THE AWESOME TWOSOME
Their
stunning Retina Display makes Google’s Nexus 10 and Apple’s all-new MacBook Pro
the real game changers
T HE LAST few days have been
incredible. Very rarely do we see so much great technology released
simultaneously. From the Microsoft Windows 8 blitz, Apple releasing more
devices at one event than ever before, Google doing the same and truly throwing
down the gauntlet in the hardware business, to Nokia’s event for its all-new
Lumia phones and then HTC and Samsung following suit, it’s been overwhelming
and frankly even intimidating. So much good stuff has been announced and
released that it seems it’s Christmas every single day.
LOST IN COMPETITION If further proof
was ever required that Google is now a serious player in the hardware market,
then the Google Nexus 10 provides it
EXCAVATION TIME
Rajiv Makhni But there is a downside
to this onslaught of gadgetry that has been hitting us at the speed of light.
Due to the sheer quantity of incredible devices being released, some really
significant stuff tends to slip between the cracks. These are the kind of
devices that are true game-changers but have been superseded by something that
may not have any out-of-the-box features but has got more hype and buzz
attached to it. It’s time to dig out two big ones that are rewriting the rules
of technology.
GOOGLE NEXUS 10
Tablets today are a dime a dozen.
More seven-inch tablets are released in India today then the number of
smartphones that see the light of day. Even larger-sized tablets struggle to
make any news or noise as it’s really tough to differentiate one from the
other. But one tablet that should have stood out, but got lost in the flood, is
the Google Nexus 10. If further proof was ever required that Google is now a
serious player in the hardware part of the world – then this tablet more than
offers it. It’s built by Samsung with specs dictated by Google and a pricing
policy ( just $399) that makes it quite a steal. But it’s what this tablet
offers that makes it a total must-have. The first is the most obvious: the
super delicious 10-inch, LED-backlit, IPS LCD touchscreen with a mind-boggling
resolution of 2560x1600 pixels. That’s an unprecedented 300 pixels per inch
spread over its entire huge screen. Just to put it in perspective, the latest
iPad Retina Display has 264 pixels per inch. While the processor, RAM, form
factor, how light it is and how thin it is are all top-notch features – that
screen really is a big deal as it now forces the competition to up the stakes.
Low-res tablets aren’t going to cut it any more after this, and you’re going to
see even economy Tablets huff and puff and come up with enhanced versions of
their screens and displays. On a Tablet, where you spend 95 per cent of your
time consuming content visually off the screen – the Google Nexus just made
that whole experience a lot sharper and smoother.
MACBOOK PRO 13 WITH RETINA DISPLAY
It’s impossible to even think that
an Apple device as significant as an all-new MacBook Pro would get lost in the
noise. But unfortunately, this stunning device came out at a time when the
world was holding its collective breath for the iPad Mini. The dust and the
fury of that little thing totally obliterated the significance of what Apple
was able to put into this formidable machine. It’s thinner, it’s lighter and
it’s so powerful that at times it seems they’ve packed in a F1 car engine
inside its slim profile as this one zips along at almost impossible speeds.
While many may argue that the bigger 15-inch sibling has equal or slightly
better specs – that’s exactly where the 13incher scores. If you can pack the
same power and performance into a device much smaller, thinner and lighter –
then the true Holy Grail of tech is reached. But once again, it’s not the
insides that make this a game changing device, it’s the outside. A 13-inch
screen and stunning Retina Display with a resolution of 2560x1600.
THE BIG DEAL
If you’re as sharp-eyed as I am
hoping you are, then you’ve caught the similarity: the exact same resolution as
the Google Nexus 10. And there’s a reason. This is now going to be the gold
standard for devices. The next level of benchmarking if a device has to stand
up and be counted. And that is a very big deal for all of us as it’s now been
proven that the human eye can truly see the difference and benefit from pixels
that are so closely put together. Eye fatigue is reduced by a significant
amount, text is cleaner, jagged edges disappear, Web pages pop and look clean
and sharp and eBooks and documents look smooth and appealing to the eye. Movies
look stunning and pictures and images truly show off the goodness of your brand
new state-of-the-art camera. Super-high-resolution machines are the future and
a clear path to the future was paved by these two small little devices that got
completely lost. It’s time for you to reach in deep into that crack and dig
these two out.
- Rajiv Makhni .Managing editor, Technology, NDTV and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet3. HTBR121118
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