Livescribe Sky Wifi Smartpen

Everyone who takes notes should have a Livescribe pen—but maybe not this one, at least not yet. The new Sky Wifi Smartpen ($169.95-$249.95 direct) lets you take synchronized ink and audio notes on paper. In theory, it effortlessly uploads those notes to the Internet, where you can check them on any device capable of running Evernote. In practice, the software isn't quite finished yet.

First, paper. While many people take notes on laptops nowadays, there are still a lot of places where paper is better. Laptops are awkward when you're standing up. When you're interviewing someone, a laptop creates a visual and psychological barrier that makes them a little less likely to open up.

Phone and tablet note-taking apps such as Evernote and Skitch try to fill the gap, but they can't quite make it. There's a little too much lag, and tablet styli aren't precise enough for you to write small, and the lack of friction makes it difficult to write without looking at the screen.

Enter the Livescribe. Paired with special notebooks, this digital pen lets you take ordinary notes on paper, sync them with audio recordings, and play the notes back later. Tap on any point in your writing and you'll hear what was recorded at that moment. Livescribe calls synced ink-and-audio recordings "pencasts."

I've used a Livescribe pen for years, and it's indispensable in my line of work. Syncing the ink with audio recordings means I can go back into any point of any interview, checking to see exactly what someone said. It makes quoting people much, much easier. 

Reach for the Sky
The Sky uses the same body and paper as the earlier 0.5-by-6.2-by-0.8 inch, 1.3 ounce Livescribe Echo , although it traded out the Echo's soft-touch barrel for a less-useful shiny silver-gray one. Both pens are large and somewhat flattened, with a small 12-character LED display on the front, a Power button, and USB and headphone jacks on the top. Yes, it feels more like a marker than like a pen, but as someone who's taken notes for eight hours straight with a Livescribe, I can tell you it isn't too heavy.

The actual 'pen' part is just a ballpoint tip that fits into a slot in the front of the pen. You can buy five-packs of tips for $6.95 and they come in black, blue, or red. The tips themselves just feel like cheap ballpoints. They're a little scratchy, but they get the job done. They don't smear, and the fine points are quite fine.

With ink, you need paper. The pen comes bundled with a 50-sheet, spiral-bound notebook to get you started. I prefer the 200-page black journals, which run $25 for two, but you can also get different styles of notebooks and notepads, for about $9-$14 each. If you have a 600dpi laser (not inkjet) printer, you can also print your own paper.

Then you're ready to get started. Charge the pen via the micro USB port with the included cable, switch it on, and you're recording what you write. Tap on a little icon on the special paper, and you're recording what the pen hears, synced up. The pen's microphone is heavily biased towards nearby sounds, which is fine if you're interviewing somebody one-on-one, but in meetings, you have to turn up the volume to hear people at the other end of a long table.

The Sky comes in three models: a 2GB version for $169.95, a 4GB version for $199.95, and an 8GB version for $249.95. All three come with 500MB of Evernote storage (enough for 50-75 hours of audio) and the most expensive model comes with a year's worth of Evernote Premium, a $45 value. As far as I'm concerned, since you'll probably sync the pen at least once a day, there's little reason to get the higher-storage models. I tested the 2GB model.

Unfinished Integration
The Sky's major shift is in ditching Livescribe's old, balky desktop software in exchange for Wi-Fi-based integration with Evernote. That's a great idea, but it needs another software rev before it works properly. You lose the oddball Java apps that used to run on the Echo pen, but super-easy syncing with any device is worth the trade-off.

Here's the idea: You set up the Sky with a Wi-Fi network using an easy login process. Every time you stop an audio recording, it uploads your audio and ink to Evernote, where it appears online. If, while you're recording, you're not within range of the Wi-Fi network, everything will be uploaded as soon as you return to the network. And since Evernote works with nearly every PC, tablet, and smartphone in existence, you can read back your notes on anything.

That's the theory. In practice, it's awkward. I'll set aside the bugs, which Livescribe says will be fixed by launch. Even beyond that, audio notes arrived with the wrong times attached to them and no obvious sign of which note was associated with which page. In my tests, clicking on ink notes to play audio spawned a separate Web window, the Livescribe Player, so you can't play synced audio when offline, at all. You also can't alter the speed of the audio playback, a feature from the old desktop software that I really miss.

Individual pages appear as separate notes in Evernote, even though most note-taking sessions involve a bunch of pages. Audio recordings appear as different notes, without a clear guide as to which audio notes are connected to which pages. Since the audio notes are interleaved with the text notes, you can't flip through pages naturally. Some of my audio notes didn't show up in Evernote until hours after I took them, and then they all appeared in a batch.

Fortunately, all of the on-pen playback functionality still works fine. You can plug headphones into your pen, tap on ink in your paper notebook and hear what you recorded. You can speed up and slow down playback by tapping on icons in the notebook. But this is a step backwards in functionality: Livescribe took away useful Echo features like controlling playback speed and the optional MyScript handwriting recognition without replacing them yet. Those features may be coming, but they're not here today.

Also, struggling with Wi-Fi kills the Sky's battery. On one test day, the pen had terrible trouble syncing, and I ended up with just 4.5 hours of heavy note taking and audio recording on a single charge. Better connectivity on a different day pushed the battery life closer to six hours of audio before I needed to recharge.

If you don't have Wi-Fi, you can sync with Evernote using a cable and a desktop helper app, which wasn't available for me to review.

Hoping for Better
Livescribe is a cool technology and the Sky is a great idea. But it needs upgrades both to the pen firmware and to Evernote to realize its potential. Syncing needs to be quick and efficient, and Evernote should showcase pencasts, not separate them into their text and audio components or have to launch a helper app.

The whole idea of pencasts is the integration between text and audio; the whole idea of a notebook is a seamless, easy to flip through sequence of pages. By breaking every page into a separate note, it's difficult to cruise through the notes you took in a session. By interleaving the audio notes as separate content, it breaks up the experience. By forcing it to spawn the Web-based player to play your synced notes, it adds a step.

That said, Livescribe tells me that a lot of positive changes are coming over the next few months. This is a radical shift in direction for the company; it's sort of like having a version 1.0 all over again.

I'd advise that Livescribe owners stick with their current pens until the software here improves. If you're a student, journalist, therapist, or other frequent note-taker who also has a Mac or PC, you can pick up this pen and agree to bear with what is sure to be an improving software experience, or go with the Echo, which syncs with Livescribe's balky, but at least consistent, desktop software.

We'll revisit this review in a few months after the software is improved. I like where Livescribe is going, it justs need a little more time to get there.

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Babbel

Pros Inexpensive online language-learning program. Good quality. Speech-recognition technologies well implemented. Blends listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

Cons Quantity of content varies by language. No real-time Web classes. Bottom Line For an inexpensive and little-known language-learning program, Babbel exceeds expectations, delivering high quality courses for anyone who doesn't mind an online-only program.

By Jill Duffy

When I was a high school student learning Spanish, I simply couldn't afford expensive language-learning programs to supplement my studies. Back then, even simplistic audio CDs with workbooks—a format I honestly don't mind—started around $50 or $100, but that would be for just a few lessons. Oh, how times have changed. But can a little-known, online-only, multi-sensory language-learning program that's also very inexpensive be any good? For Babbel (from $12.95 per month), the answer is yes.

I've been exploring Babbel's courses for a few weeks, focusing on German but dabbling in Spanish and Italian a bit to get a sense of how much different courses vary. Considering I had never heard of Babbel before I started testing it, I approached the online language-learning program with more than an ounce of skepticism regarding quality of the content. Boy was I in for a pleasant surprise.

I'd put it on par with Living Language (Platinum) ($179 per year, 3.5 stars) in many respects. I like Babbel's core content better, as well as the ability to pay per month and quit any time, but I also can't deny the huge value-add in Living Language's unlimited real-time Web classes, hosted by trained instructors. Babbel doesn't have that.

Another online-only program that's comparable is Duolingo (free, 4 stars), an Editors' Choice for its ability to deliver outstanding and challenging language-learning content for free, although it's limited to just four languages. Budget-conscious learners who can't find their language of choice in Duolingo (which has Spanish, German, English for Spanish speakers, and French in beta) should give Babbel a whirl, but be sure to take the free trial offer first to gauge the quantity of content for your tongue, as it varies drastically. For more program suggestions, see "The Best Software for Learning a Language."

Languages Offered
Babbel is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

That's not quite so many languages as offered by the highly interactive Editors' Choice Rosetta Stone version 4 TOTALe (with even more languages offered if you search beyond "version 4"), or the mostly audio program Pimsleur Comprehensive. If you're looking for a language that's not in high demand, try either of those programs.

Quality and Quantity
As mentioned, Babbel's quality exceeded my fairly modest expectations. I have yet to encounter an error, poorly designed feature, or truly lackluster exercise. Even in competing programs, like Living Language, I came across a few boring mini-games or long stretches of text that I would ultimately just skim. Babbel keeps most of its reading material to tight segments that enhance and reinforce concepts as you learn them.

The overall structure makes sense, too, and progress markers mostly do their job of tracking your work (more on those two points on the next page). All the audio content sounds fine, with the occasional microphone plosive here and there. It's not music-studio grade recording, but it's not low-fi either.

Quantity of content, on the other hand, varies by language. If you're looking to learn Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, or German, for example, you'll find much more content than if you're working on Dutch, Indonesian, or Polish. Luckily, you can take up Babbel on its free trial to make sure what's included matches your learning level, and if you do subscribe to the service and still find that it's not what you expected, you can leave after a month having only shelled out about $13.

Price
A big selling point for Babbel is price. The online-only program offers three subscriptions: $12.95 per month; $26.85 every three months; or $44.70 every six months.

Compare that with Tell Me More, which charges $199 for a three-month Web pass, or Living Language's $179 price for year-long access, and Babbel seems like a great bargain. With Living Language, you also get to take as many 30-minute webinar-style classes with a live teacher as you can cram into a year. That's a huge value-add and should be something conversational-level learners should consider.

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XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Pros Challenging and engaging. Lots of replayability with customization options and random missions.

Cons Not quite as complex as the original X-Com. Bottom Line XCOM: Enemy Unknown brings the tight, strategic X-Com experience to PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, and is a worthy reboot of the classic series.

By Will Greenwald

2K Games and Firaxis have succeeded in rekindling a long-dead franchise with XCOM: Enemy Unknown. This turn-based strategy game is a reimagining of 1994's X-COM: UFO Defense, a long-beloved game that last saw a sequel in 2001 with the ill-received X-COM: Enforcer, a shooter that didn't have any of the first game's strategy. XCOM: Enemy Unknown feels like a straight remake of the original, bringing almost everything gamers loved about it to the PC, Xbox 360 , and PlayStation 3 , with updated graphics, streamlined gameplay, and plenty of challenge. I reviewed the PC version.

Aliens Attack
The premise of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is simple. Aliens are invading. They're starting with abductions, but as the game progresses it becomes all-out war against Earth. That's where you come in. You command XCOM, a global team that has to fight the aliens. You alternate between the strategic organization level and the tactical combat level, winning battles and building your forces to be ready for new threats.

Half of the game takes place in XCOM headquarters, where you have to manage a large underground installation with multiple types of facilities and uses. Scientists research alien equipment you bring back and let you equip your squads with newer and better weapons and armor. Engineers build the new equipment and excavate and construct new facilities in your headquarters. Soldiers can be given different types of equipment and assigned different skills based on their randomly-assigned class (Assault, Heavy, Support, and Sniper) and their rank, which acts as a level system that rewards soldiers you keep alive and in missions. The Situation Room lets you monitor levels of panic around the world and deploy satellites to improve your cash flow and ability to track threats. These are are important because new equipment and facilities cost money and if too many countries and areas panic and leave the XCOM alliance, the shadowy council will pull the plug on it. Finally, Mission Control lets you scan the planet for threats, respond to requests for aid, and scramble interceptors to shoot down UFOs. Time slowly ticks by in the headquarters unless you speed it up by scanning the world, and those hours and days that pass mean you can research new equipment and build new facilities. The more time that passes, the more time the aliens have to send bigger threats your way, so you have to balance between focusing on shoring up your equipment and taking the fight to them.

Future Warfare
The other half of the game takes place on the ground in different combat missions. You control a squad of up to six soldiers who kill aliens, rescue civilians, defuse bombs, and perform other tasks in large, tile-based, multi-level maps. Each turn, your soldiers can perform up to two actions: move and shoot, move twice as far, move and use items, and perform special attacks like fire rocket launchers (for heavy soldiers) and deal extra damage with head shots (for snipers). As soldiers grow by killing aliens and surviving missions, they get new skills. However, if they die in combat, they're gone and you have to replace them with a less experienced soldier. Since each soldier can be given unique names and looks, it's easy to become attached to them as you walk them through multiple missions, and it makes it that much harder to see them get disintegrated by an alien laser pistol. You'll constantly  weigh the merits of aggressively moving forward to complete the mission and trying to keep all your squad alive. The soldier customization isn't quite as robust as in the original XCOM, but it has enough options to give you control over your squad and make you feel attached to your soldiers.

Cover and maneuvering are every bit as important as skills and equipment in battle. Each map is covered in a fog of war, and you need to carefully move your squad forward while keeping them out of the open to find the aliens without getting everyone killed in a few moves. Cover like cars, walls, and wreckage afford your soldiers protection and can mean the difference between an alien winging a soldier and putting him in the infirmary for a week and outright blowing his head off. It's a simple, vital element that is easy enough to use (move your soldiers to objects on the battlefield that show shields or half-shields, depending on how much cover they give in different directions) and keeps the game from becoming a question of loading up heavy weapons and rushing the enemy.

Each playthrough randomizes events, and missions are randomly generated from a pool of maps and objectives (most involving killing all the aliens). It gives the game some variety, but the maps and missions tend to feel similar as you play a full game. Like Diablo III , XCOM: Enemy Unknown would have benefitted from a more granular, tile-based system that procedurally generates maps instead of taking huge, familiar game chunks and bringing them together. It feels less random than the original X-Com, like Diablo III feels less random than Diablo II.

PC Gameplay
I played the PC version, which uses a mouse and keyboard to control the game. Since the action is tile-based, moving soldiers and making them fire is as easily as right-clicking on a location and left-clicking on an enemy. The gamepad controls of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions are about as accessible, using the analog stick instead of a mouse but otherwise offering the same tactical control.

A multiplayer mode lets you face off against friends, but it's fairly limited. Multiplayer games are squad-based with point limits, giving each unit both human (based on equipment) and alien a point value. Players can have small squads of a few very powerful units or a full squad of weak or modest units, and there's no single right way to do it. It's a fun way to play the alien units, but there isn't much depth to it.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the return of a beloved and forgotten sci-fi franchise that will entertain tactics fans and satisfy classic gaming fans. More randomized maps and more online options would have been great, but as it stands XCOM: Enemy Unknown is already an excellent strategy game, despite the features it lacks.

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Kanex Sydnee

Pros Clean design. Four 2.1-amp USB ports. Cradles up to three tablets. Occupies one power outlet.

Cons Expensive. No bundled Lightning connectors. Bottom Line The Kanex Sydnee stand and charging dock offers a nice way to store, organize, and charge multiple iPads or other USB devices.

By Eugene Kim

For many, the $149 (direct) Kanex Sydnee will seem like a superfluous item—who needs to be able to charge three iPads or other tablets simultaneously? Well, as Apple made clear in its latest iPad event, tablets are finding their way into more and more classrooms and businesses. That means multiple iPads in a single location, all of which will need regular juicing. For those applications, the Sydnee makes sense, with a clean design that makes it easy to cradle and charge up to four devices, eliminating the mess of cables and lack of available power outlets. And though it's designed with iDevices in mind, the bring-your-own-cable design means it'll work with just about any USB powered device. It's a little pricey, but if organization is a key concern, the Sydnee is a good solution.

Like many Apple-centric accessories, the Sydnee, available in black or white, adheres to a clean and modern design aesthetic. The smooth lines and glossy finish are attractive, but the stand is constructed from all plastic, so there's a little flex and rattle when you're swapping tablets in and out, but overall, it feels sturdy. There's a small lip on the front of the stand and an interior space that's separated into two compartments by a clear plastic divider. The stand can easily cradle three iPads, even in moderately bulky cases, and there's some rubber padding in the cradle spots, but not enough to fully protect your iPad if the stand gets jostled.

Around back are four USB ports, each delivering 2.1 amps of power, which is sufficient for all iPads, iPhones, and pretty much any USB-powered tablet or smartphone. Kanex includes three 16-inch 30-pin Apple cables, which, of course, won't be compatible with the 4th-generation iPad or the iPad mini without adapters. Fortunately, since the cables aren't built in, you can bring your own cable or add an adapter as necessary. There's a plastic arm on the back of the stand to wrap lengthy cords around, while a slotted rubber piece up top lets you thread and organize all the cables. A power cord extends from the back of the stand, which occupy a single power outlet.

In my tests, the Sydnee was able to charge three iPads simultaneously, with the fourth USB port open for, say, an iPhone or another USB-powered device. It also worked with various Android powered tablets. You'll only be able to use the outermost tablet while docked, and only in landscape orientation, since there is no cutout for the power adapter on the front lip.

At $150, the Kanex Sydnee does seem somewhat overpriced since it's essentially a 4-port USB hub (which you can get for about $20 online), married to a simple plastic tablet cradle. Still, you get three 30-pin cables in the box, and if you have multiple iPads or other tablets in a single location, the Sydnee will make storing and charging them an easy and organized affair. Otherwise, the appeal is, admittedly, a bit limited. 

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Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR

Pros Very sharp. 5x zoom range. Fixed aperture.

Cons Pricey. Noticeable distortion. Bottom Line The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR is the standard zoom lens for full-frame Nikon cameras. It's sharp, but exhibits some barrel and pincushion distortion.

By Jim Fisher

The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR ($1,299.95 direct) has long been the standard zoom lens for full-frame Nikon cameras. Only recently has it been joined by a lesser-priced counterpart, the AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR. That lens is only $700, but has a shorter zoom range and a slower aperture on the telephoto end. If you're buying on price alone, the 24-85mm will get the job done, but the longer zoom range and fixed aperture of the 24-120mm make it a more versatile lens.

The lens itself is pretty compact, especially compared with the AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED . It measures 4.1 by 3.3 inches (HD) and weighs just under 1.5 pounds. A bayonet mount hood is included, and the lens is compatible with standard 77mm filters. It can focus as close as 1.5 feet at any focal length, which is quite useful for working tight—but it's no substitute for a real macro lens like the Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 .

We tested the sharpness and distortion characteristics of the lens using the Nikon D600 and the Imatest software package. It exceeds the 1,800 lines per picture height required for a sharp image at all tested focal lengths and apertures. At 24mm f/4 it records 2,680 lines, a figure that increases to 2,850 by f/8. Barrel distortion is 3.7 percent here, which is about the same as the 24-85mm. It's noticeable in images—straight lines will appear curved outwards—but can be corrected pretty easily using Photoshop.

At about the midpoint of its zoom range, 70mm, the lens notches 2,088 lines at f/4, increasing steadily to 2,978 lines at f/8. At 120mm f/4 it notches 2,300 lines and hits 2,779 lines at f/8. Distortion is of the pincushion variety at these focal lengths, which makes straight lines curve inward. It exhibits 2.9 percent at 70mm and 2.6 percent at 120mm, figures which are noticeable in field conditions, but once again can be corrected with a few clicks in Lightroom.

The Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G ED VR is one of a few Nikon FX zoom lenses that start at 24mm. Of them, it has the longest zoom ratio at 5x, but the middle price point and aperture. As such, it represents the best balance of value and performance of the bunch—its f/4 aperture only captures half the light of an f/2.8 lens, but is fine for event photography, especially when coupled with a good Speedlight. The 24-85mm is a solid choice if you're on a budget, but its $700 price tag comes with a lesser zoom range. The 24-70mm f/2.8G ED is the most expensive of the bunch at $1,900, but its fixed f/2.8 aperture comes in handy when it's not permissible or feasible to use a flash.

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LG 42CS560

Pros Inexpensive. Accurate colors. Very bright.

Cons Dismal black levels. Only two HDMI ports. Bottom Line You'll make some compromises, but LG's CS560 series of CCFL-backlt LCD HDTVs offer solid overall picture quality with excellent colors at very reasonable prices.

By Will Greenwald

These days, you don't have to spent a lot of money for an HDTV. Budget screens are becoming less and less expensive, and you can pick up a solid 42-inch set for under $700 with relative ease. At that price, you'll have to makes some compromises, though. LG's CS560 series of 1080p CCFL-backlit HDTVs are barebones when it comes to features, but they offer excellent color reproduction and a very bright picture. The downside: Black levels aren't great, and shadow details suffer. But the 42-inch model we tested, the 42CS560, retails for just $629.99 (list), so it's tough to deny the price appeal.

Design
As a budget set, the 42CS560 won't win any points for good looks. It's flat, plain, and black, with a bezel that measures 1.5 inches around the screen and a thickish 3-inch profile. It's 29.5 pounds and can be easily mounted on a wall, but doesn't keep a particularly low profile. A small, nearly invisible row of touch-sensitive controls sit on the lower right corner of the bezel, controlling power, volume, channels, and menu navigation, though you'll likely be using the simple remote most of the time. Around back, there are just two HDMI ports, component and composite video inputs, and an Ethernet port. A single USB port sits on the side, making it the only port you can conveniently access while the screen is mounted on a wall. 

The 7.2-inch remote has plain rubber buttons and isn't backlit. You get four color buttons for various contextual uses, and the SimpLink button provides access to the TV's DLNA feature. It's a big departure from the remotes on LG's high-end HDTVs, which often come in pairs; one long, sleek conventional remote and one motion-sensing magic wand.

You won't find any online services or other extra features on the 42CS560. It supports DLNA through Ethernet so you can play media from computers and other devices over your home network, and has a tuner so you can watch over-the-air or basic (clearQAM) cable without any extra devices, but that's it. Again, it's a strictly barebones HDTV.

Performance
We test HDTVs with DisplayMate test patterns, SpectraCal's CalMAN software, and a Konica Minolta CS 200 Chroma Meter. While the 42CS560 suffers in black levels, it gets very bright and its color accuracy out of the box is excellent. In our tests, after basic contrast and brightness calibration, the 42CS560 displayed 335.48 cd/m2 (candelas per square inch) peak brightness. However, at those settings, it only reached a black level of 0.34 cd/m2, a very poor showing for any type of HDTV. Cranking the backlight down cut the black level to a still-poor 0.17 cd/m2, but it cut peak brightness in half as well. You might be able to coax the blacks darker, but the contrast won't differ much from the tested 987:1 contrast ratio we measured. Our Editors' Choice budget HDTV, the 720p plasma Samsung PN51E490B4F, reached a much better, but still mediocre 0.08 cd/m2. If you want dark black levels, look elsewhere, but you probably won't find levels lower than 0.05 cd/m2 without spending upward of $1,000.

The 42CS560 fares much better in color response. Out of the box, with color temperature set to Warm, blues and reds were nearly perfect and green registered as only slightly cool. As the CIE color measurement chart below shows, the screen shows colors that are very close to ideal (the circles represent the recorded colors, and the squares represent the ideal levels). If the colors seem slightly off to you, the 42CS560 has a plethora of advanced color options, including individual saturation and tint settings for six color channels.

I watched Piranha on Blu-ray on the 42CS560, and while the bright, vibrant colors looked good during the party sequences above the water, the poor black levels hurt the dark scenes under the water. Deep reds and bluish greens of the blood and water made the scenes above pop, but in the murky deeps shadows looked pale and uninspiring.

As a CCFL-backlit LCD HDTV, the 42CS560 is a bit of a power hog. With no energy saving features enabled, it consumes 136 watts, high for its size. With energy saving set to Medium, it consumes a more modest 80 watts while keeping the screen bright enough to be comfortably watched. The Auto and Maximum energy saving modes cut the power down to 60 watts, but made the screen slightly too dark. In comparison, the Sony KDL-46EX750  LED-backlit LCD HDTV consumes only 67 watts with no power saving features turned on and 48 watts with power saving enabled. 

Overall, the CS560 series offers excellent color reproduction, but its poor black levels keep us from recommending it wholeheartedly. While it offers a 1080p picture for a very low price, you're also getting a serious lack of features, few HDMI ports, and sketchy shadow detail. The 720p, 51-inch Samsung PN51E490B4F plasma remains our Editors' Choice for budget HDTVs, with darker black levels and 3D support with glasses for nearly the same price. If you can spend a bit more, the Vizio E601-A33 offers a much more full-featured experience with online services, built-in Wi-Fi, and a larger, 60-inch panel at about $1,000.

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Subjekt Pulse Bluetooth Headphones (PLS-9600)

Pros Strong wireless audio performance, with ample bass response and crisp highs. Comfortable, simple design. Built-in remote controls and microphone for calls and music playback on mobile devices.

Cons Overpriced compared with the direct competition. Sound leaks from on-ear design. No charger included, only a charging cable. Microphone call clarity is not a strength. Bottom Line Despite the general quality of the Subjekt Pulse Bluetooth Headphones (PLS-9600), there's a dead ringer on the market that is far more affordable.

By Tim Gideon

Stereo Bluetooth headphones are sounding a lot better than they used to, thanks to serious improvements with Bluetooth codecs. Suddenly, we have a lot of options to consider—even budget-friendly options—that offer surprisingly good sound. Subjekt's Pulse Bluetooth Headphones ($99.99 direct) are one such pair, providing solid audio performance for their under-$100 price. The only problem: So does another pair we've reviewed...a pair that, to understate things, looks and sounds very similar, yet costs $30 less. So, our generally positive review of the Pulse now becomes a side-by-side comparision of the Pulse and the eerily similar Outdoor Technology DJ Slims .

Design
There's no other way to put it: The Subjekt Pulse looks alarmingly like the DJ Slims. Both pairs feature a wide black plastic headband and near-identical controls—the only obvious differences are in ear pad size and paint job. Even the metallic headband adjustors look the same, and when you remove the earpads, the enclosures and grilles housing the drivers look identical (same size and number of holes, same swivel-type mount to the headband). There are some other subtle differentiators, like the use of different headband material textures (rubberized on the DJ Slims, glossy on the Pulse) and a raised, stylized button surface on the DJ Slims—see the picture below for a side-by-side comparison.

The Power button and controls are located on the right earpiece, and a dummy set of controls (that look like buttons but aren't) covers the left earpiece's outer panel, presumably for aesthetic symmetry. Yup, same setup on the DJ Slims. The blinking blue status LED is sized and placed identically on both pairs—something, by the way, that's not optimal. The light could be smaller, and placed somewhere so that those around you don't have to see it flashing constantly while you wear them.

Basically, it looks like Outdoor Technology and Subjekt bought their headphone frames from the same OEM. Does that mean they sound identical? Hard to say! We'll discuss this more at length later on in the review, but we have to give Subjekt the benefit of the doubt here, because there are enough physical differences (the contour of the controls, the glossy versus rubberized headband materials) that it's possible the internals are slightly different, as well.

The Subjekt Pulse comes with a charging cable but no actual charger—this is increasingly the standard for Bluetooth headsets, but it's not a good thing. It ensures that you'll need a computer with a USB port (or charger) around in order to get juice when the battery needs recharging—but what if you want to travel light? Isn't the point of highly mobile, wireless headphones to cut down on the clutter? For the record, the DJ Slims are guilty of the same crime.

Subjekt rates battery life for the Pulse at about 10-11 hours, which is comparable to the DJ Slims. The Pulse supports Bluetooth 2.1 and headset, hands-free, A2DP, and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles.

Performance
The Pulse delivers deep bass cleanly, even at maximum volumes—there may be a hint of distortion when both the sound source and the headphones are at maximum volume on tracks like our bass test track, "Silent Shout," by the Knife, but it is barely noticeable.

The mids and highs sound tweaked and sculpted, and the end result is very crisp, and ideal for a lot of popular modern music styles. It works well on classical tracks, too, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances," bringing out higher register strings and percussion, while adding a bit of low-end boost to the lower register percussion and strings. It's never over the top, but it's clear that this is not really a flat-response sound signature, so audiophiles and purists will likely want to steer clear.

Call clarity on the Pulse is not a strength—my call partners often said I sounded muffled, as did their audio at times. I was using an iPhone 4S, which isn't exactly the king of call clarity to begin with, but this seemed a bit more muffled than usual. Regardless, it was never so unintelligible that we couldn't understand each other. Operating the on-ear controls for volume, playback, and answering calls was a snap.

Okay, now let's bring back the side-by-side comparison. There's no denying that the two pairs sound very similar, in terms of brightness and bass response. It did seem, with both pairs at maximum volume as well as the iPhone 4S source maxed out, that the Subjekt Pulse was slightly louder, but this could be anything from a slight disparity between two (possibly) identical products, a slight variance in performance due to the two pairs using slightly different drivers, or even the thickness and shape of the foam ear pads could make the difference.

It's hard to say for sure if the Pulse and the DJ Slims are the same pair of headphones wearing different costumes. Probably. But it's hardly a unique situation; enterprising young companies often choose to put their own stamp on models also offered to their direct competition by OEMs.

It also doesn't mean the Pulse is ripping off the DJ Slims, or vice-versa—they're both quality budget Bluetooth headphone options. What it really comes down to is price. Regardless of whether these are the same OEM model or not, they sound very similar, but the DJ Slims are a full $30 less. That's quite a discount. It's enough that we forgive the DJ Slims some shortcomings because it's priced at about $70, while we are less forgiving of the Pulse, which is priced around $100.

This was a complicated review to write: I don't think the Subjekt Pulse is anything but a solid, affordable pair of Bluetooth headphones. There just happens to be a far more affordable option offering the same performance for $30 less. Obviously, this affects the rating. If these side-by-side comparisons give you a headache, I don't blame you. The good news is, there are other quality Bluetooth options too. The Sennheiser MM 100  is a well-priced, behind-the-head headband style pair, and if you have some more money to spend, the recent Beats by Dr. Dre Wireless  offers audio that may be highly sculpted, but still sounds great, especially if you're a bass lover. If you'd rather go the in-ear route, the Phiaton PS 20 BT  is another inexpensive Bluetooth option.

More Headphone Reviews:
•   Subjekt Pulse Bluetooth Headphones (PLS-9600)
•   Heir Audio 4.Ai Universal In-Ear Monitor
•   Phiaton Moderna MS 200
•   RHA SA950i
•   Audiofly AF78
•  more

View the original article here

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD (Verizon Wireless)

Pros Solid build quality.Fast processor and data speeds. Incredible battery life.

Cons Underwhelming camera. Doesn't run Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). Difficult-to-access microSD slot. Bottom Line The Verizon Wireless Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD provides plenty of power and enough battery life to keep you going all day.

By Alex Colon

Wouldn't it be nice to just pluck your phone off the charger in the morning and not have to worry about it again until the end of the day? That's what you get with the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD, which turned in the best battery results we've ever seen on a smartphone. It also features a large 4.7-inch 720p display, along with a powerful dual-core processor and fast data speeds on Verizon's 4G LTE network. At $299.99, it's $100 more than the near-identical Droid Razr HD, but the Maxx gets you double the storage capacity and a few extra hours of battery life. If you need a phone you can use all day, it's worth it.

Editors' Note: The Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD and the Motorola Droid Razr HD are extremely similar, so we're sharing a lot of material between our reviews. That said, we're testing each device separately, so read the review for your carrier of choice.

Size and Design
The Droid Razr Maxx HD looks almost identical to the Razr HD. Both phones measure 5.19 by 2.67 inches in height and width, but the Maxx is just a little thicker, at .37 inches compared with the Razr HD's .33 inches. It's also a little heavier, at 5.54 ounces compared with 5.15 for the Razr HD. To the naked eye, this difference is virtually imperceptible. Even when holding the phones it's hard to tell which one is which. So if you're worried about the Maxx being much larger, don't.

The phone is made using the same Kevlar material as the original Droid Razrs, which gives it an expensive, luxurious feel. Compared with the plastic Samsung Galaxy S III , the Razr Maxx HD feels much more solid. And it's protected by a water-repellant nanocoating, which doesn't make it waterproof, but a little more durable than the average smartphone.

The angular corners of the original Razr have been smoothed out for a sleek new look. Those colors only appear around the display; the back of each phone is the same gray and black patterned Kevlar, with an aluminum band running around the middle. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack up top, a Power button and volume rocker on the right, and a charging and micro HDMI port on the left, along with a hidden microSD card slot.

Design aside, keep in mind that this is still a very large phone. I have average size hands, and when I hold the Razr Maxx HD in one hand I can't reach high enough to drag the notifications bar down with my thumb. So if you have small hands or tiny pockets, you may want look at the 4.3-inch Droid Razr M, which is significantly smaller and easier to hold.

True to its name, the Razr Maxx HD is packing a 4.7-inch 1280-by-720 HD Super AMOLED display. It gets very bright and colors look super saturated, but I'm not a fan of the PenTile pixel layout, which, despite the 312 pixels per inch, causes text and images to look a bit fuzzy upon close inspection. Function keys are displayed onscreen, and the large display means there's plenty of room for a big software keyboard that's very comfortable to type on.

Call Quality and Battery Life
The Razr Maxx HD works on Verizon's 3G and LTE networks, and can roam across the globe on GSM. It also integrates 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi on the 2.4 and 5GHz bands. Verizon's 4G LTE network is very fast, and received top honors in our Fastest Mobile Networks tests earlier this year. The Razr Maxx HD has good reception, and averaged 5.5Mbps down and 6Mbps up in our speed tests.

Call quality is good. In my tests, voices sounded rich, though a little bit muddy, in the phone's earpiece. I do wish the volume level went just a little bit higher; it was difficult to hear everything outside on a busy city street. Transmissions sound clear, with good noise cancellation. Calls sounded fine through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset and Motorola's voice command system worked well over Bluetooth. The speakerphone also sounds fine, but isn't loud enough to use outdoors.

The most important feature here is the battery, and to that end, the Razr Maxx HD delivers. The nonremovable 3,300mAh battery was good for 18 hours and 51 minutes of talk time, which is the best result we've ever seen from a smartphone. Compare that with the Razr HD, which got 14 hours and 48 minutes, and the Galaxy S III, which was good for 10 hours and 43 minutes, and the Razr Maxx HD is well ahead of the competition.

We also tested battery life while streaming a video over 4G. The Razr Maxx HD lasted for just about 9 hours, with the Razr HD coming in at 7 hours and 1 minute, and the Galaxy S III at 6 hours and 57 minutes. All of these results are respectable, but if you need a phone that's guaranteed to make it through the day, the numbers speak for themselves.

Processor, Android, and Apps
Powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor, the Razr Maxx HD is built around the same processor you'll find in the Razr M and the Razr HD. It's starting to become somewhat standard among the upper echelon of smartphones, but that doesn't make it any less powerful. The Razr Maxx HD turned in similar benchmarks to the Galaxy S III, which is powered by the same chip. It's powerful enough for any apps or games you throw at it, and should keep things moving at a steady clip for some time to come. Keep in mind that gaming frame rates are actually higher on the Razr M, because its lower-resolution display means it's pushing fewer pixels.

The Razr Maxx HD ships running Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich," which is nearly a year old at this point. That's kind of crazy considering Google now owns Motorola, and Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" brings a host of improvements over ICS. An update is planned before the end of the year, but it should be there to begin with.

(Next page: Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions)

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CleanMyPC

Pros Effective tune-up tools. Simple, easy-to-navigate interface.

Cons Competing products offer more bang for the buck. Boot-time improvement trumped by competition. Bottom Line CleanMyPC does a solid job of boosting the performance of worn PCs, but its license limitations makes it hard to recommend.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

There are numerous utilities designed to whip your computer back into tip-top condition after a fragmented hard drive, junk files, and registry issues slows system performance—CleanMyPC is one of them. The $39.99 utility does a decent job of whipping worn PCs back into shape, but its license limitation—the price tag covers just one PC!—will make other apps such as Comodo System Utilities, Iolo System Mechanic 11 , and SlimWare Utilities SlimCleaner more attractive.

The Basics
The Windows 8 and Windows 7-compatible CleanMyPC features a soft, attractive blue-and-white interface. It's very simply designed; the left column houses My Computer, Hibernation, Registry Maintenance, Complete Uninstall, Gadgets & Extensions Manager, Autorun, Privacy Guard, and Secure Erase tools. They are designed to free up hard drive space, safeguard your privacy, and repair the registry—the source of many a Windows problem.

A minute or so after I clicked the scan icon in the main screen, CleanMyPC revealed several GB of "unneeded data." Unlike SlimWare SlimCleaner Utilities, CleanMyPC didn't serve up detailed listings of what needed to go. It did, however, reveal how much free space it freed up and what I could do with it. 1.9GB of space, for example, is enough room to store 400 MP3s tracks or 1,000 photos.

Performance Improvements
I tested CleanMyPC's ability to whip a PC back into shape by performing two tests—running the Geekbench system performance tool and measuring boot times—before and after running the software. I ran each test three times and averaged the results. CleanMyPC scrubbed the system (a 2-GHz Intel Core i7 X990 Style-Note notebook with 4GB of RAM, and an 80GB Intel SSD drive) to achieve a 5,914 Geekbench score and 50.3 seconds boot time.

My testbeds performance improved after I ran CleanMyPC. The GeekBench score rose to 6,454 (which beat Iolo System Mechanic 11 by two points to take the crown) and the boot time decreased to 39.4 seconds (which placed middle of the road, and eight seconds behind Iolo System Mechanic 11). Check out our chart for to see how CleanMyPC fared against competing products.

PC Tune-up Utilities Comparison Chart

Those numbers wouldn't mean much if it didn't translate into user-noticeable improvements—fortunately, it does. Windows and menus opened with extra pep that wasn't present when the machine was junked up. So did heavy-duty apps like iTunes. Still, I wished for an overall faster system boot.

CleanMyPC's biggest issue isn't performance, but price. The $39.99 price tag grants you just one license. Comodo System Utilities (free), Iolo System Mechanic 11 ($49.99), and SlimCleaner (free) have no such limitations—you can install the software on as many PCs as you wish. CleanMyPC offers two license ($59.99) and five license ($99.95) tiers, but they're pricey. If you live in a multi-PC home, you may want to look elsewhere.

Should You Use CleanMyPC To Clean Up Your PC?
CleanMyPC delivered the best GeekBench performance of all the tune-up utilities tested (beating Iolo System Mechanic 11 by a couple of points), but it drops the ball in terms of license limitations and it's boot time improvement isn't the best. If you need to tune-up just one PC CleanMyPC is worth a consideration, but Iolo System Mechanic 11 and SlimWare Utilities Slimcleaner are better all-around choices.

More Utilties Reviews:
•   Soluto
•   CleanMyPC
•   WinZip 17
•   Data Rescue PC3
•   Box (Personal)
•  more

View the original article here

Pioneer DVR-XD10

Pros Slim form factor. Mac-compatible, to a certain extent.

Cons Does not handle Blu-ray discs. Requires two USB ports. Y-cable not ideally designed. Bottom Line The Pioneer DVR-XD10 optical drive is a portable, frills-free solution for tablet and ultrabook users looking to access their optical discs.

By Ahmer Kazi

Change begets change, and with the rise of ultrabooks and tablets that ditch built-in optical drives in favor of maintaining portability, the once-ubiquitous optical drive has been on the wane. However, change isn't always so easy to embrace, and purchasers of these svelte gizmos may find themselves confronting the sight of suddenly obsolete DVDs and CDs. The Pioneer DVR-XD10 is a basic solution to this issue, offering a portable, frills-free manner of accessing optical discs for those who don't have the means to do so anymore.

Design and Features
At 0.55 by 5 by 5 inches (HWD), the DVR-XD10's dimensions are roughly on par with the svelte Samsung SE-218BB , making it about the size of a standard CD jewel case. Its plastic chassis weighs a scant half pound, so it doesn’t add any discernible weight or bulk to your laptop bag or backpack. Though its plastic housing is predominantly black, the DVR-XD10's lid sports a glossy pewter finish complete with a Pioneer logo in the center.

Like the Pioneer BDR-XD04, the DVR-XD10 utilizes a top-loading clamshell design. The drive must be powered on to open this lid, but a lever on its underside lets users manually open it without a power supply. Opening the DVR-XD10 reveals a layer of aluminum reinforcing on the lid's underside. Unlike the HP dvd560s, the DVR-XD10 can't be positioned vertically, so it will occupy slightly more desk space due to its necessarily horizontal orientation. That said, its top-loading body goes a long way to remedy this issue since the absence of a tray-loading design eliminates the need to clear out space directly in front of the drive, a helpful touch for folks with cluttered desks (myself included). For those who prefer a slot-loading drive, on the other hand, should check out the Lite-On eNAU708 .

The DVR-XD10 connects with an 18-inch USB 2.0 Y-cable through a micro USB port in the rear. Since it's bus-powered, there's no need to worry about AC adapters. Those who prefer the added security of a constant power supply, though, can utilize the drive's connection for an optional power adapter to reap the rewards of wall power. While the Y-cable's 18-inch length is fairly generous, the shorter strand is a paltry four inches long, making it problematic for those who need to utilize two USB ports on opposite ends of their system. Users looking to sidestep this issue altogether would be far better served by the Samsung SE-218BB, which utilizes a standard USB 2.0 cable.

The DVR-XD10 is compatible with Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7). It can also work on a Mac, though Pioneer doesn't guarantee full compatibility with OS X. In my testing, though, the DVR-XD10 was detected on an iMac using OSX 10.8, and performed perfectly fine. That said, Mac users looking for a degree of certainty should stick with the Samsung SE-218BB, which is fully compatible with both operating systems. Regardless of which drive you choose, however, Mac users will need to download additional burning software since the included Nero software only works with Windows (as is the case with the SE-218BB's preloaded software).

Lastly, it bears noting that users looking for something more future-proof should consider the Editors' Choice–winning Pioneer BDR-XD04 , which combines DVD and Blu-ray burning capability into a similarly slim drive.

Performance
During testing, the DVR-XD10 emitted a faint whisper as the disc spun, and its four rubber feet did an adequate job of absorbing the accompanying vibrations. Although writing media resulted in a slightly louder whirring sound, it never rose to the level of a nuisance and won't raise any eyebrows if used in a public setting. Pioneer advertises read and write speeds of 8x (DVD) and 24x (CD), and during both instances the DVR-XD10 maintained a cool temperature below 90 degrees Fahrenheit (as measured using a Fluke IR Thermometer).

Overall, installing and using the DVR-XD10 was a straightforward endeavor, and I encountered no hiccups when reading and writing DVDs or CDs. Although it's designed to be plugged into two USB ports in order to draw an optimal amount of power from your system, I was able to get by with just one USB port when reading and writing discs. This varies according to system, and for this reason Pioneer strongly recommends using both USB cables to "be safe and avoid write errors" on its site.

The Pioneer DVR-XD10 succeeds in doing exactly what it was designed to do, and it's accordingly a decent choice worth considering for users looking for a portable, frills-free device that allows them access or burn CDs and DVDs. That said, however, if I were pressed to choose an external CD/DVD burner, I'd lean heavily towards the Samsung SE-218BB since it doesn't require a cumbersome USB Y-cable. Those looking for a more future-proof optical drive, on the other hand, should opt for our current Editors' Choice, the Pioneer BDR-XD04, whose Blu-ray functionality ensures its usefulness for a while to come.

More Hard Drive reviews:
•   Pioneer DVR-XD10
•   G-Technology G-Drive Slim
•   Western Digital My Passport Edge
•   Western Digital VelociRaptor (1TB)
•   Western Digital My Book VelociRaptor Duo
•  more

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D-Link Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB Adapter (DWA-182)

D-Link has the distinction of being the first networking hardware vendor with a pre-draft 802.11ac wireless adapter on the market. The Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB Adapter (DWA-182) ($79.00, street) can connect notebooks and laptops to pre-draft 802.11ac routers and can do so through push-button WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup).However, during testing, I was unable to connect via WPS to a draft 802.11ac router other than D-Link's. Even when connected to D-Link's own 802.11ac router, the D-Link Amplifi Cloud Router 5700 (DIR-856L) , throughput reached nowhere near the touted speeds of up to 857 Mbps on the 5GHz band—and only slighted boosted performance over that of an 802.11n adapter.

Of course, I don't expect any router to come close to theoretical speeds in real-world environments. However, because the DWA-182 is 802.11ac-capable, when it's paired with an 802.11ac router, I so expect that throughput should be faster than with an 802.11n adapter. Since network speed is only as fast as your slowest link, I expected an 802.11ac adapter tested with an 802.11ac router to provide faster throughput than testing the same 802.11ac router with an 802.11n adapter. Remember, 802.11 only provides theoretical throughout of up to 450 Mbps on the 5GHz band. 

 The DWA-182 supports both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. It's also backward compatible, so you can use it with just about any wireless router—so long as you aren't trying to use WPS.

The adapter is rather wide, measuring 3.8 by 1.1 by 0.5 inches (LWH). If a notebook has stacked USB ports, the DWA-182, when connected to the uppermost port, will likely block the bottom one.

WPA and WPA2 as well as 128-bit WEP, and of course WPS, are all supported. The WPS button and a tiny, blue LED are located on the top of the adapter.

Setup
The adapter is so new that my Windows 7 laptop was unable to install or recognize drivers for it upon connection.  This isn't a problem since D-Link ships a CD with the DWA-182. The CD contains not only the driver, install guide, and user manual, but also free trials of Norton Internet Security 2012 and Norton Online Backup.

The CD kicks off an installation wizard. During install, the wizard prompts to either manually type in the SSID and password to the network you want to connect to, or to use WPS.

I opted to install via WPS. The wizard instructs to click the WPS button on the router and then click the "Connect Now" button on-screen. I first tried connecting to a Linksys draft 802.11ac router but the WPS connection failed. I had no problems connecting to D-Link's AC router, the DIR-865L via WPS.

Now of course, I could manually connect to the Linksys 802.11ac router. However, WPS is a standard and is not supposed to be a proprietary technology; that would defeat the purpose of easy push-button setup of wireless devices. Hopefully, the failure of the DWA-182 to not connect to the Linksys router can be attributed to some wonkiness due to this being pre-draft 802.11ac technology and vendor incompatibility issues won't be a problem when products come to market that are fully 802.11ac  certified.

 During install, you can also opt to scan for wireless networks in proximity and connect to them if you don't know the name of the SSID. It's an easy setup but WPS should work for any WPS-capable router.

Wireless Utility
The installation process also includes the install of D-Link's Wireless Connection Manager. I typically don’t like third-party wireless managers sitting on top of the Windows native wireless management because the utility usually makes adjusting any settings through Windows Network and Sharing interface useless.  D-Link's utility did not prevent me from using Windows wireless networking settings, though.

 The utility displays all wireless networks in proximity. You can connect to a network through the manager and it shows signal strength, the channel the network is on and whether the network is secured or not. I like the fact that it shows percentage of signal strength and the channel the wireless network is operating on, information that Windows does not show natively.

Networks you connect to most frequently are listed in the utility under My Wireless Networks, and there's a quick link to D-Link support. The utility is not necessary to use, but it does provide a bit more insight into a wireless networks than the operating system alone.

Performance
I was disappointed with performance. I did not see anywhere near the speeds vendors are claiming about 802.11ac, and just a sight bump in performance in 5 GHz 802.11ac mode. Below is a table comparing throughput testing D-Link's DIR-865L router using a standard 802.11n 3xe3 wireless adapter versus the DWA-182 in Mixed 11ac mode:

802.11n testing was performed with an HP Elitebook with an integrated Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN wirelessly connected to the DIR-865L; a Windows server machine with a Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet card connected to a LAN port on the DIR-865L and Ixia's IxChariot throughput script.

11ac testing was performed with the same equipment and script but for the exception: the Intel Centrino wireless adapter was disabled on the Elitebook and the DWA-182 adapter installed.

My testing environment has lots of RF interference, and I never see in actual testing the theoretical throughput speeds that vendors put on the packaging of wireless networking products—nor do I ever expect to. Still, I expected better throughput than the numbers in the chart from the DWA-182.

Only 802.11ac Adapter, But Do You Need It?
All of the makers of network hardware are rushing to get pre-draft 802.11ac technology to market and I think it's a waste at this point for the consumer. This includes the DWA-182. I'm just not seeing throughput from any of the products that nears the faster-than-Gigabit Ethernet speeds 11ac is supposed to deliver. This doesn't mean we won't see those speeds in the future, and the near future—we will. But robust 11ac isn't here yet. Unless you have just got to have an early 11ac adopter, the DWA-182 is for you—mainly because it's the only USB wireless adapter available. However, with no performance gains over 802.11n, I don’t see a use-case for this adapter for most wireless router owners. I'm also troubled by the inability of the adapter to connect to router that is not D-Link's. The DWA-182 earns 2.5 stars thanks mainly to easy setup and a cool wireless utility manager. 

More Networking Reviews:
•   Axis M1031-W Network Camera
•   D-Link Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB Adapter (DWA-182)
•   Linksys WUMC710 Wireless-AC Wi-Fi 5GHz Universal Media Connector Bridge with 4-Port Switch
•   Tufin T-80
•   Norton Hotspot Privacy
•  more

View the original article here

Microsoft Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone 8 (WP8) is elegant, personable, and different. It absolutely shines for those who use their smartphones for a lot of calling, texting, and Facebooking, and especially people who connect to Microsoft anything—whether that's Outlook, Hotmail, Exchange, Skydrive, Office 365, or Xbox. If iOS bores you and Android intimidates you, Windows Phone will likely dazzle you.

But pick up a Windows Phone 8, and you'll be a maverick. There's significantly less of a selection of apps here than for Android and iOS, and the apps are different. The odds are good that you'll find what you need, but the goods are odd. That makes a Windows Phone less of an easy purchase than it could be.

Launched in 2010, Windows Phone 7 wasn't much of a competitor to iOS and Android in large part because it ran on uninspiring hardware, but Windows Phone 8 will help fix that. While WP8 still only supports Qualcomm processors, at least it supports current Qualcomm processors, along with high-resolution screens and the latest wireless specs. So Windows Phone 8 devices like the HTC 8X and the Nokia Lumia 920 will do a better job facing off against the iPhone 5  and the Samsung Galaxy S III  on power than, say, the HTC Trophy managed to pull off at the end of its long lifespan. (There's one perplexing lack, though: No decent QWERTY handsets yet.)

I reviewed WP8 on an HTC Windows Phone 8X. We'll have a full review of the phone when U.S. carrier models appear early next month, but for now see our hands-on story from when the device was announced.

If this is your first time even thinking about Windows Phone, take a look at our reviews of Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 7.5. While it's built on completely different underpinnings, Windows Phone 8 works much like its predecessors.

The Underpinnings
The familiar interface of Windows Phone 7 hides a radical change under the hood. Windows Phone 8 now runs on the same kernel as Windows 8, including the NTFS file system and the ability for third-party developers to write native code rather than having to go through Silverlight or XNA. It's still compatible with the 125,000 Windows Phone 7 apps, but it's potentially much more powerful because there are more ways to develop for it.

That's mostly potential, though, because Microsoft didn't release the Windows Phone 8 SDK to most developers in advance. So far, it's hard to find Windows Phone 8-only apps that use the new development strategies. Hopefully, they'll start showing up soon.

I'm very excited by an invisible feature called Data Sense, which works like our Editors' Choice Android and iPhone app Onavo Extend. It compresses your data using Microsoft servers, letting you get more out of limited data plans. It also keeps you updated on how much data you've used.

Unfortunately, until sometime next year it's a Verizon exclusive. In the name of "carrier differentiation," consumers won't likely be able to get what they want. Want a Nokia Lumia 920? It's AT&T only. Want a phone with data compression and monitoring? Verizon only. Want a Lumia 920 with Data Sense? Nope.

Windows Phone 8 also backs up your settings, data and apps into the cloud, just like Android and iOS do. You can find, lock, or erase a phone remotely, too. That makes it easy to move between Windows Phone devices or to restore a lost or stolen phone.

The Lock Screen, Tiles, and Hubs
To understand why you would want to use Windows Phone 8, you have to understand tiles. Like icons, but not quite, tiles are squares you plonk on the home screen representing the items you want to access easily. Apps, sure, but also contacts, places, collections of apps called "hubs," media items, or Web pages, among other things. Right now I have a map to my hotel and a FlightStats page about my flight pinned to my home screen, for instance. You can do that on Android, but it's not nearly as simple.

Tiles can be "live," which means they flip around automatically to show new information. Your Me tile is constantly pinging you with new social-networking updates. A FlightAware tile would flip around if your flight were, say, cancelled; a Photos tile usually shows the latest pictures you've taken. (None of this seems to affect battery life much.) You can make tiles in three different sizes, 20 different colors, and snap them together in various ways, so what you end up with is a visually coherent but constantly shifting landscape of relevant data. 

The Lock screen is "live," too. Apps can feed data to the Lock screen, ghosting the latest news, weather, or your travel information behind the standard date and time. You can also set which apps send alerts to the lock screen.

The result is just as configurable as Android, but much more visually striking. Live tiles display information the same way widgets do, but the enforced visual uniformity makes a Windows Phone 8 home screen look smartly configured, rather than like a yard-sale jumble.

Along with tiles, Microsoft's second central concept is Hubs. The People hub, Games hub, Photos hub, and Music & Video hub are places where content, apps, and social networking all come together. In the Photos hub, for instance, you see not only your gallery but your friends' galleries and any photo-editing apps you might have. In Music & Video, you see not only your own videos, but YouTube and Vevo content. The new Wallet hub combines real credit cards, loyalty cards, and local deals. It's all more natural than Apple's fragmented system of apps and activities.

Microsoft's very attractive parental control system, dubbed Kid's Corner, is excellent for small children. Kid's Corner lets you select a certain set of games, music, videos, and apps for your kid to use; they then show up as bold, non-resizable tiles. Kids can't use the phone, browser, or messaging, so it's really more for handing your device over to a smaller child, than for offering a sandboxed experience for tweens. But it's simple, clear, and good-looking.

(Next page: Contacts, Phone, Email, Calendar, and Web Browsing)

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Samsung Galaxy Note II (T-Mobile)

Pros Massive high-definition screen. Fast quad-core processor. Smooth UI with plenty of useful touches. Includes a pressure-sensitive stylus and well-designed note-taking and drawing software. Runs Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" out of the box. Stellar call quality.

Cons Very large. A few minor hiccups in gaming performance. Bottom Line With a fast quad-core processor, a big, gorgeous display, and features galore, the Samsung Galaxy Note II delivers everything a huge-screen smartphone should. If you want a phone that doubles as a small tablet, it's the best you'll find.

By Jamie Lendino

The Galaxy Note II for T-Mobile ($369.99 direct, after a $50 mail-in rebate) is many things, but above all, it's the most phone there is. It gives you more screen, more processor, and more OS than just about any other phone out there. It's also a significant improvement over the first Galaxy Note, thanks to a faster quad-core processor and Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" OS, not to mention a host of Samsung-developed note-taking software improvements. If you think other phones are too small, and prefer something big enough to double as a miniature tablet that (barely) fits in your pocket, the Galaxy Note II reigns supreme. It's the first recipient of our Editors' Choice award for phablets (phones with screen sizes ranging from 5.0 to 6.9 inches).

Design and Screen
The Galaxy Note II measures 5.95 by 3.17 by 0.37 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.34 ounces. That's roughly an inch taller and half an inch wider than even big smartphones with 4.5-inch and greater screens. It's just as thin as those, though, which helps a lot. It's made entirely of plastic with the exception of the glass screen. But unlike some other Samsung handsets, the Galaxy Note II looks and feels refined, thanks to the classy, faux-anodized silver finish and a smoked chrome accent ring around the sides. You can get one in either gray or white.

The star of the show is the 5.5-inch, 1,280-by-720-pixel, Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen. The aspect ratio is 16:9 this time, instead of 16:10 like the first Galaxy Note, which had a slightly higher 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution. Either way, the new display is stunning. It's super-bright, with vivid colors and deep blacks, and viewing angles are uniformly excellent. I suppose you could argue that at 267ppi, pixel depth isn't quite as impressive as it is on smaller phones with the same 720p resolution. But rest assured: This screen looks fantastic.

As you can imagine, the screen is large enough for easy typing in both portrait and landscape modes. You even get an extra row of number keys, so you don't have to switch the keyboard mode to enter in digits. There's a hardware Home button below the screen, flanked by Menu and Back capacitive touch buttons. A Wacom-designed stylus is tucked into a slot under the bottom right edge. The stylus supports 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity—four times what the stylus in the Galaxy Note supports.

Given its gargantuan size, the Galaxy Note II is difficult to use one-handed—except that, fortunately, Samsung has already thought of this. To that end, it provides a series of toggles in Settings > One-handed Operation. You can move the dial buttons to the left or right, for example, and position the keyboard and unlock pattern for easier access.

Connectivity and Voice Calls
The Galaxy Note II is a quad-band EDGE (850, 1900, 1800, 1900MHz) and dual-band HSPA+ 42 (1700/2100MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi support on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands. I had no problem connecting to a 5GHz, WPA2-encrypted hotspot in our labs. The Galaxy Note II also supports T-Mobile's excellent Wi-Fi calling feature, which taps into any connected hotspot for voice calls whenever there's not enough cellular signal available. For data, I saw excellent download speeds averaging 6 to 12Mbps in midtown Manhattan. But upload speeds struggled to break 1Mbps, and ping times were an awful 1.1 seconds (1,100ms); regardless, it could have been something with the network when I was testing.

Voice calls sounded as good as I've ever heard on a cell phone. The earpiece speaker sounded full, warm, and loud, with no background hiss. I could move my ear quite a bit against the handset and still hear the other party easily, which wasn't possible with the LG Intuition. Transmissions through the microphone were clear and punchy, albeit with a slight amount of noise coming through from the midtown Manhattan street I tested the phone on. Reception was solid.

Calls also sounded clear through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset. Pairing was easy; tap the Bluetooth icon in the notification bar and the phone immediately looks for new Bluetooth devices. The rear-mounted mono speakerphone sounded clear and loud, and should be fine for use outdoors. We expect good things out of the oversize 3100mAh battery; we're still testing battery life and will update this review as soon as we have a result.

Voice dialing deserves special mention. Samsung's S Voice lets you control the Note by voice. You can wake it up by saying Hi Galaxy, double-tapping the Home button, or by choosing your own phrase. You can also enable or disable handwriting mode, which activates when you pull the pen from the device. In addition to voice dialing—which worked fine over Bluetooth in my tests—you can also text, search contacts, navigate, schedule something on your calendar, add a task, start a music playlist, and update Twitter, all with your voice.

Hardware, OS, and Apps
Under the hood is a 1.6GHz quad-core A9 Samsung Exynos processor and 2GB of RAM. Android fans can rejoice, as the Galaxy Note II is the first T-Mobile handset to ship with Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" out of the box. Benchmark results were at the top of the class almost entirely across the board; combine Jelly Bean with a quad-core processor and you get one fast phone. The exception was some gaming frame rate tests, the results of which lagged next to the Qualcomm-powered LG Optimus G, the only other quad-core phone available in the U.S. right now. But three separate Optimus Gs overheated repeatedly in our tests, and automatically dialed back screen brightness to cool down, whereas the Galaxy Note II stayed cool to the touch, no matter how hard I made it work.

(Next page: Apps, Multimedia, and Conclusions)

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Samsung Galaxy Note II (Sprint)

Pros Massive high-definition screen. Fast quad-core processor. Includes a pressure-sensitive stylus and well-designed note-taking and drawing software. Runs Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" out of the box. Fast LTE, if you can get it. Good call quality.

Cons Very large. A few minor hiccups in gaming performance. Sprint's 4G LTE coverage map is still very thin. Bottom Line With a fast quad-core processor, a big, gorgeous display, and features galore, the Samsung Galaxy Note II delivers everything a huge-screen smartphone should, but Sprint really needs to build out its LTE network.

By Jamie Lendino

The Galaxy Note II for Sprint ($299.99 direct) is many things, but above all, it's the most phone there is. It gives you more screen, more processor, and more OS than just about any other phone out there. It's also a significant improvement over the first Galaxy Note , thanks to a faster quad-core processor and the Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" OS, not to mention a host of Samsung-developed note-taking software improvements. If you think other phones are too small, and prefer something big enough to double as a miniature tablet that (barely) fits in your pocket, the Galaxy Note II reigns supreme. It's the first recipient of our new Editors' Choice award for phablets (phones with screen sizes ranging from 5.0 to 6.9 inches). That said, Sprint's lack of LTE coverage continues to be a problem.

Editors' Note: The Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile versions of the Samsung Galaxy Note II are all very similar, so we're sharing a lot of material between our reviews. That said, we're testing each device separately, so read the review for your carrier of choice. The slideshow below is for the T-Mobile version, which is visually identical aside from the carrier name in the notification bar, and the logo on the plastic back panel.

Design and Screen
Visually, there's almost no difference between the various versions, aside from a Samsung logo (not Sprint, oddly enough) on the back panel instead of a carrier name. The Galaxy Note II measures 5.95 by 3.17 by 0.37 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.34 ounces. That's roughly an inch taller and half an inch wider than even big smartphones with 4.5-inch and greater screens. It's just as thin as those, though, which helps a lot. It's made entirely of plastic with the exception of the glass screen. But unlike some other Samsung handsets, the Galaxy Note II looks and feels refined, thanks to the classy, faux-anodized silver finish and a smoked chrome accent ring around the sides. You can get one in either gray or white.

The star of the show is the 5.5-inch, 1,280-by-720-pixel, Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen. The aspect ratio is 16:9 this time, instead of 16:10 like the first Galaxy Note, which had a slightly higher 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution. Either way, the new display is stunning. It's super-bright, with vivid colors and deep blacks, and viewing angles are uniformly excellent. I suppose you could argue that at 267ppi, pixel depth isn't quite as impressive as it is on smaller phones with the same 720p resolution. But rest assured: This screen looks fantastic.

As you can imagine, the screen is large enough for easy typing in both portrait and landscape modes. You even get an extra row of number keys, so you don't have to switch the keyboard mode to enter in digits. There's a hardware Home button below the screen, flanked by Menu and Back capacitive touch buttons. A Wacom-designed stylus is tucked into a slot under the bottom right edge. The stylus supports 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity—four times what the stylus in the Galaxy Note supports.

Given its gargantuan size, the Galaxy Note II is difficult to use one-handed—except that, fortunately, Samsung has already thought of this. To that end, it provides a series of toggles in Settings > One-Handed Operation. You can move the dial buttons to the left or right, for example, and position the keyboard and unlock pattern for easier access.

Connectivity and Voice Calls
The Galaxy Note II on Sprint is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) and 4G LTE device with 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands. I had no problem connecting to a 5GHz, WPA2-encrypted hotspot in the PCMag Lab. We're rating the Sprint version of the Galaxy Note II down half a point compared with the other carrier models, thanks to the lack of Sprint LTE coverage in most U.S. major cities. Without LTE, the phone works as a 3G device, but Sprint's 3G network is the slowest of the major U.S. carriers; download speeds struggled to break just 200Kbps, which puts it closer to 2G than 3G, and many attempts at reaching the Internet timed out altogether in our midtown Manhattan test location.

Voice calls sounded as good as I've ever heard on a cell phone, and essentially matched what I heard with the T-Mobile version, at least through the earpiece; it sounded full, warm, and loud, with no background hiss. I could move my ear quite a bit against the handset and still hear the other party easily, which wasn't possible with the LG Intuition. Transmissions through the microphone were clear, although a little thinner-sounding than on other carriers. I tested the phone on an extremely noisy street, which the noise cancelling algorithms reduced to a low, steady drone (which was entirely absent in quieter environments).

Calls also sounded clear through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset. Pairing was simple; tap the Bluetooth icon in the notification bar and the phone immediately looks for new Bluetooth devices. The rear-mounted mono speakerphone sounded clear and loud, and should be fine for use outdoors. We expect good things out of the oversize 3100mAh battery; we're still testing battery life and will update this review as soon as we have a result.

Voice dialing deserves special mention. Samsung's S Voice lets you control the Note by voice. You can wake it up by saying Hi Galaxy, double-tapping the Home button, or by choosing your own phrase. You can also enable or disable handwriting mode, which activates when you pull the pen from the device. In addition to voice dialing—which worked fine over Bluetooth in my tests—you can also text, search contacts, navigate, schedule something on your calendar, add a task, start a music playlist, and update Twitter, all with your voice.

Hardware, OS, and Apps
Under the hood is a 1.6GHz quad-core A9 Samsung Exynos processor and 2GB of RAM. Android fans can rejoice, as the Galaxy Note II is the first Sprint handset to ship with Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" out of the box. Benchmark results were at the top of the class almost entirely across the board; combine Jelly Bean with a quad-core processor and you get one fast phone. The exception was some gaming frame rate tests, the results of which lagged next to the Qualcomm-powered LG Optimus G, the only other quad-core phone available in America right now. But three separate Optimus G review units overheated repeatedly in our tests, and automatically dialed back the screen brightness to cool down, whereas the Galaxy Note II stayed cool to the touch, no matter how hard I made it work.

(Next page: Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions)

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Microsoft Sculpt Mobile Keyboard

Pros Portable thin and light design. Dongle-free Bluetooth connectivity. Great battery life.

Cons Low profile isn't ergonomically sound. Glossy face prone to smudging. Non-rechargeable batteries. Keys aren't backlit. Bottom Line While the Microsoft Sculpt Mobile Keyboard is preferable to an onscreen keyboard, its portable design and Windows 8 hotkeys don't make up for the fact that its shallow profile makes for a somewhat uncomfortable typing experience.

By Ahmer Kazi As the not-so-distant relative of the Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Keyboard, the Microsoft Sculpt Mobile Keyboard (Sculpt Mobile) ($49.99 direct) has plenty in common with its cousin, including a distinctive curvy design and Windows 8 hotkeys. But you won't be confusing the two anytime soon: the Sculpt Mobile features Bluetooth connectivity, has a markedly slimmer profile, and does not feature a dual-function spacebar. While its light weight and dongle-free connectivity make it a good traveling companion for Windows 8-optimized tablets or hybrid ultrabooks, though, its low profile doesn't make for the most ergonomically satisfying typing experience. Moreover, despite making navigating through Windows 8's tiled interface somewhat easier, its hotkeys don't make enough of a difference to make it a clear favorite among keyboards.

Design and Features
The first thing you'll notice about the Sculpt Mobile is its remarkably thin profile. Measuring a mere 0.75 inch in thickness, the Sculpt Mobile's svelte chassis lies almost entirely flat, save for a barely noticeable taper near the top row of keys in order to accommodate the battery compartment. At any rate, its flat design is on par with the Evoluent Essentials Full Featured Compact Keyboard (EKB). From both a design and ergonomics standpoint, the Sculpt Mobile should have included a pair of flip-open feet on the underside.

Like the Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Keyboard, the Sculpt Mobile sports a gentle six-degree curve. Since it lies flat, however, this results in certain keys—particularly in the middle section—to be wider than others. The matte-finish keys themselves aren't backlit, leaving users in dimly-lit settings quite literally in the dark. Curiously, Microsoft opted not to feature engraved characters on the keys; consequently the overall design looks as though stickers were pasted onto the keys, which has the unfortunate effect of cheapening the Sculpt Mobile's look. The Sculpt Mobile's plastic chassis features a glossy black border surrounding the keys, which makes for a nice contrast with the matte-finished keys but also attracts a fair amount of smudging as was the case with the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750.

Like its larger Sculpt Comfort counterpart, the top row of the Sculpt Mobile features a mixture of Windows 8-optimized hotkeys and charm keys, which can also be used as standard function keys when pressed in conjunction with the "Fn" key. Using the Sculpt Mobile on the new Sony VAIO Duo T1 (D11213CX) was helpful inasmuch as it made navigating Windows 8's tiled interface a somewhat more fluid experience. Accordingly, the Sculpt Mobile's F1 through F4 keys are media playback keys that are also compatible with earlier versions of Windows. Windows 8's five so-called "charms" can be accessed through the F5 through F8 keys, and entail shortcuts to sharing data, accessing settings, searching for files, toggling between devices, returning to the desktop. Technically speaking, the latter is considered to be a "charm," but that particular shortcut can be found on the Sculpt Mobile's lower left side. The F9 through F12 keys, meanwhile, pertain to apps; F9 rotates between open apps, F10 lists all open apps on the left side of the screen, F11 enables a split-screen mode between any two apps, and F12 lists all open apps on the bottom portion of the screen. As was the case with the Sculpt Comfort Mouse, the Sculpt Mobile's directional arrows simply allow for moving between individual tiles on the Windows 8 desktop rather than scrolling across them fluidly. In other words, users looking to get the most out of their Windows 8 experience will still need to spring for a compatible mouse or a touch display.

The Sculpt Mobile runs off of two AAA batteries (included), which can be inserted by sliding a switch on the underside to pop out the battery compartment. According to Microsoft, battery life is a purported ten months. The Sculpt Mobile is not rechargeable, but even the most neurotic of battery-checkers (and I'm one of them) should be satisfied with this number.

Performance
Like the Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000, the Sculpt Mobile utilizes Bluetooth connectivity, and setting it up is a straightforward process. After turning on the Sculpt Mobile, simply press and hold the Connect button on the underside—with, annoyingly, a pen cap or toothpick given its tiny size—and then simply pair the keyboard with your system.

While the "pairing" process is an extra step that typically isn't necessary with keyboards that use dongles, Bluetooth has the advantage of not taking up any USB ports, which can be a critical factor for those who don't have too many to spare (we're looking at you, Ultrabook users). That said, alternative dongle-based remedies exist, like Logitech's "Unifying" receiver technology, which allows up to six Logitech peripherals to be connected through a single dongle.

Typing on the Sculpt Mobile is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's certainly superior to using a tablet's onscreen keyboard. But its shallow profile isn't terribly comfortable to type on, especially for a prolonged amount of time, as it required my hands to be placed at a strange, low-lying angle as if I were playing a piano.

The Microsoft Sculpt Mobile Keyboard has some good things going for it, like a cool curvy design and Windows 8 hotkeys. It's also a good traveling companion thanks to its portable design and dongle-free connectivity. While it's preferable to using an onscreen keyboard on a tablet, though, its low profile doesn't make for a very comfortable typing experience. Moreover, the Sculpt Mobile itself doesn't do much to enhance the Windows 8 experience despite its hotkeys, as users will still need to get a compatible mouse or touch display to get the most out of the tiled interface. For these reasons, our current Editors' Choice, the Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 is a better choice, thanks to its Bluetooth connectivity and slightly thicker profile.

More keyboard reviews:
•   Microsoft Wedge Mobile Keyboard
•   Microsoft Sculpt Mobile Keyboard
•   Razer DeathStalker Ultimate
•   iKeyboard for Apple iPad
•   Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Keyboard
•  more

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Samsung Galaxy Note II (AT&T)

Pros Fast LTE. Massive high-definition screen. Fast quad-core processor. Includes a pressure-sensitive stylus and well-designed note-taking and drawing software. Runs Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" out of the box. Stellar call quality.

Cons Very large. A few minor hiccups in gaming performance. Bottom Line With a fast quad-core processor, a big, gorgeous display, and features galore, the Samsung Galaxy Note II delivers everything a huge-screen smartphone should. If you want a phone that doubles as a small tablet, it's the best you'll find.

By Jamie Lendino

The Galaxy Note II for AT&T ($299.99 direct) is many things, but above all, it's the most phone there is. It gives you more screen, more processor, and more OS than just about any other phone out there. It's also a significant improvement over the first Galaxy Note , thanks to a faster quad-core processor and Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" OS, not to mention a host of Samsung-developed note-taking software improvements. If you think all other phones are too small, and prefer something big enough to double as a miniature tablet that (barely) fits in your pocket, the Galaxy Note II reigns supreme. It's the first recipient of our new Editors' Choice award for phablets (phones with screen sizes ranging from 5.0 to 6.9 inches).

Editors' Note: The AT&T and T-Mobile versions of the Samsung Galaxy Note II are very similar, so we're sharing a lot of material between our reviews. That said, we're testing each device separately, so read the review for your carrier of choice. The slideshow below is for the T-Mobile version, which is visually identical aside from the carrier name in the notification bar, and the logo on the plastic back panel.

Design and Screen
Let's go over the design first. Visually, there's almost no difference between the AT&T and T-Mobile versions, aside from an AT&T logo on the back panel instead of the T-Mobile name. The Galaxy Note II measures 5.95 by 3.17 by 0.37 inches (HWD) and weighs 6.34 ounces. That's roughly an inch taller and half an inch wider than even big smartphones with 4.5-inch and greater screens. It's just as thin as those, though, which helps a lot. It's made entirely of plastic with the exception of the glass screen. But unlike some other Samsung handsets, the Galaxy Note II looks and feels refined, thanks to the classy, faux-anodized silver finish and a smoked chrome accent ring around the sides. You can get one in either gray or white.

The star of the show is the 5.5-inch, 1280-by-720-pixel, Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen. The aspect ratio is 16:9 this time, instead of 16:10 like the first Galaxy Note, which had a slightly higher 1280-by-800-pixel resolution. Either way, the new display is stunning. It's super-bright, with vivid colors and deep blacks, and viewing angles are uniformly excellent. I suppose you could argue that at 267ppi, pixel depth isn't quite as impressive as it is on smaller phones with the same 720p resolution. But rest assured: This screen looks fantastic.

As you can imagine, the screen is large enough for easy typing in both portrait and landscape modes. You even get an extra row of number keys, so you don't have to switch the keyboard mode to enter in digits. There's a hardware Home button below the screen, flanked by Menu and Back capacitive touch buttons. A Wacom-designed stylus is tucked into a slot under the bottom right edge. The stylus supports 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity—four times what the stylus in the Galaxy Note supports.

Given its gargantuan size, the Galaxy Note II is difficult to use one-handed—except that, fortunately, Samsung has already thought of this. To that end, it provides a series of toggles in Settings > One-Handed Operation. You can move the dial buttons to the left or right, for example, and position the keyboard and unlock pattern for easier access.

Connectivity and Voice Calls
The Galaxy Note II on AT&T is a quad-band EDGE (850,1900,1800,1900 MHz), dual-band HSPA+ 42 (850/1900 MHz), and 4G LTE device with 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands. I had no problem connecting to a 5GHz, WPA2-encrypted hotspot in the PCMag Labs. You don't get Wi-Fi calling with AT&T, the way you do with the T-Mobile version, but AT&T's significantly larger coverage map in the U.S. compensates for this. The Galaxy Note II has strong reception; with LTE download speeds averaging 14Mbps and upload speeds around 12 to 13Mbps, the Galaxy Note II scored roughly in the middle of the pack.

Voice calls sounded as good as I've ever heard on a cell phone, and essentially matched what I heard with the T-Mobile version. The earpiece speaker sounded full, warm, and loud, with no background hiss. I could move my ear quite a bit against the handset and still hear the other party easily, which wasn't possible with the LG Intuition. Transmissions through the microphone were clear and punchy; I tested the phone on an extremely noisy midtown Manhattan street, which the noise cancelling algorithms reduced to a low, steady drone (which was entirely absent in quieter environments).

Calls also sounded clear through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset. Pairing was easy; tap the Bluetooth icon in the notification bar and the phone immediately looks for new Bluetooth devices. The rear-mounted mono speakerphone sounded clear and loud, and should be fine for use outdoors. We expect good things out of the oversize 3100mAh battery; we're still testing battery life and will update this review as soon as we have a result.

Voice dialing deserves special mention. Samsung's S Voice lets you control the Note by voice. You can wake it up by saying Hi Galaxy, double-tapping the Home button, or by choosing your own phrase. You can also enable or disable handwriting mode, which activates when you pull the pen from the device. In addition to voice dialing—which worked fine over Bluetooth in my tests—you can also text, search contacts, navigate, schedule something on your calendar, add a task, start a music playlist, and update Twitter, all with your voice.

Hardware, OS, and Apps
Under the hood is a 1.6GHz quad-core A9 Samsung Exynos processor and 2GB of RAM. Android fans can rejoice, as the Galaxy Note II is the first AT&T handset to ship with Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" out of the box. Benchmark results were at the top of the class almost entirely across the board; combine Jelly Bean with a quad-core processor and you get one fast phone. The exception was some gaming frame rate tests, the results of which lagged next to the Qualcomm-powered LG Optimus G, the only other quad-core phone available in America right now. But three separate Optimus Gs overheated repeatedly in our tests, and automatically dialed back the screen brightness to cool down, whereas the Galaxy Note II stayed cool to the touch no matter how hard I made it work.

(Next page: Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions)

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LG Optimus G (AT&T)

Pros Blistering quad-core performance. Gorgeous display. Sleek design. Strong battery performance.

Cons Disappointing camera. Runs hot. Plenty of bloatware. Bottom Line The LG Optimus G for AT&T is a quad-core beast, but a disappointing camera and heating issues hold it back from smartphone perfection.

By Alex Colon

The LG Optimus G ($199.99) has all the makings of a killer smartphone. From its 4.7-inch 720p display to its quad-core processor, this is definitely the fastest smartphone on AT&T, and one of the nicest looking, too. Its 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor turned in the fastest benchmarks we've ever seen on an Android phone—even faster than the model we tested on Sprint. And 4G LTE speeds on AT&T were positively smoking. Unfortunately, all that speed makes for some overheating issues, and camera performance is average at best. The Optimus G is a beast of a phone, but it isn't perfect.

Editors' Note: The LG Optimus G models on AT&T and Sprint are extremely similar, so we're sharing a lot of material between these two reviews. That said, we're testing each device separately, so read the review for your carrier of choice.

Design, Call Quality, and Network
The Optimus G on AT&T looks a lot like it does on Sprint, which is a good thing. LG created the gorgeous Prada phone, so it's no surprise that the Optimus G is quite a looker. Made of high-quality plastic on the sides, with glass panels on the front and back, the phone has a vaguely incandescent pattern on the back that looks different depending on the angle you view it from. I miss the silver accent ring wrapped around the middle of the Sprint version, but the phone still pulls off simple-chic very well. Next to the Apple iPhone 5, this is easily the nicest-looking phone we've seen. And at 5.12 by 2.82 by 0.33 inches and 5.19 ounces, it's a reasonable size given its large 4.7-inch display.

That 4.7-inch HD IPS Plus LCD is pretty awesome. It features 1280-by-720-pixel resolution, which works out to a crisp 312 pixels per inch. And unlike the Samsung Galaxy S III , this phone doesn't use a PenTile pixel layout, so it looks even sharper. That big screen is ideal for watching video, playing games, and taking photos. It also means you get a sprawling keyboard for typing; I actually had to stretch my entire thumb across the screen in order to hit every letter. It's a little big and unwieldy, but so are all phones with a screen this size.

One big problem: I did most of my testing with the screen brightness set to maximum. I noticed it dip considerably after about 10 or 15 minutes of benchmarking. When I checked on it in the phone's Settings, I saw the brightness level had dropped down to 66 percent. I tried to turn it back up, and got the message, "Unable to brighten more due to high temperature. Try again later." This happened on multiple occasions. Especially when using processor-intensive applications like games, the top half of the phone became increasingly warm. LG claims it has not encountered this problem, but this device, along with two test units on Sprint all showed the same behavior in our tests.

Three function keys beneath the display light up when the screen is on, otherwise the front of the phone is completely black. There's a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top, a cool glowing power button on the right, a volume rocker on the left, and a charging port on the bottom. There's also a microSD port on the left side of this phone, a welcome addition that's missing in the Sprint version.

The Optimus G supports AT&T's 4G LTE network, as well as HSPA+ 21. AT&T scored high in our Fastest Mobile Networks tests earlier this year, especially for its LTE network. Speeds in New York City were incredible. I saw an average of 33Mbps down and 12Mbps up, along with a high of 44Mbps down, which is about double the speed I get on my home internet connection.

Reception was solid, and call quality was good overall. Voices are a little muddy in the phone's earpiece, with some audible fuzz in the background. But calls made sounded clear and natural, with good background noise cancellation. The speakerphone sounds harsh, but is loud enough to use outdoors. The phone paired easily with my Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset. LG's Voice Command app was extremely finicky, and I had to repeat a number of commands over and over again.

The Optimus G uses Bluetooth 4.0, which allows various smart watches and fitness devices to communicate with the phone. It also supports 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi on the 2.4 and 5GHz bands. The nonremovable 2100mAh battery was good for an excellent 13 hours and 37 minutes of 3G talk time.

Android and Apps
The Optimus G is the first U.S. phone powered by Qualcomm's 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor. Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Note II will be packing a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos 4412, but performance there remains to be seen. As it stands, this is the fastest Android phone we've tested—even faster than the Sprint version. According to our benchmarks, performance can sometimes be almost double that of phones like the Galaxy S III. It's actually closer to results we've seen on top Android tablets, especially for gaming. Internet performance is solid, on par with the Editors' Choice Galaxy S III. 

The Optimus G ships with Android 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich," which LG pledges to update to Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean" within the coming months. Although Ice Cream Sandwich lacks Google's Project Butter, which smoothes out the Android experience, the quad-core processor still makes everything feel fast.

(Next page: Camera, Multimedia, and Conclusions)

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