Nokia Lumia 521 Review

If you thought the Nokia Lumia 520 was good, boy are you going to have a great time with the Nokia Lumia 521. Essentially the same device as you’ll be getting internationally, this T-Mobile iteration of the entry-level Windows Phone 8 device brings the same package (with slightly different radio connections and a few extra apps) to the USA, here with the same bright white back cover as we saw across the sea (one of three, as it were).

Hardware

With the Nokia Lumia 521 you’re rolling with a 4-inch display (running at WVGA) which, if you’re using anything sharper at the moment, will be just a bit more pixely than you’ll want to live with. This machine is, instead, made for those users upgradingfeature phones – and it’ll do a fine job of it.

The handset measures in at 4.9 x 2.5 x 0.4 inches and weighs just 4.4 ounces – it’s lighter than it looks. You’ll connect to this machine with a microUSB cord (included in the box) and a microSIM for data, and both the back cover and the battery within are removable. There’s also a microSD card slot under the hood for an additional 32GB of space if you do so desire – you may want to pick up a microSD card when you purchase the smartphone since the 521 works with just 8GB of internal storage.

Inside you’ve got a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor at 1GHz paired with 512MB of RAM. Again, this is meant to be an upgrade for the feature phone crowd and not a battle-ready beast for the top-tier entrants in the Windows Phone 8 world. That said, this machine is swift as much of the Windows Phone 8 crowd simply because the processor paired with this screen – small and low-res as it is – makes for hot-tapping and access to the basic collection of apps available to the whole Windows Phone 8 smartphone collection.

You won’t be set up for future implementation of T-Mobile’s LTE network, instead kicking it up to today’s fastest data speedsthe network at HSPA+ 21. We’ll be bringing you “top speed” results as soon as we can kick out speeds above the general average – for now you’ll take comfort in knowing we’ve not have a dropped signal anywhere inside the metro area in Minneapolis / Saint Paul, Minnesota.

  

The back of this machine is replaceable – compatible with the international edition of the handset as well, so finding even 3rd-party offerings in the wild-and-wacky case-making environment will work. Or SHOULD work – always be cautions if you’re buying 3rd party gear. Nokia brings the heat with this machine in white (seen here) as well as yellow, blue, and red.

Software

It should be made clear that this device brings Nokia’s unique collection of Windows Phone apps to the show – the same as each other Lumia both here in the USA and overseas. While you’ll get a limited number of these on the device right out of the box, you’ll have Nokia’s app portals to keep you busy.

At this point in history it’s difficult to find a smartphone running Windows Phone (Windows Phone 8 and forward, that is), that isn’t able to work with every app in Microsoft’s official app store. Nokia also provides such unique offerings (available to Lumia devices only) as Nokia Music, HERE Maps, HERE Drive, and HERE Transit. It’sHERE, you could say.

All except – notably – app abilities such as the augmented reality bits of City Lens (as seen with the Nokia Lumia 920 demo we gotthe way back in September of 2012, courtesy of Nokia) inside HERE Maps. This doesn’t exist on this machine due to the lack of a digital compass in the 521. With A-GPS and Glonass you’ve still got turn-by-turn navigation throughout the USA

Camera

While there’s no front-facing camera on this machine, the back-facing 5-megapixel shooter is more than enough for the standard social networking sharing and general photo-taking activities you’ll be inevitably taking part in. While Nokia’s real industry-leading efforts in the camera world rest with devicesthe Lumia 925 (internationally) and the Lumia 928 (here in the USA with Verizon), the Lumia 521 brings a decent “that’ll do” sort of setup – which you’ll see in example photos and video here.

       

Battery

While Nokia rates this device at 7.5 hours talk time with standby at 12.5 days, we’ve found the 1430mAh battery to be standing up to a full days’ standard use without issue. If you’re a heavy user, on the other hand, expect to knock this battery out in a matter of hours – especially if you’re streaming videosomethingT-Mobile TV (also built in to the device, courtesy of the carrier.)

Wrap-Up

The Nokia Lumia 521 isn’t the nicest Windows Phone 8 device on the market – and it’s certainly not the hottest Nokia machine out today – but it’s not meant to be. Working to be the cost-cutting entry level to the Windows Phone 8 universe with the good ship Nokia – that’s the aim. That’s what this machine will do, too – expect quite a few upgrades to higher-powered Lumia devices once the 521 is paid for in full by users on T-Mobile.

              

Read More

Review: Panasonic TX-P60ZT65

Introduction

With its beloved plasma technology still besieged by wave after wave of LCD upstarts, Panasonic has decided to pull outthe stops and launch a plasma TV built with no other thought in mind than producing the absolute best picture quality a consumer plasma TV can deliver.

In fact, as we'll discover, there's a very real sense with the limited edition 60-inch Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 that it's genuinely the last word in plasma excellence - a final blaze of defiant, money's-no-object glory before Panasonic settles back to gradual annual improvements to its more mainstream plasmas or even (though hopefully not) puts plasma to bed for good.

Unsurprisingly, such a screen doesn't come cheap. The Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's £3,999 (around US$5,990 / AU$6,540) full asking price makes it comfortably the most expensive 60-65-inch TV we've seen bar Sony's Ultra HD/4K-resolution KD-65X9005A. But also unsurprisingly it boasts a pretty monstrous feature and specification list.

Highlights include a new Studio Master panel design complete with 'Air Gapless' panel technology to boost contrast well beyond even anything Panasonic has managed before, and a European Broadcasting (EBU) mode for optimised picture quality when watching broadcasts.

Plus there's full endorsement by the THX quality assurance and ISF pro calibration organisations and the most comprehensive site of picture calibration tools and options the consumer TV world has ever seen.

Ifthese high-falutin' features pay off as well as we hope they will, the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 could finally lay the ghost of Pioneer's legendary Kuro plasma TVs to rest. Indeed, based on the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 vs Kuro head to head Panasonic had set up during its main product convention earlier this year, this very aim seemed to be at the front of Panasonic's mind as it was conceiving its new plasma flag-waver.

If you can't make the hefty financial step up to the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65, Panasonic has its also brilliant VT65 plasma TVs, available in the 65-inch Panasonic TX-P65VT65, 55-inch Panasonic TX-P55VT65 and 50-inch Panasonic TX-P50VT65 sizes, with the 65-inch costing around £3,500 and the 55-inch costing around £2,200.

Where other rivals are concerned, the 55-inch Sony KD-55X9005A brings UHD/4K resolution to the table for the same £4,000 price, while the Samsung PS64F85000 delivers unprecedentedly bright 64-inch plasma pictures for £2,800.

Features

The first thing to consider here is the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's design. Plasma TVs generally suffer aesthetically versus LCD TVs, thanks to their need for much wider bezels than the latest generation of Edge LCD TVs. The Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 certainly doesn't do anything to counter the bezel-width issue.

But it does still achieve a degree of style, by covering both the bezel and the screen in a single sheet of glass and by mounting the screen on a gleaming, open-style 'V' neck that attaches to a surprisingly small and beautifully finished metal plinth stand.

If you look at the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65an angle, you'll notice that its pictures don't suffer with the 'double imaging' issue you see with every other Panasonic plasma TV when viewing them off-axis. This is because Panasonic has managed to remove the usual air gap between the plasma panel and the front glass. It's something that's only been possible by manufacturing the ZT65 screens in autoclaves - rare, high-precision heated compression chambers required to make sure the panel layers bond together correctly.

This manufacturing requirement is enough in itself to start justifying the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's price - so long as the end results in picture quality terms justify the effort, of course.

With this in mind, it's important to stress that the removal of the off-axis double imaging is not the only benefit of the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's 'Air Gapless' design. Removing the air layer stops light refractions and reflections affecting the image, resulting in a greatly enhanced contrast performance - especiallyblack level response is concerned.

To a home cinema fan, the thought of Panasonic going even deeper with the TX-P60ZT65's black levels than it has with its previous plasma televisions is nothing short of mouthwatering. And it's this step, of course, that is most likely to help the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 overleap the contrast of Pioneer's legendary Kuro plasma TVs.

The Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's panel also boasts, of course, the very highest level of the filtering technologies Panasonic uses to stop ambient light negatively impacting the contrast performance of its plasma TVs.

Also, the processing power and number of calibration tools Panasonic has then applied to its innovative panel design are so extensive, it almost feelsPanasonic's engineers couldn't believe their luck at having so much flexibility and capability in the core panel to play with.

Going through in detailthe picture options and fine-tuning tools that the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 puts at your disposal would take forever, and is actually pretty pointless. It's more important to simply stress that even if you're a professional calibrator with THX and ISF training, you will find every possible calibration trick you could ever reasonably want, tucked away inside the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's menus.

Just to give you an idea, though, there's Rec. 709, SMPTE and EBU video standard settings, Colour Remastering for boosting the colour gamut and multiple noise reduction systems. Then there's a 'Brilliance Enhancer' that makes pictures look more dynamic by applying localised contrast boosts, a resolution enhancer, gamma controls, comprehensive colour management tools and comprehensive white balance adjustments.

As if having so much set up flexibility at your disposal wasn't already groovy enough, Panasonic even enables you to call up the TV's calibration menus on its Viera Remote app for iOS and Android devices, so you can make your adjustments while looking at a picture on the TV that isn't hidden behind on-screen menus.

If you were paying attention a couple of paragraphs back, you may have noticed we mentioned an EBU video standard setting. This stands for European Broadcasting, and it's the first time such a setting has ever been seen on a TV.

This is because the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 is the first TV that's been able to meet the extremely demanding picture quality and setting standards defined by the EBU as being necessary to reproduce broadcast pictures that look exactly as their creators and broadcasters intended them to look.

The EBU's defined standards take in a huge range of picture quality facets, so the fact that the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 can exclusively meetthese requirements is a real testament to the quality and flexibility of Panasonic's premium TV.

Even the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's connections are a cut above the norm. Not in number terms, perhaps (actually the fact that the TV only has three HDMIs is a bit disappointing), but rather in their construction, since they use gold plating so that their contacts don't degrade over timenormal TV connections do.

With so much high-end finery, sophisticated manufacturing and, heck, old-fashioned AV love apparently ploughed into the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65, it's no surprise that Panasonic is really keen to make you feel special for owning one.

So as well as making the TV available on a limited edition basis, when you buy one you become an automatic member of a new Golden Club, complete with a card that shows the individual number of your TV and the signature of the engineer responsible for its construction.

On top ofits unique premium features, of course, the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 sports the full range of more 'normal' features found in Panasonic's other TVs. Dominating these is Panasonic's excellent My Home Screen smart TV interface, which provides the easiest to use and most customisable means of finding and organisingthe myriad content options you get with modern connected TVs.

These content options include playback of filesUSB sticks, SD cards and connected DLNA-enabled PCs, as well as media files on your smartphone or tablet courtesy of Panasonic's well designed and reasonably comprehensive Viera Remote 2 app. There are also apps and video streaming services on Panasonic's Viera Connect online platform.

The only problem with the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's Viera Connect platform is that it's a bit short of key video providers right now - there's no Lovefilm, and the only one of the main catchup platforms you get is BBC iPlayer.

Picture quality

And so we get to the moment of truth: has the still-revered Pioneer Kuro plasma TV technology finally met its match with the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65? Happily, very happily, we can answer this question with a resounding yes.

Obviously giventhe hype surrounding the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's contrast performance, it's here that we decided to focus the opening stages of our tests. And what we saw was nothing short of extraordinary.

Probably the best way to sum the situation up is to say that for the first time on any commercially released flat-panel TV, the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 delivers black colours that actually look black. Not black with a tinge of grey, not black because the screen's just turned offlighting in the darkest areas, but black in a completely natural, cinematic way that still enables you to see the tiniest shadow details and colour tone shifts in even the most pitch black parts of the image.

It's great to see, too, that this stunning black level perfection is achieved without the picture suffering heavily with the sort of dithering noise that plasma TVs can suffer with in dark areas. This is down, perhaps, to a combination of the Air Gapless design enabling the screen to produce a punchier picture without having to drive the plasma cells so hard, and some unprecedentedly fine controls over the voltage entering each plasma pixel.

If you're still not fully understanding what a big deal the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's unprecedented black level performance is, the point is that contrast and black level response, in our opinion, provide the foundation for any TV picture. So when a TV gets this sorted as perfectly as the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 does, it kind of follows that there's every chance that other aspects of the television's picture quality will be equally outstanding.

Plus, of course, being able to watch nearly pitch-black movie scenes without having your attention even slightly distracted by the sort of greyness, backlight clouding/inconsistency and crushed shadow detailing you have to suffer to some degree withother flat TVs is a revelation, totally transforming your relationship with what you're watching.

Colour performance

Having established the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's contrast performance as being the best in the TV world to date, it's not entirely surprising to be able to follow this up by marvelling at the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's colour handling. After all, good black levels usually lead to good colours, so it follows that awesome black levels lead to awesome colours.

The accuracy and incredible subtlety of the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's colourscape feels borderline miraculous at times, especially when the screen is dealing with particularly high-quality HD sources, such as the opening scene of The Dark Knight on Blu-ray.

What's more, the fidelity of the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's colours is joined by an engaging level of brightness and vibrancy by plasma standards, making the television more usable than might have been expected in a bright environment. Having said that though, we'd still recommend dark-room viewing if you want to get the maximum impactall the astonishing, cinematic colour nuancing and shadow detailing the TV has to offer.

The incredibly subtle rendering of colour on the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 helps it also deliver a sense of sharpness and detail that's nothing short of mesmerising - especially considering that you're witnessing it on a screen as big and immersive as this 60-inch one.

The TV doesn't benefita native Ultra HD/4K resolution, but there are times when the joint quality of Panasonic's image processing and uncompromising plasma panel design does make pictures look slightly higher definition than your typical HD TV.

Further help in this respect comesthe Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's freedomthe motion blurring problems associated to some degree with even the very best LCD TVs. This is one of plasma's biggest advantages as a technology, and the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 makes the most of it. Or at least, it makes the most of it if you take the plunge and activate Panasonic's Intelligent Frame Creation processing on its lowest setting.

Motion processing

Normally we wouldn't tend to recommend using motion processing systems on TVs. But the processing engine in the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 is so powerful and so thoughtfully defined that it goes about its business without leaving the picture looking too processed.

What's more, if you don't use the system, you lay yourself open to suffering with pretty much the only two flaws in the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's picture make-up: a little double imaging around the edges of moving objects and some fizzing noise over moving skin tones.

Without the IFC set to Low these issues can be quite distracting - especially with broadcast sources. But with the IFC on, they pretty much cease to be a problem.

Having been slightly negative about broadcast source handling back there, though, we need to stress that our only gripe with the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's broadcast images is the (ultimately avoidable) motion niggles.

In every other way the TV is unprecedentedly good with broadcast footage, thanks to the provided EBU preset. Simply activating this preset, without having to do any further calibration tweaks, is an absolute revelation, as the image's colour balance, noise handling, contrast and white balance revert to settings designed by broadcasters to make sure you're getting a totally authentic picture.

The THX modes are similarly astutely designed to give you instantly great images when watching films. This is significant, because we haven't always felt entirely comfortable with THX presets on previous plasma generations. But it seems on the TX-P60ZT65 as if Panasonic has got its plasma technology to a pointit can fully meet the vision and demands of the THX specification.

3D picture

So far we've just been talking about 2D footage on the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65, but rest assured that it's also brilliant with 3D. The amount of detail in its 3D images is sensational, reminding you in no uncertain terms why the full-resolution active 3D system is still a potent force, especially on large screen TVs.

The clarity with which this detail is delivered is outstanding too, with practically no noise to worry about. Even crosstalk ghosting noise, that perennial bane of active 3D playback, is practically non-existent. And thanks to the clarity of the 3D picture, you also get a superb and consistent sense of 3D depth and space.

The Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 does follow other Panasonic 3D plasma televisions by taking quite a lot of brightness out of its 3D images. But the pros far outweigh the cons, and if you can manage to watch 3D in a dark room wherever possible, the brightness reduction isn't a major blow by any means.

Usability, sound and value

Usability

For the most part the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 is laudably easy to use, considering what an exceptionally feature-heavy and sophisticated TV it is. Its My Home Screen smart TV interface is inspired, delivering the easiest to follow on-screen menus and simplest personalisation system we've seena TV to date.

The presentation is clear, the set-up system is comprehensive, and there's enough on-screen direction and help to ensure that not even the most technophobic user should ever feel confused.

The sheer volume of picture calibration tools could overwhelm the unprepared. But the technical stuff is sensibly tucked away out of sight of casual eyes, and even if you do seek the in-depth calibration tools out they're presented in quite a straightforward manner.

The way you can use the calibration menus via your iOS or Android device rather than on the TV screen is superb, too.

Actually, the Viera Remote 2 app that contains the calibration features is generally excellent, enabling as it does screen sharing of what's on your TV with your smart device's screen, and 'casting' of what's stored on your smart device to the TV screen. The app interface forthese features is brilliantly intuitive, too.

The only bum note in the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's interface, really, is the touchpad remote that Panasonic supplies alongside a more normal handset. The touchpad on this device is too small, too quirky in its responses and too circular to harmonise effectively with a rectangular screen.

Sound

Pictures as big and brilliant as those delivered by the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 clearly deserve to be partnered by some first-rate audio.

And while the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 doesn't scale quite the same audio heights as the Sony KD-65X9005A, its front-firing speakers supported by a rear-mounted bass speaker combine handsomely to deliver much more power, clarity and soundstage size than the vast majority of flat TV speaker systems.

Value

This is a tricky one. It's a plain and simple fact that the vast majority of people won't be able to even think about coughing up the £4,000 (around US$5,990 / AU$6,540) necessary to secure a Panasonic TX-P60ZT65. But that in itself doesn't make the TV bad value.

We guess you could also point to the outstanding qualities of Panasonic's VT65 series and ask if the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 is really so good that it warrants spending considerably more money on.

But in the end, for us the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's value situation simply boils down to this: it produces the absolute finest, most cinematic picture quality we've ever seena Full HD TV. And so far as we're concerned, this fact alone will make it worth every last penny of its £4k price to any serious AV fan who can afford it.

Verdict

The Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 is so uncompromising it almost feelsPanasonic getting mad - mad at the way people keep gravitating towards LCD TVs when plasma is capable of delivering astonishingly good picture quality.

Signs of Panasonic's uncompromising approach to its new flagship TV are everywhere. The set's build quality is incredibly robust. The connections are gold plated. The panel is built using new difficult-to-deliver, contrast-boosting Air Gapless technology.

The picture calibration options are almost endless, too, as you might expecta TV endorsed by the THX group, the ISF and - in a world first - the European Broadcast.

Yet despite its sophistication it's still very easy to use, not least thanks to Panasonic's inspired My Home Screen.

What most matters about the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65, though, is that the brand's unwillingness to compromise its construction to hit a price point has resulted in picture quality so good that it's hard to imagine how it will be bettered until OLED or UHD/4K go mainstream.

We liked

The Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's My Home Screen interface is gloriously simple and fun to use, its sound quality is excellent, and best ofits picture quality is unprecedentedly good - so much so that it makes us wonder if it will ever be bettered using current mainstream technologies.

We disliked

It would be good if Panasonic could add a few more of the mainstream video streaming services to its online platform. There are some minor motion issues unless you use the provided IFC processing, and obviously it would be great if the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 cost much less than it does. But if it did, then it's pretty clear it wouldn't be as good. It's called getting what you pay for, people.

Final verdict

If you're able to take in the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's £4,000 (around US$5,990 / AU$6,540) price tag without shaking your head in frustration, then you should be well on the way to getting one of Panasonic's groundbreaking TVs installed in your living room.

After all, the only other significant reason you could have for not bagging one is that Panasonic's online services don't include as many of the key catch-up TV services as we'd like.

But this is a puny downside, really, when considered against the fact that the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 delivers pictures so unprecedentedly good you don't ever want to turn it off.

Also consider

With no Full HD/2K TVs getting up near the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65's price or performance standards, the most direct rival would have to be an Ultra HD/4K-resolution model: namely Sony's identically-priced 55-inch KD-55X9005A. Based on the 65-inch Sony KD-65X9005A that we've reviewed, we predict stellar picture qualitythe 55-inch model too, especially when you're watching the amazing resolution of native 4K sources. However, the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65 massively outguns the Sony glamourpuss in the contrast department.

Otherwise you're essentially looking at cheaper but less spectacular alternatives to the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65. Which in our mind would include Panasonic's own hugely impressive P55VT65 plasma, Samsung's startlingly bright but slightly dither-prone PS64F8500 or, if you'd rather have an LCD TV for greater brightness and cuter looks (though reduced contrast), Samsung's gorgeous-looking and innovatively featured UE55F8000, and finally Sony's KDL-55W905A.

Read More

HTC One Android 4.2.2 update fixing Zoe flood, Menu key, more

HTC has begun rolling out its Android 4.2.2 update for the HTC One, with owners in Europe, Taiwan, and other locations receiving the much-anticipated firmware upgrade. The software, which takes Android to 4.2.2 but also makes significant changes to HTC’s own Sense interface, in particular addresses one of our lingering issues with the One: the ugly triple-dot “Menu” softkey which robs users of all-important screen real-estate.

That, happily, is gone, replaced with the option to trigger the context menu with a long-press of the touch-sensitive Home key, HTCSource reports. As that would usually summon Google Now, that has been remapped to the more common swipe-upHome, as Google uses on the Nexus 4.

The menu option isn’t the only space-stealing change to the UI. HTC has shifted the “Power Saving” mode checkboxthe drop-down notification pane, freeing up more space for alerts, and there are new quick-settings toggles for easily controlling wireless and other features.

Other changes include the addition of lockscreen widgets and Daydream mode, which puts photo slideshows, news headlines, or other content on the One’s lockscreen when it’s not in use.

HTC BlinkFeed can now pull in Instagram photos, and HTC has also enhanced its Zoe camera feature. There are six new Highlight video themes to choose– though still not the option to create your own – with a carousel of icons to flip between them, rather than the previous drop-down menu.

A much-needed tweak to the camera is how the One presents its Zoe media clusters. Previously, as we complained about in the past, you’d gettwenty of the stills along with the 3.6s video clip showing up in the gallery and, as a result, synchronizing online with servicesDropbox and Google+ Instant Upload. Now, though, you see just one photo and the video clip; the rest of the stills can be optionally pulled out of the video footage, but they’re not saved separately as standard.

Software update 2.24.709.1 for the HTC One is rolling out progressively now; it’s a 465.24MB update, so best to download it over WiFi rather than your cellular data connection.

Read More

Apple's "budget" iPhone is about screen control, not cash

The “cheap” iPhone isn’t actually about being cheap at all: it’s about retiring the 3.5-inch screen. Apple has a long-running love of standardization, and with good reason. The company built the iPad mini around a display size, aspect, and most importantly resolution that allowed the greatest parity – and the fewest developer headaches – with the existing, full-sized iPad, after all. It’s not just in the name of control-freak tyranny, either: the iPad mini came out the gate with a full catalog of compatible apps, which is more than the Nexus 7 could claim.

Soon, Apple will announce a new iPhone, and the range of phones it has on sale will shift again.signs point to it being the “iPhone 5S“, though no matter the name, we’re expecting the current iPhone 5 to slip down a tier and become the mid-range option. That would, if Apple was true to previous form, leave the iPhone 4S to take up the iPhone 4′s position as the “entry-level” handset, free-with-agreement.

Thing is, the iPhone 4S has a 3.5-inch screen – a leftover of the old design – while the iPhone 5 and 5S are going to use the newer 4-inch Retina. The 4S is also not the cheapest to make, and there’s a good reason Apple switchedthe precarious glass casing of that generation to the sturdier metal of the iPhone 5.

'Full specifications are yet to leak, but a 4-inch display is a safe assumption'

Is there a better reason to ditch the iPhone 4S altogether, and introduce a new design completely: one which can cherry-pick the key elements of the iPhone 5 but wrap them up in a chassis that’s cheaper to make and thus cheaper to sell? Full specifications of the “low cost” iPhone are still yet to leak, but a 4-inch display is a safe assumption, meaning developers will be able to focus their efforts on a single, current resolution of 1136 x 640.

Price is important, of course. Apple figured that out back when it opted to keep the older iPhone around to create an instant tiered range, though not in the same way that Samsung or others might, by constantly developing multiple slightly differentiated models. Cheaper variations are also a mainstay of the iPod line-up: see, for instance, the cheaper iPod touch, which drops the camera and other elements to meet a price target.

It’s even more essential when you consider the next big battleground in smartphones: the so-called developing markets. CountriesChina are the target for most of the big names in mobile – Samsung wants a piece of the pie, Nokia is counting on them to buoy up Windows Phone, and ZTE and Huawei are already staking their claim with budget Android phones – and the requirement for something affordable means keeping costs to a minimum is essential.

It’s a precarious line to walk. Apple has to deliver enough to make the new, affordable iPhone competitive with rivals, but also not so good as to eclipse any reason for users to upgrade to its more expensive versions. Still, the iPad mini has “cannibalized” full-sized iPad sales, but Apple is still sitting pretty in financial terms, and the entry-level iPhone is arguably more of a gateway drug for the premium models than the two tablets, which are relatively different propositions given their screen sizes.

Apple’s strategy involves more than just making the cheapest phone possible. If the new, “cheap” iPhone plays just as nicely with the App Store (which remains a key differentiator for the brand) as its more expensive siblings; if it’s as appealing to budget buyers in established markets as the iPhone 4 has been in this past generation, then it serves two purposes. Ticks the box for taking on developing markets as well as offering something different and – thanks to those candy colored shells we’re expecting – eye-catching for more saturated markets.

Read More

In Depth: Upgrade, resell or recycle: what you should do with your old PC

There's gold in them there hills - hills of old PCs that is. The 21st century has seen a new gold rush (or is it more of a shuffle) and it'sabout digging up the hidden precious metals in your old PC kit.

While it's not quite gold, frankincense and myrrh, there's certainly gold, copper and aluminium among the list of valuable elements. So while an old system might be worthless to you, it's certainly worth something to somebody out there.

Recycling a system is the last and best option for a condemned PC. Making sure it's safely recycled and reused as much as possible is better than ending up creating its own coffin space in a landfill. The scary side effects of dumping old electronics are poisons leaked into the environment - when we say environment, we mean your water supply and backyard.

• Best monitor: 10 top displays reviewed and rated

The most common and delightfully hazardous elements found in electronics are lead, cadmium, chlorine, mercury and tasty old arsenic. Stuff you really don't want in your cup of tea. If you're atecologically minded then running old electronics for as long as possible is by far the soundest proposition.

It's also financially a good idea, as we'll see, an old system is still capable of performingmanner of useful tricks. While you might be a high-demand PC user, that's not to say your old system isn't perfect for Aunt Betsy or little Jimmy's first rig. So upgrade, reuse, do a project or simply sell it off for cold, hard cash.

• Best CPU: 10 top processors reviewed and rated

There's no doubt that an old laptop or ageing desktop can be put to good use. You don't even have to be ecologically minded to have an aversion to spending money. With recession becoming the new norm and one per cent growth some crazed fantasy confined to heady boom days, saving a bit of cash tends to be pretty high on everyone's to-do list now.

For an old system, the most obvious move is to simply extend its shelf life. A strategic upgrade here or there can revitalise what was a creaking system. More often than not the biggest complaints about an older PC are slow responses and long boot times. Anyone running a PC with less than 4GB needs to get themselves over to crucial.com or kingston.com and use the memory upgrade advisor to look into a memory upgrade.

With 4GB memory kits as low as £36, throwing in extra memory is still one of the lowest-cost but most beneficial upgrades you can make. Jumping to 8GB will certainly cover most demanding situations, helping eliminate pagefile access and reducing potential disk thrashing.

Do remember, once you move to 4GB and above you'll need to be running a 64-bit install of Windows - and that handily brings us onto our next option.

Upgrade time

Long boot times and general sluggish load times are the other major bugbear of an older system. A fresh reinstall of Windows can help cure a lot of these, but while you're at it why not pop that install onto a new drive?

Annoyingly SSD prices have actually gone up at the start of 2013, which is likely down to high demand. Even so you can grab perfectly handy 128GB sized drives for around £80, but SSDs are not as affordable as they used to be.

If capacity is your thing don't dismiss spinning drives. Newer 3TB drives are retailing at around £90 and can happily pump out over 100MB/s - if money is no object 4TB drives are available at around £150. These are not only going to boost your general drive speed but also increase capacity no end.

We're going to gloss over the processor, motherboard and GPU. If you opted for a mid- to low-end processor then there are often upgrade options within the same available socket. These options reduce as time goes by and any new sockets may have superseded whatever you currently have.

Often a dual CPU and motherboard upgrade gives you the real jump in processing power you're looking for, but then the expense at this point is starting to creep up. You should also consider a power supply upgrade. This might sound an odd suggestion - as it's not going to improve performance a jot - but it could greatly improve energy efficiency of your old machine.

Having recently tested the ultra-efficient Pico PSUScan Computers - alongside newer and older PSUs - it quickly became obvious that newer units are far more efficient than older ones. If you're running an old PSU that's not certified at least bronze in efficiency, then consider an upgrade to save on 10 - or as much as 30 - per cent power use. It's a worthwhile investment as a PSU is one thing that will last and last.

Coffin dodger

You can, of course, simply give your system away. With extended families there always seems to be somebody that's in need of a PC, be it a desktop or a laptop. It's more than likely that whoever it is will be more than happy with your cast-off.

This isn't to say you should go handing over your previously prized possession. We'd be strong advocates of a full format and Windows reinstall. It's not only far more pleasant giving someone a vanilla Windows install, but you won't be lying there at night worrying about your browsing history being uncovered.

When handing over a system it's well worth going through a short checklist of items, so below we have 'Destroy the evidence' on wiping data and good practice when doing that. We also hope you're handing over your Windows licence and original discs too, if there's a recovery partition or disc then it's best to use this and hand these over as well.

A common issue with older laptops, however, is the old dead battery - if you're handing one to a relative you might want to discuss if they need the battery or not. Replacements can usually be acquired more cheaplyeBay, if they feel they need the portability. Unfortunately, doing the donation thing usually entails a level of support, so prepare for the phone calls.

If you're planning to use an old system for another job there are a few things to consider beforehand. First, you should give it a good spring clean. Grab yourself an air blaster, or a hoover with soft-brush attachment and a duster. Get inside that PC and make sure you clear off however many years of accumulated dust and dirt you find. We're told by good authority - namely QI - that most of that dust isn't human flesh. So that's at least one less icky worry removed.

Part of the reason for this is it's likely this old system is living on borrowed time - so it's important you clean up the CPU cooler, PSU fans and any system cooling of dust, to try and give it a fighting chance of living to see England fail to qualify for the next World Cup.

This brings us onto the important aspect of hard drive failure. It's just something to keep in mind that most hard drives have a three-year life expectancy, beyond that failure could happen at any point. Now, we're running drives six years old without issues, but we've relegated those to test systems. If they go andthe data is lost, that's fine. The point is, we'd advise you not to store anything vitally important on there in the long run.

So with that old system cleaned, washed and paid for it's time to put it to good use. Here are ten of our top reuses for an old system - you might think many can work on the same system, which is true. It's simply down to you to implement them in the way that suites you best.

Destroy the evidence

Out, Damn'd spot! Out, I say!

Planning on passing on an old system? You'll need to take basic data protection measures then. To kick things off wipe your hard drive, it'll containsorts of juicy bits of data about you. Just deleting the files isn't enough as this only removes the file pointerthe file system tables, leaving the actual data on the drive. There is an urban myth that you need to wipe a drive multiple times to safely erase data, this is nonsense, a single wipe is fine.

The old 35-times myth camea 1996 paper by Peter Gutmann that wasn't referring to modern drives, but 30-year-old storage systems. In fact, in a follow-up paper he says two passes would be more than enough. Wipethe shipping drives using somethingParted Magic - this bootsan optical disc and will safely wipeattached internal drives.

Owners of SSDs shouldn't use standard disk wiping tools, you need to use a specific secure erase command - Parted Magic supports this. If you're really paranoid about data security on old drives, we'd suggest you invest in a heavy-duty drill or pair of bolt cutters.

Flog it

Get hard cash for recycled systems

We spoke to John Frost at www.uk-computer-recycling.co.uk about how you can sell your old PC kit for cash and what happens to it once it enters their secure premises.

So what does your company actually do?

Our business collects and recyclesIT related equipment throughout the entire UK. We have also established a laptop-recycling scheme for households, allowing the general public to exchange their old laptops for cash. We process 1,500 to 2,000 PCs and laptops per month.

What type of systems do you see the most of?

We see a fluctuation of specifications every three years once businesses upgrade their equipment. Around 2011/12 was the end of the Pentium 3/4 era and we are now beginning to see the influx of dual-core systems. Around 90 per cent of these systems are Dell and HP.

What's the easiest and hardest parts that you deal with?

I have to be honest and say that the IT recycling field isn't easy to get into due to the amount of red tape involved regarding our responsibility to the environment. It's always interesting and satisfying to see pallets of absolute junk turned back into base materials, such as precious metals, and reused again.

What percentage of systems do you manage to salvage and reuse?

I am very proud that our company is able to salvage around 80 to 90 per cent ofthe equipment that passes through our facility. Only a small percentage of equipment is forwarded for dismantling and an even smaller amount will ever reach landfill.

Any tips for people trying to salvage their own systems?

My best advice would definitely be reuse over recycling - can it be reused around the house or do you know someone that may have use for it? A simple RAM upgrade can greatly increase performance and prolong its lifespan.

Gassing on about gasses

PCs are horrible for the environment

We're going to say they're as bad as a car - we have no evidence to back this up, but stay with us.

When it comes to its carbon footprint, it's been shown that you're better off running an older car for longer than scrapping it and buying a new more efficient one. Even when you take into account saving through recycling, an old car can be run for as much as a decade, before its inefficiencies outweigh its production and ongoing carbon use.

Unless you're running a diesel-powered PC mod, PCs hardly have a similar carbon-generating life cycle to your average car. If you're being 'green', the longer you can run a PC the far better off it is for your carbon footprint, as the majority of the carbon will have been created during manufacturing of the PC.

While few sources offer a full breakdown of the potential carbon generated by manufacturing and transportingof the individual components that go into a PC, one analysis puts the carbon generated for a 2008 MacBook laptop at 230kg (while a UN analysis puts desktop manufacturing at 240kg). We can assume a desktop would be higher due to the amount of steel that goes into the casing, as well as increased shipping, and a gaming desktop would be even higher.

So every time you go out and buy a new PC or laptop, that's the amount of extra carbon that's pumped into the atmosphere. For day-to-day use, HP has a carbon footprint calculator.

Using this we can see a high-end workstation per year will create about 89kg of carbon through its electricity use, while a more modest workstation will chow through 55kg. A lower-end system running integrated graphics will be more along the lines of 31kg per year and a laptop can be as low as 16kg - even when used every day.

Ten uses for that old system gathering dust

1. Linux box

We're often banging on about Linux at PC Format, though oddly not as much as our sister mag Linux Format does. Without a doubt, it's a useful but complex OS, so it makes sense to bung it on another system and use that as a development platform or test bed.

Many could point out you'd be better running a virtual PC on your main system, but you can do that on the test bed anyway. You also can't beat running an OS on native hardware, as it throws up so many more issues - and we love issues, don't we?

2. CCTV network security system

With the cost of wireless security cameras plummeting to below £40 and even 500GB hard drives costing under £40, an obvious use to turn your spare machine to is a 24-hour a day CCTV security system.

As long as you have a home network infrastructure already set up, it's easy to use the free softwarewww.ispyconnect.com to build your own complete CCTV system. It'll watch for motion and capture relevant clips, send warnings to you and can even control home appliances, too.

3. UPnP Video server

One of the best uses for an old system is to have it as a headless server on your home network. Running an older version of Windows, Linux or a dedicated appliance OS (such as FreeNAS)offer the ability to store and serve files over a network.

Opting for Windows does enable the flexibility to use any server software you like. One of the more interesting ones is www.serviio.org, which offers a highly flexible UPnP server capable of transcoding video to any devices that connect to it.

4. Digital jukebox

Sure you can just hook up your PC to a set of speakers or a Hi-Fi, but that isn't quite as straightforward as it sounds. Ideally, you might want to check for a coaxial connection or make use of a matrix inputs for real surround decoding. Beyond that you should consider whether your music collection is on iTunes or stored as more generic MP3s.

Apple iTunes does have the advantage of a wide range of remote control app options, including streamingyour jukebox to any number of AirPlay devices. An easy alternative would be to use Windows Media Player and an Android or iPhone remote app, which would easily enable headless playback.

5. Advanced picture frame

If you're after something with a bit more of a DIY edge then putting an old laptop to work can be the perfect project. If you're able to disassemble a laptop then, as with many models, it's possible to mount the display reversed to the main chassis.

Depending on how much of a completionist you are, you can remove the chassis altogether, along with any optical and hard drives. Try booting the systema USB flash drive for that minimal feel.

Mounted inside a suitably large frame it makes an interesting way to display pictures, and as it still has full wireless networking, you will be able to throw up videos, web pages and more.

6. Arty project

Who said that we're running out of ideas to do with old kit? Never, we say! A really common DIY project for an old desktop system is to turn it into some sort of art installation. A while back we wall mounted an old PC, which worked out pretty well we think. In fact one of the test systems we use is still mounted on that very Perspex sheet.

Search www.instructables.com under 'computers' and you'll find a wealth of arty and just plain crazy projects to tryfish tanks to Millennium Falcon-styled PCs.

7. Retro gaming

Even a laptopthe last millennium is capable of playing some games. If you fancy another DIY project why not construct your own retro gaming table or cabinet? Or you could just let the kids play on it while you watch Match of the Day.

Emulators such as MAME enable you to relive those gaming days of glory. Depending on how lazy or rich you are, it's possible to hack together a fun arcade tablean old coffee table and use wireless peripherals for next to nothing. Or if you goout, you could add some high-end arcade controlswww.xgaming.com.

8. NAS/Printer/Firewall/Web server

In the grand scheme of things, any one of these would be somewhat trivial for an entire PC to do, most even semi-new routers provide these features while only using 10 watts or so.

However, when you start adding advanced features such as hardware firewall, flexible print servers, totally configurable NAS with any file system or RAID configuration and suddenly it makes a lot more sense. There's a whole range of OS choices to go forstandard Windows, Windows Server to FreeNAS and Linux Format favourite ClearOS.

9. Network solutions

This covers a host of solutions, but having a second PC is fantastic asof a sudden you can start playing around with networking. Ideally, you'll want a hub/router but if you've got a wireless or broadband router that should be taken care of.

Obviously, you can now simply play with Windows networking, fiddle with IPv4 and generally swear a lot when none of it works. You could also run a dedicated game server or grab a copy of www.turnkeylinux.org and have an instant web server to play with.

10. Test system

An easy win is to use the system as a test bed. This won't suit many people, but if you try out a lot of software or even need to hardware for evaluation, it makes an awful lot of sense not to tie up your main PC. As it's an older system, it's not going to cut the mustard for graphics cards, but for many other tests and software evaluation it's a valid use.

Read More