Samsung Series 7 S27C750P

Pros Good color and viewing angle performance. Flexible stand with auto-rotate. Two HDMI ports.

Cons Lacks USB ports. Crushed blacks. No speakers or webcam. Bottom Line The Samsung Series 7 S27C750P is an attractive 27-inch monitor that uses MVA panel technology to deliver rich colors and sharp viewing angles. It is equipped with a flexible stand and two HDMI ports but lacks a few features and has trouble displaying the darkest shades of gray.

By John R. Delaney

Samsung's latest addition to its desktop monitor line, the Series 7 S27C750P, offers style and comfort in a streamlined 27-inch cabinet. It uses an MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) panel that delivers robust colors, dark blacks, and wide viewing angles, but its grayscale performance could be better and it's not exactly feature-rich. However, it does have a stand that lets you pivot the panel to portrait mode and its two HDMI ports make it easy to stay connected to multiple sources without having to swap out cables.

Design and Features
The S27C750P is a sharp-looking monitor. The 1,920-by-1,080 MVA panel sits inside a slender 1.3-inch black cabinet and is framed by thin glossy black bezels. The metallic silver stand has a square base and a 13.5-inch mounting arm that has a hinge that pivots the panel 90 degrees and provides tilt adjustability. You can't swivel the cabinet or adjust its height but if you install the MagicRotation utility the image with automatically rotate when you pivot the screen, which means you don't have to go into the graphics control panel to change the image orientation every time you switch back and forth.

You don't get a lot of I/O connectivity with the S27C750P other than two HDMI ports, a VGA port, and an audio output, all of which are positioned towards the top of the rear of cabinet. Speakers, a webcam, and USB ports are not included on this model. There are six buttons, including the power switch, located beneath the lower bezel on the right side. Pressing any button brings up on-screen labels so there's no fumbling around trying to figure out which button to press while making adjustments.

Settings include five MagicBright picture modes (custom, standard, game, cinema, dynamic contrast) as well as brightness, contrast, sharpness, black level, and response time. You can also adjust RGB tint, gamma, and color tone (temperature) and use the MagicUpscale option to enhance low-res images.

The C750P ships with an HDMI cable and a resource CD containing a user manual, drivers, MagicRotation, and MagicTune, which allows you to make adjustments using a keyboard and mouse instead of the function buttons. It also comes with a three year parts, labor, and backlight warranty.

Performance
MVA panels are known for their deep black levels and lush colors, which is exactly what we saw with the S27C750P. Although the inky blacks make colors stand out and appear more vibrant, the downside is that shadow detail takes a hit as the panel has trouble producing the darkest shades of gray (they appear black instead of transitioning through the grayscale).

Color accuracy was good but not perfect. The chromaticity chart below shows where each color (represented by a dot) is in relation to the CIE standard (represented by a box). Reds are spot-on but greens and blues are slightly out of alignment. However, they are still within an acceptable range that doesn't cause tinting or oversaturation. Image quality was very good while watching scenes from the Blu-ray version of 2012; skin tones were natural looking and the picture was crisp and well illuminated.

Viewing angle performance was also quite good. There was no obvious color shifting and the screen remained bright when viewed from the top, bottom, and extreme side angles. Game play was relatively smooth with no noticeable lag thanks to the panel's five-millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel response.

The S27C750P used 20 watts of power during testing while operating in standard mode (Eco disabled). Switching over to 50-percent Eco mode reduced power consumption to 13 watts but made the picture a bit too dim. Even with Eco mode disabled, the C750P is more energy efficient than most other 27-inch monitors, such as the HP Envy 27 (30 watts) and the Viewsonic VG2732m-LED (26 watts).

The Samsung S27C750P is a good choice for consumers who care more about aesthetics and bold color reproduction than grayscale accuracy and connectivity features. Its 27-inch MVA panel is bright, energy efficient, and looks great from any angle. The inclusion of a pivoting hinge and auto-rotation capabilities are a nice touch, as are the dual HDMI ports, but a few more features such as a USB hub, speakers, or a webcam would help justify the $380 price. If you need a 27-inch monitor that delivers solid performance and better-than-average audio output, the HP Envy 27 is a better choice, but it'll set you back an extra $100 or so. For now, the AOC i2757fh remains our Editors' Choice for big-screen mainstream monitors.

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Samsung UN46F5500AF

Pros Excellent color. Strong contrast. Lots of connected features.

Cons Black levels could be better. Bottom Line Samsung's F5500 LED HDTVs deliver a picture with excellent colors and strong contrast along with plenty of online features, all for a very reasonable price.

By Will Greenwald

These days, you can get a great HDTV at a great price if you don't need top-end features including 3D. (And who really needs 3D these days?) Samsung's F5500 series is proof of that. There's no 3D support, and the set is decidedly mid level, but it offers an impressive array of connected features and very good picture quality to boot. It doesn't quite beat the 55-inch Vizio M551D-A2R on bang for your buck, but the 46-inch $749.99 (direct) UN46F5500 we tested is an excellent deal.

Design
Looking plain and unassuming without seeming cheap, the F5500 has a flat black bezel with only a Samsung logo on the bottom bezel. The screen sits on a silver plastic four-legged base that lets it pivot left and right. A four-way joystick on the back near the lower-right corner controls the HDTV and lets you navigate the menu system. On the back, two USB and two HDMI ports can be found next to the antenna connection facing the right side of the screen. The remaining HDMI port, Ethernet port (if you don't want to use the HDTV's built-in Wi-Fi), component and composite inputs, and optical audio, mini-jack audio, and infrared blaster outputs face back.

The remote is a simple rectangular wand filled with rectangular buttons, a somewhat frustrating aspect of Samsung remotes without touch pads. The navigation buttons are shaped nearly the same as the surrounding menu buttons, so it's easy to hit Return or Exit when you're navigating menus without looking directly at the remote. The volume and channel rockers are easy to find under your thumb, as is the hexagonal Smart Hub button that brings up the media navigation menu.

Features
While the F5500's physical design is plain, Samsung put a lot of work into its software design and features. The set uses Samsung's Smart Hub menu, which divides content into live TV, movies and TV shows, social features, apps, and local media. The Live TV menu has its own channel guide, and can control your cable or satellite box with the included IR blaster. The Movie and TV show menu offers a selection of on-demand titles you can purchase from Samsung, but you might prefer the apps menu's selection of more standard services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube, and HBO Go. The Apps menu also features a full Web browser, but navigating the Web and entering text on a standard TV remote is very awkward. The social tab tracks your Facebook and Twitter activity, and the local media tab can load content on connected USB drives, networked DLNA media servers, and media stored through the Samsung Link cloud service.

These content tabs use Samsung's S Recommend feature to refine suggestions for what to watch, keeping track of your viewing habits and adjusting the movies, shows, and channels it displays first to reflect them. If you want it to work with your television, you'll have to set it up to control your cable or satellite box.

Besides the features in the Smart Hub tabs, you can also mirror your smartphone or tablet screen with Miracast, found in the F5500's Network settings menu as Wireless Display. Samsung heavily pushes its AllShare features for sending media from a Samsung smartphone or tablet to the HDTV, and it worked flawlessly in my tests. I had no problem streaming a movie from my Google Nexus 7 tablet. Screen mirroring is more tricky; the screen showed up as a wireless display to the Nexus 7, but it couldn't make a connection. Samsung devices might communicate a little more smoothly through Samsung's AllShare software, but you should be able to use any DLNA-enabled device.

Performance
We test HDTVs with a Klein K10-A colorimeter, SpectraCal's CalMAN 5 diagnostic software, and DisplayMate test patterns with a basic dark room calibration for brightness and contrast. The F5500 gets satisfyingly bright at 316.360 cd/m2, but it doesn't get too dark with a black level of 0.084 cd/m2. The contrast ratio is a solid 3,754:1, but the Editors' Choice Vizio M551D-A2R edges it out with a black level of 0.031 cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of almost double at 7,145:1 even with the Vizio's dimmer (221.492 cd/m2 peak brightness) screen.

As shown in the chart above, colors fare very well out of the box. With the color temperature presets at the warmest setting but no other changes made the F5500 showed nearly spot-on white, blue, and green colors. Red was slightly oversaturated, but not enough to visibly tint the picture. For the most accurate colors, use the Movie mode with color temperature set to Warm2.

I watched Piranha and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance on the set, and they both looked very good. The murky underwater scenes and bright surface scenes of Piranha were colorful and crisp, and the darker scenes showed deep blacks and strong detail. The rampant fire of Ghost Rider's powers were warm and bright in otherwise very dark scenes, highlighting the screen's strong contrast.

Under typical viewing conditions, the UN46F5500AF consumes 106 watts with all power saving features disabled. At the Low Eco mode setting, the screen darkens the picture noticeably, but keeps it watchable while consuming 66 watts. The Medium Eco setting borders on too dark and requires 47 watts, and the High Eco setting darkens the screen too much to watch.

The Samsung F5500 series of LED HDTVs offers a very good picture and an impressive array of smart services and features. It isn't the darkest panel, and it doesn't offer 3D, but for the price, you get a lot of screen. If you want a bigger picture and similarly strong performance, the Editors' Choice Vizio M551D-A2R offers a solid bump in size for a slightly higher price (compared with the 46-inch model we reviewed), and if you're willing to pay a bit more than that, the 55-inch Panasonic TC-L55ET60 offers excellent performance along with a 3D picture and a more stylish design.

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Scosche RH1060

Pros Powerful audio performance with strong bass response, no distortion at top volumes. Well-designed and comfortable over long listening periods. Removable cable for wired listening.

Cons Purists won't love the bass-heavy mix, and many non-purists will wish these headphones dialed the bass back and boosted the high-mids a bit. Occasional transmission artifacts can be heard. Bottom Line The Scosche RH1060 is a solid Bluetooth headphone pair that delivers powerful audio with boosted bass.

By Tim Gideon

The Scosche RH1060 fits well into the current world of headphones, meaning that it shares some popular attributes, like Bluetooth wireless audio streaming, a detachable cable for optional wired listening, and, most notably, some powerful bass response. The $199.99 (direct) headphones are also quite comfortable, though their bulky design won't be for everyone. Bass lovers looking for a solid, powerful Bluetooth headphone pair have plenty of reason to read on—those who favor a more midrange-focused mix, or a lighter, more easily portable pair, probably don't need to.

Design
No one would call the RH1060 petite. The headphone frame is chunky, its earpads are large, and most of the surface of the outer panels and the headband is comprised of glossy black plastic. The earpads have some pivot to them at their connection point in the headband, so they can adjust to the shape of your head more easily. Ample padding on the underside of the headband and on the earpads themselves makes the fit of the RH1060 quite comfortable.

The Power button for the RH1060 is on the left earcup—it doubles as the Bluetooth pairing button. As with most Bluetooth headphones these days, the pairing process is simple and quick; our iPhone 4S found the RH1060 quickly and was soon streaming audio to it.

On the right earcup, there are three controls, for Volume Up, Volume Down (these buttons work independently of the volume controls on your mobile device or computer), and Play/Pause. They are large enough that it's fairly easy to memorize which is which, but you will be operating them blindly. Also on the right earcup: the connection ports for a USB charging cable and a 3.5mm audio cable, both of which come with the headphones.

The inclusion of an audio cable for wired, non-Bluetooth usage adds value to the RH1060—you can use it when the battery's dead, and you can even replace the cable should it falter down the road. The cable does not have an inline remote or microphone, however.

The RH1060 also ships with a sturdy zip-up hard case, which the headphones fold down into with ease (though the case is still bulky), as well as a cleaning cloth to shine the glossy plastic, and a carabiner that can fasten to a loop on the outside of the case.

It would have been nice to see a dedicated charger, and not just a USB cable, on a pair priced this high, but this is a common omission. Scosche estimates the playback time on a fully charged battery to be about 8 hours.

Performance
The RH1060 does not distort, whether in wired or Bluetooth mode, on tracks with serious sub-bass content, like the Knife's "Silent Shout"—even at top volumes on both the headphones and the sound source (in this case, again, an iPhone 4S). Not only is the bass delivered cleanly, but with substantial rumble. There is significant bass boosting here, and fans of flat response sound signatures probably will find the low-frequency response too intense. Fans of big bass, however, should enjoy the RH1060's overall sound—there's enough mid-range and high frequency presence so that things don't become ridiculously weighted to the lows, but this is clearly their show.

On Bill Callahan's "Drover", it becomes apparent that these headphones are mostly geared towards the deep bass fans. Through the RH1060, his vocals lack the treble edge and high-mid clarity that help them stay out in front of the mix. Instead, the lows take over, boosting his baritone vocals a bit too much, and boosting the lows of the drumming too much. Some people will enjoy this sound, but it's almost as if the drums are competing with his voice for your attention. On a flat response pair, they'd be well in the background of the mix—somewhere in between the two is what most people will gravitate to.

Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" fares better with the RH1060's sound signature. The attack of the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid definition to cut through the mix, though it lacks the edge it often has on pairs with more mid-range and high frequency presence. And the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the drum loop are delivered with power, but not overwhelmingly so. Clearly, electronic music and hip-hop tracks with prominent low-end fare better on the RH1060 than more subtle singer songwriter mixes.

As for classical tracks, like John Adams' "The Chairman Dances", they sound crisper and brighter than the other genres tested, primarily because they tend to have more transparent, flat mixes to begin with. So, the high-mid presence of the higher register strings and percussion is already well intact and doesn't need much help from the RH1060 to stay out in the forefront of the mix, even when the lower register strings get some serious extra richness in the lows, as they do here. The large drum hits at the end of this piece have some extra thunder to them, but nothing is so over-the-top that it sounds unnatural.

This is nitpicking, but occasionally, we heard system noises in the headphones (when paired with the iPhone 4S)—very faint, and not really loud enough to interfere with the music. But it's notable because so many Bluetooth headphones and earphones do not suffer from any noises like these when paired. It's a very faint, brief higher pitched sound that isn't really loud enough to compete with the music and shouldn't be considered a deal-breaker for anyone still interested in this pair.

So, obviously purists seeking less bass boosting should look elsewhere, but fans of big bass and the genres that often employ it should enjoy the RH1060—and classical fans who don't mind a little added low-end presence might like these headphones as well. If you're looking for a more measured, balanced response with more high frequency definition, the Harman Kardon BT is a solid Bluetooth pair in this general price range. And if more low end is what you crave, the Beats by Dr. Dre Wireless brings it in droves. Sennheiser's MM 100 is another solid Bluetooth option, but geared more toward the exercise crowd—it has far less bass and a much more workout-friendly design. If you're looking to spend a lot less money, the Outdoor Technology DJ Slims manage to output a decent bass response and clarity despite their budget price—but don't expect fireworks. At $200, the RH1060 seems fairly priced, given that it's well-designed, can be used in wired mode as well, and delivers clean audio, but bass fans are clearly the target audience.

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Sigma 19mm F2.8 DN

Pros Compact. Impressive center sharpness. Inexpensive. Available for Micro Four Thirds and NEX cameras. Hood and soft case included.

Cons Edges don't impress until f/8. Modest aperture. No image stabilization. Bottom Line The Sigma 19mm F2.8 DN is a compact wide-angle prime for select mirrorless cameras. Its price is attractive, but it lacks image stabilization and only delivers an f/2.8 aperture.

By Jim Fisher

The Sigma 19mm F2.8 DN ($199 direct) is a wide-angle prime lens that's available for Sony E-mount cameras in the NEX and Alpha families and Micro Four Thirds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic. Due to the different sensor sizes in those bodies its field of view varies based on which version of the lens you buy; the NEX version (which we tested) acts like a 28.5mm lens on a full-frame, and the Micro Four Thirds version is closer to a 38mm. A 28mm on a full-frame camera is a classic wide-angle field of view, but the narrower 38mm angle edges closer to a standard-angle design.

Regardless of which version you buy, you'll get the same compact 1.8 by 2.4 (HD), 5.6-ounce lens; only the mount differs. The barrel is smooth metal that's cool to the touch. The smoothness actually makes manual focus a bit of an odd experience; it's a strange departure when compared with most lenses which feature a textured ring over the manual focus control. It can focus on objects as close as 7.9 inches, supports 46mm threaded filters, and is available in black or silver. A reversible hood and a soft carrying case are included with the lens.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness of the lens when paired with the APS- C Sony Alpha 3000. At f/2.8 it scores 2,045 lines per picture height on our center-weighted test, which is better than the 1,800 lines that we use to call an image sharp. The edges are a bit soft, just around 1,550 lines, but that's typical of compact wide angles. Its edges are still better than those captured by the Sony 16mm f/2.8 prime lens for the NEX system.

Stopping down to f/4 brings up the overall score to 2,105 lines, but doesn't do much at the edges. At f/5.6 we start to see some sharpening there; the overall score is 2,185 line and the edges hit 1,720 lines. Edges are at their best at f/8 (they approach 1,900 lines), but the overall sharpness drops just a bit to 2,165 lines due to some loss of sharpness at the center of the frame. Distortion is a minor issue; the 19mm shows 1.4 percent barrel distortion, which is just slightly noticeable in field conditions. It's something that's easy enough to fix in software if it's detracting from a shot.

We tested the lens on a Sony camera, but Micro Four Thirds shooters will benefit from the smaller sensor: The soft edges that we saw in our tests will be cut off and the lens should provide more even sharpness from edge to edge at wider apertures. But if you've got the money, you're better served with the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f1.8, which has a more ambitious aperture and a better manual focus ring. Neither lens has image stabilization; most Olympus bodies have that built-in, but most Panasonic and all Sony NEX bodies lack it. For a wide-angle like this it's not crucial for stills, but it does go a long way for video use.

The Sigma 19mm F2.8 DN is a good lens for mirrorless cameras, but it's not an outstanding one. We haven't yet tested the Sony 20mm f/2.8 for NEX cameras, which is noticeably smaller but also $150 more expensive. The 19mm is light and compact in its own right, and a good value for any shooter who is a fan of that focal length. Micro Four Thirds owners have more options in the 19mm focal range, including the excellent Olympus 17mm lens, an ultra fast (and expensive) 17.5mm f/0.95 lens from Voigtlander, and the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7; they all capture more light than the Sigma, but can't match it on price. 

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Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN

Pros Very sharp from edge to edge. Minimal distortion. Compact design. Inexpensive. Available for Micro Four Thirds and NEX cameras. Includes hood and case.

Cons Modest aperture for a prime. No image stabilization. Bottom Line The Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN is a sharp, compact prime lens for Sony and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras, but it doesn't offer image stabilization.

By Jim Fisher

The Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN ($199 direct) is one of a trio of lenses that Sigma produces for mirrorless cameras. This model can be purchased for Sony NEX or Micro Four Thirds cameras, and delivers a slightly different shooting experience depending on the camera with which it is used due to the differing sensor sizes in the systems. We reviewed it on a NEX camera, where it delivers a 45mm (full-frame equivalent) field of view, but if you shoot with a Micro Four Thirds camera the smaller sensor makes it more like a 60mm lens.

The lens itself is impressively compact. It measures just 1.6 by 2.4 inches (HD), weighs in at 4.9 ounces, it supports 46mm threaded filters, and a reversible lens hood and soft case are included. It can be had in silver or black, and the metal barrel gives it a solid feel. The large focus ring is smooth, which isn't my preference for manual focus control; a ring with ridges or a similar texture provides a better grip. The minimum focus distance is 11.8 inches, which makes it a far cry from a macro lens. NEX shooters would be better served with the Sony 30mm f/3.5 Macro if close focus is a concern; its aperture is only a half-stop narrower and it can focus to 3.7 inches for 1:1 magnification. As is the case with the Sony macro, there's no optical image stabilization, you'll need to move up to the Sony 35mm f/1.8 to get that in the NEX system. Micro Four Thirds shooters with Panasonic cameras may also want to consider a stabilized lens, but Olympus cameras feature in-body stabilization.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness of the Sigma lens when matched with the APS-C Sony Alpha 3000. It's one area where there are no disappointments. At f/2.8 the lens manages 2,144 lines per picture height with sharp edges and minimal (1 percent) distortion. That's better than the 1,800 lines we require for a photo to be called sharp. Performance increases gradually as you narrow the aperture; it peaks at 2,256 lines at f/5.6. At corresponding apertures it outperforms the Zeiss Touit 1.8/32 for NEX. The Zeiss is more expensive, but it captures more than twice the light as the Sigma at its widest aperture.

You can't argue with the value for your money that the Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN delivers. For less than $200 you get a compact, standard-angle prime lens that is sharp from edge to edge at every aperture. But there are a couple things that you miss—image stabilization and close focus to be precise. If you're a macro fan, the extra $80 you'll spend on the Sony 35mm Macro is worth it, and its f/3.5 maximum aperture is only a half-stop narrower than the Sigma's f/2.8. But if you have the money, the Sony 35mm f/1.8 is your best bet for a similar lens in that system—it has the same close focus limitation as the Sigma lens, and it's not super sharp at f/1.8. But it does deliver solid performance from f/2.8 onward, and stabilization will let you shoot at narrower apertures and still get a blur-free image.

Micro Four Thirds photographers have fewer options in the 30mm focal range. Olympus's lineup has a 17mm lens and a 45mm lens, but nothing in between. Panasonic offers a Leica-designed Summilux 25mm f/1.4, but that's more than three times the cost of the Sigma. And Voigtlander makes a low-light beast in the Nokton 25mm f/0.95, but it's manual focus only and $1,200. That makes this lens appealing if you're looking for something in this focal range on a budget, especially if you own an Olympus camera or the stabilized Panasonic GX7.

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Sigma 60mm F2.8 DN

Pros Very sharp from edge to edge. Minimal distortion. Available for Micro Four Thirds and NEX cameras. Includes hood and soft case.

Cons Lacks image stabilization. Bottom Line The Sigma 60mm F2.8 DN is the largest and most expensive mirrorless lens in the company's lineup. It's sharp, but lacks image stabilization.

By Jim Fisher

The Sigma 60mm F2.8 DN ($239 direct) is the largest and most expensive lens that the company currently offers for mirrorless cameras, but it's still fairly light and compact when compared with SLR glass. The prime produces a 90mm (full-frame equivalent) field of view when paired with a Sony NEX camera, and a tighter 120mm viewpoint when mounted on a Micro Four Thirds camera. It's not optically stabilized, which is a downer given its short-telephoto design, but Olympus Micro Four Thirds photographers and Panasonic GX7 owners will be fine thanks to in-body stabilization.

It measures 2.2 by 2.4 inches (HD), weighs 7.5 ounces, and sports a 46mm filter thread. Like the other lenses in the DN series, it's available in black or silver, its barrel is metal, and the focus ring has no texture to it. Your mileage may vary, but I prefer a focus ring that delivers a bit more grip. A reversible lens hood is included, as is a soft carrying case. The minimum focus distance is 19.7 inches, so it's by no means a macro lens. Micro Four Thirds shooters should look to the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f2.8 Macro if close focus is a concern.

I used Imatest to check the performance when paired with the Sony Alpha 3000. It's an impressive performer, delivering 2,342 lines per picture height at f/2.8 and virually no distortion. Edges are nearly as sharp as the center, and sharpness is even from f/2.8 through f/5.6. My only gripe is that it's not stabilized, which coupled with the f/2.8 aperture and short-telephoto field of view forces you to use a faster shutter speed to get a crisp handheld shot. It's not the only short-telephoto lens for mirrorless cameras that's impressed us; the Sony 50mm f/1.8 resolves 2,055 lines at its maximum aperture, is capable of capturing more than twice the light as the Sigma, and is optically stabilized.

The Sigma 60mm F2.8 DN is another solid entry in the company's lens catalog. It isn't stabilized, but it comes in at an attractive price point. Micro Four Thirds shooters may prefer the Olympus 60mm Macro due to its close focusing capability, but its price tag is double that of the Sigma, and many Micro Four Thirds cameras have built-in stabilization. If you're looking at the lens for a NEX system, you're better served with the Sony 50mm f/1.8. Its field of view is a little wider, but it's also quite sharp, it's stabilized, and it's not that much more expensive than the Sigma.

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Slacker Radio (for Android)

Pros Attractive, intuitive new interface. Good sound quality. Offline playback. Free with premium perks. Unique content. Lyrics. Live radio.

Cons Lacks crossfade capabilities. Lyrics not available for every song. Bottom Line Slacker Radio for Android brings Slacker's excellent streaming music service to the mobile space while losing very little in the transition.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

Slacker Radio for Android has undergone yet another massive redesign. Gone is the short-lived soft blue-and-white, paneled interface; in its place is a darker look. That isn't the only interface change, however. Slacker Radio for Android now has a trending section at the top of the interface that highlights news and spotlighted stations, shortcuts to recently played stations, and a new Songza -inspired "My Vibe" section that lets you fire up stations based on your current mood. The result is a fresh Slacker Radio that has a bounty of engaging features.

Magical Sound Shower
"Stations" is where you'll find Slacker's 30+ genre categories. Tapping "Pop," for example, reveals multiple sub-genres such as "Soft Hits," "Slacker Top Forty," and "Today's Hits." The category king is "Decades/Countdown" which boasts a massive 43 stations at the time of this writing. "Special Events" is where you'll find the highlighted music collections such as "South Beach Comedy Festival." "Themes" has interesting and quirky collections such as "Indie Coffee House" and "Attack of the Boy Bands." Slacker Radio has something for nearly every listening taste.

"My Music" is where personalized content lives and where you can access your created stations, playlists, bookmarked stations, and recently played station (three recently played stations also live on the home screen as shortcuts). "Favorite Songs" is easily my, well, favorite section as it creates a station around songs you've favorited. It's like having a personalized greatest hits station, and it's a joy.

Radio Days
News/Talk/Sports is exactly what it sounds like—a collection of stations that cater to the news, talk, and sports. Comedy, ABC News, American Public Media, and ESPN programming fall under this category. The most intriguing of these stations is "Live," where you can tune into one of many live, streaming ESPN radio shows. Unfortunately, ESPN is the only channel to serve up live programming, but it's a Slacker Radio stand out feature that sports nuts will appreciate. Men's and Women's lifestyle stations round out the talk options.

Spotify offers no live streaming options, but it counters Slacker with unique features of its own. Spotify has Facebook integration that lets you download and subscribe to the playlists that your buddies created. It's an excellent way to discover new music. Plus, it has gapless playback and crossfade capabilities that Slacker Radio lacks.

Tapping a Slacker Radio channel launches an information page that provides a brief station overview. From there, you can bring a finger to the Play button or tap "Artists" to see a list of featured artists. "Songs" highlights the station's tracks, and grays out the ones that aren't available for on-demand streaming.

Album art is displayed as a song plays with Ban and Favorite icons flanking it. Tapping song titles open lyrics pages, but lyrics aren't available for every song. A single tap of the album art itself opens options that let you ban and favorite tracks, view lyrics, add songs to playlists, and view album info. "Fine Tune" has toggles for turning on/off the Slacker DJ, and ESPN and News updates. It also has a slider that lets you adjust the about of hits vs. discovery within a station.

Pricing and Sound Quality
Slacker for Android is free, but listeners can also subscribe to Slacker Radio Plus for a commercial-free experience with offline listening and unlimited song skips for $3.99 a month. The Slacker Premium service delivers the ultimate experience with on-demand listening, the ability to create custom playlists, and more for $9.99 a month.

Slacker streamed crisp, hiccup-free audio over my home and office network connections. Unless you're an audiophile, Slacker's sound quality will satisfy even when the audio is pumped through my Galaxy Note II's speakers or headphones. The bass lines were full and bouncy, and there was a good separation of high and low sounds.

The Final Countdown
If you fancy taking internet radio on the go, you'll be well served by Slacker Radio for Android. The redesigned app makes navigation a breeze and the music and talk catalog is top-notch, easily surpassing Spotify and Songza's efforts. In short, if you're an Android user who likes radio, download Slacker Radio for Android.

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SlimWare Utilities SlimCleaner 4

Pros Best tuneup results in testing. Free. No license restrictions. Ability to schedule tune-up sessions. Users can create portable versions. Browser clean-up and search engine selection tool.

Cons Can't uninstall multiple applications at once. Can't delete multiple duplicate files at once. Software rating system requires a Web connection Bottom Line Free, effective, and featuring innovative community-based problem solving, SlimCleaner is an excellent application for those who don't want to pony up money for a tune-up utility or deal with licenses.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

Traditionally, PC tune-up utilities have performed a very basic, straightforward function—improve your computer's overall system performance via a number of behind-the-scenes tweaks that ditch unused files. You ran it and moved on—it was a solitary experience. That changed with SlimCleaner's debut. The free tune-up utility uses aggregated data collected from its user base to recommend the optimal settings for your PC. It even rewards you with badges for contributing accurate information back to the community. In short, SlimCleaner is a mashup of social network and utility that does a fine job of cleaning gunked-up PCs.

System Requirements and Interface
Compatible with Windows PCs, SlimCleaner requires just an Internet connection for downloading the software and any updates that may be required during installation. Like Comodo System Utilities and Iolo System Mechanic 12, SlimCleaner gives users permission to install the software on an unlimited number of systems. This gives it the edge over TuneUp Utilities 2013 and other tools with the three license industry standard.

SlimCleaner's attractive interface features a pleasant color scheme that deftly balances blacks and grays with a bright blue gradient. Clicking one of the categories located in the column located left of the main content area—Cleaner, Optimize, Software, Browsers, Disk Tools, Windows Tools, and Hijack Log—highlights the selection and displays that individual interface to the right. SlimCleaner also displays your PC's operating system, CPU, and GPU information just south of that. A gripe: I didn't like that SlimCleaner sometimes opens secondary windows when you click an option. Clicking "Disk Tools," for example, opens another window that lets you run disk utilities—I didn't dig that. I prefer a tighter interface that keeps everything in one place (such as Iolo System Mechanic 12's interface).

Cleaner, Optimizer, Social Features
The "Cleaner" area—the section that contains tabs for Windows, Applications, Browsers, Advanced, and Registry—is what you'll encounter upon firing up the application. Clicking the "Analyze" button causes SlimCleaner to run and spit back a list of problems—my initial scan uncovered dozens upon dozens on my test computer. The "Clean" button removed all the problem files and Web cookies, but I preserved the log-in cookies of Facebook and other sites I frequent using the IntelliCookie Filter. That's a great touch.

That's far from the only tool at your disposal. "Optimize" lets you alter which programs boot at launch—handy for those who may not realize that resource hogs are slowing the boot process and hindering the overall system performance. Here you can find detailed file information so you know exactly what it does before taking action, sort software (based on user feedback) using an adjustable, color-coded slider, and rate programs yourself using drop-down menu selections and mini-reviews—all very useful. I especially liked that SlimCleaner gives you a warning if you are about to remove software that's been well-received by the community; it's a nice way to safeguard yourself from removing a file that may prove vital to the computing experience. Unfortunately, because the feature is community-based, your PC has to be connected to the Web to get the crowd-sourced software ratings.

Taking a cue from popular social networking sites like Facebook, SlimCleaner gives users a wall where they can display personal information and view badges, awards that are given for users with helpful useful reviews. In order to have badges saved to your wall, you need to create an account from scratch, or log in with your Facebook account. Personally, I could do without the badges, but I suppose they're carrots that will entice some users to contribute ratings, which improves everyone's experience.

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Sonos Play:1

Pros Incredibly easy to set up. Affordable. Smooth-sounding midrange and high end.

Cons Bass distorts at maximum volume. Not portable. Requires a Wi-Fi network and a device with a wired connection to the router. No wired audio inputs. Bottom Line The Sonos Play:1 is the most affordable, functional wireless multi-room speaker we've seen yet, and Sonos' legacy makes it a breeze to set up.

By Will Greenwald

Sonos has been a big name for wireless, multi-room audio for nearly a decade. It's typically made expensive hi-fi products, with self-contained bundles that feature multiple components for equipping an entire house with audio. Sonos is now stepping into the affordable $200 range of wireless speakers, where usually only Bluetooth speakers like the Bose SoundLink Mini tend to dwell. The Sonos Play:1 ($199 direct) is small enough to fit on a shelf or table, but hefty enough to put out plenty of sound. While it's neither portable (you need to plug it into a wall outlet) nor Bluetooth (you need to use Sonos' proprietary wireless standard), it's a surprisingly great-sounding, accessible way to start an expandable, multi-room music system. This speaker is two-thirds the price of the Sonos Play:3 while offering all the flexibility along with good performance, and earns our Editors' Choice for multi-room wireless speakers. 

Design
The Play:1 is a chunky, slightly cylindrical block 4.7 inches wide and deep and 6.4 inches tall. With its two class D amps, 3.5-inch mid-woofer, and separate tweeter, the speaker is a hefty 4.1 pounds and definitely not intended to be portable. It's available in both black and white versions, but those colors only apply to the top of the speaker and a ring around the base. The majority of the speaker is taken up by a gray metal grille that wraps around the body. A recessed two-prong notebook power port sits on the underside with an indentation to run the included 90-degree power cable out the back.

The back of the speaker holds a screw mount for wall or stand mounting and an Ethernet port for connecting directly to your router. There aren't any 3.5mm or RCA inputs to be found; if you want to play music through the speaker, you need to have it set up as part of a Sonos network. The top surface of the speaker is smooth and concave, with an indicator light, Play/Pause and Volume Up/Down buttons sitting on a raised area above the Sonos logo on the front.

To set up a Sonos system, you need to have at least one device physically connected to your router through Ethernet. You can plug the Play:1 directly into your router, but unless your router is placed somewhere you'll be listening this isn't a very good option. Fortunately, Sonos includes a free Sonos Bridge with the Play:1. The small, plastic Bridge plugs into your router to set up the Sonos network, letting you place the speaker (and any other Sonos speakers you want to use) anywhere within range, as long as it can be plugged into a power outlet. Each Sonos device forms and extends the network, so as long as the Bridge is within Wi-Fi range (approximately 100 feet) of a speaker it should work. Additional Bridges can be purchased for $49 each to further expand the network.

Set-Up
Considering Sonos sets up its own wireless music network, using each speaker to extend the network further like a Wi-Fi repeater, setup is incredibly easy—especially compared with other non-AirPlay, non-Bluetooth speakers like the Wren V5PF Play-Fi, which can be very awkward to connect to your Wi-Fi network.

Here's how the setup process works: Install the Sonos app on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, then click on "Add Component." The prompts will tell you to press a button on the Bridge or two on the Play:1, and the app does the rest. Once the speakers are registered, you can set them for different rooms in your home through the app, and even set up two speakers as a stereo pair for a room by following a similar wizard and pressing the Volume Up button on the Play:1 you want to be the left channel. If you have a Sonos Playbar, you can also set up two Play:1 speakers to serve as rear channels and turn the soundbar into a surround sound system. I set up a two-room system with two Play:1 speakers in just a few minutes, and turned it into a stereo setup just as fast.

Because Sonos uses non-AirPlay Wi-Fi, you need to use the Sonos Controller app to play music instead of your music player or service of choice. Fortunately, Sonos has been around long enough that it offers an impressive crop of services integrated into the app. You can use Spotify, TineIn, SiriusXM, Pandora, Rhapsody, Songza, and several others through Sonos Controller, and while you need to register your system with Sonos and get used to the app's layout, you can easily jump into your favorite playlists. Apple's iTunes store is obviously not available through Sonos on the Android app (though iOS device users can access their full iTunes library on Sonos), and Google Play Music is similarly absent, but if you're a regular SiriusXM or Spotify listener you're covered. You can also play any music stored on your device, and mix and match tracks into custom queues for your speakers.

Performance
Aside from a slight lack of low-end presence, the Play:1 otherwise sounds great. Since it's large enough to have a 3.5-inch woofer and two amps fed by a wall outlet instead of a battery, it can get impressively loud and easily fill up a room (or irritate several coworkers). This mostly applies to low-mids and higher frequencies, though; our bass test track, The Knife's "Silent Shout," lacked much sub-bass punch and distorted slightly at maximum volume when the kick drum began. It didn't sound garbled, but the mid-woofer was definitely struggling with the hard thumps.

This distortion issue only came up with "Silent Shout" at the highest volume setting, and other bass-heavy sounds didn't suffer. The bass and drum intro of Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla" sounded just powerful enough to give the song its dramatic beat. While Sepultera's "Biotech is Godzilla" doesn't have nearly as much deep bass, the frantic drums and growling guitar came through powerfully without overshadowing Max Cavalera's vocals.

Jazz sounds great on the Play:1, and both John Coltrane's "Naima" and Miles Davis' "So What" sounded rich and full, with the clarity of the instruments cutting through the grain of the old recordings. The low end reaches deep enough to make the saxophone and bass sound warm, and treble response is refined enough to bring out both trumpet and piano notes without sounding bright.

The Play:1 is the most affordable Sonos speaker yet, and a strong performer despite its weak bass. At $200 it's one of the simplest and most affordable ways to start a comprehensive multi-room audio system, and it can be combined with other Sonos speakers for excellent stereo or surround performance. If you want a portable speaker to take anywhere, a Bluetooth speaker like the Bose SoundLink Mini is a better choice. But if you want to build a home audio system, the Sonos Play:1 is a great starting point and earns our Editors' Choice for multi-room speakers.

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The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)

Pros Excellent graphics that could pass as a next-gen title. Emotion-stirring story. Brutal combat.

Cons The game sometimes telegraphs enemy encounters. Ho-hum puzzles. Bottom Line The Last of Us is a horror masterpiece that proves that the aging PlayStation 3 still has the potential to produce jaw-dropping AAA games.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

Naughty Dog, the Sony-exclusive development house behind the Uncharted, Crash Bandicoot, and Jax and Daxter series, has created what many have hailed as "the last great PlayStation 3 game." Considering The Last of Us's exquisite gameplay and narrative design, and the fact that the PlayStation 4 is on-deck for a November 15th, 2013 release, that sentiment may very well be true.

The Last of Us combines action and survival gameplay to tell a character-driven tale about a world destroyed by the Cordyceps fungus, a growth that transforms humanity into zombie-like monsters (the fungus, in fact, is one that appears in the real world and has unsual effects on its hosts). The zombie-like creatures roam the land, while survivors battle the creatures, and one another, to stay alive. 

The story focues on Joel (voiced by Troy Baker), a hardened survivor, and Ellie (voiced by Growing Pains' Ashley Johnson), an optimistic teenage girl who work together to trek across the wastleands that are the remains of the United States. The A.I.-controlled Ellie assists the player-controlled Joel by, for example, shouting out the direction from which enemies approach or by helping Joel break free from an infected human's grasp. She's far more useful than BioShock Infinite's A.I.-controlled Elizabeth.

Joel and Ellie's relationship is what gives The Last of Us its heart. The excellent script sees the two very different people affect one another in surprisingly subtle ways. I grew to care about the characters, which is a rare occurrence.

Unlike many of the other big franchises in the survival-horror genre (Dead Space, Resident Evil), The Last of Us isn't just about headshots and re-ups. Supplies are scarce, so stealth is just as important as the ranged and melee combat. There's a crafting system, too; you can, for example, combine a rag and alcohol into a Molotov cocktail.

The Last of Us also features Naughty Dog's "Balance of Power" adaptive artificial intelligence system. It lets enemies react realistically to situations by attacking when you're low on ammo, or calling for help when you're overpowering them. As a result, you must mind your surroundings.

The Last of Us, unfortunately, falls into the same action-adventure puzzle-solving trap as many other games of its ilk. These moments causes the game to lose its way a bit, and takes away the brutal, hard-hitting combat. The Last of Us can sometimes telegraph enemy encounters; when you walk into an area where there are conveniently placed items that can serve as cover, you know that it's time to break out the weaponry. It breaks the element of surprise to some degree.

Still, The Last of Us is an excellent, must-play title for survival horror fans. In fact, the script is so good, I'd recommend The Last of Us to gamers who aren't fans of the genre. The PlayStation 3 will soon begin to fade into the background, but The Last of Us will be remembered as one of the best games that the video game medium has ever produced.

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Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2014

Pros Very good score for malware-blocking. Accurate spam and phishing detection. Firewall Booster aids Windows Firewall. Checks social media privacy settings, links. Online Guardian offers wide-ranging parental control. Password management, form filling. Encrypted file storage can be sealed remotely. Impressive full-featured online backup and file-sharing.

Cons Hard to install on malware-infested systems. Too-rigid behavior-based detection blocked valid programs. Limited parental control. More performance impact than many. Parental control system seriously flawed. Password management is awkward; form-filler not accurate. Bottom Line On top of the features in Trend Micro's entry-level suite, Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2014 adds advanced parental control, password management, and online backup and file-sharing. However, only the backup system really shines.

By Neil J. Rubenking

There are two main reasons you'd choose to purchase a security suite rather than assemble a collection of individual security tools. First, it's generally a lot less expensive. Second, having all of your security components integrated into one product tends to reduce the overall impact on performance. Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2014 ($89.95 per year direct, for three licenses) is definitely cost-effective, but it's not nearly as well-integrated as some of its competition.

This product is closer to a security bundle than an integrated suite. With a few exceptions, the main suite portion is identical to Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2014 ($79.95). For $10 more, the mega-suite adds Trend Micro DirectPass for password management ($14.95), Trend Micro SafeSync for online backup and file sharing ($39.95), and parental control from Trend Micro Online Guardian for Families ($49.95). Those components would cost over $100 if purchased separately.

On the other hand, DirectPass, SafeSync, and Online Guardian each require a full, separate installation process. Getting the whole suite installed took significantly longer than most. In addition, the four installations ate up an impressive amount of disk space—over a gigabyte!

Good at Blocking Malware Attack
The antivirus protection in this suite is precisely the same as what's offered by Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus+ 2014, so you'd do well to read that review first. For this review, I'll simply summarize my findings.

Trend Micro earned an impressive 9.2 out of 10 points in my malware blocking test. Of all products tested using my current collection of malware samples, only AVG Internet Security 2014 and Ad-Aware Pro Security 10.5 scored higher, both with 9.4 points. For more on how I perform and score this test, see How We Test Malware Blocking.

Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2014 malware blocking chart

Trend Micro was also especially effective at blocking access to dangerous websites; it blocked 95 percent of those I tried. It didn't do as well when challenged to clean up a dozen malware-infested systems. Just getting it installed took a lot of back and forth with tech support. It scored 5.8 points overall, just so-so. Best scores in this test went to Bitdefender Total Security (2014), AVG, and Norton 360 (2014)with 6.6, 6.4, and 6.3 points respectively. The article How We Test Malware Removal explains how my malware removal test works.

Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2014 malware removal chart

Trend Micro skips traditional antivirus lab tests, but participates with the more innovative tests performed by AV-Test and AV-Comparatives. It gets good marks, especially in the whole-product real-world test by AV-Comparatives. The chart below summarizes recent test results; for more information about the tests, see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.

Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security 2014 lab tests chart

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VTech Audio/Video Doorbell Answering System (IS7121-2)

Pros Quick installation. Clear phone communications. Handsets double as walkie-talkies.

Cons No pan or tilt controls. Washed out picture. Poor low light image quality. Bottom Line The VTech Video Doorbell is a cordless phone system that doubles as a front door video surveillance system. It's a cool concept that's fairly easy to install but its usefulness is limited by its low-res camera and lack of pan or tilt controls.

By John R. Delaney

There are few things more annoying than having to stop what you're doing to answer the doorbell only to find it's either a pushy salesman or yet another visit from the folks down at the Kingdom Hall. Knowing who is ringing that buzzer can not only save you the hassle of dealing with door-to-door solicitors, it can help prevent a worst case scenario, such as a home intrusion. If you don't have the finances for a decent multi-camera home surveillance system like Dropcam Pro, there are alternatives.

The folks at VTech, best known for their affordable home phone systems, have recently introduced the Audio/Video Doorbell Answering System IS7121-2 ($119.95 list), a hybrid cordless phone system that includes two telephone handsets and a doorbell unit with a built-in camera and microphone. Billed as caller ID for your front porch, the IS71721-2 provides a live video feed from your front door and takes a snapshot of whomever has come a-calling, but the use of a low-end camera limits what you'll see when the bell rings and the camera angle is too narrow. On the plus side, it's a snap to install and functions flawlessly as a cordless phone system.

Design and Features
The IS7121-2 contains two handsets, a base receiver, a charger for the second handset, a doorbell with a built-in video camera and microphone, alkaline batteries, an AC transformer for the camera, rechargeable batteries for the handsets, and mounting hardware. The doorbell measures 4.7 by 1.9 by 1.5 inches (HWD) and is black with a silver doorbell button in the center of the faceplate. Above the button are a camera, two night vision infrared LEDs, and an LED indicator that lights up when the doorbell has been rung. To the right of the doorbell button is a small embedded microphone and below the button are a speaker and a silver VTech logo.

The back panel of the doorbell unit contains a gasket to keep the internal compartment dry. Here is where you can install two AA batteries to power the doorbell. You can opt to attach the transformer wires if you want to power the unit from an AC outlet, but it just complicates an otherwise easy install process and requires drilling holes and running wire to the doorbell from an outlet inside the home. The only advantage to this option is having the ability to initiate a video session via a handset (while operating on batteries, only ringing the doorbell can initiate a video session). You can also use existing doorbell wiring to have both the VTech doorbell and your existing doorbell ring simultaneously.

A lever in the rear compartment lets you manually adjust the camera lens angle up, down, left, or right. This is fine if everybody who rings the doorbell is the same height, but since you only get an 18-inch vertical viewing angle from the lens you'll only see the top of shorter people's heads or the chest area of taller people (depending on how you set the camera angle). For example, I was able to see my six-foot-tall neighbor's face when he rang the bell, but my shorter 10 year old had to jump up to be seen. Having the ability to change the lens angle remotely is a must for this camera to be truly effective.

The base station cradle offers all of the features you'd expect from a typical home phone system including digital message recording (up to 14 minutes), caller ID, call waiting, speakerphone, and speed dial. You can store up to 50 entries in the Directory and use the remote message retrieval feature to play messages from the road.

The handset is 7.5 inches long and has a rounded back and a glossy black faceplate with silver trim. There's a 1.1 by 1.4 inch color LCD screen at the top, two soft keys below the screen, five buttons in the middle (view, volume up/down, talk, off), and a number pad on the bottom with mute, speakerphone, and redial buttons. On the right side is a PTT (push-to-talk) button that also takes a snapshot while the handset is in video mode. The number pad offers blue LED backlighting.

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Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus (for iPad)

Pros Simple to use. Incredibly light. Pressure sensitivity helps with detailed sketches. Excellent battery life.

Cons Accidental button presses can disrupt flow. Lighter strokes don't always register. AAAA battery is not rechargeable, and could be difficult to find. Bottom Line Wacom's Intuos Creative Stylus is a useful tool for creatives who want more nuance in their sketches, but its on-the-high-side price may turn away potential iPad artists.

By Patrick Austin

Drawing on the iPad without the right tool is more like finger painting than using a pen or a brush. Drawing with a stylus is a more feasible option. Wacom's Intuos Creative Stylus ($99.95 direct) is the company's first foray into professional-grade pressure-sensitive iPad styli. But with less expensive options like the $80 Pogo Connect and the extremely precise Adonit Jot Touch ($99.99), Wacom has some stiff competition, especially considering it's the Creative Stylus is priced on the high side.

Design and Setup
The Intuos Creative Stylus comes in a small, but sturdy case that holds two extra rubber nubs, the included AAAA battery, and the stylus. The pen itself is 5.3 inches long, 0.4 inches wide, and is very light at .88 ounce. The top half is made of brushed aluminum and the bottom is covered in a comfortable soft touch grip. It's available in all black or black and blue. The rubber tip feels and writes like a magic marker on glass.

The concave button rocker allows your thumb to rest naturally on the indent. The programmable buttons, used for undoing, redoing, or erasing (depending on your settings), don't feel as sturdy as the rest of the pen, however. Running your finger over them causes them to move just enough to activate accidentally with the smallest bit of pressure. You can situate the stylus so the buttons aren't under your fingers, but then you lose easy access to them.

The Creative Stylus is compatible with all Retina-display iPads (3rd- and 4th gen.) as well as the iPad mini. I was able to pair the pen with my 4th-generation iPad via Bluetooth 4.0 without any difficulty, and it worked almost all the time after the initial pairing. Whenever I couldn't get the pen to pair with the tablet, which wasn't often, I simply restarted Wacom's Bamboo Paper app (free in the Apple App Store). The Creative Stylus also works with relatively few third-party apps, but names like Adobe and Autodesk are on the list.

Putting Pen to Tablet
Wacom claims the Intuos Creative Stylus offers 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. Rather than a series of steps increasing in opacity, the stylus creates a smooth transition, making a very natural looking stroke. My lightest touches didn't always register, though, sometimes making it difficult to get the same type of  sketches I could make with pencil and paper.

Pinching and moving around with two fingers in the app zooms and pans the canvas respectively. As I was sketching, I often found that the opaque nub on the pen obscured the line I was creating. The Adonit Jot Touch, with its clear disc tip, makes it easier to view what you're drawing. Opacity aside, drawing was always a smooth experience. The motion never stuttered on the glass touch screen, nor did stop-and-go strokes distort the lines I was creating. Palm rejection worked flawlessly, even though drawing on glass does take some time getting used to.

After a week of testing, the pen's battery was still at more than 90 percent, which is a good thing, since the AAAA cell isn't rechargeable or as available as, say, a AAA cell. Wacom says the battery can last over 150 hours, and so far I have no reason to doubt that claim.

While the Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus with offers a nice writing experience with pressure sensitivity, the $100 price is probably too much for casual sketchers. They would likely be better served by the $80 Pogo Connect, which has a heavier, squishy tip similar to the Wacom stylus, and also offers pressure sensitivity. There's also the same-price clear-tipped Adonit Jot Touch, which lets you make more precise movements. Both of these styli earn our Editors' Choice. 

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WD QuickView

Pros Provides one-click information about Western Digital's My Cloud device. Free. Small, lightweight app.

Cons Does not provides any additional insight outside of the My Cloud's native management interface. Bottom Line Western Digital's My Cloud app may be overkill for power users of WD's My Cloud NAS since it offers no additional functionality beyond the My Cloud's management software. However, novice users may like the fact that it guides them through the most important information you may want to see about the My Cloud device without having to launch the management interface.

By Samara Lynn

Western Digital's QuickView is an app that's offered as part of a package of software downloads available for the Western Digital My Cloud NAS device. The app is downloadable from the My Cloud setup page.

QuickView is a management utility app. It provides My Cloud drive management as well as one-click access to checking the status of your MyCloud as well and lets you quickly access the My Cloud's configuration settings.

Download and Install
Quick View is downloaded from the My Cloud setup page on Western Digital's website. It's a small, compressed 3.5MB file. When installed, the app runs minimized in System Tray (at least in Windows, you can run the app in Max OS X as well).

Quick Viewing
When hovering the mouse over the QuickView icon in the System Tray, a pop-up display appears showing the device (My Cloud) and volume names. Also shown are percentage of disk space used and a status on the device's temperature.

A right click on the same icon brings up a menu with options that include opening the operating system's file explorer to view shares on the drive, going into the My Cloud's dashboard (the web-based management interface), accessing Western Digital's Learning Center support site, and some other interesting features.

One is "Map." When you click it, the software will walk you through automatically creating a drive mapping to one of your folder shares. Another is "Create Shortcut" which will place a shortcut to a folder share on the My Cloud on your desktop.

You can also quickly shut down My Cloud through the Quick View interface as well as view any alerts generated by the device. For example, when I clicked on alerts, I saw an alert for an unsafe USB device removal because I did not properly eject a connected USB drive I had connected to the USB port of the My Cloud NAS.

Handy App
Quick View is a free little app that lets you see some particulars of the My Cloud device without need of launching the web-based interface. It may be overkill for power users, as there's no additional functionality it offers outside the My Cloud's management software. However, novice users may like the fact that it guides them through the most important information you may want to see about the My Cloud device without having to launch the management interface. It's handy and it's free and gets 3.5 stars as a networking utility app.

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Wren V5PF Play-Fi

Pros Distinctive styling. Well-crafted. Smooth, powerful sound. Syncs with multiple speakers in multiple rooms with no latency.

Cons Expensive. No Bluetooth support. Play-Fi wireless protocol not compatible with many popular services or lossless formats. Distorts at high volumes with bass-heavy material. Bottom Line The Wren V5PF's distinctive styling, smooth sound quality, and Android compatibility make this a solid wireless speaker, but it's pricey and has some limitations.

By Jamie Lendino

Despite their immense popularity, Android smartphones still get short shift when it comes to wireless speakers. Sure, you can connect any Android phone over Bluetooth or with a 3.5mm cable, but the new Wren VP5F Play-Fi ($399.99 direct) does something different: It employs DTS's Play-Fi protocol, which allows for higher-quality Wi-Fi transmissions on a home network with a 150-foot range. The VP5F sounds huge, with commanding bass response and a smooth overall tone, and the Play-Fi protocol is ideal for setting up multi-room systems with no audible latency. But the V5PF itself distorts at higher volumes, and there are some significant issues with Play-Fi that you should also be aware of if you're expecting the Android equivalent to AirPlay. It's not for everyone, but the V5PF is a very good speaker nonetheless.

Design, Interface, and Setup
First, let's go over the V5PF's design. It certainly looks like no other speaker, thanks to the 6 by 17 by 4.2-inch (HWD), 6.1-pound enclosure's curved sides, which give it the shape of a curved parallelogram. You can get one in either Bamboo with a brown speaker grille, or in Rosewood with a silver grille. Our test unit was in the latter configuration, and it simultaneously looks both modern and vaguely 70s-retro. The silver plastic edging is delicate, though; after moving the unit around a few times on our test benches and for photography, we noticed several unsightly nicks in the plastic.

On the right side is a panel with a Power button, volume controls, and a Source select button along with three status LEDs. The back panel includes a small Setup button, a 3.5mm auxiliary input, a DC power input, and a USB port. The base uses a 4mm-thick silicone pad to stabilize and lift the speaker and minimize vibrations.

The Wren V5PF works with smartphones and tablets running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or higher, so unless you're clinging to an original Motorola Cliq, you're probably okay. To set up the V5PF, you'll need to use the free Wren Play-Fi Android app. I eventually had to have the speaker shipped home, because after several hours of back-and-forth and a call to Wren's tech support, we confirmed none of our test networks in PC Labs worked with Play-Fi; apparently our business-class routers block some of the streaming protocols necessary for it to work. This shouldn't be a problem for most users, but if you're thinking of buying a speaker for your office, you may want to stick with a Bluetooth model to avoid dealing with conflicting security measures.

Once set up in my house, the Play-Fi worked on the first try. I tested it with a Samsung Galaxy Note, which had no problem loading up, sending my network's SSID and password over to the V5PF for configuration, and connecting. The V5PF only works on 2.4GHz networks, so if your phone is normally connected to a speedy 5GHz network you'll have to use it on 2.4GHz from now on, which is a problem in crowded apartment buildings thanks to all of the interference.

Performance and Conclusions
With all of the network quirks out of the way, let's talk music and sound quality. The Play-Fi app works with locally stored media, as well as Pandora and a proprietary Internet radio service that hook into 20,000 stations worldwide. It doesn't work with a lot of other popular services here in the states like Google Music, Amazon MP3, Spotify, and Slacker, which is unfortunate. Fire any of those up instead of the Play-Fi app, and you're back to listening through your phone's built-in speaker unless you plug the phone into the V5PF with a 3.5mm auxiliary cable. For locally stored media, I had no problem playing MP3 and M4A files, but FLAC was too much; I heard constant dropouts and gave up pretty quickly.

The driver configuration consists of a pair of 3-inch long throw woofers with four-layer voice coils, and a pair of wide-dispersion 19mm soft-dome tweeters. Powering the proceedings is an Intersil D2 50-watt class D amplifier with DSP circuitry that curbs distortion at higher volumes.

Unfortunately, it was pretty easy to get the Play-Fi to distort with our standard test track for bass, The Knife's "Silent Shout," especially once the 808-style kick drum came in. Backing off the volume a bit and trying some other material, though, the V5PF sounded excellent. Radiohead's In Rainbows album sounded crisp, smooth, and full, with suitably quick bass response and solid punch. Ani DiFranco's "Knuckle Down" showed off the V5PF's upper midrange and treble, with plenty of detail in the acoustic guitar pick work and a smooth vocal sound.

Wren clearly voiced the system nicely; it has a full, generous bass response, and never sounded harsh throughout the frequency range with a variety of other material. If I could level any complaint at the sound, aside from the unfortunate tendency to distort at higher volumes, it's that it's a bit on the unexciting side without a bump in midrange or high-end detail you might expect. Still, it's pretty transparent, and sounds worth its $400 price.

Anyone who orders the Wren V5PF direct gets free shipping and a 30-day money back guarantee, and the speaker comes with a three-year warranty. So even if you haven't heard of the company or saw this product in a store, you can try it confidently. But the lack of Bluetooth support gives me pause. While it's great that Wren made a version specifically for Android phones, Play-Fi's setup process is a bit cumbersome, and it's pretty limiting in terms of what you can listen to wirelessly. Nothing beats Play-Fi for a multi-room speaker setup on the cheap, since you don't need to buy extra hardware like you do with a Sonos system.

The Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II costs $100 less, weighs much less, and delivers almost-as-powerful sound quality. It lacks the Wren V5PF's warm styling and sonic signature and isn't multi-room compatible, but it works with more devices and more song formats. The Cambridge Audio Minx Air 200 costs $200 more, but offers both Bluetooth and AirPlay wireless compatibility and sounds even more powerful still; a smaller version, the Minx Air 100, costs just $50 more than the Wren V5PF, but doesn't sound quite as good. The Wren V5PF Play-Fi is a nice speaker, and we like the fact that there are both Android and iOS versions; it's just that it's a tough market to crack given the hundreds of models available, and this Android version in particular has a few too many limitations for me to recommend it enthusiastically.

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XCOM: Enemy Unknown (for iPad)

Pros Excellent tutorial. Engaging turn-based action. Ability to customize soldiers and weaponry. Game is slightly different with each playthrough.

Cons Some graphical issues. Touch controls may prove problematic for some. Bottom Line XCOM: Enemy Unknown makes its iOS debut, and it's an excellent turn-based, alien-blasting, sci-fi strategy game.

By Jeffrey L. Wilson

2K Game deftly ports its hit PC and console turn-based strategy game to the Apple iPad, losing very little in transition. In XCOM: Enemy Unknown, gamers take control of the Extra-terrestrial Combat Unit (XCOM, for short) that's tasked with defending the Earth from an alien threat. XCOM: Enemy Unknown has some relatively minor graphics and control issues, but the game's an excellent paramilitary sci-fi title for those in the gaming populace with strategy leanings.

Gamers who aren't familiar with XCOM's gameplay (or the turn-based strategy genre as whole) will appreciate the useful tutorial that walks players through the movement, attack, and cover mechanics. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is best played with a mouse and keyboard combo—my fat fingers often had trouble pinpointing the exact square in a grid where I wanted a troop to move—but the touch controls are decent enough for mobile gaming. Levels aren't randomly generated, but the alien positioning changes with each playthrough. As a result, each alien skirmish—a mix of sneaking, positioning, and firepower—feels slightly different.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown's graphics are close to console-quality, but when some soldiers speak without moving their mouths, the characters look like marionettes holding big guns. Despite that visual stumble, XCOM: Enemy Unknown gives players the freedom to edit their troops' names, appearances, and weapon load outs, which leads to character attachment. Note: When a favorite soldier bites it s/he is gone for good. That said, you can recruit new fighters and upgrade their guns, grenades, and other weaponry. A XCOM: Enemy Unknown recent update added asynchronous multiplayer play, but it's caused some stability issues on the iPad mini.

iPad owners with a thirst for a thinking person's game will find a lot to like in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. There are numerous ways to engage enemy combatants, and lots of customization options for crafting your dream squad. XCOM: Enemy Unknown's story isn't particularly intriguing, but the squad-vs.-squad action is enough to keep strategy fans coming back for just one more game.

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Xerox DocuMate 3220

Pros Low price. Flatbed and ADF. 9 OneTouch scan destinations. Good OCR performance when switched to grayscale mode.

Cons Slow in scanning to searchable PDF. Abysmal OCR performance at its default OneTouch setting. Bottom Line The Xerox DocuMate 3220 is a budget entry-level document scanner with both an ADF and a flatbed.

By Tony Hoffman

For a price that's more typical of a portable scanner, you can buy the Xerox DocuMate 3220, a desktop document scanner complete with a 50-sheet automatic document feeder as well as a flatbed. This entry-level document scanner—geared to individuals as well as home or micro offices and small workgroups—isn't the fastest scanner around, and you'll have to adjust one setting to get usable OCR performance, but it offers a lot for not much money. We don't see many lower-priced scanners with both flatbed and ADF, and this is a welcome addition.

The 3220 has a 17.9 by 13.2 inch footprint (WD), thanks to its letter-sized flatbed, so it's large enough so you might not want to share a desk with it. It has an ultrasonic double-feed detection sensor to catch paper misfeeds. To the right of the 50-sheet duplex ADF is the single-character LED that's used to display the number of the current Visioneer OneTouch scan profile)—you can choose between preset and customizable, numbered scan profiles, that you can switch between with up and down arrows.

Scanning
You can initiate scans directly from the scanner, by choosing a OneTouch profile and pressing either the Simplex or Duplex button, or from the OneTouch interface on your computer. You can also scan from either PaperPort or OmniPage. The 3220 includes Twain and WIA drivers, so you can also scan from nearly any program that has a scan command.

Like most document scanners, the 3200 can scan at up to 600 dpi; it can scan in black and white, grayscale, or color. The default OneTouch scanning profiles and destinations include Scan (image PDF); PDF (searchable PDF); Print (BMP); E-mail (PDF); Fax (BMP); OCR (RTF); Archive (searchable PDF, 300 dpi); Custom (PDF); and Paint (BMP). It can scan to PDF, searchable PDF, JPEG, TIFF, and BMP formats; it can also scan to RTF and other document formats through PaperPort or OmniPage Pro.

Software
Software includes the Visioneer OneTouch scan utility with Kofax VRS scan enhancement, Nuance PaperPort for document management, and Nuance OmniPage Pro for OCR. Although it can scan business cards, it doesn't include business-card software.

Speed
The DocuMate 3220 is rated at 23 pages per minute (ppm) for simplex scanning and 23 ppm/46 images per minute (ipm) for duplex (two-sided) scanning (in black and white at 200 ppi), where each side of a page counts as one image. (For color scanning at 150 ppi, it's rated at just 12 ppm simplex/24 ipm duplex.) In speed testing using the OneTouch default settings for black-and-white image PDF, the 3220 was just short of its rated speeds, tallying 21 ppm for simplex and 42 ipm for duplex. This was a touch faster than the Editors' Choice Canon imageFormula DR-2020U, rated at 20 ppm and 40 ipm for simplex and duplex scanning, which we clocked at 18.3 ppm simplex and 36.1 ipm duplex. The Plustek SmartOffice PS286 Plus, rated at 25 ppm / 50 ipm, tested at 23 ppm for simplex and 37 ipm for duplex scanning.

When I switched to scanning to searchable PDF, widely used for document management, it took 3 minutes 22 seconds for the 3220 to scan and save our 25 page/50 image document to that format. It's a fairly typical speed for a scanner in its price range. The Plustek PS286 was a bit faster at 2:56, while the more expensive Canon DR-2020U lost little time in the OCR phase, scanning the same document to searchable PDF in 1 minute 23 seconds.

OCR
In scanning to OCR using the default OneTouch OCR setting for this scanner (black and white, 200 ppi, RTF format), its performance was highly problematic, with errors at all type sizes up to 12 points in our test fonts, even in commonly used fonts such as Times New Roman and Arial. However, simply by switching the mode to grayscale (still at 200 ppi), performance improved dramatically, and it was able to read those key fonts without errors at sizes down to 6 points.

The Xerox DocuMate 3220 is an entry-level scanner for personal, micro-office, or small workgroup use at a good price for what it offers. Its speed is in line with its price, and it offers a flatbed to boot. It should be a good fit for sole proprietors as well as micro offices and small workgroups. If they have problems with OCR quality, one simple tweak in settings should get it running right.

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ZTE Nubia 5 (Unlocked)

Pros Big, beautiful 1080p display. Thin, light, and solidly built. Relatively affordable and unlocked.

Cons Buggy, overwrought software. No LTE. Bottom Line The ZTE Nubia 5 is an affordable, well-built, and well-equipped unlocked Android phone, but its half-baked Android skin really holds it back.

By Eugene Kim

On paper, the ZTE Nubia 5 ($449 list) has all the trappings of a high-end device with a beautiful 5-inch 1080p display and fast quad-core processor. And in person, it even has the look and feel of a premium device—until you turn it on. There's no denying the raw potential here, but ZTE's gaudy Android skin does all it can to cripple what could have been a top performer. As far as unlocked options go, the Nubia 5 offers strikingly similar specs to the Sony Xperia ZL for nearly half the price. But it just seems like ZTE went down a checklist of features, without regard to the overall experience—the whole here ends up being less than the sum of its parts.  

Design, Features, and Call Quality
ZTE has crafted a really handsome phone in the Nubia 5. It makes you wonder how so many more-expensive handsets from more-established manufacturers can look and feel so cheap. At 5.43 by 2.7 by 0.29 inches (HWD) and 4.51 ounces, it's thinner, lighter, and narrower than the Xperia ZL, which was already impressively compact for packing such a large screen. There's a brushed metal rim around the Nubia's edges, and its soft touch plastic back feels sturdy. Volume and Power buttons are on the left and right sides, respectively, while the SIM card tray and 3.5mm headphone jack are on the top panel. On the bottom is a centered micro USB port with capacitive buttons for Menu, Home, and Back navigation below the display. It's bad enough that ZTE forces this non-standard Android setup, but it's made worse by the fact that the Home button is marked by a large circle while the other two buttons use identical single red dots. Once you're accustomed to the placement it's fine, but it will likely be confusing at first.  

The 5-inch, 1080p display is impressive considering the relatively low price. Text looks sharp, viewing angle is superb, and colors look vivid without being oversaturated. Brightness is simply average, though, and I had some trouble seeing the screen in bright, direct outdoor light.  The bezels around the display are pretty minimal, making it more comfortable to use the phone with one hand—I could reach completely across the display with my thumb, but still struggled to pull down the notification bar.

The Nubia 5 is an unlocked phone that supports GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz), UMTS (2100MHz), and HSPA+ 21.1. I tested using the phone with a T-Mobile SIM card in New York City. Call quality was generally good, with clear audio coming through the earpiece and strong reception. Volume could be a bit louder, though, and the speakerphone was too weak to hear over moderate street noise. Transmissions through the mic sounded full and defined, but noise cancellation struggled to block out ambient noise. I also noticed a good deal of pesky static on calls made with the Nubia 5. While it can't access T-Mobile's faster HSPA+ 41 network, in my tests, the Nubia 5 still turned in a respectable 5-6Mbps down and 1Mbps up. That's in line with the results we saw in our Fastest Mobile Networks survey, but it can't touch LTE speeds that can easily exceed 10Mbps.

There's 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi here, but only on the slower 2.4GHz band, which is disappointing. Also onboard are Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS, both of which worked fine in my tests. Inside is a sealed 2300mAh battery. We're testing the Nubia 5's battery life now, and will report here when we get our results.

Performance and Android
The Nubia 5 is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor with 2GB RAM. It's the same setup found in phones like last year's Google Nexus 4, but performance on synthetic benchmarks was curiously inconsistent. That bore out in real world usage as well, however, as the Nubia 5 suffered from buggy software and generally sluggish performance. During testing, the home screen routinely had to redraw all of its elements when waking the device from sleep or even simply after exiting an app. There was noticeable lag between pressing an app icon and launching that app. The recent apps page was also unusually slow and buggy—trying to quickly switch between multiple running apps can be pretty frustrating. Gaming performance is one of the Nubia 5's stronger points, as it was able to produce moderately smooth and playable frame rates in games like Need For Speed Most Wanted.

The most likely culprit for the frustrating performance issues is ZTE's Android skin. The Nubia 5 runs a heavily modified version of Android 4.1.2. I can deal with the dubious cosmetic changes and themes, but some modifications to key Android features leave me scratching my head. ZTE removed the app drawer entirely, opting for an Apple-esque approach that puts all of your icons on a home screen instead. You can still hide them away in folders, but it ends up making things look more cluttered. The recent apps screen represents running apps as cards that you swipe through horizontally. It looks nice enough, but you can only see two at a time. The whole deal wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't so clearly saddling the Nubia 5 with annoying levels of lag.

Multimedia and Conclusions
The Nubia 5 supports MP3, FLAC, AAC, OGG, and WAV audio files, but couldn't play back WMA. For video, there's MP4 and H.264 support, but no DivX, Xvid, or AVI support out of the box. There's no microSD card slot and of the 16GB total onboard storage, you get 9.04GB free.

ZTE makes some lofty claims when it comes to the Nubia 5's camera prowess. Beyond the 13-megapixel sensor, the lens is apparently made from sapphire and features an F2.2 aperture and Konica-Minolta 5-piece design. On the software side, ZTE baked in independent focus and exposure points. You can have the camera focus on one area, while setting the exposure based on another area in the frame. I actually really like these two features, but image quality was still a bit too inconsistent in both good and low-light scenarios. The Nubia 5 had some trouble finding and maintaining focus, which often led to blurry images, and indoors, the camera struggled with grainy shots. Under ideal lighting and with a steady hand, I was able to capture some pretty impressive shots, but for every great one, I'd also get a handful of disappointing images. Video capture reaches up to 1080p, but showed inconsistent and choppy frame rates regardless of lighting. Video detail is decent, but the frame rate issue and lack of stabilization make the footage pretty jerky. I'd rank the Nubia 5's camera toward the top of what I've seen with other Android smartphones, but I think ZTE's SLR comparisons are far too ambitious.

The ZTE Nubia 5 has so much potential, from its beautiful display, solid design, and fast quad-core processor. Throw stock Android on here and I think ZTE would have a serious contender on its hands, especially at this price point. It's nearly half the price of similarly equipped, unlocked smartphones like the $759.99 Sony Xperia ZL. As it stands, though, the Nubia 5's half-baked software is a big drag on what would otherwise be a well-equipped and affordably priced unlocked option.

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