OCZ Core SSDs Hands-On Review

Topic:

A few weeks back OCZ announced its new lower cost Core series SSD drives. The Core series drives were significantly cheaper than other offerings on the market with a 128GB SSD going for $479. Laptop Magazine has got hands on the drives and offered up some fast benchmarks in front of a full review.

Laptop found that the read rate for the drive was 112.4Mbps and the drive had a seek time of 1ms. HD Tach gave the drive an average read time of 89.5Mbps. Boot time using the Core SSD was 36.3 seconds, less than a second slower than the much more expensive Samsung SSD. To copy a 5GB file using the 64GB OCZ core series SSD took 3 minutes and 59 seconds. Read more

Posted on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:12:43 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Dell XT Tablet with Multi-touch Hands-On Video

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The newly updated Dell XT Tablet Notebook features multi-touch. Laptop magazines had a chance to put their fingers on the touchscreen and published a video of the new capabilities.

Quote: "N-Trig and Dell today released the multi-touch firmware update for the Vista running XT. Read more

Posted on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Pure Xbox 360 Hands-On Preview

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TTGamer today posted a hands-on preview of Pure for the Xbox 360 (also being released on PC and PS3). Pure for PS3 will be shipping on September 23rd from Amazon.com.

Quote: "This ATV arcade style racer could prove to be one of 08's biggest surprises. At the very least, it is certain to have some of the prettiest environments seen on the current consoles to date. Read more

Posted on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 Hands-on

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Sony Ericsson announced the highly anticipated XPERIA X1 Windows Smartphone in February. The XPERIA X1 is slated for a release in the second half of 2008, but Boy Genius Report already got their hands on the first Sony Ericsson Windows Smartphone.

Quote: "Let’s not forget the physical design of the device as it’s one of the coolest and hippest-looking phones we’ve seen in a very long time. Since our unit isn’t a production version, the software runs a little slow. Even so, in most tasks, it performs very well. We can’t wait to play with a final production unit. Read more

Posted on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

First iPhone 3G hands-on Reports

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Walter Mossberg got some hands-on time with the new iPhone 3G.

Walt still finds several things wrong with the new iPhone 3G including locked to one carrier, cut and paste missing, no MMS, no IM and still wimpy camera. Read more

Posted on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Gigabyte P45 Hands-on Sneak Peak in Taipei

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Gigabyte invited tech journalists around the world to their headquarters to experience the new motherboards based on the Intel P45 chipset.

Hothardware was there and published a report from the 2 day event.
Quote: "Gigabyte is so enthused by Intel's upcoming P45 chipset, it flew a multi-national crew of media from their respective home bases to its own headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan for two days of hands-on testing. During the event, Gigabyte gave us access to four SKUs based on P45 and an early look at a fifth extreme series board that will show off the P45’s flexibility in a $300+ package. Read more

Posted on Mon, 19 May 2008 11:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Hands-On with the new BlackBerry Bold

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RIM unveiled today the BlackBerry Bold. PC World already got their hands on one and published a hands-on review of the BlackBerry Bold.

Quote from the review: "We got to play with the Bold a bit during our meeting, and found some interesting tidbits. The device feels solid, with a fake-leather back and metal accents. At 4.5 by 2.6 by 0.55 inches and 4.7 oz, it's wider, longer, and heavier but slightly slimmer than the BlackBerry Curve. Read more

Posted on Mon, 12 May 2008 14:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

HTC Touch Diamond Hands-On Video

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HTC introduced the HTC Touch Diamond iPhone alternative smartphone. The HTC Diamond features a sexy 3D user interface running on top of Windows Mobile 6.1.

Engadget got some interesting hands-on videos of the HTC Touch Diamond featuring for instance the HTC Diamond accelerator sensors for Wii like motion input. Read more

Posted on Tue, 6 May 2008 23:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Casio EX-F1 Sample Photos and Hands-On Experience

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Casio introduced the Exilim EX-F1 at the CES 2008. The Casio EX-F1 features the world's fastest burst shooting performance. It ships in Japan end of March.
LetsGoDigital attended Casio press-event in the Netherlands and got some time to test the EX-F1 hands-on. They published a couple sample photos and first hand impressions. Read more

Posted on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Gigabyte U60 UMPC Hands-On

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Tweaktown got some hands-on time with the new Gigabyte U60 UMPC. GIGABYTE showed the U60 UMPC at CeBIT, and again at Computex earlier this year.

Quote from the review: "Now we’ve got our hands on one of the early production samples and this puppy is all set to take the world by storm, it definitely has the makings of an award winner and seems worthy of our coveted “BEST VALUE” award providing everything goes well. Read more

Posted on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony PS3 Playstation Eye Video Camera Hands-On

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Sony announced the video camera accessory for the Sony PS3 dubbed Playstation Eye in April. The Playstation Eye will start shipping on October 31st and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com at a price of $39.99.

IGN published a hands-on review of the Playstation Eye with sample images. Read more

Posted on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:19:30 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony PSP Digital TV Adapter Hands-on Photos

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Sony announced a digital TV adapter for the Sony PSP in July. The 1seg TV adapter allows users to receive DMB-T TV programming.

AkihabaraNews has published several photos showing the PSP TV adapter in action. As you might expect the quality is great. Read more

Posted on Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

OLPC XO Laptop Hands-On

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Laptop Magazine got a chance to get some first hand impressions of the latest version of the One Laptop Per Child's XO Laptop.

Quote: "At first sight, the OLPC's XO laptop looks like a prop on Nickelodeon's Double Dare (view more photos of the XO). The closed green-and-white, rounded machine looks more the part of a toy suitcase than powerful laptop. Read more

Posted on Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:31:35 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Hands-On with the Palm Foleo

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Krunker got their hands on the new Palm Foleo smartphone companion at a Palm retail store at the Grove in Los Angeles.

Quote from the hands-on Foleo report: "I’ll reserve my final judgement on the Foleo when it comes out at the end of the summer. Until then, I think there is a market for the Foleo - I just don’t think it’s as large as Palm hopes it would be. If Palm would provide more functionality than just email and web browsing to the Foleo, then I would be far more positive (and hopeful) of the device. Read more

Posted on Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

TomTom GO 720 First Hands-On Impressions

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GPS Lodge got their hands on the new TomTom GO 720 at the TomTom offices. The TomTom Go 720 will ship in a couple of weeks from Amazon.

Quote from the preview:
"On my recent trip to TomTom, I was able to play with the new TomTom GO 720 and wanted to give you my first impressions. The TomTom GO 720 was recently announced, and while it's not yet available to the public, it will be by the end of July/Early August. I think there are a couple of things going on with the TomTom GO 720 that are worth noting. Read more

Posted on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:50:11 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

ASUS Eee PC Hands-On

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Hothardware got some first hand impressions of the Asus Eee PC, that Asus introduced at the Computex 2007 last week.

The preview of the Asus Eee has photos of the Eee running Linux.
The Eee PC is running a version of Intel’s 910 mobile chipset and it uses a 900MHz Intel Dothan based Pentium M CPU. Asus put 512MB of DDR2 memory, full 802.11g wireless capability, and a flash-based hard drive inside the Eee PC. Read more

Posted on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Halo 3 Beta Hands-On with Game Footage Video

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The beta test of the highly anticipated Xbox 360 game Halo 3 will start later this month. Bungie studios showed the beta to some gaming media outlets yesterday.

Gamespot has published a hands-on report and video of game footage of the Halo 3 Beta.

Quote from the Halo 3 Hands-on:
"The first thing that strikes you about the Halo 3 beta is just how polished it feels. It's not like the beta is a hint of things to come and that you have to brush aside bugs, long loading times, and a number of other issues to enjoy the game. Read more

Posted on Sat, 12 May 2007 07:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Verizon FiOS Hands-On in New York

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An editor of PC Magazine got FiOS into his apartment in New York.

He published an overjoyed (understandable!) first-hand report of getting fiber-optics into his home.

Quote from the FiOS first hand report:
"My next move was to call my local Verizon branch and ask when I could get my fat new pipe lit. The Verizon rep was surprised to hear that I had the wiring installed already, saying she didn't know it was rolling out in Manhattan (always a bad sign). She transferred me to the fiber department. Read more

Posted on Thu, 3 May 2007 14:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Microsoft Deepfish Hands-on

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Microsoft released its first beta version of Deepfish last week. Deepfish is a web browser for mobile devices running Windows Mobile.

What I have seen so far from Deepfish is nothing better than what Nokia has already on the start since quite a while (2005!) with their S60 web browser. I use it every day on my Nokia N80 and it works great. Read more

Posted on Tue, 3 Apr 2007 06:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Apple TV Hands-On with Videos

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As reported the Apple TV has shipped this week.

Gizmodo published a good video showing the Apple TV box focusing on initial setup. The user interface is just neat as expected.

The Apple TV box does not support direct file manipulation. It just syncs from the PC/Mac. Maybe Apple adds that in the future via a firmware update.
Read more

Posted on Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Joost 0.8.1 Beta Test Hands-on Impressions

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I just found an invite the Joost beta test in my inbox. To summarize the experience in one word: AWESOME!

The user interface concept is just what you expect from a state-of-the-art service. Transparent overlay menues are nothing new, but it is good to see them used well. The channel navigation is great. The viewing experience in full screen is nice. Although most footage is not in HD.

I just got 16mbps DSL service from the pink giant (Deutsche Telekom), still I got several hick-ups watching footage.

The biggest issue with the current Joost service i found is that fast forward is not working. Apparently it should work to move the slider on footage that I already viewed, but that did not work either.
Fast forward on something I did not watch before is not supported right now, based on a comment in the Joost forum. Fast forward is an important feature. I hope to see this working in the next version of Joost.

There are also already short commercials featuring Eclipse and T-Mobile. They appear switching between shows. Read more

Posted on Sat, 3 Mar 2007 06:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr