all the same specs, but with a larger 17-inch display, better audio, and cool backlight customizations for around the same price. Still, gamers who happen to be Lamborghini aficionados will no doubt swoon over the VX7. Just be sure to get the orange lid.

Video

iPad 3 Review: Better Than Anything Else, but Kind of a Letdown

There are many things the new iPad is:

• A lovely object
• A spec bump
• The future of home computing
• The best tablet on the market
• And there are many things the iPad New is not. But we're going to skip right to the end of that list and hit you with the main point:
• It is not worthy of a press conference.
• We've spent more than a week with this thing, and yes, the screen is lovely. That A5X processor is a tab-loading, game-rendering beast. Yes, the optional stupid fast LTE connection smokes even my leveled-up home cable connection. And yes: It is pretty. But if you've owned—or even played with—an iPad before, Cupertino's new hotness will leave you cold. It's an upgrade. It feels like an optional configuration rather than something, shall we say... resolutionary. And that, frankly, is a bummer.

  Why it Matters

  Make no mistake: This is the best tablet any amount of money can buy: the successor to the best tablet money could buy, which was, in turn, the successor to the best tablet money could buy way back when Steve Jobs was alive and Palm was alive and Android was still a scrappy upstart. But Palm and Steve Jobs are both dead, and Android is a no-foolin' juggernaut now. There are more expensive and more powerful and faster tablets to be bought. But they're substandard.
  Another year has passed; a hundred trillion zillion Android devices have come and gone, and the iPad remains comfortably at the top of an ever-growing hill by virtue of the most refined mobile operating system on the planet and an industrial design that even looks decent when it's poorly copied.
  But here's the thing: This iPad is cruising. It's still living off its predecessors' reps and some seriously excellent inherited software. Its design isn't new, and, in fact, it violates one of Jobs' Laws by getting thicker instead of thinner. And on the OS side, Apple seems to have stopped innovating. The opportunity for a competitor to crash Apple's party is now.
  

  Like

  Swipe. Tap. Play. Watch. You know how a tablet works. In this case, it's wonderful. iOS 5.1 is incredibly refined and mature. Touch-events are instantaneous, and everything loads with a dual-core spring in its step. The extra RAM keeps even complicated Web pages at the ready during a multi-tab browsing sesh.
  The difference in power between an iPad 1 and a new iPad is dramatic; but when you compare Apple's latest tablet to the one that came right before it, the difference is imperceptible unless you're running a seriously heavy app. Real Racing 2 HD, for example, loaded an average of 6 seconds faster on the iPad New than the iPad 2. But in races to run image-heavy websites like Gizmodo or must-have apps like Netflix, the discrepancy is negligible—if you pick it up at all.
  The 2048 x 1536 pixel Retina display is positively lickable, bursting with color and sharpness and saturation that make comics and high-res photographs look impossibly good. Text looks sharper on the new iPad than on any other electronic device; an e-reader is still easier on the eyes, but that's because light coming off a screen can wear out your peepers. In terms of glowing electronic displays, there is none better than on this device. Anywhere. There are a million more pixels in the new iPad than in a 1920 x 1080 HDTV. Think about that: This little 9.5-inch slate has more dots than the 50-inch flat screen you ooh and aah over. The effect is dramatic—sometimes.
  Other times, frankly, you don't notice it. Because it's not like the iPad 2's display is bad. It isn't, not by any stretch. And most of the time, you aren't close enough to your tablet's screen to pick up the pixels anyway. Yes, the Retina display is an unquestionable upgrade. But it is an upgrade you can live without.
  
  
  Thanks to that bigger battery, the iPad New lasts just as long as the iPad 2—an exactly-as-advertised 10 hours of real-world use and days upon days of standby time. But the differences end when charging time comes around. In our tests, it took up to twice as long to charge new 'Pad's 42.5-watt-hour battery—as many as nine hours of plug time. That means that an average American sleeper could plug his iPad in at night and wake up to one that's still not fully juiced. That sucks. You know what else kinda sucks? The new iPad gets warm—a well-documented 116 degrees. No, it's not gonna burn you. But it does make you want to put the thing down. That is aproblem for a device that's meant to be held.
  One way you shouldn't hold the new iPad is like a camera. Even though Apple wants you to. This is messed up: Apple's engineers worked some serious magic on the rear-facing "iSight" camera, bumping it up to 5 megapizzles and outfitting it with an infrared filter and side illumination tricks like you'll find on the iPhone 4S. Congratulations: You have a capable digital camera the size of a magazine. But while the iSighter got all fixed up, the front-facing "Facetime" camera remains VGA. Which is stupid. Because videochatting on an iPad is really wonderful. Talking with far-off friends or family members and actually seeing them react to the conversations is one of those legitimately magical moments when you realize that yes, technology can make your life better. But not any better than it can with an iPad 2.
  But the biggest issue with the new iPad is buyer's remorse. If you own an iPad 2 and buy an iPad 3, you will feel it: that sightly nauseous sensation that you just spent $500 on something that isn't much better than what you already had. If you took all the hype around this thing at face value—yes, we were part of it, but nothing compared with the breathless pomp and braggadocio of Apple itself—you'd think the new iPad was a miracle. It's not. It's little more than marketing, and that's a change for Cupertino, which has a long history of delivering on huge promises. Fortunately, Apple has a 14-day return policy.

  Should You Buy This?

  If you don't have a tablet and you want to buy a tablet, buy this tablet. It's excellent. But unless you are a comic book fanatic or do a ton of reading on your previous-gen 'Pad, there is no reason to upgrade from an iPad 2. It's simply not that much of a difference. Yes, it's better brighter faster stronger, but the hard truth of this new iPad is, it's not very new.
  • Apple iPad
    Price: $500 - $700 Wi-Fi; $630 - $830 LTE and "4G"
    Screen: 9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 pixels
    Processor and RAM: Dual Core Apple A5X; 1 GB of RAM
    Storage: 16GB, 32GB, 64 GB
    Cameras: VGA front-facing; 5 megapixel rear
    Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.3 x 0.37 inches
    Weight: 1.43 pounds
  • 
    

The Samsung Galaxy S2 Review : Awesomeness Inside

The Samsung Galaxy S II – successor of the popular Galaxy S and brand new flagship device from Samsung. Whenever I bought a new device, Samsung has been one of the contenders, but ultimately some things never quite appealed to me, so I ended up either getting HTC or Nokia.

Samsung sure raised some eyebrows when they announced the SGS II, sporting some impressive features like a Dual Core ARMv7 1,2GHz processor, a super AMOLED plus display, Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread and lots and lots more. Yes I was impressed too, and with the HTC Sensation being a good device, but not completely what i wanted, I thought it was time to have a closer look at the SamsungGalaxy S II. There is a lot of demand for trial devices at Vodafone Austria (one could say now it is cause Samsung sent out a ridiculously low amount of devices), so my test period has shortened to just a week, so don’t expect an in-depth review, but rather some day-to-day impressions from the week i have spent with it. Will i miss it? Will I even BUY my first ever Samsung device? Read on..

Hardware:

After the build quality disaster that is the Sony Ericsson Arc, my biggest fear was that the SGS II would be the same: super-thin and cheap build, resulting in a very unpleasant feel in hand. But, my first contact with the phone was actually a pleasant one. I took the phone out of the (very small) box and the phone actually felt quite good. Sure we still talk plastic here, but the build quality is really nice. Nothing like you could break it with some brute force. And WOW, that thing is ultra thin! 8,49mm thin that is. I felt that Samsung has hit the nail on the head with the extreme thin, yet 4,3″ big device. The feel in hand is perfect.

The front of the phone is dominated by one big piece of glass, spanning over almost the whole device, and the most breathtaking screen I have ever seen on any device. Samsung promised a lot with it’s new screen tech and boy, have they delivered. This 4,3″ super AMOLED plus brings black levels and eye-crushing colors unlike anything I have ever seen. Yes you can nitpick now, and say that its 800×480 pixels resolution is less than the HTC Sensation, but that’s pretty much the tech audience of today: “Sure the SGS II has this resolution, but device XYZ has a better one, so it’s not that good”. Pah, sure, grow up. You know what? I don’t care, the Galaxy S II screen is perfect as it is, and i don’t need the extra few pixels. Speaking of the display, this was one of the major factors why i actually skipped the HTC sensation. It is absolutely brilliant for all day to day tasks, even in sunny conditions, as I have tested last weekend. Pictures, Videos, even browsing around is nothing but fun on this gorgeous piece of touchscreen. I absolutely love it.

Underneath the screen is a physical Home button, with a capacitive menu- and back-button on either sides of the home one. On top of the screen you find the phone speaker, front facing 2MP camera and light-sensors. The whole front is kept in black, which makes the device a lot more stylish in my opinion, and in different lightning somewhere even difficult to tell where the screen ends and the device begins. lovely. Furthermore, Samsung has worked on the coating of the front, as the SGS II is not as much as fingerprint magnet, than any other device I had so far. The sides of the SGS II feature the power-/screen lock button on the right, the volume keys on the left side, a 3,5mm audio jack on top, and the microUSB charging- and data cable connector on the bottom. All very clean, the phone never feels too overloaded. I would have appreciated a physical camera button on the SGS II, but Sammy probably went with the masses here and skipped it, relying solely on a touch cam shutter button.

Turning the screen around, reveals a very welcome surprise, as opposed to Nexus and Galaxy S – the battery cover this time has a nice texture, making the device a LOT more grippier to handle. The battery cover itself is a touch of nothing on this device and is actually quite scary when pulled off, but placed on the device it sits super tight, so I don’t have issues with that. The speaker sits on the slightly raised lower part of the SGS II, being very slightly curved. It’s loud enough for your calls and notifications, although will eventually get a lot more quiet when laying on softer undergrounds. Speaker Quality was good, although slightly creaky when on full volume.

The camera on the SGS II has been cranked up to 8 megapixels, with a single LED flash. The camera shutter is operated via touch and can be either used with the big cam interface shutter button, or via touch to focus. There’s a gazillion of settings and scene modes, spanning from party pics to autumn colors and even a setting for visibility on the outside, cranking up the display brightness to a maximum, and going back to normal after closing the cam application. Nice! Videos are recorded in 1080p at 30fps, a very rare combination for mobile phones, but will eventually appear more often on those powerful high-end smartphones. The autofocus while shooting videos was actually quite usable, something that i always missed on my preferred camera phone, the Nokia N8. Interested in how the camera actually performs? Well, it surely isn’t a Nokia N8, and it never claims to be, but I gotta say, the camera was better than expected. Pictures turned out to be crisp in normal light conditions, while expectedly not reaching the good low light capabilities of the SE Arc or even Nokia’s EDoF camera units. I will be posting a post later on this week, with sample camera shots and some short video clips, showing you the video quality, in 1080p of course. Don’t want to wait? Head over to my Flickr set and check out the Samsung Galaxy S II Camera shots!

Hiding underneath the camera, is the 1650mAh battery, which is mighty impressive for such a thin phone. It easily got me through a full day of medium to “more” usage, and even lasted 2 days when I was working in the office, where the phone is in standby a lot. As i said already in my Arc review part 1, I believe Gingerbread has a positive effect on Android phones. The battery is always one of the biggest factors on any Android smartphone, and with a device that powerful, it is clear that everyone has to step up their game and not rely on disasters like my former HTC Desire HD. Samsung is on a good way there, and if that is not enough for you, I heard that the great people over at Mugen Power Batteries are already working on replacement battery solutions for the SGS II!

The Samsung Galaxy S II is powered by a Dual-Core 1,2GHZ ARMv7 processor, bundled with 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and even a microSD card slot. In my week with the SGS II I never had any, ANY lag, crash, restart or similar like that. It felt unbelievably snappy at whatever I did, most notably when playing around with the camera. Shot after shot, is has never lagged on me, not even when processing those fancy 1080p videos.

Software:

Powered by Android 2.3.3, and with such a powerful hardware, the Android experience on the Samsung Galaxy S II was a very very pleasant one, as mentioned above. What gets people on the fence eventually, is Samsungs Android skin called Touchwiz, premiering in Version 4.0 on the SGS II. Touchwiz has always been a hot topic, with a lot of people prefering HTC’s Sense UI, due to the more cartoonish Touchwiz looks. Well, I think Touchwiz is still nowhere near the great usability of Sense (which i love to bits), but it sure has grown up. The widgets feel cleaner and more polished than before, but widgets are only half the price. I usually only use widgets from the apps I use, so i was more eager to see how the on board apps will be.

And yes, Samsung has put some thoughts into the user experience. Things i found quite nice were:

• Predictive dialing: yes, a very small feature, but important to me nonetheless. Type a name instead of the number for quicker dialing. Should be essential on every device.
• Swype included: Swype is still one of the quickest text input options for me, so having this included was certainly nice to have on the SGS, and now on SGS II too!
• More multitouch and accelerometer features/gestures: pinch to zoom is nice and all, but zooming via holding a pic with two fingers and tilting the device, or moving widgets from one page to another with tilting the device is fun to. even if it’s just to show off.
• Split view in messaging: not many people knew this when i posted the pic, but try holding your screen in landscape position and enter the messaging app!
• Hubs: Samsung included 4 hubs to the SGS II, for socializing, music, reading and games. It’s obvious what all those are for, and if you don’t wanna waste time searching for apps in the market, you’ll feel right at home here. With a flood of Twitter apps f.e., its obvious that Samsung wanted to offer a complete package here and save time searching for apps
• Allshare: Filesharing via DLNA. lovely! worked nicely with all sorts of pictures, videos etc!
• Kies Air: Kies (Sammy’s version of HTC Sync or Ovi/Nokia/PC/Elop suite) can not only be connected via Bluetooth or cable, but also via WLAN. lovely part 2!
• Photo- and Video Editor: lovely to see Samsung not ending their thoughts after shooting a pic. both editors are actually quite usable, with the video editor especially standing out. Tons of features and nice effects to slap on your photos and videos.
• Task Manager: oh yees, a built in Task Manager, giving access to yo RAM-/storage data, downloads, and of couse all running tasks with the option to kill them.
• Chat app: The chat app provides access to Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, and worked very well in a short test! (so much stuff to try, so little time!)

Sure, Touchwiz might not be everyone’s favourite, but then again, most “powerusers” rely on Custom ROMs anyways, and your average Joe will probably feel right at home with what Samsung has to offer. Samsung does not radically change the look and feel of Android, so the usability is still given. I know I wouldn’t keep Touchwiz forever on the Samsung Galaxy S II, and thanks to Samsung not being as jacked up as HTC with their bootloader politics, I know I don’t have to keep Touchwiz on!

All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S II was nothing short of impressive and yes, it is in fact the best device I have ever had to chance to get my hands on. The whole combination of materials and build quality felt very premium and thankfully, the grippy new texture of the battery cover helped a lot supporting that feeling. The super AMOLED plus display is the best display I have ever seen on any device or brand, making it an absolute joy to use the SGS II, inside or outside. The 8MP camera performed surprisingly well, although an extensive camera usage will surely not keep the otherwise great 1650mAh battery of the device alive for a whole day.

The Android experience on the Galaxy S II was an okay one. Touchwiz has never been and will never be my favourite sort of Android UI, but it has grown up and felt more usable than on the Galaxy S. It’s easy to see that Samsung has spent some time on thinking, rather than playing around and it feels good. Of course that is all just my personal opinion, and I believe most users will be perfectly fine with what Samsung has done on the SGS II. The Samsung extras definitely add to the experience, with some very nice features, you probably don’t get everywhere, like the very good video/photo editor, or DLNA sharing.

It is an insane piece, this Samsung Galaxy S II. And I can’t help but admit that i have a crush on this device, a rather huge one. I know I can’t live without the ridiculously thin body and that gorgeous super AMOLED plus screen anymore. I’m sorry bank account, but next month you’ll bleed. Bring it on, amazon..

Pros

• Awesome display
• Ultra slim design
• 1080p Video recording
• Really fast

Cons

• No camera key
• Touchwiz UI