(1) Samsung Galaxy Nexus

• I've been clamoring to get our hands on the Galaxy Nexus ever since its unveiling in Hong Kong back in October. Finally, at long last, the U.S. version of the Galaxy Nexus has landed in our office. So is the Galaxy Nexus, the first phone to run Android Ice Cream Sandwich, everything we hoped it would be? Mostly, yes.
• The Galaxy Nexus contract, as of December impresses with lightning-fast performance, strong data speeds, a thin design, and, of course, all of that Ice Cream Sandwich goodness. 
• The camera isn’t outstanding, and the handset has no expandable memory slot.
• But as it stands, the Galaxy Nexus is the best Android phone currently available. 

Design

The Galaxy Nexus is one fine-lookin’ piece of hardware. The glossy display, piano-black bezel, and textured back are all standard Samsung design elements.
But unlike other Samsung Galaxy phones I have reviewed, the Galaxy Nexus feels high quality. At 5.1 ounces, it has a nice substantial weight to it without being too heavy.
As you can see from the photos, the Galaxy Nexus has a subtle curve, which nicely contours to the hand. If you have small hands like me, however, you might find the Galaxy Nexus a bit large it measures 5.33 by 2.67 by 0.37 inches.
The Galaxy Nexus has no physical hardware keys on its face. Instead, the touch-sensitive Back, Home, and Search keys are built into the display as soft keys.

Ice Cream Sandwich: Simply Sweet ---



We’ve written extensively on Ice Cream Sandwich, and will be doing much more in-depth coverage in the next few days. For this review, I’ll focus on how Ice Cream Sandwich performs on the Galaxy Nexus.

   

If you’re familiar with Android Honeycomb on tablets, you’ll find a few familiar features in Ice Cream Sandwich. As in Honeycomb, widgets in Ice Cream Sandwich are now resizable on the home screen. You'll also find a dedicated on-screen Recent Apps button for seeing all of your open apps; just as on Android tablets, it displays a scrollable list of running apps with thumbnail images. Flicking through and switching between apps is not as speedy as I would like it to be, however--I encountered a noticeable delay when going from one app to another.

You’ve probably heard a lot of buzz about the ability to unlock your phone with your face. The front-facing camera snaps a picture of you and then uses facial recognition software the next time you unlock your phone. It's cool, most definitely, but it's not the most secure way of protecting your phone. As Google warns, somebody who looks similar to you can unlock your phone with their face. Nevertheless, face unlock works well, and it is a pretty neat--although somewhat gimmicky--feature.

The Android software keyboard in Ice Cream Sandwich has larger, more square keys so it is easier to type on (though I still made a few errors here and there). You now have an option to verbally dictate your text, as well, though I didn’t always find it accurate. For example, “This is a test of the auto-dictate feature” translated into “Types of the otter dictate feature.”

Developers will delight in the dedicated “Developer options,” which let you access tools such as a CPU usage meter and controls for touchscreen feedback and the background process limit. It is features like this that truly make Android a standout operating system. There’s something for everyone.

Performance

The Galaxy Nexus is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 processor, with 1GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB of storage. The Galaxy Nexus scored well on all of our benchmark tests (which includes the Sunspider JavaScript benchmark and the GLBenchmark). Interestingly, the Nexus’s overall score was about the same as the mark of the Motorola Droid Razr, which has a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor. The Samsung Galaxy S II for T-Mobile scored slightly higher overall than the Galaxy Nexus.

We also ran the Qualcomm-developed Vellamo benchmarking app, on which the Galaxy Nexus earned a score of 803. (The Droid Razr got a score of 1040, which put it ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S II.) This score puts the Galaxy Nexus ahead of the Samsung Skyrocket and the HTC EVO 3D. Because Vellamo was made by a competitor to Texas Instruments, we tend to take these results with a grain of salt.

We’re lucky enough to get very strong 4G LTE coverage here in San Francisco. In my tests using the FCC-approved Ookla Speedtest app, the Galaxy Nexus achieved download speeds ranging from 6.69 to 12.11 megabits per second and upload speeds of 21.18 mbps. In other words, the Galaxy Nexus is blazingly fast.

Call quality over Verizon’s network in San Francisco was consistently good. I had great coverage everywhere I went in the city. My friends and family sounded natural, with an ample amount of volume. One of my friends remarked that my voice sounded “hollow,” but other people I spoke with were pleased with the quality.

We have not yet finished our formal battery life tests, but the Galaxy Nexus survived through a whole day of heavy use before I needed to charge it again.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is a superb phone, and a great vehicle for introducing Android Ice Cream Sandwich to the world. Android has clearly come a long way, and the tweaks and updates Google has implemented throughout the operating system make a huge difference in efficiency and ease of use. Right now, the Galaxy Nexus is the best Android phone you can buy.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NEXUS VS  SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE

China straddling bus

In a bold attempt to cut down the congestion and pollution that plagues China’s largest cities, the country is developing a bus that won’t be caught pumping out fumes while stuck in traffic jams

The “3D Express Coach”, designed by the Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment company, straddles the road as regular traffic passes through the bus’ giant tunnel. Above, up to 1,400 passengers can ride the vehicle, knowing their transport won’t get bogged down in congestion.

The vehicle is about 4 to 4.5 metres high (about the same height as BRITONS double-decker buses), and vehicles lower than two metres can easily pass under. Powered by electricity and solar energy (another advantage for a city that pumps out 2,640 ton of carbon emission from buses), the traffic gobbling monster is capable of speeds up to 60 km/h.

Passengers will board the vehicle at above-ground loading stations, while traffic continues to pass underneath the stationary coach.

It’s the country’s top solution to a problem that’s challenged both urban planners and pollution critics, not wanting to cram in more subways or litter the streets with more buses. It’s also far cheaper than building more subways, with the 500 million yuan cost of the bus and 40 kilometres of railing (about £46 million), it’s a good 10 per cent cheaper than constructing an equivalent below-ground transit system.

The vehicle has passed it’s first stage of demonstration, and will go through technical validation throughout the month. If all goes well, a planned 186km of straddling bus roadway will begin construction at the year’s end.

Qatar 2022 Air Conditioned Stadiums FIFA – Zero Carbon AT QATAR

As part of the bid, Arup Associates has designed a 500-seater “model stadium” that will be carbon zero and be a development platform to refine these technologies for application across Qatar and potentially across all arid regions. The Showcase was commissioned in order to demonstrate to FIFA and the world-wide audience that the harsh climate over the summer months is no longer a barrier to hosting global events.

It is an investigation into innovative, cutting-edge solutions for creating a controlled microclimate over and around the football field, and other public spaces. Paramount to the Showcase is the promotion of sustainability, environmentally friendly technologies and first-of-its-kind innovation. The Showcase serves as a proof-of-concept for innovative cooling and climate control technologies.


                                     A MODEL OF IT 

                                                            

The Showcase is based on three key aspects: an exciting architecture and structure which develops traditional passive design ideas to a new energy-saving and comfortable architecture; photovoltaics that convert the energy of the sun into electricity; capturing and converting the sun’s heat into cooling for summertime airconditioning using under-seat supply. The ideas used in this Showcase are intended to show how energy can be considered as an integrated aspect of architecture, engineering and infrastructure with renewable energy contributing for the first time at scale in Qatar. Following Qatar’s success in the bid, a range of stadia, fan zones and other facilities will be required for The World Cup Games

Sony Tablet S and P

Sony made a debut in the flourishing tablet market with two distinctly designed devices – Tablet S and the 

Tablet P. The TABLET S sports a stylish and sophisticated look, while the Tablet P turns heads over its dual screen, clutch form factor. We’ve seen manufacturers testing waters in this device category and we weren’t surprised when Sony declared its new tablets. Interestingly, Sony’s claim to fame in portable devices has been its PSP, while the PlayStation phone didn’t take too much time to lose the fizz after its launch. We managed to lay our hands on the latter, the Sony Tablet S, which was released in India, earlier this month. It takes cues from gaming segment with some exclusive content and a design that sets it apart from other tablets. Let’s unfold its attributes one by one to find out if it can keep up with the performance exhibited by some of the key players. 

Design and Build


Sony devices are known for spewing stylish looks, for instance the VAIO range. The Sony tablet S isn’t an exception and sports a sophisticated look in black and silver. Crafted in a wedge shape, it offers an angle for better typing, the curvy upper edge with a grid pattern (plastic material covering more than half of the backside) stretches on to the rear side, making it look like a folded paper sheet. About 1.5cm at its thickest part, the rear grid-like design ensures a firm grip, even while holding it in one hand. Besides the front and plastic that extends from the upper edge, the rest of the device along with its slanting side edges is maintained in silver. A reset, volume and main power buttons run along the left edge, while you’ll find a compartment for SD card and micro USB port on the right edge. The backside shows a 5MP camera and it also has a 0.3MP front facing camera. The power port is on the lower edge.




The front is glossy with a 9.4-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display featuring 800 x 1280 pixels resolution. At 625 grams, it is heavier than the iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy 750. The tablet has a thick side, which is made of a silver plastic panel - it feels a little cheap. The location of the volume rocker compelled us to accidentally hit the main switch of the device, as it’s hidden within the right edge and too close to the main switch. The in-box contents, include a main power cable, quick manual and a lanyard.






Features


Interface


The Tablet S runs on Android Honeycomb 3.2, which we’ve seen earlier on the Samsung 750 (layered with the Samsung Touch UI) and the Motorola Xoom. This version of the Android OS has been specifically crafted to suit the need of tablet users. Sony has enhanced the UI with several tweaks exclusive to its tablet like the favorites icon has been added on the top left next to the Apps icon. Moreover, a row of quick launch buttons are placed on the right upper corner - Browser, e-mail, remote control and news feeds. On hitting the icons, all apps appear in a neat, large matrix, which can be instantly added to the home screen. Likewise, just long press on the main screen and you notice all screens appear in a low on the upper side. You can simply drag and drop widgets the home screen.


China straddling bus


The screen offers fairly good touch response, but it can't match up to the iPad. There are several instances when the device came across as sluggish and laggy, while responding. Navigation is just about fine, with specs like Nvidia Tegra 2, dual-core Cortex processor and 1GB RAM, which are pretty similar to most of the tablets in its class. Using the AnTuTu benchmark, an overall score of 4831 was achieved. The Linpack test resulted into 27.24 MFLOPS for single-threaded run and for multi-threaded run it is 47.63. The scores show that the Sony Tablet S is indeed a bit faster, than the Samsung Tab 750. 

Sony had added its touch in the form its own app store called selectApp, apart from the access to the vast Android Market. We received the 16GB unit that supports an SD card up to 32GB. Now, once you pop in the SD card, the device asks you to transfer data to the internal memory , also giving an option transfer it to the SD card back. This is awkward as seemingly you can't use the data directly from the SD card. Then on, the device storage has been partitioned for media (Downloads, Audio, Video, Pictures) and system files - 8.92GB and 3.49GB, respectively. Why couldn't Sony keep it simple.