Galaxy S6 versus Galaxy S6 Edge: Better for you!

Galaxy S6 versus Galaxy S6 Edge

                             ( taken from Cnet)

S6, Edge. S6, Edge.

If you're hemming and hawing over which of Samsung's new Galaxy S6 superphones to order, let me help break down the major differences so you can decide which one (if any) is right for your pocket.

First things first. I reviewed both the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, and they're both terrific. They're also almost identical in looks and performance, so you shouldn't sweat the decision either way.

(That said, I have a personal preference, but more on that -- and in my video! -- below.)

What's the same

Let's make it easy. Everything the Galaxy S6 has, the Galaxy S6 Edge has, too. OK, so there are a few really minor hardware differences, like the G6 Edge's battery that's a skosh larger than the S6's -- 2,600mAh versus 2,550mAh.

More importantly, though, they share these headliner specs:

1.          Glass and metal build
2.  5.1-inch ultra-high definition screen (2,560x1,440-pixel resolution)
3. 16-megapixel camera
4. Octa-core processor
5. Available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities (no expansion available)
6. Fingerprint reader
7. Quick charging
8. Wireless charging (compatible with Qi-standard chargers

What's different

There are two central physical differences between the phones: the shape and the S6 Edge's "Edge screen."

You can read about what it's like to hold both phones in my full reviews, but I will say here that the Edge's two curving-down sides make it feel every bit like the elite model.

The design comes across as both sharper and more petite, with an air of fragility that will likely make most S6 Edge owners dash to buy a case. (In all reality, everyone should buy a case and glass screen protector if they want to safeguard their investments.)

Then there's the Edge software, which includes ways to quickly reach and respond to the five most important people in your life, among other tidbits, like a night mode that dimly displays the date and time after lights-out. These are nice extras, but hardly catapult you to the next level of smartphone existence.

So, yeah. that fancy double tapered screen doesn't do all that much. But in a world where all smartphones are flat slabs of glass, this is one of the first ones in years that really sets itself apart from a design perspective. It's a looker.

How much more the S6 Edge will cost you

That leads us to the other big difference between the phones: price.

Carriers and retailers will set their own prices in your country and currency. For the sake of comparison, though, the 32GB S6 Edge costs between 14 percent and 19 percent more than the 32GB S6. In dollars, that's between $100 and $130 more for the same capacity.

Video links

Youtube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb2Fi4_9n0Q

Daily Motion

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2isvcb_galaxy-s6-vs-galaxy-s6-edge_tech

Getting started with your new Android

Article taken from CNET
by :Sarah Mitroff

Congrats on your new Android phone or tablet! Whether it's your first or fifth, there are a few tips and tricks that can help get it ready for you. Setting up your device requires a bit more than simply powering it up; you'll want to turn on a few helpful settings, make sure everything is current and add your various accounts.

I've put together a guide of important first steps to take with your new Android. Follow these tips and you'll be having fun with your new device in no time.

Power it on, set it up

With every Android device, when you power it on for the first time, you'll have to go through a setup wizard before you can start using the device. Here is where you'll select your device's language, connect to a WiFi network, add your Google account and set up select settings, such as location tracking or gestures, if applicable. Just follow each prompt on the screen and don't worry much about which settings you turn on or leave off, as you can change everything later.

Check for updates

The version of Android that shipped with your new phone or tablet may not be the most up-to-date. Make sure you're running the newest flavor of Android available for your device by checking for a software update.

Go to Settings > About Phone (or Tablet or Device) > Software Update. Your phone or tablet will check for any updates and either download them automatically or let you know your hardware is running the latest operating system.

Another important step is to check for app updates in the Play Store. Many of the pre-installed apps that come with your new device are updated frequently, so there's likely updates available for them. Just open the Play Store, tap the three lines at the top-left corner and select My Apps from the menu. You'll see a list of apps that are ready to update.

Secure your device

A crucial step in keeping your phone or tablet safe from prying eyes or thieves is to add a layer of security with a password, PIN or pattern lock. You'll also want to make sure that Android Device Manager is enabled, so that you can find or wipe your phone if its lost or stolen.

To set up a screen lock, which prevents someone else from using your phone, head to Settings > Security > Screen Lock. With some Android devices, the option might be nestled under Lock Screen. Choose the type of lock you want and follow the prompts to enable it.

Modern Android devices have a built-in location tracking tool that can help you find them if they go missing. It's usually enabled by default, but you should double check by going to the Google Settings app (not your phone's settings) and selecting Security.

Make sure the boxes for "Remotely locate this device" and "Allow remote lock and erase" are checked. The first setting can find your phone or tablet on a map from your computer when it gets lost. The remote lock option can lock your phone's screen and erase all of the data from it if it's stolen and you want to protect your personal data. If you ever need to use either tool, you can access the Android Device Manager from your computer to see your phone on a map and remotely ring it, lock it or erase it.

Essential steps for securing your phone

Find your lost Android device with Android Device Manager

Backup and transfer your photos

If you're making the switch from one Android device to another, you'll likely want to backup your photos from your old phone before you set up your new one.

The easiest way to save your photos is to take your phone's charging cable and remove the plug adapter. Plug the full-sized USB side into your computer (if you have a PC running Windows, Macinstructions below) and wait for it to recognize your device. You'll be able to browse all of the files and folders on your phone right from your desktop. For photos taken with your phone's camera, look for the DCIM folder, then open the Camera folder and drag the files you want onto your computer.

If you'd like to load those photos onto your new device, just follow the same process in reverse, dragging files from your computer into a folder on your Android. I recommend just dragging them into the Pictures folder.

For Mac computers, you'll need the free Google program called Android File Transfer. Once it's installed, you can plug in your Android via USB to view, transfer and delete files.

Cloud storage

For backing up new photos you take with your phone, cloud storage is one of the best options. There are many options out there for your Android device, including Google's own Photo cloud service. If you chose to back up your photos with Google, head over to the Photos app, tap the three vertical dots at the top-right and select settings. Choose Auto Backup to have your phone upload any new photo or screenshot to your Google account.

If you'd rather use a third party cloud storage service, check out Dropbox, Box, Microsoft OneDrive and Copy. Each of them have automatic photo backup tools in their individual apps.

Google Now

One of Google's best mobile features is Google Now, a built-in virtual assistant that can show you the weather, nearby events, sports scores and so much more. It's not turned on by default, so you'll need to enable it and I think that everyone should.

Open the Google search app (simply called Google) and you'll be prompted to get Google Now. Tap "Yes, I'm In" to enable it and you're done. The app will get smarter as you use it, learning about what you search for to surface things it thinks you want to see. You can also manually customize Google Now in settings, adding favorite stocks, sports teams, and even set your home and work locations for extra features.

Get started with Google Now

Add additional accounts

While you need a Google account to get the most out of Android, you can add additional email, social media, and in some cases cloud storage, accounts to access extra features. This is helpful if you use non-Gmail email accounts, such as Yahoo or Microsoft Exchange.

Just go to Settings > Accounts > Add account, and choose from the list. Follow the prompts and you're done.

Customize it

Now, I'd argue, comes the fun part. It's time to download all the apps you want, swap the wallpaper, change the font (if available) and make other adjustments that give your device some of your own personality. Let's face it, one of the most appealing features of Android is that you can customize many parts of it, so take advantage of that wherever you can.

To change the wallpaper and font, poke around the settings app. On most devices, these options are in the Display or Personalize section. You can also often adjust color schemes, text size and brightness. Another great option is to swap out the default on-screen keyboard for a better third party option. Some of my favorites are Swiftkey, Fleksy and Minuum.

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Operating Systems

Mobile Apps

Android KitKat

Android Jelly Bean

Android Lollipop

Moto X leaks in more press shots, this time in white

And the saga continues! Hot on the heels of this morning's leaked renders comes a couple more press shots of the Moto X, courtesy of @evleaks -- this time in gloriousunicorn white. There's not much more to mention here other than it's a lot easier to spot the mics front and back and to get a feel for the texture that adorns the rear. It looks very much like the svelte handset Eric Schmidt recently flaunted at the annual Allen and Co media conference. Not a fan of the existing hues? Motorola's been pretty clear the phone will be available in custom colors -- we're longing for a beautiful shade of purple ourselves. With the official Moto X launch slated forThursday August 1st, we're only days away from getting all the details, so stay tuned for more.


 (Taken from Engadget)

BlackBerry Bold 9930

It's been something of a long time coming, this emboldened Bold. We got our first glimpse of the thing in February, spent some quality time with it back in June, and since then have sat around eagerly awaiting its release. Now, here it is. From a distance, or at a quick glance, it looks little changed from 2008's Bold 9000. But get closer, pick it up, and the difference is astonishing.

RIM has gone to great pains to talk up this device's high-end design, its luxurious stylings, its sophisticated aesthetic. We're far from Vertu territory here, but the first time this phone hits your palm you know a lot of people spent a lot of time making it feel just right -- even if it still looks just the same. Of course, it's what's inside that counts, so join us as we find out whether the soft and hard bits beneath the surface can do the business too.

Display

The new Bold offers a 2.8-inch LCD that may not be much bigger than that found in previous Bold models but is at least higher resolution: 640 x 480. It's hard to get too excited about stepping up to VGA in 2011, so forgive us if we're a little underwhelmed by the pixel count here, but resolution is more than adequate. In fact, its 287dpi rating is mighty close to the vaunted 300dpi supposedly needed to get us close to Retina territory. Coming from a big-screened slate of a phone you'll feel underwhelmed by the size here, but most BlackBerry users will appreciate the extra pixels.

If indeed you can get past the size you'll agree this is a very, very nice display offering plenty of brightness for sunny days, beautiful color reproduction regardless of conditions and viewing angles good enough to offer almost full-contrast -- even when you can see only a sliver of the screen. It's quite a looker, just a shame it's so small.

 

Wrap-up

The BlackBerry Bold 9930 feels like the beginning of a transition -- the last hurrah for an OS that isn't much longer for this world. Or maybe that's just us being optimistic. We'd love to have been able to use this phone with a more modern, more refined feeling OS, but as it is we have some great hardware running software that just won't appeal to anyone who has already left (or was never pulled in to) the BBM fold.

And maybe, for now, that's the best RIM can do -- stem the tide. The company isn't exactly losing its customers, it just isn't growing as quickly as the competition, and until it has a truly mainstreamable operating system it never will. So, don't look at the 9930 as a phone that'll end what ails RIM and introduce it into new markets. Look at it as the best damn embodiment of what BlackBerry is today -- and then join us all in crossing our fingers as we wait for the next release of BlackBerry OS, which hopefully will bring something truly different to the table.


(Taken from Engadget )

HP TouchPad review

Review by Engadgets

As things get older they tend to get bigger. It's the same for people, corporations, models of cars, budget deficits... and so it is for webOS. As Palm was in the process of being subsumed its great mobile operating system was being eyed for much broader things, far bigger than the little phones it had previously been flashed on. Things like printers and desktops and laptops, but for its first proper foray outside of a phone it has a tall task: compete in the brutally vicious tablet space.

Its weapon is the TouchPad, a 9.7-inch tablet from HP that got official back in February and will be available July 1st (if you don't manage to find it earlier) -- $499.99 for the 16GB model, $599.99 for 32GB. That's exactly on parity with the WiFi iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1, current kings of the tablet court. Does this plus-sized Palm progeny really have what it takes to hang at that price point, or is this just a chubby pretender that's outgrown its britches? Read on to find out.

Hardware

The TouchPad slides out of its cardboard box with a lot of resistance, a precise paper seal creating a vacuum that does its best to keep its tablet firmly ensconced within. Keep pulling and the pressure equalizes, the box yields, and you're granted access to what can only be called a somewhat chunky tablet. It weighs in at 1.65 pounds (750 grams), heavier than the 1.3 pound (600 gram) iPad 2, heavier than the 1.26 pound (570 gram) Galaxy Tab 10.1, and heavier even than the 1.6 pound (730 gram) MotorolaXoom -- which is itself hardly a delicate flower.

Its back is black plastic, glossy with a piano-like finish. It's reminiscent of the early, similarly sheen PS3 consoles -- cool to touch and nice to look at, but an astonishingly effective fingerprint magnet. A concave shape makes it comfortable to hold for those of us with bigger hands, more so than the flat profiles of those more slender machines mentioned above, but that comes at the expense of it feeling a bit hollow. The iPad or the Tab give impressions of solidity, of devices with not a hint of room to spare (despite that not necessarily being the case), but the TouchPad feels like there's plenty of space in there for, well, more stuff.

That said, the tablet's dark, simple design doesn't make room for many externally defining characteristics, making figuring out which way is "up" a bit of a challenge. But, get it turned the right way 'round and you'll find a petite chrome power button on the right side of the upper edge. A similarly bright volume rocker lies just around the corner, and if you move further down the right edge you'll find a little blanked-out spot that could make room for a SIM in future iterations.
Continuing clockwise around, a micro-USB port divides the bottom edge, while on the left two inset speaker grilles lurk beneath holes cut from the side of the case. They do provide comprehensively good audio for a tablet, meaning all that Beats talk Jon Rubenstein gave us wasn't completely PR fluff. That said, the sharp ridges left around these recessed tweeters aren't exactly friendly to the hands. No, the TouchPad won't leave you with bloody palms (which would be delightfully tragic) but literal rough edges like this are surprising on a device that's been in development for this long.

Back up top again you'll find the 3.5mm headphone jack on the left side, while a small microphone sits between that and the power button. Around the front is a 9.7-inch, 1,024 x 768 display, matching the iPad and, again like Apple's tablet, that display sits above a small Home button. It's in almost exactly the same place and serves almost exactly the same functionality: push this to pop out of your current app and get back to the system menu, but more about that in a bit.

Performance and battery life

We're having a bit of a hard time quantifying the performance of the TouchPad because, well, it should be fast with its 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor paired with 1GB of RAM, but too often left us waiting. Bootup, for example, takes 1:15, which is an eon compared to 30 seconds or so on both the Galaxy Tab and the iPad 2. Similarly, we ran our freshly-booted TouchPad through the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark and netted a 3,988ms result. That again compares unfavorably to a 2,213ms on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and a nearly identical 2,173ms on the iPad 2.

But numbers aren't everything, unless you're a mathematician or an accountant or an astrologist. So, how does the TouchPad fare in real life? Browsing is reasonably snappy most of the time, but we encountered some pages that just seemed to take a particularly long time to load. Our site, full of graphics and Flash, loads quickly. The Gmail site, however, takes ages and ages... and ages. Online video plays in the browser, but rarely well.

Most apps are quick to load and responsive enough, but some, like Weatherbug, are very slow. It's easy enough to blame the developers getting to grips with new hardware at this point, but ultimately we never felt wowed by the performance. Sure, flipping between tasks is quick and snappy, but changing from landscape to portrait is occasionally sluggish and, after about a day or so, we found we had to give it a reboot to regain optimum performance.

We're told that an OTA update is in development that will help to address some performance concerns, specifically with web browsing and orientation adjustments. However, we're not sure exactly when this update will be hitting the airwaves.

Battery life according to HP is 9 hours for continuous video playback, and in our test (WiFi on, Bluetooth off, video looping) we came close to that: just over eight and a half hours. That puts it slightly ahead of the Motorola Xoom but again behind the Tab and iPad 2. Ultimately this means the tablet will comfortably give you a day of serious use, or multiple days of more casual tapping.

	Battery Life
HP TouchPad	8:33
Apple iPad 2	10:26
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1	9:55
Apple iPad	9:33
Motorola Xoom	8:20
T-Mobile G-Slate	8:18
Archos 101	7:20
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook	7:01
Samsung Galaxy Tab	6:09
Dell Streak 7	3:26

Display / audio

As we said earlier, it's a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 IPS panel up front that matches the iPad 2 pixel-for-pixel and doesn't disappoint when it comes to other important aspects of viewing. Contrast, viewing angles, and brightness all impress, delivering plenty of light for bright or dark rooms and angles wide enough to make sharing with a friend a cinch.

The speakers likewise impress -- as you'd hope given the cavernous cut-outs they receive on the side. HP stopped short of slapping a Beats logo on the device but makes no qualms about talking up its branded inclusion in marketing materials. In most ways the speakers deliver, offering (relatively) full sound compared to the tinny mess we're used to. That said, we were surprised to find maximum volume to actually be lower than what the stereo slivers on either side of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can manage.

Software

Finally, webOS on the big screen -- or bigger anyway. The TouchPad is HP's first device running webOS 3.0, a more tablet-friendly version of the little mobile operating system that we've come to love over the years. If you're familiar with earlier versions on perhaps a Pre or a Veer you'll be quite comfortable here because, on the outset, not a lot has changed, particularly when it comes to our favorite part of the OS: multitasking.

Either tap the physical Home button or just swipe up from the bottom of the screen and you'll get into the patented webOS card view, which has been often imitated but never quite duplicated. Each app gets its own card and, should that program spawn a new window (a new browser instance, say, or a new email) that additional card joins a stack. You can then shuffle through the cards in any given pile, drag them around, or just flick them off the top of the screen to send them to the big garbage collector in the sky.

As ever, navigating apps like this is genuinely fun; there's something very satisfying about literally throwing away a window that you no longer want cluttering up your screen or your RAM. And it's all helped by everything in the OS being generally snappy and responsive -- even if the applications themselves are occasionally rather less so. Cycling through running programs and swiping around is quick, but the experience is less gesture-heavy than previous phone versions.
In fact, you'll really only be using gestures to switch between tasks. The Gesture Area (the spot on the bezel beneath the display on webOS phones) is no longer there for things like going back and forth in the browser. You'll need to use the buttons in the menu bar at the top of the window for that sort of thing, which is a bit pedestrian and boring. You can still flick up to get the card view, or tap the home button once for that, twice to bring up Launcher.

The Just Type feature, where you "just type" to find contacts or documents, hasn't been significantly tweaked, letting you start pecking away at the on-screen keyboard to look up contacts or enter in web URLs. It's a little less instant feeling since you first need to tap on the "Just Type" section of the screen -- unless you pair an optional keyboard -- but it's still handy.

Other tweaks include notifications that appear in a top status bar. You'll see an alert should you get a flurry of new emails, and you can quickly flick through them before tapping one to view it in the dedicated app. You can also get quick access to toggling the device's various antennae, and of course get the time and a remaining battery life. There's a screen orientation lock here, but we were wishing for a physical switch as we found the TouchPad to be hugely, well, touchy when it came to flipping from portrait to landscape.

Finally, there's the unlock screen, which looks a lot like what you'll find on Android Honeycomb. Just grab the lock and drag it away to get in to the tablet. The screen will give you some information about what notifications are waiting for you behind the screen -- the sender and subject of an email, for example -- but rather curiously there's no way to jump right to those items from the lock screen.


Email

The integrated email application is easy and effective, relying on what HP calls Synergy -- a means to tie together multiple accounts and show them all in one view. It'll work with Google, Exchange, Yahoo!, MobileMe, and good 'ol POP3 / SMTP out of the box. We attached our Gmail account and, within a minute or two of watching a spinny indicator do its thing, all our labels appeared as folders and all our emails as, well, emails.

This is probably the best demonstration of the moveable panes UI concept that HP is pushing with the TouchPad. By default, along the left you get a list of folders, in the middle a list of messages within the current folder, and on the right a view of the selected message. But, you can tap below the messages list and drag left to hide the folders, making more room for reading, or tap below the email and drag left to bring that full screen. You can then drag back when you want your lists again. It's intuitive and it works -- except when it doesn't, as we'll see in the Facebook app in just a moment.

Ultimately, heavy Gmail users will miss some features available on Android, but this is among the best simple, mobile email clients we've yet sampled.


Calendar

The Calendar app is similarly easy, again pulling in any related Google information should you be using it. Like with email, Synergy lets you sync with many places, including Facebook, Exchange, and Yahoo!, though we found a few selections in the Catalog that bring their own data to the party -- including a Formula One schedule that's particularly handy with all the back-to-back races this season. Ultimately it isn't particularly more or less exciting than, say, Calendar on Honeycomb, but the ability to easily aggregate multiple calendars from disparate sources makes it a useful addition here. At least, for people who have things to do at set times.

Browser

The loss of the Gesture Area means you won't be swiping to go back and forward here. You'll instead rely on a rather more traditional looking bar full of buttons. The app will also load the traditional, desktop versions of pages for the most part.

There's no tabbed browsing as such, instead you get carded, each new instance added to your stack. You just tap to get to the one you want, or of course flick the ones you don't want off to oblivion. Flash 10.3 is pre-installed and overall browsing performance is reasonably good, but we did notice some odd stops and starts and delays in loading some pages. Full-screen HD video plays, but not particularly smoothly. The same videos were far creamier on the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Once loaded, pinching to zoom is quick and responsive, cruising around pages is snappy as can be, and you'll find the familiar "bounce" effect should you try to drag beyond any edge of the screen. In fact, things are very bouncy here.


Keyboard

The on-screen virtual keyboard is reasonably roomy, giving you the full QWERTY experience with a full row of number keys in either landscape or portrait. The symbol key gives you access to your usual array of special characters, though many of the more popular ones are available right there on the number keys as well. You're also given buttons for each of six smiley faces, including, tragically, the sad crying face and, rather more excitingly, the OMG face. There's also a <3 button, welcome addition for the particularly lazy typist.

The TouchPad is quite good at fixing many spelling mistakes and the like, subtly auto-correcting as you go and alerting you when a fix has been made with a small prompt above the word. That's definitely nice, but we do wish the keyboard would automatically insert apostrophes when typing things like "wont" or "dont." HP did, at least, put the apostrophe key right there on the front so you won't have to go digging for it.

Bing Maps

Google Maps and Earth are definitely two of the most usable apps on Android; here it's Bing Maps attempting to offer the same experience, and doing a reasonably good job at it, too. The app gives a topographical view to start, but you can of course pop over to a satellite imagery view or the service's Birds Eye angle, using multi-touch gestures to get a good view on that potential vacation destination. (Car propped up on cinder blocks out front? Bad sign.)

You can save locations, view traffic conditions, and get yourself directions too. We're told the mapping functionality has been exposed to TouchPad devs who want to add a little cartography to their apps, but at this point we're not seeing anybody take Microsoft up on that offer -- including the Weatherbug app, which renders its own maps using Google data and, sadly, offers some of the worst performance we saw on the tablet.

Camera

We've often downplayed the importance of high-quality rearward-facing cameras on tablets because, well, holding up a big slab of a gadget to take a picture of something is far from easy and equally distant from anything rewarding. That said, we certainly don't hate the things and having one is a standard feature on modern tablets -- and so we're a bit perplexed by the complete omission of a rear-facing camera here.
You do get an 1.3 megapixel front-facing shooter, which at this point can only be used within the integrated video chat application -- Skype. Because of this we're unable to give any accurate description of the capabilities of said sensor, simply because we couldn't capture the output from it.


Wireless Keyboard

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MacBook Air review (mid 2011)

Review by Engadget

There comes a time when that giant, corporate-issued laptop stops fitting into your lifestyle. When dragging around a Kensington roller case just won't do. When you start to hear the siren lilt of something thinner, lighter, and maybe a bit more alluring. For years the MacBook Air has been that svelte temptress hollering your name, but it's always been a bit too slow -- all show and no go. It didn't have the power and the longevity to make it a serious contender for your serious affections.

No more. With its latest refresh, Apple has taken what was once a manilla-clad curiosity and turned it into a legitimate machine, not just a sultry looker. Good thing, too, because the death of the plastic-clad MacBook means the Air is now Apple's entry-level portable. Weary traveler looking for a laptop that will lighten your load and, it must be said, your wallet too? This might just be it.

Hardware

The outside of this 2011 refresh of the MacBook Air is virtually indistinguishable from that which came before it. Yes, that means compromises. On the 13-inch model you'll still have to make do with but one USB port on the left and one on the right, but now that latter one is flanked by a Thunderbolt connector, Apple's implementation of Intel's Light Peak standard. This 10Gb/sec interconnect has become standard fare on all new machines coming out of Cupertino, a fact that should help to accelerate the so-far tardy uptake in support from accessory manufacturers.

The 11-inch model is likewise emblazoned, but sadly has still not been granted an SD reader, something restricted to the bigger 13. On the left you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, the MagSafe power connector and... nothing else. All other ports have been deemed unnecessary by Apple's designers and therefore relegated to myriad USB adapters for things like Ethernet -- though if you start relying on those you'll likely need to start packing a USB hub as well.

Like before, the omission of these ports leaves the Air free to pinch down to a delicious taper beneath the keyboard, thin enough to make for a decent cleaver when no proper blade can be found -- or when you just can't be bothered to find one. Even on the fat end it measures a mere .68-inches (17mm) thick. Or thin, rather.

So what has changed? The touchpad, surprisingly. It's still big and glassy and situated in the middle of the full-sized palm rest like on the chunkier Pro. Now, though, it's subtly quieter, with a more refined sound and feel as you click away. The previous generation almost feels hollow and has an annoying resonance that's been banished.

The keyboard above, too, has a better feel. Keys are more springy than before, more solid and responsive than the somewhat loose, flappy ones on the last generation. But the biggest change here is what's lurking beneath the keys: a backlight. Yes, you'll now be able to do things like adjust volume, change track, and hit that damned ^ character in the dark. And, thanks to the ambient light sensor hidden in the bezel, you won't have to worry about those keys blinding you in bed.

Internals / Display

Step inside the case and you'll find the most important changes here: new Intel Core i5 and i7 ULV processors. The backlit keyboard is nice, and the addition of Thunderbolt could be a boon in 12 months or so, but its the new selection of processors that really turn the Air into a serious machine, as you'll see when we talk benchmarks in a bit.

On the memory front, 4GB of DDR3 memory is found on all but the base 11-inch model, which gets by with half that. SSDs are standard across the board, starting at 64GB for the 11 and going up to 256GB for the top-shelf 13-inch. Intel HD 3000 graphics power the lot and stock processors include 1.6GHz and 1.7GHz Core i5's, though a 1.8GHz Core i7 is available for $100 more.

When it comes to displays nothing has changed: the 13-inch model features a 1440 x 900 glossy, LED-backlit panel while the 11 still does 1366 x 768. We spent our time testing the 13-incher and, as before, it continues to impress when it comes to contrast, brightness, and viewing angles, which are plenty wide enough to enable two-person, coach-class viewing of that latest episode of Top Gear. Contrast is helped by the glossy sheen here -- and no, you still can't option out a matte unit.
We still found its resolution to be more than adequate for most tasks but just a bit limiting for anyone working on photos or doing anything where pixels really count. Honestly, that wasn't much of a concern before thanks to the lack of power, but now...

Performance / Battery life

When it comes time to actually use the thing, when the Air isn't just dead weight in your bag that you want as little of as possible, how does it actually perform? This is when the previous models faltered, and this is where the new Air excels.

When last we tested an Air, the 13-inch model with a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor scored a 2,717 on the GeekBench benchmark. This new 13, configured with the default 1.7GHz Core i5 and paired with 4GB of DDR3 and a 128GB SSD, nearly doubled that: 5,373. No, that won't threaten the full-bore 15-inchMacBook Pro for sheer speed, but double the performance in nine months is a welcome improvement, living up to Apple's 2x promises here, and from what we've seen elsewhere the 11-inch lives up to its 2.5x promises as well.

OS X Benchmarks	Geekbench	Xbench OpenGL	Battery Life
MacBook Air (mid 2011) (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000)	5373	unavailable	5:32
MacBook Pro (early 2011) (2.2GHz Core i7-2720QM, Radeon HD 6750M / Intel Graphics 3000)	9647	340.1 (Radeon) / 157.78 (Intel)	7:27
MacBook Pro (early 2010) (2.66GHz Core i7-620M, GeForce GT 330M)	5395	228.22	5:18
iMac (mid 2010) (3.06GHz Core i3-540, Radeon HD 4670)	5789	unavailable	n/a
iMac (late 2009) (2.8GHz Core i7-860, Radeon HD 4850)	8312	191.08	n/a
MacBook Air (late 2010) (1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, GeForce 320M)	2717	117.38	4:34

We also threw Windows 7 on there, Boot Camp making it easy, and ran through a further suite of benchmarks to see how it fares there. PCMark Vantage clocked in at 9,484, actually higher than the 15-inch Pro's 8,041 when we tested it, though the Air's 3DMark 06 score was considerably lower thanks to the limited graphics prowess here, just 4,223. So, it's still no gaming rig, but it is the sort of machine you wouldn't think twice about trying to do some serious business on.

Now, as we all know benchmarks only tell a part of the story, but we're happy to report that the numbers really do fall in line with our impressions here. This machine boots to a Lion login screen in a snappy 15 seconds, apps load quickly, batch photo jobs finish much more promptly, and overall in our time with this machine we did a lot less waiting and a lot more working. But, just like before, be prepared to listen to the thing's internal cooling fan register its complaints whenever utilization rates start climbing.

Windows Benchmarks	PCMarkVantage	3DMark06	Battery Life
MacBook Air (mid 2011) (1.7GHz Core i5-2557M, Intel HD Graphics 3000, Under Windows 7)	9484	4223	4:12
MacBook Pro (early 2011) (2.2GHz Core i7-2720QM, Radeon HD 6750M, under Windows 7)	8041	10,262	unknown
HP Envy 14 (Core i5-450M, Radeon HD 5650)	6038	1928 / 6899	3:51
Toshiba Portege R705 (Core i3-350M)	5024	1739 / 3686	4:25
Sony VAIO Z (Core i5-450M, NVIDIA 330M)	9949	6,193	unknown
Samsung Series 9 (Core i5-2537M)	7582	2240	4:20
Dell XPS 14 (Core i5-460M, NVIDIA 420M)	5796	1955 / 6827	2:58
Notes: For 3DMark06, the first number reflects score with the discrete GPU off (if possible), the second with it on.

Despite that, we had no issues with battery life. On our standard rundown test, where we'll loop a video until the machine calls it quits, the new Air clocked in at just over five and a half hours. That's well more than the Lenovo X1 recently managed on the same test and actually about an hour more than last year's model managed when we dusted it off and ran it through the same wringer. Even running Windows the Air managed 4:12 on the same rundown test, on par with the Samsung Series 9.

In standard usage, surfing and typing and Facebooking and such, you should be able to do much better. The Air routinely beat our expectations -- and its own estimates -- for battery life. The seven hours Apple advertises for the 13 (five for the 11) is well within reach if you're not doing anything too taxing. And of course that's a good thing, because you won't be replacing the battery here without a screwdriver.