In the hypercompetitive world of technology, success stories can shape the way we live, work, or play for years to come. If all goes according to plan with regard to timing, marketing, and funding, some innovations manage to survive the Darwinian jungle of consumer preference. But what happens to those gadgets that fell flat, leaving company executives scratching their heads as to where it all went wrong? Sometimes only the lens of hindsight can show why something so promising was relegated to the scrap heap. Architectural Digest revisits a few technologies that once felt like the future but never quite got there.
Betamax
Sometimes there can be only one. When Sony introduced the Betamax home video recorder in 1975, it had a significant head start over its first real rival for the market, the JVC home recorder, which used the VHS tape format. But the battle wasn’t won so much in the home as at the video store; VHS’s two-hour recording capability (versus the one-hour limit for Betamax) proved ideal for movie rentals, since most films would fit on one tape. That combined with Sony’s decision not to license Betamax technology to rival manufacturers and the lower cost of VHS players, and the winner quickly became clear. And while VHS enjoyed a long run of success, Betamax holds a different sort of distinction: Its name has come to represent a technological failure.
The Segway
Save for a few hypervigilant mall security guards, no one else has quite gotten on board with the Segway, the two-wheeled battery-powered personal transportation vehicle that was meant to revolutionize the way cities would be built and people would get around. Launched in 2002 amid talk that it would be even bigger than the Internet, the scooter just couldn’t find its footing in the mass consumer market, its hefty price tag proving too big of a speed bump for widespread use. Nowadays the Segway is a bit of a novelty tourist attraction, providing a whimsical way to tool around destination cities during guided tours.
LaserDisc
Among the first high-end commercial home-video formats, LaserDisc offered superior picture and sound quality while promising to be more durable than its rivals. Unfortunately, it also boasted a significantly higher cost. Add to that the fact that it only allowed playback, with no recording options, and it quickly became apparent why this piece of technology never really gained much traction. But to its credit, LD did pave the way for more successful disc formats, namely CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray.
3-D Television
Even the combined might of an entire industry isn’t always enough to make consumers embrace the next big thing. As flat-screen televisions became the new standard, manufacturers needed to provide a compelling reason for buyers to replace their expensive (and often recently purchased) TVs — and they thought they’d found it in 3-D. The new 3-D televisions promised an immersive experience from the comfort of the living room. The “experience,” however, also included ugly, cumbersome glasses to make the effect work (not to mention reports of motion sickness), and viewers were ultimately less than impressed with the result. With features like 4K and OLED screens now driving sales, manufacturers have moved on to the next big things.
Steam-Powered Cars
While electric cars may be the new kids on the block, the gas-guzzling automobile has been king of the road for the better part of a century. But when automotive engineering was in its infancy, the traditional, and inefficient internal-combustion engine had a different rival: the steam engine. Efficient, easier to drive, and with the benefit of a century of technological development under its belt, the steam-powered car actually held the lion’s share of a burgeoning market. But once Henry Ford brought affordable gas-powered cars to the masses, steam-powered cars could no longer compete, and these beautiful and eco-friendly marvels drove off into the sunset (and the occasional classic car show).
Magnetic Bubble Memory
Computer technology is a particularly ruthless field, littered with promising ideas that failed to gain enough momentum despite considerable hype. Magnetic Bubble Memory seemed like a savior to the industry. Durable, free of moving parts, removable, and capable of storing vast amounts of information (for the time, at least), this tech wonder appeared to be the answer to so many challenges that its universal adoption seemed inevitable to many experts. But development was quickly outpaced by dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips, and research neglected to focus on the most important feature for ensuring success: price. What was once poised to be the future of computing fell by the wayside as a niche solution — and a reminder that even for the best ideas, the bubble can burst.
HD DVD Players
Another winner-take-all battle between formats, the struggle to determine the standard for high-definition discs once again pitted Sony, with its proprietary Blu-Ray format, against a major rival, this time Toshiba’s HD DVD. The competing technologies each had their backers in the entertainment, computing, and manufacturing worlds, and HD DVD seemed to hold an advantage on price and support. But the critical blow may have been Sony’s decision to include a Blu-Ray player in its widely popular PlayStation 3 video game console, giving Sony the crystal-clear victory and making HD DVD a footnote in history.
Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 2, 2017
Thứ Hai, 21 tháng 11, 2016
Apple Watch Review
The Apple Watch is an extraordinarily small and personal device. It is designed to participate in nearly every moment of your day, but almost never directly interact with anyone else. It knows when you’re wearing it. You can talk to it. You can poke it — and it can poke back.
Every so often, the Apple Watch thinks about your heartbeat.
But the Apple Watch is also an enormous device. It’s the first entirely new Apple product in five years, and the first Apple product developed after the death of Steve Jobs. It’s full of new hardware, new software, and entirely new ideas about how the worlds of fashion and technology should intersect.
It’s also the first smartwatch that might legitimately become a mainstream product, even as competitors flood the market. Apple has the marketing prowess, the retail store network, and the sheer determination to actually make this thing happen.
It just has to answer one question: would you actually use the Apple Watch instead of your phone?
Walk It Off
Notifications, Music, Apple Pay
Fashion Technology
Featuring Racked
Lost in the Meeting Zone
Messaging, Siri, Digital Touch
Business Time
Apps and Performance
Work It Out
Health, Fitness, Activity Tracker
Twilight of Attention
Featuring Eater
Back to Base
Battery Life, Thoughts, Feelings
Credits
The Apple Watch is an extraordinarily small and personal device. It is designed to participate in nearly every moment of your day, but almost never directly interact with anyone else. It knows when you’re wearing it. You can talk to it. You can poke it — and it can poke back.
Every so often, the Apple Watch thinks about your heartbeat.
But the Apple Watch is also an enormous device. It’s the first entirely new Apple product in five years, and the first Apple product developed after the death of Steve Jobs. It’s full of new hardware, new software, and entirely new ideas about how the worlds of fashion and technology should intersect.
It’s also the first smartwatch that might legitimately become a mainstream product, even as competitors flood the market. Apple has the marketing prowess, the retail store network, and the sheer determination to actually make this thing happen.
It just has to answer one question: would you actually use the Apple Watch instead of your phone?
Scroll down to start the day ?
FROM OUR SPONSOR
7:36AM 100%
Good Morning Beautiful
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
Let’s just get this out of the way: the Apple Watch, as I reviewed it for the past week and a half, is kind of slow. There’s no getting around it, no way to talk about all of its interface ideas and obvious potential and hints of genius without noting that sometimes it stutters loading notifications. Sometimes pulling location information and data from your iPhone over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi takes a long time. Sometimes apps take forever to load, and sometimes third-party apps never really load at all. Sometimes it’s just unresponsive for a few seconds while it thinks and then it comes back.
Apple tells me that upcoming software updates will address these performance issues, but for right now, they’re there, and they’re what I’ve been thinking about every morning as I get ready for work. Wearing a smartwatch like the Apple Watch is a far deeper commitment than carrying a smartphone in your pocket; you are literally putting the technology on your body and allowing it to touch and measure you while you display it to the rest of the world. Committing to technology that’s a little slow to respond to you is dicey at best, especially when it’s supposed to step in for your phone. If the Watch is slow, I’m going to pull out my phone. But if I keep pulling out my phone, I’ll never use the Watch. So I have resolved to wait it out.
I’m putting my phone in my pocket and this Watch on my wrist, and we’re taking this trip together.
These mornings have been full of self-reflection, moody contemplation as I gather my screens of all sizes and pack them in a bag, work alerts flashing across an array of devices that are all less important than my phone. I love my phone. Everyone loves their phone. The only real question a smartwatch like the Apple Watch needs to answer is “why would I use this instead of my phone?” The answers so far haven’t been apparent; the Watch seems like it can do a little bit of everything instead of one thing really well. So I’m putting my phone in my pocket and this Watch on my wrist, and we’re taking this trip together.
We are going to need more coffee.
As an object, it makes sense that the Watch is not nearly as cold and minimal as Apple’s recent phones and tablets and laptops. It has to be warmer, cozier. It has to invite you to touch it and take it with you all the time. Take the bands off and it’s a little miracle of technology and engineering and manufacturing, a dense package containing more sensors and processing power than anyone could have even dreamed a few decades ago. It’s a supercomputer on your wrist, but it’s also a bulbous, friendly little thing, far more round than I expected, recalling nothing quite so much as the first-generation iPhone. It is unbelievably high tech and a little bit silly, a masterpiece of engineering with a Mickey Mouse face. It is quintessentially Apple.
It’s also surprisingly heavy. I noticed when I was wearing it, and everyone who held it commented on the weight. That might simply be a function of how unfamiliar watches have become; my stainless steel Apple Watch with leather loop band weighs 2.9 ounces, which is more than my plastic Nixon’s 1.7 ounces or the 1.8-ounce Moto 360, but much less than my 5-ounce Baume and Mercier. All in all, the Apple Watch isn’t light enough to fade away, but it’s also not so heavy that it’s a distraction.
On the right side of the Watch you’ll find the Digital Crown scroll wheel and a dedicated button (the official name is just “side button”) that opens your favorites list with one tap and activates Apple Pay with two taps. This side button is extraordinarily confusing — it looks and feels so much like an iPhone sleep / wake button that I still hit it to turn the screen on and off, even though I know I’m doing the wrong thing.
On the back of the Watch, there’s a slight dome that holds the optical heart rate sensor and the inductive charging system. You’ll also find a pair of buttons that release the watchbands. They’re flush with the case but relatively easy to depress, and the bands slide right out. You can make the Watch work in basically any orientation you’d like by flipping the screen with a setting in the iPhone app — a boon for the left-handed. It’s a fairly simple system, so expect to see tons of third-party Watch bands; Apple says it has no problem with that.
Apple Pay is my favorite feature on the Watch.
Apple gave me three bands to play with: the leather loop, the Milanese loop, and the white sport band. I mostly stuck with the leather loop, which feels more like plastic than leather but which I found super comfortable because it was so easy to readjust throughout the day. The white sport band basically felt like any other plastic band I’ve worn. I felt ridiculous wearing the Milanese Loop, so I didn’t.
The face of the Watch curves up off the sides, leaving a noticeable air gap above the display underneath. But besides that small complaint, the display is simply terrific. It carries the same Retina branding as the iPhone display and it delivers, with imperceptible pixels and inky blacks that allow the screen to blend right into the curved sides of the glass. It’s easily the best smartwatch display on the market, and it would be unassailable if not for the air gap. It’s light-years beyond everything else.
The back of the Watch is arguably more beautiful than the front.
ON YOUR WRIST
Once you actually start living with the Watch, it quickly becomes clear that there are three main ways to actually use the thing: the watch face, the app launcher, and the communications app.
Apple is insistent that one of the main functions of the Watch is simply to be a great watch, so when you raise your wrist, you’ll see the time by default, just like a regular watch. The lone exception out of the box is the workout app, which Apple says is “sticky” so people can check their exercise stats quickly at the gym.
In the first of many moments where the Watch felt underpowered, I found that the screen lit up a couple of ticks too slowly: I’d raise my wrist, wait a beat, and then the screen would turn on. This sounds like a minor quibble, but in the context of a watch you’re glancing at dozens of times a day, it’s quickly distracting. Other smartwatches like the Pebble and the LG G Watch R simply leave their screens on all the time; having a screen that constantly flips on and off is definitely behind the curve.
TELLING TIME
The main watch face really is a complete self-contained experience: if the Apple Watch had no other functionality except for what you can do from the watch face, it would still be competitive. Customizing the watch Face is the first time you’ll use Force Touch: you push a little bit harder on the screen, and you can swipe between Apple’s selection of watch face templates, each of which can be customized and saved as individual variations. Most of the templates are minor riffs on the same basic analog watch, but others are very strange indeed, like the animated butterfly and jellyfish. There’s no particularly great digital face, and there’s no ability to load up your own watch faces or buy new ones from the store, which is a clearly missed opportunity.
If the Apple Watch had no other functionality except for what you can do from the watch face, it would still be competitive.
The Watch app is literally the most central experience on the Watch — you can rearrange every app icon on the homescreen except the Watch icon, which is always in the middle. What’s fascinating and somewhat confusing is that so many of the Watch’s core abilities are only in the Watch app, so interface ideas you learn there don’t work anywhere else.
For example, the Watch app is the only place to access notifications after they appear. Notifications are the most important part of any smartwatch experience, but on the Apple Watch you can only swipe down to see your notifications when you’re on the watch face. Once you click the Digital Crown and open the app launcher, the notification drawer goes away entirely and swiping down does nothing. Same with Glances, which are essentially single-screen status updates from various apps you access by swiping up from the Watch app. They’re a major piece of the Watch experience, but they disappear everywhere else in the operating system. These are radically different interface patterns than iOS, where you can access the notification center and control center from virtually everywhere, and it makes navigating the Watch interface more confusing until you get it.
The Law of Wearable Success
In order to be successful, any given piece of wearable technology has to be useful the entire time it’s on your body. Prescription glasses sit on your face, but improve your vision all the time, so they’re successful. Sunglasses sit on your face and make you look cooler all the time, so they’re successful. Google Glass sits on your face, but mostly does nothing, so it’s a failure. It’s a simple formula.
Understanding that the Watch app is an entire primary experience unto itself is the key to understanding what happens when you press either of the buttons on the side of the Watch — they launch the other two main Watch experiences. Pressing the side button takes you to a totally unique contacts screen, which is where you send the ephemeral Digital Touch messages. Clicking the Digital Crown on the watch face opens the honeycomb app launcher, which is where you can open the various other apps on the Watch.
All of this sounds complex, but you’re not really supposed to use it all at once — the aim is for the Watch to shine in 10- 15-second burst throughout the day, not in extended usage sessions. And that was borne out every morning, because I didn’t have any reason to wear the Watch until I left the house.
I was half-hoping to put on the Watch in the morning and use it instead of my phone, but that didn’t happen. I grab my phone first thing in the morning and use it nonstop to prepare for the day: I organize my calendar, catch up on The Verge, check Twitter, and bang out replies on Slack and email. None of this is even possible to do on the Watch. Apple spent tons of effort and millions of dollars promoting the iPad as a business and creation platform instead of just a consumption machine, but there’s no fighting the tiny display and limited input options of the Watch — this thing is all about quickly glancing at information, not really doing anything with it.
It becomes far more valuable once you’re on the move.
Every so often, the Apple Watch thinks about your heartbeat.
But the Apple Watch is also an enormous device. It’s the first entirely new Apple product in five years, and the first Apple product developed after the death of Steve Jobs. It’s full of new hardware, new software, and entirely new ideas about how the worlds of fashion and technology should intersect.
It’s also the first smartwatch that might legitimately become a mainstream product, even as competitors flood the market. Apple has the marketing prowess, the retail store network, and the sheer determination to actually make this thing happen.
It just has to answer one question: would you actually use the Apple Watch instead of your phone?
Walk It Off
Notifications, Music, Apple Pay
Fashion Technology
Featuring Racked
Lost in the Meeting Zone
Messaging, Siri, Digital Touch
Business Time
Apps and Performance
Work It Out
Health, Fitness, Activity Tracker
Twilight of Attention
Featuring Eater
Back to Base
Battery Life, Thoughts, Feelings
Credits
The Apple Watch is an extraordinarily small and personal device. It is designed to participate in nearly every moment of your day, but almost never directly interact with anyone else. It knows when you’re wearing it. You can talk to it. You can poke it — and it can poke back.
Every so often, the Apple Watch thinks about your heartbeat.
But the Apple Watch is also an enormous device. It’s the first entirely new Apple product in five years, and the first Apple product developed after the death of Steve Jobs. It’s full of new hardware, new software, and entirely new ideas about how the worlds of fashion and technology should intersect.
It’s also the first smartwatch that might legitimately become a mainstream product, even as competitors flood the market. Apple has the marketing prowess, the retail store network, and the sheer determination to actually make this thing happen.
It just has to answer one question: would you actually use the Apple Watch instead of your phone?
Scroll down to start the day ?
FROM OUR SPONSOR
7:36AM 100%
Good Morning Beautiful
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
Let’s just get this out of the way: the Apple Watch, as I reviewed it for the past week and a half, is kind of slow. There’s no getting around it, no way to talk about all of its interface ideas and obvious potential and hints of genius without noting that sometimes it stutters loading notifications. Sometimes pulling location information and data from your iPhone over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi takes a long time. Sometimes apps take forever to load, and sometimes third-party apps never really load at all. Sometimes it’s just unresponsive for a few seconds while it thinks and then it comes back.
Apple tells me that upcoming software updates will address these performance issues, but for right now, they’re there, and they’re what I’ve been thinking about every morning as I get ready for work. Wearing a smartwatch like the Apple Watch is a far deeper commitment than carrying a smartphone in your pocket; you are literally putting the technology on your body and allowing it to touch and measure you while you display it to the rest of the world. Committing to technology that’s a little slow to respond to you is dicey at best, especially when it’s supposed to step in for your phone. If the Watch is slow, I’m going to pull out my phone. But if I keep pulling out my phone, I’ll never use the Watch. So I have resolved to wait it out.
I’m putting my phone in my pocket and this Watch on my wrist, and we’re taking this trip together.
These mornings have been full of self-reflection, moody contemplation as I gather my screens of all sizes and pack them in a bag, work alerts flashing across an array of devices that are all less important than my phone. I love my phone. Everyone loves their phone. The only real question a smartwatch like the Apple Watch needs to answer is “why would I use this instead of my phone?” The answers so far haven’t been apparent; the Watch seems like it can do a little bit of everything instead of one thing really well. So I’m putting my phone in my pocket and this Watch on my wrist, and we’re taking this trip together.
We are going to need more coffee.
As an object, it makes sense that the Watch is not nearly as cold and minimal as Apple’s recent phones and tablets and laptops. It has to be warmer, cozier. It has to invite you to touch it and take it with you all the time. Take the bands off and it’s a little miracle of technology and engineering and manufacturing, a dense package containing more sensors and processing power than anyone could have even dreamed a few decades ago. It’s a supercomputer on your wrist, but it’s also a bulbous, friendly little thing, far more round than I expected, recalling nothing quite so much as the first-generation iPhone. It is unbelievably high tech and a little bit silly, a masterpiece of engineering with a Mickey Mouse face. It is quintessentially Apple.
It’s also surprisingly heavy. I noticed when I was wearing it, and everyone who held it commented on the weight. That might simply be a function of how unfamiliar watches have become; my stainless steel Apple Watch with leather loop band weighs 2.9 ounces, which is more than my plastic Nixon’s 1.7 ounces or the 1.8-ounce Moto 360, but much less than my 5-ounce Baume and Mercier. All in all, the Apple Watch isn’t light enough to fade away, but it’s also not so heavy that it’s a distraction.
On the right side of the Watch you’ll find the Digital Crown scroll wheel and a dedicated button (the official name is just “side button”) that opens your favorites list with one tap and activates Apple Pay with two taps. This side button is extraordinarily confusing — it looks and feels so much like an iPhone sleep / wake button that I still hit it to turn the screen on and off, even though I know I’m doing the wrong thing.
On the back of the Watch, there’s a slight dome that holds the optical heart rate sensor and the inductive charging system. You’ll also find a pair of buttons that release the watchbands. They’re flush with the case but relatively easy to depress, and the bands slide right out. You can make the Watch work in basically any orientation you’d like by flipping the screen with a setting in the iPhone app — a boon for the left-handed. It’s a fairly simple system, so expect to see tons of third-party Watch bands; Apple says it has no problem with that.
Apple Pay is my favorite feature on the Watch.
Apple gave me three bands to play with: the leather loop, the Milanese loop, and the white sport band. I mostly stuck with the leather loop, which feels more like plastic than leather but which I found super comfortable because it was so easy to readjust throughout the day. The white sport band basically felt like any other plastic band I’ve worn. I felt ridiculous wearing the Milanese Loop, so I didn’t.
The face of the Watch curves up off the sides, leaving a noticeable air gap above the display underneath. But besides that small complaint, the display is simply terrific. It carries the same Retina branding as the iPhone display and it delivers, with imperceptible pixels and inky blacks that allow the screen to blend right into the curved sides of the glass. It’s easily the best smartwatch display on the market, and it would be unassailable if not for the air gap. It’s light-years beyond everything else.
The back of the Watch is arguably more beautiful than the front.
ON YOUR WRIST
Once you actually start living with the Watch, it quickly becomes clear that there are three main ways to actually use the thing: the watch face, the app launcher, and the communications app.
Apple is insistent that one of the main functions of the Watch is simply to be a great watch, so when you raise your wrist, you’ll see the time by default, just like a regular watch. The lone exception out of the box is the workout app, which Apple says is “sticky” so people can check their exercise stats quickly at the gym.
In the first of many moments where the Watch felt underpowered, I found that the screen lit up a couple of ticks too slowly: I’d raise my wrist, wait a beat, and then the screen would turn on. This sounds like a minor quibble, but in the context of a watch you’re glancing at dozens of times a day, it’s quickly distracting. Other smartwatches like the Pebble and the LG G Watch R simply leave their screens on all the time; having a screen that constantly flips on and off is definitely behind the curve.
TELLING TIME
The main watch face really is a complete self-contained experience: if the Apple Watch had no other functionality except for what you can do from the watch face, it would still be competitive. Customizing the watch Face is the first time you’ll use Force Touch: you push a little bit harder on the screen, and you can swipe between Apple’s selection of watch face templates, each of which can be customized and saved as individual variations. Most of the templates are minor riffs on the same basic analog watch, but others are very strange indeed, like the animated butterfly and jellyfish. There’s no particularly great digital face, and there’s no ability to load up your own watch faces or buy new ones from the store, which is a clearly missed opportunity.
If the Apple Watch had no other functionality except for what you can do from the watch face, it would still be competitive.
The Watch app is literally the most central experience on the Watch — you can rearrange every app icon on the homescreen except the Watch icon, which is always in the middle. What’s fascinating and somewhat confusing is that so many of the Watch’s core abilities are only in the Watch app, so interface ideas you learn there don’t work anywhere else.
For example, the Watch app is the only place to access notifications after they appear. Notifications are the most important part of any smartwatch experience, but on the Apple Watch you can only swipe down to see your notifications when you’re on the watch face. Once you click the Digital Crown and open the app launcher, the notification drawer goes away entirely and swiping down does nothing. Same with Glances, which are essentially single-screen status updates from various apps you access by swiping up from the Watch app. They’re a major piece of the Watch experience, but they disappear everywhere else in the operating system. These are radically different interface patterns than iOS, where you can access the notification center and control center from virtually everywhere, and it makes navigating the Watch interface more confusing until you get it.
The Law of Wearable Success
In order to be successful, any given piece of wearable technology has to be useful the entire time it’s on your body. Prescription glasses sit on your face, but improve your vision all the time, so they’re successful. Sunglasses sit on your face and make you look cooler all the time, so they’re successful. Google Glass sits on your face, but mostly does nothing, so it’s a failure. It’s a simple formula.
Understanding that the Watch app is an entire primary experience unto itself is the key to understanding what happens when you press either of the buttons on the side of the Watch — they launch the other two main Watch experiences. Pressing the side button takes you to a totally unique contacts screen, which is where you send the ephemeral Digital Touch messages. Clicking the Digital Crown on the watch face opens the honeycomb app launcher, which is where you can open the various other apps on the Watch.
All of this sounds complex, but you’re not really supposed to use it all at once — the aim is for the Watch to shine in 10- 15-second burst throughout the day, not in extended usage sessions. And that was borne out every morning, because I didn’t have any reason to wear the Watch until I left the house.
I was half-hoping to put on the Watch in the morning and use it instead of my phone, but that didn’t happen. I grab my phone first thing in the morning and use it nonstop to prepare for the day: I organize my calendar, catch up on The Verge, check Twitter, and bang out replies on Slack and email. None of this is even possible to do on the Watch. Apple spent tons of effort and millions of dollars promoting the iPad as a business and creation platform instead of just a consumption machine, but there’s no fighting the tiny display and limited input options of the Watch — this thing is all about quickly glancing at information, not really doing anything with it.
It becomes far more valuable once you’re on the move.
Thứ Ba, 1 tháng 11, 2016
Modest Updates: Nikon D3400 Review
The D3400 is a very modestly updated version of the D3300. It's an entry level DSLR targeted toward first-time ILC shooters and those who are ready to move on from their smartphones to a more advanced shooting platform.
The camera is built around the same 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor found in its predecessor along with an 'EXPEED 4' image processor, Full HD video capture and an 11-point autofocus system. Unfortunately the camera doesn't have Wi-Fi, but it does have Bluetooth LE connectivity for transferring images from the camera to a smart phone via the 'SnapBridge' app.
Nikon packs a lot of very desirable features into the D3400 for the price.
In terms of competition, the D3400's sits between the Canon Rebel T6 and the Canon Rebel T6i. The D3400's $649 launch price for a kit with the new AF-P 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 VR lens puts it between the $549 list price of for the T6/EOS 1300D kit and the significantly more expensive $899 MSRP for the T6i with the 18-55mm VR zoom. The T6 has a lower resolution, 18MP sensor but its lower price makes it a threat at this price-sensitive point in the market.
Specs Comparison
The table below illustrates that not much has changed from the D3300 to the D3400. The biggest changes seen in the D3400 are in battery life (which we suspect is due to the less powerful flash), weight and the new built in Bluetooth LE that works with SnapBridge to enable photo sharing. The D3400 also tends to come kitted with a new 'AF-P' version of the 18-55mm VR lens which uses a new focus motor to offer improved performance in live view and video.
For beginning DSLR shooters the elimination of the external mic port (if video is important to you) and, more notably, the Ultrasonic Sensor Cleaning from the D3400 is something to definitely keep in mind when deciding which camera to purchase.
If you're not wedded to the idea of owning a DSLR, the Fujifilm X-A3 (which features an articulating touchscreen LCD, better AF coverage, and twin control dials), and the Sony a5100 (which acts more in the way of a point and shoot, but still offers impressive features and AF coverage), are both mirrorless cameras. These offer excellent features and image quality in a much smaller package. These are definitely two other options to also consider looking at before making a purchase.
It is worth noting that the traditional DSLR still holds some key advantages over mirrorless rivals. They offer much better battery life and lens selection, for example. The optical viewfinder is another important factor for many photographers. For more on the subject, read our primer.
The camera is built around the same 24MP APS-C CMOS sensor found in its predecessor along with an 'EXPEED 4' image processor, Full HD video capture and an 11-point autofocus system. Unfortunately the camera doesn't have Wi-Fi, but it does have Bluetooth LE connectivity for transferring images from the camera to a smart phone via the 'SnapBridge' app.
Nikon packs a lot of very desirable features into the D3400 for the price.
In terms of competition, the D3400's sits between the Canon Rebel T6 and the Canon Rebel T6i. The D3400's $649 launch price for a kit with the new AF-P 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 VR lens puts it between the $549 list price of for the T6/EOS 1300D kit and the significantly more expensive $899 MSRP for the T6i with the 18-55mm VR zoom. The T6 has a lower resolution, 18MP sensor but its lower price makes it a threat at this price-sensitive point in the market.
Specs Comparison
The table below illustrates that not much has changed from the D3300 to the D3400. The biggest changes seen in the D3400 are in battery life (which we suspect is due to the less powerful flash), weight and the new built in Bluetooth LE that works with SnapBridge to enable photo sharing. The D3400 also tends to come kitted with a new 'AF-P' version of the 18-55mm VR lens which uses a new focus motor to offer improved performance in live view and video.
If you're not wedded to the idea of owning a DSLR, the Fujifilm X-A3 (which features an articulating touchscreen LCD, better AF coverage, and twin control dials), and the Sony a5100 (which acts more in the way of a point and shoot, but still offers impressive features and AF coverage), are both mirrorless cameras. These offer excellent features and image quality in a much smaller package. These are definitely two other options to also consider looking at before making a purchase.
It is worth noting that the traditional DSLR still holds some key advantages over mirrorless rivals. They offer much better battery life and lens selection, for example. The optical viewfinder is another important factor for many photographers. For more on the subject, read our primer.
Chủ Nhật, 11 tháng 9, 2016
BenQ SU931 Large Venue Projector Review
Capable of lighting up a conference room or mid-sized auditorium with sharp vibrant images, the BenQ SU931 excels at economy with an enviable price tag despite combining more than 6,000 lumens of brightness with full HD resolution.
Of BenQ’s extensive array of business-oriented projectors, the SU931 stands out not only as an excellent value but as a flexible business tool that can enhance anything from a video conference to a marketing presentation. While BenQ lists it at $4,500, if you shop around, you’ll see it for $2,900, making it one of the best bargains in business projectors
With over 6,000 lumens at its disposal, the SU931’s DLP imaging chip delivers WUXGA (1,920 by 1,200) resolution. That translates into bright and sharp images with text that is among the most readable in its class as well as excellent focus from corner to corner. On the downside, the SU931’s exhaust is hot at 160-degrees Fahrenheit and its lamp is rated to last for a short 2,000 hours of use. This adds up to estimated annual costs that were on the high side.
It has connections for every popular source except for DisplayPort, and its integrated wired Ethernet networking lets technicians control the SU931 over the Internet. The projector, however, does without built-in or optional WiFi wireless networking.
Overall, it sets a new standard by delivering more lumens per dollar than the competition, but might have cut a few too many corners to get to its enviable price tag.
Highlights
Delivers 6,090 lumens in Bright mode
Good grayscale imaging and text readability for presentations
Excellent focus uniformity
Networking port and ability to control projector over LAN
Mechanical vertical lens-shift eases projector installation
Remote control laser pointer
Wide range 1.6:1 optical zoom lens
Surprisingly strong audio and speakers
Includes lens cap
- See more at: http://www.projectorreviews.com/benq/benq-su931-large-venue-projector-review-2/#sthash.CFaK6s5p.dpuf
Of BenQ’s extensive array of business-oriented projectors, the SU931 stands out not only as an excellent value but as a flexible business tool that can enhance anything from a video conference to a marketing presentation. While BenQ lists it at $4,500, if you shop around, you’ll see it for $2,900, making it one of the best bargains in business projectors
With over 6,000 lumens at its disposal, the SU931’s DLP imaging chip delivers WUXGA (1,920 by 1,200) resolution. That translates into bright and sharp images with text that is among the most readable in its class as well as excellent focus from corner to corner. On the downside, the SU931’s exhaust is hot at 160-degrees Fahrenheit and its lamp is rated to last for a short 2,000 hours of use. This adds up to estimated annual costs that were on the high side.
It has connections for every popular source except for DisplayPort, and its integrated wired Ethernet networking lets technicians control the SU931 over the Internet. The projector, however, does without built-in or optional WiFi wireless networking.
Overall, it sets a new standard by delivering more lumens per dollar than the competition, but might have cut a few too many corners to get to its enviable price tag.
Highlights
Delivers 6,090 lumens in Bright mode
Good grayscale imaging and text readability for presentations
Excellent focus uniformity
Networking port and ability to control projector over LAN
Mechanical vertical lens-shift eases projector installation
Remote control laser pointer
Wide range 1.6:1 optical zoom lens
Surprisingly strong audio and speakers
Includes lens cap
- See more at: http://www.projectorreviews.com/benq/benq-su931-large-venue-projector-review-2/#sthash.CFaK6s5p.dpuf
Chủ Nhật, 21 tháng 8, 2016
Epson EB-U04 review - Part 1
PROS
- Good price
- Ships with a carry case
- Sharp and bright
CONS
- Unimpressive black-level response
- Patchy colour temperature
- Various running noise issues
KEY FEATURES
- LCD projector with 1920x1200 resolution
- Presentations and Cinema picture presets
- Two HDMIs
- 3,000 lumens maximum brightness
- Dynamic Iris system
- Manufacturer: Epson
- Review Price: £549.00
WHAT IS THE EPSON EB-U04?
The EB-U04 is an LCD projector with a Full HD resolution that’s on sale for the budget price of £548.99. Epson pitches it as a projector that can be used for either home entertainment or office presentations.
EPSON EB-U04 – DESIGN AND FEATURES
While it isn't outright ugly, chiefly thanks to its glossy white top cover, the EB-U04 looks a bit utilitarian versus the more living room-friendly Epson EH-TW5300 that I tested recently. It’s smaller and squat, with a noticeably more compact lens – none of which raises great hopes about its picture quality versus the EH-TW5300.
Its relatively petite size does make it handily portable, though – and this useful trait is enhanced by the inclusion of a padded carry bag with the projector.
Connectivity is pretty good. Two HDMIs back up its home-entertainment claims, while its potential as a workhorse is enhanced by a USB port capable of playing multimedia files, a VGA PC input, and the ability of one of the HDMIs to handle MHL mobile phone playback.
You can even add an optional wireless adapter (the ELPAP10), which opens up the potential for using Epson’s iProjection app to stream a range of content – including photos, videos and documents – directly from your mobile phone or tablet through the projector.
The projector’s key picture specifications include a native Full HD resolution, a claimed dynamic contrast ratio of 15,000:1, and a very high maximum brightness of 3,000 lumens. On paper, this combination of brightness and contrast seems weighted towards the business market rather than home-cinema, but it’s entirely possible that the EB-U04 will have the controls necessary to adapt its optics to suit both movie and PC content.
For those looking for a projector for home use, there's one other point of concern. For while I described the projector as "Full HD", its resolution is in fact 1,920 x 1,200 rather than 1,920 x 1,080. This means it has a PC-friendly 16:10 native widescreen aspect ratio rather than a video-friendly 16:9 one.
As you’d expect, the projector carries the option to show 16:9 widescreen sources in their native ratio; you don’t have to see them stretched vertically to fill the EB-U04’s full resolution. But there’s no getting round the fact that 16:10 image clips are designed for PC rather than video use.
With the EB-U04 potentially getting used at work and home, it’s good to find Epson claiming a huge lamp and filter life of 10,000 hours – roughly enough to deliver one movie a day for 15 years!
Note, though, that to achieve this life span you’ll need to keep the projector running in its reduced brightness Eco mode. This may not necessarily be possible if your office or home environment has much ambient light.
On a positive, I should remind that this LCD projector won’t suffer with the rainbow striping problem common with rival DLP technology. In addition, it should also deliver more bright images more consistently because, unlike DLP technology, LCD projectors don't use a colour wheel to produce.
On the flip side, the EB-U04’s LCD technology will lead to a reduction in image quality over the projector’s life than you're likely to see with a DLP model.
EPSON EB-U04 – SETUP
The EB-U04 has a reasonable number of setup options. Physically, here’s a small amount of optical zoom, a drop-down leg under the front edge of the unit and screw-down legs at each rear corner. There's also a rather nifty sliding keystone-correction knob above the lens, which helps to get the sides of the image straight if you’re having to position it off to the side.
The lack of optical vertical image shift shouldn't be a surprise at this price point.
The EB-U04’s potential work and play nature is reflected in its picture presets, which include both a Cinema mode and a Presentations mode. Other adjustments include a noise-reduction system (best left off when watching HD); offset and gain adjustments for the RGB colour elements; Normal and Eco modes for the lamp; and the option to set an auto iris system to off, Normal, or High Speed.
My advise would be to ensure you pick the right option – Presentations or Cinema preset – for what you’re about to use it for. Also, when watching a movie in a reasonably dark room, the lamp should be set to Eco to get a little more black-level response out of the optics and drastically reduce the projector’s running noise.
I'd also recommend setting the auto iris option to Normal rather than High Speed, since while this can result in occasional lag in how the brightness responds to changes in the image content, it also causes the iris system to fewer scratching noises. More on this later.
Thứ Sáu, 12 tháng 8, 2016
Philips Screeneo 2.0 review part 2
PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0 – PICTURE QUALITY
The Screeneo 2.0 does an excellent job of retaining image geometry, despite its ultra short-throw optical system.
There’s no bowing along the top or bottom edges of the kind I’ve seen with other ultra short-throw projectors. While you may have to use some keystone correction to keep the sides perpendicular, this does not cause much in the way of artefacts or loss of resolution.
The image is also free of brightness the hotspots and inconsistencies that generally affect ultra short-throw projectors.
A slight loss of sharpness is evident in the corners, and this becomes more apparent as you increase the size of the image. As a result, I would limit the image size to 90 inches at a push. This issue is common among ultra-short throw projectors and the Screeneo 2.0 suffers less than most.
Particularly impressive is the projector’s colour handling. The range of tones it delivers is strikingly well suited to video playback right out of the box. Skin tones look natural and full of tonal subtlety, rich colours looking bold but never over-stressed or unbalanced, and even dark colour tones look both authentic and full of shading detail. 
There’s no sign of posterisation (colour striping) issues either.
The impressive colour performance of the Screeneo 2.0 helps to give its Full HD pictures a good sense of detail and texture, and this isn’t damaged excessively by motion judder. This is a relief given the unusable nature of the Flow Motion processing system, which should be kept off.
Pictures look markedly brighter than those of its predecessor, resulting in images engage even in a bright room. The brightness boost also delivers an uplift in shadow detail in dark scenes.
Thankfully, this boost in brightness has not had a negative impact on the projector’s contrast performance. Dark scenes don’t appear to be any more prone to the classic low-contrast grey mist effect. 
That said, the Screeneo 2.0’s black levels are only maybe a touch above average by the standards of the home entertainment projector market at large.
In other negative news, I occasionally spotted signs "rainbow effect" colour striping noise over stand-out bright objects. My test sample also showed a faint dust "sphere" in the bottom-right corner of the image. No amount of cleaning the image "window’" shifted this, proving that the dust was tucked away somewhere inside the projector’s optics.
There’s a very good chance that a Screeneo 2.0 projector you buy won’t suffer with such a dust issue – but clearly, there’s potential for dust to get into the projector’s optical path.
Given that the Screeneo 2.0 is designed to sit right next to the pictures it produces, it’s great to find that its bucket-shaped body is completely free of light leakage.
The Screeneo 2.0’s practical, multi-functional design makes it a potential favourite for gaming as well as movie watching. With this in mind, an input lag figure of 38ms is solid enough, despite falling a few milliseconds shy of the very speediest projector responders.
Thứ Sáu, 5 tháng 8, 2016
Philips Screeneo 2.0 review - Part 1
PROS
- Built-in sound system works well
- Decent all-round picture quality
- Ultra short-throw design is brilliantly convenient
CONS
- Black level response could be better
- You can get better pictures for the
- same money or less from conventional projectors
- Slight loss of focus in the corners
KEY FEATURES
- Ultra short-throw DLP projector
- Full HD native resolution
- Built-in 26W 2.1 sound system
- Supports multimedia streaming from phones and tablets
- Carry handle and ships with a carry bag
- Manufacturer: Philips
- Review Price: £1,499.00
WHAT IS THE PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0?
Now for something completely different: a DLP projector that wants to be both a big-screen TV and a sound bar, and resembles a bucket. Confused? Welcome to the weird but wonderful world of the Philips Screeneo 2.0.
PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0 – DESIGN AND FEATURES
The Screeneo 2.0, or officially the Philips HDP2510/EU, really looks like a bucket. From the fold-down silver carry handle to gentle downwards tapering, the Screeneo wouldn’t look out of place on a beach with a spade propped up against it.
It's not ugly, though. The black-and-silver colour scheme is smart and the finish quality is high. The Screeneo is actually a triumph of design for all the functionality it crams into its reasonably compact body.
What you get is ultra short-throw projection technology and a potent integrated audio solution. The point of the Screeneo 2.0 is to recreate the experience of watching a huge television for a fraction of the price.
Let’s first look at the projector. It’s a single-chip DLP system capable of punching out a claimed 2,000 lumens of maximum brightness, with a vast contrast ratio of 200,000:1. That means it's definitely a video product, rather than the sort of thing you'd use for PowerPoint presentations.
The DLP optics also deliver a Full HD resolution plus a claimed 1.07 billion colours from a six-segment (RGBRGB) colour wheel system. The 250W UHP lamp inside the Screeneo 2.0 is supposed to last more than 10,000 hours – a huge figure by projector standards, and one that should greatly reduce running costs over the projector’s lifetime. This is a big deal for a workhorse projector that’s designed to potentially replace a living room TV. 
The single most remarkable thing about the Screeneo 2.0’s projection system is its throw ratio. The reason for its bucket-like shape is that it contains a projector firing upwards from its bottom. It does this via an optical array that ultimately produces a picture through an angled "window" on the upper edge. This makes it possible to achieve a huge picture from a tiny throw distance.
Sit the projector just 10cm from your screen or wall and you can enjoy a picture 50 inches in diameter. Stretch that distance to 42cm and you get a 120-inch picture. There is no zoom feature, so the only way to way to adjust the picture size is to physically move the Screeneo 2.0 closer to or further away from the wall.
There are real advantages to having a projector that can sit so close to a wall. It functions like a television in terms of the impact it has on your living room layout. It doesn't need to be placed in the centre of your room, as you would a normal projector, and there’s no need to worry about long cable runs.
It carries three HDMI video connectors rather than the two found on the vast majority of projectors. It’s also equipped with Bluetooth, so you can effortlessly stream video, photos and music files to the projector from smart devices. There's also a USB port for memory sticks.
Other connections of note include a 12V trigger output for firing up a motorised screen; a headphone port; an optical digital audio output; audio inputs and outputs; a composite video jack (although this should only be used as a last resort given the relatively low picture quality it carries); and a VGA PC port.
It is compatible with 3D, although no glasses are included.
PHILIPS SCREENEO 2.0 – SETUP
The Screeneo 2.0 is a mixed bag when it comes to setup. It’s pretty cool that you can just plug in the projector and enjoy big images straight away, but there are a couple of potential complications.
Firstly, the motorised focus adjustment, accessed via the remote control, is imprecise. You can hear it chuntering along for quite some time without making any significant impact on the image’s sharpness. It gets there in the end, but the adjustments are so gradual that you are never entirely convinced that you’ve got it totally spot on.
Secondly, it lacks any sort of vertical image shifting or zoom. That makes positioning a little trickier if you use a screen instead of a wall.
The settings are comprehensive, with a helpful series of gamma presets and both colour and white balance management.
Key setups: I’d recommend using the Cinema lamp mode for dark room viewing and the Daylight mode for bright room viewing. For me, the default PrimeTime mode falls between the two.
It’s also essential that you turn off the Flow Motion processing, since it causes some pretty nasty artefacts. I’d recommend leaving the Dynamic Contrast feature on, although the difference it makes is marginal.
If you’re using your wall rather than a screen, it’s definitely worth checking out the Wall Colour Correction option. This is a very handy shortcut for neutralising the impact your decor may have on picture quality.
Đăng ký:
Bài đăng (Atom)