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The New Stuff

I'm not sure how, but Lenovo managed to cram a full-on desktop PC into what looks like a tiny monitor. The Ideacentre 510s is the company's sleekest and most compact all-in-one yet, with razor-thin edges and a borderless 23-inch display that makes it easy to focus on work or get lost in a movie. But although the 510s is an absolute all-star in the design department, its lackluster screen brightness, webcam and accessories keep it from being the best all-in-one value in its price range.

Design

From the day the Lenovo Ideacentre 510s landed in our lab, virtually everyone who has walked by it has stopped to stare. This is far and away Lenovo's best-looking all-in-one yet, packing a virtually bezel-less display into a strikingly slim silver chassis that gives the iMac a run for its money. However, while the iMac is aluminum throughout, the Ideacentre's display portion is made of sturdy plastic.

You won't have to make much space for the 510s. At just 20.5 x 12.8 x 1.6 inches, the PC is smaller than Apple's 21.5-inch iMac (20.8 x 17.7 x 6.9 inches), and the 0.28-inch-thin edges at the top of its display make it look like a small monitor. And at 9.8 pounds, it's also a breeze to carry around. The all-in-one's stand allows you to tilt the display from 5 degrees forward to 30 degrees back, making it easy to adjust the desktop to fit your workspace.

Specs

Display: 23-inch, 1920 x 1080 10-point multitouch display
CPU: 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5-6200U
RAM: 8GB
Hard Drive: 1TB, 5,400-rpm drive with 8GB SSHD
Ports: 4 USB 3.0 ports, full HDMI, audio jack
Webcam: 1080p
Size: 20.5 x 12.8 x 1.6 inches
Weight: 9.8 pounds

Privacy Webcam and Ports

In order to maintain the Ideacentre's borderless design, Lenovo tucked the PC's webcam into a hideaway hub beneath the bottom of the display. It's a nice touch; you simply click a button, and a small brick pops out that packs both the desktop's 1080p camera and two USB 3.0 ports for plugging in accessories without having to reach around the back.

But although the pop-out camera keeps things sleek (and allows for some privacy when it's tucked away), it does have some drawbacks. For starters, having a webcam beneath your display is just awkward, and results in photos that focus more on the bottom of your neck than on your actual face. (I had to slouch to get a decent head-on pic.) The camera itself isn't that spectacular either, producing viewable but noticeably blurry photos.

HP's design on its Pavilion All-in-One is a lot smarter, as its webcam pops up from the top of the display, resulting in much more normal-looking photos and video.

The rest of the 510s' ports are in the back, where you'll find two more USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet input, a headphone jack and an HDMI port, the latter of which allows the Ideacentre to double as a stand-alone monitor. The machine's power and display switch buttons are conveniently placed just behind the right edge, though I would have liked volume buttons as well.

Display

The Ideacentre 510s' 23-inch touch display seems to be made for movies, with no pesky bezels to get in the way of whatever you're watching. The gritty galactic action of the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer looked crisp on Lenovo's PC, which highlighted everything from the individual lights on a massive Star Destroyer to Forest Whitaker's war-damaged face. Perhaps more important, the borderless display made it easy to get immersed in any videos I watched.
The 510s' screen was also very responsive to my touch, whether I was pinching to zoom in and out of websites or making ugly doodles in Paint with all 10 fingers at once.

I do wish the PC's screen were just a little brighter, however. The Ideacentre registered 249.6 nits of brightness on our light meter, which is better than Lenovo's 4K AIO 700 (230.6 nits) and our 237-nit average, but not even close to the 1080p iMac's extra-luminous 424 nits.
Fortunately, the 510s handles color quite well. The svelte all-in-one turned in a Delta-E color accuracy rating of 0.54 (closer to 0 is better) and reproduced 110.6 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That's just behind the AIO 700 (0.39, 134.5 percent) and slightly better than the iMac (2.9, 109 percent). Anything above 100 percent is quite good.

Audio

The Ideacentre's dual 3-watt speakers were loud enough to fill our 15 foot by 15 foot testing lab with music, but the results were mixed. The jumpy pop punk of Blink 182's "Bored to Death" was perfectly listenable, but the bass and drums lacked oomph, and the track's normally sharp guitars sounded a bit dull and fuzzy.

As with most Lenovo all-in-ones, the 510s includes the Dolby Audio app for customizing the machine's sound. There are presets for movies, music, games and voice, as well as a dynamic mode that automatically adjusts to whatever's coming out of your speakers. You can also access an equalizer if you're the type to fine-tune every possible audio setting.

Performance

With an Intel Core i5-6200U processor and 8GB of RAM, the Ideacentre 510s packs a whole lot of multitasking muscle into its sleek frame. I never had to deal with any crashing or serious slowdown, even as I worked in Google Docs and Outlook, bounced among five Twitch streams and ran a full system scan all at once.

The 510s scored 5,992 on the Geekbench 3 general performance test, trailing the Core i5-6400-powered AIO 700 (10,864) while just topping the Core i5-powered iMac (5,464) and our 4,985 category average for all-in-ones.
Lenovo's desktop took 4 minutes and 29 seconds to match 20,000 names with their addresses on a spreadsheet, lagging behind the AIO 700 (3:51) and the iMac (3:49) but beating our all-in-one average (7:50).

Packing a 1TB hard drive with an 8GB SSD, the 510s took a fairly slow 2 minutes and 13 seconds to copy about 5GB of files, for a transfer rate of 37.8 MBps. That's slower than the AIO 700 (1TB drive, 60.6 MBps) and about on a par with the iMac's 500GB, 5,400-rpm drive (38.5 MBps, though faster SSD options are available for Apple's PC).

Keyboard and Mouse

The Ideacentre 510s ships with Lenovo's usual wireless mouse-and-keyboard combo. They work just fine for a set of pack-in accessories, but you might want to spring for something better.

I eventually got used to the stiff keys on Lenovo's wireless keyboard, but that doesn't mean I like them. Although I breezed through the Key Hero Typing Test at 92 words per minute with near-perfect accuracy (which is about my norm), my hands felt a bit cramped afterward.
The bundled wireless mouse is similarly hit-or-miss. The small touchpad between the two click buttons made it easy to scroll through web pages and perform special gestures, such as holding it down to activate the Start menu. But because of its strangely curved design, the mouse never quite felt cozy in my hand.

Software

The Ideacentre 510s includes a decent number of Lenovo apps, some of which are more useful than others. There's the usual Lenovo Companion hub, which lets you run system checkups, view your warranty and check for updates; as well as Lenovo Settings, which lets you tweak parameters such as display brightness and microphone volume.
The throwaway Lenovo App Center mostly just provides links to Windows Store apps. The REACHit app allows you to access cloud services such as Google Drive and Dropbox all in the same place, while SHAREit lets you easily bounce files between your PC and your phone. There's also the usual suite of CyberLink apps that come with Lenovo PCs, including PowerDVD for media playback and Power2Go for burning DVDs.

Configurations

We reviewed the lone $899 configuration of the Ideacentre 510s, which packs a 23-inch full-HD display, an Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive with an 8GB SSHD, and integrated Intel HD 520 graphics.

Bottom Line

If I were judging the Ideacentre 510s by looks alone, I'd recommend it without hesitation. This is one of the sleekest all-in-ones I've ever gotten my hands on, with a design that's as eye-catching as it is compact and practical. The PC's Core i5 processor is strong enough for multitasking. But while the pop-out privacy camera is a nice touch, it's located in an awkward spot and takes blurry images.
At $899, the 510s is priced fairly, but it's far from Lenovo's best all-in-one value. The company's Ideacentre AIO 700 offers a rich 4K display, an Intel RealSense camera, discrete graphics and upgradable parts for just $200 more. There's also Apple's iMac, which offers one of the brightest screens you can find on an all-in-one starting at $1,099. The Ideacentre 510s will still satisfy those who want one of the sexiest and smallest all-in-ones available, but there are better alternatives for just a bit more money.
· ·

Lenovo Ideacentre 510s Review: Borderless Beauty, Weird Webcam

I'm not sure how, but Lenovo managed to cram a full-on desktop PC into what looks like a tiny monitor. The Ideacentre 510s is the company's sleekest and most compact all-in-one yet, with razor-thin edges and a borderless 23-inch display that makes it easy to focus on work or get lost in a movie. But although the 510s is an absolute all-star in the design department, its lackluster screen brightness, webcam and accessories keep it from being the best all-in-one value in its price range.

Design

From the day the Lenovo Ideacentre 510s landed in our lab, virtually everyone who has walked by it has stopped to stare. This is far and away Lenovo's best-looking all-in-one yet, packing a virtually bezel-less display into a strikingly slim silver chassis that gives the iMac a run for its money. However, while the iMac is aluminum throughout, the Ideacentre's display portion is made of sturdy plastic.

You won't have to make much space for the 510s. At just 20.5 x 12.8 x 1.6 inches, the PC is smaller than Apple's 21.5-inch iMac (20.8 x 17.7 x 6.9 inches), and the 0.28-inch-thin edges at the top of its display make it look like a small monitor. And at 9.8 pounds, it's also a breeze to carry around. The all-in-one's stand allows you to tilt the display from 5 degrees forward to 30 degrees back, making it easy to adjust the desktop to fit your workspace.

Specs

Display: 23-inch, 1920 x 1080 10-point multitouch display
CPU: 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5-6200U
RAM: 8GB
Hard Drive: 1TB, 5,400-rpm drive with 8GB SSHD
Ports: 4 USB 3.0 ports, full HDMI, audio jack
Webcam: 1080p
Size: 20.5 x 12.8 x 1.6 inches
Weight: 9.8 pounds

Privacy Webcam and Ports

In order to maintain the Ideacentre's borderless design, Lenovo tucked the PC's webcam into a hideaway hub beneath the bottom of the display. It's a nice touch; you simply click a button, and a small brick pops out that packs both the desktop's 1080p camera and two USB 3.0 ports for plugging in accessories without having to reach around the back.

But although the pop-out camera keeps things sleek (and allows for some privacy when it's tucked away), it does have some drawbacks. For starters, having a webcam beneath your display is just awkward, and results in photos that focus more on the bottom of your neck than on your actual face. (I had to slouch to get a decent head-on pic.) The camera itself isn't that spectacular either, producing viewable but noticeably blurry photos.

HP's design on its Pavilion All-in-One is a lot smarter, as its webcam pops up from the top of the display, resulting in much more normal-looking photos and video.

The rest of the 510s' ports are in the back, where you'll find two more USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet input, a headphone jack and an HDMI port, the latter of which allows the Ideacentre to double as a stand-alone monitor. The machine's power and display switch buttons are conveniently placed just behind the right edge, though I would have liked volume buttons as well.

Display

The Ideacentre 510s' 23-inch touch display seems to be made for movies, with no pesky bezels to get in the way of whatever you're watching. The gritty galactic action of the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer looked crisp on Lenovo's PC, which highlighted everything from the individual lights on a massive Star Destroyer to Forest Whitaker's war-damaged face. Perhaps more important, the borderless display made it easy to get immersed in any videos I watched.
The 510s' screen was also very responsive to my touch, whether I was pinching to zoom in and out of websites or making ugly doodles in Paint with all 10 fingers at once.

I do wish the PC's screen were just a little brighter, however. The Ideacentre registered 249.6 nits of brightness on our light meter, which is better than Lenovo's 4K AIO 700 (230.6 nits) and our 237-nit average, but not even close to the 1080p iMac's extra-luminous 424 nits.
Fortunately, the 510s handles color quite well. The svelte all-in-one turned in a Delta-E color accuracy rating of 0.54 (closer to 0 is better) and reproduced 110.6 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That's just behind the AIO 700 (0.39, 134.5 percent) and slightly better than the iMac (2.9, 109 percent). Anything above 100 percent is quite good.

Audio

The Ideacentre's dual 3-watt speakers were loud enough to fill our 15 foot by 15 foot testing lab with music, but the results were mixed. The jumpy pop punk of Blink 182's "Bored to Death" was perfectly listenable, but the bass and drums lacked oomph, and the track's normally sharp guitars sounded a bit dull and fuzzy.

As with most Lenovo all-in-ones, the 510s includes the Dolby Audio app for customizing the machine's sound. There are presets for movies, music, games and voice, as well as a dynamic mode that automatically adjusts to whatever's coming out of your speakers. You can also access an equalizer if you're the type to fine-tune every possible audio setting.

Performance

With an Intel Core i5-6200U processor and 8GB of RAM, the Ideacentre 510s packs a whole lot of multitasking muscle into its sleek frame. I never had to deal with any crashing or serious slowdown, even as I worked in Google Docs and Outlook, bounced among five Twitch streams and ran a full system scan all at once.

The 510s scored 5,992 on the Geekbench 3 general performance test, trailing the Core i5-6400-powered AIO 700 (10,864) while just topping the Core i5-powered iMac (5,464) and our 4,985 category average for all-in-ones.
Lenovo's desktop took 4 minutes and 29 seconds to match 20,000 names with their addresses on a spreadsheet, lagging behind the AIO 700 (3:51) and the iMac (3:49) but beating our all-in-one average (7:50).

Packing a 1TB hard drive with an 8GB SSD, the 510s took a fairly slow 2 minutes and 13 seconds to copy about 5GB of files, for a transfer rate of 37.8 MBps. That's slower than the AIO 700 (1TB drive, 60.6 MBps) and about on a par with the iMac's 500GB, 5,400-rpm drive (38.5 MBps, though faster SSD options are available for Apple's PC).

Keyboard and Mouse

The Ideacentre 510s ships with Lenovo's usual wireless mouse-and-keyboard combo. They work just fine for a set of pack-in accessories, but you might want to spring for something better.

I eventually got used to the stiff keys on Lenovo's wireless keyboard, but that doesn't mean I like them. Although I breezed through the Key Hero Typing Test at 92 words per minute with near-perfect accuracy (which is about my norm), my hands felt a bit cramped afterward.
The bundled wireless mouse is similarly hit-or-miss. The small touchpad between the two click buttons made it easy to scroll through web pages and perform special gestures, such as holding it down to activate the Start menu. But because of its strangely curved design, the mouse never quite felt cozy in my hand.

Software

The Ideacentre 510s includes a decent number of Lenovo apps, some of which are more useful than others. There's the usual Lenovo Companion hub, which lets you run system checkups, view your warranty and check for updates; as well as Lenovo Settings, which lets you tweak parameters such as display brightness and microphone volume.
The throwaway Lenovo App Center mostly just provides links to Windows Store apps. The REACHit app allows you to access cloud services such as Google Drive and Dropbox all in the same place, while SHAREit lets you easily bounce files between your PC and your phone. There's also the usual suite of CyberLink apps that come with Lenovo PCs, including PowerDVD for media playback and Power2Go for burning DVDs.

Configurations

We reviewed the lone $899 configuration of the Ideacentre 510s, which packs a 23-inch full-HD display, an Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive with an 8GB SSHD, and integrated Intel HD 520 graphics.

Bottom Line

If I were judging the Ideacentre 510s by looks alone, I'd recommend it without hesitation. This is one of the sleekest all-in-ones I've ever gotten my hands on, with a design that's as eye-catching as it is compact and practical. The PC's Core i5 processor is strong enough for multitasking. But while the pop-out privacy camera is a nice touch, it's located in an awkward spot and takes blurry images.
At $899, the 510s is priced fairly, but it's far from Lenovo's best all-in-one value. The company's Ideacentre AIO 700 offers a rich 4K display, an Intel RealSense camera, discrete graphics and upgradable parts for just $200 more. There's also Apple's iMac, which offers one of the brightest screens you can find on an all-in-one starting at $1,099. The Ideacentre 510s will still satisfy those who want one of the sexiest and smallest all-in-ones available, but there are better alternatives for just a bit more money.

THE GOOD The Acer Predator G6 fits our VR sweet-spot components into a big, distinctive case for under $2,000. Performance is great, basic software overclocking is built in, and there's a swappable drive bay in the front.
THE BAD You really have to like the sci-fi tank look to appreciate the design. Not enough front- or top-panel ports for all your VR accessories. The case interior is not as user-accessible as some.
THE BOTTOM LINE The big, bold Acer Predator G6 scores for VR performance, but it's not exactly the most sophisticated-looking desktop we've ever seen.

e Acer Predator desktop line has some of my favorite promotional copy of all time, at least when it comes to PCs. "Fight on the forefront of intergalactic gaming with a commanding advantage," the Predator's splash page says, promising that the system will "crush 4K gaming and prepare for virtual reality," while allowing you to "power-up for galactic domination."
It all fits in with the extreme design of this gaming desktop, which looks like the tank tread of some kind of future war machine. Or, as Acer describes it, an "intimidating armor-inspired design." Even the airflow vent directing air from the front to the back of the chassis is called an IceTunnel (as in, "Gaming is hot, so stay cool with IceTunnel cooling system").

Behind that somewhat goofy exterior and hyperbolic marketing-speak, is a set of components that we consider the sweet spot of first-gen VR desktops, with an Intel Core i7 6700K CPU and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 graphics card (but the just-announced GeForce 1080 card will probably eclipse that soon). This configuration also includes 16GB of RAM and a 2TB HDD/256GB SSD storage combo for a very reasonable $1,999. Different configurations are available internationally, starting at £1,299 in the UK. Only the smaller, newer Predator G1 tower is currently available in Australia, starting at AU$3,299.



While most of the VR-ready desktops we've tested and reviewed have plenty of ports on the front or top panels, the Predator G6 has only two USB 3.0 ports, a media card reader and headphone and mic jacks. Keep in mind your VR setup may require a couple of USB ports, plus one more for an Xbox gamepad (at least for the Oculus Rift), and you'll need ports for the included keyboard and mouse. Fortunately, there are four more USB 3.0 and two more USB 2.0 ports around the back. That in-the-box keyboard and mouse combo might be wired, but it's a nice, hefty SteelSeries set, one of the better pack-in accessory sets I've seen.
· ·

Acer Predator G6 review:

THE GOOD The Acer Predator G6 fits our VR sweet-spot components into a big, distinctive case for under $2,000. Performance is great, basic software overclocking is built in, and there's a swappable drive bay in the front.
THE BAD You really have to like the sci-fi tank look to appreciate the design. Not enough front- or top-panel ports for all your VR accessories. The case interior is not as user-accessible as some.
THE BOTTOM LINE The big, bold Acer Predator G6 scores for VR performance, but it's not exactly the most sophisticated-looking desktop we've ever seen.

e Acer Predator desktop line has some of my favorite promotional copy of all time, at least when it comes to PCs. "Fight on the forefront of intergalactic gaming with a commanding advantage," the Predator's splash page says, promising that the system will "crush 4K gaming and prepare for virtual reality," while allowing you to "power-up for galactic domination."
It all fits in with the extreme design of this gaming desktop, which looks like the tank tread of some kind of future war machine. Or, as Acer describes it, an "intimidating armor-inspired design." Even the airflow vent directing air from the front to the back of the chassis is called an IceTunnel (as in, "Gaming is hot, so stay cool with IceTunnel cooling system").

Behind that somewhat goofy exterior and hyperbolic marketing-speak, is a set of components that we consider the sweet spot of first-gen VR desktops, with an Intel Core i7 6700K CPU and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 graphics card (but the just-announced GeForce 1080 card will probably eclipse that soon). This configuration also includes 16GB of RAM and a 2TB HDD/256GB SSD storage combo for a very reasonable $1,999. Different configurations are available internationally, starting at £1,299 in the UK. Only the smaller, newer Predator G1 tower is currently available in Australia, starting at AU$3,299.



While most of the VR-ready desktops we've tested and reviewed have plenty of ports on the front or top panels, the Predator G6 has only two USB 3.0 ports, a media card reader and headphone and mic jacks. Keep in mind your VR setup may require a couple of USB ports, plus one more for an Xbox gamepad (at least for the Oculus Rift), and you'll need ports for the included keyboard and mouse. Fortunately, there are four more USB 3.0 and two more USB 2.0 ports around the back. That in-the-box keyboard and mouse combo might be wired, but it's a nice, hefty SteelSeries set, one of the better pack-in accessory sets I've seen.



THE GOOD Apple upgrades the 21.5-inch iMac with a stunning 4K-resolution display, along with faster processors and Thunderbolt 2. The redesigned keyboard, mouse and trackpad all have rechargeable batteries and lightning connectors.
THE BAD The new processors are still one generation behind Intel's latest and there are no discrete graphics options. No HDMI input means it can't double as a TV monitor.
THE BOTTOM LINE The smallest Apple iMac trades up to a 4K display, and jumps to newer, but still not the latest, processors. While the design hasn't changed, newly crafted accessories with rechargeable batteries and Lightning connectors add flair and convenience.

Last year's addition to the 21.5-inch Apple iMac line caught our attention by cutting the starting price to $1,099 (£899 or AU$1,349) and positioning itself as essentially a MacBook Air recast as a desktop system; the new version for 2015 aims higher.
The flagship device in Apple's just-updated late-2015 iMac line is the configuration reviewed here, stepping up to a gorgeous 21.5-inch 4K resolution display and starting at $1,499 in the US (£1,199 or AU$2,099). Two other base models, at $1,099 and $1,299, retain their 1,920x1,080 displays.


It's worth noting that this is the more literal implementation of 4K in the new 21.5-inch iMac. The display resolution is 4,096 pixels wide, rather than the more common consumer version (sometimes called ultra-high definition or UHD), which has a just slightly lower resolution and is 3,840 pixels wide. That says to us that this system is targeting professional (and high-end enthusiast) photo and video users, who may shoot at that higher version of 4K resolution.
Your big, fancy 4K television set, and every other 4K computer we've seen to date, all adhere to the more consumer-targeted 3,840x2,160 version of 4K. The 4,096x2,304 on this new iMac screen will play any of your 4K content just fine, although the tiny difference in native resolution can have a small scaling effect, which we really only noticed when viewing 3,840-resolution test patterns.
The big secret about 4K is that a lot of people buy a 4K TV, monitor or computer, without really planning on viewing much 4K content on it. It's just the latest spec upgrade to strive for, and most of your video content, and even video games, aren't going past standard 1,920x1,080 high-definition anytime in the near future.

But higher-res screens such as the 4K display here have other advantages. As we saw with the5K display on last year's 27-inch iMac , individual pixels are practically invisible to the naked eye. On-screen text looks sharper and clearer than on lower-resolution screens, and Apple's expert scaling always keeps apps, menus and icons at a decent size, while giving you the option to mimic the look and feel of several different scaled resolutions. It's the same system Apple has used in all its Retina display models, going back to the MacBook Pro with Retina display.
But there's more to the new iMac than just a higher resolution. The new Retina display supports the wider P3 color gamut versus the more common sRGB (standard Red/Green/Blue) version. Translated for the rest of us, that means the display can show more of the green and red color spectrum (blue, the third leg of the color triangle, is already fairly maxed out under RGB). Apple says it adds up to 25 percent more available colors to display.
P3 is the standard for digital cinema projection in theaters, and for certain photo professionals and film and video experts, this is potentially a big deal. For photo hobbyists, you're unlikely to be able to appreciate the difference, as very little consumer-grade equipment is going to give you files that can take advantage of the wider P3 color gamut (some dSLR cameras, however, can). However, in side-by-side testing using some sample images, the effect was subtle but impressive, with richer reds and greens, and Apple's photo apps as well as third-party programs such as Photoshop, all support color far beyond standard sRBG.
It's little surprise that the new 21.5-inch Apple iMac looks the same as models from the past several years. The basic design language of the iMac has changed little since 2012, when it adopted the current setup of a slim, bowed screen sitting on top of an aluminum stand and minimalist base, a look that still manages to feel fresh years later.
But inside the familiar convex chassis of the iMac, there are some important spec changes for 2015. All three 21.5-inch models jump from Intel's fourth-generation Core i-series processors to newer fifth-generation chips. That's important because these iMacs were previously two generations of CPU behind. However, only the 27-inch iMacs, now all featuring the high-res 5K display, move up to the very latest CPUs, from Intel's recent sixth-generation of Core chips, sometimes known by the codename Skylake.

It's a shame the iMacs are still one chip generation behind, especially with nearly every consumer PC hitting stores this holiday season moving to Skylake chips. But, for a desktop system it's less important, as actual performance changes between generations of Intel chips are fairly modest. Most of the advantage comes in battery life, and for an all-in-one desktop, that's not going to be an issue.
Also new in the 21.5-inch iMac are Thunderbolt 2 ports for faster data transfer (if you have any Thunderbolt-equipped accessories) and some new hybrid hard drive options -- Apple calls them Fusion drives -- combining a small amount of solid-state memory for quick access of frequently used data, with a larger standard platter drive.
Besides the higher screen resolution and new CPUs, the biggest obvious change to the iMac line is the revamped collection of accessories bundled with it. The Apple wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad -- all familiar sights on Apple users' desks around the world -- have gotten their first overhaul in years, and it might be the new feature I'm most excited about.

All three lose their reliance on disposable batteries, instead moving to internal rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. That allows the keyboard and trackpad to slim down, removing the bulbus battery compartments that dominated the previous designs. The Magic Keyboard is smaller and flatter, but has slightly larger key faces. The Magic Trackpad 2 has a larger surface area -- it looks huge compared to the original version -- and now supports Force Touch, just like the pads in the MacBook and MacBook Pro. The Magic Mouse 2 looks the same, but is a hair lighter with better rubber tracks along the bottom.

Overall, this is an important update to the iMac line, as a better-than-HD display feels like table stakes these days for any premium laptop or desktop computer, and the improved color gamut support in the 4K and 5K displays will help keep the iMac line as a top choice for creative pros.
For everyone else, even if you don't regularly view 4K content, a sharp-looking Retina-level display is one of those things that's nearly impossible to give up once you get used to it, and the new 4K iMac is competitively priced with the handful of 4K-display Windows PCs we've reviewed.
If you have a model from the past few years, this isn't a must-have upgrade, but it may certainly be worth picking up the new keyboard and mouse or trackpad to give your older iMac a facelift.


Design and features

You can read any of our iMac reviews over the past three years to get a feel for the long-standing design of this high-end all-in-one. It still manages to look current, although some newer trends seen on the Windows side, from thinner bezels to touch screens, are absent here.
The iMac is dominated by its display, which also houses all the system components. It's still just 5mm thick at the edge, gently bowing out in the back. It looks almost paper-thin when viewed from the correct angle, and still pretty svelte even in full profile, where the rear panel bows out in the center into a gentle bowl shape.

That top section is connected via an adjustable hinge to a curved one-piece stand. If you're not connecting any external USB, Thunderbolt 2, or Mini-DisplayPort devices, and using Wi-Fi instead of a wired Ethernet connection, this is essentially a one-cable setup with a single white power cord in the lower middle of the back panel. As with most Apple computers, this is a sealed system, with no user-accessible components -- unlike the 27-inch iMac, which has an access port for the RAM slots.

Thinner, lighter accessories

The biggest physical change is in the new packed-in accessories, named the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2. As before, the keyboard and mouse are included by default, but you can choose to swap in the Trackpad instead of the mouse. With these new versions, however, the adding the Trackpad costs extra. All three are also sold separately, at $79 for the Magic Mouse 2, $99 for the Magic Keyboard and $129 for the Magic Trackpad 2 (all prices in US dollars). Previously, all three first-gem accessories were sold by Apple at $69 each.
That's a big jump in price for the trackpad, but it's easily the most impressive of the new accessories. The pad goes from aluminum-colored to off-white, and looks and feels massive. Apple says the surface area is 29 percent larger. Without the the cylindrical battery compartment, the pad has an even more minimalist look, lying flat on the tabletop with a slight wedge shape.

The Magic Trackpad 2 supports Force Touch, the new touchpad mechanic found in the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops (a variant is also now in the iPhone and Apple Watch). Force Touch uses four corner sensors to replace the hinged "diving board" mechanism found in most touchpads, including Apple's previous ones.
· ·

Apple iMac with 4K Retina display (21.5-inch, 2015) review:

THE GOOD Apple upgrades the 21.5-inch iMac with a stunning 4K-resolution display, along with faster processors and Thunderbolt 2. The redesigned keyboard, mouse and trackpad all have rechargeable batteries and lightning connectors.
THE BAD The new processors are still one generation behind Intel's latest and there are no discrete graphics options. No HDMI input means it can't double as a TV monitor.
THE BOTTOM LINE The smallest Apple iMac trades up to a 4K display, and jumps to newer, but still not the latest, processors. While the design hasn't changed, newly crafted accessories with rechargeable batteries and Lightning connectors add flair and convenience.

Last year's addition to the 21.5-inch Apple iMac line caught our attention by cutting the starting price to $1,099 (£899 or AU$1,349) and positioning itself as essentially a MacBook Air recast as a desktop system; the new version for 2015 aims higher.
The flagship device in Apple's just-updated late-2015 iMac line is the configuration reviewed here, stepping up to a gorgeous 21.5-inch 4K resolution display and starting at $1,499 in the US (£1,199 or AU$2,099). Two other base models, at $1,099 and $1,299, retain their 1,920x1,080 displays.


It's worth noting that this is the more literal implementation of 4K in the new 21.5-inch iMac. The display resolution is 4,096 pixels wide, rather than the more common consumer version (sometimes called ultra-high definition or UHD), which has a just slightly lower resolution and is 3,840 pixels wide. That says to us that this system is targeting professional (and high-end enthusiast) photo and video users, who may shoot at that higher version of 4K resolution.
Your big, fancy 4K television set, and every other 4K computer we've seen to date, all adhere to the more consumer-targeted 3,840x2,160 version of 4K. The 4,096x2,304 on this new iMac screen will play any of your 4K content just fine, although the tiny difference in native resolution can have a small scaling effect, which we really only noticed when viewing 3,840-resolution test patterns.
The big secret about 4K is that a lot of people buy a 4K TV, monitor or computer, without really planning on viewing much 4K content on it. It's just the latest spec upgrade to strive for, and most of your video content, and even video games, aren't going past standard 1,920x1,080 high-definition anytime in the near future.

But higher-res screens such as the 4K display here have other advantages. As we saw with the5K display on last year's 27-inch iMac , individual pixels are practically invisible to the naked eye. On-screen text looks sharper and clearer than on lower-resolution screens, and Apple's expert scaling always keeps apps, menus and icons at a decent size, while giving you the option to mimic the look and feel of several different scaled resolutions. It's the same system Apple has used in all its Retina display models, going back to the MacBook Pro with Retina display.
But there's more to the new iMac than just a higher resolution. The new Retina display supports the wider P3 color gamut versus the more common sRGB (standard Red/Green/Blue) version. Translated for the rest of us, that means the display can show more of the green and red color spectrum (blue, the third leg of the color triangle, is already fairly maxed out under RGB). Apple says it adds up to 25 percent more available colors to display.
P3 is the standard for digital cinema projection in theaters, and for certain photo professionals and film and video experts, this is potentially a big deal. For photo hobbyists, you're unlikely to be able to appreciate the difference, as very little consumer-grade equipment is going to give you files that can take advantage of the wider P3 color gamut (some dSLR cameras, however, can). However, in side-by-side testing using some sample images, the effect was subtle but impressive, with richer reds and greens, and Apple's photo apps as well as third-party programs such as Photoshop, all support color far beyond standard sRBG.
It's little surprise that the new 21.5-inch Apple iMac looks the same as models from the past several years. The basic design language of the iMac has changed little since 2012, when it adopted the current setup of a slim, bowed screen sitting on top of an aluminum stand and minimalist base, a look that still manages to feel fresh years later.
But inside the familiar convex chassis of the iMac, there are some important spec changes for 2015. All three 21.5-inch models jump from Intel's fourth-generation Core i-series processors to newer fifth-generation chips. That's important because these iMacs were previously two generations of CPU behind. However, only the 27-inch iMacs, now all featuring the high-res 5K display, move up to the very latest CPUs, from Intel's recent sixth-generation of Core chips, sometimes known by the codename Skylake.

It's a shame the iMacs are still one chip generation behind, especially with nearly every consumer PC hitting stores this holiday season moving to Skylake chips. But, for a desktop system it's less important, as actual performance changes between generations of Intel chips are fairly modest. Most of the advantage comes in battery life, and for an all-in-one desktop, that's not going to be an issue.
Also new in the 21.5-inch iMac are Thunderbolt 2 ports for faster data transfer (if you have any Thunderbolt-equipped accessories) and some new hybrid hard drive options -- Apple calls them Fusion drives -- combining a small amount of solid-state memory for quick access of frequently used data, with a larger standard platter drive.
Besides the higher screen resolution and new CPUs, the biggest obvious change to the iMac line is the revamped collection of accessories bundled with it. The Apple wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad -- all familiar sights on Apple users' desks around the world -- have gotten their first overhaul in years, and it might be the new feature I'm most excited about.

All three lose their reliance on disposable batteries, instead moving to internal rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. That allows the keyboard and trackpad to slim down, removing the bulbus battery compartments that dominated the previous designs. The Magic Keyboard is smaller and flatter, but has slightly larger key faces. The Magic Trackpad 2 has a larger surface area -- it looks huge compared to the original version -- and now supports Force Touch, just like the pads in the MacBook and MacBook Pro. The Magic Mouse 2 looks the same, but is a hair lighter with better rubber tracks along the bottom.

Overall, this is an important update to the iMac line, as a better-than-HD display feels like table stakes these days for any premium laptop or desktop computer, and the improved color gamut support in the 4K and 5K displays will help keep the iMac line as a top choice for creative pros.
For everyone else, even if you don't regularly view 4K content, a sharp-looking Retina-level display is one of those things that's nearly impossible to give up once you get used to it, and the new 4K iMac is competitively priced with the handful of 4K-display Windows PCs we've reviewed.
If you have a model from the past few years, this isn't a must-have upgrade, but it may certainly be worth picking up the new keyboard and mouse or trackpad to give your older iMac a facelift.


Design and features

You can read any of our iMac reviews over the past three years to get a feel for the long-standing design of this high-end all-in-one. It still manages to look current, although some newer trends seen on the Windows side, from thinner bezels to touch screens, are absent here.
The iMac is dominated by its display, which also houses all the system components. It's still just 5mm thick at the edge, gently bowing out in the back. It looks almost paper-thin when viewed from the correct angle, and still pretty svelte even in full profile, where the rear panel bows out in the center into a gentle bowl shape.

That top section is connected via an adjustable hinge to a curved one-piece stand. If you're not connecting any external USB, Thunderbolt 2, or Mini-DisplayPort devices, and using Wi-Fi instead of a wired Ethernet connection, this is essentially a one-cable setup with a single white power cord in the lower middle of the back panel. As with most Apple computers, this is a sealed system, with no user-accessible components -- unlike the 27-inch iMac, which has an access port for the RAM slots.

Thinner, lighter accessories

The biggest physical change is in the new packed-in accessories, named the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2. As before, the keyboard and mouse are included by default, but you can choose to swap in the Trackpad instead of the mouse. With these new versions, however, the adding the Trackpad costs extra. All three are also sold separately, at $79 for the Magic Mouse 2, $99 for the Magic Keyboard and $129 for the Magic Trackpad 2 (all prices in US dollars). Previously, all three first-gem accessories were sold by Apple at $69 each.
That's a big jump in price for the trackpad, but it's easily the most impressive of the new accessories. The pad goes from aluminum-colored to off-white, and looks and feels massive. Apple says the surface area is 29 percent larger. Without the the cylindrical battery compartment, the pad has an even more minimalist look, lying flat on the tabletop with a slight wedge shape.

The Magic Trackpad 2 supports Force Touch, the new touchpad mechanic found in the MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops (a variant is also now in the iPhone and Apple Watch). Force Touch uses four corner sensors to replace the hinged "diving board" mechanism found in most touchpads, including Apple's previous ones.

THE GOOD The Panasonic's ZS100's 10x zoom lens is thus far the longest we've seen in a compact camera with a 1-inch sensor, and it offers a broad set of features including 4K video.
THE BAD It lacks a flip-up display and its autofocus speed is just middling.
THE BOTTOM LINE The Pansonic ZS100 offers great blend of quality, size and features for people who want better photos and are willing to trade off a little quality for a lot of lens.

Photo and video quality

Though it's not quite up to the standard of the best cameras with 1-inch sensors, I think most people will be perfectly happy with the photo and video of the ZS100, which ranges from very good to excellent. In auto mode the photos tend to come out darker than in manual or priority modes which results in very dense shadows, but for the most part it delivers.
A lot depends upon how far you're zoomed in and what aperture is set in addition to the typical factor of the ISO sensitivity setting. The lens doesn't seem to be particularly sharp in general, with more than usual distortion around the edges. And at the longer zoom and narrow apertures -- essentially from f4 to f8 -- photos get a lot softer. You reach those apertures very fast; it reaches f4.1 by the time you hit 50mm. And that's the tradeoff for the benefits of a 10x zoom. As long as you're not scrutinizing the photos at full size, though, I think you'll find it worth the slight sharpness sacrifice.
There's a Diffraction Compensation setting which theoretically counteracts the softening effects of the narrowed aperture, but since the only choices are auto or off, it's impossible to tell whether it's actually doing anything.
In bright light JPEGs look very good; as the light dims, they start to look very smeary. Keep in mind that in low light (i.e., at high ISO sensitivities) for any camera, out-of-focus areas start to degrade a lot faster than those in focus. So the ZS100's naturally soft photos start to show artifacts in low light faster than ones shot with a better lens. Color and exposure look pleasing, though.
You can get better results in low light by shooting raw -- in some cases, without even doing anything to the file other than opening it and saving as a JPEG. That's because raw avoids Panasonic's aggressive processing.
Its 4K video is excellent for point-and-shoot purposes, though you do see visual noise in low light and slight movements of the camera produce wobble, which is pretty typical.



By ISO 800 the JPEGs are noticeably soft, but they're still pretty usable. At ISO 1600 and above they start to lose a lot of detail, but they look okay at small sizes.


 The camera's out-of-focus highlights look reasonably smooth.

While the ZS100 didn't show great white balance under our test LED lights, in normal daylight and even under cloudy skies it's very good. Colors are bright, saturated and very pleasing.


While the ZS100 didn't show great white balance under our test LED lights, in normal daylight and even under cloudy skies it's very good. Colors are bright, saturated and very pleasing.
· ·

Panasonic Lumix ZS100 (TZ100, TZ110) review:

THE GOOD The Panasonic's ZS100's 10x zoom lens is thus far the longest we've seen in a compact camera with a 1-inch sensor, and it offers a broad set of features including 4K video.
THE BAD It lacks a flip-up display and its autofocus speed is just middling.
THE BOTTOM LINE The Pansonic ZS100 offers great blend of quality, size and features for people who want better photos and are willing to trade off a little quality for a lot of lens.

Photo and video quality

Though it's not quite up to the standard of the best cameras with 1-inch sensors, I think most people will be perfectly happy with the photo and video of the ZS100, which ranges from very good to excellent. In auto mode the photos tend to come out darker than in manual or priority modes which results in very dense shadows, but for the most part it delivers.
A lot depends upon how far you're zoomed in and what aperture is set in addition to the typical factor of the ISO sensitivity setting. The lens doesn't seem to be particularly sharp in general, with more than usual distortion around the edges. And at the longer zoom and narrow apertures -- essentially from f4 to f8 -- photos get a lot softer. You reach those apertures very fast; it reaches f4.1 by the time you hit 50mm. And that's the tradeoff for the benefits of a 10x zoom. As long as you're not scrutinizing the photos at full size, though, I think you'll find it worth the slight sharpness sacrifice.
There's a Diffraction Compensation setting which theoretically counteracts the softening effects of the narrowed aperture, but since the only choices are auto or off, it's impossible to tell whether it's actually doing anything.
In bright light JPEGs look very good; as the light dims, they start to look very smeary. Keep in mind that in low light (i.e., at high ISO sensitivities) for any camera, out-of-focus areas start to degrade a lot faster than those in focus. So the ZS100's naturally soft photos start to show artifacts in low light faster than ones shot with a better lens. Color and exposure look pleasing, though.
You can get better results in low light by shooting raw -- in some cases, without even doing anything to the file other than opening it and saving as a JPEG. That's because raw avoids Panasonic's aggressive processing.
Its 4K video is excellent for point-and-shoot purposes, though you do see visual noise in low light and slight movements of the camera produce wobble, which is pretty typical.



By ISO 800 the JPEGs are noticeably soft, but they're still pretty usable. At ISO 1600 and above they start to lose a lot of detail, but they look okay at small sizes.


 The camera's out-of-focus highlights look reasonably smooth.

While the ZS100 didn't show great white balance under our test LED lights, in normal daylight and even under cloudy skies it's very good. Colors are bright, saturated and very pleasing.


While the ZS100 didn't show great white balance under our test LED lights, in normal daylight and even under cloudy skies it's very good. Colors are bright, saturated and very pleasing.

Location: Sidi Ameur, Tunisie
Nikon D3300 review
THE GOOD The Nikon D3300's photo quality improves on its predecessor, and while it's not incredibly fast it performs pretty well for its price class.
THE BAD The feature set remains pretty limited.
THE BOTTOM LINE Very good photo quality for its class plus decent performance make the Nikon D3300 A solid choice for a first dSLR.

better photo quality and slightly better performance, the Nikon D3300 delivers a modest improvement over its predecessor the D3200 -- enough to bump up its rating and improve its status relative to some competitors, but no so much that it's definitively worth the extra money over the D3200 for buyers on tight budgets. The rest of the updates, such as 1080/60p video, a redesigned beginner's Guide Mode, plus a slightly smaller, lighter body, barely move the needle. It retains the same 11-point autofocus system of its predecessor, and lacks built-in Wi-Fi; you still have to go dongle for that.

Image quality

Photos are the camera's strongest suit. The D3300 improves on the image quality of the D3200, with most images appearing somewhat sharper as you'd expect from the new 24-megapixel antialiasing-filter-free sensor, and the camera fares pretty compared to competitors. Also, for example, ISO 3200 JPEGs look a lot less noisy than their counterparts from the D3200, but the raw files seem to clean up about the same, pointing mostly to the inevitable improvements in Nikon's image processing over the past two years. JPEGs look very clean through ISO 400 and display only minimal artifacts through ISO 1600. Depending upon scene content the photos are usable through ISO 6400, but above that the less-bright colors become too desaturated and the tonal ranges compress unattractively.

Performance

Overall, the D3300 tests faster than the D3200 and many of its competitors, but it still feels pretty slow to shoot with -- possibly because of the relatively sluggish new kit lens. It takes half a second to power on, focus, and shoot; that's not bad. Time to focus and shoot in good light runs about 0.4 second, rising to 0.6 second in dim light. It does perform quite fast when shooting two consecutive photos, 0.2 second regardless whether you're using raw or JPEG, since it doesn't attempt to refocus, rising to 0.9 second with flash enabled.
Live View performance remains terrible, taking almost 2 seconds to focus and shoot thanks to slow everything -- slow autofocus, slow mirror movement -- and two consecutive JPEG shots takes 3.7 seconds.
The camera delivers an excellent 5.1fps burst when equipped with a 95MB/sec SD card (almost 4.4fps for raw) with autofocus and with no significant slowing -- it just gets a little more variable -- for more than 30 frames. However, the autofocus can't really keep up with the frame rate so there are a lot of misses.
The annoying small, dim viewfinder hasn't changed, unsurprising since that's typical for these entry-level models. I really dislike the tiny focus points which only illuminate (and briefly) when you half-press the shutter. They're impossible to see in moderate to dim light, so if you shoot on anything other than full auto you first have to press the shutter to find the appropriate focus point (in my case, center) before you can even begin to frame the scene. The LCD hasn't changed, but it's a good size, bright and reasonably visible in bright sunlight.


Design and features

The body looks almost identical to the D3200 (which had barely changed from the D3100 before that) except for a few tweaks. It's light and a bit plasticky with a deep, comfortable grip. On top of the grip sits the power switch and shutter button, and behind that a trio of buttons: a somewhat hard-to-feel record button, plus exposure compensation and info display. The crowded mode dial serves up the the typical assortment of manual, semi-manual and automatic modes, plus a Guide mode and Effects mode (with the usual suspects).
· ·

Nikon D3300 review

Nikon D3300 review
THE GOOD The Nikon D3300's photo quality improves on its predecessor, and while it's not incredibly fast it performs pretty well for its price class.
THE BAD The feature set remains pretty limited.
THE BOTTOM LINE Very good photo quality for its class plus decent performance make the Nikon D3300 A solid choice for a first dSLR.

better photo quality and slightly better performance, the Nikon D3300 delivers a modest improvement over its predecessor the D3200 -- enough to bump up its rating and improve its status relative to some competitors, but no so much that it's definitively worth the extra money over the D3200 for buyers on tight budgets. The rest of the updates, such as 1080/60p video, a redesigned beginner's Guide Mode, plus a slightly smaller, lighter body, barely move the needle. It retains the same 11-point autofocus system of its predecessor, and lacks built-in Wi-Fi; you still have to go dongle for that.

Image quality

Photos are the camera's strongest suit. The D3300 improves on the image quality of the D3200, with most images appearing somewhat sharper as you'd expect from the new 24-megapixel antialiasing-filter-free sensor, and the camera fares pretty compared to competitors. Also, for example, ISO 3200 JPEGs look a lot less noisy than their counterparts from the D3200, but the raw files seem to clean up about the same, pointing mostly to the inevitable improvements in Nikon's image processing over the past two years. JPEGs look very clean through ISO 400 and display only minimal artifacts through ISO 1600. Depending upon scene content the photos are usable through ISO 6400, but above that the less-bright colors become too desaturated and the tonal ranges compress unattractively.

Performance

Overall, the D3300 tests faster than the D3200 and many of its competitors, but it still feels pretty slow to shoot with -- possibly because of the relatively sluggish new kit lens. It takes half a second to power on, focus, and shoot; that's not bad. Time to focus and shoot in good light runs about 0.4 second, rising to 0.6 second in dim light. It does perform quite fast when shooting two consecutive photos, 0.2 second regardless whether you're using raw or JPEG, since it doesn't attempt to refocus, rising to 0.9 second with flash enabled.
Live View performance remains terrible, taking almost 2 seconds to focus and shoot thanks to slow everything -- slow autofocus, slow mirror movement -- and two consecutive JPEG shots takes 3.7 seconds.
The camera delivers an excellent 5.1fps burst when equipped with a 95MB/sec SD card (almost 4.4fps for raw) with autofocus and with no significant slowing -- it just gets a little more variable -- for more than 30 frames. However, the autofocus can't really keep up with the frame rate so there are a lot of misses.
The annoying small, dim viewfinder hasn't changed, unsurprising since that's typical for these entry-level models. I really dislike the tiny focus points which only illuminate (and briefly) when you half-press the shutter. They're impossible to see in moderate to dim light, so if you shoot on anything other than full auto you first have to press the shutter to find the appropriate focus point (in my case, center) before you can even begin to frame the scene. The LCD hasn't changed, but it's a good size, bright and reasonably visible in bright sunlight.


Design and features

The body looks almost identical to the D3200 (which had barely changed from the D3100 before that) except for a few tweaks. It's light and a bit plasticky with a deep, comfortable grip. On top of the grip sits the power switch and shutter button, and behind that a trio of buttons: a somewhat hard-to-feel record button, plus exposure compensation and info display. The crowded mode dial serves up the the typical assortment of manual, semi-manual and automatic modes, plus a Guide mode and Effects mode (with the usual suspects).

LG G5 review:
THE GOOD The LG G5's unique modular design lets you swap in fun accessories. It has (two!) great rear cameras, expandable storage and a replaceable battery -- a rarity in high-end phones.
THE BAD Although you can swap out some parts, there aren't enough to make this feature compelling. You can only access the phone's app drawer in a specialized theme.
THE BOTTOM LINE This is the phone to get if you want a removable battery, but it fails to live up to its world-changing Swiss Army Knife potential


Design: This is not your modular fantasy

When LG first showed off the G5, it made a big deal of it being the first phone with modular capabilities. This ability to swap out and customize certain hardware parts has been a longtime fantasy for mobile users. Like building a personal computer, you can upgrade certain components that are important to you or fit a certain need. If you're going somewhere where you're going to take a variety of photos, for example, you might want to swap out your handset's stock lens for a fisheye or macro lens.
To use the feature, you'll need to push the small button on the device's left edge. The bottom of the G5 will pop out, allowing you to yank the attachment off the battery, clip the battery into the new module and push it all back together. Because the battery is attached to the bezel, the handset powers down every time you swap something out. This isn't a huge deal, but it takes time to fire up the phone after a switch, and if you swap parts often throughout the day it can be a power drain.
Google attempted to make a modular handset with its Project Ara, but development on that stalled. The fact that LG got this off the ground is a win, but the feature is limited for now because there are only two accessories (so far) that take advantage of it.
One is called the Cam Plus. It's a camera grip that has a physical shutter button to record and capture video, and a zooming wheel. It also has a built-in battery, which you can use on top of the phone's battery for extra juice. The other accessory is the Hi-Fi Plus, a portable digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that boosts audio playback for high-definition sound files. Because the Hi-Fi Plus includes an audio grill, a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack, you can leave it attached to your G5 and use it all the time.

LG Phones often play it safe, but this modular G5, which lets you swap out some parts, is all risk. I love the innovation -- no other company has gotten this far with a modular phone -- but unfortunately the device falls short on execution.
Swapping out parts means you turn off your smartphone each time, and there just aren't enough modules right now to make this truly captivating. (LG is selling two components, but they don't pique my interest all that much.) Maybe if there were more inspired modules, and more partners on board lining up cooler add-ons -- I love the idea of a swappable camera lens, for example -- I could be more excited about the G5, or at least more forgiving of its growing pains.
But it's not all bad news. Forget the modules and the device is the best handset with a removable battery, which is becoming a rarity in the phone world. Its aluminium build looks and feels great, and the two cameras on its back are a pleasure to use.
Overall, the G5 still isn't as good as Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge when it comes to processing speed and battery life, but it'll work very well for all the things you really need to do: take photos, browse the internet, and watch videos throughout the day.
(For more on the G5's hardware specs and how it compares to other flagship handsets, scroll to the end of the review.)

Software: Making a few compromises

You know the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Well, LG tried to fix it.
On the refreshed user interface for the G5, LG buried the option to have an app drawer, the grid of icons that holds all of your apps. A bunch of other Android phone-makers, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, do something similar by getting rid of the drawer altogether, but if you aren't used to it, it can drive you crazy.
I like the app drawer, as this iPhone-like layout means I can't organize my homepages exactly how I want. If you want the drawer back you'll need to dive into Settings and launch a totally different layout called EasyHome. (Hat tip to Techno Buffalo for pointing this out.) Unfortunately, the EasyHome theme enlarges the font size on your home screen, which you can't adjust, and gets rid of the dashboard, which is a row of up to five apps that you can choose to display on the bottom of your home page.
·

LG G5 review

LG G5 review:
THE GOOD The LG G5's unique modular design lets you swap in fun accessories. It has (two!) great rear cameras, expandable storage and a replaceable battery -- a rarity in high-end phones.
THE BAD Although you can swap out some parts, there aren't enough to make this feature compelling. You can only access the phone's app drawer in a specialized theme.
THE BOTTOM LINE This is the phone to get if you want a removable battery, but it fails to live up to its world-changing Swiss Army Knife potential


Design: This is not your modular fantasy

When LG first showed off the G5, it made a big deal of it being the first phone with modular capabilities. This ability to swap out and customize certain hardware parts has been a longtime fantasy for mobile users. Like building a personal computer, you can upgrade certain components that are important to you or fit a certain need. If you're going somewhere where you're going to take a variety of photos, for example, you might want to swap out your handset's stock lens for a fisheye or macro lens.
To use the feature, you'll need to push the small button on the device's left edge. The bottom of the G5 will pop out, allowing you to yank the attachment off the battery, clip the battery into the new module and push it all back together. Because the battery is attached to the bezel, the handset powers down every time you swap something out. This isn't a huge deal, but it takes time to fire up the phone after a switch, and if you swap parts often throughout the day it can be a power drain.
Google attempted to make a modular handset with its Project Ara, but development on that stalled. The fact that LG got this off the ground is a win, but the feature is limited for now because there are only two accessories (so far) that take advantage of it.
One is called the Cam Plus. It's a camera grip that has a physical shutter button to record and capture video, and a zooming wheel. It also has a built-in battery, which you can use on top of the phone's battery for extra juice. The other accessory is the Hi-Fi Plus, a portable digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that boosts audio playback for high-definition sound files. Because the Hi-Fi Plus includes an audio grill, a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack, you can leave it attached to your G5 and use it all the time.

LG Phones often play it safe, but this modular G5, which lets you swap out some parts, is all risk. I love the innovation -- no other company has gotten this far with a modular phone -- but unfortunately the device falls short on execution.
Swapping out parts means you turn off your smartphone each time, and there just aren't enough modules right now to make this truly captivating. (LG is selling two components, but they don't pique my interest all that much.) Maybe if there were more inspired modules, and more partners on board lining up cooler add-ons -- I love the idea of a swappable camera lens, for example -- I could be more excited about the G5, or at least more forgiving of its growing pains.
But it's not all bad news. Forget the modules and the device is the best handset with a removable battery, which is becoming a rarity in the phone world. Its aluminium build looks and feels great, and the two cameras on its back are a pleasure to use.
Overall, the G5 still isn't as good as Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge when it comes to processing speed and battery life, but it'll work very well for all the things you really need to do: take photos, browse the internet, and watch videos throughout the day.
(For more on the G5's hardware specs and how it compares to other flagship handsets, scroll to the end of the review.)

Software: Making a few compromises

You know the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Well, LG tried to fix it.
On the refreshed user interface for the G5, LG buried the option to have an app drawer, the grid of icons that holds all of your apps. A bunch of other Android phone-makers, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, do something similar by getting rid of the drawer altogether, but if you aren't used to it, it can drive you crazy.
I like the app drawer, as this iPhone-like layout means I can't organize my homepages exactly how I want. If you want the drawer back you'll need to dive into Settings and launch a totally different layout called EasyHome. (Hat tip to Techno Buffalo for pointing this out.) Unfortunately, the EasyHome theme enlarges the font size on your home screen, which you can't adjust, and gets rid of the dashboard, which is a row of up to five apps that you can choose to display on the bottom of your home page.




Apple iPhone 6S review:
THE GOOD Improved speed everywhere (new processor, faster wireless, quicker Touch ID sensor); a sturdier body; better front and rear cameras; a bold new 3D Touch pressure-sensitive display that could end up being a really useful tool in apps down the road, and which already offers new iOS shortcuts.
THE BAD Same battery life as the iPhone 6. The 6S Plus model remains the only way to get optical image stabilization for photos and video, plus better battery life. You'll need to pay extra to vault past the too-small storage of the entry-level 16GB version.
THE BOTTOM LINE The newest iPhones are top-to-bottom better phones with lots of enhancements; iPhone 6 owners don't need the upgrade, but everyone else should seriously consider it.

The new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus look the same (except for the metallic-pink rose gold model) as last year's iPhones. In a lot of ways they also feel the same. But there are hidden advantages at play. The newest, boldest tech is a new pressure-sensitive touchscreen technology called 3D Touch. There are lots of other improvements, too: better cameras. Better overall system speed. And always-on (and I mean always-on -- unless you turn it off) Siri. And, something I didn't even get a chance to test fully: a completely redesigned construction with a reinforced glass screen, which Apple promises is sturdier all-around. We'll get to that in the next few weeks, but that alone could make a difference for a lot of would-be buyers.
3D Touch might be the "Next Big Idea" in touchscreens and interfaces. But does it make these new iPhones must-haves for that reason alone? I think it will, down the road, when more apps are here. But right now, its software advantages are subtle.

3D Touch: Amazing hardware needs killer software

Press in on the iPhone 6S screen and new fascinating things happen. A pop-out window emerges. Little menus appear. You feel a buzz, or a light click. Much like the Apple Watch , these iPhones let you push in on the screen to accomplish small tasks. Apple calls this 3D Touch. And it's the boldest new tech on these iPhones by a mile.
It's a cool idea, but as I've discovered showing it to my family and friends, it's not entirely intuitive at first. Yes, its promises could be vast. But 3D Touch ends up being used very tentatively in the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus software at the current moment: it mostly adds either pop-up "quick action" menus from apps on the home screen, or adds "peek" and "pop" to apps, expanding links or messages into previews that you can then open up fully, or tuck back away by lifting your finger. Some apps do a lot with these new ideas, especially Mail.
Peeking-and-filing emails can transform how that app is used. But a lot of people who try it for the first time don't realize how to take advantage of 3D Touch. There's no tutorial. And for the most part, 3D Touch isn't essential yet. Until it starts to be incorporated into more apps -- and in a more useful fashion -- I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people forget that it even exists.
I like using 3D Touch to preview links, or to pop-up related apps. When I hold an app and see a menu of extra options under my thumb, it feels almost like a computer, not a phone (the latest MacBooks, which utilize a similar but less sensor-studded trackpad technology Apple calls Force Touch, have pop-up previews in Safari, too). Apple's building a common language, and evolving what your phone-sized computer can do.

Pop-out previews are a really clever idea; links within Safari preview Web pages without any actual clicks. The ability to pull up menus in the iPhone almost feels like right-clicking on a computer and getting a contextual menu. It's helpful, and surprisingly utilitarian. But you don't need to use it, you can always do things the same old way as always, with regular touch controls. You can even turn 3D Touch off. And, those menus that pop up don't offer all the options I'd want. They're not all that customizable, either: what 3D Touch does, or doesn't, do is mostly up to app developers. A good handful of apps have emerged to take advantage of 3D Touch, but it's going to take a while before it feels widespread.
Maybe that's why 3D Touch doesn't feel essential yet in iOS. But the apps that are emerging to take advantage of it are slowly coming, and those could get really interesting. Imagine pressure-sensitive music apps. Art apps. Games. Remotes -- controlling a drone with 3D Touch toggles to gently control directions, for instance. You could press down to change brush strokes when painting (the new Notes app already allows this). You could press down harder on virtual piano keys (Smule's Magic Piano app added this function already). Racing games can get analog gas pedals (AG Racer added this, and it's one of the best demonstrations of 3D Touch). I could see it working as a virtual dimmer for smart home remotes.
I want more. I've started 3D touching every icon, every menu; I want 3D Touch in all my apps, everywhere. It's weird when it isn't. I want smarter 3D Touch menus, smarter extra features. It's legitimately better to have it than not have it, but I don't expect its killer apps to emerge for at least a couple of months. And iOS could use splashier ways of taking advantage of it, too, like that animated lock screen. What if I could push through folders, or push-to-magnify, dipping in and out of views?

What my family and friends thought

Most of my friends and family didn't necessarily care about the iPhone's new features. My wife is long overdue for an upgrade from the iPhone 4S, but she didn't care about 3D Touch. Or Live Photos, for that matter. She's considering buying an iPhone 6. My brother-in-law just wanted Live Photos to help him go back and pick better photos, like Burst Mode. My mom already has an iPhone 6, and other than needing more storage for her photos she didn't see anything new she needed, either. My kids thought Live Photos were cool, but didn't recognize the difference between those and videos (down the road, I think that'll be true for most people, and that's probably the point).

What I think

If I were to buy a new phone now and didn't get an iPhone 6, I'd buy this, easily. In 64GB or 128GB -- never a 16GB (those smaller sizes barely hold enough photos and videos to get by if you're the type of person who doesn't delete). If I had an iPhone 6, I'd wait until next year...or, find a way to sell my phone and trade up without it costing me quite so much.
I think Apple, and the whole phone industry, are trying to change the "Should I upgrade?" question bit by bit. They're trying to make it an "every year" thing, not an "every two years" or "Should I buy something new?" thing. Phone plans like AT&T Next, or Apple's own yearly plan, are almost like leases. You can trade in your old ride and seamlessly move to a new one.
The 6S fits that model well; it's enhanced and improved. Is it shockingly new or a vault forward? No...except for the concept of 3D Touch, which is brilliant hardware still in need of software which will make it truly shine. That software, from iOS itself and apps, will come, but maybe not right away. 3D Touch could build a new style of touchscreen app design, bleeding into iPads, the Apple Watch and maybe influencing the rest of the industry. Right now, just a week in, it's still baby steps.
This iPhone is built for the future, but in the present it's mostly a nicely improved iPhone 6.

A deeper look at the iPhone 6S

As we said, 3D Touch isn't the only thing that's new on the iPhone 6S. Here are more in-depth looks at the camera improvements, and the speedier internal processor and fingerprint sensor. Also, a look at how Apple's smaller 4.7-inch iPhone model differs from its larger sibling, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6S Plus (it's a bigger difference than last year). And finally, thanks to the major changes in how phones are sold (in the US, at least), we look at how the buying -- or leasing -- calculations change the purchase decision on these new iPhones, too.

The improved camera: Live Photos, 4K video recording and more

What do Live Photos do? Apple's new camera innovation records a second and a half before, and a second and a half after you snap any shot on your phone, with front or rear cameras. I took a bunch of photos, and then forgot about it. Later on, I realized that all my photos had bits of video and audio attached. Press down, and I could see the photos become little videos, of sorts. Or animated GIFs with audio.
They don't look like normal videos, exactly: they're more like time lapses. The images skip a bit, like a flipbook. It has a bit of a magical, distancing feel. These end up seeming like little mementos.
· ·

review iphone 6 and iphone 6 plus

Apple iPhone 6S review:
THE GOOD Improved speed everywhere (new processor, faster wireless, quicker Touch ID sensor); a sturdier body; better front and rear cameras; a bold new 3D Touch pressure-sensitive display that could end up being a really useful tool in apps down the road, and which already offers new iOS shortcuts.
THE BAD Same battery life as the iPhone 6. The 6S Plus model remains the only way to get optical image stabilization for photos and video, plus better battery life. You'll need to pay extra to vault past the too-small storage of the entry-level 16GB version.
THE BOTTOM LINE The newest iPhones are top-to-bottom better phones with lots of enhancements; iPhone 6 owners don't need the upgrade, but everyone else should seriously consider it.

The new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus look the same (except for the metallic-pink rose gold model) as last year's iPhones. In a lot of ways they also feel the same. But there are hidden advantages at play. The newest, boldest tech is a new pressure-sensitive touchscreen technology called 3D Touch. There are lots of other improvements, too: better cameras. Better overall system speed. And always-on (and I mean always-on -- unless you turn it off) Siri. And, something I didn't even get a chance to test fully: a completely redesigned construction with a reinforced glass screen, which Apple promises is sturdier all-around. We'll get to that in the next few weeks, but that alone could make a difference for a lot of would-be buyers.
3D Touch might be the "Next Big Idea" in touchscreens and interfaces. But does it make these new iPhones must-haves for that reason alone? I think it will, down the road, when more apps are here. But right now, its software advantages are subtle.

3D Touch: Amazing hardware needs killer software

Press in on the iPhone 6S screen and new fascinating things happen. A pop-out window emerges. Little menus appear. You feel a buzz, or a light click. Much like the Apple Watch , these iPhones let you push in on the screen to accomplish small tasks. Apple calls this 3D Touch. And it's the boldest new tech on these iPhones by a mile.
It's a cool idea, but as I've discovered showing it to my family and friends, it's not entirely intuitive at first. Yes, its promises could be vast. But 3D Touch ends up being used very tentatively in the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus software at the current moment: it mostly adds either pop-up "quick action" menus from apps on the home screen, or adds "peek" and "pop" to apps, expanding links or messages into previews that you can then open up fully, or tuck back away by lifting your finger. Some apps do a lot with these new ideas, especially Mail.
Peeking-and-filing emails can transform how that app is used. But a lot of people who try it for the first time don't realize how to take advantage of 3D Touch. There's no tutorial. And for the most part, 3D Touch isn't essential yet. Until it starts to be incorporated into more apps -- and in a more useful fashion -- I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people forget that it even exists.
I like using 3D Touch to preview links, or to pop-up related apps. When I hold an app and see a menu of extra options under my thumb, it feels almost like a computer, not a phone (the latest MacBooks, which utilize a similar but less sensor-studded trackpad technology Apple calls Force Touch, have pop-up previews in Safari, too). Apple's building a common language, and evolving what your phone-sized computer can do.

Pop-out previews are a really clever idea; links within Safari preview Web pages without any actual clicks. The ability to pull up menus in the iPhone almost feels like right-clicking on a computer and getting a contextual menu. It's helpful, and surprisingly utilitarian. But you don't need to use it, you can always do things the same old way as always, with regular touch controls. You can even turn 3D Touch off. And, those menus that pop up don't offer all the options I'd want. They're not all that customizable, either: what 3D Touch does, or doesn't, do is mostly up to app developers. A good handful of apps have emerged to take advantage of 3D Touch, but it's going to take a while before it feels widespread.
Maybe that's why 3D Touch doesn't feel essential yet in iOS. But the apps that are emerging to take advantage of it are slowly coming, and those could get really interesting. Imagine pressure-sensitive music apps. Art apps. Games. Remotes -- controlling a drone with 3D Touch toggles to gently control directions, for instance. You could press down to change brush strokes when painting (the new Notes app already allows this). You could press down harder on virtual piano keys (Smule's Magic Piano app added this function already). Racing games can get analog gas pedals (AG Racer added this, and it's one of the best demonstrations of 3D Touch). I could see it working as a virtual dimmer for smart home remotes.
I want more. I've started 3D touching every icon, every menu; I want 3D Touch in all my apps, everywhere. It's weird when it isn't. I want smarter 3D Touch menus, smarter extra features. It's legitimately better to have it than not have it, but I don't expect its killer apps to emerge for at least a couple of months. And iOS could use splashier ways of taking advantage of it, too, like that animated lock screen. What if I could push through folders, or push-to-magnify, dipping in and out of views?

What my family and friends thought

Most of my friends and family didn't necessarily care about the iPhone's new features. My wife is long overdue for an upgrade from the iPhone 4S, but she didn't care about 3D Touch. Or Live Photos, for that matter. She's considering buying an iPhone 6. My brother-in-law just wanted Live Photos to help him go back and pick better photos, like Burst Mode. My mom already has an iPhone 6, and other than needing more storage for her photos she didn't see anything new she needed, either. My kids thought Live Photos were cool, but didn't recognize the difference between those and videos (down the road, I think that'll be true for most people, and that's probably the point).

What I think

If I were to buy a new phone now and didn't get an iPhone 6, I'd buy this, easily. In 64GB or 128GB -- never a 16GB (those smaller sizes barely hold enough photos and videos to get by if you're the type of person who doesn't delete). If I had an iPhone 6, I'd wait until next year...or, find a way to sell my phone and trade up without it costing me quite so much.
I think Apple, and the whole phone industry, are trying to change the "Should I upgrade?" question bit by bit. They're trying to make it an "every year" thing, not an "every two years" or "Should I buy something new?" thing. Phone plans like AT&T Next, or Apple's own yearly plan, are almost like leases. You can trade in your old ride and seamlessly move to a new one.
The 6S fits that model well; it's enhanced and improved. Is it shockingly new or a vault forward? No...except for the concept of 3D Touch, which is brilliant hardware still in need of software which will make it truly shine. That software, from iOS itself and apps, will come, but maybe not right away. 3D Touch could build a new style of touchscreen app design, bleeding into iPads, the Apple Watch and maybe influencing the rest of the industry. Right now, just a week in, it's still baby steps.
This iPhone is built for the future, but in the present it's mostly a nicely improved iPhone 6.

A deeper look at the iPhone 6S

As we said, 3D Touch isn't the only thing that's new on the iPhone 6S. Here are more in-depth looks at the camera improvements, and the speedier internal processor and fingerprint sensor. Also, a look at how Apple's smaller 4.7-inch iPhone model differs from its larger sibling, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6S Plus (it's a bigger difference than last year). And finally, thanks to the major changes in how phones are sold (in the US, at least), we look at how the buying -- or leasing -- calculations change the purchase decision on these new iPhones, too.

The improved camera: Live Photos, 4K video recording and more

What do Live Photos do? Apple's new camera innovation records a second and a half before, and a second and a half after you snap any shot on your phone, with front or rear cameras. I took a bunch of photos, and then forgot about it. Later on, I realized that all my photos had bits of video and audio attached. Press down, and I could see the photos become little videos, of sorts. Or animated GIFs with audio.
They don't look like normal videos, exactly: they're more like time lapses. The images skip a bit, like a flipbook. It has a bit of a magical, distancing feel. These end up seeming like little mementos.


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