MSI GE620 gaming notebook Review

What constitutes a gaming notebook? High-end specifications and some fancy lighting? Well, at least that’s the general route companies take when designing one. But if you strip away the neon lights and aggressive styling, you’ll notice that many multimedia notebooks also make for good, if not great, gaming notebooks. MSI’s GE620 is one such example. Although it’s from their gaming series of notebooks, it lacks the extra ‘bling’ if you will, which is also why it’s quite a bit cheaper.

 

On Video: MSI GE620

Design and Build
Looking at it, there’s no way of telling if this is a gaming notebook as it looks really plain and ordinary. In fact, it looks similar to some of their budget series notebooks and in a way, even feels like one. The only thing that gives it away is the handful of stickers you’ll find on the palm rest. The plastics used don’t really scream quality and the lid, while sturdy, does suffer from flex issues. The rest of the chassis as well is mostly made up of plastic so don’t be fooled by the brushed metal look of the notebook. Overall, the design is pretty straight forward and simple but we wish the build quality and choice of plastics would have been better.

Plain and ordinary looks

The exhaust vents are placed on the left along with the charging point, HDMI, USB 3.0 (x2) and the microphone and headphone jacks. The third USB 2.0 port is placed on the right along with the VGA port and LAN jack. MSI throws in a DVD burner as well although a Blu-ray combo drive is an option. There are plenty of vents underneath GE620 for ventilation. You can pop open the bottom panel to access the RAM and hard drive. The keyboard is chiclet styled and you even get a Numpad.

Full-sized keyboard

The keys themselves have a extra soft feel which some may not find too comfortable when typing. Also, MSI doesn’t seem to have addressed the issue of the keyboard panel itself and just like their earlier models, it feels a bit flimsy. The trackpad is nice and wide but the ribbed design hinders smooth movement.

Features
The GE620 comes with a 15.6-inch LED backlit screen and sports a resolution of 1366x768 so it’s not as sharp as a Full HD screen but at least it’s easy on the GPU for gaming. The notebook is powered by a Core i5-2410M Intel CPU that runs at a stock speed of 2.3GHz and Turbos up to 2.9GHz. Along with this, we have 4GB of RAM, 640GB hard drive and Nvidia’s GT 540M GPU with Optimus technology. MSI ships the notebook with Windows 7 Home Premium as well.

A good desktop replacement option

The notebook also features some of their own software like i-Charger which delivers more power to the USB port allowing you to charge the iPad as well. The ‘S-Bar’ application gives you quick access to certain programs like Windows Media Player, etc. but more importantly, it let’s you operate the row of shortcut buttons above the keyboard. Here’s where we ran into a small problem. The DVD drive can only be opened via the eject button on the notebook, which will only work if the software’s installed. In terms of software customizations, MSI’s approach isn’t as polished or refined as we’ve seen in other notebooks from Asus, Dell, Sony, etc.

Next, let’s see how the notebook performs in our benchmarks

source:     http://tech2.in.com/reviews/notebooks/msi-ge620-gaming-notebook-review/256612

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Posted in Msi Ge620 , msi Ge620 Gaming Review , msi Ge620 Price , msi Ge620 price in India , msi Ge620 Review , msi Ge620dx , msi Ge620dx Price In India , msi Ge620dx Review

Brag M’Joy Review

Brag has come up with several high-end gaming PCs and home theater PCs in the past. Their latest M’joy is a home theater PC for those who are on a shoe string budget. Keeping this in mind, the PC is configured using entry-level components, but with attention paid to performance.

Features
The M’Joy is powered by the AMD Athlon II X4 645 processor, which has a good deal of power to handle media playback, as well as basic everyday applications such as office suite and web browsing. The memory module used is a single 4GB stick of G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600. It provides headroom for overclocking, but bear in mind that the motherboard and CPU aren’t too overclocking friendly, because they are entry-level components. Also the CPU cooler uses the stock cooler that comes bundled with the processor.

The cables are neatly routed and there’s plenty of room for air circulation.

To keep the price low, Brag has opted to use the Radeon HD 4250 integrated graphics, which is a part of the AMD 880G chipset. However, with the Gigabyte 880GM-USB 3 motherboard, you have two USB 3.0 ports on the rear and a PCIE x16 expansion slot. You can upgrade to discrete graphics, but you’ll need a low-profile graphics card such as the Radeon HD 6450 or 6570. The motherboard has one PCIE x1 and two PCI slots. A 300 Mb/s Wi-Fi adapter is fitted into one of the PCI slots.

Apart from the low profile cards, the rest of the components are of standard form factor thanks to the Silverstone Milo ML03 PC case. Low-profile slots are provided to keep the form factor slim. The storage comprises of OCZ Vertex 2, 60GB SSD for system drive and Seagate Barracuda Green, 2TB for secondary storage. So, you get quick response time and plenty of storage space at the same time. Being an entry-level PC, you get a standard tray-loading DVD-writer. M’Joy’s configuration is very power-friendly and hence doesn’t require a high-end power supply unit. The one installed is the FSP Saga II 400W.

The rear panel includes USB 3.0, FireWire, eSATA and HDMI ports

One of the aspects that we liked about all the PCs by Brag, so far, is cable routing. It’s more challenging in a compact HTPC such as this one due to the lack of space in the case. The power and SATA cables are neatly tied up and routed along the sides of the case to conceal the clutter and facilitate air circulation. The case has provision for adding fans for enhancing air circulation within, but not a single fan is added which is a minor flaw. The cooling is entirely taken care of by the CPU cooler and an intake fan housed in the power supply.

Performance
For an entry-level configuration, the performance of the Brag M’Joy is very good. It scored 10145 points in PCMark Vantage and 3.46 points in CineBench R 11.5. These scores indicate that this PC is far more powerful than a similar rig powered by a Core i3 Sandy Bridge processor. It goes without saying that processors by AMD are great value for money in the entry-level segment.

A cost-effective solution for those on a low budget

Further, it took 55 seconds to compress 100 MB of multiple files into 7.zip format using ‘Ultra’ profile and 51 seconds to transcode a 1 minute MPEG video to H.264 format. The OCZ Vertex 2 SSD is a great performer – HD Tune Pro reported average read speed of 136 MB/s, whereas the Seagate Barracuda Green reported 111 MB/s, which is good for a regular desktop hard drive. The PC comes sans any discrete graphics, hence it isn’t suited for gaming. But you can expect decent frame rates at low settings with a Radeon HD 6570.

Verdict
The M’Joy is a good attempt by Brag and we appreciate the fact that it has carved out something for the budget-conscious audience. If you want an entry-level home theater PC that doesn’t compromise on performance and the quality of components used, this will keep you satisfied.

source:     http://tech2.in.com/reviews/htpcs/brag-mjoy-review/256892

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Posted in AMD HTPC HTPC with on-board graphics , Brag M Joy review , Brag M’Joy review , Brag PC , Brag PC review , Budget HTPC , Buy HTPC in Mumbai , Cheap HTPC , Silverstone PC case

Creative WP-350 Review

Although the previous model i.e. the WP-300 proved to be top notch in the quality department, the rather “heavy” price tag and lack of some relevant features were an issue. The WP-350 is the slightly higher end model launched by Creative and is designed to try and fill in the blanks, so to speak. Of course quality is the key factor and for those who appreciate good quality tech, even price takes a back seat. Keeping that in mind, here’s a closer at Creative’s WP-350 A2DP enabled Bluetooth headset.

Form Factor
In terms of design the WP-350 is the 300’s twin. That pretty much translates to – it’s extremely comfortable to wear even for long periods of time. The WP-350 weighs in at just 108gms, which also makes it light weight. Leatherette cushioning over the earpieces make it comfortable to wear but using them while working out might not be a good idea. Once the earpieces get a little wet they tend to become a little slippery. The earpieces fold inward making the headset slightly flatter and a bit more convenient for portability. It would have been a whole lot better if they could have folded some more so it would be just a little more compact. Nevertheless it’s still not an issue most users will raise so much as an eyebrow over. It supports A2DP and AVRCP as well.

Comfortable form

The buttons are placed very neatly on the earpieces with the main controls located on the Right side. The Call take/End (single button) key also serves as the power button and what you’d use to pair up the headset with compatible devices. Volume buttons are placed on the underside of the right speaker casing so you can easily increase or decrease the volume with you thumb by holding the earpiece. A micro USB charging port is placed on the under side of the left earpiece. Unlike the WP-300 though, this model is equipped with a microphone for taking calls.

Features
Pairing is a simple process as there are no passwords or keys to enter into your device. Simply search for the device and click connect and you’re good to go. Once you’re “switched-on” you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the overall experience. Loaded up with features like aptX technology from Creative you’re quite assured of smooth streaming without delay or lag of any kind. Creative has also thrown in a set of Neodymium drivers that are designed to enhance audio quality to quite an extent and also assist audio performance for calls. Creative also employs their ClearSpeech technology to help make voice calls better.

"Invisible" Mic

Performance
When it comes to audio performance in the music department, the WP-350 is top notch. Bass comes in loud and clear and still manages to keep the “thump” from creating any sort of distortion when the volume is peaked. The higher frequencies are very well balanced providing a neat jar-free audio experience devoid of sharp or shrill tones. On the whole when listening to music or watching videos the audio quality is superb.

The issue that needs to be addressed is the actual quality of voice while on calls. What we noticed on calls is that the audio, in some cases was quite muffled. Although what the person is saying is quite legible, there’s just a bit of an issue when it comes too overall clarity. Sure there are plenty of enhancements provided, as mentioned, but that merely makes the point of better quality being provided all the more relevant. When asked if our voice was clear to the person on the other end, seven of out 10 users said that they were able to hear us quite clearly even if we were in a closed room or out in the open. That’s not a bad average.

Easy to manage set up and remote control system

The range of the WP-350 headset is easily usable even if your device is a little outside of 28 meters away. Of course it’s not that great going through walls.

Battery Life
Creative speaks of the WP-350 offering a 9 hour battery life. In real time and with our audio testing, the device managed to come quite close, clocking in at 8 hours and about 35 minutes on a full charge. It’ll take you a little over an hour to charge fully but you’ll be good for a day with that, provided you’re not wearing the headset for 24 hours of course.

Neatly folds for portability

Bottom Line
With a price tag of Rs. 5,999 (MOP), the WP-350 proves to be a slightly better option than its predecessor. For the mobile phone users this product will help enhance your audio experience while offering you wireless freedom. It offers excellent audio quality with decent quality on calls on the whole. It might seem a little bit on the steep side but with a premium quality look and feel with the kind of quality and comfort the device offers, it’s quite worth it.

source:     http://tech2.in.com/reviews/accessories/creative-wp350-review/256952

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Posted in Creative WP-350 Indian Price , Creative WP-350 Price , Creative WP-350 Price in India , Creative WP-350 Release date , Creative WP-350 Review , Creative WP-350 Stereo Bluetooth

LG Optimus Net Review

LG were one of the first companies to get into the low-budget Android phones segment with their Optimus One, which made quite a mark in the Android world. Now, the company has announced the successor to its Optimus One, the new LG Optimus Net. The P690 places itself as a budget Android phone as well, but is it worth a purchase? Let’s find out.

The top consists of the tiny power button and 3.5 mm jack

Design and Build Quality
The Optimus Net looks very much like the original Optimus P500 phone. It’s got a 320x480, 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, so the display size hasn’t changed from its predecessor. The back and the sides are quite glossy, so fingerprints will be a problem, which you’ll have to get used to. The phone does feel quite light at 122 grams, but at the same time, it looks and feels quite plasticy, which is a disappointment. The volume rocker buttons are located on the left, while the microUSB slot is housed underneath a protective flap on the right of the phone. The top consists of the tiny power button and the 3.5mm headphone jack. The rear flap is easy to remove and only the SIM card is placed under the battery, so the memory card is hot swappable.

The build feels quite flimsy and cheap

The physical button layout at the bottom has the options key on the left, followed by the home, return key and search buttons. There are two separate panels with the home and back button in one block, and the other two in the exterior block.  The center block buttons feel just fine, but the menu button feels lighter, hollower, and doesn’t have a very consistent feel to it. This complaint extends to the side volume buttons as well. LG could have done a lot better with the build quality of the Net.

Features
Interface
The Optimus Net runs on an 800MHz processor with an Adreno 200 GPU and on first impression the phone runs pretty quick. The P690 has a fluid interface and navigation through the home screen and the various menus is fast and lag-free. But the one problem the interface has, like the other LG phones, is that it’s not polished. Take for example the drop down notification bar. The icons have a very sharp and contrasting feel to them and it looks like several separate sections have been stitched together into one menu. The interface doesn’t look as appealing as the HTC Explorer we reviewed earlier.

Homescreen interface

The Optimus Net has a similar UI to the Optimus 3D.  Long pressing on the home screen brings up a pop up window to load widgets and shortcuts. Music playback can be controlled without unlocking the screen. There’s a new Social+ integration widget that gives you the latest news feeds from your social networking accounts. We’re not big fans of the Excuse Msg feature present on the phone, which automatically sends messages to your contacts, in case you don’t pick up their call. It’s not customizable to include only local calls and in our case, the phone sent a couple of international messages on its own accord. A 3.2-inch screen more often than not makes typing a nightmare, especially in the portrait mode, but the keyboard is spaced pretty well and is easy to use. In terms of synthetic benchmarks, the Optimus Net falls shorter of the Explorer in the AnTuTu application. The Net got a score of 1445, as opposed to the 2099 that the Explorer received, so that’s definitely not a good score for a phone with a better processor.

The benchmark scores

Media
The P690 provides a pretty basic media experience. There are no equalizers or sound enhancements. In fact, the only options available in the music player are Shuffle, Repeat and Party Shuffle. Video and audio format support is pretty standard and you’ll have to download a third party app, if you want to get more out of your phone.

source:     http://tech2.in.com/reviews/smartphones/lg-optimus-net-review/257342

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Posted in LG Optimus Net , LG Optimus Net P690 Review , LG Optimus Net Price , LG Optimus Net Review , LG Optimus Net Specification , LG Optimus Net Specs , LG Optimus P690 Review

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Same sh*t different day

It feels kind of redundant to review a game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 no matter how big this franchise has become. Except for maybe a couple of tweaks, this is essentially the same Call of Duty you played last year, the year before that and so on. The adrenaline pumping single player is polished, exciting and short but you already knew that. The multiplayer is fast paced, deep and addictive. Guess what, you knew that too. So should you buy this game? Yes, if you’re a fan who will never get tired of Activision’s successful formula. On the other hand, if you never liked this series to begin with, Modern Warfare 3 definitely won’t change your mind.

Who doesn't like set pieces?

The single player kicks off right after the events of Modern Warfare 2. Players join Soap McTavish, Captain Price and a bunch of new recruits as they race around the clock to stop the evil Makarov who’s hell bent on starting World War III. Players who’ve stuck with this series since Modern Warfare will get some sort of closure as the story comes full circle with a satisfying ending. There are also quite a few nods to previous games that were appreciated.

 

On Video: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

As far as gameplay goes, you know the drill all too well. In every level you’ll encounter waves of respawning enemies till you trigger an invisible event marker or complete your objective. You’ll constantly be assaulted by set-pieces some of which even after three games (three Modern Warfare games i.e.) are downright impressive. Modern Warfare 3 is a painfully short game but there’s rarely a dull moment. I’ll give them that. Sure you’ll have a few minutes of boring shoot outs where you simply duck in one place and shoot the brain dead enemies baying for your blood but for most of the time, the game moves at an enjoyable pace. You’ll experience a slight respite from all the relentless shooting with a few stealth segments but before you start feeling like Sam Fisher, the poop hits the fan and its guns blazing till the end of the level.

Through the fire and the flames

After the five hour single player campaign (you expected more?) you can head online for some co-op via the game’s Spec Ops mode introduced in Modern Warfare 2, tackle the all new Survival mode or get lost into the game’s biggest draw, its competitive side. Versus play works like older games where you level up, unlock cooler weapons, customize them, choose your perks, killstreaks and go to town on your enemies. Unfortunately most of the maps present in this game are really small making your lifespan very short. After coming out from a game like Battlefield 3 where team work is essential to success, Modern Warfare 3’s lone wolf attitude felt a bit off. Plus the game’s become too fast paced for its own good with encounters ending in the blink of an eye. And since maps are so small, spawn points are haywire and once enemies start stacking their killstreaks against your team, prepare to die a lot. Still if you’re a fan of the game’s uber fast paced combat, you’ll enjoy what MW3 throws at you.

source:     http://tech2.in.com/reviews/gaming/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3-same-sht-different-day/257372

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Posted in Call of Duty , Call of Duty: Modern , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 leak , CoD , Modern Warfare 3 , Modern Warfare 3 trailer , MW3

Any.do app Review

There are plenty of To-do list apps available for the iPhone and Android and there are a ton of sites giving advice to people how to use them. While To-do list apps help keep track of the things you need to, they’re all extensive and the task of adding things to do is often time-consuming. Any.do hopes to be an Android app with a difference.

User interface design
The user interface and the way the app functions is what makes it stand out in a crowd hundreds of other personal information manager and to-do list apps. Unlike most other Android apps, Any.do comes with a fresh new user interface. When you first run the app, there’s a walkthrough that explains some of the features of the app.

Very easy-to-understand tutorial

All of the screens slide from side to side, something that Windows Phone7 apps do.  There isn’t much you can customize with Any.do, except for the basic colour schemes. Any.do comes in a black and white colour scheme. The aim it appears, is to keep the app as simple as possible, while providing features without scattering them over the interface leaving the user confused. All the buttons and menus are tastefully designed, so they look fresh and different from the default Android elements that you’re used to seeing.

Features
While the interface is minimalistic, there are a bunch of features that Any.do has to offer. Voice input, for example is present in the task entry textbox, like with many other Android-based apps. It’s the way one adds tasks to their list that makes it unique. Instead of manually entering the task and setting the reminder time or deadline for it, you simply drag it into a section for 'task to be done today, tomorrow, this week or later'.

Sorting of tasks, and auto-backing up of the task list

Even the entry that you make is auto-predicted. So, for example, if you need to call someone tomorrow, it picks up entries from your phonebook as you type. You can add tasks to folders and also notes as you would on any other To-do list app. The fact that it supports Google Tasks makes entry even simpler. Assuming that you’re using Gmail at work, you also have a Tasks widget, which you can use to make entries. Those entries automatically end up on Any.do. All you need to do is slide them into one of those deadline periods.

Marking tasks as completed is also as intuitive as the other tasks. You simply slide an item to the right to mark them as done. To re-add a task slide it to the left.  To clear all completed tasks, simply shake the phone. You have the option to disable the feature, if you don’t want to lose your completed tasks list.

The alternative white theme

Clicking on a task brings up a range of options. For example, a task can be marked as high priority by clicking on the priority button. There are no multiple degrees of priority, though. The reminder and deadline setting window also looks very neat with its bright colours. Entering dates and time is fun and quick.

The app sets back-ups automatically as you use it. There are no options to set the refresh rate for syncing with Google Tasks, so if you’re adding tasks all the time, you might find some delay between the item being added to your device. Accessibility of the app on the phone is improved by the widget. Unlike other to-do apps, this one has a larger widget that lets you mark tasks as completed. The smaller of the two available widgets doesn't.

Performance
At 3.4MB in size, the installer on the Android Market weighs quite a bit for a To-do app. You’d expect an app that has these many features and a interface that looks this pretty to overburden your phone. Surprisingly enough, it’s light and easy to run, even on an outdated Motorola Milestone. It does not affect the performance of the rest of your phone.

Verdict
Any.do is available for Android, as of now, but iOS and a web app version are going to be out soon as well. It’s free to use, makes adding tasks simpler than it is with the other To-do lists. It’s free, so it’s definitely worth a shot. If you’re someone who doesn’t micro-manage tasks to a minute level, you’ll find that you’ll be using this app for a long time.

source:     http://tech2.in.com/reviews/android/anydo-app-review/257612

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Posted in Any.do , Any.do Android , Any.do Android app Download , Any.do app download , Any.do download , Any.do startup , GTD app , GTD software , GTD software Android