With all the VR hype that’s going around right now, it’s easy to forget that honestly this generation of VR headsets is only just beginning. No matter how excited we are for them, there are going to be things that they could do a lot better.

Case in point, a presentation delivered by Microsoft’s Bruce Harris from the Tel Aviv business event about their upcoming Hololens suggested that its battery life really isn’t going to be that long. It’s going to have one of just 5.5 hours, but that’s only if you’re doing things like reading e-mail or messing around with Word documents. With more “intensive use” the battery will only last an estimated 2.5 hours. That includes all the 3D demonstrations of the headset’s use that Microsoft has been using as their big wow factor at events.

There was a recording of the presentation up on Youtube earlier, but it’s already been taken down. Still, it’s interesting information to have because the HoloLens is not one of the headsets we’ve had a lot of details about so far. Harris also pointed out that the device has “no option for a wired connection” so it seems that you can’t even choose to charge it up while you use it.

Given that the HoloLens doesn’t have a wired connection option and again the fact that VR tech is only just taking off right now, its short battery life is not really an unexpected thing. It just feels a little bit limiting that the really cool stuff can only be played with for so long before you need to recharge it.

Time was that Solid State Drives were a bit of a compromise. What you gained in speed and safety due to the lack of moving parts and general snappiness of a fully chip-based approach, you lost in capacity – Solid State Drives simply couldn't hold Terabytes of data like classic Hard Drives. Well, thanks to the latest offering from Fixstars, that may soon no longer be the case.

Introducing the new Fixstars SSD-13000M, a new 2.5-inch Solid State Drive capable of holding a whopping 13TB of capacity, making it the biggest SSD in the world at the time of writing. To give some perspective of just how much data that is, you could fit 2,800 full-size DVDs on just one of these monsters (finally, a drive big enough to hold all my video editing content! – Digmbot), though the company also offers a less-expensive model released at the same time with a slightly lower 10TB capacity.

Both drives offer read speeds of up to 540MB/s and sequential writes of up to 520MB/s, which means theoretically you could fill just one of those Terrabytes in just 33 minutes and 37 seconds if you've got huge amounts of data to store at once.

Of course, writing huge amounts of data to a drive at once can severely reduce it's lifespan. However, Satoshi Miki, CEO of Fixstars, commented: "The Fixstars SSD series has been highly regarded for their distinct reliability on steady read/write performance that lasts over time." To this end the drives are temperature-controlled to reduce the amount of heat typically generated when a drive is put under heavy load, preventing heat damage; while the drives offer an optional high durability mode that allows users to cut the storage in half in return for a claimed three times the longevity (so you end up with just 6.5TB usable space, but it will live far longer).

Naturally, a drive like this is going to be expensive; and the target market for this high-capacity SSD is more tailored towards the enterprise; and for tasks such as heavy-duty video processing. The SSD-13000M's expected retail price in America, where it launches by the end of Febuary 2016, is an eye-watering $13,000 – that's a grand a Terrabyte! This equates to about £9,000 for us British folk, although everything Hardware tends to command a higher premium when it reaches these shores, so take that estimate with a pinch of salt – especially as prices and availability outside the US are yet to be confirmed.

Original Source: Technically Motivated

You know, I have to hand it to Acer. Once derided for being a manufacture of cheap computing goods that were also cheap in quality (I recall various horror stories of laptops whose screens would fall apart with very little force, among other tales), these days the company has made a niche for themselves in making electronics that are solidly built and offer something interesting while still remaining fairly priced. So it is with their latest product lines as announced by the company today: the R1 and the H7 series of monitors, and the next generation of its XR series.

Let’s be up front here. None of these monitors would qualify as “gaming” screens for those who take gaming seriously. However, all three models offer vibrant IPS panels with 178-degree wide viewing angles; and each has a different, unique touch for their price.

Take the new R1 series monitors, which seem very much geared towards the Apple creed that “thinner is always better”. Acer claims this range contains the “world’s thinnest” monitors with under 7mm thickness, and that its ZeroFrame design maximizes the view with an ultra-thin bezel. Monitors in this range will be available in a range of five sizes – 21.5, 23, 23.8, 25, and 27-inches wide – and will be capable of pixel resolutions up to 1920×1080 (making them 16:9 widescreens). Monitors in this series will first hit Europe this month (January) with prices starting at €139. North America will see them later in the first quarter of the year with prices starting at $130; other territories are to be confirmed.

For those who prefer function over form, the next set of monitors might be more interesting. Acer’s second new range of monitors, the H7 series, will include USB Type-C connectors allowing devices to be connected to the screen. While USB Type-C is still not hugely common, the standard is gaining traction and is already used to charge and for fast data transfer between smartphones, USB Hard Drives and other peripherals; and is likely to become more popular as time goes on. While still widescreen 16:9 format, screens in this range will not only have a higher screen resolution than the R1s – with a stated max of 2560×1440 – but will also be larger, with 25 and 27-inch models. They won’t be as thin, but will feature the same ZeroFrame design, to maximise the screen space. Europe can expect these monitors to reach their shores February, America later in Q1, with prices in both territories starting at 500 euros/dollars respectively. Acer claim USB 3.0 in a monitor is a “world first”, although Lenovo also announced similar monitors mere hours before.

Last but not least, Acer also revealed the next model in its range of XR series monitors. The snappily-named XR342CK feature a curved 34-inch 21:9 panel at a resolution of 3440×1440, and could reasonably pass as a good gaming screen as it uses Freesync technology for a super-fast refresh rate. Naturally it has a price to match – this model is only currently confirmed for Europe, and will retail at €1,100 in March, with other territories to be confirmed later.

After a lot of waiting and distribution of dev kits to developers, Oculus have finally announced in a blog post that they’re preparing to start taking pre-orders for the release version of their virtual reality headset.

The day in question will be this Wednesday, the 6th of January at around 8am Pacific it’s estimated. There’s been no confirmed price or shipping date for the headsets in the post unfortunately, but the post has said that they’ll be revealed on the 6th as well. It also confirms the two pre-order games it will come with: EVE: Valkyrie an N64-style platformer game, Lucky’s Tale.

The CEO of Oculus, Palmer Luckey will also be doing a Reddit AMA on the same date to answer questions from gamers and also to do some general PR. A link will be made public closer to the time. There’s also been some hints from him that shipping might come during Q1 of 2016, although the Oculus Touch hardware has been confirmed to be delayed until the second half of the year.

Are you interested yet? Do you think that the Rift will win the VR race this time round or will it fall behind now that competition has emerged?

The tablet market is a crowded place these days. Samsung and Apple dominate their respective markets and it sometimes seems as if they are the only two options available if you don’t have the cash to spring for a Surface, or simply don’t want a windows tablet. Google, in their infinite wisdom has seen fit to offer us a high end alternative in the Pixel C. However, this tablet sits in an odd spot. Hasving recieved one for Christmas, I’ve been playing around with it for the past 24 hours. So, what do I think?

*Note: This review was written entirely on the Pixel C using the Pixel keyboard.

**Further note due to fussbudget Crimsonshade: All typos the result of the Pixel keyboard and are included for authenticity.

Specs

Operating System	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display	10.2-inch LTPS LCD,2560×1800 (308 ppi) 500 nit brightness sRGB color gamut
Processor	NVIDIA Tegra X1 256 core Maxwell GPU
RAM	3GB LPDDR3
Internal storage	32GB or 64GB
Cameras	2MP front 8MP rear
Battery	34.2 WHr (9243 mAh)
Charging	USB-C
Audio	Stereo speakers Quad noise-cancelling microphones 3.5 mm audio out
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2×2 MIMO, dual-band Bluetooth 4.1 + HS
Sensors	Ambient Light, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Compass, Hall, Proximity
Keyboard	Optional Bluetooth wireless keyboard
Dimensions	242 x 179 x 7 mm
Weight	0.517 kg / 1.139 lb

Pixel C keyboard specs

Theres no doubt that the Pixel C is a powerful piece of hardware. The screen is bright and colorful, playing back video and rendering games such as Tales From The Borderlands in crisp detail with no sign of artifacting.  Plentiful RAM means that animations on menus, switching between apps and loading high content webpages is a fast, hassle free experience.  Voice is a key part of Android 6.0 Marshmallow and the four microphones located  on the top of the Pixel C guarantee that the tablet will hear you loud and clear when you say “Ok Google”.  Of course, the cameras are nothing to write home about. The rear facing camera has no flash, meaning you’ll need good lighting if you plan on taking pictures with it. This is further complicated by the unwieldiness of taking pictures with something as large as a tablet. You’ll get better performance out of the camera  in your smartphone. Then again, if you are relying on a tablet keyboard for your photography needs, we may need to have a chat. Likewise, the front facing camera is servicable, but please don’t use it for anything but video calling.

The speakers on the Pixel C are crisp and strong. Obivously, you aren’t going to get a ton of bass out of something as small as a tablet speaker, but highs and mids sound crisp without being  tinny. Turning them up reveals a truly deafening amount of power for such a small device, and again  with little to no distortion.  Headphones  are obviously the way to go, but if you find yourself without or are sharing a video with friends, the Pixel C’s speakers are great in their own right.

The Keyboard

The Pixel C keyboard gets its own section because its such an integral part of the way Google is marketing the device. The keyboard  snaps onto the Pixel via magnets.  Very strong magnets. Picking the tablet up and shaking it won’t dislodge the keyboard. It’s rather impressive actually. The magnets allow you to use the Pixel more as a laptop, letting the tablet tilt through a wide range of motion to accomodate being used on a desk or in your lap. I’m currently sitting on my bed with the Pixel in my lap typing this review, and the experience is as comfortable as any I’ve ever had on a high end laptop. Naturally, the keys are a bit more cramped than a traditional keyboard, but thats to be expected  on a keyboard of this size. Google has done an admirable job of allowing the keys to travel, giving a good tactile feedback as you type. They’ve also eliminated some keys, opting instead to include a button directly to the right of the spacebar that opens an  on screen menu filled with common symbols. Reaching up to the screen to tap these  does feel a bit odd and takes some getting used to, but in my opinion it’s worth the extra reach if it gives me an excellent typing experience on a relatively uncluttered keyboard.

The keyboard also doubles as a cover for the Pixel C’s gorgeous screen, and sliding it up and over the tablet is a simple and satisfying  proocedure. Similarly, when you want to use the tablet as….just a tablet, simply slide the keyboard around to the back or remove it entirely. The entire process is quick and easy, and makes the Pixel feel like a versatile and robust machine.  Its also nice to know that I don’t have to worry about charging the keyboard seperately. The Pixel charges they kehboard inductively, so as long as it’s attached to the body of the tablet,  you’ll never have to worry about it’s battery level. And even if you forget, Google promises a staggeringly long  battery life for the keyboard.

User Experience

This is  one of those hard  to quantify categories, but something vital to the review of any piece of hardware. How does it FEEL to use the tablet?

In short: It feels great. The Pixel’s case is sleek and  feels high quality. The screen looks fantastic. Apps open quickly, swapping between apps is easy, and gaming is great thanks to the powerful GPU housed inside. Of course, the Pixel sits somewhere between Apple’s pure tablets and the  Windows user experience of the Surface.  It’s great for browsing the web, playing games and watching YouTube.  However, Android doesn’t  have a dedicated suite of productivity apps like the Surface does.  Of course you can use Google Docs, but thats not quite the same as the full Microsoft Office suite.  Another hinderance to getting serious work done on the Pixel C is Android’s lack of multitasking. There is an experimental dual window mode, but in my tests I found it to be extremely buggy. It’s still a work in progress, but for now it leaves the Pixel in a spot where using more than one app at once evokes the tedious experience of opening your app manager and swapping through apps.  Its  cfertainly doable, but not intuitive or efficient.

The Verdict

The Pixel C is a fantastic piece of hardware. It has some great features,  like the powerful speakers and beautiful display. It makes  gaming, browsing the web and watching cat videos on YouTube a fast and easy experience. The keyboard is a godsend for those that hate typing emailson a touchscreen. And I must say, I enjoy the ability to tap on the back of the tablet and see the lightbars illuminate  to show  me how much charge the tablet has without having  to unlock the screen. However, the Pixel C sits in an odd spot. It seems Google was thinking for the future, as they often do with products in the Pixel line.  Android in it’s current form is severely limiting  on the productivity of  any power user.

In short, the Pixel C is a great pickup if you simply have  to have the most powerful Android tablet available and have the cash to burn. If you are having a light work day, taking it with you is a viable option if you don’t want to lug a laptop around.  Still, it has room to grow if Google can only take it in the right direction.