Here a roundup of the latest reviews and articles, including JBL OnBeat Micro Review, Quick Look: Samsung NX20 & NX1000 Cameras, 2012 - The Year of the Smartphone and Tablet: A Wish List For Better Devices, RHA-ma450i Earphones, and WD Black 4TB Hard Drive Review.



JBL OnBeat Micro Review @ t-break

When Apple first announced the iPhone 5, the world went into mayhem. Not because there was a new iPhone incoming, but because the new phone would introduce a new connector; the Lightning connector. Apple fans went into overdrive worrying about their old charging cables and accessories that used the previous 30-pin charging port. Jumping on the worry bandwagon were the various companies who made speaker docks for iPhones and iPods, trying their best to put out the first-ever Lightning dock. Beating everyone to the finish line was JBL, who announced the first-ever Lightning speaker dock, dubbed the OnBeat Micro. Here was a small and portable speaker dock that promised to deliver audio worthy of the JBL name while still comfortably accommodating your spiffy new iOS device.

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Quick Look: Samsung NX20 & NX1000 Cameras @ t-break

To start off with the NX20, this is one of the higher end models in Samsung’s lineup and is being marketed as the closest to a DSLR that they have. From the looks of it, it definitely exudes the body of a compact DSLR. The design is very much like a DSLR with the buttons placed just the way you’re familiar with. But at the same time, Samsung has managed to keep the device light and portable without the big lens on (the pancake lenses are much more portable and lighter). Even the screen itself can swivel around, just like the newer DSLR’s like 600D and others. On the design end, Samsung has succeeded in making this a DSLR-like body without the added weight that most of them have.

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2012 - The Year of the Smartphone and Tablet: A Wish List For Better Devices @ HotHardware

As 2013 rings in, we all get a chance to look back, reflect and take inventory on where were are. Here at HotHardware, it also gives us a chance to think about our wish list for the year ahead, and how we hope our favorite gadgets and platforms evolve. Evolution is a natural part of growth in consumer electronics, and with companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Apple gaining more and more brand recognition across mainstream devices and markets, the stakes have never been higher.

In turn, there has never been a better time for these companies to push the envelope in an effort to stay one step ahead and more than just "current," when it comes to cutting-edge technology and features.

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RHA-ma450i Earphones @ MEGATechNews

There are plethora of aftermarket headphones and earphones available for the iPhone these days. If you’re looking to spend some of that hard earned Christmas cash, you may not need to look any further than the RHA-ma450i earphones. If you haven’t heard of RHA Audio, they’re a Glasgow, UK based company that recently launched their products in North America and simple trip to the Apple Store will reveal their very affordable $50 price tag.

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Tutorial: How to improve your Wi-Fi signal @ Techradar

There are loads of ways to get a faster wireless network connection at home - some of which are more practical than others. You can hire some heavy machinery and knock down a few walls in your house so the Wi-Fi signal can travel through more efficiently. You can chuck out your current network hardware and buy a new set with the latest specification. Or you could go down the easier, less destructive, and perhaps most importantly, free route of making sure your network is operating on the right channel and tweaking its settings for maximum speed. It's much like tuning a radio to a different station. There's a simple reason why you might need to change your router's network channel. When there are many other wireless networks in your local area (which is likely if you live in a city), wireless signals can clash, causing interference that makes network traffic slow down.

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WD Black 4TB Hard Drive Review @ Techgage

As I begin writing this review, I find myself sitting here in awe that it’s a 4TB hard drive we’re dealing with. I had the same reaction when the first 1TB model hit the market, and likewise, the first 2TB model. 3TB seemed a little unimpressive given our progression up to that point, but 4TB – we’re talking 4,000 freaking gigabytes. Storage vendors have sure come a long way to be able to cram 4TB of storage into the same 3.5-inch form-factor we’ve been dealing with for eons.

See what I just did there? I managed to go the entire first paragraph without mentioning the “S” word. I’d like to think I’ve accomplished greater things in my life, but this one stands out.

With that over with, let’s talk about SSDs. Today, if you don’t place an SSD ahead of the mechanical storage in your PC, you ‘re doing it wrong. While the reasons are numerous for why an SSD is a better solution for your OS and applications, it boils down to performance, plain and simple. We’re not talking only about transfer speeds here, because those to me are fairly pointless in the grand scheme. What matters is access times, and SSDs have managed to cut those down to 1/100th or better versus mechanical storage. In many ways, an SSD is a better upgrade than a faster CPU (sorry, AMD and Intel).

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Corsair Hydro H60 Watercooling System Review @ Frostytech.com

Corsair have updated the waterblock design and given the Hydro H60 a new compact profile which hides functional changes to the integrated pump and improves mounting bracket installation significantly. All of this is transparent to the end user though. Being the 'entry level' water cooler model, the H60's waterblock lacks the integrated fan controller and LINK hardware present on the Hydro H80i and H100i units. No matter, you don't need the software/USB stuff to operate a watercooler such as this.

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Cooler Master HAF XB review @ Guru 3D

In this article we test and review the all new Cooler Master HAF XB mid tower chassis.The product is intended to be an easy to carry around somewhat compact chassis but is also something that can function as test-bench. Armed with rugged looks and a lot of features this might be a very interesting chassis to look out for.

The rugged looking militaristic inspired HAF series now makes a second move from the big full tower chassis format towards a more conventional sized mid-tower series, tagged with an attractive price of course.

See the HAF XB has been introduced as a 99 USD product. Now when you think Mid-Tower, you won't be thinking about a cube eh ? Well, that's exactly what Cooler Master designed, a very innovative cube design. Basically the product is aimed at two end-user types, those who like to carry around their PC towards LAN partheeeeeees, and the more professional user that can use a nice testy-bench.

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Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review @ Nikktech

May 2013 prove to be a lot better than 2012 for everyone around the world. So after 4 full days of just lying down and having a good time with friends and family (well not really since we also spend quite a bit of time performing benchmarks and testing peripherals) we are back. Now some of you may remember that roughly 2 months ago and after quite a few emails by some of you we started gathering and testing mechanical keyboards from all the top manufacturers in the field not only because we wanted to showcase exactly what you are getting with your hard earned money but also because we wanted to have a more complete experience surrounding the available cherry MX switches in the market currently. So for the past 15 days we've been testing the latest G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard by Logitech which in the end proved to be a lot better than we originally thought it would.

Focused on innovation and quality, Logitech designs personal peripherals to help people enjoy a better experience with the digital world. We started in 1981 with mice, which (new at the time) provided a more intuitive way of interacting with a personal computer. We became the worldwide leader in computer mice, and have reinvented the mouse in dozens of ways to match the evolving needs of PC and laptop users. Since those early days, we have expanded our expertise in product design beyond the computer mouse, with a broad portfolio of interface devices that are the “last inch” between you and your computer or your console game, digital music or home-entertainment system. With products sold in almost every country in the world, Logitech’s leadership in innovation now encompasses a wide variety of personal peripherals (both cordless and corded), with special emphasis on products for PC navigation, gaming, Internet communications, digital music and home-entertainment control. For each of our product categories, we study how our customers use their digital devices, and then our designers and engineers set their sights on how we can create a better experience with those devices – richer, more comfortable, more fun, more productive, more convenient, and more delightful.

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DecalGirl Acer Iconia Tab A500 Green Dragon Skin Review @ DragonSteelMods

Gadgets and our portable devices can be expensive, getting into tablets they can be very expensive. I have an Acer Iconia A500 Android tablet that I just love and it needs protecting. I do have a silicone case for it and a protective bag as well but I was thinking about getting some sort of skin for it, I was thinking of clear but I opted for something a bit more interesting. Today for review I have the DecalGirl Acer Iconia Tab A500 Green Dragon Skin that offers style and protection for your tablet. The skin covers the device front and back, but included is a voucher for a free wallpaper so you can match the skin to your screen. Read on to see what I mean and to learn more about the skin…

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Samsung's ATIV Smart PC 500T: An Atom-Based Windows 8 Tablet @ Tom's Hardware

Samsung takes Intel's Atom Z2760 SoC, the full version of Windows 8, and builds a tablet that begs to stay connected to its docking station. Is this the combination of freedom, performance, and battery life we've been waiting for, or are we left wanting?

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Swiftech H20-320 Elite Custom Liquid Cooling @ Bjorn3D

Swiftechs new H20-320 Elite kit is designed with many new improvements that should help with performance, functionality and even fitment. Now lets take a closer look and see if Swiftech has taken another step toward offering the best custom liquid cooler in a single kit.

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Apacer Armor Series vs Kingston HyperX Beast @ t-break

With motherboards and CPUs utilizing higher memory bandwidth, it comes as no surprise that performance memory kits are becoming the norm. Still, with so much choice out there it’s important to realize that not all kits perform the same, despite having similar specs on paper.

Both Kingston and Apacer happened to drop their latest memory kits in our office recently, so what better way to test them both than pit them against each other?

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Top 10 Windows 8 hybrid devices @ The Register

LAPTOP AND TABLET hybrid devices were all the rage at the IT expos in 2012, such as IFA and Computex, where the likes of Sony, Lenovo and Asus unveiled shiny new convertible devices.

As a result, we're almost certain that hybrid devices will be big in 2013 as consumers look to save money by buying one device that is both a laptop and tablet in one, giving them one less device to carry around.

Here's the rundown of the top 10 convertibles launched during the past year, which we think will be major players in 2013.

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Windows 8: Important January deadlines @ Ghacks

Windows 8 has been released a couple of months ago and while the verdict is still out in regards to how successful or not the operating system is, it is important to remember that a couple of deadlines will run out in January 2013. This includes options to purchase the upgrade of the operating system.

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