iPad review (2012)

What's in a name? Or, more importantly, what's in a digit? Would that which we call an iPad by any number less than 2 be less sweet? That's the question Apple posed for us indirectly when it unveiled the new iPad and relegated its future slates (and, presumably, phones) to a numeral-free future. And that new slate? It's much the same as the old one, with a slightly more chipper processor at its (quad) core and support for both Verizon and AT&T's fancy new LTE networks.

But there's one bigger change here, one that will ripple across the industry as each manufacturer struggles to keep up in this ever-accelerating market. That feature is the iPad's new 2048 x 1536 Retina display. It's the best display ever featured on a tablet, probably the best display ever on a mobile device, but is that enough to keep this tablet ahead of the pack? Believe it or not, the answer is yes.

iPad (2012) review

Hardware

Ever held an iPad 2? If so, suffice to say this new iPad is a wee bit thicker and a teensy bit heavier. You now have our full blessing to skip down to the display section below, which is what you're probably truly interested in reading about.

If you didn't know any better you'd think it were completely solid.

For those looking for the full-on review effect, the new iPad is still a slinky thing. Sure, its 9.4mm thickness won't win it any awards (especially since that's .6mm thicker than the iPad 2), nor will its 652g (1.4-pound) heft (51g / .11 pounds more than before), but it feels neither big nor heavy. It instead feels substantial. Dense. It's carved from a hunk of aluminum and there's a cavity in there where the (now bigger) battery and other internals reside, but if you didn't know any better you'd think it were completely solid.

There's none of the flex or the give found in cheaper slates. That solidity certainly helps explain the premium feel, but buyers will have to decide whether that feel is worth the extra space in their messenger bags, or the extra strain placed on shoulder straps.

The chassis is hewn from the same matte aluminum as most of Apple's other devices, with a gentle curve on the edges tapering down to a flat back punctuated by a glossy black Apple logo. The shape of that taper is slightly different than before, a bit more rounded on account of that extra girth, but you'll be hard-pressed to notice without a side-by-side comparison.

Looking at the back you'll still find the speaker in its same lower-left position, still a rather unfortunate placement. Most of the sound is therefore directed away from where you want it, namely in your ears, and we can't say as we noticed any improvement in the overall aural quality compared to this tablet's predecessor. Next to that is the dock port, still the full-sized 40-pin variety and not the slinky, next-gen connector that we've been hearing is in the works, so your accessories live on for at least one more generation of tablets.

Move up to the side and you'll find the same volume rocker and mute / rotation lock as before, situated in the same place, too. Kitty-corner to that is the wide and flat power button, separated from the 3.5mm headphone jack over on the other side by the same expanse of black plastic seen on the iPad 2, making room in the metal chassis for the antennas to do their thing. WiFi-only models get by without this polycarbonate indiscretion.

Genius launches Ring Style Media Pointer with in-air mouse function

Inspan and Genius seem to be on a roll. The latest to emerge into the Indian market from Inspan, under the Genius label is the new media pointer designed in a ring style. Claiming to the first in the world, the Ring Style Thumb controller/ media pointer has been aptly crafted for business, travel, education and i-users, says the company.

Point in style

Light in weight, the ring presenter is a human-oriented ring style air-presenter with mouse functions. It incorporates the U.S patent design (No 7298362 B2) touch control air-presenter technology, and brings complete access to control powerpoint slides, play (F5)/exit, last/next page, left button and laser pointer anywhere in the room when doing a presentation. Besides, Ring presenter features in-air mouse function, enabling actual mouse functions, such as cursor movement, left/middle/right buttons, dragging and 4-way scrolling. The ring presenter is said to be a good solution for browsing internet pages and documents in locations, such as a bus, plane, train or school lectures. It has a natural rubber ring for good comfort and finger grip.

The ring presenter is powered by the slimmest Li-ion rechargeable battery design that protects the environment. The smart battery-low detector flashes in blue when it is time to recharge and has a worry-free 2.4GHz technology for reliable working performance and can work at a distance of up to 10 meters. The ring presenter has been flashed in five colors - Blue, Gold, Pink, Purple, or Green. 

"Now presentations will go more stylish with Genius Ring presenter. You don't have to hold the pointer in your hand; it simply fits your finger. It has an easy and flexible function with which customers can scroll, move around the pointer and play/pause the presentation whenever required," said Sudhir S, Managing Director of Inspan Infotech. "Partners will be very excited to cater first of its kind, Ring presenter, to their audience." 

The ring presenter is compatible with Windows7/Vista/XP or Mac OSX 10.6+, available USB port and a CD/DVD-ROM. The in-box contents, include USB Pico receiver, CD driver, micro USB rechargeable cable, a pouch and multi-language user manual.

The Ring Presenter is priced at Rs.3,765 and backed by a warranty period of one year.

HTC Desire HD gets price cut, now Rs.18,990

Remember the Desire HD - one of the first HTC models to sport the speaker grill bar and those curved edges, along with a mammoth display? When it had launched, it managed to generate a good amount of buzz in the Android space. Now, online store seller, Saholic has priced the HTC Desire HD at a cool Rs.18,990. And guess what, the Desire HD is one of the sixteen devices that HTC have announced, which will definitely get the Ice Cream Sandwich update. So, in terms of future proofing, this definitely will not disappoint you. However, the weak points of this phone, include the LCD display, the battery capacity and the lack of a front camera, which might be a potential deal breaker for some people. 

Will you buy it?

For those of you that have forgotten the exact specs of this device, here’s a look again at the specs of the HTC Desire HD:

• 4.3-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 800 pixel resolution
• 1 GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor, 768 MB of RAM
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread (upgradable to ICS)
• 1.5GB internal storage
• 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, USB 2.0
• 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 720p video recording
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• Memory expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card
• 3.5 mm handsfree socket
• 1230 mAh Lithuim - ion battery

At this price, you also get the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V, the Samsung Galaxy S LCD, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray, the LG Optimus Black and the Xperia Active. We were impressed with the Neo V, and the Xperia Active as well. Obviously, the major drawback for the Active out here is the lack of a bigger screen, but it more than made up for that with an IP67 protection.

112 government websites attacked in 3 months

Over the years, government websites have become the target of hackers and in recent times we’ve seen a rise in such events. Recently, Defence Research and Development Organization disclosed that the government websites were attacked 200 times during the Commonwealth Games 2010. This continues as in the last three months 112 government websites were hacked, as per reports by IBNLive. The list of hacked websites hacked or defaced includes the Planning Commission, the Finance Ministry and several State government agencies.

Cyber attack on a rise (Image Credit: Getty Images)

“During the period December 2011 to February 2012, a total number of 112 government websites were hacked,” Minister of State for Communications and IT, Sachin Pilot told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. He also added that the Department of Information Technology and the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which host major of these government websites have been working at updating their skills to prevent and combat such cyber attacks. To ensure that hackers do not target government websites, firewalls are being upgraded and there has been addition of newer filters. 

The state government websites under attack were from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Hackers attempted to break into different websites of the Andhra Pradesh government's websites pertaining to finance and justice departments, while a security audit was being conducted at the State Data Centre. Last year the Central Bureau of Investigation website was hacked and took weeks to restore. The Congress website was also hacked, and an Irish government website was hacked to protest against a web law. Hackers tried breaking into the BSNL website, first in July and then in December. A lot of personal information and data would have been at stake if it was successful.

Such increasing attacks on government websites and the alarming numbers need to be curbed as soon as possible. We hope stringent measures are taken to deter such malicious acts.

Sparrow comes over to the iPhone from Mac

Sparrow, an e-mail client for Mac OS made its way over to the iPhone. The app is now available in the iOS App Store for $2.99 (approx Rs.150). Sparrow uses what they call a 'pane navigation' concept for their interface and the app has full IMAP support. This means you can ditch your native Apple Mail client and access your Gmail. Google apps, iCloud, Yahoo, AOL and custom e-mail address right from Sparrow itself. However, the application doesn't support POP or Push, yet. Not having Push might be a turn off for avid phone e-mail users, but Sparrow explained why they left out Push in a blog post.

Sparrow across platforms

The e-mail client said that them not supporting Push has to do with data security. They explain that in order to provide Push service, they need to store user credentials, so they can patrol users' inboxes to provide notifications as necessary. Sparrow, being a start-up, doesn't want to take the responsibility of holding on to user information, especially since they feel they cannot hold on to that information securely. They do however, store Mac users'credentials because Sparrow communicates with mail providers directly over SSL.

Sparrow on iOS

This means that the big difference between Sparrow for iOS and Sparrow for Mac is that the Mac version stays awake all the time but the iOS version goes to 'sleep' after ten minutes of inactivity. However, like applications like Skype and Fring, which allow you to receive calls and messages even when the app has been inactive for a while, Sparrow is trying to use an API which Apple provides to allow this activity during inactivity. Sparrow has already submitted an app using this API, but it was rejected by Apple.

ICS update for Samsung Galaxy Note pushed to Q2

We’re afraid we have some bad news for all Galaxy Note users, as Samsung has pushed back their ICS update for the Galaxy Note till Q2 of this year. Samsung had earlier promised Android 4.0 to the Galaxy S II and the Note in the first quarter, to which, they did release the update for the S II, but for reasons unknown, the Note will have a wait a bit longer. This news comes from the Samsung Norway's Facebook page, which states that ICS will be arriving in Q2.

Still have some waiting to do

One of the main reasons for holding back the update could have something to do with the issues that many users facing with their S II, after the update. The problems involve a lot of lag when scrolling, reduced Wi-Fi performance and other minor niggles, like the inability to resize widgets. This could be the primary reason why Samsung may have held the update back. Rather than receive flak for an improper ICS build, they are probably taking their time to iron out the bugs.

One of the main reasons why Samsung (and the others as well) are taking their sweet time with the updates is because of the heavy skinning involved. They have to customize the interface and at the same time, ensure that it runs smoothly. Samsung haven’t said when in Q3 they’ll be launching the update, so it could be as early as April or it could even be June, we don’t know yet. Other than the phones, Samsung’s tablets, like Tab 750, 730 and 620 should also be getting an ICS update in the coming months, although we haven’t heard anything about this from them as of now. We’ll keep you updated as and when we learn more.