This is what it's like to have an Apple Watch fitting

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><div xmlns='http://bit.ly/16Db7GR'><img alt="This is what it's like to have an Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1Hb09qq"/><br/><br /><p>The Apple Watch has gone on sale today, although you can't actually have it. What you <em>can</em> do is head down to your local retailer (largely Apple Stores, although some select department stores do have them in stock too) and get a fitting.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>A fitting? For most of us that's just checking to make sure the band has enough holes in to be able to comfortably hold onto our wrist.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1OizA4B" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>So I wandered down to the Apple Store in Covent Garden, London, to be one of the early customers to experience a fitting on launch day.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The first thing that struck me was just how few people there actually were in the Store. I was expecting lines spilling out the door, but given you a) book an appointment to try the Watch on and b) can't actually walk away with one today, the extra security outside seemed a little redundant.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>However, even without an appointment I was able to find a space spot and helpful Apple Genius to guide me through the process of finding out which Watch is for me.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Watching the Watchmen</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>There are conspicuously few Watches on the shop floor, which worried me. How was I going to know which Watch to buy if I couldn't try them all on?</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1Hb09qs" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>The fear was allayed quickly, as with a swift flick of the mobile terminal all Geniuses carry a drawer beneath the demo area was opened, revealing all the Watch styles and straps to try on.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>"Do you know which Watch you're after today?" was the opening gambit I heard all the staff giving. I opted for the Sport variant, but with the Milanese loop. After all, it was the cheapest variant and the chainmail-style band was infinitely customisable in fit.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>If I'd have gone for a watch with a link strap though, Apple would have made sure it was customised to my wrist size - although not at this pre-launch phase.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1OizA4E" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>What will irk some people is that you can't choose your strap and Watch combination on certain models, as they come with pre-defined straps.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>For instance, if you want the Space Black Watch, you're limited to the Stainless Steel Black band (and vice versa).</p><br /><br/><br /><p>You can purchase extra straps to alter it to your specification, but those in the box are already sealed in, so you're stuck with that option to start with.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>What goes where?</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>However, it was at this point where it became apparent that the Apple Watch is really new to everyone - even the Geniuses helping out in store. Given the Watch / strap combination wasn't a standard option, he had to switch the bands around.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1Hb09qu" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>After a couple of minutes trying, he realised he was attempting to put the 38mm strap on the larger 42mm option. Once that was rectified it was an easy step to show me the Watch - although it wasn't charged up.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>"It doesn't matter though, as it's only a demo loop on there" the Genius told me, before showing me the assembly put together to show how the Watch works.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>It's a cool little area - the Watch is attached to a while plastic plinth, and as you roll through the interface the screen alongside will change to give information on what the small icons mean. This is designed to both give the Geniuses cues to work from and offer the general customer more information as they wander through the interface if a helper isn't nearby.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1OizxpI" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>That's fine, but if I've come in to use the Watch I want to actually put it on my wrist. I don't want to pretend using an animation and then tap around with one attached to a table.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>My Genius told me that most people were interested in the cheaper Sport edition of the Watch, with the option to make it look the same as the others by buying another strap or band, showing that most don't care for the same sapphire protection afforded by 'normal' watches in this price band.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1Hb0byA" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>But then again, if someone is coming down to the Apple Store in the early hours of pre-order day, they're likely to be buying an Apple product with no decision needed - they're getting it. That fact was compounded by the fact he didn't know how much the main Apple Watch cost over its Sport brother - it's a fair amount more and should be one of the things that was first and foremost.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Take me to the special room</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>If you're a little fancier, and are after an Apple Watch Edition, you can have a more senior member of the retail team take you into a side room and show you every version of the Watch, from Rose Gold to… Yellow Gold (complete with the admittedly-awesome charging box) then you can book that too, spending an hour or so looking at all the features in as much detail as you want.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>If you're looking to get an Apple Watch fitting, perhaps it's best to wait a few days so the teams can get properly to grips with the new device. While there were gaps in the knowledge of the Genius I was talking to, there seemed to be a genuine appetite to use the products.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="Apple Watch fitting" src="http://ift.tt/1OizxFW" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>Rather than tell me 'it could help me run' when I asked about whether it would be good for me as a runner, he said that he'd not tried it and while he could tell me what it <em>could</em> do, he'd rather not be definitive until he'd given it a run out himself. It was nice to feel like the staff really want to give the products a run down before full recommendations.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>Overall, the fitting was a slightly odd experience. Given the huge range of price differences (the price for the Watch at the high end (42mm Space Black with a stainless steel band) is almost double that of the bottom choice (38mm Stainless Steel case with white sport band) you'd have thought that price would be made more overt as I went through the different Watch types.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>But then again, it's launch day, when the Apple fans are out in force. Those that have taken a more reasoned approach to buying an Apple Watch are likely to ask a lot more questions, to get a feel about what's right for them - and hopefully those selling them will know a bit more about them too.</p><br /><br/><br /><img border="0" height="1" src="http://ift.tt/1GwN37T" width="1"/><br clear='all'/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1GwN37V" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1GwN37Z"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1aejz0f" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1aejxFD"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1GwN0ZG" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1GwN383"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1GwN0ZI"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1aejxFJ"/> </a> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://ift.tt/1aejxFM" width="1"/><img alt="" height="1" src="http://ift.tt/1GwN385" width="1"/><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/> </div><br /><br/><br /><br/><br />from http://bit.ly/1Nk3bxz<br/></div>

This is what it's like to have an Apple Watch fitting

The Apple Watch has gone on sale today, although you can't actually have it. What you can do is head down to your local retailer (large...

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Opinion: Why Microsoft got everything wrong with the Surface 3

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><div xmlns='http://bit.ly/16Db7GR'><img alt="Opinion: Why Microsoft got everything wrong with the Surface 3" src="http://ift.tt/1yvXZL5"/><br/><br /><p>It's difficult not to be disappointed by Microsoft's latest attempt to become an important player in the tablet market, one dominated by Apple (when it comes to the all-important margin metrics).</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The Surface 3 fails on two vital aspects; it is too expensive (and priced too closely to the <a href="http://ift.tt/1oRoh9i">Surface Pro 3</a>) and it is underpowered.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The base configuration of the Surface 3 carries a price tag of £419 ($499, AU$699) and for that you get an Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, a full HD display (WUXGA+ to be more precise) and 64GB of onboard storage.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>I don't mind about the last two points but I am absolutely livid when it comes to the processor and the onboard amount of system memory.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Cherry picking</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>True, Microsoft went for a Cherry Trail CPU, one that was announced only a few weeks ago at MWC in Barcelona. It is the top of the range model but it is still an Atom. Worse, it is just a die shrink of the Silvermont core.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>A <a href="http://ift.tt/1ITGb2z">preliminary benchmark</a> for a device running the X7-Z8700 (that's the system-on-chip powering the Surface 3) shows that it is around 10% better than the Bay Trail-based Z3735G SoC at equal clock speed (the latter runs at 1.33GHz while the newer SoC is clocked at 1.6GHz).</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The Z3735G has been the staple processor found in the likes of the Linx7, the Argos MyTablet, the Tesco Connect and the £49.99 ($79.99, AU$99.99) HP Stream 7.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>True it has a Gen 8 GPU with four times the execution units compared to the one on the Z3735G but the Surface 3 will be pushing 2.47 million pixels, 140% more pixels than the aforementioned Windows tablets. And its lower base GPU frequency of 200MHz is not going to help.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Memory lapse</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>Somehow Microsoft thought it was ok to only opt for 2GB of RAM in its newest Surface, a ridiculously low amount of system memory that no laptop (not even entry level ones) carry. The bare minimum is 4GB on sub-£200/$300 laptops so to see half that on a tablet that costs twice the price is a bit of a shocker.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>So here we have a tablet that "packs" the perfect storm hardware-wise: A slow processor, a slow-ish GPU, a high-resolution display and lower than expected RAM. The recipe for a poor user experience especially when running resource-hungry applications.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>Things turn to the worse when you compare the Surface 3 to the Surface Pro 3. At equal configuration (4GB/64GB), the Surface Pro 3 carries as little as a 4% premium over the Surface 3. You get a much faster processor (a Core i3), Windows 8.1 Pro, better kickstand and a user experience much closer to a traditional laptop.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Too much</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>At £419/$699/AU$899 without any accessories, the Surface 3 is not an impulse buy. Despite Microsoft saying that it is first and foremost a laptop replacement device, customers will fatally compare it to other brands and product ranges; devices like Apple's iPad Air, a relative bargain at around £299 (about $450, AU$599) for the 16GB model, or other 2-in-1 hybrid laptops.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>To make the Surface 3 a real success, Microsoft needs to cut down the price, quickly, otherwise, we're onto another hardware debacle for the Redmond company. Dare I say, this Surface 3 is the right heir to the Surface RT and the Surface 2 but in all the wrong ways.</p><br /><br/><br /><img border="0" height="1" src="http://ift.tt/1NKzq62" width="1"/><br clear='all'/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1GjCSC4" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1NKzqmg"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1GjCSC8" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1NKzqmi"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1GjCV0O" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1NKzse8"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1GjCVh2"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1NKzsea"/> </a> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://ift.tt/1GjCVh4" width="1"/><img alt="" height="1" src="//feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/allnews/~4/kPRDVmzDcxk" width="1"/><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/> </div><br /><br/><br /><br/><br />from http://bit.ly/1GjDVBY<br/></div>

Opinion: Why Microsoft got everything wrong with the Surface 3

It's difficult not to be disappointed by Microsoft's latest attempt to become an important player in the tablet market, one dominate...

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Review: BenQ TreVolo

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><div xmlns='http://bit.ly/16Db7GR'><img alt="Review: BenQ TreVolo" src="http://ift.tt/1GjsoCN"/><br/><br /><h3>Introduction and features</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>Bluetooth speakers designed to unlock music stored on your smartphones, tablets and computers have come in all manner of weird, wonderful, and even weirder shapes over the past few years. But nothing before has looked quite like the BenQ TreVolo.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The main - though certainly not the only - reason for this is that it uses, uniquely for the portable speaker market, electrostatic speakers, known more colloquially as flat panel speakers. I'll get on to the audio ramifications of this later, but the most immediate impact is aesthetic and practical as the two flat speakers either side of the main bodywork are hinged so they can be folded back against the main body's sides for transport, and pulled forward again for music playback.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="BenQ TreVolo review" src="http://ift.tt/1CAXdQL" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>It's a nifty idea, and one that's been pretty well executed in terms of the robustness of the hinging mechanism and the flushness with which the speaker 'wings' tuck into the main unit when closed.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>That main unit is also extremely solidly built, and continues the unique look with its deep grey (silver is also available) matt finish, trapezoidal vertical shape (which is nicely weighted at the bottom for extra stability), and the eye-catching array of 18 gold-ringed venting holes on its forward edge.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="BenQ TreVolo review" src="http://ift.tt/1GjsmL0" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>These holes aren't just there for show, though. Tucked behind them are two front-firing woofers built in to add some 'meat' to the audio - a likely welcome touch given that electrostatic speakers tend to struggle to deliver much low frequency action.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>In fact, when you open up the electrostatic speakers you can additionally see a couple of promisingly large passive radiators, one built into either side of the main chassis, to further extend the woofers' low frequency performance.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The TreVolo doesn't ship with a remote control. While I personally wish that it had, the system can be controlled by a dedicated BenQ app for your smart devices, while the control buttons on the top side of the main unit are large and tactile. They include the main power on button, volume up/down buttons, and, unexpectedly, buttons for answering and hanging up your phone. Yes, you can use the TreVolo as a swanky speakerphone, there's even a noise-cancelling microphone built in so you can talk through it in noisy places without becoming unintelligible.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="BenQ TreVolo review" src="http://ift.tt/1CAXdQR" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>There's a further large Bluetooth activation button on the rear side, and a row of jacks along the botton edge comprising a micro USB port, a power input, and 3.5mm line out and line in ports. The USB port means you can connect the TreVolo directly to your computer and if you go this route the speaker can play 16-bit/48kHz resolution files.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The Bluetooth connection is interesting too, since it's supported by aptX technology. This overcomes Bluetooth's usual bandwidth limitations to enable low-latency streaming of CD-quality audio. In fact, I was very pleased to discover that the TreVolo even supports playback of high-resolution FLAC and ALAC file formats.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Usability</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>For the most part the TreVolo is admirably easy to use. It syncs with Bluetooth devices in mere seconds, with no hassle whatsoever, and its fold away speakers are an inspired way of giving you a speaker you can easily move from room to room or even outside (though be warned: it's not waterproof!) without having to suffer with a weedy sound when you get it to where you want to use it.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="BenQ TreVolo review" src="http://ift.tt/1CAXenN" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>Also impressively useful is the TreVolo's battery life. BenQ claims a potential 12 hours of playback from a single charge, and while this will obviously vary depending on how loud you run it I found I was easily able to use it almost constantly throughout a working day without needing to plug it in. Excellent.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>Counting against it from a usability point of view are the facts that it doesn't ship with a remote, leaving you having to control it via the buttons on its main chassis, and the way sound quality is slightly dependent on where you physically position the speaker.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Value</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>For US$299 (about £203, AU$394) you can get better all-round sound quality elsewhere, especially if your music tastes err towards the heavy in dance, indie or rock terms.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>However, if your tastes lie in the areas where the TreVolo excels, then the exceptionally detailed and immersive nature of its sound actually makes it uniquely qualified - and therefore worth the money - to deliver the goods despite its diminutive size and practical design.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Sound Quality</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>How good the TreVolo sounds depends on what sort of music you feed it though when it's at its best, it really is very good.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>As noted earlier, electrostatic speakers tend to have quite distinctive characteristics. They tend to deliver impressive clarity in the upper-mid and treble parts of your music, but can struggle compared with normal 'full-size' speakers when it comes to delivering bass. This is why most systems that use electrostatic speakers (including the TreVolo) partner them with separate bass components.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="BenQ TreVolo review" src="http://ift.tt/1GjsoT3" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>In action the TreVolo is slightly restricted in what it does well by its electrostatic characteristics. Feed it fairly sparse and/or very cleanly defined and detailed music and it sounds good bordering on stunning. Feed it something dense and bassy, though, and it slides back in to average territory.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>Focussing first on its strengths, the amount of detail you can hear from certain types of music is stunning, well beyond anything else I've heard at a similar price level from such a relatively small speaker system.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>You can pick out extra breathing and background instrumental noises when listening to relatively sparse content like the Antony & The Johnsons' I Am A Bird Now album, and Antony's falsetto voice takes on an even more, entirely appropriate, ethereal feel. I've never heard Hope There's Someone sound so accurately and heartbreakingly fragile before on anything other than a high-grade hi-fi system.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>Other predominantly vocal-driven, relatively sparse material like Nick Cave's The Boatman's Call album also sounds superb, putting you right there in the recording studio with the artist.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="BenQ TreVolo review" src="http://ift.tt/1CAXenP" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>Piano-based classical music sounds gorgeous too, as can orchestral pieces if they're not too dense or loud. Think Pachelbel's Canon rather than the 1812 Overture.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>If jazz is your bag then again the TreVolo's electrostatic-based audio characteristics will for the most part leave you feeling more than satisfied at how good such a small and portable device can sound.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>There's a more general strength to the TreVolo's sound, too, in that its soundstage extends far beyond the speaker's physical form, delivering height as well as width to present you with an immersive wall of sound capable of filling a surprisingly big room - despite the fact that actually the TreVolo can't go as loud as some other Bluetooth speakers.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>So what sort of music does the TreVolo struggle with? Essentially it's not a great fan of heavy bass or very dense, multilayered sounds. Which means it's not the best option for fans of bass-driven dance or garage music or dense 'wall of sound' rock or indie music.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The layered cascading guitars of something like The Boo Radleys' Everything's Alright Forever LP, much of the new Swervedriver album or anything by My Bloody Valentine sound muddy and muffled, while the vocal tracks on such dense material are left sounding like a child singing into an empty cereal box.</p><br /><br/><br /><p><img alt="BenQ TreVolo review" src="http://ift.tt/1CAXdQU" width="420"/> </p><br /><br/><br /><p>It doesn't help the TreVolo's case with dense and/or beaty music that it can sound as if it's digitally processing the most raucous moments, resulting in a more compressed sound and even what sounds like a sudden drop in volume at times.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>It's worth adding, too, that the TreVolo really thrives on high quality sources. It doesn't seem to have either the processing chops or enough 'give' in its speaker range to handle heavily compressed music well. The difference in Radiohead's King Of Limbs encoded in FLAC and a typical MP3 bitrate was even more night and day on the TreVolo than it usually is with 'desktop' speaker systems. So if you get a TreVolo try to use the highest bit-rates you can for your music sources without eating up insane amounts of memory on your storage devices.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>Another issue some may have with the TreVolo's sound is that it doesn't deliver an especially defined sense of stereo separation. This won't annoy everyone; indeed, I can imagine many people liking the more organic, immersive feel you get from the TreVolo. But if you're the sort of person who likes a more clinical stereo sound again the TreVolo may not be for you.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>One final issue with the TreVolo's sound is that it's more dependent on where you place it than most similar types of device. Bass increases, and sounds more integrated with the rest of the frequency range, if you place the system as close as you can to a wall. And I also found that the sound quality increased drastically when sitting near the speaker if I tried to position it at roughly the same height as my head.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>Verdict</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>The TreVolo is a genuinely innovative new entry into the over-crowded portable speaker space. What's more, since its main innovation (the use of fold-back electrostatic speaker wings) turns out to be more than just an aesthetic gimmick, the TreVolo has a genuine chance of turning its pioneering spirit into some decent sales figures.</p><br /><br/><br /><p>The electrostatic speakers help to deliver an exceptionally clear, detailed sound ideally suited to classical, jazz and even certain types of pop and rock music. It's less comfortable with dense rock and dance music, but if its talents match your tastes, it's well worth seeking out.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>We liked</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>The TreVolo looks cool and cute in equal measure, standing out on shop shelves and making a great talking point for dinner parties. Its sound is excellent with relatively light or sparse music too, it supports high-resolution audio files, and its design and battery life make it surprisingly portable for such a good-sounding system.</p><br /><br/><br /><h3>We disliked</h3><br /><br/><br /><p>It's not quite as much of a musical all-rounder as some other speakers in its category, with dense and/or deep music sounding a bit muddy. It's also not cheap in the context of the general Bluetooth speaker market (though actually, nor is it expensive by the standards of electrostatic speaker technology), and sometimes its audio processing feels overbearing.</p><br /><br/><br /><img border="0" height="1" src="http://ift.tt/1GjCS59" width="1"/><br clear='all'/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1NKzq5M" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1GjCSlo"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1NKzsdW" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1GjCV0w"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1NKzsdY" rel="nofollow"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1GjCSlu"/> </a><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/><br /><a href="http://ift.tt/1NKzse0"><img border="0" src="http://ift.tt/1GjCV0y"/> </a> <img border="0" height="1" src="http://ift.tt/1NKzq5Q" width="1"/><img alt="" height="1" src="//feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/allnews/~4/Yv9ngLeYcpk" width="1"/><br/><br /><br/><br /><br/> </div><br /><br/><br /><br/><br />from http://bit.ly/1Ceh3xJ<br/></div>

Review: BenQ TreVolo

Introduction and features Bluetooth speakers designed to unlock music stored on your smartphones, tablets and computers have come in all man...

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