Consumer Reports offers the definitive take: ‘Bendgate’ is overblown

So we know that the iPhone 6 Plus will bend if given enough force. The more important question is whether it will bend as part of your everyday use. Consumer Reports, which wasn't afraid to slap Apple around over the iPhone 4's flawed antenna placement, delivers what looks like the definitive take on the issue and the answer is, "No."

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Posted in 2014 at 01:00PM, September 27

Windows 9 can’t come out soon enough for Microsoft

We know that Microsoft is very eager to move past the less-than-enthusiastic reception that greeted Windows 8 and introduce us to Windows 9. And it looks like that day can't come soon enough either, because the NPD Group has found that while PC sales surprisingly recovered during the back-to-school shopping season this year, the big winners weren't Windows PCs — instead, they were Macs and Chromebooks.

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Posted in 2014 at 02:00AM, September 27

Consumer Reports: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Not As Bendable As Believed

Just a day after Apple issued its first statement regarding the ongoing complaints that the iPhone 6 Plus bends in user pockets, Consumer Reports has released its test results for how "bendable" Apple's new phones are. In summary, the results show that the new phones are far stronger than what some testimonies have suggested in the past few days.

To test the phones, Consumer Reports put them through the "three-point flexural test", which has the phone supported at two ends and has pressure applied at a third point, alongside competitors like the HTC One (m8), Samsung Galaxy Note 3, LG G3 and iPhone 5.

Consumer Reports' tests pushed the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus much further than [Apple's test of 55 pounds of force]. We started light, applying 10 pounds of force for 30 seconds, then releasing the force. Then we upped the force in 10-pound increments, noted when the phones first started to deform (that's what our engineers call it) and stopped the test for each phone when we saw the screen come loose from the case.

The results showed that the 6 Plus was actually stronger than the iPhone 6, starting to deform at 90 pounds of force and having its screen and case separate at 110 pounds of force. The iPhone 6 started to deform at 70 pounds of force and started coming apart at 100 pounds of force. The HTC One (m8) performed the worst in Consumer Reports' test, deforming at 70 pounds of force and coming apart at 90 pounds of force.




iPhone 6 Plus after Consumer Reports' test


The LG G3 started to deform and come apart at 130 pounds of force while the iPhone 5 deformed at 130 pounds of force and came apart at 150 pounds of force. The Galaxy Note 3, on the other hand, deformed and came apart at 150 pounds of force. Consumer Reports notes that while other phones, like the iPhone 6 and HTC One, were still functioning after deforming and coming apart, the Note 3 stopped working right away.



Overall, the magazine notes that while none of the phones they tested were indestructible, all devices tested should hold up fine under everyday use

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Posted in 2014 at 01:21AM, September 27

You may be able to play your Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One after all

Whatever your opinions are of the competing next-gen consoles, there's no question that Sony has had a leg up on Microsoft in a few very important categories. One of those includes backwards compatibility, which neither console will feature at launch. Sony announced its partnership with Gaikai months ago, which will allow all the previous generations of PlayStation games, included PS3 games, to be streamed over the cloud starting in 2014. Microsoft has yet to respond with a cloud streaming solution of its own for the Xbox One, but The Verge reports that an internal meeting at Microsoft this week might have been the first demonstration of an upcoming backwards compatibility feature.



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Posted in 2013 at 07:05PM, September 27

Nvidia: It is ‘no longer possible’ for video game consoles to catch up to PCs

When Sony and Microsoft announced the specs of their new video game consoles, gamers were quick to realize that the architecture of the next-generation console is nearly identical to that of a high-end PC. 8GB of RAM, 8-core processors, and AMD graphics cards make for powerful machines, but do the consoles stack up to their gaming PC counterparts? According to an interview with a Nvidia executive at PCPowerPlay , the answer is no. In fact, Nvidia Senior VP Tony Tamasi believes that it is "no longer possible for a console to be a better or more capable graphics platform than the PC."



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Posted in 2013 at 05:10PM, September 27

Chasing the iPad mini isn’t working out as planned for Samsung, others

When Apple first released the iPad back in 2010, rival vendors scrambled to release 10-inch tablets that might compete in the re-emerging media tablet category. Early offerings weren't well received, however, and Android tablet makers soon discovered that the best way to compete was to scale down to 7 inches and offer less expensive tablets. Following the release of the 8-inch iPad mini, however, Apple rivals again began to chase the new iPad model, believing a balance between size and price could be struck at 8 inches. Initial offerings like the Galaxy Note 8.0 were indeed solid, but a recent report suggests sales have been disappointing all around.



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Posted in 2013 at 04:35PM, September 27

New report shows iPhone 5s outselling 5c by a huge margin

Apple announced earlier this week that it sold an astounding 9 million new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c handsets through the devices' debut weekend, and analysts have been trying to figure out the sales mix ever since. Early indications certainly suggested that the flagship iPhone 5s was the more popular of the two devices among early adopters, and now a new study conducted by Localytics suggests that the 5s is outselling the plastic 5c by a big margin.



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Posted in 2013 at 02:50PM, September 27

App developers refuse to give up on BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry is not in a good place right now, having just posted a billion-dollar loss for the second fiscal quarter. But there is some good news to be found on Friday — according to a report from Digitimes , application developers aren't yet ready to bail on BlackBerry 10. The Taiwan-based website recently surveyed the scene at the BlackBerry Jam Asia 2013 conference this week, and it spoke to a number of developers who said they plan to continue building and supporting BlackBerry 10 apps. Supporting smaller mobile platforms like BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8 is attractive to a number of developers because the iOS and Android app stores are so noisy that it is difficult to break through. BlackBerry is currently in talks with Fairfax Holdings regarding a $4.7 billion buyout that was proposed earlier this week. If the deal goes through, it is unclear what the future will hold for BlackBerry's handset business.

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Posted in 2013 at 02:15PM, September 27

Fairfax boss helped triple BlackBerry CEO Heins’ golden parachute this year

When it comes to golden parachutes, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop may have nothing on BlackBerry chief Thorsten Heins. Reuters reports that BlackBerry's board of directors this past spring agreed to triple Heins' compensation if he lost his job after a sale of the company, going from a package that was worth $18.9 million to a package worth $55.6 million. What makes this particularly interesting is that one of the board members was none other than Fairfax Financial CEO Prem Watsa, who just months later left the board and announced a potential deal to buy out the company for $4.7 billion.



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Posted in 2013 at 01:40PM, September 27

LEAK -- Retina iPad mini pictured in gold with Touch ID fingerprint scanner

Apple's second-generation iPad mini tablet is expected to be unveiled next month and according to a pair of leaked photos, the tablet will seemingly be made available in the same gold and white color combination as Apple's new flagship iPhone 5s. Chinese-language ZOL , which is owned by CBS Interactive, on Friday published a pair of images it claims reveal the new Retina iPad mini in gold. The photos were first published by a user on the site's forum, and they also seemingly confirm that the new iPad mini will include Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner, also like the iPhone 5s. Earlier reports suggested Apple's next-generation iPad and iPad mini would not include Touch ID and these photos certainly could be fake, but Apple undoubtedly plans to bring the technology to its tablet lineup at some point. Apple's Retina iPad mini is expected to be unveiled alongside a new completely redesigned fifth-generation iPad early next month and both tablets are expected to be released soon after. We have also seen the tablet pictured in Apple's new space gray color, so it looks like the new mini may indeed feature more changes than just an upgraded display. Images of the purported gold Retina iPad mini follows below.



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Posted in 2013 at 12:55PM, September 27