Review: Sennheiser X320 Headset for Xbox 360
Posted Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 11:39 am by Jason Cartwright
Gaming on you’re Xbox with the surround sound cranked may be fun, but will likely piss off your neighbours. Either that or the other people in your house. To solve this problem, you should consider some gaming headphones, particularly if you live in an apartment complex with thin walls.
Solving the volume out issue is one thing, but what about the volume in problem, you know, for those Xbox LAN sessions you have in the street.
Over the past month I’ve spent some time with the Sennheiser X320 gaming headset for the Xbox 360. It features a stylish and comfortable design with green accent, which matches the black / green design of the console. Weighing in at just 280grams, they become like a watch after a while, in that you forget you’re wearing them. Other headsets I’ve used become really uncomfortable after a long gaming session, but the X320 over-the-ear design worked great.
The headset also features a microphone that turns on when you flick it down, and off when you flick it up. It may not sound like a big deal, but its a hell of a lot easier than fumbling to find the mute switch between rounds.
The sound quality of the headset is really good, in fact I even picked up some engine noise intricacies in Forza 4 that I hadn’t noticed before. This is likely due to the low noise amplifier built into the X320.
Issues
While the sound quality is solid, there are a few issues with this headset. The first is the connections are overly complex. First there’s the USB cable connection, then there’s the red and white audio pass-through connectors, then there’s the microphone to controller cable. For such a stylish headset, this is a really ineloquent solution. Maybe it’s a technical limitation of the Xbox, but a simply USB cable to carry audio both ways would dramatically simplify the setup.
Like most users, I connect the Xbox 360 via HDMI these days, this means I had to go find the component cable to use these headphones.
The microphone level is adjustable via the in-line control (along with headphone volume and bass boost), but quickly introduce line noise. This is a pretty big flaw in the product, but if you can keep it low and talk louder, you can work around it.
Price
The Sennheiser X320 Xbox gaming headset sells for around A$199. Shop around and you could find it on sale as cheap as $179.
Gallery
Overall
There’s no way around it, these are expensive, but as a premium headset its not unexpected. The biggest issue is the limitation of Xbox-only. I tried plugging the X320 into the PC but they do not work as a regular headset. The only way I could swallow $200 for a headset is if I could use them for absolutely everything from the mobile phone to the TV. Sadly these are Xbox-only. There’s a bunch of gaming headsets in this space, so look at other options but if your after audio quality, keep the X320 in mind.
Review: Samsung Galaxy Nexus / Android 4.0
Posted Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 1:35 pm by Jason Cartwright
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the flagship phone for Android right now, being the only device shipping with 4.0 on-board.
Hardware
Screen
The device features one of the largest screen sizes we’ve seen on a smartphone, supporting a Super AMOLED 4.65” display running a massive 1280×720 resolution. This screen is clearly made for content consumption, ideal for watching movies on a plane or train. There is one problem with a screen size that large, it takes a lot of battery to power it.
While the phone sounds huge in size, when you get it in your hand, its actually surprisingly manageable. This is likely due to it’s weight, only a measly 135 grams. The whole device is thin as well, with only the slightest tapering out at the bottom its dimensions are 67.94mm wide, 135.5mm tall, and 8.94mm thick (or thin).
Cameras
The rear camera is 5 megapixel with an LED flash, pretty standard right now. The Galaxy Nexus does also have with continuous auto focus, making it great for shooting objects that are varying distance from your shooting position. Despite being able to fire off photos with almost no shutter lag, you will still need to keep the phone still as blurry photos are still very possible.
The camera can also record 1080p video, which looks gorgeous, particularly when played back on the 4.65” HD display. Naturally with smaller optics, you want good lighting and a stable hand to get the best out of it.
The front facing camera is a 1.3 megapixel standard camera, nothing ground breaking there. It would be great to see some innovation here, its a feature that’s moved from optional, to a requirement, so lets get some more quality up front. Then the photos might actually be useable for more than a postage stamp sized profile photo.
Storage
There’s only one size available, it’s 16GB and isn’t expandable. For most people this won’t be an issue, but enthusiasts with a large number of apps or media collection, this may create a problem.
Performance
Supporting a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM, it’s unlikely you’ll come across a phone with higher specs. Paired with Android 4.0, the speed of the device is impressive, although competitors achieve similar speeds with lower specs. The power really comes when delivering intensive 3D games at 1280×720 while running background processes.
NFC
Also known as Android Beam, near field communication is in the Galaxy Nexus, but there’s not really anyone to test it with. Sharing files, applications will become easier, but will needs a wide proliferation of devices to support this before it is feasible. Some early adopters may have MasterCard PayPass or Visa Paywave setup, but right now, it’s early. There’s always a chicken and egg argument when it comes to new technology like this, so for the negligible cost of including an NFC chip and writing software around it, it’s a welcome inclusion for the future.
Networks
With pretty standard HSPA+/3G/EDGE/GPRS support, the Galaxy Nexus unfortunately can’t take advantage of Telstra’s shiny new high-speed 4G network. There’s also no support for Telstra’s HD voice calling, missing the critical WB-AMR (Wideband Adaptive Multi-Rate) support. The Galaxy Nexus does support Telstra’s HD voice calling, one of the few devices that do.
More info at – http://www.google.com.au/nexus/#/tech-specs
Gallery
Software
Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) has been long awaited by Android fans since it was shown off by Google back in October. There’s no carrier or manufacturer skin here, the Galaxy Nexus ships with a pure Google experience. To be honest, there’s really no need for any of them to customise it, Android 4.0 is a solid release. Let’s take a look at what’s new.
Folders
Applications can now be sorted into folders, this works much the same as iOS. Folders can also be docked to one of four positions on the favourites tray. With only 5 home screens available in the default ICS rom, folders will help you load up with a decent catalogue of apps.
Built-in apps
The device ships with a folder of Google apps, these include Maps, Gmail, Calendar, Google+, Music, Market, Talk, YouTube, Navigation and Messenger. This demonstrates the strength of the Google properties, with coverage of almost all core features. Despite these being included out of the box, there is always room for third party apps to innovate and improve on the default offering.
Multi-tasking
With capacitive hardware buttons gone, all operations are now done with software buttons. One of the buttons you quickly become familiar with is the app switching or multi-tasking button. The right-most button of the three displays a really beautiful list of previously run applications. Depending on the app, some of these may be still running, or alternatively paused until your switch back to it. By comparison to both iOS and WP7, this app switcher is the best in the industry right now.
Face unlock
One of the showcase features when ICS was detailed, Face unlock is a gimmick. The biggest problem here is the time taken for the phone to do the analysis and then unlock. The reality is that entering a pin code or swipe gesture is faster. With a task that will be done multiple times per day, fast always wins.
Updates
As a platform, Android 4.0 was supposed to solve the long-running, heavily criticised fragmentation issue, however it seems the issue still remains. The Telstra review unit is still running 4.0.1, despite 4.0.3 being available from Google. It may only contain some additional API changes and bug fixes, but I want the latest release, without delay from carriers.
Panorama stitching
There is a lot of solutions for on-device panorama creation, well thanks for playing, but Google has it under control now. To create a panorama, it’s a simple as firing up the camera app, switch to panorama mode and film left to right, just as if you were shooting video. After a bit of processing, you’ll have your nice landscape panorama. While occasional stitching errors can occur, this is a decent implementation. Like any other photos or videos shot with the phone, your panorama can be shared to your favourite social network right from the app.
Issues
HD app support
With all the extra pixels to play with, you’d expect to see a lot more content fitting on the display. The problem is that most apps are simply scaled up, meaning that you’ll still only see the same number of tweets, Facebook posts or news items. Naturally apps created by Google do support the HD resolution, so the browser, mail and others look fantastic. Over time, some application developers will update their apps to take advantage of the larger screen, but this will take time.
Battery life
Powering a 4.65” display doesn’t come cheap, add to that the power drain of running multiple apps and you start to get an idea of what the battery life is like on the Galaxy Nexus. The short answer is, you’ll struggle to get through a day. The problem exists in most smart phones these days, the more we can do with these pocket computers, the more we use them, the more battery we burn through.
The good news here is that the battery is replaceable, just peel off that flimsy plastic back and insert an extended battery (not included).
Browser
While the techAU website displays fine on most browsers (including older Android browsers) the Android 4.0 browser has a strange issue where the content text in posts was only half the width of the available space. This is by no means an extensive test of websites, but is interesting that it would render a page differently than any other browser, mobile or desktop.
Screen rotation lag
When rotating the device, particularly in the camera / photo apps the delay in response is severe. A pretty basic function, something you’ll likely do multiple times a day, can take a number of seconds to respond. With a dual-core processor, this just shouldn’t happen, there’s really no excuse for it.
Low Audio levels
It seems the speaker in the Galaxy Nexus could have done with some extra dbs. From the music player to incoming calls, the phone on maximum volume isn’t very loud.
Pricing
The Galaxy Nexus I reviewed was from Telstra, which offers the phone from $69pm month +handset repayment on a two year plan. With a phone that begs to be used for media creation and consumption, having good network performance is important. Try uploading a 1080p video on anything else and you’ll want to cry. One thing I was impressed with, was the speed at which multiple applications would download and install simultaneously.
Overall
The Galaxy Nexus is the best Android phone available today. If you’re in the market for an Android phone, this should be your first option. Take a look at the issues section, if none of these really concern you then your set, get the Galaxy Nexus. There is no perfect device, but the Galaxy Nexus is by far the best Android device I’ve used. If your needs dictate that you need something smaller, then wait, Android 4.0 should now be a requirement for your Android purchase.
The Galaxy Nexus stacks up well against competitors and I’d be happy to carry one in my pocket. As for Android, before version 4.0 it was hard for me to recommend Android, but with this release, all the important pieces to a smartphone ecosystem are in place and finally with some design consistency.
More information at http://www.google.com.au/nexus/#/index or buy it from Telstra.
Review: Logitech K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard
Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 6:28 pm by Bryce Wilson
Nothing beats laying back in bed or relaxing on the couch, putting a movie on, and getting warm under the blankets… until you realise you put the wrong movie on or need to adjust the audio. Thus begins the awkward clamour out into the cold lounge or bedroom, fiddling with some knobs, hitting some menus, and once again relaxing.
Well Logitech aims to alleviate the aforementioned problem with the introduction and release of the K400 Wireless Touch Keyboard, a fully wireless keyboard that manages to condense a high quality keyboard and touchpad into one tiny form fitting unit.
Aimed at lounge room and HTPC users, the K400 is a compact and stylish unit, capable of not only controlling all your general media needs, but also navigating your PC at ease thanks to the multi-touch supported 3.5" touchpad and traditional laptop-esque left and right mouse keys. In accoutrement to the wonderful touchpad is a set of well positioned multimedia keys giving you quick and easy access to volume and internet home controls.
Connection and setup is a literal breeze thanks to the included Bluetooth USB receiver which literally plugs in, installs its own Windows drivers, and is then ready to be used. The wireless connection reaches up to ten meters away, more than enough for pretty much every lounge area and bedroom you could have a computer in. Included within the packaging is a set of batteries for the keyboard and the pair of them last up to twelve months, and that’s with extensive use.
The wireless signal is heavily protected thanks to the Swiss-based manufacturers inclusion of critically acclaimed 128-bit AES encryption method.
I found it quite difficult to type on the device at first, primarily due to the fact I am accustomed to using a full sized gaming keyboard for day to day application. However once I got the hang of typing on the K400, I came to find that the keys were quite responsive and operated flawlessly. While some may not like the small amount of force you need to use to suppress the keys, I like it and the reassurance it offers, as using a keyboard like this on your lap can at times cause problems as it slides around on your lap.
My only gripe and suggestion would be that a thin rubberised surface should be applied to the bottom of the K400, which would then alleviate any minor sliding issues, and allow the keys to have their pressure sensitivity raised slightly.
Thanks to the lightweight unit, well condensed keyboard boasting a full set of pliable keys, and an impressive multi-touch supported touchpad, the Logitech K400 is an easy and high quality recommendation for anyone looking to get a long distance grip on their HTPC from the comfort of their bed, couch, or floor.
Review: Battlefield 3
Posted Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 12:29 pm by Bryce Wilson
The one thing I felt throughout all my experiences of playing Battlefield 3 was that it wasn’t quite sure what game it wanted to be. Rugged multiplayer, huge team battles, and one of the most impressive visual and audio engines in recent time were let down by a generic and half baked single-player campaign dotted with clichés and rehashed storytelling
The story within Battlefield 3 takes a more serious and gritty feel. The narrative of Sergeant James Blackburn is filled with storytelling devices we saw in Call of Duty: Black Ops, almost to the point where it ruins the immersion. WMDs? Yeah. Questionable Russian ally? Yeah. Dimly lit interrogation room? Umm, yes. While there’s definitely a palpable sense of tension throughout the whole single-player element, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.
Admittedly the campaign does have some memorable scenes, namely the whole “Comrades” mission, it should not be seen as anything more than an interactive tutorial into the real Battlefield experience; which is arguably one of the best multiplayer experiences of all time.
From the tracer rounds arcing into the sky in Tehran City to the bullet riddled and echo filled subways of Operation Metro, Battlefield 3’s multiplayer does not run out of jaw dropping moments or fail to show you new tricks. Depending on the game type you play, each map has a select amount of area it will encompass, and this frontline changes throughout the course of your mission. A traditionally huge Conquest map like Caspian Border might only be a quarter of the size during Rush, and vice versa.
The sense of scale in these large and wide open sandbox maps promotes not only exploration, but also variety. Approach the hillside on Caspian Border from the creek, stealthily skulking in the shadows, or this time will you rush up the road in a jeep while your buddy lays suppression fire? You might play each map 100 times but I assure you that each play through will never be the same.
The biggest part of this constant refreshing feel is Battlefield 3’s in-depth progression system. Yes, we’ve seen ranking up to new guns and attachments countless times now, but Battlefield 3 really nails the rate at which you gain access to new weapons.
Soldiers, tanks, helicopters, jets, and even boats have their own unique unlock tier that you’ll always be trying to unlock “one more” piece on. It’s enjoyable, simple, and above all else easy thanks to the ever present team orientated nature of the Battlefield games. Reviving a fallen comrade nets you points, resupplying that Support gunner laying down suppressive fire will net you points, defending flags will net you points. Battlefield caters to how you want to play, and rewards you for doing what you enjoy most.
All of this is made even more amazing by Battlefield 3’s much marketed and anticipated Frostbite 2.0 engine. The lighting effects afforded by this are simply beautiful, and you will never see something else like this somewhere else. While it looks amazing on Ultra PC settings, DICE has also done an impressive job of scaling performance down for console hardware.
From the marvellous vistas to the sparks flying off your vehicle’s hull as bullets impact it, you’ll be visually impressed at every corner. Night-time environments also make an appearance and offer a barren contrast to the more vibrant and animated daytime missions as you fight under dim fluorescent light.
Although I’ve heaped praise amongst Battlefield 3, it’s not without its impurities or glitches, most of which arise with the new engine. Legs clipping through walls, characters rising off the ground and floating, soldiers running across water, and even bouncing hundreds of meters into the air upon death. While these are hilarious to look at, it’s far from the sense of realism and authenticity I’m looking for.
They cause frustration, blame, and most importantly ruin the sense of immersion developers often strive so hard to achieve.
Battlefield 3 is the ultimate first-person shooter and gift of love to Battlefield fans. When you put aside the easily forgettable watered down narrative and occasional glitches, Battlefield 3 offers a top-level multiplayer experience that will not only excite shooter fans, but also keep them happy for years to come.
Review: Wallabies Rugby Challenge
Posted Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 10:06 pm by Jason Cartwright
Rugby Union is big in NSW, but when our Aussies play internationally, it’s something we can all get behind. Wallabies Rugby Challenge has exclusive rights to the Australia and New Zealand teams, setting up the ultimate challenge for the most passionate Union fans from either side of the Tasman.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup is taking place right now in New Zealand, so this timely release should serve fans well. The game is available now in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa (the three biggest Rugby countries) and scheduled for release for the rest of the world on October 14th.
The game features Rugby legend Jonah Lomu and will actually sell under that name Worldwide. The same game in New Zealand is marketed towards All Black Fans. While this may be a costly production exercise, targeting a game to an audience makes a lot of sense and will likely result in higher sales. Just be sure to look for the right title in your region.
Keep in mind there will likely be a zero-day patch if you decide to pick up the game, with developers Sidhe addressing early feedback. You can see a fairly extensive list of notes for the update on the official site.
Graphics
With any action game, when your fully immersed in gameplay, the graphics fade away and you enjoy the experience. On-field the graphics are pretty decent with detailed textures, good crowds and great environments. There is however an issue with the graphical representation of players during the team selection. Players faces suffer from heavy aliasing making them look almost cartoonish rather than photographic.
During matches in the rain, there’s no visual impact on player clothing and cloth simulations as a result of them being wet. With so many players needing to be rendered on the field, this would be a challenging task.
Gameplay
Your mileage with an intricate sport like this will vary based on your experience and knowledge of the game. Fortunately for those less familiar with the code, the game contains a fairly extensive tutorial mode. I strongly advise newbies to run through this before attempting a real match.
There’s a number of game modes including Tutorial Mode, Quick Match, Competition Mode, and multi-year Career Mode for those with seriously too much time on your hands. Locally you can play up to 4 people (2 co-op), but online you can join teams of 8.
At times this game suffers from an issue with camera movement. Switching the 180 degrees from offense and to defense, is one example of where it could have been done in a smoother, less disorienting way.
Check out the video below to see Lomu in a motion capture suits during the development of the game.
Price & Availability
While this review is based on the Xbox 360 version, Wallabies Rugby Challenge is also available on PS3 and PC via Steam. The best price for the game currently is A$89 from JB HiFi, but depending on the retailer you choose it could be $10-$20 more.
Game currently have a special on Rugby World Cup 2011 making the price difference another strike against the game.
Overall
Rugby Union fans will be happy with this game, despite some minor issues. The publishers Tru Blu Entertainment would be smart to continue to service community feedback with patches. This game’s biggest issue isn’t bugs, it is competition. While Wallabies Rugby Challenge is a pretty decent offering you can have a lot of fun with, I suspect most cash strapped gamers will choose Rugby World Cup 2011. While I haven’t reviewed that title, my advice as always is to read and compare multiple reviews so you get the most out of your hard earned (or Centrelink).
The Rugby World Cup only comes around once every 4 years, so its great to see fans having a number of options to choose from. I wish the same could be said about all sports, take V8 Supercars as an example, there hasn’t been a game this generation of consoles.
More information @ rugbychallengegame.com
SSD Shakedown: OCZ Vertex 2 vs OCZ Vertex 3 vs Crucial M4
Posted Monday, September 12, 2011 at 8:23 pm by Bryce Wilson
When it comes to upgrading something in your PC for the most noticeable performance gains, the SSD is probably the best place to start. Traditional platter based hard drives have served the PC masses for years now, but with cheaper production costs and huge technology investments, flash storage is readily becoming the way of the data storage future.
Today techAU puts three consumer Solid State Drives onto the testing bench to find out which offer the biggest gains, and which offers you the best bang for your buck.
Testing Rig:
Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO USB3
CPU: AMD Phenom x4 955 Black Edition @ 3.8Ghz
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz G-Skill Ripjaws X (9-9-9-24)
GPU: GTX 580 (1.5GB)
Note: All drives were benchmarked as is, out of the box.
Testing Programs:
AS SSD – 1.6.4237.30508
ATTO Disk Benchmark – 2.47
HD Tune Pro – 4.61
CrystalDiskMark – 3.0.1
Competing alongside each other today we have the 60GB OCZ Vertex 2, a small sized drive with an affordable price. The 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS drive, a mid-level drive with blistering random performance. And finally we have the 256GB Crucial m4 SSD, one of the most powerful SSD’s on the market offering blazing speeds and large space.
All three drives were wiped before having Windows 7 64 bit install on them. We then took the drives through a series of tests and benchmarks using common tools, the data and results of which have been provided below for review.
