HTC One X+ vs. One X

It seems so long ago. Before Samsung grew into the dominant player, the hottest Android manufacturer was HTC. Fast-forward to today, and HTC is trying to regroup with its series of One phones. Its latest offering is the upgraded version of the One X, dubbed the One X+. How does the new phone compare to its predecessor? Let's take a look.

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Google gave HTC a shot in the arm with the first Nexus device, the Nexus One. The Taiwanese company subsequently solidified its status with the hot-selling powerhouse, the HTC EVO 4G. Then HTC made the mistake of going all-in on 3D (has that ever worked for anyone besides James Cameron?) and Beats Audio. This led to a disappointing 2011, and 2012 hasn't fared much better.

HTC's attempt to rebound has come in the One series. It rekindles the type of simple, elegant, and powerful device that put the company on the map. The high-end handset of the bunch, the One X, was praised by critics, but hasn't exactly been a hot seller.

Now HTC is continuing its back-to-basics approach by introducing the One X+. Much like Motorola did with the Droid Razr Maxx, Peter Chou and company are taking their flagship phone and tweaking it in several key areas.

Lets break down the specs between HTC's two One X revisions:

Dimensions

No differences here

Look familiar? As you can see, the phones are physically identical. These are somewhat beefy phones compared to anorexic handsets like the Droid Razr and iPhone 5, but their sleek design should help make up for that.

Weight

The upgraded battery in the One X+ adds a negligible amount of heft

The One X+ tips the scales a bit more than its predecessor, because of its superior battery (see below).

Display

The display in the One X was already top-notch; so no changes there

The display also stayed the same in the One X+. HTC decided that the terrific 720p resolution, 312 pixels per inch (ppi) screen in the One X was good enough to leave alone. You will probably agree.

Processor

The One X+ has an improved Tegra 3 over the international version of the One X, and a big upgrade from the dual-core chip in the US One X

Here's another big upgrade in the One X+: a quad-core Tegra 3 processor. The global (non-US) version of the One X sported a Tegra 3, but the US version had a dual-core chip. With the One X+, everyone gets in on the quad-core action.

Clocked at 1.7GHz, it looks better on paper than just about any other smartphone CPU.

RAM

RAM stays the same in the One X+

RAM stayed the same in the One X+, with HTC focusing more on the upgraded processor for a performance boost.

Storage

Internal storage gets a big upgrade in the One X+

Flash memory also got upgraded in the One X+. It ships with a whopping 64GB of internal memory. This helps to offset the absence of a microSD card slot, which the One X also lacked.

Like with the One X, HTC is also offering 25GB of free Dropbox storage (which is integrated into HTC Sense for photo and video syncing) for two years. Combining physical and cloud storage, that gives One X+ owners a theoretical 89GB for storing files and media.

Wireless

Like with the One X, it may be mostly US customers enjoying LTE in the One X+

The One X only supported LTE in the US (the rest of the world got Tegra 3 instead). With the One X+, HTC can finally combine NVIDIA's quad-core chip with "true 4G."

Many global customers, however, will be limited to a non-LTE version of the One X+.

In the US, the One X+ will be exclusive to AT&T. Keep in mind, though, that AT&T's LTE network is still growing and is only available in select regions.

Battery

The One X+ packs a better battery into an identical external casing

The One X+ also gets an upgraded battery. The One X has solid battery life, but the X+ should last a full day for most users.

Cameras

Only the front-facing camera sees an upgrade in the One X+

No changes here for the One X+, aside from a slightly upgraded front camera. As the One X has one of the better smartphone cameras available, this isn't a bad area to stand pat.

Intangibles

We're stretching here a bit, as both phones will soon have Jellybean, and both ship with Beats Audio (Dr. Dre photo: Ed Kavishe)

With two nearly identical phones, there aren't many miscellaneous differentiating factors. The One X+ will ship with Android 4.1 Jellybean, but the One X will be receiving an OTA Jellybean update soon.

The One X+ will sport an upgraded version of HTC Sense. Sense 4+ features a few perks, like a Self Portrait mode (face detection helps you take better pics with the front-facing camera), the ability to use the power button as a camera shortcut, and an enhanced Gallery.

The best features of the One X carry over to its successor, but both phones do have Dr. Dre and company's Beats Audio. The reaction to Beats in HTC phones has been mixed at best, but it can enhance your listening experience if you pair it with Beats headphones.

iPhone 5 vs. Galaxy S III

There's nothing like a good rivalry. Whether it's Ali vs. Frazier, FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, or Magic vs. Bird, gritty duels have a way of getting people pumped. In this Digital Age, consumer tech has its own sets of sworn opponents: in the 80s it was Apple vs. IBM, later we saw Windows vs. OS X, and gamers even have Playstation vs. Xbox.

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In 2012, however, the biggest tech rivalry is the match between the two biggest players in mobile: Apple and Samsung. This one has gotten nasty,extending into international courts. Things only get more interesting with the release of Apple's iPhone 5 this week.

A great product is much more than the sum of its parts, but – even in this post-PC era – specs can matter. If one phone has a quad-core chip with 2GB of RAM, and another a single-core CPU with 128MB of RAM, the first one will be much faster. Likewise, a display with 320 pixels per inch (ppi) will look much sharper than one with 163ppi. You'd be foolish to worship at the altar of specs, but technical details can still shed some light on the subject.

So, with many grains of salt in hand, let's see how Apple's newest iPhone stacks up against the current cream of Android's crop, the Samsung Galaxy S III:

Dimensions

Say what you will about Samsung's originality, but its devices are beloved by millions. The Galaxy S III has an expansive surface, but measures thinner than the previous two iPhones.

The iPhone 5, meanwhile, is Apple's first redesigned handset in over two years. It's longer than the iPhone 4/4S (by 8.6mm), but maintains the same width. At 7.6mm thick, the iPhone 5 is also one of the thinnest smartphones around (the Droid Razr measures at 7.1mm, but it has a protruding hump).

Weight

The iPhone 5 is light. Though the iPhone 4/4S was far from a hulking monstrosity, the new model is 28 grams lighter. Part of this is due to its thinner design (and internal components), but its aluminum backing is the biggest reason. The past two iPhones had glass backs, which naturally added some heft.

Though it may feel heavy next to the iPhone 5, you can do much worse than the Galaxy S III. Despite sporting a monstrous display and a wider build than Apple's latest, it's still a relatively light smartphone.

Display

The iPhone 5 offers the first change in screen size since Apple entered the industry in 2007, boosting the iPhone display from 3.5 to 4 inches. Rather than adding a huge screen with the same 3:2 aspect ratio, though, Tim Cook & company lengthened it. It shifts to a narrower 16:9 aspect ratio: larger, but you can still reach your thumb across the screen.

The Galaxy S III, meanwhile, has a display that is both longer and wider than the iPhone's. If you aren't concerned with thumb reach, the S3 offers significantly more screen real estate.

Size isn't everything though. Apple is promising 44 percent greater color saturation over the iPhone 4/4S. The touch-sensing electrodes are also nearer to the display's surface, moving one step closer to the illusion of ink on paper.

CPU

Remember when I said specs weren't everything? These chips are great examples. On paper, the processors in both versions (North America and international) of the Galaxy S III are superior - faster clock speed and an equal or greater number of cores. But early tests reveal that Apple's custom A6 SoC is a beast, breaking records in Geekbench and Sunspider benchmarks.

Unsurprisingly, the A6's closest rival in those tests has been the Galaxy S III. Both editions of the handset deliver some of the best smartphone performance you'll see in 2012 ... but they may not match the wicked speed of the iPhone 5.

RAM

Another big factor in performance, RAM is evenly matched at 1GB in the iPhone 5 and the global Galaxy S III. The US/Canada S3, meanwhile, doubles the memory with a whopping 2GB.

Storage

Here's another closely-matched category. The 64GB version of Samsung's flagship launches soon, and the only other difference is the microSD card slot that it (and most Android phones) offer.

As always, more flash memory means you're spending more money.

Wireless Connectivity

After over 18 months worth of LTE-equipped Android phones, Apple has now given us an iPhone with "true 4G." Those who live in an area with available coverage will see cellular data speeds that are faster than many home broadband connections.

The Galaxy S III also supports LTE, like most high-end Android phones from the last year or so.

Battery

The biggest reason for Apple taking its sweet time delivering LTE? It took a while to get battery life up to snuff. Early LTE phones like the HTC Thunderbolt and Motorola Droid Bionic sometimes struggled to last a few hours. We finally saw an LTE phone with great battery life in the Droid Razr Maxx, and the Galaxy S III is no slouch either. It should last a full day for most users.

We've yet to put an iPhone 5 through the paces, but Apple promises better battery life than the iPhone 4S, even while on LTE. Early reviews suggest that it lives up to this promise, but we'll update after getting our hands on one.

Camera

You can't go wrong with either camera. At least before the iPhone 5, many valued the S3's shooter as the best on the market. Despite many similarities to the 4S' camera, Apple is promising key improvements over its predecessor - including better low-light shooting.

Apple is highlighting a new panorama shooting feature in iOS 6 (exclusive to the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5). Though it offers Apple's customary polish and attention to detail, there are already several quality third-party panorama apps on both iOS and Android, and a similar stock panorama feature on the S3.

Intangibles

Though Apple design guru Jony Ive isn't part of the iPhone 5, he does represent those elements of Apple's appeal that can't be drawn from tech specs alone. While rival manufacturers focus more on specs, marketable features, and pricing, Apple's main focus is on the customer's experience. That includes the feeling one gets from holding, viewing, and using the product. With its combination of lightness, unprecedented thinness, and beautiful design, the iPhone 5 may epitomize this philosophy more than any prior Apple product.

The Galaxy S III, on the other hand, is today's Android flagship. In a crowded field of high-end smartphones, that's no small feat. In other words, if a friend asked for advice on the one Android phone to buy, you'd be wise to recommend the Galaxy S III.

The Galaxy S III isn't quite on the software cutting edge, sporting the nearly year-old Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (skinned with Samsung's Touchwiz UI). Samsung did, however, cook up several unique features: S Beam (which utilizes its Near Field Communication chip to enable peer-to-peer sharing), a variety of social sharing features, and its (less intelligent) Siri rival, S Voice.

The iPhone 5 ships with iOS 6, which heralds the arrival of a new Apple Maps app - including Siri-powered turn-by-turn navigation - and system-wide Facebook sharing. It also brings incremental improvements to Safari, Mail, iCloud, and Siri.

Long-term Apple customers will notice another big difference this year: Apple has redesigned its bundled earbuds. Now known as Earpods, the tiny headphones promise a more secure and comfortable fit, as well as improved acoustics. As a standalone $30 product, these aren't high-end models for audiophiles, but they do look to drastically improve on the old earbuds.

One last iPhone update to keep in mind: Apple added a new connector to the iPhone 5. Dubbed Lightning, it's smaller, promises faster speeds, and is reversible. Unfortunately, it also requires you to buy a $30 adapter to keep using all of your old docks, speakers, and other accessories. It was time for the old 30-pin connector to go, but it would have been nice to see a cheaper (or bundled) adapter for those old accessories.

Summing Up

So which phone is better? Who's the grand poo-bah of the smartphone market? Much of that will come down to your preferences. If you've already dug your heels into either the Android or iOS camp, then your mind was likely made up long ago. But if you haven't yet chosen a side, we recommend you head to a retail store to get some hands-on time with both phones. It's hard to go wrong with either one.

As the iPhone 5 begins to arrive on people's doorsteps (and in the hands of weary Apple Store campers), we'd love to hear your thoughts about it. Does it live up to expectations, or feel like another incremental update? Feel free to let us know in the comments.

Nexus 10? Google and Samsung reportedly making high-end tablet

The tablet market has been clearly split. There is the high-end, dominated from inception by the iPad. Then there's the evolving low-end, which has been led by the Kindle Fire, but is also party to offerings from Google (Nexus 7), Samsung (Galaxy Tab 7) and Barnes & Noble (Nook HD). As Apple prepares to enter the low-end with the iPad Mini, Google may now be looking to take on the iPad.

According to CNET, NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shin has the lowdown on the tablet. Shin says the slate would carry the Nexus branding, and would be yet another collaboration between the search giant and Samsung (after the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus).

High-end

The 299 ppi would be new ground for tablets (peacock feather:Shutterstock)

The device's killer feature would be its display: its 10.1-inch, 2560 x 1600 screen would be sharper than anything on the market, with its 299 pixels per inch (PPI) easily topping the 264 ppi in the 3rd gen. iPad. You can argue that, at a certain point, raising pixel density is overkill – but you may want to see the display before jumping to that conclusion.

Shin says that this will be a high-end tablet, with a price to match. Aiming squarely at Apple, Google and Samsung would be foolish to overprice it; US$500 or less for the base model sounds reasonable. With the iPad having no proven challengers at the high end of the market, the companies know that they need to dazzle. The potential success of Microsoft's Surface andother Windows 8 tablets only adds to the task before them.

No word yet on a release date (assuming Shin's sources are sound and the tablet exists), but it sounds like 2013 would be a safe bet.

What do you think: would a Nexus 10 be a true challenger to the iPad? Or would it go the way of the fallen XOOMs and Galaxy Tabs that came before it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Need 16GB of RAM for your new MacBook Pro?

All the 2011 MacBook Pro models come with 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 memory as standard, which should be fine for most applications. But if you're a power user dealing with video editing, high resolution images or the like, then shelling out an extra US$200 to bump the RAM up to 8GB can be a wise investment – and sourcing the RAM from someone other than Apple can bring the price down to almost half that.Anyone in the market for one of Apple's new Thunderbolt-equipped 2011 MacBook Pros would be forgiven for thinking the machines only support up to 8GB (2 x 4GB) of RAM since that's what's listed on the tech specs and is the maximum build-to-order option available through Apple. However online store OWC says the new 2011 MacBook Pro models can actually support up to 16GB (2 x 8GB) and is selling the 8GB sticks you'll need to make it happen. The only catch is the price, which is more than the asking price for either of the two 2011 13-inch MacBook Pro models currently available.

But if at 8GB you're still thirsting for yet more speed, then OWC is happy to oblige with a 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1333MHz Memory Upgrade Kit that sells for US$1599.99, with the high price tag attributable to the scarcity of 8GB modules. However, at this price you'd have to do a serious cost/benefit analysis and ask yourself whether you actually need what, for most users, would probably amount to a minimal speed increase. For the slightly more budget conscious OWC also sells a 12GB (8GB + 4GB) Upgrade Kit for $879.99.

Affordable, thin and light Lenovo S Series notebooks break cover

Measuring 21.9 mm (just under an inch) and weighing in at 1.8kg (less than four pounds), these systems are firmly in the thin and light category. The design is reminiscent of the company's current U410 Ultrabook and will be available in several colors including red, silver and “cotton-candy pink”.Lenovo has announced a new line of affordable notebook PCs that combine a thin and light construction with Intel's 3rd generation Core i3 and i5 processors. The IdeaPad S Series notebooks are designed to be an affordable alternative to high-end Ultrabooks, while offering more computing power and features than the lowly netbook.

The line consists of three new systems, featuring a variety of customization options. The S300 and S400 models will be powered by Intel's 3rd generation Core i3 and i5 processors, while the S405 will feature an AMD A8 quad-core APU. AMD's APU offerings are traditionally less powerful than the Intel equivalent. The A6 processor found in HP's thin and light Sleekbook system was somewhat underwhelming in the power department.

Lenovo has highlighted the systems' updated intelligent touchpads, which are reportedly designed with the Windows 8 in mind, providing improved scrolling and zooming functionality. In addition to the improved scrolling and zoom functionality, users will also get access to the company's Quick Start “instant on” feature. All S Series systems will ship with Windows 7, but will be eligible for the Windows 8 Upgrade Offer.

Storage options go up to a 1TB HDD in the S405, and 500GB for the other two models. Users can also select an optional 32GB solid state drive on the S400 and S405, a measure that will significantly improve speed boot times and the general responsiveness of the system. There's also HDMI output, stereo speakers, and up to 14 inches of full HD goodness.

The S Series systems are pegged to start at around €500 (US$625 at the time of writing), but concrete details on the internals and price tag of each model make it difficult to make an early assessment of how the systems will fare against the competition.

The notebooks are entering a somewhat crowded market space, with systems such as Asus's X501 series offering, which couple capable processors with thin and light designs for compellingly low prices.

However, the combination of affordable price point (as promised by Lenovo) and the inclusion of certain high-end features such as quad-core CPUs and full HD displays, may go some way towards setting the S Series notebooks apart from the competition

Prepare your Mac for Mountain Lion

With Mountain Lion set for a July release, Gizmag offers some tips on backing up, cleaning up and optimizing your Mac to make the upgrade process go as smoothly as can be for those wishing to adopt Apple's latest "big cat."

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The OS X upgrade process has been refined over the years and is now so simple as to only require a visit to the Mac App Store to purchase, download and install Mountain Lion. However, it's still advisable to ensure your Mac is fully updated and backed-up before upgrading an operating system, just in case.

Remember that some applications could cease to work, or become unstable, with a new iteration of OS X. The Mac App Store has sped up the process for developers who wish to update their apps, but many non-Mac App Store apps will still lag behind, so before proceeding, check out this handy compatibility table by Roaring Apps and make sure your most important apps are ready for Mountain Lion.

Backing up

Time Machine is an excellent backup utility which has shipped with Mac OS X since Leopard. However, in addition to using Time Machine, it can be beneficial to consider making a clone of one's hard drive.

By making use of a utility such as the shareware application Carbon Copy Cloner, we can copy the entire contents of our hard drive onto an external hard drive. This will give us the ability to boot from that backup and find everything as we left it if something catastrophic happens to the original data. Indeed, even if the original computer is lost, you can still boot into your external hard drive, providing you can find a similar model Mac to your own.

Carbon Copy Cloner lacks Time Machine's sheen and ease of use, but its basic cloning feature is still fairly simple to use: just navigate to the relevantdownload page and install the app, then ensure you have an empty hard drive partition to copy the data to. Once this is done, select the correct source and destination, then wait while Carbon Copy Cloner does its thing. Be warned that, if using an external USB hard drive and a lot of data, this can take some time.

Spring cleaning

There's no need to remove applications or files just because an operating system upgrade is looming. However, we often collect unwanted apps and media files over the years, so Mountain Lion's imminent release is as an opportune time to clear out any clutter.

There is already a handy storage utility built into OS X Lion and to make use of it navigate to:

About This Mac, More Info, and then click on the Storage tab.

This will bring up the above information screen, from which we can see an overview of the kind of files which reside on our hard drive and decide whether or not those four seasons of The Sopranos are really worth the extra space they take up.

Mac users tend to delete their applications by simply performing a drag-and-drop to the Trash. There's nothing at all wrong with this method but it can leave behind harmless hidden files which can, on occasion, rise to hundreds of megabytes in size. To prevent this, we can use a very lightweight, unobtrusive and free application called AppTrap which will bring up a prompt every time a user attempts to delete a file, asking if the user would like those additional hidden files to also be removed.

In addition, OS X makes use of cache files to speed up applications and over time these cache files can grow in size, taking up valuable room. There are two widely-recommended apps which help in the process of removing such cache files: Onyx and CleanMyMac. Both applications are very useful and do largely the same thing, but though Onyx is free it's perhaps a little less intuitive than its competitor.

Creating a Mountain Lion DVD or external install drive

The arrival of OS X Lion heralded a new digital-only era of operating system delivery for Apple, but not everybody is comfortable ditching an install drive and there are still several situations where it comes in useful, such as when upgrading several Macs at once or performing a clean install of OS X.

First, a disclaimer: we're getting this out to you ahead of time, and though we think it's unlikely, it's perfectly possible that Apple could change the Mountain Lion installation process so that the following instructions no longer work. That said...

Burn a Mountain Lion DVD

Begin by visiting the Mac App Store and purchasing Mountain Lion. Let Mountain Lion download but before installing the operating system, navigate to your Applications folder and right-click on Mountain Lion’s installer.

Now choose "Show Package Contents" from the right-click menu and open the folder titled "Shared Support". Within this folder there should be an image titled "InstallESD.dmg" or something very similar. This .dmg file is the Mountain Lion disc image, so copy it onto the Desktop folder and create a DVD by right-clicking the .dmg file then selecting "Burn" from the menu.

Create a Mountain Lion external install drive

If you'd prefer to create a Mountain Lion external install drive with an external hard drive or USB stick, follow the above instructions to get the .dmg image file on the Desktop and then rename the .dmg image to (without quotes) "Mountain Lion.dmg". Double click the Mountain Lion.dmg image to mount it.

Before proceeding any further, we'll need to prepare an external hard drive or USB stick with roughly 8 GB of free space. Providing this is available and plugged into the Mac, continue onward.

Open Disk Utility and select Mountain Lion.dmg file from the left hand pane. Select “Restore” from the right hand pane and ensure that the “Destination” box contains the desired hard drive or USB which is to become the install drive, and that the “Erase destination” box is ticked.

Drag the image file titled Mountain Lion.dmg over from the left pane to the “Source” box. It will now be named "Mac OS X Install ESD". Make sure everything looks correct, matching up with the screenshot above and click “Restore”.

After some minutes you should now have a Mountain Lion install drive. To boot from this drive, switch on your Mac while holding down the "alt" key, then choose it from the prompt which will then appear. Now you may install Mountain Lion normally.

Upgrading your Mac hardware

The minimum specifications which a Mac needs to meet in order to run Mountain Lion are relatively low and most Macs will either already meet those needs or else be shut out by Apple's contentious decision to cut off support to older Macs. That said, if you would like to take the opportunity of Mountain Lion’s impending launch to upgrade your Mac, here’s a couple of common-sense hardware upgrades.

RAM

Random-access memory (RAM) is the working memory which OS X makes use of in order to run several applications at once. If you’re running any resource-heavy applications such as Adobe Photoshop, you’re likely to notice an increase in performance following an upgrade.

Unfortunately, MacBook Air users are unable to upgrade, because in the bid to make the ultra-portable notebook as slim as possible, Apple soldered the Air's RAM to the motherboard, rendering it non-upgradeable. For the rest of us, however, RAM is an easy and (relatively) cheap upgrade. Crucial Memory makes it easy to choose which kind of RAM you need, though there are many other places which sell RAM too. Detailed instructions on installation can be found at the informative iFixit.

SSD

While RAM can give you a noticeable performance boost for relatively little money, a solid-state drive (SSD) will really make your Mac fly. Applications will load quicker, your Mac will boot in seconds and everything will simply feel faster overall. As opposed to classic hard drives, SSDs contain no moving parts and use Flash memory, making them silent and very fast. The cost of SSD’s has fallen significantly, but it can still be an expensive or impractical proposition if you have a lot of media to store.

There are many SSDs to choose from and your own choice will depend on personal preferences and budget, but two recommended models include the latest Crucial Memory SSD offering and the Samsung 830 Series. Installing an SSD into any Mac (besides the MacBook Air) should be a simple process and, again, iFixit has instructions for doing so.

If you’d like to copy all your existing data to an SSD then you can use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your hard drive, then copy that data onto the new SSD. Just be sure to read Carbon Copy Cloner's help text for more information before getting started.

Five Samsung Windows 8 "Ativ" devices break cover

With Windows 8 due to be officially launched in October, Samsung has pulled back the curtain on their ATIV suite of devices based on Microsoft's OS, including two hybrid tablets, at the IFA trade show in Berlin. The Smart PC and Smart PC Pro hybrid tablet/laptops, the Tab tablet, and the S smartphone were all shown off, with the fifth, a Windows 8-flavored refresh of the Notebook Series 9, also getting some air time.

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The name ATIV apparently was derived from a reversal of vita (Spanish for life). Doing things backwards is not usually a good thing if you're a technology company, but this new series of devices certainly shows Samsung is trying to diversify and break new ground.

ATIV Smart PC and Smart PC Pro

The most intriguing of these devices for many will no doubt be the hybrids. The Smart PCs are designed to tackle the issue of being productive on a tablet without a keyboard, while still maintaining the elegance and portability of the tablet form factor. With Microsoft so focused on making Windows 8 equally at home on a desktop or tablet, these devices will be Samsung’s opportunity to show us if that will actually work.

The devices both come with a magnetically attachable keyboard, so you can swap it in or out when needed. The devices also come with the new S Pen, for jobs that finger nor key can deal with adequately.

The main differences between the two flavors are in raw processing power —vanilla is driven by a low-power Atom processor, while the Pro sports an i5 CPU for that extra grunt.

They come with 2 or 4 GB of RAM respectively, which will prove more than adequate for everyday use, while the Pro sports a full 1080p display, compared to the regular unit’s more modest 1366x768 resolution. Both come equipped with Wi-Fi and 3G/4G transceivers.

All this adds up to some physical heft, though. The Smart PCs will weigh about 1.5 kilos (3.3 pounds) when equipped with their keyboards, while shedding a little less than half that when detached. Hands on time will show us what that weight actually means in terms of use on the go.

Aside from the keyboard, perhaps the most intriguing addition is one that geeks have been clamoring for on tablets since day 1: USB ports. The Pro will sport USB 3.0 input, over and above the vanilla iteration’s 2.0 slots, with Samsung UK GM David Cusick saying the ports were there because “we think they’re important.” No doubt an ever-so-subtle dig at a certain well known hardware manufacturer.

ATIV TAB

Perhaps even more importantly, the USB ports will come on the keyboard-free ATIV Tab, a more direct, Windows 8-themed competitor to the iPad. Given the recent patent troubles, most notably with the Galaxy Tab, the arrival of the ATIV Tab is probably well timed for Samsung, at least from a business perspective.

The 10.1 inch, 570-g (20-oz) device eschews Intel’s x86 CPU architecture, instead running a 1.5-GHz dual-core ARM processor, running the RT version of Windows 8. This will likely mean battery life will be enhanced, though by how much is not yeat clear. No one has tested the device on that front yet, and Samsung ain’t talking.

The 1366x768 screen resolution (that’s 155 ppi) is the same as on the Smart PC, and isn’t a patch on the iPad’s retina display. For comparison, the smaller 7 inch Nexus 7 tablet from Asus has a 1200x800 (216 ppi) screen that looks very crisp without being amazingly sharp. The Tab’s display won’t be as defined as that.

It’s also worth noting that the device doesn’t have an inbuilt GPS, but then again, if you also have a smartphone, it's probably not going to be a problem.