Windows 8 supports installation to removable flash media via a feature called Windows to Go. Your apps, settings, and OS can all be installed to a USB stick and you can easily move that between platforms. Microsoft demonstrated Windows to Go by booting a USB stick with Windows 8 on a desktop PC that had Windows 7 preloaded on it. After the demo, Microsoft removed the Win 8 USB stick and booted a laptop using the same drive.
Although it won't be the most performant solution, Windows to Go can be an interesting solution to quickly deploying on new hardware on enterprise clients.
Today OCZ added two more capacities to their Agility 3 lineup: 180GB and 360GB. Agility 3 isn't the first SSD series to feature such SSD capacities, but more often we see 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB SandForce based SSDs. However, making a 180GB or 360GB SSD isn't any more difficult. The SF-2281 controller supports up to eight channels but it can also run in 6-channel mode and that's how you make 180GB and 360GB drives.
Remember that SandForce drives use about 7% for over-provisioning by default plus possibly RAISE as well depending on the SSD. Hence these SSDs have 192GiB and 384GiB of actual NAND in them. 2.5" drives usually have 16 NAND packages but to run in 6-channel mode, you only use 12 packages (i.e. two NAND packages per channel). For the 180GB model, that means twelve 16GiB NAND packages with two 8GiB dies per package. 360GB simply doubles the dies per NAND package so you have twelve 32GiB packages with four dies each.
| Specifications of New Agility 3 SSDs | ||
| Capacity | 180GB | 360GB |
| Raw NAND Capacity | 192GiB | 384GiB |
| Controller | SandForce SF-2281 | |
| NAND Type | Asynchronous 25nm MLC | |
| Sequential Read | 525MB/s | 525MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 500MB/s | 495MB/s |
| 4KB Random Read | 35K IOPS | 35K IOPS |
| 4KB Random Write | 50K IOPS | 25K IOPS |
| Price | 19,000 Yen (7) | 36,000 Yen (8) |
Even though only six channels are used, there is no performance loss according to the specs. Read speed is the same for all Agility 3 drives but write speed is dependent on the capacity: low and high capacity drives have worse write performance than the medium capacities. This is why the 180GB model is faster in writes than the 360GB model.
The new capacities have already been listed by some retailers and the 180GB seems to go for around 5 while the 360GB is listed at 5. The price per GB is about the same as what other Agility 3 drives offer, so these are viable options if you're looking for something in between 120GB and 240GB or 240GB and 480GB models.
Sources: Hermitage Akihabara, OCZ
Windows 8 Consumer Preview: Gabriel Aul
The Windows 8 Developer Preview (as the name suggests) was for introducing developers to Windows 8 and it didn’t have many of the pieces of the OS, especially not the final user interface.
The Consumer Preview obviously isn’t completely finished but it is what Director of Windows Program Management Gabriel Aul calls "the complete vision for the product". He calls the look of the Metro start screen "more finished and more polished than it was at Build."
In fact there have been over 100,000 code changes since the Developer Preview, which makes the Consumer Preview a wholly different beast.
And while there are new ways of switching between applications and new touch controls "we also went back and added a ton of mouse and keyboard support to complete that experience," Aul promises.
The touch controls are a more developed version of what we saw at CES this year and Aul explains the logic behind the way they work. "The new things are all about the edges. The left and right edges are about Windows controls; the left side is about switching, the right side is about controls.
The top and the bottom edge are about app controls, and they both do the same so you can choose which you prefer."
That makes sense for touch; "when you’re holding [a tablet] the touch is all about the edges. Ergonomically, they’re the easiest thing to hit with my thumbs."
The Windows 8 Start Screen
The charms are carefully arranged, he says. "The Start screen [charm] is always right there under my thumb." But it’s also optimised for mouse users, who can just roll into the corner area without having to be too precise.
"With a mouse, if I have to pick a particular pixel it needs fine control, but for the Metro controls you can just jam the pointer up into the corners – you don’t have to be precise. When I pull down a charm, I’m putting my mouse in the right place for the controls. I make a big movement to open the charms, I pull down and my mouse is there, I hit Settings and my mouse is right where the controls are so it’s a very small movement."
Moving between Windows 8 Metro apps
Putting the mouse in the top left corner shows a thumbnail of the next Metro app, but you can pull down to see thumbnails for up to five current apps. Outlines of the thumbnail edges help make that more obvious.
"It has hints that there are tiles hidden away when I put the mouse in the corner; it’s very subtle, it’s just something to say there’s something here." With a touch screen, swiping an app in from the left and back off screen shows the same thumbnail strip, or you can use Windows-Tab on the keyboard.
Need to see more than five apps (or to be able to jump straight to individual apps on the desktop)? Alt Tab gives you thumbnails for all running apps the way you’re used to.
The Start Menu still exists in Windows 8
And while the Start button is no longer an orb at the end of the taskbar, clicking in the corner still works (and hovering your mouse there shows a thumbnail of the Start menu you can click).
"We didn’t take the Start menu away," he points out; "it’s just zero pixels. In the lower left corner you have Start where you expect it to be, you click it to jump back to Start. Or if I go to the lower corner and push up, I get that same switching list."
Touch is also more responsive in the Consumer Preview, Aul claims. "We’ve got the physics of swipe dialled in now; as you swipe it really sticks to your finger. Switching performance is as fast as I can flick through, it switches.
The Windows key takes me to Start or whatever I’m doing as fast as I can do it." Scrolling through the start screen with a mouse now works directly; instead of grabbing a scroll bar you just move your mouse to the side of the screen. That gives you a more responsive scrolling behaviour, especially if you have a scroll wheel on your mouse.
"It has a physicality to it, there’s a different response when I push a little or a lot." And while the picture password option is certainly easier than tapping out a password on a tablet screen, Aul claims it can be more secure. "It’s cryptographically stronger than a numeric PIN and it’s actually as good as a strong password if you have a complex photo."
Windows 8 on different devices
Aul is a big fan of Windows tablets like the Samsung Series 7 Microsoft has frequently used to demo Windows 8 (check out our Hands on: Windows 8 tablet review) but he also dropped strong hints about how Windows on ARM (WOA) tablets will fit in as companion devices that rely on syncing documents and settings.
"I love the tablet. Other people may want smaller more power efficient tablets and another computer. If I’m on the couch browsing and reading email and I want to go to work I dock it and work [on the same machine]. In the tablet scenario, I put it down, I walk over to my desktop and log in and it’ll feel just like the machine I’ve been using. The IE history is even there. I don’t have to connect it and sync stuff; it just all happens automatically."
The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is available for download from Microsoft now. To get it, head over to http://preview.windows.com.
We’ve been asked to do more comparisons than we have of late, and we’re happy to comply. Today, we bring you a match-up between the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Sony Xperia S. Take a look and decide which you prefer – if you can choose from between these great mobile phones!
Overview
The Samsung Galaxy S II was the blockbuster hit of 2011. This smartphone set sales records from the start and has hardly slowed with the change of year.
With all that this mobile phone brings, what will its sibling, the Samsung Galaxy S III offer this year? It boggles the mind.
Specifications
MobilePhones.org.uk staff try our best to find accurate information on your behalf, but the information provided may not be current or accurate. Whenever possible, we mention if its based on rumours or unofficial information.
Samsung Galaxy S II
Dimensions (inches): 4.96 x 2.60 x 0.35 / 4.13 ounces.
Display: 4.3 inches, touchscreen; WVGA 480 x 800 pixels
Operating System: Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Speed: 1.2 GHz, dual core.
Memory: Internal 16 GB, expandable to 32 GB.
Battery: 3.7 V, Lithium Ion. Talk time: up to 8 hours; stand-by: up to 16 days.
Camera: Rear: 8 MP, autofocus. 4X zoom. / Video: HD 1080p @ 30 frames per second (fps). / Front: 2 MP.
Connectivity: 2G: GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 / 3G: UMTS: HSDPA 850, 1900, 2100. / 4G: HSPA+.
Additional features or capabilities include TTY/TTD compatibility, Hearing Aid (HAC) rating of H3, Bluetooth compatibility and voice-and-data simultaneously.
Sony Xperia S
Overview
If you will recall from a recent post, the Xperia S is a fully integrated model with NFC technology. The actual SmartTags that pair your device information with your environment – home, personal, etc. – are due out soon.
The Sony Xperia S has also been called the Sony Ericsson Nozomi and the Sony Ericsson Arc HD.
Dimensions: 128 x 64 x 10.6 mm / 144 g
Display: 4.3 inches / LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen / 720 x 1280 pixels at 342 ppi.
Operating System: Android 2.3 Gingerbread; planned upgrade to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Speed:
Memory: 1 GB RAM / 32 GB internal only.
Battery: 1750 mAh/ 2G: Talk: up to 7.5 hours; standby: up to 450 hours. / 3G: Talk: up to 8.5 hours; standby: up to 420 hours. / Music play: up to 25 hours.
Camera: Rear: 12 MP / autofocus / LED flash / Video: 1080p at 30 fps. / Front: 1.3 MP, video at 720p and 30 fps.
Connectivity: 2G: GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 / 3G: HSDPA 900, 2100 – LT26i -or- HSDPA 850, 1900, 2100 – LT26a / Data: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot / HSDPA / HSUPA / GPRS / EDGE
Features: Video recording sports continuous autofocus, touch focus, 3D sweep panorama and more. FM Stereo with RDS. MP3 / eAAC+ / WMA / WAV audio player; MP4 / H.263 / H.264 / WMV video player. Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Talk. Document viewer. SNS integration.
There you have the basic information and a few of the frills with the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Sony Xperia S. Which do you like better?
Qualcomm has shown off a brand new version of its Snapdragon S4 processor, with a ‘Pro’ version announced at MWC 2012 alongside displays of the latest LTE technology.
The chip giant’s Snapdragon has become a familiar sight in mobile devices, and the company is keen to keep up momentum with the arrival of the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 Pro.
The processor includes the Adreno 320 GPU to support high res displays, new multimedia capabilities and the ability to tap directly into the computational capability of its GPU through new APIs like Open CL.
Pro version
"As a result of strong customer demand for Snapdragon S4 processors, we’ve added a new Pro version of MSM8960 to continue delivering the highest performing mobile processors in the industry," said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of product management, Qualcomm.
"By delivering the S4 Pro processor in 2012, we are fulfilling our promise that Snapdragon processors will remain the industry’s barometer for excellence in mobile computing while helping our customers bring the most innovative smartphones and tablets to market."
The S4 Pro version of MSM8960 is optimized for the most advanced operating systems, including the highly anticipated Windows 8 system.
Qualcomm is also showing off LTE broadcast at the show, which enables network operatios to adjust coverage and capacity dynamically, and its latest LTE chipsets that take advantage of HSPA+ release 10.
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