Your big-name PC may have a security flaw in its update software
Those problems with security holes in big PC makers’ software bundles? They might not be over yet. Duo Security says it found vulnerabilities in the update software for Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo. Some vendors were more secure than others in Duo’s testing, but all of them were insecure enough that you could launch a man-in-the-middle attack and run your own code. In the worst cases, they’d send update data without any encryption or validation.
Also, don’t think that you’re safe by springing for one of Microsoft’s cleaner Signature Edition versions of these PCs. Duo says that some of these models still have vendor update software, so you might be in the same boat as someone who bought the garden variety PC.
We’ve asked all five companies for comment, and we’ll let you know what they say. However, Duo adds that the research took place between last October and this April, which suggests that some of the holes might have already been patched up. Dell already said that it would tackle the eDellroot flaw that created a minor panic last year, for example. Even if there’s more fuss than necessary, though, this is a reminder that your PC’s operating system is only part of the security puzzle — you have to be mindful of third-party apps, too.
Via: International Business Times
Source: Duo Security
Lenovo’s new Droids might be shiny and metallic
See those phones above? They might be three versions of the Droid Lenovo’s launching in an upcoming event in June. Evan Blass (aka evleaks), well-known source of device leaks, has posted the photo on Twitter, and people seem to have anointed the black-and-bronze model as the Beyoncé of this trio. While the image only shows the Motorola and the Droid logos, the phone will likely have Verizon’s branding somewhere, since the line’s exclusive to the carrier.
Blass also tweeted out an image of three swappable backplates called MotoMods, which could be compatible with the upcoming handset. He said the three backplates have different features: one has a projector, another has JBL speakers and the third one has a Hasselblad camera. Those backplates will definitely make the phone more interesting than comparable competitors, but we won’t know for sure until the company launches them on June 9th.
The DROIDs you’re looking for? pic.twitter.com/j5zqq73Zh2
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 25, 2016
By the way, these are (from L to R) the projector, JBL speakers, and Hasselblad camera. https://t.co/7FIk9wA8zx
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 26, 2016
Via: The Verge
Source: Evan Blass (Twitter)
‘Woorld’ makes a strong argument for weird Project Tango apps
It’s not hard to see how Google’s Project Tango can be utilitarian. Need directions through a crowded mall? Easy. Want to learn more about art installations as you wander through a museum? Done. What’s easier to miss is just how weird things can get when you’re holding a device that can sense the very environment around you, but Funomena’s new Tango game Woorld serves as a pretty good reminder.
In case you hadn’t heard, Funomena is an indie game studio in San Francisco that counts Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi among its ranks. Gamers probably know exactly what the means for Woorld: it’s equal parts adorable and strange. In a nutshell, you’ll use a Tango device to scan your surroundings — the floor, walls, and even ceiling if it isn’t too high. That initial sweep defines the realm of a tiny little world, where you place objects like plants, faucets, houses, moons and more. Why? Partially just because you can, but also to make the world — as viewed through a screen anyway — a little more beautiful.
See, unlike the Katamari Damacy series, or the more obtuse Noby Noby Boy, there doesn’t seem to be an overarching goal in Woorld. There’s an exploration mode (that we weren’t allowed to play with) that basically helps you wrap your head around the arithmetic of these objects — placing a cloud in the air and making it rain on a sprout causes the tiny plant to grow, and so on. Most of the time though, you’ll be hanging out in a sandbox mode, free to place objects where you like and see how your tiny virtual world comes together. There might be more to the game — Google didn’t have much information on how the final product would turn out — but at least we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
The first consumer Project Tango device is set to launch in just a few weeks, but developers — like Takahashi and Funomena — have had access to development devices for months. With any luck, that means people have been toiling on similarly off-the-wall stuff to give Project Tango hardware a more profound reason to exist. Navigating about learning more about the world around us is great and all, but I can’t wait to start seeing Tango apps that take the world around us and turn it on its ear.
Motorola’s legendary RAZR flip phone is making a comeback
The year was 2004, and Motorola had just announced what was then an insanely thin flip phone, the RAZR V3. It was — and still is — a head-turner, and eventually over 130 million units were sold in total. Such were the glorious days of Motorola. Twelve years later, the now Lenovo-owned brand appears to be prepping a relaunch of this legendary model, according to its teaser video of a nostalgic walkthrough at a high school. “Flip back to the Razr days of yesteryear and get ready for the future.” Well, our money’s on an Android refresh of the RAZR flip phone, and we’re already quite stoked about that. The big unveil will take place at Lenovo Tech World on June 9th, and we have a feeling that this new RAZR may overshadow the new Moto X devices that are also expected there.
Via: T3
Source: Motorola (YouTube)
Up close with the Moto G4 Plus, the best from a puzzling new lineup
I’ve been spending my time here at Google I/O hoping to catch a Google exec pull a supersecret VR headset out of a coat pocket. Instead I ran into one using Motorola’s new Moto G4 Plus — the highest-end of the three new Moto G models announced earlier this week. Said exec was surprisingly cool about letting me give a personal phone the full hands-on treatment too. After a few minutes of play time, I can say that Motorola once again has an impressive device on its hands. It’s too bad, though, that a confusing lineup of Moto Gs suggest Motorola’s priorities have shifted in some unsettling ways.
First things first: To quickly recap, the G4 Plus runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with an octa-core Snapdragon 617 chipset, and either 2GB or 4GB of RAM. The pricier 4GB model is paired with either 32GB or 64GB of storage, while the lower-specced version has only 16GB of storage. It’s a good thing, then, that the microSD slot takes cards as large as 128GB. This particular Plus was a 4GB/64GB model, making it a terribly snappy little machine. Swiping through home screens, launching apps and some furious multitasking all felt instantaneous.
Two software factors probably helped here: Motorola once again used a near-stock build of Android, and fortunately the exec who loaned me his phone hadn’t yet loaded up his device with many apps. This level of performance would’ve been flagship quality not that long ago, and now we’re squeezing it out of a mostly midrange phone. The overall experience — complete with mostly clean Android and useful extras like an always-on display — make the G4 Plus a compelling choice compared with other Snapdragon 617-enabled phones, such as the HTC A9.
And, speaking as a phone-design nerd, the slim G4 Plus actually feels pretty great in hand. It’s an entirely plastic phone with a nicely textured removable back (hiding a nonremovable 3,000mAh battery), and its surprisingly skinny frame reminds me a bit of the Galaxy S4. That’s not to say, however, that every design choice Motorola made works well. Consider the square fingerprint sensor below the bright, 5.5-inch TFT LCD screen: It looks like a home button but doesn’t work as one, making the placement feel odd and clumsy. This isn’t something the old Motorola would have done.
At the very least, the 16-megapixel camera seems impressive. Besides the fingerprint sensor, this camera is the only difference between the G4 Plus and the regular G4, which instead comes with a 13-megapixel camera. DxOMark puts it slightly ahead of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in terms of image quality. I wasn’t able to snap photos with this phone — mostly because I didn’t want to accidentally look into this guy’s camera roll — but the phase-detect and laser autofocus worked remarkably well.
So yes, the Moto G4 Plus is a fine phone. It’s also part of a confusing trio of Moto Gs, including one — the Moto G Play — that felt noticeably less powerful than the others. Potential Moto E replacement? Maybe, though Motorola said earlier this year it has “no plans to retire” the E. What was always nice about the Moto G was how uncomplicated its ambitions were: If you wanted an inexpensive, undeniably good Android phone, the Moto G was your best choice. That clarity is now gone. You’ll be able to get a good Moto G, or a better Moto G or a slightly worse Moto G.
It’s a sign of pragmatism, I suppose: The company can reach different customers with different needs, but it’s also a sign that Motorola has lost some of the focus that once made it so special. With any luck, I’m totally wrong. Maybe everything is great under Lenovo, and Motorola President Rick Osterloh’s return to Google doesn’t mean the company’s vision has been muddled. We’ll see.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.
Motorola just announced three new Moto Gs
Motorola has just announced a new generation of perhaps our favorite budget smartphone. Presenting the Moto G4, the Moto G4 Plus and the Moto G4 Play. It’s a confusing lineup, with the G4 and G4 Plus being riffs on one thing, and the G4 Play being an different device entirely. For now, let’s focus on the G4 and G4 Plus. There are numerous changes from the 2015 G, but the most notable is the display. The G4 and G4 Plus have a 1080p 5.5-inch panel, which is a bump from the last phone’s 720p 5-inch offering. The additional pixels are welcome, but the new screen makes the duo larger phones overall when compared to their predecessor. If you consider that the first Moto G (launched just two and a half years ago) had a 4.5-inch display, that’s a significant increase in size for someone who’s skipped a generation or two.
Powering that display is a more-powerful Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor paired with 2GB or 3GB of RAM depending on how much storage you opt for. Battery life will hopefully see an improvement too: the Moto G4 and G4 Plus have a 3,000mAh battery, up from 2,470mAh last year, and fast charging functionality.
The Moto G4 Play is more like last year’s model. It’s got a 5-inch 720p display, a Snapdragon 410 processor and a 2,700mAh battery. This is essentially the 2015 G in a new shell with a slightly larger battery.
While the G4 and G4 Plus share the same basic spec, where they differ is in the details. The Plus has a fingerprint sensor and a 16-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture, “big pixels” and laser and phase detection autofocus. The regular G has a 13-megapixel unit (likely the same as in the current G), and no biometric magic. Both have a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and will be customizable with the company’s Moto Maker service.
Motorola is making a lot of noise about the new 16-megapixel camera in the Plus — that seems to be the real incentive to spend the extra money on the pricier model. The independent image analysis company DxOMark has apparently rated the Moto G Plus’ photo quality ahead of iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus. That bodes well, although it did have to concede that this rating only pertained to images, implying that the video and overall scores were lower.
As we mentioned, there are some slight RAM differences between the models, depending on which storage option you go for. The vanilla Moto G4 comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. The G4 Plus will have the same, unless you opt for the model with 32GB of storage, in which case you’ll get 3GB of RAM. Those opting for a G with less storage will be happy to know the Micro SD slot remains, and now supports cards of up to 128GB. Incidentally, one thing that didn’t make it over was the Gs excellent front-facing stereo speakers. There’s now just a single speaker up top.
Both phones represent a decent upgrade over the current generation, and at not much of a premium. They’re coming to India and Brazil (the company’s largest markets for the G series) first, with the G4 debuting today in Brazil and the G4 Plus in India. After that, they’ll arrive across North America and Europe. We’re still waiting on US pricing, but the UK versions will start at £169 for the regular and £199 for the Plus, with both models arriving in June.
There’s not much value in translating those prices into dollars, but what we can do is point to the original starting point for the current Moto G: the 8GB model started at £159 in the UK, and $179 in the US. The pound has weakened significantly since then, so we could see a $179 entry point from the new £169 pricing, or perhaps it’ll increase by $10 or $20.
As for the Moto G Play, there’s no firm pricing or release date. It’ll launch globally this summer, and we’d expect it to undercut the rest of the range.
Update: This article has been updated multiple (!) times because Motorola decided to announce the three phones at different times and places over a period of several hours. Now the news flow seems to have stemmed, we’ve rewritten it entirely for clarity, but we wouldn’t rule out more information being added soon.
Fitbit’s lead in the wearable world shrinks due to newcomers
Fitbit has ruled the wearable roost for a while, but it’s clear that the activity tracker maker can’t become complacent. IDC has released estimates which show that Fitbit lost a significant amount of market share in the first quarter. While its shipments were up 25.4 percent (to 4.8 million), its share plunged from 32.6 percent a year ago to 24.5 percent at the start of 2016. Simply put, the market is much more crowded than it was a year ago — it has to contend with the Apple Watch, China’s BBK and Lifesense, as well as a slew of smaller brands jumping into the field.
Not that some of the other incumbents can complain too loudly. Xiaomi and Garmin also lost share (they’re down to 22.8 percent and 5 percent respectively), but their shipments surged by more than a third.
As for smartwatches specifically? Apple was still out in front by a hefty margin, with 46 percent of the high-end wearable market. The next closest was Samsung, which fell to 20.9 percent. With 1.5 million shipments, though, Apple had less than a third of Fitbit’s clout — and that number was a sharp drop from the 3.9 million watches it shipped in the last quarter of 2015. Such a dip isn’t surprising (there was no holiday demand to boost sales), but it’s notable that Fitbit’s unit count didn’t fall. It’s clearly easier to justify a relatively inexpensive tracker like the Alta outside of gift-giving season than a smartwatch that costs more than twice as much. Apple’s price cuts weren’t in effect for much of the first quarter, mind you, so it’s too soon to say whether or not you’ll see a repeat performance this spring.
Source: IDC
The ThinkPad X1 Tablet is like a Surface with a business twist
Imagine the unholy union of Microsoft’s Surface lineup and the iconic Thinkpad, and you have the ThinkPad X1 Tablet. It’s not Lenovo’s first Surface clone — that would be the cheaper and less equipped Miix 700 — but it’s the company’s first for its ThinkPad lineup, which is targeted at the professional crowd. After years of honing the art of building convertible laptops, Lenovo seems like a safe bet for delivering a solid, Surface-like hybrid tablet. And for the most part, it succeeds.
Hardware
If you have a soft spot in your heart for the iconic ThinkPad design, the X1 will probably strike your fancy while it’s in laptop mode. It has a minimalist black metal case, a fairly spacious keyboard and heck, there’s even the love-it-or-hate-it bright red TrackPoint. It’s a subdued design that reminds me of a classic, business-oriented Windows laptop.
But of course, it’s much more than that: Its keyboard is ultra-thin and completely removable. There’s also a kickstand on the back of the tablet. And, lest you forget, it’s as much a tablet as it is a laptop. It doesn’t look as ultra-modern as the Surface devices, but it’s no less impressive. Toeing the line between respecting ThinkPad tradition and pushing entirely new form factors is tough, but the X1 Tablet manages it well.
Thanks to its 12-inch screen, it’s fairly hefty for a tablet, clocking in at 1.7 pounds. Together with the keyboard case, it weighs 2.35 pounds. That’s almost exactly the same as the Surface Pro 4 (a part of me wonders if Lenovo is trying to prove it can go toe-to-toe with Microsoft). It’s significantly heavier than standalone 10-inch tablets like the iPad Air, but it’s only around 0.1 pounds heavier than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. In a way, the X1 is the antithesis than the iPad Pro: It can be a tablet when you need it, but most people would be buying it as an ultraportable laptop.
The actual tablet portion of the X1 isn’t much to look at. Its chassis is mostly made out of magnesium (with a bit of plastic thrown in), and it measures an impressive 8.6 millimeters thin. It feels just as sturdy as other metal ThinkPad cases, which PC users have long been praised for their ability to take a licking. Lenovo says the X1 passes 10 military certification tests, which are a big deal for government clients, and it’s capable of running between -20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) and 60 Celsius (140 Fahrenheit).
From the front, there’s a significant amount of bezel around the display, a 2-megapixel webcam up top and a fingerprint reader on the right side. From the back, it’s a bit more interesting: A small latch opens up the kickstand, which folds out from the bottom of the tablet (the Surface’s stand comes out from the top). While that orientation seems a bit odd at first, it makes the X1 far easier to hold on your lap than the Surface tablets, since there’s more than just a single edge of the stand digging into you.
There’s an 8-megapixel camera on the back of the X1, and around the sides you’ll find a USB 3.0 port, a USB-C connector, a single Mini DisplayPort and a combination headphone/microphone jack. The USB-C port is also used to charge the X1, something that’s quickly becoming the norm for thin tablets and laptops these days. In addition, there’s a microSD card slot under the kickstand for extra storage.
The X1’s keyboard comes bundled with the tablet (something I’ve long argued that needs to happen with the Surface) and it’s pretty thin, measuring at just 4.6 millimeters thick. It has a full-sized array of chiclet keys, and as I mentioned above, there’s the standard ThinkPad TrackPoint nub. Below that, there are two physical mouse buttons, a scrolling button and a large multitouch Mylar trackpad. It snaps onto the X1 easily via a magnet, and like the Surface, that connection is strong enough to hold up the entire tablet by the keyboard (just don’t shake it too much).
One intriguing aspect of the X1 is its expandability, thanks to a few optional modules that plug onto the bottom of the tablet. Lenovo’s $150 productivity module, for example, adds a HDMI and a few more USB ports, along with five extra hours of battery life. There are also modules for taking 3D images, and projecting images onto walls. Lenovo didn’t have any of these expansion offerings available to test at the time of this review, but we’ll update once we get some hands-on time with them.
Display and pen input
The ThinkPad X1’s 12-inch screen packs in a 2,160-by-1,440-pixel resolution, which is decent for its size, but not quite as sharp as the Surface Pro 4’s 2,736-by-1,824 pixel display. Still, it looks good, with accurate colors and more than enough brightness (I typically kept it around 50 percent indoors). Outdoors, the X1 was usable in direct sunlight; it’s far easier to see than my 2014-era MacBook Air, even while wearing sunglasses. But as with every device with a glass-covered screen, you should expect a bit of glare.
As a tablet, the X1’s screen is at its best when you’re viewing videos and digital comics. It’s a 3:2 aspect ratio panel, so you’ll get black bars with widescreen videos, but it made movies and TV shows look great. Those proportions were also well-suited to comics, since they could fill up the screen easily without needing to zoom in. I still feel a bit cramped working on a 12-inch display, especially after growing used to to the 13-inch MacBook Air and my 24-inch desktop monitors. It’s also a bit too heavy to hold with one hand for extended periods, but it’s fine for the occasional comic or news article.
Lenovo also packs in a stylus, called the ThinkPad Pen Pro. It uses Wacom’s active electro-static (AES) technology to deliver 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity — twice as much as the latest Surface Pen. The Pen Pro is powered by a single AAAA battery, which thankfully comes in the box. Unfortunately, though, there’s no place to stow the pen on the X1 itself. Lenovo includes a plastic holster that plugs into a USB port, but that’s not really useful if you need to use the tablet’s only USB connection. (It also just looks weird having the stylus hang off the side.)
In Lenovo’s WriteIt app, which comes preloaded on the X1, the Pen Pro felt surprisingly accurate. The pen had no trouble determining different levels of pressure, and it captured my scribbles without any big delays. Unfortunately, it’s a bit too slippery on the screen for taking notes, or for extended use. Microsoft mostly avoided that issue with the Surface Pro 4, which feels more like putting pen to paper (and you can customize it further with replaceable stylus tips).
Typing experience
The ThinkPad X1 is a bit deceptive on the keyboard front. It looks like a typical, full-sized ThinkPad keyboard, but its buttons don’t have the same amount of depth as Lenovo’s traditional laptops. I was still able to type fairly quickly, but the actual act of pressing down on keys felt mushy and not very satisfying. Perhaps I’m just too demanding as a heavy typer (I make a lot of noise!), but I expected a bit more from Lenovo, especially since Microsoft was able to deliver a truly great keyboard with the latest Surface Type Cover.
With the kickstand folding down from the bottom of the X1, I had no problem balancing it on my lap, bed and a variety of other scenarios. It’s a smart change from Microsoft’s Surface hinge: In typical laptop mode, it creates a flat surface that makes the X1 feel more like a laptop, and not a tablet being held precariously. It’s also more comfortable on bare legs, which is a good thing if you’re wearing shorts.
While I got used to the feel of the X1’s keyboard eventually, I never quite got the hang of its Mylar trackpad. It always felt a bit too stiff and jerky; it’s nowhere near as smooth as glass trackpads like we see on the MacBooks and the Surface Type Cover. It ended up being a problem navigating menus and options in our ancient CMS and Windows apps like Evernote, which have way too many small buttons to click on.
I’ve never been a big fan of the ThinkPad TrackPoint nub, but I learned to appreciate it on the X1, as I was stuck on a flight next to a particularly inconsiderate seat neighbor. Since I didn’t have enough elbow room to use the trackpad, I was forced to get the hang of the TrackPoint, which only requires gently moving a finger around. It took me longer than usual, but I was able to deal with my email backlog and write a few posts without constantly elbowing the person next to me. This is all to say: I finally get it, ThinkPad nerds!
Performance and battery life
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet (1.2 GHz Core M7-6Y75, Intel HD 515) | 4,951 | 3,433 | E1,866 / P1,112 | 2,462 | 298 MB/s / 545 MB/s |
| Samsung Notebook 9 (2.5GHz Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,309 | 3,705 | E2,567 / P1,541 / X416 | 3,518 | 539 MB/s / 299 MB/s |
| Dell XPS 13 (2.3GHz Core i5-6200U, Intel Graphics 520) | 4,954 | 3,499 | E2,610 / P1,531 | 3,335 | 1.6GB/s / 307 MB/s |
| HP Spectre x360 15t (2.4GHz Core i5-6200U, Intel HD 520) | 5,040 | 3,458 | E2,672 / P1,526 / X420 | 3,542 | 561 MB/s / 284 MB/s |
| Razer Blade Stealth (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,131 | 3,445 | E2,788 / P1,599 / X426 | 3,442 | 1.5 GB/s / 307 MB/s |
| Toshiba Radius 12 (2.5GHz Intel Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,458 | 3,684 | E2,865 / P1,622 | 3,605 | 552 MB/s / 489 MB/s |
| Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (2.4GHz Core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) | 5,403 | 3,602 |
E2,697/ P1,556/ X422 |
3,614 | 1.6 GB/s / 529 MB/s |
| Lenovo Yoga 900 (2.5GHz Core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) | 5,368 | 3,448 |
E2,707 / P1,581 |
3,161 | 556 MB/s / 511 MB/s |
| Microsoft Surface Book (2.4GHz Core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) | 5,412 | 3,610 |
E2,758 / P1,578 / X429 |
3,623 | 1.6 GB/s / 571 MB/s |
I tested the highest-spec X1 tablet (which comes with a Core M7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD) for more than a week with my normal workflow. That usually consists of having several programs and windows open at once, including Slack to chat with coworkers, multiple browsers and dozens of tabs open for research and writing, Evernote for note taking and Spotify for some tunes. Despite being a lower-powered Core M CPU, the X1 had no problem keeping up with my demanding routine.
It was also my only computer on an intense work trip to Austin, which involved covering a major NVIDIA press event. I wasn’t initially planning to use the X1 in such a high-stress environment, but I managed to get a lengthy article out and a few pictures while balancing it on my lap in a crowded auditorium.
As you can see from the benchmarks above, the X1 I tested lands somewhere between the Surface Pro 3 with a Core i5 4300U processor and the Surface Pro 4 with a Core i5 6300U chip. That’s respectable, given that Lenovo’s tablet was running at a paltry 1.2GHz clock speed, while the Surface Pros were running between 1.9GHz and 2.4GHz. It also managed to stream 4K videos from YouTube without skipping, and it kept up with my workflow even when I had to start image editing and moving large photos around. No, it won’t smash any speed records, but it’s enough to be productive while barely breaking a sweat.
The X1’s biggest problem is battery life. In my typical usage, it lasted for a mere four and a half hours. Our battery test, which involves viewing an HD video on repeat until it runs down, was a bit more promising, yielding around seven hours of runtime. It could just be that it’s very efficient at playing video (I tried to turn off all the power optimizations I could), but the X1’s subpar performance in other scenarios is worrisome. If you’re considering it, I’d seriously recommend the optional $150 productivity module for additional battery life. (But keep in mind that’ll make the X1 heavier.)
Battery life
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet
7:05
Surface Book (Core i5, integrated graphics)
13:54 / 3:20 (tablet only)
MacBook Air (13-inch, 2013)
12:51
HP Spectre x360 (13-inch, 2015)
11:34
Surface Book (Core i7, discrete graphics)
11:31 / 3:02 (tablet only)
Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display (13-inch, 2015)
11:23
iPad Pro
10:47
HP Spectre x360 15t
10:17
Chromebook Pixel (2015)
10:01
Lenovo Yoga 900
9:36
Microsoft Surface 3
9:11
Samsung Notebook 9
8:16
Apple MacBook (2015)
7:47
Dell XPS 13 (2015)
7:36
Microsoft Surface Pro 4
7:15
Microsoft Surface Pro 3
7:08
HP Spectre x2
6:43
Razer Blade Stealth
5:48
Dell XPS 15 (2016)
5:25 (7:40 with the mobile charger)
Toshiba Radius 12
5:12
Configuration options and the competition
When the X1 was initially announced at CES, Lenovo said it would start at $899 with its keyboard. But it seems the price has been bumped up over the past few months. The entry-level X1, which comes with a Core M3-6Y30 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, now starts at $1,029. Coincidentally (or perhaps not so much), that’s the same price as the cheapest Surface Pro 4 ($899) plus the $130 Type Cover. Lenovo probably thinks it can justify the higher price since Microsoft is doing the same thing, but that also undercuts one of its initial advantages over the Surface.
For $1,349, you can snag the X1 with a Core M5-6Y57 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. And at the top end, there’s the $1,649 model I’m testing, which adds the Core M7-6Y75 processor. That’s a surprisingly wide pricing spread, but for the most part, I think most consumers would be better off with the $1,349 model. That’s if you can get over the X1’s mushy keyboard and short battery life, though.
If you’re looking for a modern hybrid tablet/laptop, the Surface Pro 4 is still a better option, even though you have to shell out extra money for its keyboard. It has faster hardware, a better keyboard (and trackpad), as well as far more reliable battery life.
Still, I recognize that some businesses are committed to the ThinkPad brand, and most corporate workers don’t have a choice when it comes to choosing what type of computer they can use. If that’s your situation and portability is your main concern, then the X1 remains a solid option.
Wrap-up
We’ve seen Lenovo dabble with hybrid ThinkPad designs with its Helix series over the past few years, but the X1 Tablet is its first truly successful hybrid. No, it’s not perfect: I’d love to see better battery life and an improved keyboard. But it does a decent job of bringing some of the most intriguing elements of Microsoft’s Surface lineup to business users.
New Moto X phones reportedly feature modular accessories
Rumor mountain is rumbling this week with news about the next phones under Motorola’s Moto X brand, and VentureBeat today says that the new devices will be modular, allowing users to swap out backplates with various capabilities. Yesterday, HellomotoHK posted images of new Moto X phones that appeared to show one phone with a metallic body and laser auto-focusing features. VentureBeat reports that there are actually two new Moto X phones, the Vertex and Vector Thin, and they both feature customizable, modular bodies.
Here’s what the site reports: The phones’ backplates have a line of 16 dots near the bottom and these are not speaker ports — they’re connection pins. Motorola has designed six “Amps” (modules) that add new features to the phone, including stereo speakers, a battery pack, a camera grip with flash and optical zoom, a pico projector and a rugged cover with wide-angle lens attachment. The cameras on these two new phones jut out a fair bit, but they should lay flush once the modules are attached.
LG’s G5 smartphone recently launched with modular capabilities, but it requires removing the actual battery every time you want to add a new attachment. The Vertex and Vector Thin apparently circumvent this problem by attaching modules directly to the back of the phones, rather than inserting new tools into the phone’s base.
VentureBeat also reports the following specs for the new Moto X phones: Both have 5.5 inch AMOLED displays, while the Vertex has a full HD display and Vector Thin features Quad HD resolution. The Vector Thin will have 32GB of storage and either 3GB or 4GB RAM, while the Vertex will have 16GB of storage and 2GB RAM or 32GB of storage and 3GB RAM. The Vector Thin is also — appropriately — extra thin at just 5.2mm thick.
Motorola hasn’t yet confirmed these details, but the company is expected to announce its new phones at Lenovo Tech World on June 9th, Droid Life reports.
Source: VentureBeat
Creative pushes for US bans on several smartphone makers
Creative has a long history of wielding its patents against other tech companies (just ask Apple), but its latest effort might top them all. The US International Trade Commission is investigating Creative’s complaints that seven smartphone makers (BlackBerry, HTC, LG, Lenovo/Motorola, Samsung, Sony and ZTE) violate its patents. Allegedly, all of the companies are imitating Creative’s hierarchical menu system for media playback, much as the iPod supposedly duped Zen players a decade ago. If successful, the ITC dispute would ban the sale of at least some of these companies’ devices… and given the sheer scope of the complaint, you’d probably notice the absences on store shelves.
None of the companies involved have commented on how they’ll respond to the move. Also, it’ll be a while before there’s a conclusion — as with any other ITC case, the Commission will have to review any initial decision. However, Creative’s strategy is already fairly clear. It’s gambling that at least some of its targets will settle rather than risk seeing some of their most important products banned in the US. It’s not as though there’s a simple fix, either — the media interface that Creative describes is both very generic and near-ubiquitous, so avoiding it would require a major software redesign.
Via: Reuters
Source: US ITC
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