Happy New Year from PhoneDog!

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/1YSnuIb
via IFTTT

Top 12 Android & iOS Apps of 2015!

How could we not reflect on some of the best apps of 2015? Software is incredibly important to our tech-infested lives! In this video, we decided to highlight a total of 12 Android & iOS apps to hit the Play Store and App Store in 2015.

Google

Apple

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

LG V10

Huawei Nexus 6P

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/1msh0hD
via IFTTT

LG V10 review: A well-rounded smartphone

The LG V10 has a lot of bells and whistles. Not only does it feature a removable battery, microSD card slot, fingerprint scanner and 64GB of onboard storage, but it also includes an IR blaster to control various appliances. In addition, it's one of the most powerful smartphones on the market, featuring a Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor and 4GB of RAM.

LG

LG V10

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/22ARSGz
via IFTTT

Huawei Watch owner gets test Android Wear update that enables speaker

The Huawei Watch is notable for a lot of reasons, like its full circle, no-flat-tire design and its stainless steel body. It also has one feature that most other watches lack: a speaker. Most Huawei Watch wearers are still waiting for a software update to enable that speaker, but at least one person already has it working.

Huawei Watch

Huawei

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/22ARSGv
via IFTTT

What was your favorite Android phone of 2015?

Ah, selection. When it comes to Android it’s still one of the platform’s strongest selling points. That probably hasn’t always been the case, though. There used to be too many phones, not a lot of them very good, and some manufacturers flooded the market with so many options it was honestly hard to keep track some years.

LG G4

Samsung Galaxy S6

HTC One M9

Motorola Moto X Style (Pure Edition)

Apple iPhone 6s

Google

HTC

Samsung

Motorola

LG

Apple

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/1mlL6Ef
via IFTTT

AT&T acquires Carrier IQ software assets and staff

Here’s a blast from the past. Back in 2011, there was quite a brouhaha surrounding Carrier IQ when it was discovered that the software was being used on many smartphones and was logging key presses, searches, text messages, and more. Fast-forward to today, and one carrier has decided to acquire the once-maligned Carrier IQ.

AT&T

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/1VsfKHr
via IFTTT

Review: Acer Predator 15

Introduction and design

Thinner and lighter than ever, modern gaming laptops borrow heavily from the styling cues of modern supercars and high-tech fighter jets. The Acer Predator 15, however, resembles something more akin to tank. Heavy and huge, it cuts an aggressive figure that symbolizes the real essence of the performance beast that lies within.

The Predator easily justifies its monstrous stature, being full of features that don't immediately come to mind when thinking of a high-end gaming laptop. Yes, it has tons of hard drive space and RAM. Its Skylake-generation Intel processor is top of the line, and the Nvidia GPU performs wonderfully. But these are perfectly complimented by an impressive cooling system, fantastic speakers and a rugged build that feels like a piece of military equipment.

Design

The Predator will not be winning any beauty contests. In fact, it almost looks like a throwback to an earlier time in laptop history. The screen bezel is thick the entire way around, with its thickest point at the bottom of the screen measuring 1.25-inches.

All that bulk is not without merit. This laptop is thick and heavy, yes, but it moves air like no one's business. In fact, it even comes with a modular CoolerMaster FrostCore cooling unit that swaps out with the Blu-ray drive.

Better yet, the sound system is phenomenal. The speakers, located on the front of the laptop, are helped along by a subwoofer on the bottom. Both the sound and cooling systems no doubt add to the overall thickness of the laptop, but they both work so well it wouldn't be worth cutting them in exchange for reduction in size.

Another contributing factor to the Predator's tank-like aesthetics is its eight-cell, lithium-ion 6,000 mAh battery. The huge-capacity battery is worth the weight, though, as it offers some of the longest battery life in a high-end gaming laptop.

The notebook's size means there's also plenty of room for a full-sized keyboard and a large trackpad. The chiclet-style keyboard is one of the most comfortable I've used, with smooth-travelling, solid keys spaced perfectly apart. The right and left mouse buttons on the trackpad have the exact same travel and feel as the keys on the keyboard, a small detail that I didn't realize I wanted until I experienced it first-hand.

On top of angles and accents that scream "I am a gamer, and this is my computer," the Predator 15 includes light-up elements no decent gaming laptop would go without. This includes two narrow strips and a backlit logo on the lid, as well as a two-tone backlit keyboard. The arrow and WASD keys are colored red, making them easy to pick out from the rest of the black keyboard.

The Predator lacks the colorful customization options seen on many other gaming rigs, which is a bit of a disappointment. The color customization goes as deep as turning off and on different lighting zones throughout the laptop. Personally, I like the ability to change colors on my keyboards, but the reality is I do it once and then forget about it, so it's not a deal breaker.

A small, mirrored strip of plastic on the hinge houses the hard drive, battery, and power lights, and shows through even when the laptop is closed. It almost looks like the glowing bar on the front of Knight Rider's KITT, or the row of lights below the viewscreen on the Enterprise. The LEDs aren't animated or anything, but it's a nice use of the space and adds to the futuristic war-machine aesthetic.

A row of six macro buttons are located on the upper left side, directly above the function keys, and can be programmed using the Predator Sense software included with the laptop. Up to three sets of five macros can be assigned, and the first group are already assigned to handy functions, like turning off and on sticky keys and enabling or disabling the fans. Like everything else your fingers will come in contact with, the macro keys have a pleasing feel and a satisfying click.

In addition to the programmable macro keys, there's also a dedicated button directly adjacent to the trackpad that disables it and the Windows key. It's another one of those things I never knew I wanted before, but being able to play Call of Duty in its proper WASD configuration without constantly losing my place, thanks to accidental trackpad contact, is a welcome feature. Pressing it also brings up a quick icon on the screen to let you know it been activated, along with changing the LED on the button from green to red.

Stain-resistant

Many modern, high-end laptops include a microfiber cloth to deal with the smudges and smears that come with ordinary handling. The matte-black body of the Acer Predator 15 has a finish that feels almost like hard rubber.

This soft-touch paint finish is usually a magnet for grease, but the Predator 15 is is extremely resistant to picking up fingerprints or stains. It's actually difficult to leave noticeable fingerprints on any part of the Predator, including the keys and trackpad. Kudos to Acer for creating a gaming laptop that looks good and stays that way without much maintenance.

Specifications and value

The Acer Predator 15 weighs a whopping 7.5 pounds (3.4kg) and measures 1.5 inches (3.8cm) at its thickest point when closed. Compare that to the MSI GS60 Ghost Pro, which is a positively svelte 0.78 inches (1.9cm) and weighs just 4.2 pounds (1.9kg). It weighs as much as the Origin EON 15-X, but its overall dimensions are larger than the Predator 15. The real difference there is the Origin houses a full-fledged desktop CPU, whereas the Predator sports a completely mobile chipset.

The weight of the Predator it one of its biggest drawbacks. With so many computers racing to the bottom as far as mass is concerned, a 7.5-pound laptop almost seems unfashionable. Add in the little extra weight of the AC adapter and the FrostCore cooler, and the Predator makes its presence known to your back, if you're carrying it in a laptop bag. Sitting it on your lap isn't too terrible, but if you're used to a lightweight notebook, it will surprise you when try to adjust it on your lap.

Spec sheet

Here is the Acer Predator 15 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

• CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M (4GB GDDR5 RAM), Intel HD Graphics 530
• RAM: 32GB DDR4 (2133 MHz, expandable to 64GB)
• Screen: 15.6-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
• Storage: 512GB PCIe NVME SSD, 1TB HDD (7,400 RPM)
• Ports: 4x USB 3.0, 1x USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, SD reader, headphone jack, microphone jack
• Connectivity: Killer Wireless-AC 1535 , Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.2
• Camera: Front-facing 1,280 x 720 webcam
• Weight: 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg)
• Size: 15.4 x 11.8 x 1.5 inches, 39.1 x 30 x 3.8 centimeters (W x D x H)

As big as the Acer Predator 15 is physically, its price is also quite heavy. At $2,499 (about £1,249, AU$2,999, though not as well equipped abroad) as configured, this is a serious machine. However, just as its size is justifiable for everything Acer managed to fit into it, the price is also a fair reflection of everything it includes.

The price tag seems exactly right for this machine. It's a premium piece of hardware, but it doesn't feel like a "luxury" item. Every part of it is designed to fit a gamer's needs, and the price point reflects that.

The Predator 15 is neck and neck with the EON15-X as far as price, but the EON15-X beats the Predator in performance. This is no doubt due to its desktop processor and 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, compared to the 4GB GDDR5 in the Predator. While the EON15-X is able to best the Predator in every performance test, the Predator beats it in other categories that still make it a good value.

It also comes with a larger 512GB solid-state drive (SSD) and a 1TB, 7,400 rpm hard drive, beating both the GS60 and the EON15-X. An SSD makes all the difference in games like Just Cause 3, which is notoriously heavy on load times when running off a traditional hard drive. Black Ops 3, Just Cause 3, and Grand Theft Auto 5 – which are all fairly recent, top-selling games – each take up 40GB of room, SSD space goes fast on other computers, but the Predator has room to spare.

Other, less expensive configurations of the Predator 15 exist, with the entry-level version dropping down to a 128GB SSD and a GeForce 970M with 3GB of GDDR5 RAM. That version costs $1,499 (£1,249,AU$2,999).

The cheaper version comes with only 16GB of RAM. I say "only", because the configuration we tested includes 32GB. All models are upgradeable to 64GB, however, and all the machines in the Predator line-up have the same Skylake processor and 1TB hard-drive standard in the US.

Performance and features

With a whopping 32GB of RAM and programs loading from the SSD, along with its Core i7 CPU, I never encountered a situation through regular use where the Predator really struggled. In fact, it breezed along as if nothing was wrong. I tend to leave a dozen or more processor-heavy, Ajax-enabled sites like Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter open at any given time, and even with a few videos on pause, I was able to jump in and out of games without issue.

The SSD makes a big difference in games with lots of loading. I never experienced any of Just Cause 3's dreaded, ultra-long loading time issues. The GeForce 980M had no problem running the game at decent settings, and I couldn't help myself but to plug it into my television and play on the big screen for a while. Again, even in a two-screen configuration, I didn't experience any problems with performance.

Benchmarks

Here's how the Acer Predator 15 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 22,590; Sky Diver: 21,829; Fire Strike: 8,277
• Cinebench CPU: 673 points; Graphics: 66 fps,
• GeekBench: 3,668 (single-core); 13,255 (multi-core)
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 3,378 points
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 3 hours and 17 minutes
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (1080p, Ultra): 67 fps; (1080p, Low): 140 fps
• Metro: Last Light (1080p, Ultra): 33 fps; (1080p, Low): 114 fps

The performance of the Predator falls short of the EON15-X, as Origin's machine really thrives from having a desktop processor and having a GPU with double the RAM. The Cinebench score speaks to the superiority of the EON15-X, with that laptop scoring 874 points, compared to the Predator's 671. In fact, performance-wise, the Predator is much closer to the GS60 Ghost Pro, narrowly beating it out in all but the PCMark 8 Home Test. Even then, it lost by a negligible 15 points.

Metro: Last Light and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor were able to run at a competent frame rate, even on Ultra settings. Mordor on Ultra was able to average 67 fps, while Metro reached just half that number, at 33 fps. With games set to their optimal settings, either through the GeForce software or the games themselves, graphics and framerate will satisfy any gamer's wants.

For modern games, the Predator does well. Just Cause 3, with its huge open world and physics-based, movie-realistic explosions, was a real treat. After reading about performance issues with the game, I was worried it would be a slog on a laptop rather than a dedicated desktop, but I'm happy to report the Predator handled it well. The only time I saw a real chug was when I was playing on battery power, but even that was brief and largely a result of so much happening on-screen.

Display

The Predator has support for G-Sync monitors, but the display on the machine itself isn't G-Sync enabled. While that would certainly add to the already steep price for the tricked-out Predator 15, it would be appreciated to at least have the option.

That's especially since the display is such a pleasure to behold. I had to check several times during testing where the screen needed to be set to 50% brightness, because even at half its capacity, the screen shines brightly.

High-definition movies look fantastic, at a level of clarity that somehow seems to rise above its quoted 1,920 x 1,080 resolution. Games, too, look wonderful, with vibrant colors that look alive. Even games with relatively dull color palettes, like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, have an an extra dimension of graphical fidelity, thanks to the bright, colorful screen.

As great as the screen looks, an UHD option would have been a nice addition, something to take an already great machine to the next level. However, pushing all those pixels while remaining competitive in performance is a task for any GPU, so it's understandable why Acer chose to skip the option. Adding a second GPU could have been another possibility, but it too would have inflated the already high price and weight.

Battery

Where the Predator shines compared to its competitors is in its battery life. A PCMark 8 Battery Life score of 3 hours and 17 minutes puts it an hour above both the EON15-X and the GS60.

Watching Guardians of the Galaxy on a loop at 50% screen brightness, listening through a pair of headphones, the GS60 made it to 2 hours 28 minutes, just barely enough to finish the movie. The Predator, on the other hand, running the same conditions, lasted an impressive 4 hours 22 minutes.

The EON15-X lasted just over 2 hours through practical use, while the Predator made it 3 hours and 5 minutes of me jumping back and forth between Just Cause 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and regular internet surfing. I left all my tabs running while I gamed, and the screen was at 50% brightness, but I also left the fans running as they normally would.

All that battery life makes the Predator a stand-out among its peers. Merely watching movies on it, you could almost make it from one coast to the other on an airplane before it needed to be plugged in.

And that movie experience would be without a big trade-off. The screen at 50% is still a comfortable brightness, and I'd be willing to wager with some more tweaks, the battery life could be stretched even further.

Cooler runnings

The cooling on the Predator is exceptional. Playing Just Cause 3 for extended sessions with the graphics optimized via GeForce Experience had the fans spinning constantly. The Predator is able to move so much air with the help of the FrostCore cooler that my legs were actually starting to feel cold from the breeze.

The vents on the bottom and back of the laptop are large and facilitate the air flow. Under normal use, simply browsing the internet, I was able to shut the fans down entirely, and never once did I find the laptop uncomfortably warm.

Another feature of the Predator's cooling system – and it really cannot be overstated how well the cooling works – is the Acer Dust Defender feature. It can be manually activated, but under normal use, every three hours the Predator will spin its fans in reverse to help get rid of accumulated dust trapped inside.

Unfortunately, all that cooling comes at the expense of constant fan noise. When they're spinning, they're loud. It's nice that the Predator has a built-in macro for turning the fans off, but who wants to shut off their fans while running a graphics-intensive game?

The fan noise is an extra bummer when juxtaposed against just how excellent the speakers sound. The two front facing speakers produce a rich, clear sound with no distortion. And the subwoofer on the bottom adds some boom to the bounce, making this the best-sounding laptop I've tested.

On top of sounding fantastic, this laptop also gets loud. At no point did I ever want to play a game at 100% volume. Seriously, it's loud.

Verdict

The Predator 15 is a tank. It feels solid, it performs well and its battery life is superb for a gaming laptop. While this notebook doesn't hit the graphical high notes of comparably priced competitors, it makes up for it in RAM, disk space and top-notch cooling.

We liked

All that space on the SSD means there's plenty of room for today's huge AAA games. Just Cause 3 has an install size of 42.5GB, and Black Ops 3 comes in at 45GB. It's getting to the point where a large SSD will be a requirement, rather than a luxury, but the Predator's 512GB SSD is way ahead of the curve.

The fact that the Predator can stay cool even when processing all the explosions and carnage of Just Cause 3 is impressive. Its auto-reversing fans ensure the laptop will remain at peak cooling capacity. Even during normal, non-gaming use with the fans off, this notebook remains comfortable enough to keep on your lap.

But it's the notebook's huge battery is what really sets the Predator above its peers, however. Almost 4.5 hours of battery life (while running Guardians of the Galaxy on loop) is practically unheard of with such a powerful laptop. Whereas most gaming laptops can't go far from a wall outlet, the Predator is relentless.

We disliked

All the unique features, like the enormous battery and cooling, make the Predator 15 a heavy machine. It makes itself known from the minute you pick it up, and while its battery may make it ideal for taking along on short flights or train rides, you might not want to burden yourself with it.

The fan noise can't be ignored. When the cooling system is working its hardest, the noise it produces is distracting, making it a double-edged sword.

Final verdict

The Predator 15 is a heavy hitter in the world of gaming laptops. Its performance and host of features make its otherwise steep price tag feel like an appropriate fit.

Among its peers, Acer's latest isn't the most powerful gaming laptop. But, the notebook makes up for that by remaining cool under pressure and sporting phenomenal battery life.

Programmable macros, a comfortable and punchy keyboard, one-button trackpad disabling and great speakers further add to the value of the Predator 15. This gaming laptop hits practically every note a gamer could desire.

from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1mllU0u

Review: Updated: Google Apps for Work 2016

Introduction and pricing

For decades, the gold standard of office productivity software has been Microsoft Office – it inherited IBM's status as the technology nobody got fired for buying. But while Office is undoubtedly powerful, many of its users don't use many of its features. So why pay for things your organisation doesn't use?

That's the rationale behind Google Apps for Work, formerly Google Apps for Business. Where Office tries to do everything imaginable, Google Apps is much more basic. That said, it's much more powerful than it was when the suite debuted in 2006, but the emphasis on simplicity and speed remains.

Apps and pricing

Google Apps for Work is organised into four categories spanning eleven products. Under Communicate you'll find Gmail, Hangouts and Calendar; under Store there's Google Drive; under Collaborate there's Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides and Sites; and under Manage there's Admin and Vault. That final one is designed to archive corporate email in organisations that have to retain data for regulatory compliance.

As ever, the pricing is refreshingly simple. The base product is £3.30 ($5.66) per user per month, and the Premium version is £6.60 ($11.32) per user per month. If your organisation is an educational establishment, Google also has a version for you: Google Apps for Education is free.

While we're on the subject of free apps, you can of course get Gmail, Docs, Sheets and other Google apps for free – so why spend money? The short answer is that the paid-for version gives you more storage, management, and the ability to use your own domain – so emails come from @yourcompany.com instead of @gmail.com.

Users on the base version of Google Apps for Work get 30GB of storage, which is twice the amount of the free products, and users on the Premium version get unlimited storage, while you also get improved admin controls and the Vault email archive. Both the base and premium versions come with HD videoconferencing via Hangouts and 24/7 phone, chat and email support.

How does it compare to Office?

Google's main rival here is of course Microsoft, and Redmond's Office 365 comes with a number of price tags attached depending on which version you want and how many users you're planning on giving it to.

Microsoft has cut the price of Office 365 to make it more competitive, and it now comes in four tiers: Office 365 Business Essentials, which is £3.10 per user per month; Office 365 Business, which is £7 per user per month; Office 365 Business Premium, which is £7.80 per user per month; and Office 365 Enterprise E3, which is £14.70 per user per month. The first three plans are limited to a maximum of 300 users per year.

The most basic version of Office 365 offers web-based versions of Office apps, 1TB of storage per user plus a 50GB email inbox, unlimited online meetings and HD videoconferencing, plus business-focused social networking for collaborating across departments.

The next step up, Business, offers full Office apps for desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone along with 1TB of storage, but not the extra 50GB email inboxes. If you want that and the desktop/mobile apps too, you'll need Office 365 Business Premium. As with Google there's 24-hour web support and phone support for "critical issues".

One deal-breaker here might be compliance: Microsoft's compliance tools are limited to the Enterprise product, which is twice the price of Google Apps for Work Premium.

Setup

Setup

The sign-up process takes seconds and once you've created your account you'll be taken to the Admin Console. This has eight key options: users, company profile, billing, reports, apps, device management, security and support.

You can add users in two ways – manually, or by uploading a CSV file containing multiple user details. Once you've done that you can then specify which apps they can use, so for example you might want to let users access email but not Google Hangouts. You can also disable unwanted apps globally.

One of the most interesting sections here is Mobile Device Management, which enables you to mandate passwords and Google Sync on user devices, to encrypt data, configure Wi-Fi and to enable or disable automatic syncing and the device's camera.

You can also remotely wipe devices either manually or automatically if they haven't been synchronised for a specified period.

The Admin Console also contains some additional tools: group creation, third-party apps, domain management and settings for other free Google services such as Google Analytics, AdWords, Google+ and Google App Engine.

The optional Vault, which doubles the per-user price from £3.30 ($5.66) per month to £6.60 ($11.32), is designed for organisations that need to retain email and chat data and other digital information for regulatory compliance.

You can set data retention options globally or based on particular dates, groups or search terms, search the archive using the familiar Google search field, and you can audit the data and export it for further analysis. It doesn't store all communications, however – any chats marked off the record aren't stored.

If you're not sure whether you require Vault or if it isn't currently necessary, it's possible to upgrade to the with-Vault version from within your Google Apps for Work Admin Console.

Tools and features

Create: Docs, Sheets, Slides and Sites

Google's apps come in two forms – cross-platform, browser-based apps and mobile apps for iOS and Android. Microsoft's mobile OS isn't supported beyond Google Sync for mail, contacts and calendars.

It's worth noting that the browser apps only use local storage if you're using the Chrome browser or Chrome OS, although the standalone Google Drive desktop app keeps everything in sync if you prefer a different web browser (and of course Gmail is widely supported by desktop email software and mobile email apps). The features available offline differ from product to product and platform to platform.

Docs, Sheets and Slides are Google's equivalents of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, although a more accurate comparison would be to Apple's most recent iWork apps – the emphasis is on simplicity and ease of use rather than power features.

That's particularly apparent in Slides, which also appears to prize simplicity over making presentations that don't look absolutely awful.

We wouldn't want to craft a massive, complicated manuscript in Docs, but then that isn't what Docs is designed to do. It's a fast and user-friendly way to create everyday documents and to share them with colleagues and clients. The companion Drawing app adds functions such as WordArt-style text effects, simple image creation, diagrams and flow charts.

It's a similar story with Sheets, which covers the most common Excel functions (including pivot tables) but doesn't have the power of Microsoft's offering. It is improving, though, and now that it supports Google's App Script add-ons it's possible to automate workflows and develop custom apps – although it's still way behind Microsoft here.

There are two additional apps for creating content: Forms, which as the name suggests is for creating and completing online forms, and Sites, which can be used to create shared pages on the intranet or public internet. Sites is a template-driven affair and while it won't give professional web designers any nightmares, it's an effective way to publish web content without any knowledge of web content creation.

Collaboration and compatibility

Online collaboration has been baked into Google Apps from the outset, and sharing documents with colleagues or clients is effortless. The Revision History panel tracks changes and there's a separate panel for comments, which can be notified via email as well as in the app.

Sharing is a one-button affair, with options including public, anyone with the correct link, anyone within the organisation, or sharing only with a specified group of people. These options only apply to unpublished documents, however – anything published via the Publish to the Web option, which makes an online copy of the current document, is publicly available.

In addition to the obligatory Microsoft Office formats, Google Apps also supports documents including Open Document Format, Rich Text Format, PDF, plaintext and zipped HTML. Spreadsheets can be saved as CSV and tab-delimited files, and presentations can be output in SVG and PNG formats.

The big selling point here is importing rather than exporting, however – it's useful to be able to bring non-Google documents into Google Apps for Work and make them editable and collaborative.

Google Apps also includes Google's Hangouts service, which you can make available for text, voice and video calls with anybody or limit conversations to just those people who are members of the same organisation. Hangouts can be shared with up to 15 people and used for video chat, presentation sharing or screen sharing.

Verdict

We liked

Google Apps for Work is very competitively priced and easy to administer. While the various apps aren't quite as fully featured as power users might like, they're more than adequate for most everyday office work.

We disliked

The apps may be too simple for some organisations, and not everybody loves Google's software interface – although it's much better than it used to be. You also might not be comfortable with the thought that your company's communications are being scanned by Google.

Final verdict

Rather than be all things to all men and women, Google Apps for Work is content to cover the basics and to cover them well. It's fast, lightweight and works on a wide range of devices, and it's both easy to use and easy to administer.

If Google's apps cover the features your users will need every day, it's a very compelling product for SMEs – and with 30 days to put it through its paces without providing any billing details, it's a product you can test risk-free.

from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1P23Wqi

What's in my Bag CES 2016!

from PhoneDog.com - Latest videos, reviews, articles, news and posts http://ift.tt/1P1gBK5
via IFTTT

Review: Nissan Leaf

Design, interior and infotainment

Electricity-powered cars predated gasoline cars by about 50 years and even outsold gasoline cars toward the tail end of the 19th century. It's hard to imagine that electric vehicles were once a common sight (by 19th century standards) in today's gasoline-dominated market. While we're at an epoch of automotive innovation, performance and efficiency, oil is a finite resource that will eventually run out.

There are two paths to alternative fuels, and the automotive industry is split between hydrogen and electric vehicles (EV). Nissan is placing its bet on electrification and unleashed the leading environmentally-friendly, affordable family car (Leaf) to the world in 2010.

The Leaf received incremental updates with new features, a change of production to Nissan's Smyrna, Tenn. manufacturing plant, and revised battery chemistry throughout the last five years, but the battery capacity and infotainment system remained the same, until now. New for the 2016 model year Leaf SV and SL trims is a 30 kWh battery, up from the 24 kWh on the base S trim and previous years, bringing the total range rating up to 107-miles, from 84, of gasoline-free driving.

Nissan sent techradar a 2016 Leaf SV with premium package with an MSRP of $36,620 (£25,640 for the similarly equipped Acenta trim, Australia only has one trim for AU$40,000) for a week of gasoline-free driving.

Before I go on about the car, it should be known that I bought my wife a 2015 Leaf SL with premium package a year ago. We've been happy with the car and quite familiar with the public EV infrastructure in Washington State. However, EV ownership is a difference experience that required changing driving habits and greater planning, which I will no doubt elaborate on.

Styling isn't a strong point for the Leaf. The front end reminds me of a Pokemon, Bulbasaur specifically, with giant headlights and a smirky grin. Halogen headlights with reflector housings are standard on the Leaf SV, but stepping up to the SL trim gets you more energy-efficient, LED low-beams, if you want to consume less energy at night. My experience with the halogens in the SV and LED in my personal SL yield minimal lighting gains. Both headlights rely on reflector housings and are a far cry from matching the light output of projector-based halogen, high-intensity discharge (HID) or more powerful LEDs.

Moving around back reveals giant LED tail lights that remind me of old Volvo station wagons. The sloped rear hatch theoretically helps aerodynamics, but you do lose out on cargo capacity compared to the more rectangular station wagon look, which I prefer.

The design cue I dislike the most on the Leaf is the chrome door handles. I despise chrome trim on all modern cars, especially on door handles, because it's a fingerprint magnet. Installing something prone to showing fingerprints on the most frequently touched area of a car is a pet peeve of mine. However, the door handles is the only area with a design change with the refresh – the door lock and unlock button is now black instead of chrome like previous model years.

Interior

Step inside and you'll find a spartan interior that belongs in a budget-priced subcompact more so than a car that costs north of $30,000. The dashboard is devoid of soft-touch materials and covered in cheap, hard plastic. Fortunately, the door panel and center armrests are covered with soft cloth to help comfort when cruising along.

Look forward and you'll see a two-tier digital cluster that separates the speedometer from the vehicle information. While the cluster is digital, per se, it reminds me of the '80s digital gauge clusters instead of the modern LCD displays found in current cars.

It looks plain but very functional with a digital speedometer, clock and outside air temperature. The high placement of the speedometer keeps it within your peripheral vision while focusing on the road, which is helpful, because the distance you can travel with an EV highly varies on the speed. The left side of the digital cluster is an eco-meter that "builds trees" to show how efficient your driving is. My driving isn't very efficient, so not many trees appear during my driving.

The traditional gauge cluster directly in front of the steering wheel features a vehicle information display, battery temperature, battery capacity, range estimate and how much power is consumed relative to the accelerate pedal use, all useful information to have when driving an EV. The information display serves as a digital trip meter, but also shows the battery percentage, charging time and access to vehicle settings.

I leave the display on the battery percentage display most of the time, so I have a more accurate idea of how much battery is left, because the estimated range displayed is extremely optimistic and should be taken lightly.

One thing you'll have to get used to in the Nissan Leaf is the shifter – it's completely different from the PRNDL layout of traditional automatic transmissions. Instead, it's a spherical shifter with a dedicated park button. Operating the shifter is easy and didn't take very long for me to get used. Nissan provides a graphic that shows how to operate it directly below.

There are reverse, neutral and drive functions. To put the car into gear, you move the shifter to the left and up or down. When the car is in drive, you can move the shifter left and down again for more aggressive regenerative braking, which I'll talk about in the next page. Putting the car in park simply requires stopping the car and pressing the P button in the center of the shifter.

Lastly, I want to mention the seats. The Leaf doesn't have sport seats with amazing side bolster support, which I prefer in every car, but the seats are very comfortable. There isn't a lumbar adjustment, but the the lower back arch and firmness contours well to my 5'7" and 195-pound frame. They have the right amount of firmness and plushness for comfortably long drives without inducing aches, pains or fatigue.

The seats are heated and get toasty, too. Nissan even heats the steering wheel, which gets uncomfortably hot quickly. The Leaf's heated seats and steering wheel help warm up your body faster while consuming less energy than the car's already-efficient heat-pump-based climate system, which theoretically aids driving range.

Infotainment system

New for 2016 is the NissanConnect infotainment system that brings the Leaf up to date with the rest of Nissan's model lineup. Nissan kept the 7-inch screen size and buttons exactly the same as the previous model years. In fact, there are no visual interior differences between 2015 and 2016 models, when the car is off at least.

The double-din-sized infotainment system features a screen that opens and tilts to reveal a CD player and SD card slot for the navigation maps. A USB port in front of the cup holders is available for flash drives and iOS device connectivity. SiriusXM, HD Radio and NissanConnect EV telematics rounds out the complete package.

Audio functions are straight-forward with no surprises. Music stored on flash drives can be navigated by track data or folders. The one music navigating function of all Nissan and Infiniti infotainment systems is still there – when you select a music folder, it immediately begins playing it instead of just opening the folder to let you pick a song first. SiriusXM and HD Radio functions are basic and work without time-shifting capabilities.

I tested the USB port power output capabilities using a Drok USB power meter with my Nexus 6 and iPhone 6S. Power output was 0.8-amps with the iPhone 6S and 0.5-amps with the Nexus 6. While the NissanConnect system can charge iPhone's at a decent rate, you're better off using a 12-volt USB charger or USB power bank for Android devices.

Nissan's updated user interface is more visually pleasing with better graphics that are highly customizable, but it's a clunky mess. There's simply too much customization available. The home screen lets you choose and pick what functions and widgets are displayed on three separate screens.

I prefer the simpler, split home screen in the Kia Optima, Hyundai Tucson and Toyota's since they display radio information, a small navigation map and a couple functional buttons, whereas the NissanConnect UI has a 4 x 2 grid layout. While the NissanConnect 4 x 2 grid is customizable, each information display occupies a 2 x 2 space and each button takes up one spot, so you can either have two information displays or four buttons with one information display.

Sure, three home screens are available, but I don't like fiddling around with the infotainment system for information that I should be able to see at a single glance. Nissan deserves credit for keeping static menu functions at the bottom of the screen for audio, phone, information, map, navigation and settings functions, but everything is replicated by physical buttons on each side of the display.

As much of a fan I am of physical buttons, I'd rather see a larger 4:3 ratio screen with knobs for volume and folder navigation than having the same buttons on and off screen.

Visual nuances aside, NissanConnect includes smartphone app connectivity, but the function is extremely limited. By extremely limited, I mean it only supports Google Online Search with the NissanConnect app installed on your smartphone. There's no Pandora or other Internet radio support, unfortunately.

Bluetooth is available for hands-free voice, music streaming and text messaging. I paired my Nexus 6 and iPhone 6S without any issues. Text messaging support is quite worthless – it can read you text messages and present you with quick replies, but you're better off using Google Now or Siri for those purposes. Siri Eyes Free isn't supported, annoyingly.

Nissan incorporates EV-friendly features with the navigation software to show nearby charging stations and an estimated radius of where you can travel with the available charge. They're nice gestures, but the charging station database is severely outdated and doesn't even list some of the dealerships that have Level 3 CHAdeMo quick-charge stations.

You're better off using the Nissan EZ-Charge app for smartphones or PlugShare to find an up to date charging station list with user reviews and check ins. The navigation maps are your standard fare flat maps, with different available route calculations that can optimize the trip for maximum battery range (slow surface streets mostly).

While mapping a route for maximum battery range is convenient, I'm not the type of person to use the navigation functions for places I frequently visit, so I'm not really open to taking alternative routes or driving mostly on the streets when the freeway is available, just to save some battery life.

Previous Leaf owners will find the Zero Emission functions identical to the older infotainment system. Nissan essentially transplanted the same functions and interface to the new infotainment system. The Zero Emission functions provides greater energy consumption information for the electric motor, climate control and other items. It even estimates how much range you can gain by turning off climate control.

I find the information convenient to have on hot days where blasting the A/C can make the difference of making it to the next charging station or being towed there, on longer drives.

NissanConnect EV, Audio and Around View Monitor

NissanConnect EV replaces CarWings on previous model years as the telematics service in the Leaf. CarWings relied on AT&T's 2G network, which shuts down in December 2016. NissanConnect EV upgrades the telematics module to AT&T's 3G network, which doesn't have a shut off date yet, but not quite as sexy or fast as their LTE network.

However, the functions that require cellular connectivity aren't high bandwidth tasks. NissanConnect EV enables the driver to remotely access functions of the car, such as check on the battery levels, manually start or stop a charge, set a timer for charging (to only charge at off-peak hours for cheaper rates) or climate control (to get the car warmed up on cold mornings), and driving history (distance and energy consumption only, not location). The functions are accessible via web browser or a smartphone companion application.

New to NissanConnect on 2016 Leaf's is the ability to locate your car, in case you forget where you parked it. I've personally never forgot where I parked my car that requires using such a feature, but some of my fellow editors mentioned it's happened to them.

The functions all work as intended, but it's slow as molasses – yes, I went there. Nissan's move to AT&T's 3G network did not help speed things up at all. It takes 25 seconds to login to the NissanConnect EV application and just as long to trigger any of the remote functions, while I was connected to my home Wi-Fi network with a 100/15Mbps Internet connection. Maybe I'm impatient and spoiled, but it shouldn't take that long to log in or use any of the functions.

Bose premium audio

Nissan loves Bose-branded premium audio, and offers the option on most of its new vehicles, including the Leaf. The Bose premium sound system is part of a $1,570 premium package (not available in UK or AU) that also adds the Around View Monitor 360-degree camera system.

The Leaf's Bose system features seven speakers, each with individual amplification from an energy-efficient amplifier, in a four channel configuration. The front speakers consist of 1-inch tweeters in each A-pillar and 6.5-inch speakers in the front doors. The rear doors have smaller 5.25-inch speakers while a 4.5-inch woofer is located in the trunk, in an acoustic waveguide bassbox. The door speakers all use neodymium magnets to keep the weight down.

As with most Bose sound systems engineered for space savings, the old saying "no highs, no lows, must be Bose," definitely applies to the Leaf, and every other Bose-equipped vehicle I've listened to. The tweeters produce average sound quality with a slight hint of clarity but no detail – you won't hear crisp sound of cymbals or other high notes.

The entire mid and low range is laughably pathetic, because the system tries to trick your brain into thinking the frequencies are being produced, but it sounds dull and sloppy. It sounds like going up to a large, marching band bass drum and giving it a light tap instead of smashing the drum with a mallet – there's no depth, smoothness or warmth to the sound.

Around View Monitor

Bose premium sound aside, the premium package includes one of the best tech features available today, and that's the 360-degree camera system. Nissan calls it Around View Monitor (AVM). The system stitches together four cameras to produce a top-down view of the car, side-by-side with a second view, and feeds it to the infotainment screen.

Camera's are placed on the front, back and side mirrors. You can trigger the cameras at low-speeds or while parked. When the car is put in reverse, the rear view is the default view. The system switches to the front view if you put the car in drive after reversing first too. There's an option to pull up each individual side cameras as well.

I can't say it enough, I love 360-degree camera systems. They make parking so much easier, especially in tights spots or the dreaded parallel park. I wish more companies would offer it in their entire vehicle ranges, but so far, Nissan is the only non-luxury brand to have it as an option on anything from the Versa (or Note for our friends across the Atlantic) to the Armada.

As much as I dislike the Bose sound system in the premium package, it's a bundle deal to get the excellent AVM, unfortunately. The AVM is also the reason I opted for the premium package for my wife's 2015 Leaf too.

Performance and living with it

The Leaf's powertrain is purely electric. The only fluid to change in the car is brake fluid, but even that can go for at least 60,000 miles. There's also wiper fluid to top off, if you need to wash your windshield and rear windows. This helps cut down on maintenance costs – there are no $60 engine oil changes, transmission fluid changes, timing belts or chains, water pumps or much maintenance at all.

There are standard disc brakes, but the car relies on regenerative braking, which uses the motor to slow the car down while charging the battery pack in the process and reduces wear on the brake pads. These are some of the reasons why my wife wanted a Leaf. (I'm great at maintaining my own car but I slack when it comes to my wife's unexciting cars.)

The motor may sound weak, with a measly 107 horsepower (hp), but don't let the numbers deceive you, as its only part of the equation to power. Torque is what makes the Leaf feel peppy around town, and the car makes 187 pound-feet (lb-ft). Unlike an internal combustion engine that gradually makes more torque, and in result horsepower, as the engine increases the revolutions per minute (RPM), all 187 lb-ft and 107 hp is available instantly at the press of the accelerator pedal.

When you need to accelerate or pass someone on the freeway, all that power is available right away without the transmission downshifting for the optimal power band. It's always available, which is why electric motors are awesome. It doesn't pack the light-speed capabilities of a Tesla Model S, but it's definitely a better experience than an underpowered, economical hatchback.

But, if you have a lead foot like myself, it drains the battery pack faster. New to the 2016 Leaf is the larger 30 kWh battery pack, up from the 24 kWh from earlier models (base S trim still has the 24 kWh unit), that's rated for 107 miles of range, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The 24 kWh battery was rated for 84 miles.

The range rating is for the EPA's testing cycle and varies greatly depending on temperature, climate control use, speed and altitudes traveled, since energy consumption increases greatly if you're constantly going up hills or steep inclines, but regenerative braking charges the pack if you're going back down the same incline.

To test out range, I grabbed my 4-year-old daughter and drove from Graham, Wash. to Kenmore to visit a local camera shop, got lunch and stopped at the Bellevue Nissan dealership to charge. It was an average day in Washington State, which included rain and 40-degree Fahrenheit temperatures. I went easy on the accelerator pedal and drove on the freeway at a steady 60 mph and managed to drive 75 miles with 22% battery left when I reached the CHAdeMO quick-charger.

If you buy a Leaf in the US, Nissan gives you an EZ-Charge card that provides free public charging at select locations. An EZ-Charge card was not included with the Leaf Nissan sent to techradar, but I grabbed my wife's card to use. The dealership chargers were part of the NRG EVgo network, which the EZ-Charge card provides free charging for the first 30-minutes, which is plenty.

I plugged the car in, went into the dealership's warm waiting room and waited 30-minutes for the car to charge. The dealership had a TV to watch, comfortable couches to lounge in with free coffee, apples and vending machines if you wanted snacks or a soda. I sat there playing on my phone while sipping espresso until it was done.

In the 30 minutes of charging, the car gained 70% of capacity, which was plenty to get me home. I went on my way, stopped for some bubble tea and made it home with around 40% of charge left. My entire round trip was about 120 miles, which is a bit further than I usually drive, but I only had to wait 30-minutes to use a quick charger. The Leaf's 30 kWh battery has plenty of range for your typical commute or trips around town.

I'm actually quite jealous of the new battery and wish I waited a year, as the additional capacity easily solves some range anxiety. While our 2015 Leaf with the 24 kWh battery is fine for our trips to Seattle, albeit we have to charge to make it home, trips to Oregon are out of the question. The additional range would at least get us to Oregon, which is 120 miles away, with a single stop at a quick charger, instead of stopping every 40 miles (the CHAdeMo chargers are every 40-miles or so) so we don't get stranded.

In terms of handling, the Leaf feels very nose heavy when diving into turns aggressively, but it's not something a typical Leaf owner should worry about. When driving around the city, the suspension dampens bumps in the roads with comfort. Steering responds to input with precision suitable for a daily driver, but don't expect sports car road feel and precision. Overall, it does the job it was built for, and if you're not a performance-oriented driver, like myself, you'll be satisfied.

Living with the car

Living with an EV is a different experience, as you can't stop at a gas station to fill up. The car has to charge at home or in public. I personally charge my Leaf at home with a Bosch 30-amp Level 2 (240V) charger, while some people are perfectly happy with the included Level 1 (120V) charger.

Charging times are significantly longer with Level 1, which can take over a day to charge a completely depleted battery, whereas a Level 2 takes around 6 hours. If you constantly deplete the battery for your drive, I highly suggest a Level 2 charger, but if you're only running around town, the included Level 1 may be enough.

As for family-friendliness of the car, we partnered up with Diono, a car seat manufacturer, to test-fit three car seats in the back of the Leaf. Diono's USA headquarters is in Puyallup, Wash., where I conduct vehicle testing and a convenient place to stop by and test-fit car seats. With the help of Diono, I attempted to install three Radian RXT convertible car seats in the back of the Leaf.

The Leaf features two lower LATCH anchors for the outboard seats, which is typical for most cars. Three top LATCH anchors are available on the back of the seats. I chose to install the car seats with the 3-point seat belt as the lower LATCH anchors have weight limits of up to 65 pounds. The Leaf passed the test and was able to fit two forward and one rear-facing, or three forward-facing car seats without any trouble.

Nissan made the seats plush, which made it very easy to install the seat and get it very tight, using the seat belt. Despite the small size, the Leaf is the smallest car that can fit three car seats in forward and rear-facing configurations.

Junk in the trunk

The Leaf's hatchback design gives it 23.6 cubic feet (cu-ft) of trunk space, which is a little more than the Honda HR-V we tested. Nissan equips the car with passive keyless entry, so the hatch can be opened if the key fob is in your pocket. I'll give Nissan credit for the buttons available on the hatch, two buttons are available: one rectangular button that releases the trunk hatch and one smaller circular that locks or unlocks the car. The subtle nicety is helpful if you get out of the car, take something out of the trunk and lock the car without having to walk around to the front door or taking the keyfob out of your pocket.

I keep a Sumo Gigantor and Omni from Sumo Lounge around for trunk space testing. The Gigantor is a little too big to carry in and out of my house, so I stick to using the Omni for most cars. It's a fun way I devised to show how big a trunk is.

I dragged the Sumo Omni outside on a rainy day, which is typical for most of the year in Washington State, and shoved the bean bag into the back of the Leaf. I got the bean bag a third of the way in with the back seats up, and it should fit fine with the seats down. The sloped rear hatch of the Leaf, intended for aerodynamics, may prevent large and tall objects from fitting in the cargo area, if you must have rear passengers.

The load height is quite high and not completely flat to the trunk opening, so it's not ideal for loading or unloading heavier objects. Overall, the trunk space is adequate for a kid's stroller, but the car isn't ideal for transporting heavy and large-sized items.

Verdict

Nissan's Leaf is a car designed for those that want to break-free of oil dependence, or are simply tired of paying for gas at the pump, but at a price. The as-tested MSRP of $36,620 (£25,640 for the similarly equipped Acenta trim, Australia only has one trim for AU$40,000) is quite steep, especially if you can't maximize the $7,500 federal government tax credit.

If you do qualify for the tax credit, there's also a $3,500 rebate if the car is financed through Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation (NMAC), which knocks $11,000 off the MSRP to bring it down to a reasonable $25,620. There's also the lease option that takes the rebates into account too.

However, unless you really want an EV, similarly-priced internal combustion engine cars at the same MSRP, or even the price after rebate, have much higher quality interior materials, driver assists and better infotainment systems.

We liked

The new 30 kWh battery is a major improvement that makes the Leaf more attractive to rural residents like myself. While the previous 24 kWh battery was adequate for a 40-50-mile round trip commute without charging, there wasn't much excess capacity for multiple detours. Having an additional 23 miles of additional rated range can be that extra distance needed to push those hesitant of EV's towards broader acceptance.

CHAdeMO quick charging technology, or any quick charging technology, is a must have nowadays for EVs. Being able to stop for 30-minutes and gain 70% battery capacity makes EVs easier to live with and take on trips with less inconvenience, just make sure your state has a good EV quick charging infrastructure.

Nissan's Around View Monitor is excellent, but I've yet to use a 360-degree camera that I didn't like. It's a simple feature that may seem archaic to self-parking systems in cars such as the VW Passat, but I prefer to park the car myself than rely on computers to steer me into place.

We disliked

NissanConnect provides a fresh face to the previous Leaf's ancient infotainment system, which was still stuck in 2010, but it's a far cry from anything I'd consider good. Just give us Android Auto or Apple CarPlay and engineer a charging station locator app that is actually up to date and compatible with the two. While I enjoy customizing the home screen on my smartphone, stop trying to transplant the same feature to the car. I want a UI that's designed for quick glances with minimal touch screen input while driving.

I'm not a fan of Bose premium sound or anything Bose, with the exception of the QuietComfort noise-cancelling headphones. The sound quality may please those that have never experienced good audio quality,, but it's not something that makes music enjoyable to my ears. Having to pay for the Bose option to get the excellent Around View Monitor is a travesty, too.

Fit and finish of the Nissan Leaf was quite bad. The gaps between the tail lights and rear fascia (bumper) were inconsistent with a tight fit on one side and a large gap on the other side. I also had to snap the interior panels in the cargo area back into place because they weren't installed securely. There's still the issue with paint matching between the metal body panels and the plastic front and rear fascias: in certain sunlight, the colors don't match.

This isn't a worn-down press car problem either, as I was the first one to receive this 2016 Leaf in the Seattle area. These are problems I've noticed with previous Leafs too, including a 2015 Leaf SL press car in which I had to reinstall the switch panel for the rear seat heater switch. My own Leaf has a rear fascia that wasn't aligned properly either.

Final verdict

The new battery pack in the 2016 Leaf may entice more buyers to embrace the electric car, but the car lacks in infotainment and driver assist technology. If you're currently leasing a Leaf that's nearing the return date and looking to pick up another one, the 2016's battery pack alone is worth trading up.

If you bought your Leaf, like I did, the hit you'd take from the terrible trade-in value isn't worth it to get 23-miles of range. Yes, I looked into this possibility. Nissan doesn't offer an upgrade to the 30 kWh battery for existing owners either, unfortunately.

Now for everyone else, should you buy a Leaf or EV? It's a tough question – if it makes financial sense for you, once you take maintenance and fuel costs into consideration, go for it. If you care about the environment and live in an area where electricity comes primarily from eco sources such as: hydrogen, solar or wind, it's a solid, eco-conscious choice.

I made the decision to buy my wife a 2015 Leaf because we had a 2011 VW Routan (a rebadged Dodge Caravan) that required $90 synthetic oil changes, got 17 mpg for most of her driving and ate through brake rotors and rear pads every 15,000 miles. I wanted something with virtually zero maintenance. Have there been times I regretted my purchase?

Sure, when my wife complains her car won't charge in time for her next trip, I wish the car had more range, which the 30 kWh battery easily solves. But my wife loves her car, despite my subtle nudges to push her back into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, such as the Chevy Volt.

I also kept my gasoline-powered 2014 Mazda5 Sport with a 6-speed manual transmission for longer trips, which my wife isn't too proficient at driving yet, for my driving. I'll admit the Leaf could never be a primary car for me, but I enjoy driving on windy roads and driving manual transmission, which the Leaf does not deliver.

However, if I ever had to commute to an office or spent a lot of time in traffic, the Leaf would be a fine commuting car. Just don't expect any driver assists or much technology outside of the powertrain.

If you must have an EV now, the 2016 Leaf offers fairly good range, but the competition heats up in 2017 with the upcoming Chevy Bolt, Tesla Model 3 and even the next-generation Leaf.

from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1P11alg