It’s finally out. After a year of being down, I can rerelease it. iTunes works (although only with iOS 4.2.x and below devices) in this release, and it no longer has my address and phone number stored in Address Book. It also is about 2GB smaller of a download. I cannot recommend you use this as your only OS due to the fact it’s a year and half old beta of Lion (some software support issues) but it certainly is worth installing to check out the new Mail.app, Mission Control, LaunchPad, Full screen apps, and more. Unfortunately, this predates iCloud, so it does not give you those online syncing features with iPhoto. Right after compiling RoaringCoreB2 I actually found RoaringCoreB1 on my friends HDD that had been lost. Still, it’s worth not giving away where I live.
TERMS OF USE: I assume no responsibility for any problems you have with this. I do not claim to have developed this, as it is just a modified version of 10.7 Beta that I had installed on my old MacBook before the installer expired. If Apple requests for me to take this down, I must comply. Software is copyright 2011 by Apple, Inc. I cannot guarantee this download works due to the fact I couldn’t wait 2 hours to download it from Google’s servers in order to test it, but the original file prior to upload worked. Please let me know if it does not work, or if it does. Now enjoy Lion:
This product was sent to us for review from MeriMobiles.com.
When you first open the box you’ll notice the phone looks identical to the HTC HD7 in nearly every way. One big difference: it runs Android. Of all the things I liked about the phone, the most substantial one was probably the screen. It has a very high-resolution 4.3″ display with good contrast and colors. I’m guessing it is a AMOLED display due to its performance, and washed out colors when watching outside. A characteristic of AMOLED displays is that they are terrible for viewing outside, and that is certainly true on this phone. It includes both a front and back facing camera, as well as a shutter button, but neither cameras perform good in low light conditions, and are just good enough for Facebook pictures in good lighting. The back camera also has a dual LED flash, although it isn’t very powerful compared to many phones.
On the back of the phone, you will notice a nice, but flimsy, piece of matte plastic. It’s nearly soft touch, but just doesn’t feel rubbery enough to posses the title. This may or may not be a bad thing for you. The back unfortunately feels fairly flimsy, but during drop tests it did not break. You’ll also notice a metal kick stand around the 2 MP camera and dual LED flash, just like the HD7. I did occasionally have to tighten the screws that hold it in, but other than that, it performed excellently while watching video or reading. The display is covered with a hard plastic rather than glass, meaning it attracts even more fingerprints, although it won’t affect performance. You’ll also notice 3 backlit capacitive buttons, unlike the normal 4, but I never missed the search key. Battery life was OK, but like all Android phones, will only get you through a day.
When you power it up, which unfortunately can take a little while, you’ll notice you have a full vanilla build of Froyo. Due to its capacitive screen, this phone runs most tasks surprisingly well. It won’t be the real thing, but for a $200 unlocked phone, this can pack a punch. It did sometimes spontaneously lag or even crash all together, but it was defiantly usable. Typing was great due to the large screen, although I installed the Gingerbread keyboard to improve accuracy and eye candy. It would sporadically type the incorrect letter, but it was no just as good as iOS. I did notice substantial speed increases when using a 3rd party launcher such as Launcher Pro or ADW.Launcher.
Still, this regrettably isn’t true in gaming. It can hardly load Angry Birds, and once it does, you’ll notice 7 frames per second performance. Not exactly a gaming phone. The MediaTek MT6516 416MHz processor isn’t exactly designed for gaming. It does have a second 260MHz core for all phone operations, so in regular tasks it will run fine, but don’t expect it to outpace a HTC EVO 3D, or even the EVO Shift 4G for that matter.
I think this is the perfect secondary phone for travelers or a first time smartphone buyer, perhaps for kids on a prepaid plan, as it’s unlocked and will run on any GSM carrier. Another example could be for travelers, it works internationally unlocked and has dual sim card slots. Overall it is a fairly good priced phone, but unless you absolutely need that 4.3″ high resolution screen, you might instead buy the Star A5000, which has 3.5″ multi-touch screen, has a touchpad, looks like a G2 without a keyboard, and is only $160. Remember, the iPhone 4 (and pretty much all smartphones) cost $630+ unlocked, so $200 is nothing. I think Chinese phones have a market, and they are just getting better and better. For many people, this will be all they need for a phone.
Included:
-2 batteries
-A bad headset
-Micro USB cable
-Manuals
-The A1000 itself
Cons:
-No 3G data, only EDGE (2.75G) and GPRS (2.5G)
-The screen is very hard to view outside
-Not too good battery life
-It can sometimes lag, and it has very poor gaming performance
This application was provided to us for review by TumuIt, creators of Hype.
Your workflow can get cluttered on a small screen, but is overall very usable.
$30 (limited time pricing) from the Mac App Store. Requires Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6.
Ever since the iPhone launched 4 years ago, it has seemed everyone wants to go into the unknown realm of HTML5. Forgetting the slow, buggy Adobe Flash animations that always scream “COMIC SANS!” Until now there hasn’t really been a way for people who didn’t go to a 4 year course in college about coding to actually use HTML5 in their work. Until now, no one has developed a tool as robust as Adobe’s Flash from its popular Creative Suite. A few former Apple engineers saw this moment, a rare time when no one was making a tool for a fresh, but fairly developed technology that allows much desired animations, videos, and interactive sites to work on the most popular phone in the world. They created Hype. Hype not only brings HTML5 to a usable state, but makes it familiar with a timeline view, much like non-linear editing software. You can simply “record” animations, key frame them, add videos, and make a beautiful site. With this you can create amazing ads, websites, games, and more. Due to the video editor-esque layout, this application is truly unlimited on what you can do.
It may take a little while to get used to, but in the end this is an app that will be easy enough for consumers to use, and powerful enough for professionals to use. Once you get beyond the attraction from the beautiful sites this can make, you’ll notice you cannot zoom in or out in the project. I found this to be very annoying on my 13″ MacBook, as it was cumbersome to resize or place something when I can’t see all of. The inspector was a very important tool, but its large size often got in the way of inputting text or moving objects. My final big gripe about it is its font selection. They provide a few basic fonts, and that’s it. You can’t use any of the other fonts installed on your machines, just the ones included. I understand many machines wouldn’t have the exact font I’d like to use, but they could have used a web-based universal font system. This is a 1.0 release, so I can’t expect it to be perfect, but some of the cons seem like a no brainer.
Other than those, the program is fairly intuitive, fast, and can create some excellent sites. One smaller complaint is the inability to natively support background images. This means you’ll have to fumble around with resizing the image and putting it in the back. Buttons on the other hand do support this feature. It’s a small problem and will likely be fixed in the next update, but as of version 1.0.3, you cannot do a default background. Unlike other site creators, “pages” are managed using “scenes,” just like a Movie. You can have anything link to a scene, but no reloading is required, and you can add a glamorous transition. If you are running your site on a slow server, than initial loading times can be slow, and transitions can be choppy at first. There is a quick preview button to take a look at your website in its current state. When exporting, you do have the option to use either a folder on your computer or an integrated Dropbox option. I would say this is a consumer targeted product, but it is defiantly powerful enough for most users. I do hope to see a “Hype Pro” in the future with a little more expandability. Although, If you want to create an intuitive HTML5 site with smooth transitions that require no reloading, this is really the only out-of-the-download tool for you. I have created many sites so far with this tool, and my next tech reviewing site will certainly be made using it. Overall I suggest this app, and with some small updates, I would give this the editor’s choice award.
Pros:
-Easy to use, lets everyone get into HTML5
-Efficient
-Fast, reliable
-Works on all modern browsers
-Powerful
-Good video editor-like UI
-Integration with Dropbox
-Instant previews of your current version
Cons:
-No zooming in and out
-Hard to use on a small monitor
-Poor font selection
These headphones were sent out for review by MobileFun.co.uk.
Shortly after the last time I reviewed $30 headphones I was forced to quit my job. Although, I don’t see a way for that happening again, as I basically work for myself, although it’s technically a democratic organization of 3 members. Now on to the review. When I first heard about the Sonix line of headphones, I thought they looked a lot like V-MODA’s in-ear headphones. They used a nylon cable, something V-MODA loves to do, they have a “pod-like” design with “L” piece coming out of the earbud – just the cable, they use an all metal design like V-MODA uses, and they use a 45 degree 3.5mm input jack. All of those are characteristics of earbuds I love, and none are V-MODA’s invention, but none the less scream “V-MODA competitor!” The only things included are standard small, medium, and large ear tips, and the ear buds themselves. I’d like to see some sort of pouch included for such nice ear buds, but you have to remember to low price point. Even though the ear buds are somewhat heavy due to the all anodized aluminum design and nylon cable, they still stay in your ears very well. The build quality is excellent due to the high-end materials they used, and they look very modish – although they sometimes give a retro look – in a good way. Moving down to the cable, you’ll notice a nice 45 degree angle jack and some red metal accents. This adds up to a long-lasting, flexible input. Overall build quality is excellent, and they are certainly snazzy.
Now you may be thinking, “so are they just blitz, or do they also pack a punch?” After burning in the ear buds for 24 hours, I got to use them. The experience was like the first time I used good ear buds. Everything got out-of-the-way and I just heard beautiful tunes. You will notice a balanced bass, (so these might not be great for bass junkies) and good highs, mids, and lows. In terms of cable noise, if you’re not listening to music, it is noticeable, especially from the rubber part of the cable, (the braided nylon part seems to block cable noise) but once you turn on music, even at a very low-level like I listen to, you wont notice it. I can certainly say these are the best $30 price range ear buds I have ever used. From my experience testing headphones, these sound and feel more like $100 range headphones, provide nearly as good sound as the V-MODA Vibe Duos, which originally sold for $120, although are now down to $80. Not only that, but some of the best build quality in the in-ear headphone industry, and you’ve got one of the best deals you can find. That’s why I give the Lenntek Sonix ear buds the editor’s choice award for low-cost in-ear headphones.
Pros:
-Low price point
-Best of class build quality
-Nylon cable
-Excellent sound quality
-45 degree headphone input that barley works with the iPhone 2G
Cons:
-Very few accessories are included
-The nylon cable only goes up to the yoke
Well, I’m back, again. Basically I’ve left TechUnwrapped.com, and I want to create something new. I wanted to create something that owuld create a dent in the tech universe. iTechGadget was obviously not that. Me, Vincent Paddon, and Brandon Keller are teaming up to create a new HTML5 graphic presentation system for our reviews. This will truly be like no other reviewing site. Although while the site is being developed, we will be writing on this site. Every article on this site from now on will also be put in the private alpha of the new site, and you’ll be able to find any iTechGadget.net Summer 2011 article. We expect to launch the final site by mid-late Summer, but for now, iTechGadget will hopefully become your source of tech info. To stay informed please subscribe to this blog from the footer of this page. We purchased the domain iTechGadget.net, so you can now access us from there.
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