New to Android Check our best tips & tricks, How to's and tutorials

Not everyone is as familiar with Android as they'd like. Our Android for Beginners series is designed to help get you up to speed on what you can do with your Android.

We're well aware that not everyone is as up to their neck in Android as we are. It can be a pretty daunting landscape when you're first confronted with a smartphone, especially one as free and open as an Android. The sheer volume of customization options, apps available, settings to learn and secret tips to figure out can leave you gasping for air. That's where our Android for Beginner's series comes in: super simple tips and tricks for your devices and apps, clever how to's to solve common problems, and tutorials to help you get even more out of your smartphone. Here's some of the best from this year.
 


No idea what's going on with your phone? We'll help you.

Disable data roaming

Everyone has been hit by some serious long distance rates when abroad. Heck, in some places you can even get switched to roaming simply because you get a little too close to some country's borders. So it's useful to know how to disable your data roaming before you go anywhere.

Unfreeze an Android

We've all had our phone freeze up at some point. Generally we just pull the battery out, but not all smartphones have removable batteries, so what do we do then? And what if that still doesn't work? We'll show you what to do!


No matter how much you love your phone, sometimes it will crash or freeze.

Disable auto-update of apps

Ever pick up your phone to see it downloading like crazy and you don't even know why? Sick of seeing your data plan chewed up by app updates on games you can hardly even remember installing in the first place? We'll show you how to switch off the Google Play Store's auto-update feature.


Stop that app from updating automatically.

How to take a screenshot

It seems super simple, but every manufacturer does it slightly differently, and it's one of the most common questions we get from our readers: just how do you take a screenshot with a [insert phone name here]. Once you know the basics, you will probably be able to figure it out for your friends' phones too!


Believe me, screenshots are a lot easier to do than this.

How to use Google Maps offline

If you're anything like us, Google Maps is one of the most used apps on your smartphone. But not everyone knows that you can use Google Maps without an internet connection just as easily, you just need to know how. We'll show and have you saving data charges before you know it.



How to fix the process com.google.process.gapps has stopped error

Don't worry, there won't be a test on what this message actually means, but if you've ever seen it pop up on your Android, we'll show you how to fix it and get your Google apps working smoothly again.



How to set up up your Nexus for the first time

We're going to guess that this year, with the Nexus line's great specs and cheap prices, that there will be quite a few sitting under trees around the country. But if you've never owned a stock Android device, you may be unfamiliar with the initial setup. Never fear, it's simple as pie. Our Nexus 5 setup tutorial will show you the steps common to every Nexus device.

How to activate dialer auto-complete on Android 4.3

I bet a few of you didn't even know this existed until right now. In this beginner's article we'll show you the simple steps required to let your phone auto-complete phone numbers for you in the dialer in the same way it auto-completes words on the keyboard.



How to install apps outside of Google Play

Yes, there is a world of apps outside the Play Store, including out very own AndroidPIT App Center. Why, you may ask? Because Google doesn't let alternative app stores live in their app store. Simple. There's thousands of other app stores too, like Amazon and F-Droid that are worth checking out too, but you need to know how to install apps from them in the first place.

Facebook privacy settings

We've often thought that Facebook seems to intentionally make their privacy settings convoluted and overly complicated simply to keep you from actually knowing your way around them. With that in mind, we thought we'd crack them wide open for you so you can see what the big blue F really has access to and help you make sure you've got your preferences set how you want them.


The 'F' on every phone. Take control of how much you share.

These should be enough to get you started and pique your interest, but if you want to know even more, you can check out Loie's recent compilation of Android for Beginner's articles or use the Android for Beginner's tag at the bottom of this article. Enjoy your Android and let us know what article ideas you'd like to see us write!

Source: http://www.androidpit.com/best-tips-tricks-how-to-s-and-tutorials

Ask The Expert: Plasma TV vs 4K TV, which one should you buy right now?

Ask the expert: Are you better off buying a plasma TV or is it worth investing in 4K now?

Now is an interesting time to buy a TV. Panasonic has decided to stop making plasma TVs, making the 2012 models the last in what is arguably the best quality TV technology for movie fans we've had. Panasonic has made some bold claims about its upcoming Studio Master 4K LCDs surpassing plasma, but until we see a finished product only OLED can surpass plasma for black level and Samsung reckons we're three to four years away from OLED being affordable. 

And then you have 4K TVs. Should you buy a top-end plasma TV now while you still can, or are you better off investing in 4K? That's exactly the question one reader had, and our TV expert John Archer was on hand to give him an answer.

Peter S writes:

"I need your help to decide between a Panasonic VT65 plasma and the Sony 65X9005 4K TV. The price difference would only be £1,500, because the Sony is a demo unit.

What would you choose?

Is the 4K future proofing worth the not so good blacks, which for me are on the plasma superior to the Sony? Or will there be so much 4K in say 3-5 years that the plasma will look old fashioned, because it could not handle the much better 4K signals?

Second question, is the Sony VPL-VW500ES 4K projector worth the money, or should I wait one or two more years to see prices for 4K projectors at £4k to £5k for the same quality?"

John Archer: It's worth waiting for new 4K TVs if you can afford to

 

That's a nice dilemma to be faced with! 

I have to say that, if it were me, of the two TVs you mention I personally would go for the Sony 65X9005. I might not have said this up until a month or so ago, but the momentum behind 4K is now so huge that I'm convinced 4K sources are going to arrive sooner and in greater numbers than many people expect.

Given what a difference 4K (when done right, anyway) makes to picture quality I think that if I bought a high-end HD TV now, even one as outstanding as the ZT65, I would find myself feeling frustrated about its lack of 4K compatibility within 12 months.

I should add here that I recently swapped a Pioneer KURO plasma TV for the Sony 65X9005 as my personal TV, and actually to my surprise I have absolutely no regrets about this. The Sony's 65-inch X9005 is an outstanding TV (more so than the 55in version, strangely).

The only other course of action I might suggest you consider is waiting. I know this might sound painful, but the key point is that if you wait for Sony's new 4K TVs to arrive they will carry HDMI 2.0 ports, which in my opinion are well worth holding on for if you can as they will ensure you can enjoy 4K at 60fps without any of the compromises in colour sampling HDMI 1.4 sets use.

The new Sony 4K sets will likely be quite a bit cheaper than the X9005As as well, I suspect, and there's even a new flagship direct LED model in the new Sony range which from what I saw at the CES 2014 (see: Sony 4K in 2014) should deliver a big contrast boost. Though obviously we can't be certain of the performance qualities of Sony's new 4K TVs until we've actually had them to test.

As for the final part of your question, the Sony VW500ES projector is worth every penny of its money. Its price is actually pretty incredible in my opinion for what it offers -- so much so that I would be surprised if 4K projection prices dropped significantly lower for a couple of years (though I'll be happy to be proved wrong on this).

Obviously, if you're trying to decide whether to buy a Sony VW500ES instead of a TV you need to think hard about the circumstances in which you're looking to install it. For instance, projectors are generally not well suited to a normal living room environment due to the way they need total darkness to work at their best. 

If you're looking for something to put into a dedicated home cinema room, though, I'd think very seriously about the VW500ES, though as with the 65X9005A it doesn't have an HDMI 2.0 port, so again you might be better off waiting until a revised model comes out, likely towards the end of 2014.

Ask the Expert is a new feature where our experts answer the burning questions you have about what products to buy and when. If you have a question you really need help with, email andy_vandervell@trustedreviews.com. We cannot guarantee an answer to every question, but the very best of your questions will get featured on the site.

Source: Trusted Reviews
  

Sony Stuns CES with "Life Space UX" Ultra Short Throw 4K Projector

In a surprise announcement, Sony has stunned the CES 2014 crowd by unveiling an ultra short throw native 4K projector that's capable of displaying a 147-inch projection on a wall from as near as 7-inch away. Never one to shy away from futuristic concepts, the Japanese manufacturer has given the device a cool moniker of "Life Space UX".

The 4K projector was announced by Sony's CEO Kazuo Hirai when he took to the stage to deliver his CES keynote address earlier today. In line with the company's vision to create more wow, Hirai explained that the Life Space UX's super high-resolution 4K images are only limited by the size of your video wall. The device's super-short throw distance opens up a wall (pardon the pun) of possibilities, allowing for more flexible installation and larger open space, since the projected picture won't be blocked by viewers.

The Sony Life Space UX sounds eerily similar to LG's Hecto laser projector which first broke cover at last year's CES, but of course the Sony's trump card is its native 4K resolution of 4096×2160 delivered via three 0.74″ SXRD chips and laser diode light source. Light output is specced at 2,000 lumens, while a 1.6x powered zoom lens makes the size of the projected image easily adjustable – Sony claims that you can still achieve a 66-inch diagonal projection even when the unit is positioned flush to the wall, which is remarkable.

Like the VPL-VW500ES 4K projector which impressed us when we reviewed it, Sony's ultra short throw 4K laser projector features 4K X-Reality PRO video processing engine, TRILUMINOS Display colour technology, and HDMI 2.0 compliance with support for 4K input at 50p/60p (8-bit 4:2:0).

The Life Space UX is scheduled to be launched in the USA in the summer of 2014, though there's no word on a European or UK release. Regarding the price, if you have to ask, you probably can't afford it, but provisionally it's between $30,000 and $40,000 (around £18,000 to £25,000).

Source: HDTVtest (UK's No.1 HD Review Site)

Sony Life Space UX - CES 2014

Related Posts:

• Sony said to factor 4K into 'Sirius' phone
• CES 2014: Sony's superb new 4K UHD TVs prove there's more to image quality than just resolution
• Sony FDR-AX100E: We go hands-on with the 4K HandyCam that could change TV forever

  

Sony said to factor 4K into 'Sirius' phone

Sony has been rumored to be working on 4K video recording for month, but it appears now that it's finally making its way to its next handset.

Sony's next flagship smartphone, believed to be codenamed "Sirius," will come with 4K video recording, according to a new report.

Xperia Blog, a site that follows Sony's mobile moves, published images purporting to come from the device's software. Among the features was a mention of 4K Ultra HD video recording, as well as a timeshifting feature, allowing users to automatically apply slow-motion effects.

Sony has been rumored to be working on Ultra HD recording for months. An earlier report suggested that a handset codenamed "Honami" would come with the high-end recording feature, but so far, Sony has remained tight-lipped on any such plans.

Sony has been clear that it wants to make a significant push into mobile in 2014. The company has very little market share in the lucrative mobile space and needs a smartphone that can deliver high-end features and get it some attention. Sony is hoping Sirius will do just that.

In addition to video features, the leaked Xperia Blog images show a "smart call handling" feature that allows users to automatically answer a call when it's brought to their ear and reject a call when they shake the handset. Putting the device face down turns the ringer off. One other interesting note: Sony plans to include a built-in answering machine in the smartphone, rather than rely solely on voicemail.

Via CNET

Related Posts:

• Latest Rumor: Apple iPad Pro With 4K Display Now In Development By Foxconn
• The World's First 4K Tablet: Panasonic Toughpad 4K with a 3840x2560 resolution, delayed until mid-February
• What Apple iPhone 6 Will Go Up Against in 2014: New 4K Resolution 6-inch Display Phone Already In Mass Production

  

LG backs Netflix and YouTube to lead 4K content race

LG has backed Netflix and YouTube to dominate the 4K content race while traditional broadcasters languish.

With 4K TVs growing in popularity and reducing in price, attention has now turned to the rise of 4K programming, with LG backing Netflix and YouTube to lead the 4K content race.

Following its formal unveiling of a range of new 4K TVs, a collection that is set to vary in size and price, South Korean manufacturer LG has predicted that while Netflix and YouTube will tackle the 4K content race head-on, more traditional broadcasters are looking set to struggle.

"In the next six to twelve months Netflix and YouTube are going to be leading the distribution of 4K content", Darren Peterson, Senior Content and Services Manager for LG's TV division told TrustedReviews.

He added: "I don't see, at the moment, any UK broadcasters or satellite providers bringing 4K this year. They might do the odd test here and there but they are not ready to launch 4K properly."

With 3D, the TV industry's last flagship feature, having failed to engage users largely due to the widespread lack of extra-dimensional content, it has been suggested that providers are to focus a bigger push around 4K content to ensure the visually impressive features take off.

Explaining the company's thinking in backing more modern content providers over traditional broadcasters in the 4K race, LG's Peterson suggested that new media outlets are able to be more "agile" in their adopting of emerging technologies.

"It will be the new TV players that are able to be a bit more agile and start 4K content rollout before more traditional broadcasters," he told us.

"Netflix is launching 4K content around Q1, Q2 with the release of House of Cards season 2 and it has been filming all of their original programmes in 4K. YouTube is pioneering its own format for 4K that we also support."

This article originally published at Trusted Reviews here.

Related Post:

• MOMMY, Where Does 4K Content Come From? Ultra HD Streaming Explained

 

Westinghouse takes a different spin on the 4K screen revolution

Westinghouse takes a different spin on the 4K screen revolution - Westinghouse brought big, impressive 4K displays to CES 2014, but even better were its massive interactive whiteboards. Buying advice from the leading technology site.

Want a 4K TV? Try interactive whiteboards

Westinghouse may not be the biggest name in the TV biz right now, but the company did bring some eye-catching products to this year's CES.

See Also: TV trends at CES: 4K, curves and smart TVs

It's playing the 4K game like just about every other TV maker, but unlike its competitors, Westinghouse is also thinking beyond the living room.

Need an example? Try the company's 85-inch 4K "interactive whiteboard" designed for business and classroom use, one that costs a 4K TV-esque price of $13,999 (£8,542, AU$15,515).

It also comes in 55-, 65- and 70-inch varieties with 1080p displays, but the Ultra HD 85-inch version was the star of the show.

Westinghouse envisions the giant touchscreens being used in business settings, for presentations and meetings, as well as in classrooms. Interestingly, they can come with an optional "PC module" that mounts on the back and runs Windows 8; alternately users can plug in their own Windows 7 or Windows 8 computers.

You can use your fingers to draw and tap on the interactive whiteboards, but they also come with a fat "touch pen" stylus.

Class in session

The whiteboards come with special software, called WScribe, that provides handwriting recognition, drawing tools, special interface features, and more that should be perfect for education and business settings.

This interface software also provides various templates, like a football diagram that can be used to map out and discuss plays.


Not for your living room

With the provided touch pen stylus, we wrote "TechRadar" on the screen over a video playing in the background. The whiteboard failed to recognize our admittedly imperfect cursive, though when we switched to normal writing it had no trouble translating it to typeface.

Westinghouse Marketing Communications Manager Brett Hunt said it will learn users' handwriting over time, so your chicken scratch should be legible after some quality sessions with the boards.


The interactive whiteboards can come with an optional computer module on the back

Aside from failing to pick up our script, these whiteboards looked gorgeous and felt great and responsive to use, whether with fingers or with the stylus (Westinghouse likes to brag about its (6-point Touch system with Intuitive Rapid Response").

The 55-, 65- and 70-inch whiteboards go for $2,999 (£1,830, AU$3,324), $4,999 (£3,050, AU$5,541) and $5,999 (£3,660, AU$6,650), respectively, and all come in 1080p. They're available now. The 85-inch 4K version, on the other hand, will cost $13,999 when it launches in the first quarter of 2014.

'Like The Jetsons and The Flintstones combined'

Westinghouse also had numerous TVs on display, including full HD and Ultra HD sets ranging in size from 39- to 85-inches. But its two other televisions, a Smart TV and an adorable retro-style unit, were more interesting by far.

Unfortunately, both are just prototypes for now. Westinghouse doesn't currently offer any Smart TVs because the company believes most consumers already have game consoles, set-top boxes, and other devices capable of running apps like Netflix, Hunt told TechRadar.


Westinghouse's 4K TVs look impressive

And the company has no plans to develop a Smart TV for market on its own, though "we might partner with somebody else to develop [a Smart TV] with us," Hunt said. "We don't have a set date for that yet."

More interesting was the 22-inch 1080p "retro" TV also present in the company's suite. The set looks like what people in the 60s thought the future would be like - it's anachronistic, both old and futuristic at the same time.


But not as impressive as this little fella

"If you had an extra room that's a retro room that would be kind of cool," Hunt said of the set. "It's like The Jetsons and The Flintstones combined."

The picture looked great - despite all the 4K hoopla, full HD is far from outdated - and the design was utterly charming. All it needs is some fake bunny ears, and it could easily sit on the shelves in Urban Outfitters next to coffee table books about marijuana, novelty camera lenses, and slinkies.

Unfortunately that may never occur, as Hunt said the company brought the retro TV to CES simply to gauge people's response to it. The ironic thing is that it was easily the most striking thing Westinghouse has produced in some time - so here's hoping they follow through.

This article originally published at TechRadar here.

Related Posts:

• 4K TV Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
• Computer users, not couch potatoes, will lead the way on 4K high-definition TV
• Akamai CEO on streaming 4K TV into your home (podcast)
• The hottest gadgets of CES 3-D printers to 4K TVs
• CES 2014: Sony's superb new 4K UHD TVs prove there’s more to image quality than just resolution

Sony FDR-AX100E: We go hands-on with the 4K HandyCam that could change TV forever

Sony has been at the forefront of prosumer camcorders for a while. We've known many a lower-budget TV show to use a three-chip VX1000 in the past and, more recently, Full HD and, even, 4K equivalents. Now it's about to shake up the industry again, with a camera that will particularly help all of the channels that you find the further you go down an EPG. Thanks to the HandyCam FDR-AX100E, they too can ensure that they record in future-proofed Ultra High Definition.

Many prosumers have turned to the FDR-AX1 in recent times, but at around £4,000, it could be out of reach financially to many. It is also a hefty beast of a camera - more pro than 'sumer - and not exactly portable. The AX100E tackles both of those concerns, with a far smaller, normal HandyCam-style body and a price tag of around £1,800. In terms of picture performance though, it competes on a similar playing field.



Because of those two major factors, the AX100E is more attractive to home users too, albeit those who don't mind paying out to be a (fairly) first adopter. It's certainly easy enough to use, and is an ideal way to source native 4K content while manufacturers work out other ways to deliver UHD video.

The camera works much the same way as any touchscreen camcorder, but with a much higher resolution to show at the end of it. It is capable of recording 3840 x 2160 footage at 25 frames per second (25p) or 24fps (24p). Unfortunately, it cannot record progressive video at 50 or 60fps, but can record stable 1080p video at those super frame rates.

An Exmor R CMOS sensor and Bionz X image processing do the hard work with picture quality, and the camera is also capable of taking stills at the equivalent of 20-megapixels for 16:9 images (5968 x 3352).



Footage is recording in XAVC S format on to a wide selection of storage options, including Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo, Memory Stick XC-HG Duo and SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards. Pocket-lint was told that roughly an hour will fit on to a 16GB card. Class 10 SD cards are required as minimum.

The lens uses Carl Zeiss optics and features a 12x optical zoom, 160x digital. And while we got only a brief playtime with the HandyCam, it was clear that it is capable of good colour saturation. We would have to see the footage outputted to a compatible display through the HDMI 2.0 port to comment on crispness, having been restricted to use of the manoeuvrable Xtra Fine LCD display as the final software is yet to be implemented.

We'll give the HandyCam FDR-AX100E a full test when we get one into the Pocket-lint labs before its April street date. Until then, our initial thoughts are that this is exactly what the market needs to kickstart the 4K content onslaught. Let it begin.

This article originally published at Pocket-lint here.

Related post:

• CES 2014: Sony’s superb new 4K UHD TVs prove there’s more to image quality than just resolution

 

Screen Resolution Beyond 4K? Your Eyes May Not Notice

With 3D fading into oblivion, the big news in televisions these days is ultra-high definition, TV-makers' quest to quadruple the resolution of the average high-def flat panel found in most U.S. homes. Called 4K resolution, it can be stunning, with deeper colors and a picture that many people often equate to "real life." The new higher-resolution is expected to expand slowly in 2014. Netflix plans to stream some content at 4K resolution this year, and Amazon announced it will shoot all of its original series in 4K ultra-HD starting this year.

Gorgeous image or not, the question arises: At what point do the capabilities of the technology outpace those of our eyes? Farhad Manjoo, writing in the Wall Street Journal, declared that we're almost there: "Nobody's eyes are good enough to appreciate resolution above 4K."

Videophiles and display experts say that's not the point, that higher resolution is only one aspect of the effort to design and build better television displays. Color depth, brightness, and contrast ratio, for example, are all important for picture quality and will accompany higher resolutions. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month, Sharp and Samsung both presented prototypes of 8K displays. "Better is better, you know?" says Hans Baumgartner, director of product management for Rovi, which makes video compression products. "We went through this same argument with regular HD."

He and others in the industry say most TV shoppers will immediately discern the difference between the current field of high-def models and the new crop that's slowly filtering into showrooms. Prices remain steep— $3,500 and up— but are falling quickly.

Still, it's a safe bet that display technology will at some point surpass our eyesight. Apple, for example, all but laid down a visual marker with its Retina Display in 2010, when Steve Jobs posited that a standard 300 pixels per inch is the "magic number" for reading print, at a typical 12-inch distance. As it is, a 1080p television has higher resolution than an iPad 2.

Sara Dawson, a Manhattan optometrist, says most consumers can't see much beyond the threshold of the current iPads with a Retina Display, but that viewing distance is critical to how much resolution one detects. Dawson says she hasn't examined the new ultra-HD models— although "my husband wants one."

Someday, when we all have massive, wall-size screens that we use not only for watching television and films, but for surfing the Internet, writing the grocery list, playing video games, video-chatting, and other things we haven't even thought of yet, then we may want super-ultra-high definition, although how many K that requires is anybody's guess.

• Silicon Valley's Solution to Spain's Unemployment Problem
• West Virginia Is Leaking Lawsuits, Too
• Freedom Industries, the Company Behind the Chemical Spill
• Spill Goes Hollywood: Erin Brockovich Arrives on the Scene

This article originally published at Businessweek here.
 

What Apple iPhone 6 Will Go Up Against in 2014: New 4K Resolution 6-inch Display Phone Already In Mass Production

iPhone's Retina Display has been its prized feature, and to have a display where the naked eye is not able to discern each individual pixel should have theoretically ended the pixel war. However this is not the case, and Smartphone makers have since then been topping the 326 ppi resolution that Apple has set.

The pinnacle of consumer display resolution currently is a 4K display, which Samsung, LG and the like have been putting into their TVs and monitors. But now a Taiwanese flat panel maker has not only created a 6-inch 4K screen, they have begun mass production of the panel back in December 2013.

The panel's exact resolution is 2560 x 1440 pixels, at 6-inches it has a 500 ppi resolution, almost double that of Apple's Retina Display.

The PR person from AUO declined to reveal the client company who will be installing these displays into their mobile devices, but there are speculations that it could be the Chinese mobile device maker Vivo.

The LCD panel also features very wide viewing angles, made possible with low temperature poly-silicon technology (LTPS).

What makes this display even more impressive is it's ultra-narrow 0.9mm bezel, which can ensure the device to have a compact footprint, despite its giant 6-inch display.

To set the records straight, LG was actually the first company to announce that they have made a mobile 4K display, at 5.5-inches, with the same 2560 x 1440 pixels, coming in at 538 ppi. However LG have not yet put the display in a mass-production device, nor have announced when it will do so, thus making AUO to be the one to set the milestone.

News Source: CrossMap

Related Post:

• Latest Rumor: Apple iPad Pro With 4K Display Now In Development By Foxconn

 

You can snag a 39'' 4K display for $404

The other day, my friend and fellow PC enthusiast Andy Brown pinged me and told me I needed to come over to his house to see his new toy: a 39" 4K display that he ordered from Amazon for 500 bucks. Coming from anybody else, I'd have been deeply skeptical of this purchase, but Andy is actually the co-founder of TR and has impeccable taste in such matters.

The product he purchased is this Seiki Digital 39" 4K 120Hz LED television. I started asking him more questions and looking into it. The more I learned, the more intrigued I became. Soon, I was at Andy's place peering into this large and glorious panel. He had the thing placed directly in front of his old 2560x1600 30" HP monitor, and I can't say I blame him. After all, you can almost get four copies of TR, or any other standard web-width site, side by side on the thing.



Yeah, this beast has more real estate than Ted Turner. And it has dropped in price to $404 at Amazon as I write. With free Prime shipping. And it's still in stock.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Not really. This thing is just a killer deal, available to anyone. But there are a few caveats.

First, there's the matter of refresh rates. This display has a single HDMI input that can support the panel's native resolution of 3840x2160 at a refresh rate of 30Hz. That's a fast enough update rate for desktop and productivity work, but 30Hz is not good for gaming, even with vsync disabled.

Your fall-back option is to drop down to 1920x1080 while gaming, where this thing supports a nice, fast 120Hz refresh rate. That's a compromise on resolution, yes, but this puppy is probably faster than your current display, since 60Hz is the usual standard. Also, 1080p is a nice resolution for gaming because it doesn't require heaps and heaps of GPU horsepower in order to maintain acceptable performance.

And did I mention the price?

The other matter of some importance is the image quality of the display. I believe it's an S-MVA-type panel, which should make it superior to a TN panel and faster than an IPS one. Standing in front of it, that seems about right. There's less color shift than on most TN panels, and there's a heckuva lot of pop to the deep reds and oranges that often seem muted on TN panels.

This is a TV, though, so color correctness is an issue. You may want to buy or borrow a calibrator for it. Andy didn't yet have his display calibrated properly in Windows. The blues in the TR header were alarmingly neon and bright, to the point of being annoying. He'd had more luck with calibration on his Hackintosh, though. When he switched over there, the blues were somewhat tamed, though still brighter and more saturated than I would have liked. He'd put some work in dialing down the backlight intensity in one of the config menus on the TV in order to reach non-retina-searing brightness levels appropriate for a computer monitor.

But did I mention the price?

The simple fact is that you can have a massive array of pixels a couple of feet from your face for about $400. Stretched across a 39" panel, the pixel density is obviously higher than on my own 30" 2560x1600 monitor, but it's not so incredibly high that text becomes completely unreadable. If you do need to bump up the font size, the PPI shouldn't be so out-of-bounds high that the default Windows scaling options are overwhelmed. (I'd still recommend Windows 8.1 for a better experience. Or Mac OS X for the best.)

And there are so, so many pixels.

I know there are a lot of display innovations on tap for this year, including dynamic refresh schemes like G-Sync and 4K TN panels for around $700. This one comes at you from a different angle, and it's not something I expected, to say the least. But if you're willing to front a fraction of the cost of most 4K monitors, you can have the same pixel count today at a crazy discount.

For what it's worth, Newegg has them in for $599, in case Amazon sells out of its stock at $404. There's also a 50" version for $607 and a 65-incher for two grand.

News Source: TECH REPORT
 

4K TV Not Quite Ready for Prime Time

Everywhere you went at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, you saw ultra-high-definition TVs (UHD). Also known as "4K," these sets can display content at about four times the resolution as today's top-of-the-line 1080p high-definition sets.

As I walked around the show looking at the screens, I wondered three things: Will people be able to perceive and appreciate the difference between these and today's sets? Will there be content available to watch at this higher resolution? Will people be willing to pay a premium for UHD sets?

The price issue is the easiest to solve. Right now 4K sets are considerably more expensive than the 1080p high-definition sets many of us bought in the past few years, but that will get better over time. A better version of the set I bought for $1,800 five years ago now costs about $800. Ten years ago it would have cost $5,000

The issue of perception and value is a tougher one. When I first saw an HD set playing HD content, I was blown away by how good it was compared to standard definition TVs. My question at the time wasn't whether I wanted one but when they'd be affordable. But the difference between HDTV and UHD isn't nearly as dramatic.

Regarding content, it took until 2008 for the industry to standardize on a high-resolution format for DVD. It also took a while for broadcasters to start offering HDTV content.

But once HD content became ubiquitous and the sets became affordable, the public flocked to HDTV, which was a boon for TV manufacturers. But now the TV industry has a problem. With market saturation, demand has tapered off just as lower prices are squeezing profits. For a while, the industry's response was to push 3-D TVs, but that didn't pan out. Consumers weren't inclined to pay a premium for 3-D sets, and without big consumer demand, content companies weren't inclined to invest in 3-D programming. Four years ago, 3-D was all the rage at CES; now hardly anyone is talking about it.

Now that it's clear that 3-D isn't the industry's savior, companies are pushing UHD, promising a far more immersive experience without really answering the question as to when enough programs will be available to convince customers that they really want to have one.

As a tech journalist, it's my job to be skeptical about bleeding-edge technology, and I have plenty of hesitation when it comes to recommending UHD. I don't to want count it out, but I can't buy into the hype just because the industry is heavily invested in it. However, if they can solve the content issue, there could very well be a demand for these sets.

But solving the content issue won't be easy. TV networks will have to make an enormous investment in cameras and control room technology, and cable and satellite providers will have to figure out how to upgrade their networks to carry the signals. For now, the best hope comes from delivering the content online. At the LG news conference at CES, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that his company will start streaming UHD content this year. Comcast and Samsung also announced a partnership to stream UHD programs to Samsung TVs.

These partnerships are a good start, but there is one more issue. UHD takes up a lot more bandwidth than high-definition content, which will put a lot more strain on the Internet infrastructure required to deliver all the data necessary to watch these shows.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai, which specializes in delivering high-speed Internet content, is working on the problem. In an interview, Akamai CEO Tom Leighton said that the Internet can support limited 4K today, but it "takes a lot more gigabytes to show a 4K video." He said that the capacity at the local level -- the "last mile," so to speak -- is less of a problem than at the data centers.

Akamai's solution is to bring the content closer to the consumer. "We want to get that video into the neighborhood once only, even if a thousand people are watching it," he said. By way of an analogy, imagine if you were buying a potato grown in Idaho. The grower could dispatch a vehicle to deliver a single potato at great cost in time and resources, or the grower could send a truckload of potatoes to your local grocery store, which could get them quickly and cheaply to your house.

And to stretch the analogy, you could buy a bag of potatoes and store them in your kitchen. To that end, Akamai has teamed up with Qualcomm to develop technology to store ultra-high-definition in your home. When possible, instead of streaming it live on demand, it can anticipate your interest in watching the show and stream it ahead of time -- perhaps in the middle of the night -- so it's on your device when you want to watch it.

News Source: HUFF POST