STORAGE Seagate Central review

 Finally a full blown NAS for home users

 

To cater to the fast-growing demand for storage space and realising that most users prefer local storage than cloud, Seagate has launched NAS — Network Attached Storage. This simple looking drive provides easy sharing of data across devices and platforms.

Resembling a DTH box, Seagate Central consumes such little space that it can actually be installed in a media centre device. There is an Ethernet and a lone USB 2.0 port along with the power connector on the rear, and the device doesn't feature any switch except a notification LED. Though it has ample vents to cool it while running, we would still suggest placing it in a well-ventilated space.

Available in 2, 3 and 4TB capacity, we received the 4TB model for review.

We found the installation guide very helpful. The device requires configuration through a browser so the installation needs a computer to be connected to the drive for the first time. Once connected, we were instructed step by step.

The main interface has five tabs — Home, Users, Social, Service and Settings. Using these, you can create new users, their rights, download images from facebook or map the drive. Users can upload or download data from anywhere in the world using the Internet.

Our experience with Seagate Central was fair. However, available at Rs 17,700 for the 4TB version, it does seem to be a bit costly. Reducing the price by few thousands can really make it an great buy.

VERDICT: Easy to use a tad overpriced

E-BOOK READER Kobo Aura review

The best e-reader we've ever reviewed.

The Kobo Aura HD was one of our favourite ebook readers thanks to its gloriously high-resolution screen. The new Kobo Aura is a smaller and cheaper version.

The Aura's screen is 6in with a resolution of 1024x758 pixels. Although this is less than the HD's 7in 1440x1080- pixel screen, it's still excellent. Text is crisp, with 11 additional fonts to choose from and plenty of font sizes. There's a subtle backlight that diffuses light evenly across the screen so you don't strain your eyes when reading in the dark.

You can adjust the brightness using a slider.

The Aura doesn't have a raised border, with the screen blending seemlessly into the black frame. This gives the Aura a sleek, minimalist look that's both pleasing on the eye and comfortable in the hand. It's easy to use because the touchscreen is very responsive, and the menus and settings well organised and simple to understand.

The Aura has an interesting feature called Beyond the Book, which is available on some ebooks. It gives you extra insight and information to whatever you're reading. When we read a book about the American electoral system, for example, the feature provided extra information about forecasting and predictions. This was all very interesting, but lacked sufficient depth to be truly useful.

Kobo Aura costs slightly more than the similar Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. The two are evenly matched in screen and build quality, but with the Aura you can buy your ebooks from a variety of stores while the Kindle is limited to Amazon. For us that freedom is worth extra.

With 100PPI commonly seen in a similar resolution laptop — which results in much better colour. A webcam sits just above the screen and is capable of recording 720p videos.

Talking about the performance, we would like to begin with the keyboard. It has an island type keyboard with a rubberised texture, this provides a comfortable day-long typing experience with decent response. The touchscreen is also quite responsive and supports multitouch gestures. There is a bundled user-friendly utility that makes it very simple to set up these gestures.

While measuring performance, we performed a variety of tasks like MPEG transcoding along streaming a 1080p movie, regular data processing, web surfing and music. There was no noticeable lag during these jobs. Playing games like Angry Birds is a decent experience though high end games could be a bit of a struggle at this configuration.

Overall, the ASUS Vivobook F202E is an impressive touchscreen laptop with good looks. Available at a tad over Rs 35,000, this is a one-of-a-kind product for those who who want an ultraportable decent looking laptop at a modest price.

ASROCK launches most Powerful Z87 Motherboard ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac

ASRock launches Z87 Extreme11/ac which they claims the most powerful board available on Z87 platform.
This motherboard boasts a whopping 22 SATA3 ports, including 6 SATA3 ports by Intel Z87 chipset, and another 16 SAS-3 12.0 Gb/s ports from the added LSI SAS 3008 Controller plus 3X24R Expander, which can reach up to an unearthly 6.1 GB/s transfer speed. Enhanced with a PLX PEX 8747 chip, it is capable of supporting 4-Way CrossFireX and 4-Way SLI with its solid PCIe 3.0 slots at x8/ x8/x8/x8 mode to deliver mind blowing visuals.

ASRock Z87 Extreme 11/ac is also armed with Thunderbolt 2 for up to 20 Gbps high speed data transferring.

ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac is also built with A-Style features, including Home Cloud for remote wake and remote desktop anywhere anytime. The most top notch onboard audio solution Purity Sound 115dB
SNR. And of course the world’s fastest 2T2R Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth v4.0 module, which provides 867 Mbps crazy fast internet connection, plus it comes with an exclusive Wi-SD Box for installing 4 USB 3.0 devices and an SD 3.0 card reader. Other features such as 12 Power Phase design, Dual-Stack MOSFET, Digi Power, Japan made gold capacitors can also be found on this motherboard, making Z87 Extreme 11/ac an epic choice for enthusiasts.

For more information about this product: http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview. asp?Model=Z87%20Extreme11/ac.

PNY PowerBank C51 test

Portable charger with style

Powerful batteries and slim phones share an asymmetrical relationship. Superslim featherlight flagship smartphones usually feature weak batteries which usually last for a day or less. They need to be charged frequently, sometimes a couple of times or more a day. In such scenarios, power banks are a boon.

PNY has launched several devices in this category and we have reviewed a few earlier. The PNY PowerBank C51 is the brand's latest offering.

The PowerBank C51 comes in a white blister pack, including a printed manual and a couple of USB to Micro USB cables. Focused towards fashion conscious customers, the C51 is available in chic colours like pistachio green and baby pink.

About the size of a tiny smartphone, this battery measures just 86.0x53.0x19.0mm and weighs 122gm. Its a good fit in a pocket or small travel bag. To give a premium feel, PNY has used a rubbery texture on the exterior.

On the top front, the C51 has a squarish button for charging. Two USB and one micro USB ports sit on the top. The micro USB is used to charge the battery while the USB ports charge devices. You can charge two devices simultaneously. Using micro USB to charge is advantageous as you don't need to carry a dedicated charger — your mobile phone charger or data cable can double up.

To test the battery, we connected two devices simultaneously, BlackBerry Z30 and Sony Xperia Z1.

As the combination of two batteries (2880mAh of Z30 and 3000mAh of Xperia Z1) exceeds the C51's battery life (5200mAh), it couldn't charge either device completely. After full draining, we found both batteries charged over 70 percent — which gives an impressive usage of 16 plus hours. The battery can charge connected devices while simultaneously charging itself. A full charge takes around three and half hours.

PNY PowerBank C51 offers a 5200mAh battery at Rs 1,900 (approximate online price at the time of review). If you carry more gadgets, you may want to opt for a higher capacity battery like the 80A or P-104.

VERDICT: Good looking ultraportable battery