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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