SpecTech's #4 Favorite Video Game

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Apple iPhone 5 Revealed

Anything that is in RED will take you to the product page to learn more information!

This week Apple announced the next iPhone, Amazon has found a new Fire, and I look into the beta of the new Xbox Dashboard.

                Big news! The new iPhone was announced by Apple yesterday.  The iPhone 5 has all the features I’ve talked about for the last few weeks, except NFC.  The new phone has a 4-inch screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio.  It has a glass and aluminum body at 7.6mm thick, which is 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S.

                You can now have five rows of Apps on the Home screen, rather than four.  Touch sensors are now built into the screen, rather than a sensor under the display.  It now has 4G LTE for AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint! It has a new A6 graphics chip, which is twice as fast as the A5X chip.

                You will get 8 hours of 3G talk time, LTE browsing, and 3G browsing time.  There is 40 hours for music and 225 hours of standby time.  The camera has a new low-light setting for two more f-stops and Panorama mode.  You can take photos while recording video, like the HTC One X.  The front camera is now a FaceTime 720p HD camera and has moved above the ear speaker, rather than next to it. 

                There is a new “Lightning” dock connector.  It is now an 8-pin connector, not 30-pin. It can be plugged into the phone with either side of the connector, making it easy to plug it into the phone.  There is also an adapter for 30-pin to 8-pin which costs $29.   

                The phone will come in white with a silver back and black with a slate back.  You can pick up the 16GB version for $199, 32GB for $299, or 64GB for $399. You can preorder September 14^th and it will release September 21^st.  The iPhone 4 is now free and the 16GB iPhone 4S is $99. iOS 6 will release September 19^th.

                The 7^th generation iPod Nano is here. It is 5.4mm thick, which is 40% thinner than the last generation.  It is back to being long like the originals, but it has a 2.5-inch touch screen.  It comes in seven colors and has a FM tuner.  It will also have Bluetooth with 30 hours of music playback.  16GB will cost you $149. You can pre-order on September 14^th and will release in October.

                The new iPod Touch 5^th generation has with the same size screen as the iPhone 5 and is 6.1mm thick.  This also has the new Lightning port.  It has the A5 chip found in the iPhone 4.  You will get 40 hours of music and 8 hours of video playback.  There is a hidden button on the backside called “iPod Touch Loop”, which lets you attach a wrist strap. 

                The back camera is 5-megapixels with a FaceTime HD front facing camera. The new Touch now gets Siri!  It comes in silver, black, blue, yellow, and red.  A 16GB version will cost $199, 32GB $299, and 64GB for $399 and be available in October but you can pre-order on September 14th. 

                The rumored redesign of the earbuds was true! Apple revealed the EarPods.  They are available today and are packed in with all these new devices.  They are supposed to be more comfortable and sound better.

Amazon revealed two new Kindle Fires. The Kindle Fire HD comes in a 7-inch body with Android 4.0 in 16GB and 32GB storage for $199 and $249 respectively.  The other tablet, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 comes with better screen resolution, a 8.9-inch screen, and the ability to have 4G. A normal 8.9 16GB will cost $299 while a 32GB will cost $369.  The 8.9-inch 4G 32GB will cost $499 and a 64GB version will cost $599.

                I would like to end this article by taking about the new beta for Xbox 360’s Dashboard update.  I was lucky enough to be one of the beta testers for Microsoft.  The beta comes with a few new additions, as well as apps.

                On the home screen, there is now a new row of content, for easier access.  There is a feature called “Pins” where you can pick videos, games, demos, or apps to launch from the Home screen. 

                The big new App that is usable is Internet Explorer!  This thing is awesome! I love using this App more than I like using IE on a PC.  It was easy to save webpages, zoom, scroll, and search.  I’m not sure if there is a copy & paste action yet.  IE was flash enabled, but I did not try to play any flash based games.  I will say that I had crashing issues while using IE, but I’m not sure if that is because it was in beta or because I did not have a good connection at that time.

                Overall, this is not a huge improvement over the last few updates, but the addition of IE is significant.  Xbox SmartGlass was not part of the beta, so I was not able to test it.  I’m hoping that it will be available to test before it is launched in November.

                Well, that’s it for this week Spectators, join us next week for another exciting issue.  The question for this week is, “Would you rather buy a new iPod Touch or the iPhone 5?”  Send your responses to smsetser@valdosta.edu or post them at www.vsuspectech.blogspot.com 

Apple readies new device

This week has some new devices announced. Valve is in the hardware business and Apple confirmed rumors!

To start off, the launch date and price of the Nintendo Wii U may have been leaked! The next-gen console is rumored to launch Nov. 11 with three different bundles. These bundles had no other details other than the prices of $249, $299 and $349. Nintendo will officially reveal more details for the console on Sept. 13.

Popular PC gaming service Steam has posted job offerings for a hardware development team.  Steam said it was, “frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space, so we’re jumping in.” No other details were given.

Wal-Mart this week tested out a new App called “Scan & Go.” This App would allow a customer to scan items in store with an iPhone and then pay at the self-check-out register instead of having to scan the items there. Best Buy, Target and Lowe’s are working with an App development company to create the same product. This would save these companies millions of dollars.

 Acer, a popular PC and tablet maker, is now interested in making Windows 8 and Android phones.  It reported that six phones are in the works.

Leaked images and video have surfaced about the upcoming BlackBerry 10 phone-- the London.  This phone is not expected to arrive until 2013, but it has a full touch screen, removable battery, dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB memory and an 8-megapixel camera.

Google has half-way announced that a 3G model of the popular tablet the Nexus 7 is coming in about six weeks.  Asus is reported to already have revamped the production of the devices.

Apple finally announced the event for a new device.  The new device will be revealed Sept. 12. I say “new” device because it is expected that the iPhone 5 will be revealed, but also new iPods and possibly the iPad Mini.

 A Vietnamese tech site might have its hands on the new standard earphones for future iPhones.  These fit in your ear the same but have speakers on the side of the earbud.  It could also be that this is a third-party accessory, but we will find out next week.

 Nokia also showed off the new Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 phones. The Lumia 920 looks like the Lumia 900 that launched a few months ago but now in better colors.  It has a better HD display, Windows Phone 8 OS, a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, NFC, wireless charging and an 8-megapixel rear camera that has some interesting features.               

The camera can take clear images during low light or while your hand is shaking. It also has augmented reality in the camera. When you hold the camera up to a building, it will tell you what building it is. It can also tell you if some of your friends are inside the structure.

The Lumia 820 is a mid-range phone. It does most of the things the 920 does but not as well.

The question of the week is, “Do you like the standard earbuds that come with an Apple device?” E-mail your answers to smsetser@valdosta.edu or post a comment on www.vsuspectech.blogspot.com

Samsung to Lose $1 Billion?

            

            This week was exciting. Samsung is not happy about the patent ruling, an Android gaming tablet is announced, and Samsung has lots of new devices coming out.

            First, if you were thinking of purchasing a Kindle, don’t! Both the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are out of stock at Amazon.com.  This pretty much confirms that a new Kindle line is coming out very soon, possibly a new Kindle Fire will also be announced.

            Nokia has set the date of September 5^th, where apparently, “Things are about the change.”  It is expected that they will announce new Windows Phone 8 devices, since Microsoft will also be at the event.

            Archos reviled an Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich gaming device today called, GamePad.  This thing looks exactly like a PlayStation Vita.  It is a 7-inch tablet with physical buttons.  It will be able to play all games on the Android Market.  It holds 1GB of RAM, a 1.5GHz CPU, and a quad-core GPU.  It will also house a Micro-USB port. It will release first in Europe at about $188 and afterwards it will come to our neck of the woods.

            A really cool Lap-Let (a combination of a laptop and a tablet), was announced, the Vaio Duo 11.  This Sony device holds like a tablet, but you can push the screen back and revile a full QWERTY keyboard.  It is running Windows 8, has an HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, an SD card slot, and a VGA port.

            Samsung is also going to announce a new Windows 8 tablet, the Samsung Series 5.  It will have a clip on keyboard much like the upcoming Windows Surface.  It sports an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera, it will have an Intel chip, ship with the full version of Windows 8, and will have about 10 hours of battery life.  It will be reviled in full detail on September 5^th. 

            A Korean store showed off the upcoming Samsung Ativ S, which is the first Windows Phone 8 device.  It has a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor.  It is equipped with a 8-megapixel rear camera as well as a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.  It will have a microSD card slot and NFC support. 

            The biggest announcement from Samsung is the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.  It has a 5.55-inch AMOLED screen, a more accurate S Pen, a 1.6GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera.  It will launch with Android 4.1: Jelly Bean.

            It may be a grim day for all phone users; the jury ruled in favor of Apple in the Apple vs. Samsung patent case.  Samsung has to pay Apple just over $1 billion in damages, but Samsung has said that they will appeal.  Apple wants to ban the sales of the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S II, Droid Charge, Galaxy Prevail, and Galaxy S Showcase.  

          The reason why this is bad is that Apple said they infringed the patent on the rectangle shape of the iPhone.  This means any phone that is a rectangle, can be sued by Apple. Apple needs to drop this or all other phone manufacturers will have to drastically change the shape of “the cell phone” and it will cost more.

            Lastly, let’s talk about iPhone rumors.  The current rumors say that the new device will not have a NFC chip, but it will have a smaller dock connector.  This means all of your iHome’s and other accessories will not work with the new phone.  

          It will have a 4-inch Retina Display and the phone will launch on September 21^st.  This has a lot of evidence because during that time all Verizon employees cannot ask for that week off, in anticipation for the new device.  It will also have a MicroSIM card.

            That’s it for this issue of Spec Tech, be sure to go to http://vsuspectech.blogspot.com/ to watch my #5 favorite video game of all time! The question for this week is, “What do you think of the Apple vs. Samsung ruling?” You can email your response to smsetser@valdosta.edu or at http://vsuspectech.blogspot.com/.

Top 5 Favorite Video Games of All Time (#5)

This is my 5th favorite video game of all time!

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Apple v. Samsung: Let's Get Ready to Rumble

                Welcome back to a new school year! I’m here to report on the hottest tech news around.  This week, the patent war between Apple and Samsung heats up, HTC loses $40 million, and Sony is ready to release a new phone.

                First off, AT&T will no longer offer subsidized pricing on tablets.  This means that you will no longer have to sign a two-year contract with the company. The drawback is that it will be more expensive with no commitment pricing.  The data plans have decreased by $5. You can get 250MB for $15, 3GB for $30 or 5GB for $50.

                The cloud-gaming service, OnLive has sold its assets to an unnamed company.  It had to lay off most of its staff, but they promise no interruptions for service.  HTC had invested $40 million in the company and has lost off of this money. 

                Sony has revealed the Sony Xperia SL. It is just like the Xperia S, but with a new 1.7Ghz Snapdragon S3 processor chip and is upgradable to Android 4.0: Ice Cream Sandwich.  The Xperia S was criticized for being sluggish; the new processor should fix this issue.

                Wednesday Samsung will be holding an event to announce the Samsung Galaxy Note II.  It has a teaser trailer on its official YouTube page.  It is rumored that this phone will have a 5.5-inch screen with a quad-core processor.

                During the entire summer, Apple and Samsung have been fighting about who stole what.  Apple has sued Samsung for stealing designs from the iPhone and iPad.  Apple has had several previous employees testify that when given a Samsung device, they thought it could have been designed by Apple.  Studies were also shown that Samsung performed tests to see if people could tell the difference between a Samsung tablet and an iPad.

                Apple has now been given permission to look at all of Samsung’s devices and choose which designs were stolen.  Apple even had to share its prototypes of the first iPhone.

                I would like to announce that I will be using the SpecTech Blog for a special video series.  For this semester I will do a Top 5 Countdown of my favorite video games of all time. I will post the first video next Thursday. You can watch the countdown only at vsuspectech.blogspot.com

                My question of the week is, “Do you ever get confused between Samsung and Apple devices?” Email your answers to smsetser@valdosta.edu or post on vsuspectech.blogspot.com/

Save the City from Zombies as Juliet Starling

Lollipop Chainsaw Review

This review will not have a video review for fear of offending the audience. Read this article with caution, there are no spoilers, but please do not send e-mails telling me that you had not been warned. I censored this as much as possible.

                From studio Suda 51 comes his first HD game for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  Is this fast action zombie slaying game a home-run or is it a huge let down?

                In story mode you control Juliet Starling, a normal 18-year old cheerleader, who happens to be a zombie hunter.  You are accompanied by your recently decapitated boyfriend who helps you defeat football jockeys, cheerleaders, and punk rock wannabies.  During the story you learn that a student has opened up a portal to Rotten World and will soon take over the whole world.  It is up to Juliet, Nick (her boyfriend), and Juliet’s family to save the day.

                The gameplay plays out like most hack-n-slash games.  You run to one point in the level and cannot pass until all enemies are defeated in that area.  The game may look similar to God or War, Devil May Cry, or Bayonetta, but it plays much differently. 

To kill zombies Juliet must first weaken them with her light pom-pom attacks, and then finish them with a heavy chainsaw attack.  Every time a zombie is killed Juliet will be awarded gold coins to purchase items.  If Juliet can decapitate three or more zombies she is awarded bonus money and a set number of Platinum Coins for the skilled kill.  There is a super meter that will grant Juliet super strength for a small period of time. This feature is almost useless as I often forgot it was even available for use.

The dialog between Nick and Juliet almost always had me laughing as they do it so well.  Tara Strong gives a great performance as Juliet. If you don’t know Tara, she has played characters such as Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls, Raven from Teen Titans, Ben Tennyson from Ben 10, and Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

                The game also has many mini-games to break up the repetitive action.  Juliet’s chainsaw gains new abilities as the game progresses.  She can shoot bullets out of it and use Nick’s head as a projectile.  There are several quick-time events in levels and sports themed games, such as Zombie Basketball.

                Scattered through every level are shops to acquire upgrades.  These range from buying new attacks, upgrading Juliet’s strength, buying in-game music, or costumes.  Gold Coins will buy skills, while Platinum Coins buy costumes, music, and concept art.

                The soundtrack for this game is filled with licensed music, from Julius Dixson’s “Lollipop” to Sleigh Bells’ “Riot Rhythm” and even Skillex.  The original score for the game is nowhere near as good as the official music.  The good part is that the game lets you program what six songs you would like to play during your run through a level, with the exception of music in scripted sequences. 

                There are many problems with this game. First off, the difficulty is way too easy, even on hard mode.  The only thing that gets more difficult is that all of the enemies will spam the same move at the same time, so that while you are recovering, you will still get hit by another enemy.  The bosses are also a joke, but they are still fun to fight.  The lock-on system is also terrible.

                The beginning of the game is very boring.  The game does not become enjoyable until you unlock several combo moves which can kill zombies quicker than just using the light and heavy attacks.  The beginning was so boring that I replayed the first two levels several times to unlock these good combos so that I would not be bored with the rest of the game.

                The game relies heavily on pop-culture, but I did sometimes feel offended as they made a joke about the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.  Also, some of the jokes feel forced and not played through very well.

                I know this game is obviously made for a specific audience, but the game keeps reminding you that you are playing as an “attractive” female.  The cutscenes constantly show an upskirt shot or show maximum cleavage.  You know it gets ridiculous when there is an achievement for looking up Juliet’s skirt for ten seconds.  It just comes off as cliché.

                This game is not for everyone.  If you are easily offended by sexy cheerleaders, cursing, and killing zombies, this game is not for you.  If you have a good sense of humor, like pop culture references, and like the costumes from the popular anime High School of the Dead, then this game is for you. I give Lollipop Chainsaw for the Xbox 360, a 7 out of 10.  As a last note, I got all of the achievements in a week, and haven’t played the game since, so let that factor into your decision of purchasing or renting this game or skipping it all together.