LG Optimus 3D Max review

The LG Optimus 3D MAX is the second edition of the world's first 3D phone announced – theOptimus 3D – and it is more of a refresh than anything else. The processor is clocked higher and we have 1GB of RAM now, but most else stays the same, save for one important detail.This season's 3D phone from LG is much more compact and light than its 2011 predecessor, which was a heavy hitter. LG has also thrown in a bunch of new 3D-related content in it as well, like a 3D Converter and video editor, as well as cubicle icons, but are these enough to lure you into the third dimension? Read on to find out...

Optimus 3D

Design

The LG Optimus 3D Max measures 4.99 inches tall and 2.65 inches wide. At 0.38 inch thick, it's thinner than the original Optimus 3D, but at 5.22 ounces, it's still heavy. I have a small grip, so the device felt too wide to handle. I dropped the handset a couple of times trying to use it with one hand, and its slick backing didn't help out either. Although I can put it in my jeans pocket, the fit is snug and a good half-inch is still exposed.

On the left side are a volume rocker and a Micro-USB port that has a small cover you can toggle back and forth. Though I appreciate the faux-metallic finishing on these features, the volume buttons are difficult to press. They're so flush with the side of the phone, it makes them hard to find by feel and even harder to push. Up top are a 3.5mm headphone jack (a pair of midlevel earbuds comes with the 3D Max) and a sleep/power button. To the right is the 3D shortcut button, which gives you quick access to your 3D games, 3D YouTube videos, and the 3D camera (more on all these later).

The back is made out of a black, slightly textured thin piece of plastic. Again, it's incredibly smooth, so don't expect any friction to keep it in place on, say, an airplane seat's tray table or your car's dashboard. On the left side, you'll see two 5-megapixel lenses for the 2D and 3D cameras, and on the bottom right are two slits for the output speaker. Using a small indent on the bottom edge of the device, you can pry the backing off to gain access to the 1,520mAh battery, the microSD card slot, and the two little gold NFC antennas.

The only vaguely interesting physical design feature here is the metallic strip along the phone's rear, which houses the Optimus 3D's two camera sensors and its LED flash. It's one nice touch in an otherwise quite generic lump of black plastic.

In the box:

Travel charger

microUSB cable

In-ear stereo headphones

Sleep Mode, Car Mode and Office Mode NFC tags

Warranty and information leaflets

Gaming on the LG Optimus 3D 

 2012 Nissan GT-R Review

That word ‘entertaining’ is what makes the GT-R such a Marmite machine. Many people see it has a super-sophisticated four-wheel drive system, a minimum-input/maximum efficiency gearbox and they read the improbable acceleration numbers and lap times and assume this GT-R is all speed and no involvement; a car that demands no skill and offers no reward other than pub bragging rights. More power will never convince that vocal group that the GT-R is a genuine hero car and a scintillating experience.

The cold hard facts are that this 2012 GT-R has been honed in every area: for the first time since its launch the GT-R’s 3.8-litre V6 twin turbo engine has been uprated mechanically rather than just through a reconfigured ECU and exhaust package.

It has revised heads, new sodium-filled valves, a revised intake system – all in the name of more throttle response and greater energy higher up the rev range.

The dampers have new programming, the springs are revised, the gearbox shifts even more cleanly and quickly, the front bulkhead is structurally stiffer... The GT-R even has different spring rates and rear suspension geometry from one side to the other to account for the weight of the driver. It’s a typically meticulous job by the GT-R’s chief engineer Mizuno-san and his team of GT-R obsessives.

On Tha Track

The GT-R’s previous local launches have all revolved around significant track time, and although the MY2012 launch focused more on the car’s on-road performance, Nissan still found time in the schedule to work in some laps at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains raceway.Symmons Plains is a compact 2.4 kilometre circuit made up of three straights linked by tight turns. It’s a good venue to show off the GT-R’s acceleration, braking and cornering performance.Utilising the full 404kW/628Nm thrust of the GT-R’s 3.8 litre twin-turbo V6, the car rockets away from corner exits and builds speed with astonishing rapidity.

By the end of the front straight we were touching 215km/h, before standing on the brake pedal just before the 100m marker for turn four - a very tight hairpin.
Braking feel, stability and fade resistance is exceptional, and the grip offered by the Dunlop SP Sport 600 tyres didn’t taper off even after 15 hard laps.Turn five, a very fast right-hand sweeper, is a true test of high speed stability.Some slight surface undulations have the GT-R squirming about at 220+km/h, and, with the VDC switch set to ‘R’ - which slackens off the stability control - power-on oversteer nestles under the right foot.The GT-R’s rear can also be coaxed into a slide when trail-braking into a corner.You can have a lot of fun with the GT-R’s chassis by using its weight to prolong a slight drift, before punching the throttle and bringing things back under control.

Actual Power Bump

The increase in economy is a feat, considering the substantial 45-hp bump to the VR38DETT V-6, due mainly to higher boost pressure made possible by better engine cooling. Peak boost rises from 10.9 psi to 13.0, and timing and fuel mixture are remapped accordingly. Mizuno says a 1-mm increase in the stroke of the thermostat allows greater coolant flow, which helps compensate for the higher cylinder temperatures. The two air-inlet pipes that feed the gorgeous intake manifold have larger diameters, and exhaust backpressure was reduced.We asked Mizuno how much of the horsepower bump was already in the engine, considering that the media and the blogosphere have long speculated that some GT-R engines already made more than 500 hp. It was a rare topic on which the normally chatty Mizuno was mute. However, he did allow that absolute bottom-line quarter-mile performance will depend on where you buy gas. In states that sell 94 pump octane, it’ll be no problem. In California, which offers only 91, you’ll have to be choosy about where you tank up, Mizuno says, as some brands are better than others. (We apparently chose wisely, given our blistering times.) However, the company stands behind its 530-hp claim for all 50 states.Staying in the driveline, engineers finessed the software controlling the dual-clutch six-speed transmission to make for smoother engagements during normal driving and jackrabbit launches. The car’s warranty now covers use of the launch control; stories of exploding transmissions and denials of warranty claims have dogged the GT-R since its debut. However, the software now requires a 1.5-mile easy drive after every four launches. Mizuno says this is to protect the driver’s neck from injury, although we suspect a desire to stem escalating transmission temperatures also factors into that change.In the suspension, another degree of front caster firms up the car’s straight-ahead feel and adds more edge to its off-center response. Suspension flex must have been a problem in the earlier GT-R, as the front shock attachment points were moved outward on the lower control arms to change the lever point for additional stiffness and impact absorption, and the shocks now have aluminum pistons instead of plastic ones for—you got it—extra stiffness. The rear suspension geometry was changed to lower the rear roll center. Like we said, small details.

2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo Review

The 2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo's biggest gimmick -- aside from the eponymous turbo, which we'll get back to shortly -- is its asymmetrical design. Viewed from the driver's side, the Veloster appears to be a three-door hatchback. However, viewed from the passenger side, it looks like a five-door. The truth is somewhere in between: Hyundai's Veloster is an unconventional four-door hatchback with one door on the driver's side, two doors on the passenger's side, and the lifting hatch out back.

The Specs

Main point of interest is the 1.6-liter direct-injected four with 201 bhp (versus the normal model's 138) and 195 lb-ft of torque (up from 123). And that's on regular gas. The turbo is a twin-scroll that has the turbine housing as a part of the lightweight stainless steel exhaust manifold. The turbo's wastegate is motor driven to more tightly control boost pressure. Max boost is 18 psi.Now the Veloster's acceleration more closely matches the car's moniker. We're guessing about 6.5 sec 0-60, in the same ballpark as competition like VW's Beetle Turbo,GTI and the Honda civic Si . Just as important, the Veloster feels right for its image. No more wading through the gearbox to gain momentum. That gearbox, by the way, could be a 6-speed manual or automatic, the latter with paddle shifters.

Interior

For the interior, Hyundai has added full leather seats with the word "Turbo" stitched into the seatbacks and an exclusive Supervision Cluster that offers the driver information in a larger, clearer, and more interactive format. It is also offered with standard heated front seats, while the center stack and controls resemble a sport bike fuel tank and incorporate a push-button starter and alloy pedals.

Expected Pricing: About $24,000

Apple iPhone 5 review                                            

            

While we are eager to get started on battery life testing, that'll happen late tonight after a full day's worth of use and a recharge cycle. Meanwhile, we went straight to work on performance testing. As we've mentioned before, the A6 SoC makes use of a pair of Apple's own CPU cores that implement the ARMv7 ISA. These aren't vanilla Cortex A9s or Cortex A15s, but rather something of Apple's own design. For its GPU Apple integrated a Powers SGX543MP3 GPU running at higher clocks than the dual-core 543MP2 in the A5. The result is compute performance that's similar to the A5X in Apple's 3rd generation iPad, but with a smaller overall die area. The A6 has a narrower memory interface compared to the A5x (64-bits vs. 128-bits), but that makes sense given the much lower display resolution (0.7MP vs. 3.1MP).

                              

Baertty performance

What can we say: It’s “okay.” Apple has improved many things with the iPhone 5, but battery life isn’t one of them. Like the iPad 3, the new iPhone holds a charge well when idling, but when you’re using it, don’t expect an improvement in battery life over the iPhone 4S. We’ve only been using it a few days, but it hasn’t impressed us at all. With moderate use (not much downloading, but a lot of emailing and browsing), we’ve managed to make it through a normal 12-hour day, but never without being down to the wire.

Apple claims the phone will get about 8 hours of constant use. We’re hoping the next iPhone packs in more than a 1,440mAh battery, as most Android competitors have batteries in the 1,800mAh to 2,100mAh range. Competitors like the Galaxy S3 and Droid Razr Maxx definitely outshine Apple in the battery department.

Specs and performance

We can’t pit the iPhone 5 against our usual benchmarks for Android phones, but we wouldn’t subject you to that boring pissing contest anyway. Suffice it to say, it feels fast. From unlocking to loading apps and crunching 3D graphics, Apple’s new processor is up to the task in a way that previous iPhones have not been.

As best we can tell (Apple isn’t completely forthcoming with all specs) the iPhone 5 runs on a 1GHz dual-core Apple A6 processor, has 1GB of RAM, and comes with 16GB to 64GB of internal flash memory, with no microSD slot. Other specs include an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 1.2-megapixel front camera, an 1136 x 640 pixel 4-inch LCD screen, and a 1,440mAh battery, which we’ll get into shortly.

Camera

The iPhone 5 has an 8-megapixel camera -- the same basic resolution as the iPhone 4S, though Apple has made tweaks to the technology within. This phone performs better than the iPhone 4S in low light, has better video stabilisation and produces more vibrant colours, though the change is subtle.

Check through the following comparison shots, which show iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S photos of the same subjects in the same conditions. While I think the iPhone 5 photos are slightly brighter and more colourful, you'd be hard pressed to split them.