Sony’s Xperia Tablet S will go on sale in Singapore tomorrow, the Japanese tech giant has announced.
The 16GB device comes with a 9.4-inch, 1280 x 800 pixel screen, and will be powered by a NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor and Android’s 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. It will also have an 8-megapixel camera at the back one a 1-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Tablet S also has the same folded-book design as previous Sony tablets, making it stand out easily from the hordes of identical Android tablets already in the market.
It will also feature a downloadable Socialife application to help users manage social networking services and news feeds and DLNA capabilities which allow content on the tablet to be “thrown” onto compatible television sets.
The Xperia Tablet S will be available from tomorrow at all Sony stores and authorised outlets at S$749.
The Sony Xperia V, popularly know as James Bond’s phone in the latest Skyfall movie, will be available in Singapore from Dec 8, the Japanese tech giant announced today.
The Xperia V is Sony’s first LTE smartphone and also has the highest levels of dust and water resistance in the Singapore market. It also has a 4.3-inch, 1280 X 720 display and comes shipped with the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. An upgrade to the Jelly Bean operating system will be available from mid Q1 next year. Continue reading ‘The Bond phone arrives in Singapore’
Samsung will launch the highly-anticipated Galaxy Note II LTE and Galaxy Camera today.
Those who have indicated their interest in the Galaxy Note II prior to the launch will be able to collect their phones from Friday, Oct 19, 6pm at M1 Paragon, SingTel Hello! ComCentre and StarHub Plaza Singapura.
The phone will be available at other outlets on Saturday at the recommended retail price of S$998 (without contract). If you are still undecided if you should get one, check out our preview.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera
The Galaxy Camera – which comes 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity – boasts a massive 4.8-inch HD Super Clear LCD screen, 21x optical zoom and a 16-megapixel BSI (Backside Illuminated) CMOS sensor.
Its wireless network connectivity and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system also open up the device to applications for photo-editing and almost instantaneous sharing.
It will be in stores here next month but the pricing has yet to be revealed.
The Nexus is the only tablet on the market that comes with the latest version of Android (Jelly Bean). So if you want the latest and greatest, it is a compelling buy. It’s slim, light and highly customisable (with apps and widgets), which makes it a very good device to have on the go – compared to bigger tablets. It’s also very fast and a joy to watch videos on. Check out our video to see how fast it performs with apps and videos.
Hiao Wee asked on Facebook: “Where can I buy the 7-inch Nexus cover?”
The covers will also be sold at the stores listed above. Asus loaned us a pink cover and we are loving it!
AhKun Heng asked: “Does it includes Apple Maps?”
It does not come with Apple Maps (because it’s not by Apple – duh), but users will get to use Google Maps which comes preloaded in the Nexus 7 along with other Google-related apps like Gmail and YouTube.
Facebook user Jonathan Lim: “Does it come with Google’s Siri?”
Google’s voice search feature is called “Google Now Voice”, its answer to Siri. The feature was fairly accurate based on our tests, but speaking very slowly in an American accent will yield better results.
joe_kool asked on Instagram: “Can we Whatsapp on it?”
There’s no official word on Nexus 7 support from the developers of Whatsapp. When we attempted to download the app from Google Play, we ran into the following error message: “Your device isn’t compatible with this version”
Instagram user Shayneloh asked if we could access books and magazines on the Nexus 7.
Yes you can. We managed to download books from apps such as MediaCorp’s Ilovebooks.com and Zinio in a matter of seconds and the Nexus 7’s (add ppi) display also meant that words and images were crisp and sharp, as you can see from the screenshots below. It’s also great for reading on the go due to its small and slim design.
Pigsurecanfly asked: “Does all apps need to pay(sic)? If need is there something to hack it?”
There are plenty of free apps available on the Google Play store, like Instagram, Flipboard and Angry Birds sequel Bad Piggies so you don’t need to hack the device to get the most out of it.
Symsimyuming asked on Instagram: “Does it run app fast?”
Yes the Google Nexus 7 runs apps at lightning speed, thanks to its Android Jelly Bean operating system and quad-core Tegra 3 processor which can clock speeds of up to 1.2 GHz. Using the Geekbench app, the Nexus 7 recorded a benchmark score of 1458, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 could only muster a score of 1196. In a separate test done on the Quadrant Standard app, the Nexus 7 recorded a score of 3,640, placing it higher than the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 but just below the Asus Transformer Prime TF201.
Look out for our full review on the newspaper next week and if you do have any more questions, just let us know what they are in the comments section and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
You might have caught Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk on the big screen, or even seen them in their various incarnations on television. Now the Avengers are set to avenge an even smaller screen – your mobile phone – with the launch of Avengers Initiative.
Launched today, Avengers Initiative is a mobile game for iOS and Android devices that’s based on the characters in the Marvel universe.
In it, you play as The Hulk in a gesture-based combat game that’s similar to the very popular Infinity Blade series for iOS. Using your fingers you help The Hulk dodge attacks, block, deflect and smash puny enemies while picking up documents and power crystals which you can use later.
While the gameplay starts off simple, unlocking new power-ups and combos allows you perform some very intricate moves. The combat is rather responsive and packs a punch, but sometimes what you plan to do doesn’t always translate on screen. Still, combat is satisfying once you get a handle on what moves work better. Randomly swiping the screen isn’t going to help either – you’ll need to know some of your moves well to get a leg up over harder enemies.
Comic fans would be pleased to note that Marvel scribe Fred van Lente is behind the story for the game, while hotshot artist Marko Djurdjevic has handled the art and character designs. Still, this isn’t exactly your favourite movie or comic-book characters, instead, these characters are an amalgamation or the “ultimate” version of each character, and the story takes place within the Marvel gaming universe. With voice acting done by some of the voice talents from The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon series, this feels like a page out of the comic-book, barring a few slight quibbles.
Gamers who’ve played the Avengers Alliance game on Facebook will also be familiar with some of the background to Avengers Initiative, which takes place right after the story in Avengers Alliance. You will be called up by Nick Fury to handle the mass-escape of villains from Marvel’s supervillain prison The Raft after an event called “The Pulse”, which leads Hulk to smash his way through familiar faces like Skrulls and the Wendigo. Gamers can also login to MarvelXP, a free live service, which connects throughout all the new games in the Marvel gaming universe, which rewards achievements helps you unlock more items, skills and costumes.
With about four hours of gameplay promised, the game’s replayability is enhanced by free expansion packs every few months where a whole new story is told with a new character. While the developers Wideload Games are unable to say exactly which characters will be having their own episode, they did mention that the above teaser image would be a strong hint as to what’s coming up for the title, and the next release will happen by the end of the year. If that’s not enough you can always buy costumes, levels skills and ISO-8 (a crystal that’s part of the storyline that also serves as currency within the game) with real money – or you can take the poor man’s way out and just keep playing the game till you get enough ISO-8 to unlock something.
So if you look at the world with a green tint, or if you’re simply raring to smash some things up, Avengers Initiative at US$6.99 (S$8.70) is worth checking out, especially if the episodic content delivers similar or better quality than the first installment. Android fans with Tegra 3 devices have even more reason to celebrate – the developers have worked with nVidia to offer a graphically enhanced version for you. Once we’ve managed to try it out on an Android phone we’ll update this story.
Avengers Initiative is now available on iTunes for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and the new iPad. The Android version on Google Play has been delayed for now.
