Scribd’s all-you-can read service adds major newspaper articles

Scribd’s transformation into an all-you-can-read subscription-based service hasn’t always been smooth-sailing, but it’s truly moving farther away from its PDF roots. The company has just announced that it’s teaming up with its first newspaper partners and a few popular news brands, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Financial Times, NPR and ProPublica.

Take note that you’ll only be able to access select articles that Scribd chooses from those publications. It doesn’t sound like the website was able to replicate the deal it made in 2016, which gave you unlimited access to Bloomberg Business Week, Fortune, New York, People and Time. Still, it’s a good way to get your hands on some pieces from notable news organizations if you don’t have existing subscriptions to any of them, especially since NYT and The Guardian have pulled out of Facebook’s Instant Articles platform.

According to the company, the newspapers will get paid for every article it publishes on its system. “This puts dollars back into the journalistic ecosystem and clears the hurdle publishers are struggling with: to get people to pay for news,” Scribd said in a statement. By paying the publications, it creates a “sustainable distribution model for high-quality journalism,” which can help fight off fake news.

Scribd’s newspaper partners will go live today, along with the website’s new design and new curation tools. They won’t cost you extra outside of the $9 fee you’re already paying per month. If you don’t really care about the new additions, though, the service always has books, comic books, audiobooks and other reading materials you can devour.

Source: Scribd

iPhone Sales Flat in Q1 2017 as Chinese Phone Makers Increase Global Market Share

Worldwide iPhone sales were flat in the first quarter of 2017, according to Gartner, causing a year-on-year drop in Apple’s share of a growing smartphone industry boosted by the rise of top Chinese mobile manufacturers breaking out into neighboring markets.

Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 380 million units in the first quarter of 2017, a 9.1 percent increase over the first quarter of 2016, reported Gartner. Of that figure, Apple sold 51.9 million units, up from 51.6 million in Q1 2016, leading to a drop in market share year over year. Samsung retained top spot with 78.6 million units sold to end users, and held on to 20.7 per cent market share, but both figures were declines on a year ago.

“Sales of iPhones were flat, which led to a drop in market share year over year,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “Similar to Samsung, Apple is increasingly facing fierce competition from Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo, among others, and its performance in China is under attack.”

Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo had a combined market share in the first quarter of 2017 that accounted for 24 percent, up 7 percent year on year. Huawei held third spot behind second-placed Apple, edging closer to the company with 34 million units in Q1 2017, while Oppo continued to catch up with Huawei, with a 94.7 percent increase in global sales, resulting in the best performance of the quarter and maintaining its number one position in China.

The top three Chinese smartphone manufacturers are driving sales with their competitively priced, high quality smartphones equipped with innovative features, according to Gartner, with aggressive marketing and sales promotion having further helped the brands to take share from others in markets such as India, Indonesia and Thailand. In India alone, for example, Vivo grew by 220 per cent.

In the operating system market, iOS saw continued growth, with a 0.9 percent uptick in market share year on year. But it was Android that fared best, growing its share by 2 percent, thanks to increasing acceptance of Chinese brands in global markets, led by high-quality smartphones.

Tag: Gartner
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Pay-to-View ‘Amazon Channels’ Come to Prime Members in the U.K. and Germany

Amazon expanded its selection of pay-to-view television channels to the United Kingdom and Germany markets today. The announcement means users of Prime Video in those countries will be able to subscribe to popular channels individually, rather than having to pay for bundles of channels.

Previously, Amazon’s on-demand Prime Video subscription service only offered movies and TV shows in the U.K. and Germany, which are two of the company’s biggest European markets.

“For the first time, Prime members in the UK and Germany will be able to choose to watch premium TV channels without having to sign up to a bundle or a contract, giving them the freedom to pay for only what they want to watch,” said Alex Green, head of Amazon Channels in Europe.

“From live sport to Bollywood, arthouse cinema to reality TV, and award-winning TV shows from popular channels like Discovery and ITV, Amazon Channels gives power back to customers to choose exactly what they want to watch.”

However, one analyst who spoke to the BBC said Amazon would struggle to attract satellite customers in the U.K., calling the list of channels – which includes the likes of Eurosport and Discovery – “not immediately desirable”.

“Amazon launched a similar thing in the U.S., and the big selling point was that you could get HBO and Showtime programs all under one umbrella,” said Tom Harrington, an analyst at Enders.

“That’s not going to happen here. Sky have HBO and Showtime locked down, at least for now, and will hold on to them aggressively. When you look at what’s available in the U.K., it does lack the wow factor.”

Close to 50 on-demand “Amazon Channels” will be available through Prime Video via a single click. Prices of the various channels in the U.K. vary between £1.49 and £9.49 a month, but are only available to Amazon Prime members.

Most of the content will also be available to download for offline, on-demand viewing, with free trials being offered for the majority of subscriptions. Amazon also said additional subscriptions would be added in the coming months. The full list of available channels can be found here.

Tags: United Kingdom, Germany, Amazon Prime Video
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Amazon Channels comes to UK: What is it and what channels does it offer?

Amazon has launched Amazon Channels in the UK. It offers a way to subscribe to a large array of premium TV channels and services for a low, non-contract monthly fee.

So to help you understand the new service, here’s our short, handy guide on what it offers…

What is Amazon Channels?

Starting at £1.49 a month, you can subscribe to individual channels such as ITV Hub+, MGM, Eurosport Player, Mubi and BFI Player+. You can then watch each service’s content on demand or, in some cases, live through your online browser or the Amazon Video app on multiple devices.

It means you can watch any of them through smart TVs, iOS and Android mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, the Fire TV Stick, Fire tablets and on games consoles. You don’t need to download the individual apps for the subscribed services, so it works on hardware that might not usually offer them.

Prices vary depending on the service, and you can cancel your monthly payments at any time. You also use your Amazon account to pay, making it more simple than paying for multiple subscriptions separately.

There are free trials available on some of the services.

Amazon Channels, which is also now available in Germany, first launched in the US, with HBO, Showtime, Starz and many other broadcasters available there.

What UK channels are available on Amazon Channels?

Here is a list of the channels available in the UK, more will be added in time:

• Acacia TV – Hundreds of fun and effective workouts for every fitness level for £5.99 a month
• Alchemiya – Great films and documentaries about Muslim culture and life for £3.99 a month
• Arrow Video – On demand cult classics and horror from Arrow Films for £4.99 a month
• BFI Player+ – On Demand classic British and critically acclaimed movies for £4.99 a month
• BeFit UK – Get fit fast with unlimited streaming of hundreds of workouts for £5.99 a month
• Comic Con HQ – Fan-favourite films, original programming, exclusive access and more for £4.99 a month
• Curiosity Stream – Exclusive documentaries from the world’s best filmmakers in HD for £5.49 a month
• Daily Burn – On Demand and live workouts including dance, strength training, yoga, cardio and more for £9.99 a month
• Discovery – Documentaries and unscripted entertainment from Discovery for £4.99 a month
• Eurosport Player – Live and On Demand sports programming, including Grand Slam tennis, cycling and winter sports for £6.99 a month
• Fandor – A hand-picked collection of the most talked about indie, foreign and classic films for £3.49 a month
• Filmbox – Hollywood movies, favourite evergreens and popular series for £3.99 a month
• Full Moon Features – All the Full Moon classics and new releases on demand for £3.99 a month
• Gaia – Yoga, nutrition, meditation and more for £7.99 a month
• Horse & Country Play – The home of equestrianism and British country lifestyle, now on demand for £3.99 a month
• ITV Hub+ – Watch live, download your favourite ITV shows for offline viewing, and catch up on tons of ad-free episodes for £3.99 a month
• hayu (NBC Universal) – On Demand reality TV programming including Keeping Up with the Kardashians for £3.99 a month
• Heera – An Amazon-exclusive on demand channel with over 600 Bollywood, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, and Telegu movies and series including blockbusters like Sultan and Kabali for only £3.99 a month
• Hopster – Make screen time smart with safe, ad-free content for kids for £3.99 a month
• Ketchup TV – Hundreds of episodes of shows for kids, packed with their favourites for £2.29 a month
• Love Nature – Ad-free, family friendly nature documentaries on demand for £3.99 a month
• MGM – Hollywood hits, timeless classics and cult favourites movies from MGM for £4.49 a month
• Motorvision – On Demand TV dedicated to the automotive world including car reviews & tests, motorsports and lifestyle shows for £2.99 a month
• Mubi – A new, critically acclaimed movie to stream every day for £5.99 a month
• Nautical Channel – The network focused on sailing lifestyle, available live and on-demand for £3.99 a month
• Nordic Noir and Beyond – The best thriller, crime and drama series from the Nordics and beyond for £4.99 a month
• Panna – Easy-to-follow video recipes from master chefs and cooking courses for £1.49 a month
• Pinoy Box Office – Filipino movies and series on demand for £1.99 a month
• Planet Knowledge – Exciting and informative HD documentaries on nature, history, culture and more for £2.29 a month
• Pongalo Next – Latin American movies and series on demand for £2.99 a month
• Qello Concerts – The greatest concert films from icons and new artists like The Who, Queen, The Beatles, Muse and more for £5.99 a month
• Realeyz – Independent films by award-winning filmmakers on demand for £4.99 a month
• Rooster Teeth – Original sci-fi, gaming and comedy for £3.99 a month
• Shudder – Backed by AMC Networks, Shudder super-serves fans of thrillers, suspense, and horror for £4.99 a month
• Studio Universal Classics – Classic movies from Universal Studios for £3.99 a month
• Sweatflix – Stream HIIT workouts and yoga flows for £9.49 a month
• Tastemade Plus – Our network of Tastemakers bring great food and travel to the world for £1.99 a month
• The Great Courses Signature Collection – A curated collection of educational courses On Demand for £5.49 a month
• UP Family – Entertainment for the whole family for £3.49 a month
• Viewster Anime – ad-free anime on demand from Viewster for £2.99 a month
• Yoga Anytime Channel – HD yoga videos on demand for £6.99 a month

Apple in Talks With India State Officials to Expand iPhone Production Capacity

Apple is in talks with government officials in India to expand its iPhone manufacturing facility in Bengalaru, a federal minister acknowledged on Tuesday (via Reuters).

The Cupertino-based company reportedly wants to bulk out the plant in the southern Indian tech hub as part of its plan to capture a bigger share in one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone markets.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, the state official for Electronics and IT, said government officials were in touch with Apple and other mobile phone manufacturers for expanding facilities and setting up new plants.

Last week Apple officially began initial production of a small number of iPhone SE devices at its Wistron-run Bangalore plant, and plans to ship Indian-created iPhones to local customers as soon as this month.

The locally produced phones could be up to $100 cheaper than the current going rate for iPhone SE devices in the country, which would help Apple to compete with the wide variety of cheap devices available there.

Apple’s struggles in India have been put down to the iPhone’s traditionally expensive price tag, a fact that Apple CEO Tim Cook has openly admitted. Last year, a Strategy Analytics report said a total of 35 percent fewer iPhones sold in 2016 in the country than in 2015.

Related Roundup: iPhone SE
Tag: India
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone SE (Caution)
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Watch: Baseball fans lucky not to get a GoPro Karma drone in the head

Why it matters to you

The footage is a reminder of why it’s really not a good idea to fly a drone near large groups of people.

For February’s Super Bowl, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned drone flights within 35 miles of the stadium. That’s right, 35 miles. It clearly didn’t want any ne’er-do-wells ruining the party by accidentally crashing their robot flying machine into the crowd or having it drop from the sky onto a player’s head, and so stipulated the ban in a bid to give security personnel one less thing to worry about and fans a safer game.

And before you say, “But how about that ‘drone show’ that kicked off Lady Gaga’s halftime gig?” Well, the dazzling aerial display was actually recorded a week earlier and slotted in on the night.

So by all accounts, everyone complied with the FAA’s request not to take their drones along to the big game.

But there are still those who just can’t resist grabbing their remotely controlled flying toy for some sky-based kicks — at a sports event.

Take Sunday’s baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres at Petco Field. In the seventh inning, TV commentators spotted a GoPro Karma drone, with footage showing it buzzing about inside the venue.

“We have a drone that is flying in over the seats right now, it’s making its way behind the Diamondback dugout at third base,” the commentator said, quipping, “I’m pretty sure the Russians have something to do with this.”

Drone invades @Dbacks – @Padres​ game and makes a crash landing in the stands. pic.twitter.com/OaOcPTACLM

— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 21, 2017

But then the unidentified pilot loses control of the machine as it sails at speed into an empty seat among a group of spectators toward the back of the stadium. Luckily it didn’t score a direct hit on anyone, though you can see various parts — likely the Karma’s propellers — spinning off toward those close by.

While some reported drone accidents involve a machine dropping from the sky and landing on someone’s head, researchers are also learning more about the kind of damage that a flying drone — like the one in the footage above — can cause if it hits someone smack in the head.

Researchers at Virginia Tech suggest that features built into drones such as bumpers, enclosed rotors, and airbags could help reduce the risk of injury in the event of such collisions, though a little more common sense among a small number of drone owners would obviously go a long way to preventing accidents of this nature happening in the first place.

Robocop the crime-busting android starts work in Dubai

Why it matters to you

As the relevant technology continues to improve, “Robocops” could be used for a growing number of duties usually carried out by human cops.

Robocop is now stomping through the streets of Dubai, safeguarding its citizens and upholding law and order in the UAE’s most famous Emirate.

The robotic officer went on duty on Tuesday and could be the first of many to start work for Dubai Police.

Shown off this week at the Gulf Information Security and Expo Conference, the new employee is identifiable as a cop thanks mainly to the police hat perched on its head. It stands at a not-too-imposing 1.5-meters, weighs 220 pounds (100 kg), and features a touchscreen display on its torso that can be used to report crimes and even pay fines for things such as traffic violations.

The crime-busting android moves around on wheels, can speak six languages, and has the ability to detect a person’s emotions and facial expressions, and respond accordingly, local media reported. That sounds very similar to SoftBank’s Pepper robot, but the newest addition to Dubai’s police unit is actually the work of Spain-based PAL Robotics with a number of skills added by Google and also IBM with its Watson AI system.

Via Khaleej Times

PAL Robotics describes its creation as a “full-size humanoid service robot” that can navigate autonomously or be piloted remotely. It can function for eight hours on a single charge and is capable of a battery “hot-swap,” meaning that if it’s chasing after a suspect toward the end of a shift, its battery can be changed mid-chase without having to waste time powering down. Or something like that.

Commenting on its latest recruit, a spokesman for Dubai Police said, “With an aim to assist and help people in the malls or on the streets, the Robocop is the latest smart addition to the force and has been designed to help us fight crime, keep the city safe, and improve happiness levels.”

While we can’t imagine Robocop in its current form sorting out a bar brawl, solving a complex fraud case, or rescuing a cat from a tree, it may well prove effective for receiving crime reports, giving directions, and — thanks to that hat — presenting an air of authority wherever it goes. And as the technology develops it’ll be in a position to take on an increasing number of responsibilities.

If the law-enforcing robot proves successful, Dubai wants to use more of them to make up 25 percent of its police personnel by 2030. It even has plans to build the world’s first “smart police station” containing zero human employees. In a city very much known for its outlandish projects, who’s to say they won’t achieve it.

‘Biki’ is an underwater camera drone that swims like a fish

Why it matters to you

While most of the focus has been on aerial drones, an increasing number of startups are hoping to catch your interest with their underwater equivalents.

If you’re on the lookout for a new kind of drone experience, then how about diving into the deep blue with Biki.

The aquatic explorer, described as a “robofish” by its creator, comes with a 4K camera and can dive down as far as 196 feet (60 meters) into the ocean. Unlike some of its competitors, Biki can swim autonomously and without a tether, giving you greater freedom while eliminating concerns about potentially disastrous entanglements with underwater obstacles.

The robotic submersible, recently launched on Kickstarter by Beijing-based Robosea, can move at a leisurely 1.1 mph for up to 90 minutes on a single charge, while an flapping fish tail works to propel it through the water. You can control Biki via the accompanying app or with a physical controller, and if at any point the connection goes down between you and the robot, built-in GPS means it’ll automatically return to base.

You can even program your own routes and swim alongside, or simply let Biki wander off by itself while you stay on dry land and enjoy the footage it streams back to your smartphone or tablet. Built-in obstacle avoidance tech should save the robofish from any calamitous mishaps, though it clearly won’t be quick enough to escape the jaws of an angry shark or some other large creature that crosses its path.

Now, you may be wondering how the footage looks considering how Biki wobbles about as it swims along. Robosea promises the wide 150-degree lens and built-in stabilization system ensures smooth footage, and the clips on its Kickstarter page certainly appear to confirm this.

The team behind Biki is aiming to ship the device this August, with early-bird backers able to snag one for $549, offering a substantial saving on the $1,024 retail price.

As with all Kickstarter projects, it’s important to check out the “risks and challenges” at the bottom of the product page to help you determine its viability. Robosea says it’s currently working on improving the durability of Biki’s shell and waterproof capabilities, kind of important for a device like this.

However, it says it’s already tested 30 prototypes and used feedback from more than 100 testers to improve the design. It’s also sailed through its $20,000 funding target, so it appears to be well on its way to becoming a reality.

Would you cover your walls with Snowbonk? Paint-naming AI gets it hilariously wrong

With an infinite amount of colour hues in the visible spectrum, paint manufacturers will never go hungry. There will always be call for a new shade of violet, indigo or orange.

However, while mixing a new paint colour is tricky in itself, it’s far trickier to name one. Perhaps Dulux, Crown or Berger should turn to technology – get a robot AI to name their paints for them.

Er, actually, they shouldn’t.

That’s because Janelle Shane, from Postcards from the Frontiers of Science, did exactly that. And it didn’t go exactly to plan.

She used a neural network, training it to recognise RGB values and basic colours, like white, red and grey. It was taught to associate colours with words and set the task of naming hues it came up with itself. The only problem was that it seemed to have a sense of humour when picking the final names.

Two conclusions were drawn from the final results; the neural network really likes brown; and it sucks at choosing names for colours.

Our favourites, by far, are Snowbonk, Bank Butt, Gray Pubic, Dorkwood, Sindis Poop, Light of Blast, Stanky Bean and, ahem, Turdly.

And we can just imagine our parents heading down to B&Q for a can of Dope.

Here are some of Shane’s findings. Brilliant.

Postcards from the Frontiers of Science

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: A rugged and well-priced Windows-alternative

Chromebooks have been around for years, but we still meet plenty of people who don’t know what they are. If you’re going to buy a laptop, it might as well be a Windows 10 one, right?

Wrong. If you only have £200-odd to spend, something like the Acer Chromebook 11 N7 is almost certainly going to be more fun to use than a Windows machine limping along with a 0.1-horsepower Intel Atom CPU.

The special sauce in this particular Acer Chromebook 11 is its strength. Military-grade ruggedness means the N7 can pretty much survive being thrown through a wall.

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: What’s different about Chromebook?

• Chrome OS software (not Windows)
• Google apps installed, ideal for lightweight work tasks
• Google Play for Android apps incoming

Herein lies the question many wonder: how does a Chromebook differ to a Windows laptop? It’s all in the software: with Chrome OS on board, this Acer can’t install Windows applications.

You do get Chrome’s standard array of Google apps, the same suite of Office-a-like apps you get in an Android phone plus Maps Photos and a few other bits. So it’s ideal for education.

Pocket-lint

Chrome OS is at its happiest when connected to the internet, but you can also write documents, play certain offline games and watch locally-stored video when there’s no Wi-Fi.

One of Chrome’s more recent additions is support for the Google Play app store – just as you would get from an Android smartphone or tablet – which should expand the array of apps available for this OS platform. However, it’s not available for the Acer Chromebook 11 N7 yet. Acer says it’s coming in an update, but you may be in for a bit of a wait (and for the Chrome geeks out there: yes we tried the Dev and Beta builds of Chrome, and Google Play isn’t available in any of them yet).

As is, the Acer Chromebook 11 N7 is therefore a useful but pared-back laptop. The software is friendly, feeling like an Android version of Windows properly designed for use with a keyboard and mouse.

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: Design

• MIL-STD 810G military-grade ruggedisation
• All-plastic no-nonsense build
• Excellent build quality

Let’s be straight: the N7 is pretty boring-looking, right? Featuring a sea of grey plastic whose only texture beyond a general rough finish is on the bottom; we presume the diamond embossing on the undercarriage is designed to make the little thing stay on your knees better.

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It’s not unattractive, mind, and its curves give the Chromebook 11 N7 a sort-of friendly look.

We imagine this Acer will end up in classrooms across the land (as long as they get their orders in before the Tories cut school budgets completely, anyway). If you must have a bit of bling to you laptop, Acer also makes a metal Chromebook for the same price.

The big claim here is that the Chromebook 11 N7 has been MIL-STD 810G tested. That’s a military-spec set of tests that includes “high and low temperatures, humidity, vibrations, mechanical shocks on drops, rain, dust and sand”. And unlike some rugged gear, this one has actually been tested by a third-party lab. The downside? It’s chunkier than most and, at 1.3kg, isn’t light for a 11-inch laptop.

Don’t underestimate the value of the Acer Chromebook 11 N7’s ruggedness if you’re not buying for an unruly brat, though. The keyboard is designed to take up to a can’s worth of liquid without letting any of it getting to the insides, and this little guy feels exceptionally well-made for a computer that’s so affordable.

Pocket-lint

You can really feel the difference as you use the Acer Chromebook 11 N7. The keyboard surround is very stiff, more so than some fancy metal laptops costing over £1,000 that we’ve reviewed recently.

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: Keyboard and trackpad

• Excellent typing feel for the price
• No backlight to help late-night typing
• Plastic trackpad is decent, but not high-end

This feeds into what we think is the best part of the Acer Chromebook 11 N7: the typing experience. The ultra rigid insides and a frankly brilliant-for-the-price keys make this one of the best typing experiences you can have in a £200-odd ultraportable. Despite having just an 11-inch screen, the keyboard doesn’t feel cramped.

Pocket-lint

We wrote this review using the Acer Chromebook 11 N7, and it honestly didn’t feel like much of a downgrade coming from our day-to-day MacBook Pro. If you want cheap laptop to start writing that novel you’ve always wanted to churn out, this is a great place to give it a go.

The trackpad below is less impressive, but only because you can’t really recreate the feel of a high-end pad at this price. Expensive laptops use textured glass panels for the bit you actually swipe your finger across, but in this Acer you get plastic.

It feels about as close as plastic can get to glass, but the friction is a little different, feeling less smooth when your finger changes direction.

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You won’t find much better at the price, mind.

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: Connectivity

• 2x USB 3, 1x HDMI (no USB-C)
• SD card slot, 3.5mm headphones

The Acer Chromebook 11 N7 also has plenty of connections, as long as you’re not too bothered about having the very latest standards. There are two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI video output and a full-size SD card slot.

These are what we use 99 per cent of the time, although it would have been good to see a USB-C jammed-in here too. They’re not much use at present, as even the USB-C phones tend to have cables that end in full-size USBs right now, but the future is almost certainly USB-C-shaped.

Pocket-lint

There’s also a Kensington security port on one side. And if you don’t know what one of those is, you probably don’t need to worry about it.

The Acer Chromebook 11 N7 is a real hardy “meat-and-potatoes” pub lunch of a laptop. There’s nothing fancy going on, but it’s satisfying and the price is right.

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: Screen

• Low-resolution (1366 x 768) delivers so-so sharpness
• TN screen panel means undersaturated colour and limited viewing angles
• Matte screen is the best for versatility

As with just about any laptop this price, the screen probably won’t blow you away, though. It’s an 11.6-inch LCD. Its sharpness, viewing angles and colour aren’t as good as those from, for example, an iPad.

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You can see the Acer’s pixels pretty clearly, although the effect isn’t all that different from looking at a 1080p 15.6-inch screen.

Colour is a little undersaturated, but not so severely that people’s faces will look totally lifeless if you watch a movie on the N7. Similarly, top brightness won’t scorch your eyeballs, but because the screen has a matte finish rather than a glossy, reflective one, you can get away with using this laptop outdoors without the display being impossible to make out.

The Chromebook 11 N7’s screen tilts back an awful lot – more than 180 degrees – but doing so also shows off the contrast shift typical of TN panel like this. Colours invert, everything starts to look shadowy. However, viewing angles aren’t so terrible you need to look at the display dead-on for it to look right. This isn’t a great screen, but we don’t expect much more in a laptop this cheap.

Pocket-lint

There’s a version of the Acer Chromebook 11 N7 with a touchscreen, but ours is a plain old non-touch one. Giving it a prod just to check, the Chromebook’s toughening seems to extend to the screen too. It feels sturdy.

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: Performance

• Low-end, ageing CPU is not great for games
• Chrome still feels fast enough for the basics
• A fair amount of left-over storage

The real benefit of a Chromebook over a normal Windows laptop is that it can get by with a true low-end CPU without running like a dog, and it much less storage space. This laptop has an Intel Celeron N3060 processor with 4GB RAM and a 32GB solid state drive.

Pocket-lint

That CPU is a little old and a lot low-end. It was released in early 2016, and Intel has already made a new family of N-series CPUs, including the N3350, that Acer has already plugged-into some of its other £200-ish laptops. It’s still low-end, but is newer and faster. The N3060 is a dual-core Celeron processor with a base frequency of 1.6GHz.

While using the Acer Chromebook 11 N7 to write documents and search the web, its performance is fine. There’s none of the basic lag that makes using a Celeron-powered Windows 10 laptop such a trial. However, start doing something a bit more challenging and you’ll find the Chromebook’s limits pretty quick.

There are Chrome games, for example, and there’s pretty serious intermittent frame rate drops in most of the ones we tried: Spelunky, Portal 2D, Gore Script. Cut the Rope runs pretty well, perhaps because its code is better-optimised.

Acer Chromebook 11 N7 review: Battery life

• 8.5 hours battery life with normal use
• Usable but not amazing speakers

The Acer Chromebook 11 N7 also lasts a good while between charges, although not that close to Acer’s claim of 13-hours. Using it as our usual day-to-day PC, connected to the internet and skipping between browsing and using Google Docs to write, we got around 8.5-hours use from a charge. That’s enough for a good day’s work, but not world-beating.

Finally, the Acer Chromebook 11 N7 has a pair of speakers, one on each end of the underside. The sound is quite boxy-sounding, with little bass and limited treble. However, that’s still better than a thin, caustic sound and the maximum volume is decent.

Verdict

The Acer Chromebook 11 N7 is a good Chromebook for those who’d rather have a laptop that feels hard as nails rather than looks that tell those nearby it’s worth nicking. It must be one of the sturdiest laptops in the world at this price.

We don’t tend to torture our laptops too much, but the tough design has real benefits for actual use, levelling-up the typing experience. This is a great little typing machine.

The screen is only fine, it could really do with the newer, slightly more powerful Celeron processor Intel has already released, but if you just want a computer for the basics this is a good choice.

Alternatives to consider…

Acer Chromebook 14

Acer Chromebook 14

• £279

One of the best alternatives to the Chromebook 11 N7 comes from Acer. The Chromebook 14 is larger, has an aluminium body that looks and feels a lot fancier. And the latest version has a better 1080p IPS screen that will get you much better viewing angles.

At just £30-40 extra, the Chromebook may be a better buy if you don’t mind having a larger laptop. It’s also more powerful, using the quad-core version of the N3060 used here. Make sure you look for the 1080p version, though, as there’s a 1366 x 768 model too, which will look super-pixellated.

Asus C201

Asus Chromebook C201

• £239

As it doesn’t have the military-grade rugged spec of the Acer, this Chromebook is significantly lighter, at under 1kg. How much are you going to abuse your laptop?

The 4GB RAM version is roughly the same price, so there’s no advantage there, and it has less storage too, 16GB. It uses a Rockchip processor rather than an Intel one. They’re generally less well-regarded, but as it uses a very phone-like graphics chipset it may well fare better with Android apps.

Asus

Asus Chromebook Flip (C302CA)

• £549

What do you get if you spend real money on a Chromebook? The Asus C302CA doesn’t feel too far off a MacBook in its construction, with metal used throughout. Its screen is also far better, and flips around for some hybrid-style antics.

Performance with more demanding apps and games is also a lot quicker as it has a premium Intel Core m3 CPU rather than a cheap Celeron model. At more than double the price, and with a similar typing experience you have to wonder whether all the extra money is worth spending if all you need is a typing machine, though.