It’s been 15 months since Nokia gave me an N8 for a long term test. The N8 is now available with Belle, for about 260 Euros. Not bad at all for the best cameraphone quality out there. Here’s an update on how I feel about it today and how it affects my thoughts about the Nokia 808 – an awesome camera, with the same OS. The truth is that the N8 operating system is now so far behind that I’m struggling. My main issue is a simple case of being […]

There’s a lot of interest in the Lenovo Yoga. It has a few issues that will limit its use as a tablet but the starting price isn’t bad considering the design, the touch capability, Windows 8 and the fact that it’s the first Ivy Bridge Ultrabook pricing we’ve seen so far.

Last year I ran a series of articles about mobile video editing. I covered smartphone, netbook and ultrathin solutions before settling on a  low-cost , low weight set-up.. The Samsung NP350 worked well with its 2.2Ghz Core i3 but by moving up a notch in performance and efficiency, lowering the weight and, yes, increasing the cost by well over 100%, I’ve found a solution that’s quite stunning. I’m not just talking about looks! The Toshiba Z830 Ultrabook weighs less than most netbooks but packs a 1.7Ghz Core i5 that can […]

In a series of articles over at UMPCPortal last year I looked at ultra mobile video editing solutions ranging from iPhone through netbook to Core i5-based ultra-thin setups.  All solutions were put together with YouTube production in mind with cost, weight and speed being the three key ingredients. Since completing the series I’ve stuck with a combination of lightweight laptop, camera and software that has worked well for speed, mobility and flexibility and recently, I upgraded from a hard-disk based Core i3-based system to an Ultrabook. At the same time […]

Intel have just published a video showing the differences between hard drives and (Intel) solid state drives. It’s actually an advert for the latest Intel SSDs and there’s a bit of humor in here, a lot of tight editing and a possible shot in the foot for Ultrabook hybrid hard drives which, under most of these test scenarios, would be just as slow as the standard hard drives.  “The speed you need at the price you want.” says the advert. The reason I ‘m highlighting this video though is because […]

The Kupa X11 is a relatively niche Windows tablet PC based on what is the lowest-energy Windows-capable platform there is Intel Oaktrail, the Z670 CPU and GMA600 GPU. With it’s 1366×768 screen, SSD storage, 2Gb of RAM, fingerprint reader, active digitiser layer and fanless design, it stands alone in the market with, as far as I know, no comparison. The model we have here, the Kupa X11 Pro, even comes with 3G. To add to the list of positives, the Kupa X11 also has a huge internal battery that can run […]

It has been suggested that one of Intel’s objectives for the Ultrabook program was to move the conversation away from netbooks, where the bottom line was price — which came complete with low profit margins. And who could blame them for wanting this? Sales of Apple’s premium-priced MacBook line were strong as ever while the PC laptop market was seeing a veritable explosion of small, inexpensive machines that were marketed for their low price more than their features or quality. I must say, it seems to be working. Have a look at […]

The big Intel Ultrabook campaign is about to start. Check out a preview of one of the first advertisements below.