HP's New Ultrabook: Specs and Features

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HP (Hewlett-Packard) has not enjoyed that much success in the market due to the fact competition in the technology market is very tight and rigid. There is a chance that this could all change as HP unveiled their new Ultrabook dubbed as Envy 14 Spectre during the 2012 CES (Consumer Electronics Show).

HP described the Envy 14 Spectre as "the premium consumer Ultrabook" and based on its design and performance, it is indeed in the "premium" level. One of the most notable features of the HP Spectre is the "glass design" in the body and touchpad of the Ultrabook. The glass is hardened Gorilla glass and it is shatter resistant. This type of glass is also found in other gadgets particularly in iPhone and other high end smartphones. The Envy 14 Spectre has a 14-inch, 1600×900 pixels Radiance display which users could find extremely useful. It also has a width of 13 inches, depth of 8.7 inches, and thickness of 0.8 inch (closed position). The glass design in Envy 14 Spectre makes this model much heavier (1.71 Kg) as compared to other Ultrabooks.

The word "premium" could also be applicable on the specifications that could be found inside HP's new Ultrabook. This model utilizes Intel Core i5-2467M processor which is already suitable for the normal tasks done by a person. If this is not enough, users could opt to get a Core i7 version. It also has 4GB of RAM for the standard model and this can be upgraded to 8GB of DDR3 RAM. The Envy 14 Spectre also has 128GB SSD module that users could choose over the usual HDD storage found in other notebook. The SSD can also be upgraded to 256GB. In terms of OS, the Spectre would be utilizing Windows 8 once it is already released in the market. The demo unit shown at CES 2012 utilized Windows 7 Premium 64bit. In terms of battery such as Hp F4098A battery, Hp F4809A battery, Hp F4812A battery, compaq 319411-001 battery, Compaq Presario 2100 battery(compaq 2100 battery), Compaq Presario 2500 battery(compaq 2500 battery), Compaq Presario NX9010 battery, Compaq Presario NX9000 battery life, HP assured that this model can last up to 9 hours but no actual test has been performed in order to test this claim by HP. Other features of the Spectre includes backlit keyboard c/o individual LED, USB 3.0 port, a mini DisplayPort, 3.5mm microphone/stereo combo jack, HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, and NFC reader.

The Envy 14 Spectre was officially revealed in the public at CES 2012 and many people attending the event responded positively to the Ultrabook's glass design. Many people assumed that since it was a glass design, it would be more vulnerable in terms of durability but since it made up of Corning's Gorilla class, this concern is easily addressed. HP labels this Ultrabook as a "no compromise" machine when it was unveiled in the public. This is due to the features and specifications included in the Envy 14 Spectre. Despite the positive reception of this Ultrabook, many people were not that welcoming when they learned that they have to pay at least US$1,400 to purchase this device.

HP's Envy 14 Spectre will be available in the US market on Feb. 8 for US$1,399 for the base configuration. HP has yet to release any official announcement about the availability of Envy 14 Spectre in Australia.

Fine Dining for Now, But Cheap Eats Later

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If its niche crowd, the managers and professionals, ate a BlackBerry Bold or Torch for lunch and have a BlackBerry PlayBook for dinner, Research In Motion Ltd.'s diner would be giving away free beers to everyone. But fewer business users are ordering BlackBerries nowadays, and the existing users are picking an iPad or an Android tablet.

After its delicious slates (they run Adobe Flash) were nearing their expiration dates, Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest seller of personal computers, announced it's ending its mobile devices business, and slashed prices of the TouchPad to $99 in order to get rid of all the stock crowding the pantry. RIM is not cooking any better than HP. According to some disgruntled shareholders, two chefs (the two co-CEOs) are spoiling the broth, noting that its fine-dinning restaurants are quickly losing patrons as fast as Nokia.

A report last week, although sourced from a reporter with battery like Dell HP297 battery, dell GW240 battery, dell RN873 battery, dell XR693 battery, dell 0XR693 battery, dell 312-0625 battery, Dell Latitude X200 battery, Dell 8U443 battery, Dell Latitude X200 battery, Dell 312-0058 battery citing an analyst, who cited an anonymous source, is adding fuel to the fire. Boy Genius Report wrote that Collins Stewart analyst John Vinh, citing anonymous sources at RIM's manufacturing partner Quanta, said in a note to investors that RIM is no longer grilling tablets. "While Quanta last week acknowledged that it had laid off a significant number of production workers from a factory focused on producing the PlayBook, our research indicates that the ODM has essentially halted production of the tablet, Vinh wrote. "Additionally, our due diligence indicates that RIMM has canceled development of additional tablet projects."

If RIM decides to stop baking PlayBooks because everyone is craving for an iPad (it has 70% market share), then we'll likely find the PlayBook in a $99 fire-sale.

But execs at RIM quickly refuted the BGR report. "RIM doesn't typically comment on rumors, but any suggestion that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued is pure fiction," a RIM spokesperson told BGR in an email. "RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market."

RIM shipped to retailers 500,000 PlayBook tablets in the slate's launch quarter and then 200,000 more during its first full quarter. But Quanta had delivered 1.5 million PlayBooks to RIM, according to The Guardian, citing an analyst at Fubon Securities. Apple on the other hand has not just shipped but already SOLD 30 million iPads since launching in April 2010.

Although the PlayBook's steak was amazing (its platform was superb for multi-tasking), it forgot to add salt to the soup (the product was launched without its own access to e-mail, contacts and calendar). What's more, it couldn't get enough toppings for the salad bar because suppliers haven't been convinced that they would be paid. With many customers ordering iPads, Apple has been able to woo developers to plant more veggies for the salad bar (100,000 apps are now available at the apps store).

Although the PlayBook was at least rich in flavor (1 GHz dual-core processor, 1080p HD front and back cameras, etc.), RIM couldn't get any "compliments to the chef" because nobody was eating the PlayBook, prompting price cuts from retailers. Priced at launching at $499, Best Buy Web site's indicates that the entry level 16 GB PlayBook is now only $299.

But with cheaper slabs looming on the horizon, RIM could be forced to further cut prices to sell all the steaks before they rot.

Amazon is start to opening the buffet tablet for the Kindle Fire at only $199 -- less than half $499 entry-level iPad 2. While the Kindle Fire wouldn't get a five-star ratings (it's just an Android tablet with a slower processor and lower memory), it is supported by Amazon's cloud infrastructure and Amazon's wide array of digital content.

Six months ago, the Blackberry PlayBook would have been an exceptional entrée given that it only had the pricey iPad to contend with. But RIM priced the PlayBook also at $499 notwithstanding that Apple has a doctorate in presentation (the aesthetics, marketing) and already had a wide menu (apps) for everyone.

So, a PlayBook for just $99? Not for now. Remember that HP's spontaneous decision to shut its pizza parlor after just one bad pizza cost CEO Leo Apotheker his job. HP is focusing on the high margin enterprise and software business and will spin-off its PC business. So it doesn't make sense anymore if it continues selling pizzas when it makes more money just distributing dough to everyone.

But for RIM, it needs to continue roasting tablets. Tablets are no longer a fad -- they're legitimate second computing devices. Even PC software giant Microsoft is cooking a platform designed to also work for smartphones and tablets. If RIM sends its PlayBook to $99 fire sales, it would be one step backwards for the Canadian device-maker.

Remember that the PlayBook is the first RIM device based on QNX Neutrino. And it is hopeful that "superphones" based on QNX would make RIM back as top chef. RIM believes that the PlayBook is just the appetizer and hopes the dishes being prepared in the kitchen -- the next generation PlayBook and the superphones -- would be everyone's dinner.

Dell’s Latitude XT2 Tablet Promises Longer Battery Life

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When Dell’s Latitude XT tablet hit the market last spring, it became the first notebook with a capacitive touch screen (thanks to a firmware update, it later became the first with multitouch). We raved about the tablet performance, but it lost big points in our review due to its short battery life. The XT2 (starting at $2,399) promises longer battery life, in part thanks to Intel’s Centrino 2 platform. Specifically, Dell claims it can last 11 hours and 28 minutes with a six-cell battery and six-cell battery slice (in our tests, the XT lasted about 7 hours with a six-cell battery and nine-cell slice). It will also be offered with a four or six-cell battery such as dell W0465 battery, dell Inspiron 2000 battery, dell Latitude LS battery, dell 2834T battery, dell 4834T battery, dell Inspiron 1520 battery, dell Inspiron 1521 battery, Dell Inspiron 1720 battery, dell Inspiron 1525 battery, dell Inspiron 1526 battery. Moreover, it has DDR3 memory, which promises improved performance, and can support up to 5GB RAM. Like the original XT, the XT2 has a 12.1-inch display. The multi-touch technology, again powered by N-trig, means that users can make gestures using multiple fingers, such as zooming, pinching, scrolling, double tapping, and rotating. And, of course, since multitouch is a form of capacitive touch, the display will register gestures without the user having to put much pressure on the screen. While the screen size and multitouch gestures remain the same, Dell promises the XT2′s display will be brighter, having doubled the nits. Other changes include the addition of Intel’s vPro platform, which is designed to make remote management easier for IT workers. Dell also redesigned the hinge to make this convertible more stable. The XT2 starts at $2,399 and is available today here. Below, a list of key specs:

Security-conscious businesses will appreciate some additional E4300 features. In addition to optional fingerprint and Smart Card readers, the system is bundled with Embassy Security Center, an application that includes password management for Windows and preboot logins, security management, and the ability to manage TPM chips. Our unit also came with an Intel Active Management Technology application that allows a business’ IT department to remotely manage the E4300 online.

Dell covers the E4300 with a standard three-year limited warranty that includes mail-in service. For a $99 upgrade, onsite service is available. For a $178 upgrade, small businesses can purchase three years of ProSupport, which is designed for offices with limited or no IT staff.

We can’t help but compare the Dell Latitude E4300 to another business-oriented, 13-inch ultraportable, the Lenovo ThinkPad X300, as well as its update, the ThinkPad X301. Like the Latitude E4300, the X300 and X301 are both ultra-thin, use SSDs, and come with a combination of a TrackPoint and a touchpad. The E4300 offers a much faster processor (2.4 GHz vs. 1.4 GHz) and slightly better graphics performance than even the fastest configuration of the X301. The E4300 also lasts significantly longer, even without its extended battery slice, besting the X301 by more than 2 hours (5:39 to 3:29). However, when it comes to size, weight, ease of typing, and screen resolution, the ThinkPads are just a bit more pleasing to use. If you can deal with its extra heft and somewhat mushy keyboard, the E4300 offers an industry-leading combination of endurance and processing power.

Dell Latitude E4300 Review

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The E4300 is one of the most stylish business notebooks we’ve tested. The polycarbonate and aluminum chassis features a tastefully minimalist design with squared edges, with a handful of blue status lights dotting the top of the keyboard. Our review unit was black, but unlike most business notebooks, the E4300 is available in blue and red. The standard six-cell battery is a blemish on the uniform design, as it not only bulges out uncomfortably from the back, but also is painted in a mismatching silver.



With its lid closed, the E4300 measures 1 inch at its thinnest and 1.3 inches at its thickest points. With the optional battery slice attached to the bottom, the thickness increases dramatically to 2 inches at its thickest. The E4300 weighs a full 5.2 pounds with the slice attached, and 3.8 pounds without it. The Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and X301, by comparison, weigh only 3.3 and 3.4 pounds, respectively, when equipped with their six-cell batteries like dell KD476 battery, dell TD347 battery, dell Inspiron 1000 battery, dell Inspiron 2200 battery, dell 312-0292 battery, dell INSPIRON 2600 battery, dell INSPIRON 2650 battery, dell 1G222 battery, dell BAT3151L8 battery, dell Latitude X300 battery.

The E4300’s full-size keyboard has its keys in all the standard positions. Touch typists who like a highly tactile feel will prefer the Lenovo X300’s springy keys, but can still thrive with the E4300’s decent, if unremarkable, feedback.



Like its main competitor, the E4300 offers both a pointing stick and a touchpad. The tiny touchpad offers little surface area for movement, though tweaking its driver settings made it easy enough to navigate. The pointing stick affords greater accuracy, but its rubber nub is indented in a way that makes it both coarse and slippery at the same time. We found our finger slipping frequently as we tried to move around the desktop.

The 13.3-inch, LED-backlit display offers impressively bright, vibrant images and strong viewing angles. Watching a DVD of Star Wars: A New Hope, we were pleasantly surprised by the trueness of the blacks in outer space scenes and the brilliant fidelity of other colors like the blue sky over Tatooine or the gold metal on C-3PO’s chassis. At half-brightness, the screen was well illuminated; at 100 percent, it was overkill.

Like many 13.3-inch displays with 16:10 aspect ratios, the E4300’s screen has a native resolution of 1280 x 800. However, we would have preferred the larger workspace provided by a 1440 x 900-pixel resolution, something the E4300’s main competitors, the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and X301, both offer.

The E4300 is equipped with an ambient light sensor, which is supposed to make subtle adjustments based on available light, raising the brightness in well-lit rooms to compete effectively with other light sources, while dimming the screen in darker locations to save battery life. Unfortunately, in several well-lit rooms, the hyperactive light sensor annoyed us by continuously raising and lowering the screen’s brightness every few seconds, even though we were sitting still and the overhead lights remained constant. In a darker room, the sensor calmed down and adjusted itself only once, but was still less useful than simply changing the brightness manually. Fortunately, deselecting a box in Dell’s control panel software disables the sensor, a choice we recommend.

Though marketed as a business system, the E4300 had better sound and video quality than many consumer notebooks we’ve tested. As stated above, DVD playback was incredibly smooth, with truly vibrant colors and sharp images and true blacks. Watching streaming high-def video on Fox.com produced similar results. When watching movies or listening to streaming music via Napster, the sound coming from the speakers was loud, clear, and free from distortion. We would most certainly recommend the E4300 for giving presentations to smaller groups.

The E4300 accommodates a couple of advanced interfaces, but as a trade-off, offers only two USB ports. The right side of the system features an optical drive, mic and headphone jacks, an ExpressCard/34 slot, a FireWire port, and the lone USB port. The left side has a Smart Card reader, a VGA-out port, and an eSATA port, which doubles as one of the USB ports. The front lip contains a memory card reader, while the back houses the Ethernet port. We appreciate the ability to connect to high-speed storage devices offered by the eSATA and FireWire ports, but we wish there was one additional USB connector.

Though the E4300 comes standard with Windows Vista, you can configure it with Windows XP, which is how our review unit arrived. Therefore, we were not able to run PCMark Vantage, our standard benchmark for today’s business systems. However, in the older PCMark05 benchmark, the E4300 and its 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU scored a strong 5,787, well above our average of 3,714 for XP-powered notebooks.

For this kind of price, we would hope for a discrete graphics or switchable graphics option. However, the Latitude E4300 is available only with an integrated Intel GMA 4500HD graphics chip. The GMA 4500HD offered mixed performance results, returning a strong score of 2,210 in 3DMark03—600 points above our category average for ultraportable notebooks—while scoring a slightly below-average 775 on the more-demanding 3DMark06 test.

Not surprisingly, the E4300 did not fare well on our gaming test. On F.E.A.R., the system garnered a measly 24 fps at 800 x 600 and an unplayable 14 fps at its 1280 x 800 native resolution.

Dell Streak 7 (T-Mobile)

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The Streak 7 is a pretty straightforward slab. The glossy black front panel slopes downward on the left and right sides to improve gripability. The sides and back are made of a dark charcoal plastic, with the back carrying a subtle diamond pattern emblazoned with a silver Dell logo.

At 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches and weighing 1 pound, the Streak 7 is a little larger and heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Tab ( 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches, 13.4 ounces) and the Viewsonic ViewPad 7 (7.1 x 4.3 x 0.45 inches, 13.2 ounces). The slate felt light but solid in our hands and didn't creak when we pressed on it, as some cheaper tablets do.

Like the original 5-inch Dell Streak, the chassis was designed with battery such as dell 312-0393 battery, dell Latitude D800 battery, dell Inspiron 8500 battery, dell 8N544 battery, dell Inspiron 8600 battery, Dell Precision M60 battery, dell Inspiron 6400 battery, dell Inspiron E1505 battery, dell Inspiron 1501 battery, dell GD761 battery landscape-oriented use in mind. Unlike the Galaxy Tab, the front-facing webcam is on top when the tablet is in landscape mode. A volume rocker and the power button sit at the top of the chassis. On the left side are a speaker and 3.5-inch headphone jack. A full-size SD Card slot and a SIM card slot sit underneath a flip-out door on the right of the unit.

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Like many tablets today--including the Samsung Galaxy Tab--the Dell Streak 7 uses a proprietary docking port to charge or connect to your PC. The device comes with a single docking-port-to-USB wire and a USB AC adapter for charging. Unfortunately, though you can copy files to or from its internal memory, you cannot charge the Streak by connecting it via USB; it can only get power from the wall.

The 7-inch 800 x 480 glossy screen has strong viewing angles both from extreme left-right and titled positions. However, the glossy surface, which is made of durable Corning Gorilla Glass, is a fingerprint magnet and shows lots of imprints when held up to a light source. Colors look true, but are not nearly as vivid as those produced by the Galaxy Tab.

Unfortunately, the 800 x 480-pixel screen resolution is a huge disadvantage for the Streak 7, particularly when compared to the Galaxy Tab's 1024 x 600 display. When you consider that most Android phones have the same resolution, the Streak 7 lacks one of the most important benefits slates have over handsets. This paltry amount of screen real estate effectively prevents the Streak 7 from having dual-paneled apps such as the Galaxy Tab's Calendar, or from showing most web pages at full width without zooming out.

Also, because it fits fewer pixels into its 7-inch panel, each dot is larger. Graphics in games such as Angry Birds and Asphalt looked much less sharp than they did on the Galaxy Tab.

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Like all but the cheapest tablets, the Dell Streak 7 uses a capacitive digitizer that supports multitouch gestures. In our testing, the device was responsive to our taps and pinch-to-zoom was extremely smooth in all applications, particularly the browser.

The Streak 7's 1-GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU insures that it can play any kind of video you throw at it. In our tests, downloaded videos, including a 1080p Quicktime trailer of Iron Man 2 and a 1080p WMV file of Coral Reef Adventure, were completely smooth and sharp. However, the Streak 7 does not come with a pre-loaded video app, so in order to play Quicktime and WMV files, we had to install third-party applications such as Act 1 or Vplayer. However, the Streak was able to natively play 720p videos we recorded with its built-in camera.

We were particularly impressed with the Streak 7's ability to play online Flash videos. When we were connected to T-Mobile's 4G network, we streamed both a 720p clip of Glee from Fox.com and a Flash Green Hornet trailer from Sony.com. Amazingly, both videos started almost immediately and streamed smoothly, though we noticed a little blockiness in the picture.

For a 7-inch slate, the Streak offers really strong audio playback. When we tried playing both the bass-heavy R&B tune "Forget Me Nots" and the guitar-dominated "Back in Black," sound was clear if not overly rich. At maximum volume, the music was quieter than most netbooks we've tested, though loud enough to fill our small living room.

Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab and many other devices, the Dell Streak 7 comes with the Swype keyboard pre-installed; this lets you draw a continuous line between letters to form a word. If you don't like drawing lines or find it difficult to pick up, you can just tap the individual letters as normal. However, if you start tapping too quickly, Swype will think you are drawing a line and start connecting the keys.On most tablets and phones, users who don't like Swype can disable the software in the settings menu and get a standard Android keyboard instead. Unfortunately, we were unable to turn Swype off until we installed Better Keyboard (a third-party app).

Overall, we were able to type effectively with one or two fingers. Because the keys are so large in landscape mode, we only rarely hit the wrong letter. A blue glow appears around each key as you hit it, which lets you know your tap was registered. The Dell Streak 7 also has haptic feedback, which gives you a small vibration when you hit each key. You can turn this feature off in the settings menu, but we found that having it on made it even easier to tell that we'd hit the right key.

Dell XPS 15z Review

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If it weren't for the hinge and the raised Dell logo on the lid, the XPS 15z might be confused for the 15-inch MacBook Pro at a quick glance. Its aluminum lid, magnesium-alloy chassis, and chrome trim around the edges exude more style than the regular XPS line. The deck is a slightly darker metallic color than the lid, and the two speaker grilles on either side of the keyboard have a diagonal pattern that continues on the vents on the bottom and back. Some might find this pattern to be a bit much.

The one design feature that seems out of place is the ribbed barrel hinge. We think it clashes with the grille pattern, and the section connected to the lid doesn't quite line up with the sections that are connected to the deck. We wouldn't raise a fuss if this were a budget notebook, but it's a borderline eyesore on a system in this price range.

At 15.2 x 10.3 inches, the XPS 15z's footprint is slightly larger than the MacBook Pro's (14.4 x 9.8 inches), but at just 0.97 inches thick, it's marginally thinner than Apple's notebook (1 inch). It's enough for Dell wich battery like dell Y9943 battery, dell RC107 battery, dell Latitude D620 battery, dell 312-0386 battery, dell PC764 battery, dell TD175 battery, dell Latitude D820 battery, dell Latitude D830 battery, dell MM165 battery, dell YD626 battery to boast that the XPS 15z is the thinnest 15-inch notebook on the planet, but you're not likely to notice the difference. Still, the regular XPS 15 (1.5 inches thick) looks positively chunky by comparison.

The XPS 15z's 5.6-pound weight is equal to that of the 15-inch MacBook Pro (and a full pound less than the XPS 15), which didn't make it all that uncomfortable to carry around. However, the smaller MBP is easier to fit into a messenger bag.

After playing a Hulu video for 15 minutes at full screen, the XPS remained fairly cool. The touchpad registered just 82 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys was 89, and the middle of the underside was 85 degrees. However, after we played World of Warcraft for about 10 minutes, the XPS 15 became noticeably hotter: The bottom near the vents reached 104 degrees, and we could also feel the left side of the keyboard heat up, too.

The XPS 15z's island-style keyboard is one of the more stylish we've seen. However, we wish form followed function more. The rounded keys don't have as much travel as we'd like. When we were typing it just felt too shallow. We like the fact that the keyboard is backlit, but when the backlighting is turned off, it's hard to read the letters and numbers.

We also like that there's a dedicated eject button for the DVD drive, but wish the Function row had been reversed, so we didn't have to press Fn in order to, say, adjust the volume.

The 3.9 x 2.3-inch touchpad is not only spacious, but friction-free and highly responsive as well. We were able to execute multitouch functions such as pinch-to-zoom, rotate, and scroll with ease. The two mouse buttons below feel a tad mushy, but are plenty large.

The XPS 15z's 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel glossy display was wonderfully crisp and bright. At 300 nits, it's brighter than a typical notebook display (usually around 200 nits), and it showed. During the bleak and moody scenes in the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, we could make out the smallest details, and darker areas showed little, if any, pixelation. The XPS 15z's panel also has a higher resolution than the 15-inch MacBook Pro, which sports 1440 x 900 pixels.

While not the JBL speakers on the original XPS line, the two large speakers on either side of the XPS 15z's keyboard pumped out a good amount of high-quality sound. Everything from Lady Gaga's "Lovegame" to Jay-Z's "Takeover" sounded crisp and clear, but the lack of a subwoofer, as on the XPS 15, was evident.

On the left side of the XPS 15z are two USB 3.0 ports, one USB/eSATA with PowerShare, HDMI 1.4, Mini DisplayPort, and a 9-in-1 card reader. The right side has a slot-loading DVD drive and headphone and mic jacks. The rear has an Ethernet port.

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While it's not Skype HD-certified, a caller during a video chat said that the XPS 15z's 1.3-megapixel webcam was able to render finer details in our face and clothes, and the dual embedded microphones picked up our voice clearly and cleanly. However, it should be noted that the XPS 15 has a 2-MP HD webcam.

The 2.7-GHz Intel Core i7-2620M processor and 8GB of RAM in our XPS 15z powered the system to a score of 8,094 in PCMark Vantage. That's about 2,500 points higher than the category average and 400 points higher than the 15-inch MacBook Pro, but about 500 points shy of the XPS 15 we tested, which had a 2-GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM quad-core processor.

The 750GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive booted into Windows 7 Home Premium in 1 minute and 7 seconds, which is even with the category average, but 14 seconds slower than the XPS 15. However, it duplicated a 4.97GB folder of multimedia in 2 minutes and 38 seconds, a rate of 32.3 MBps. This showing was slower than the XPS 15 (33.3 MBps) and the MacBook Pro (36.4 MBps), but all were in the same ballpark, and comfortably above the 26.3 MBps average.

Transcoding a 114MB MPEG-4 video to AVI using Oxelon Media Encoder took 40 seconds on the XPS 15z, placing it between the XPS 15 (42 seconds) and the MacBook Pro (37).

Dell Releases Its Lightest Laptop Ever

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updated its lineup of business notebooks today with a 2.5-pound laptop designed for executives who want to make last-minute changes to presentations while airborne.

Dell updated its lineup of business notebooks today with a 2.5-pound laptop designed for executives who want to make last-minute changes to presentations while airborne.

The Latitude X1 was designed with business travelers in mind, from its reinforced casing (which wards off shifting airline baggage in the overhead compartment) to a sealed keyboard that limits the damage caused by coffee spills. Dell reduced the size of this model's power adapter and battery such as dell D5561 battery, dell G5345 battery, dell Inspiron 500m battery, dell Inspiron 510m battery, dell Inspiron 600m battery, dell Latitude D500 battery, dell Latitude D505 battery, dell Latitude D510 battery, dell Latitude D520 battery, dell Latitude D600 battery to reduce the system weight to 2.5 pounds, making this system the lightest laptop in the company's arsenal.

Business customers can purchase the notebook with service plans that promise next-day repairs within the United States, as well as with international plans that cover travel elsewhere in the world, Dell said.

Small Notebook Popularity

Ultraportable notebooks have remained a niche product category in the United States, despite their popularity in many other parts of the world. This has shown signs of changing in the past six months, however, as Intel has introduced newer versions of its Centrino mobile technology, lowering the cost of the older versions.

Rival PC vendor Hewlett-Packard's lightest business notebook weighs 3.5 pounds, but comes with the regular version of Intel's Pentium M processor, which outperforms Ultra Low Voltage versions. The HP Compaq Business Notebook Nc4010 comes with a six-cell battery.

Dell Gives Businesses Options in Battery Recall

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Dell has come up with several ways to help corporate customers replace defective laptop batteries that may have thousands of the dangerous batteries deployed all over their enterprises.

"We are working with customers to develop a plan that best suits their specific circumstances," said Anne Camden, a spokeswoman for Dell, in Round Rock, Texas. "But we are constantly tweaking the plan."

Dell has been scrambling since last week to implement a worldwide recall of 4.1 million batteries, included on laptops made between July 1, 2004 and July 18, 2006, because of the risk that the batteries may overheat and cause a fire. The computer maker announced the recall in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The batteries were made for Dell by Sony, which is shouldering some of the costs of the recall.

Dell is pursuing any one of three strategies to help corporate customers get replacement batteries, Camden said. For companies with a large dedicated IT staff, that staff will track down the affected laptops within the company, order the replacements, and install them when they arrive from Dell. In other instances, Dell may set up and staff kiosks on the campus of a corporate customer to handle the recall.

But the third option may be the most likely: "In some cases, some larger corporate customers may just leave it to the end user," Camden said.

That is the approach being taken by Electronic Data Systems in Plano, Texas. The global enterprise technology service provider sells and maintains Dell computers for military, civilian government agencies and corporate customers, said spokesman Travis Jacobsen. EDS also uses Dell computers in its own organization.

If an enterprise has people in offices scattered around the country or the world, the simplest thing for them to do is have each employee go to Dell's Web site, determine if their battery kile dell Latitude D610 battery, dell 312-0068 battery, dell 6Y270 battery, dell 1X793 battery, dell C1295 battery, dell Inspiron 1100 battery, dell Inspiron 5100 battery, dell 6T473 battery, dell Inspiron 630m battery, dell Inspiron 640m battery is subject to the recall and apply online for a replacement to be sent to that field office, Jacobsen said.

For example, one of its military customers, a joint Navy Marine Corps Intranet contract, uses 45,000 Dell laptops subject to the recall, Jacobsen said. Shipment of new batteries will be expedited for military users "in forward command units where they really need their system to keep running," he said, while others may have to wait a couple of weeks.

EDS has service level agreements with enterprise customers defining the level of service EDS must provide for their Dell computers, or other brands for that matter. "We are not seeing any loss of productivity from our customers or violation of service-level agreements" due to the recall, Jacobsen said.

Dell punts germ-free netbook for school kids

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Dell is now flogging a series of colorful netbooks aimed at the clumsy, snot-nosed germ-factories affectionately known as school children.

The new Dell Latitude 2100 netbook line for the educational sector can be loaded with custom kid-intended kit like an antimicrobial keyboard, rubberized kickball-like exterior, and a special "network activity light" on the back of the lid designed to tattle to teacher when the kids are trading Pokemons online rather than paying attention to lessons.

The guts of the machine are common netbook fare. The Latitude 2100 is equipped with an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor partnered and the Intel 945GSE chipset. It starts at 512MB of RAM (up to 2GB) and 16GB solid state hard drive (max is a 250GB standard HDD), and it can sport either Windows or Ubuntu Linux.

Latitude 2100 netbooks have a 10.1-inch LED display with 1024x576 pixel resolution. There's also an optional touch screen upgrade for the screen. The chassis is covered in a thick, rubberized cover that hearkens to the bouncy projectiles every kid worth their salt has been assaulted with in a spirited game of dodgeball. The bottom is vent-free to avoid a spilled juicebox compromising the tot's education.

A basic system weighs about 2.9 pounds with a 3-cell battery such as dell Inspiron 8100 battery, dell Inspiron 4000 battery, dell Inspiron 4100 battery, dell Inspiron 2500 battery, dell Latitude CPX battery, dell Latitude C600 battery, dell Latitude C610 battery, dell Latitude C640 battery, dell 1691P battery, dell 75UYF battery and sized 10.43 inches by 0.89 inches.

The Latitude 2100 begins at $369 loaded with the Ubuntu Linux 8.10 operating system or with Windows XP Home Edition for $30 more. There's also an option for Windows Vista Home Basic (which for netbooks may be considered a form of child abuse. Please consult your local goverment before purchasing). UK pricing begins at £259.

To appeal specifically to the education market, Dell's includes a handful of extras tho make the system cool for school, but collectively makes it far more costly. For example, the germ-slaying keyboard is an additional $20 (and only available in the US for some reason. So much for Germ Free Adolescents). Adding a camera is $15, and the 10.1inch Touchscreen LED display is $30. Getting any color beyond "Chalkboard Black" runs up another $30. Not huge sums by themselves, but the total price exceeds $500 apiece quite easily. The computer also doesn't appear to come with any educational software to speak of.

Dell is also presently rolling out a "Mobile Computing Station" for the Latitude 2100 – which is a sort of cart/docking station that holds 24 of the netbooks. Students can slide their Latitude 2100's into the station - sort of like a blade server - to recharge the machines and even remotely update the netbooks.

Dell Inspiron Mini 12

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With the evolution of the netbook now progressing at such a rate that it would probably make Darwin mutter darkly about wishing the Bible was right, hardly a month, week, day passes without a new sub-species crawling from the primordial ooze.

One of the latest is the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, which - as the more alert of you will suspect - is a 12in screen version of the Inspiron Mini 9. Well, almost - the differences actually run a little deeper than that.

Mainly its a question of storage. While the Mini 9 only came with SSD storage, in either 4, 8 or 16GB flavours, the Mini 12 only comes with an HDD, either 40GB or 80GB, respectively included on the Linux - Ubuntu 8.04 - and Windows XP varieties of the netbook.

Exactly why Dell won't let you have a Mini 12 with an SSD – or a Mini 9 with an HDD, for that matter - is anyone's guess.

The Mini 12 is a fair bit bigger than its 9in sibling, but at 299mm x 229mm, its footprint isn't that much larger. And, more to the point, the Mini 12 is actually the thinner of the two, rising from 23.3mm at the front to 27.6mm at the rear, compared the 9's 27.2-31.7mm. Its only 201g heaver than the Mini 9 too, at 1.2 vs 1kg.

Raw numbers aside, the Mini 12 is an eminently portable device and while it may not slide into an envelope, it's every bit as easy to cart about as Apple's MacBook Air.

Its larger-than-the-netbook-norm footprint notwithstanding, the Mini 12 is otherwise Small Cheap Computer standard. On the left hand side, you get two USB ports, a VGA video connector, Kensington lock and power jack, while on the right you get another USB port, 3.5mm audio jacks, a three-in-one card reader and a 10/100Mb/s Ethernet port. Embedded above the screen is a 1.3Mp webcam and microphone.

Now you can say what you like about Dell, but it does know how to bolt a laptop together and, like the Mini 9, we struggle to find a bad word to say about the Mini 12's build quality. It's solid, doesn't creak or groan when you try to bend it - or the screen - and the hinge is nicely weighted.

That not say it's perfect. Our review sample came with the standard black colour option which makes the Mini 12in a fingerprint magnet of unusual quality, so we'd seriously suggest going for the "Arctic White" version.

Secondly, the 'Power On' light is a cheap looking and overly bright pure white affair that's slightly distracting when using the Mini 12 in good light and just plain annoying when using it in low light or of an evening.

The Mini 12 also lacks anything in the way of an external Wi-Fi switch. Nor does it have the status LEDs you will find on the front lip of the Mini 9 so you can't tell when it is fully charged if it's switched off.

The styling is also just a bit, well, conservative for our tastes. It looks OK on its own, but whenever we sat it down next to our white Acer Aspire One it was hard not to come to the conclusion that Dell's designers really couldn't be bothered to make the Mini 12 – or the 9 or the new 10, for that matter – stand out from the crowd.

And a nice screen it is too - assuming, like us, you're happy with the glossy finish – being bright, crisp and clear. At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, web browsing, word processing and just about any other PC-based function you care to mention really are a fair bit more enjoyable on a 12-incher than they are when you only have ten or nine inches to amuse yourself with.

The Mini 12 comes with a three-cell 24Whr battery like dell 5081P battery, Dell 1K500 battery, Dell Inspiron 3700 battery, Dell Precision M40 battery, Dell Precision M50 battery, dell Inspiron 700m battery, dell Inspiron 710m battery, dell F5136 battery, dell 312-0306 battery, dell 312-0305 battery rather than the four-cell 32Whr pack fitted to the Mini 9 - though a six-cell 48Whr unit is also available for an extra £40.

The basic battery pack managed to play a standard-definition video at full screen - and full brightness and with the Wi-Fi radio switched on – for 139 minutes which, when compared to the 173 minutes the Mini 9 managed, suggests that Dell would have been better served by using the same four-cell power pack in the 12 that it uses in the 9, the slight increase in weight notwithstanding.

Dell Latitude XT2 XFR ruggedised laptop

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Dell’s XT2 tablet PC has been around for just over a year, and now the company has come up with a fully-ruggedised version in the form of the XT2 XFR. Able to withstand drops, freezing temperatures and rain, it’s primarily aimed at those who have to cope with something a little more testing than a daily commute on the train.

With a sturdy, rubber-edged chassis, the XT2 XFR has much in common with similar ruggedised laptops from the likes of Getac and the Toughbook range from Panasonic. One of the downsides of these designs is that they tend to look almost toy-like, and the XT2 XFR is no different.

All ports round the edge are covered up by small waterproof doors, while a catch at the front securely locks down the lid. At 2.7kg, it’s fairly heavy for a tablet, but that’s to be expected given its robust nature. On the underside the 42Wh battery such as dell D5318 battery, dell G5260 battery, dell G5266 battery, dell Latitude CPi battery, dell Inspiron 8200 battery, dell Inspiron 8000 battery, dell CG036 battery, dell 312-0435 battery, dell NF343 battery, dell 312-0436 battery is removed by unlocking and releasing two catches – take it out, and a 128GB Samsung SSD is also revealed.

The 12.1in flip-and-twist screen (1280 x 800) is a capacitive multi-touch display, and Dell supplies a stylus that slots neatly into the side of the chassis. Being bright and lacking a glossy coating, the display is also perfectly suited to outdoor use. It welcomes finger prods, but if you whip the stylus out it’ll ignore them, so if your palm touches the screen your scribbling won’t be interrupted.

Inside, the keyboard is comfortable to type on and Thinkpad fans will appreciate the nipple control sat in the middle. The touchpad seems unnecessarily small, though, and the rubber buttons are awkward to use.

The laptop’s powered by a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo SU9600 processor, has 2GB of DDR3 memory to play with and uses Intel’s integrated GMA 4500MHD chipset for the graphics. Other features include 802.11n wireless, Gigabit Lan, an ambient light sensor, fingerprint reader and Windows 7 Professional 32-bit.

Unfortunately for Dell, the first review sample it shipped out to me was pretty much useless in that the touchscreen had a mind of its own. Random screen presses occurred every few seconds, almost as if there were a poltergeist in the room – all of which made it impossible to use. Furthermore, one of the waterproof caps at the rear wasn’t particularly snug.

Dell therefore recalled the laptop back to its labs and, about a week later, it was returned. The loose waterproof cap appeared much more secure, the screen was just as problematic as before, which seemed more than a little odd since Dell had told me their labs couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

In order to get things moving, Dell opted to send me a German version of the XT2 XFR, which is identical except for the different keyboard layout. Thankfully, this sample worked perfectly. I don’t want to knock Dell too hard over the malfunctioning of the original review sample, but given that this laptop is meant to be harder than nails you’d think the chances of problems occurring would be pretty small.

With a fully-functional sample I decided to go about testing some of Dell’s claims. The laptop is both MIL-STD-810G (a US Department of Defence test) and IP-54 (protection from dust and water) certified, so I started by subjecting it to a few random drops. Dell reckons a 3ft fall is no problem for the XT2 XFR, so, tape measure in hand, that’s exactly what it got. Despite making an unholy racket, it emerged unscathed and the rubberised sections of the chassis meant there were no unsightly marks.

Of course, being a tablet it’s designed to be used in the hands at chest height. And since most people are a fair bit taller than 3ft, a butter-finger moment would most likely result in it tumbling around 5ft. To be honest, I reckon a 5ft drop wouldn’t be a problem, but I didn’t fancy testing beyond Dell’s specifications and then be faced with a hefty repair bill.

Another of Dell’s claims is that it can withstand temperatures right down to -40C, and be fully operational at -23C. And after finding the temperature of my freezer to be -21C, I decided to plop it in overnight alongside the freezer’s woefully out-of-date contents. The next morning I took it out, fired it up and – despite being too cold to hold – it appeared to work fine.

However, closer inspection revealed the touchscreen wasn’t responding. Even after a couple of hours of it being switched on it still remained oblivious to my finger prods. Weary at the thought of another review sample switchover – and no doubt a few raised eyebrows from Dell – I was relieved when it sprang back into life after a few more hours at room temperature.

The ‘5’ part of the laptop’s IP-54 certification means it’s protected from dust, while the ‘4’ indicates it can cope with water splashing against any side of the chassis (rainfall being a prime example). For once I was glad of some heavy rain and promptly took the laptop outside to give its water-resistant credentials a test. A good dosing later, I dried the laptop off then checked inside the various waterproof covers that keep the ports safe – all were free of water and the laptop worked perfectly.

Performance isn’t key here, but no laptop review is complete without a few graphs. The SU9600 processor managed to achieve a respectable overall score in PCMark Vantage, and the SSD helped boost the HDD score to 20,784, which is well above what traditional drives get. 3DMark Vantage wouldn’t run, but given the integrated graphics it’s safe to assume the score wouldn’t have flattered.

Dell Latitude Z

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If you want a laptop to impress, then a likely choice is a high-end MacBook rather than an amorphous black box Windows notebook, that looks about as cool as a fridge-freezer. With admiring glances in mind, is Dell's Inspiron Latitude Z, a machine the company is heralding as the thinnest and most stylish 16in laptop around.

Indeed, the Latitude Z is a fine piece of design. The satin finish 'dark cherry' casing looks and feels exquisite, as do the chamfered chrome screen hinges at the rear corners that also house the Ethernet and power sockets. The good looks are matched by the first rate build quality and solidity. The latter being especially important in a machine that, while having a pretty broad footprint of 396 x 272mm, is no more than 20mm thick at its maximum. As with most skinny notebooks the lid will bend if given a good twist, but you have to be pretty brutal.

That solidity hasn't come at the expense of increased weight – at 2kg you couldn't reasonably expect it to be any lighter. Thankfully, Dell hasn't stripped the Z of all the useful stuff in the quest to shave a extra few mm off the thickness. So you still get two USB ports – one of which doubles as an eSATA link – a DisplayPort socket and a 3.5mm headset jack. The Latitude comes with a DisplayPort to VGA adapter with an HDMI version being an optional extra. Absent from the Z is a memory card reader and an optical drive, but the unit does come with a sleek external 8-speed DVD+/-RW slot drive.

The lid houses a widescreen 1600 x 900 backlit LCD panel with a matt finish. That finish takes away the final degree of crystal clarity when watching video, but it cuts down on surface reflections, which is more important for a machine targeting the business user. In use, it is a crisp, bright and colourful display with wide effective viewing angles that should satisfy the vast majority of users.

Press a button next to the lower right hand corner of the screen and that side of the bezel becomes a touch sensitive control panel incorporating what Dell calls EdgeTouch. The area can be used to either launch one of seven selected applications when tapped in a certain place or it can act as one long scroll bar which was how we tended to use it.

Dell hasn't dropped the soap with the keyboard either. The shiny and slightly concave keys are well spaced and pleasant to the touch, though the travel may prove a little short for some tastes. The keyboard is also backlit and the illumination can be set to either on or off or automatic which lights up when you start to type and then switches off when you stop. I had no complaints about the large multi-touch touchpad either which was precise and sensitive in equal measure.

Security features include a contactless RFID smart-card reader, fingerprint scanner and something called FaceAware that uses the 2Mp web cam and some facial recognition software to put the system into standby when you wander off for a leak and leave the Z unattended. This not only prevents anyone having it away on their toes with company secrets but also saves power. The web cam also does duty as a business card scanner that, used with the handy on-screen guide, proved to be pretty reliable.

Our review machine came with Windows 7 Professional 32-Bit, an Intel Core2 Duo SU9600 processor running at 1.6GHz, 4GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM and a 128GB SSD. Graphics are handled by Intel's integrated GMA 4500MHD GPU. As you would expect from anything carrying the Latitude badge, extra bits and bobs can be added to the Z.

If your pockets are deep enough you can have not one but two 256GB SSDs fitted. Conversely, if money is tight, the Latitude can also be had with a 1.4GHz SU9400 processor and 2GB of Ram. Wireless connectivity is comprehensive with 802.11n Wi-Fi accompanied by an unlocked 7.2Mb/s HSDPA modem – a standard SIM card slots in behind the battery like dell Inspiron 1440 battery, dell 0F965N battery, dell Inspiron 14 battery, dell Inspiron 1750 battery, dell Inspiron 6000 battery(dell 6000 battery), dell Inspiron 9300 battery, dell Inspiron 9400 battery, dell 310-6321 battery, dell 310-6322 battery – GPS and Bluetooth. Something that can't be specified is a 64-Bit OS, which may raise the odd eyebrow.

The Windows OS is supplemented by Dell's 'Latitude ON' which is a MontaVista Linux mini-OS running on a discreet Texas Instruments ARM chip that fires up in a little over 10 seconds from a button next to the main power switch. This lets you browse the web with Firefox or check your Outlook e-mail, contacts and calendar without having to wait for Windows to get its backside in gear.

As the PCMark Vantage numbers show, the Z is no powerhouse but it still handled all the tasks we set it with aplomb including playing HD YouTube streams at 1080p, as well as QuickTime film trailers and H.264 files through VLC at the same resolution. With a 3DMark06 score of 857 you won't be playing any hardcore 3D games at hi-res, but a little light gaming by way of executive relief won't be out of the question either. The video and gaming experience is enhanced by the stereo speakers tucked away in the front of the chassis which pump out a usefully powerful and composed sound.

The fly in the Latitude ointment is battery life. In regular use, a full charge for the standard 40WHr 4-cell power pack will struggle to give you much more than three hours. Give the Z something demanding to do – like playing a video at full screen with the screen brightness set to 11 – and you will be lucky to hit the two hour mark. The optional 80Wh eight-cell power pack improves things dramatically and will only set you back £24 but it's larger, heavier and wobblier than the standard pack and spoils the Z's svelte lines.

Dell customers count

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One Reg Hardware was stunned this weekend when he went to check how much an extra battery for the Dell Studio 15 laptop he was planning to buy would set him back.

Little did reader Gerard Phelan realise that acquiring the six-cell, 56Whr power pack would necessitate taking out a mortgage.

We'd recommend the more capacious, nine-cell battery, which is only 120 quid.

Dell's Studio 15 configuration page is here: the pricey battery such as dell 2941E battery, dell 9943E battery, dell Inspiron 7100 battery, dell Inspiron 7500 battery, dell Inspiron 7000 battery, dell Inspiron E1705 battery, dell XPS M1710 battery, dell XPS M1210 battery, dell Inspiron E1405 battery, dell J399N battery, if it's still there, is on the accessories page.

The camera is OK, but not particularly impressive. It has a few nifty features including autofocus, multishot (four or nine pics), 4x digital zoom and flash, but there's no smile detection, no macro or panorama modes. Colours aren't always as true as we'd like, definition is quick to suffer in bright situations and edges could look a little sharper.

However, the camera starts up quickly and is a decent little snapper, even if it falls behind other 5Mp models from the likes of Samsung or Sony Ericsson. There's also a 0.3Mp camera on the front for video calling, but it's somewhat redundant at the moment, since you'll need Android 2.2 to be able to use it.

Viewing video showed that the big screen isn't without problems. Some of the videos we tried that looked perfectly fine on smaller screens came up wanting on the big 5in – select with care. It will show H.263/H.264, .3GP, MPEG4 and WMV files, but there's no option to stretch them to fit the screen.

For music it can handle MP3, WMA, eAAC+ and WAV and the player offers a UI that's been slightly tweaked from the functional Android original, though not by much. Music sounds okay through the supplied earphones, which feature noise-isolating grommets. Getting media onto the Streak is simple enough, but there's no dedicated syncing software, just drag and drop, and there's 2GB internal memory that's actually on a micro SD card, so if you're handy with a screwdriver... Alternatively, you can add up to 32GB using the easier, user-accessible, micro SD card slot.

There are currently over 40,000 apps on Android Marketplace, way behind Apple's 200,000, but most of the important stuff's there, though not all of it will be compatible with the Streak. A case in point is that, as it stands, you can't access BBC iPlayer using the Streak. With no official app available, and beebPlayer now removed – as its creator felt it had been superseded by Android 2.2 with its Flash 10 capability – for now, a prime client for the Streak's extensive screen is out of bounds.

Battery life is an issue with all smartphones of course, but especially for those with big screens. Admittedly, I did give it a bit of a hammering over the course of a day, it didn't quite make it all the way to tea time. While there are various ways to save on battery life – such as dimming the screen and discontinuing automatic email updates and suchlike – you can still expect to have to charge it each and every day.

The Dell Streak is not, repeat not, a rival to Apple's iPad, despite what some have inferred. What it is, is a very clever outsize Android smart phone with a terrific multi-touch screen. No, it's not big enough to do any serious work on, but it's certainly big enough to read an online newspaper with ease or even ebooks at a pinch. It's fast, well loaded with features, and while we'd have preferred Android 2.2 rather than 1.6, an upgrade should be available later in the year. Not everyone will go for the size, poised awkwardly between phone and tablet, but it will still fit in the pocket, and offers a definite upgrade on the usual viewing and reading experience.

Dell Streak Android tablet phone

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With all the hoopla surrounding the launch of the iPad, it's easy to forget that Apple wasn't the first with the idea, and it certainly won't be the last. Following hard on the iPad's elegantly designed tail is the Dell Streak, though its claim to be an iPad challenger is more than a little disingenuous – with its 5in screen, it's really much more of a supersized Android smartphone than a real tablet.

Even so, the Streak, formerly known as the Dell Mini 5, proved to be quite a handful, with a multi-touch screen, 5Mp camera, GPS, a powerful 1GHz processor and social networking provision. You might be inclined to think that this glossy black slab – slim enough at 10mm, but measuring a mighty 153 x 79mm around the sides – isn't that much of a tablet and appears too big for a smartphone. Yet, in actual fact, it slips fairly neatly into the pocket, belying its initial impression of bulk, thanks in part to its slimness and tapered top and bottom.

At 220g it's no lightweight, but it just about passes muster as an outsize mobile. Look a little closer too and you'll see three touch-sensitive icons running down one side: home, menu and back. Almost the entire front is taken up by the mammoth 5in screen, which offers a luxuriously spacious window on the connected world.

Around the sides are a power button, volume rocker, camera shutter, 3.5mm headphone jack and power/sync port. The back is made of grippy rubberised plastic and includes the camera lens and dual LED flash.

The Dell Streak runs an adapted version of Android 1.6, which seems a little behind the times, though it will apparently receive an over-the-air upgrade to version 2.2, though no-one at Dell or at O2, which has an exclusive on the Streak for now, seems quite sure when that's likely to happen.

Switch it on and Android's standard three screens are laid out in widescreen with battery like dell Vostro 1310 battery, dell Vostro 1510 battery, dell T116C battery, dell Vostro 1400 battery, dell Inspiron 1420 battery, dell WW116 battery, dell Vostro 1500 battery, dell Inspiron 1520 battery, dell Inspiron 1521 battery, dell Inspiron 1720 battery landscape mode. It's not the highest res screen you'll come across, but it's no slouch either, with 800 x 400 pixels spread across its 5in diagonal – indeed, the iPad's 1024 x 768 resolution over 9.7in doesn't necessarily mean it's any sharper.

The screen is capacitive and nicely sensitive to the difference between brushes and taps. It's also multi-touch, allowing you to pinch and zoom on web pages and when viewing pictures. It’s good to know that it's made using Corning's Gorilla glass – extra toughened glass that should protect it from its likely overexposure to scratches and breakages.

It's all driven by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor which manages to tick along nicely even with several apps open at once. It supports multitasking, so you can be downloading large files within e-mails while you're browsing the web and listening to music, all with little or no lag. Call quality is decent enough, though a handset this large can look a bit odd pressed against your ear. Alternatively, you could use a Bluetooth headset.

There's a bit of a nod to social networking with widgets for Facebook and Twitter that offer your latest updates. You can also call your Facebook contact info into your phone book, including pictures, though strangely it won't do the same for Twitter. E-mail is nice and easy to set up, requiring just address and password in most cases, and TouchDown's available for syncing with Microsoft Exchange clients.

The onscreen Qwerty keyboard, is nicely spacious and what luxury, there's room for a separate numeric keyboard too. It's not quite big enough for proper touch typing, but the size of the keys do help to minimise errors. The web browser is standard Android, but with the help of HSDPA 3G and Wi-Fi it's fast and responsive.

Pages render well and there is of course plenty of room for reading. Can you read newspapers on it? Yes, you can – e-books too, and while the pinch to zoom function isn't up there with the functionality offered by the iPad or even the Kindle, it really shouldn't cause too much eyestrain.

Dell Venue Pro WinPho 7 smartphone

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When the first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets washed up on our shores back in October one handset was noticeable by both its absence and its form factor - the Dell Venue Pro. Now however it's finally made it to Blighty if only through third-party suppliers rather than from Dell itself.

As far as looks go, the Venue has a lot going for it as its certainly is a handsome and well made bit of kit. Dell has gone all out to make it look and feel a boardroom quality item with a gloss black body, chrome edging and stylish patterned back. The bevelled edges and slightly curved screen glass add to its aesthetic appeal.

The look and feel come at the expense of size and heft though – at 192g it's very heavy for a mobile phone and the 15.2mm thickness will further help ruin the drop of your suit.
 Like the Palm Pre and Blackberry Torch, the Venue Pro is vertical slider, a form factor with a lot going for it if you want to swap back and forth between keyboard and touch screen while still holding your phone like a phone.

The backlit four-line keyboard features 38 hard plastic keys each with a slightly domed profile. Though a cold and little lifeless to the touch the keys have a pleasant and solid action when pressed. Being with battery like dell Precision M65 battery, dell Precision M60 battery, dell Precision M70 battery, dell Precision M90 battery, dell Studio 17 battery, dell Studio 1745 battery, dell N855P battery, dell Studio 1749 battery, dell Vostro 1200 battery, dell RM628 battery fairly compact you can reach them all with your thumb if you are doing things one-handed.

The slide action that moves the two halves of the phone apart is nicely weighted and free of play. The opening push requires a fair amount of force but I'd rather that than something that slides open too easily.

Under the hood you get all the modern smartphone goodies including 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, a 1GHz CPU with 512MB of Ram and a 5Mp camera. Storage is limited to 8GB but unlike the Android horde there is no DIY MicroSD expansion. The Venue's 480 x 800 screen is a cracker. At 4.1in it's the second largest available on a WinMo handset after the HTC HD7 and the AMOLED panel is bright and lustrous. It also has a robust viewing angle – only slightly hampered by the curved screen – and good daylight visibility.

This is the first time I have used a Windows Phone 7 handset in anger and while it won't lure me away from Android anytime soon it's not without its good points and for anyone new to this smartphone malarkey it's certainly worth a look.
 The UI is consistently fast and very fluid and the live tile design is appealing to look at and easy to master. Web browsing is every bit as satisfying as it is on the likes of an iPhone 4 or Desire HD, helped by the very fast page rendering and excellent multi-touch reactions.

It's not all rosy though. At the time of writing WP7 still doesn't support Flash video, though rumour has it that a future update will fix this and bring copy-and-paste too. More serious failings in my eyes are the absence of USB tethering and drag'n'drop content transfer – I'd no more buy a phone that ties me to Zune than I would one that ties me to iTunes.

Dell has added nothing to the WinMo7 stew – so there is no equivalent of the HTC Hub that appears on the company’s new Windows phones – but that's not to say the Venue is short on software. The Office suite and Xbox Live gaming features alone will attract some buyers and the People Hub social network aggregation systems work well.

If you do want to add some spice there are now over 7,000 apps in the WP7 Marketplace and the number is rising fast. Agreed, that is a tiny number compared to the Android and Apple markets but the Marketplace already has many of the important bases covered – a Kindle app for the platform appeared recently. One thing the Marketplace is short on is satnav apps but as with Flash 10.1, the scuttlebutt has it that free turn-by-turn navigation is soon to be added to Bing Maps on WP7.

Dell netbook-cum-tablet priced up

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Dell isn't saying how much it's Inspiron Duo - the netbook with the spin-round screen - but Microsoft is.

The software giant's US-centric online shop has started taking orders for the Duo, which is there priced at $549 (£342) a pop.

That suggests a UK price of £400.

Whatever Dell charges over here, the Duo will contain a 1.5GHz dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor, 2GB of 800MHz DDR 3 memory, 320GB hard drive, Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, a 1.3Mp webcam, and a 10.1in, 1366 x 768 "HD multi-touch widescreen" display.

The screen is touch-sensitive because it pivots round within the bezel so the 285 x 195 x 29mm Duo can be used as a tablet. It weighs more than 1.5kg, so it's a bit heavier that your average media tablet.

The four-hour battery such as dell 5208U battery, dell Inspiron 3700 battery, dell G5345 battery, dell Inspiron 1300 battery, dell Inspiron B120 battery, dell KD186 battery, dell Inspiron 5150 battery, dell Precision M20 battery, dell Precision M4300 battery, dell Latitude D531 battery life is limiting too. The Duo runs Windows 7 Home Premium.

Unlike Dell, Microsoft said it will sell you the Duo after it has "removed the trial software that can slow down your PC". Ahem to that.

No word on when the Duo will ship, though.

Think Outside Stowaway Universal Bluetooth Keyboard

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For most Pocket PCs running Pocket PC 2002 or 2003 OS with integrated Bluetooth or with a Socket Bluetooth card. Also supports Symbian Series 60 phones such as the Nokia 3650 and the Sony Ericsson P800 and P900. Does not support Palm OS.

The Think Outside Stowaway folding keyboards have been the most popular with PDA users. Their near full-sized notebook keyboard size, good key travel and tactile feedback won't send you running back to your computer when you need to write at length. The keyboard folds in half, making for a highly portable and reasonably durable typing solution.

To use the keyboard, you'll press a well-integrated release button on the edge of the unit, and flip it open. It's a two-section design, rather than the accordion 4 section design of the original Stowaway, and when fully opened, it locks in place. This means that you can use it on your lap or other uneven surfaces because it will stay firmly open and flat.

At top center, there's a pull-out, flip-up stand that supports your PDA for easy viewing. The stand is strong and the keyboard latch folds back to support the stand. An adjustable thin metal bar runs along the bottom of the stand and hold the PDA in place.

The keys are notebook sized and have 18mm travel, making for a comfy typing experience that requires little if any adjustment. How did they maintain the full notebook sized keys and spacing while making the keyboard smaller? The number keys are embedded in the top row of letter keys, and the Pocket PC-specific keys such as "New", "Close", "Programs", "Word", "Excel" and etc. do not have dedicated keys. Instead, you'll hit the blue Fn (function) key just left of the spacebar in conjunction with the key you need. The number and Pocket PC with battery such as dell 0483T battery, dell Inspiron 2100 battery, dell 5819U battery, dell 2M400 battery, dell Precision M40 battery, dell Precision M50 battery, dell 3H625 battery, dell MT264 battery, dell Studio 15 battery, dell Studio 1536 battery function keys are masked in blue. There's also a green Fn key just to the right of the spacebar and you'll use that for symbols and page up/page down.

Is using function keys for symbols and numbers cumbersome? Yes, but that's the price you pay for miniaturization. Other than slow-downs caused by hunting for function keys, I found I could really fly while typing on the Stowaway. It's as good as better notebook keyboards. And happily, keys like the spacebar, shift, backspace and enter are in their normal locations (some PDA keyboards move these around). The large selection of keys for common functions and commands means you'll rarely be forced to pull out your stylus.

Regardless of platform, you'll first want to pair the keyboard with your PDA or phone. You can use the keyboard without pairing, but each time the connection is terminated you'll have to connect anew rather than simply pressing any keyboard key to reconnect. To put the keyboard in connection mode (necessary only the first time you connect and pair it with a PDA or phone), you'll simultaneously press the Ctrl, blue and green Fn keys. Once you do this, a green LED on the keyboard will pulse, telling you it's ready to pair. You'll then use the Think Outside software on your PDA or phone to search for the keyboard and pair with it (remember to turn Bluetooth on first). Enter a pairing key on the PDA (numbers only), then type those same numbers on the keyboard and press its enter key. Your PDA/phone should then tell you that pairing is complete, and you can then set keyboard preferences in the driver and enable the keyboard. Think Outside uses a monolithic driver which supports their IR, Bluetooth and physical connector keyboards. You'll select which kind of keyboard you have the first time you launch the keyboard application.

The keyboard power savings feature will turn off the keyboard after 3 minutes of inactivity, when the device goes beyond maximum range (stated as 10 meters), when the PDA is turned off or when the keyboard is closed. To reconnect, press any key on the keyboard. Do not press Ctrl, blue Fn + green Fn again, as this will put the keyboard back into new pairing mode. Very simple! If you do choose not to pair the keyboard and device, you will have to put the keyboard back into new connection mode every time you wish to connect. I suggest pairing! If you wish to use the keyboard with more than one device, note that the keyboard can only maintain one pairing connection. This means if you've paired it with device A and then device B, when you want to use the keyboard with device A again, you'll need to re-pair.

Once you've installed the Pocket PC driver and soft reset your machine, you'll launch the keyboard application to configure the keyboard. Once you've configured the keyboard, you'll access the Keyboard application in the program group to change keyboard settings as needed or you can tap on the input selector in the taskbar to select the keyboard applications.

The Keyboard application has four tabs: Config, Hot-Key, BT and About. In the Config section, you can enable and disable the keyboard, turn on caps lock and num lock notification, set whether the keyboard shows a Today Screen Icon, set key repeat and delay and specify the keyboard layout language. The Hot-Key screen allows you to assign applications to launch using up to ten function keys. The BT section is where you'll pair with the keyboard and create a new connection to the keyboard. In addition to the Keyboard application settings, the Stowaway software adds the keyboard to the list of input options on the taskbar (where you choose options such as Letter Recognizer, Transcriber and etc.).

The SE P800/P900 software works much the same as the Pocket PC software described above. You'll select which kind of keyboard you have, enable the keyboard, pair and set preferences and hot-keys as you wish. The Symbian Series 60 keyboard app is understandably a bit more slimmed down. You can pair and enable the keyboard, set Bluetooth timeout and enable security (pairing) and assign on of 10 Fn keys to any application installed on your phone. It cannot launch built-in apps such as Messaging or Web, but can launch apps you've installed.

Conclusion:

An excellent keyboard that's easy to type with yet is light and very compact when folded. Excellent! Bluetooth pairing is trouble-free and the connection is excellent with no lag or dropped letters. It may cost more than the IR Stowaway, but you have the freedom to place the PDA or phone where you wish and in any orientation. If only there were Palm OS drivers.

Dell Axim X3 Pocket PC PDA

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When Dell rolled out their Axim X5 Pocket PC model last year it made big waves in the Pocket PC community because it offered a lot of bang for the buck. The price you paid was having to lug around a relatively large and bulky Pocket PC. Now Dell has an answer for those who wish to have a more svelte Pocket PC with a great feature set: the Axim X3 line. However, unlike the X5, the X3 doesn't have a CF slot.

The X3 comes in three models: the Basic, Advanced and X3i which is the same as the Advanced model but adds WiFi 802.11b wireless networking. All feature replaceable batteries like dell Studio 1537 battery, dell Studio 1557 battery, dell KM958 battery, dell WU960 battery, dell TC030 battery, dell H9566 battery, dell Inspiron 1200 battery, dell UD260 battery, dell Vostro 1000 battery, dell Inspiron 1501 battery, an SD slot, fast processors and transflective displays. We received the X3i for review, and all comments are based on that model.

Though it lacks the pronounced curves and styling of some iPAQs and resides in the rectangular Pocket PC camp, the X3 is a handsome device that fits comfortably in the hand thanks to its rounded edges. The casing is made of plastic, and both the front and back faces have a silver finish, while the sides are black plastic. It won't weigh you down terribly at 6 ounces and is reasonably pocketable.

The X3 has the usual four application buttons surrounding the center directional pad. The 5-way directional pad is a small oval, which doesn't make it the best for gaming. Rather than placing the voice recorder button on the upper side of the unit, Dell has placed it on the lower front face where it's less prone to accidental activation when you pull the unit out of a case or pocket.

All X3 models have an Intel XScale PXA263 processor. The Advanced and X3i models run at 400 MHz, while the Basic runs at 300 MHz. The PXA263 processor is one of the newest XScale PDA processors, and our X3i proved speedy in all operations, including playing intensive games and watching videos. The X3 Basic should be reasonably fast as well thanks to the XScale processor and clock speed. The 400 MHz models have a control panel applet (under Power) that allows you to set the clock speed of the PDA. Settings are Maximum Performance, Normal, PowerSave and Auto. Auto ran at very close to Maximum Performance when running benchmarks— which means the processor really does step up for demanding applications. When set to Auto, the applet tells you the current clock speed: if the unit isn't doing anything it says "200 MHz" and when playing MP3s in the background using Pocket MVP it says "400 MHz".

All Dell Axims to date use Intel StrataFlash memory, which is the same kind of memory that has traditionally been used in older Pocket PCs and in current high end Pocket PCs. It costs a bit more than NAND flash memory and runs faster. Since NAND is slower, the OS has to be copied into RAM to ensure that the handheld runs quickly. This uses up RAM on the device, which means less is available for your use. With traditional flash ROM such as StrataFlash this isn't necessary because it's fast enough. The flash ROM area is where the OS is installed, and any unused space is available as non-volatile (it won't be erased even after a hard reset) storage. An example of another Pocket PC that doesn't use NAND is the iPAQ 5555.

The X3 Basic has 32 megs of RAM and 32 megs of ROM. The Advanced and X3i models have 64 megs of RAM and 64 megs of ROM, 32 of which are available as "Built-in Storage". All models have an SD slot supporting SDIO cards such as Socket Communications SD WiFi card and SanDisk's SD WiFi card.

The X3 comes with a user replaceable 950 mAh Lithium Ion battery. That's not terribly large, especially for the 400MHz and WiFi equipped models. You can get an optional 1800 mA extended battery which, as you'd guess, doubles run times. The extended battery is fitted in place of the standard battery, and creates a hump (see photos above). On our X3i using the Auto processor setting with the WiFi turned off while playing intensive games such as Anthelion and Hexacto Tennis Addict, the standard battery lasted about 2.25 hours. Using WiFi to surf the web continuously for an hour consumed 40% of the charge. For everyday use such as occasionally accessing calendar, contacts and editing Word documents, the standard battery proved adequate with 70% charge left at the end of the day. If you plan on using WiFi, playing intensive games or watching videos, do consider the extended battery or a spare standard battery.

Dell debuts shrunken Ultrabook

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Although Intel has been busy faking Ultrabook gaming demos, Dell has been busy working on the real deal. At CES the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook was unveiled – touted as a “13.3in display machine in near 11-inch form factor”.

It sounds a bit TARDIS, but compared with both the Asus Zenbook UX31E and the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook, Dell’s claims of diminution aren’t too wide of the mark. Measuring up at 316mm x 205 x 6~18mm, the XPS 13 succeeds in shaving off around 9mm in width and 20mm in depth from its rivals. Yet it’s still no match for Apple’s 11in MacBook Air at 300 x 192 x 17mm, although it does feature and aluminum casing albeit with a carbon-fibre base.

The space savings are due to the “near frameless” display, which means it doesn’t escape having a border to it but not much of one, and the whole panel features edge to edge Gorilla glass. Unlike the hi-res Asus though, the display has a 1366 x 768 resolution.

The XPS 13 is offered with either an Intel Core i5 2467M or i7 2637M CPU and 128GB or 256GB SSDs and 4GB of RAM. Running the Core i5 model, Dell claims the XPS 13 battery like Dell BATDW00L Battery, Dell 1X793 Battery, Dell BAT1194 Battery, Dell Precision M20 Battery, dell F5635 battery, dell YF976 battery, dell C5974 battery, dell U4873 battery, Dell Inspiron XPS M170 Battery, Dell Inspiron XPS M1710 Battery life is just under nine hours for the six-cell 47Whr pack. USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 interfacing is on-board along with a mini DisplayPort and headphone out. The unit weighs 1.36kg, sitting in between the 13in alternatives from Asus and Acer.

Dell may have the smallest 13in Ultrabook around at the moment but it has some more work to do to get it down to the weight of an 11in model, Apple’s Air for instance, is a mere 1.08kg.

The Dell XPS 13 will be available in mid-March 2012, pricing details have yet to be announced.