Apple’s not typically one to offer any kind of discounts on its products, save for some meager sales on Black Friday and the back-to-school season. If you live in one of a handful specific US cities, though, you can take advantage of a rare Apple deal right now.
The HTC One A9, the latest addition to the HTC One line, is an exercise in design by HTC. While you may say it looks like the iPhone and other devices, you should remember that it was HTC who first brought us the all aluminum construction with the visible antenna bands.
Back in the mid-2000s, owning a 30-inch monitor was the (expensive) dream. Our collective thirst for larger panels hasn't dampened since then, and if you're not considering splashing out on a TV-sized 40-inch monitor, you might be weighing up a cinematic ultra-wide offering like the Dell UltraSharp 3415W.
The Dell UltraSharp 3415W sports a pixel-resolution of 3,440 x 1,440 (WQHD), lending it a "cinematic" aspect ratio of 21:9. Compared to the first wave of ultra-wide monitors from 2013-2014 that used a much narrower 2,560 x 1,080 pixel-resolution, WQHD feels much less like peering into a brightly lit letterbox.
The resolution also feels more familiar if you've used a 2,560 x 1440 (QHD) monitor before. The 3415W has the same amount of height as Apple's (non-Retina) 27-inch iMac, for example, only with 440 extra horizontal pixels bolted onto each side.
It means that you get tons of real-estate on the desktop for using multiple browsers at once, watching Hollywood blockbusters in their native 21:9 aspect ratio or playing games in massive detail — if you've got the beefy graphics card (or two) required to push the pixels.
The U3415W is particularly worth considering at this moment in time due to being given a price drop by online retailers, some of which are offering it for just short of £600 (US$849, which is around AUS$1,188), versus Dell's RRP of £789 ($1,449, around AUS$1,219).
It's going up against several competing 34-inch ultra-wide monitors, including the LG 34UM95, AOC 3477PQU, and Samsung S34E790C, which also has a curved display.
The U3415W sports a sensible design that's suitable for homes or offices thanks to its neutral, classy two-tone black-and-grey colours. Aside from an inconspicuous Dell logo located on the bottom of the display's thin bezel, you won't find any unsightly stickers getting in the way.
Viewed from a side, it's not the bulkiest monitor we've ever seen, but it's not suitable for desks lacking depth — if you want to avoid sore eyes from sitting too close, that is. The display is slightly curved at the edges which makes it a bit easier to see what's being displayed at either end of the screen, and you feel more surrounded by the monitor. It also looks cool to boot.
For a big slab of plastic, the U3415W is incredibly easy to setup and can be done in a mater of minutes with minimal fuss.
One benefit of the monitor arriving in a gigantic box is that the stand comes pre-assembled, so all you have to do is lay it flat on its front and slide the teeth at the top of the stand into the connecting holes at the back of the monitor. Once locked into place, it's impossible to disconnect the stand without pressing a button that releases it and allows you to slide it out easily.
Featuring a heavy-duty stand, the U3415W is well-balanced and sturdy. It has a generous height adjustment of around 115mm, in addition to tilt and swivel capabilities.
Owning quite a low desk, in a bid to get more height, I turned a plastic bucket upside down (don't try this at home) and placed the monitor on top. Though it's not a recommended way to raise the display, the U3415W's even balance meant that it was in no danger of tipping over.
In the box you'll find the monitor, stand, power cable, DisplayPort to mini-DisplayPort cable, USB Upstream Cable, Cable cover and user documentation. There's a dearth of ports on the U3415W, although you'll have to swing your head under it to get to see them easily.
Under there you'll find x1 HDMI connector, x1 MHL connector, x1 Mini DisplayPort, x1 DisplayPort (v.1.2), 1x DisplayPort out (Multi-Stream Transport), x1 Audio Line out, x4 USB 3.0 ports and x2 USB 3.0 ports - Upstream.
One of the USB ports is located around the back to the right-hand side. Although it's easier to get to than the USB ports on the underside, it's still awkwardly positioned if you're used to using side-mounted USB ports, of which there are none here.
The U3415W's sheer size is a feature in itself, providing the same amount of pixels as four 1,720 x 720 pixel-resolutions monitors stuck together. Most of the time you'll find windows floating around as if they're in space, such is the amount of real-estate on offer.
If you're the organised type, the U3415W is perfect for cascading windows and snapping them to different corners. You can browse a website while writing a document while keeping one eye on Skype and another on Facebook, for example.
Better yet, at 34 inches, the U3415W's 3,440 x 1,440 pixel resolution lends it 109ppi (pixels-per-inch), so there's no need to alter Windows' or OS X's scaling settings to make text and menus readable. That's a huge reason to opt for Dell's monitor over a 4K panel if your main concern is having tons of screen real-estate without having to effectively magnify parts of the desktop.
A row of capacitive touch-sensitive buttons are used to navigate through the U3415W's menus, which allow you to adjust the brightness, colour, audio levels, view energy usage, switch inputs and change what the shortcut button on the bezel does. It also lets you activate its picture-in-picture mode, which lets you display two input sources at the same time.
How well it works depends on what input sources you're running and what resolutions they're running at. For example, connecting a games console (in this case the Wii U) and a laptop running at 2,560 x 1440 will give you two 16:9 images on each half of the panel, leaving big black horizontal bars above and below the image.
The sheer size of the U3415W means that it wasn't such a problem playing Mario Kart 8 even sat 1.5 metres away from the monitor. However, it was nearly impossible to use the laptop's desktop as everything looked tiny.
Adjusting the laptop's resolution to 1,024 x 768 vastly reduced the space on the desktop, but it at least allowed me to browse web pages, stream video and do other single tasks while sat a distance away from the monitor. So if you want to let somebody play on a console game on one half of the display while streaming a sports match or catching up with the latest news, picture-in-picture is a bit clunky but works well enough.
Oh, and be warned: although the U3415W possess decent speakers that are easily loud enough to fill a small room, it can only output volume from one input at a time. That shouldn't be a problem if you use the monitor to ouput sound from a console, and then use the laptop's speakers separately if you need to.
The capacitive buttons aren't as easy to use as physical ones, occasionally requiring a second tap to register a press. Neither are they labelled, so you'll have to learn what each one does and which action you have the shortcut button set to perform if you choose to re-assign it.
Sound isn't the primary reason you're going to buy the 3415W, but its two 9W speakers provide loud and clear audio, even if they're not going to shake the room with pounding bass any time soon.
The Dell's AH-IPS panel produced excellent results. Out of the box, the monitor reached 298.32 cd/m2 when measured with our X-Rite iDisplay Pro calibrator. The panel produced inky blacks, with back levels measured at a healthy 0.26 cd/m2.
If you need ample space on your computer's monitor for apps, games and movies, and don't want to worry about the scaling issues that come with 4K monitors, Dell's U3415W is well worthy of your consideration.
Its easy setup, excellent build quality and impressive pictures out of the box make it a hassle-free way to get acres of space. You might need a bigger desk to take advantage of them, though.
The 3415W really is a sight to behold on any desk - just make sure yours is big enough to accomodate it. With great picture quality, plenty of features and plug-and-play appeal, it's a hassle-free way to get a massive amount of real-estate without worrying about software quirks.
The size of Dell's monitor is also its worst enemy. Its 34 inches could prove disorientating if you're sat too close to it for long periods of time. Despite its price reductions at certain retailers, it still costs double the cost of budget 4K monitors on the market - so you'll have to think twice about whether it best fits your needs.
If you've been looking to swap your current monitor (or monitors, if you have several in your setup), the Dell UltraSharp U3415W is a solid offering. It looks great and serves up plenty of features that make it great for one person or several in the room. If you want more real-estate from your monitor without having to play about with scaling settings in software, the Dell UltraSharp 3415W is elegant, effective and would do the job for years to come.
Is the iPhone 6s Plus camera sensor really any better than the iPhone 6 Plus camera sensor? On paper, the two camera sensors are very similarly speced. Both feature f2.2 apertures, both feature optical image stabilization and both feature autofocus with focus pixels.
Earlier this week, the LG V10 officially went on sale at AT&T and T-Mobile. Now it’s available to Verizon customers, too.
Verizon is now selling the LG V10 in stores and online. Pricing is set at $0 down and $28 per month for 24 months, or $672 full retail. When it comes to color options, Verizon is offering the V10 in Pure Black and Luxe White, the latter of which is exclusive to Big Red.
In its short tenure as a hardware maker, Microsoft has become the defacto trailblazer for Windows-running devices. It all started with the lofty promise that its Surface tablet could replace your laptop. We were skeptical about it three years ago, but after the Surface Pro 3, Microsoft nearly perfected the formula and showed veteran computer manufacturers how hybrids should be made.
Now, Microsoft introduces the Surface Book as the "ultimate laptop." Like the Surface tablets before it, this laptop takes a unique spin on the notebook format that's been around for over 40 years. Between the 3:2 aspect ratio and its practically-trademarked "dynamic fulcrum" hinge, there isn't any machine on the planet like the Surface Book – and then, with the touch of a button and a gentle tug, it becomes a tablet.
It all sounds like an amazing on paper, and with the added "holy shit, Microsoft made a laptop" factor, the Surface Book sounds like a thoroughly amazing device. Let's see just how well Redmond made good on the hype.
If a tear in the space-time continuum were to suddenly rip open, two things would fall out: the Terminator and then the Surface Book quickly tumbling to the Earth behind it. From the snake-like hinge, the flat design and even down to the washed-out silver color of this laptop, everything about it just seems like it came from the future.
Milled from two solid blocks of magnesium, the Surface Book feels sturdy and has a most minimalistic style unto its own.
From keyboard deck to the palm rests, the entire interior of this laptop is one flat surface of metal, save for the large space reserved for the glass touchpad. Similarly, the screen lid is made of one uninterrupted slate of magnesium, with its only extra flourishes being a mirror-finished Windows logo in the center and a rear-facing camera.
Along the chiseled sides, you'll find two flat edges that start from the top of the display and terminate at the tip of the palm rest. That's not the only seamless transition.
Unlike most other convertible devices, the screen and base sections share nearly the same thickness and weight. Without the foreknowledge that the display can actually detach, the Surface Book looks like one continuous device, thanks to the hinge.
At the midpoint of the Surface Book, there's a piece of connective tissue that Microsoft calls the dynamic fulcrum hinge. On top of simply gluing the screen and keyboard base together, it's this key piece that makes the whole device work.
Rather than folding flatly, the hinge basically coils into itself, leaving a noticeable gap between the screen and keyboard when the unit is closed. When opened, this same part rolls out and actually extends the base of the laptop, which in turn helps extend the support base for the tablet portion of the Surface Book (called the Clipboard).
While a traditional notebook display might weigh half a pound at most, the top section of the Surface Book weighs 1.6-pounds, because it contains all the necessary parts to act as a standalone tablet. As such, the hinge has been reinforced and contains extra mechanisms, not unlike the Lenovo Yoga 900's watchband-style hinge to keep it in place.
Surface Book is solid as a rock, and you can even pick up it by the display and shake it about without worrying about the whole thing falling apart. On a flat surface, the screen is held steady in place and even stays put when you have it in your lap.
The only times the screen wobbles are when I'm poking at it with my finger or the Surface pen, but that really comes with trying to operate a touchscreen on any laptop.
And to address the concerns of the gap left in the middle of the system. Yes, there is a substantial open space in the middle of the system when it's closed. No, dust and other bits of nasty will not slip into the interior anymore than with a standard laptop, unless you're a particularly messy person. After a week of using the Surface Book religiously, I can run my finger against the inside edge of the hinge and not find a single speck of dust.
Another plus side of having a laptop that doesn't close completely flush is you'll never find any oily outlines of the keyboard imprinted on the screen. It's a design element that also eliminates the need to seat the keyboard into a recessed area. Instead, the keys on this laptop sit flush with the keyboard deck.
The keyboard itself offers a splendid 1.6mm of key travel that caps off with a satisfying thwack when you bottom out the keys. The trackpad is equally as enjoyable, with it's glass laminated finish. For the first time ever, I found myself interested in using the three-finger multi-gestures to rotate through windows and reveal the desktop.
While this is a tiny element of the Surface Book, few – if any – other Windows notebooks on the market today offer such a tight tracking experience.
The Surface Book's other signature trick is the screen can pop off the base with just the tap of a button. Technically, Microsoft is coming late to the 2-in-1 laptop game with various devices being able to do the same, including Acer's Switch family, Toshiba's Click notebooks, some HP devices and the list goes on.
However, no one has made a system as seamless as the Surface Book.
Undocking and attaching the Clipboard is nearly as seamless as the Surface Book's design. After either pressing the eject button on the keyboard or the virtual button in the taskbar, the screen will blink off for a second and then notify you it's safe to detach the screen with one quick tug.
It's fast and simple, however, the timing takes a little getting used to. After you get the prompt to detach the screen, you have to wait for about half a second before you can actually lift the display off its base.
Another unique feature to this notebook is it's the first to integrate a discrete graphics processor, or GPU, into a hybrid system. Tucked underneath the keyboard is a customized Nvidia GeForce GPU that makes this laptop just a bit more capable with media production and gaming.
We've seen this sort of GPU docking technology before in machines like the MSI GS30 Shadow with GamingDock and Alienware's GPU Amplifier solution. Microsoft has improved upon dockable graphics, as the Surface Book just needs a short moment to disengage the extra parts, whereas both the Alienware and MSI solutions require the laptop to reboot completely.
It's a neat feature that allows me to quickly show a friend something cool or when I want to read a digital comic book without having to lug the whole laptop around. But it didn't really click with me until I realized how easily it lets me bring my entire PC to another place without having to disconnect my external monitor, keyboard, mouse, Xbox controller and all my other peripherals at home
It's the coolest mechanic since the saucer separation of the Enterprise-D. What's more, it leaves open a door to expandability. Because the Clipboard is compatible with all Surface Book keyboard bases, not just the one it shipped with, Microsoft could theoretically come out with future upgrades could be done through new bases. (Or maybe even a desktop rig that interfaces with the display? We can dream.)
With a starting weight of 3.34 pounds (1.51kg), the Surface Book is one of the heaviest 13-inch laptops. And that's without the optional, discrete GPU, which ends up adding a few extra ounces and bumps up this laptop's total weight to 3.48 pounds (1.58kg). While this might look like a lot on paper for an Ultrabook-class device, consider the 13-inch MacBook Pro weighs just as much despite it packing a smaller screen, no dedicated GPU and fewer batteries.
If you're looking for the power of a discrete GPU in an Apple device, you'll have to go all the way up to a high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro. And this is a machine that is significantly heavier (4.49 pounds or 2.04kg) and larger (14.13 x 9.73 x 0.71 inches or 359 x 247 x 18mm).
Thanks to its 3:2 aspect ratio and having a 13.5-inch screen, the Surface book is quite a bit taller than your average 13-inch laptop. Despite its peculiar 9.14 x 12.3 x 0.51-0.90 inches or 232 x 312 x 13-22.8 mm (W x D x H) dimensions, I had no problem slipping this laptop into bags designed to hold a traditional 13.3-inch laptop.
The Dell XPS 13 comes as the antithesis to the Surface Book in its mission to be the smallest 13-inch laptop in the world, weighing in at 2.8 pounds (1.27kg) while measuring 11.98 x 7.88 x 0.6 inches (304mm x 200 x 15mm).
Here is the configuration for the Microsoft Surface Book techradar reviewed:
With an $1,899 or AU$2,949 (about £1,239) price tag for the configuration above, the Surface Book asks for a pretty penny that's typically reserved for high-end gaming notebooks. And that's even applicable to the $1,499 or AU$2,299 (about £978) price associated with its most basic configuration, which is essentially a more expensive Surface Pro 4.
Not just a joke either, Microsoft's two Surface devices shares very similar standard specs including the same processor, storage space and memory allotment. However, there are several key differences, as Microsoft's first laptop possess a larger screen and a completely different design. It's for this reason, it makes sense to either throw in an extra couple of dollars in the hole to get the $1,699, US-only unit with discreet graphics and 128GB of storage space.
The well-equipped, Skylake-powered Dell XPS 13 can be had for $1,649 (£1,149, $2,499). While it does not come with a discrete graphics chip, the XPS 13 has a leg up on the Surface book with a 3,200 x 1,800 resolution display and a 2.5Ghz Intel Core i7-6500U processor.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro is by far the most expensive machine, ringing up for $2,499 (£1,999, AU$3,799). However, for this kingly some, it comes with double the RAM and SSD storage space, an AMD Radeon R9 M370X GPU, and it's the only one with a quad-core processor. Unfortunately, it has the lowest resolution display, pushing only 2,880 by 1,800 pixels.
If you're looking for something to serve your basic mobile computing needs, then the Dell XPS 13 is your smartest and most economical choice. However, if you're looking for something flashier and can do more, then the Surface Book is your ticket. For those who need a production workhorse, the 15-inch MacBook Pro still wins this race against Microsoft.
With a dedicated GPU, naturally the first tests I conducted were gaming ones. The Clipboard and its Skylake processor have more than enough power to make Hearthstone fly, even at full resolution. Plugging the display into the keyboard base unlocks even more performance from the dedicated GPU. With the discrete graphics chip in tow, the Surface Book can play Rocket League at 30 frames per second (fps) in full screen and medium settings.
For more serious games, like Metal Gear the Phantom Pain, I was able to get it running between 24 to 29 fps, but only after dropping the resolution to 1,920 x 1,080 and practically turning off all the settings. Microsoft's first laptop won't be replacing your PC gaming rig any time soon, but it's surprising how well this machine gets along with only 1GB of video RAM.
Of course, all this power also makes the Surface Book a productivity beast that easily takes on task after task. Lightroom runs incredibly fast on this 13-inch laptop, thanks to the added power of the Nvidia graphics. What's more amazing is I'm able to edit photos quickly while I have a browser full of 10 tabs and streaming video pushed over to a connected monitor.
Here's how the Microsoft Surface Book performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
The Surface Book has broken all sorts of benchmark speed record, thanks to its hot new Intel Skylake and Nvidia GeForce chipset. Just in terms of processing power alone, it's 301-point Cinebench score is significant jump compared to the Dell XPS 13, which ran with a last-generation Broadwell Intel Core I5 chip.
Thanks to the extra boost from the discrete graphics chip, the Surface Book also has more than double the performance for gaming. This is evidenced by its 1,868 point Fire Strike score compared to the Dell's 739-point performance.
The only figure I can draw to compare this machine to the 15-inch MacBook Pro is the GeekBench score. In the multi-core test, Microsoft's laptop finished with 6,635 points, whereas two outlets saw the 15-inch Apple's steely steed completed the test with an average of 14,258 – an unsurprising result, considering the MacBook Pro has twice the number of processor cores.
With 3,000 x 2,000 pixels under its belt, the Surface Book sits at a happy middle ground of being sharper than most other laptops (including every MacBook in existence) without the troubles that plague 4K screens. You'll never see the separation between the pixes, l because they're so tiny, and Windows 10 scales beautifully at 200%.
While most applications, including the Origin, Steam and Battle.net launcher would look tiny on a 4K screen, these windows look small, but not uncomfortably so, on the Surface Book.
I even like the 3:2 aspect ratio. The ability to read more lines of text and not have a Lightroom window that's not vertically squished together more than makes up for the thick black bars that appear when you watch movies. Microsoft fashions its displays after A4 paper, which makes the Clipboard feel like a natural device for writing and art work.
Within five minutes of handing the Surface Book over to an artistic friend, she was already drinking the Kool-Aid. According to her, using the Surface Pen is incredibly accurate, and the screen gives just enough to the point where it emulates the feel of painting and drawing on real paper.
Sadly, the speakers don't make as big of an impression and really only sound good enough for some casual listening. While they avoid the problem of being tinny, as most laptop speakers are, they also lack any depth with barely any bass. If you're looking to settle down for a movie or a quick game, you'll want to plug in a pair of headphones.
Battery life on the Surface Book is both pretty good and surprisingly disappointing. While Microsoft has promised 12 hours of continual usage and other outlets report getting even more juice out of the machine, our best time for the device was 7 hours and 39 minutes. As for the Clipboard on its own, the tablet can last for 4 hours.
While these are more than respectable numbers considering all the hardware inside the Surface Book, I honestly expected a much longer run time. The good news is this notebook recharges quickly, going from zero to 100% charge in under two hours.
This could largely be due some problems early Surface Book owners are running into. My unit seems to be among this group of afflicted models. Just some of the major bugs include the system not starting up properly when connected to the dock and display driver failures. The latter of which cause battery life to drop dramatically by three or more hours.
Microsoft has said it is "aware of aware scenarios where Surface Book's display may deliver a display driver error and that we'll address through fixes issued via Windows Update within a few weeks after launch."
By comparison, the older generation Dell XPS 13 lasted for 7 hours and 40 minutes, while several outlets were able to stretch their usage of the most recent 15-inch MacBook Pro for an average of 9 hours and change. So again, the Surface Book's battery life is by no means terrible, but it could get a lot better with future updates.
Now, the question is: has Microsoft made the ultimate laptop? And the answer is not quite – not quite yet, anyway. The Surface Book still has some growing pains to get through, and its substantial size may not jive with everyone. However, this is a great first crack, and it's made the concept of 2-in-1 laptop look and sound more believable than anyone else has.
The majority of hybrid laptops to this point have followed the back-flipping model established by Lenovo's Yoga series. This is largely because models with detaching screens were clunky and chunky, but Microsoft has turned the perfected the concept by splitting the laptop in half.
All the essentials for a Windows 10 tablet are packed into the Clipboard, which can be used as Surface tablet unto it's own. But then the slate marries perfectly with its other half that contains extra batteries and a dedicated GPU.
The Surface Book's design isn't for everyone, but I simply fell in love with its futuristic look. Whether it looks odd or just ahead of the curve will depend on your perspective, but you can't deny Microsoft has made a daring move with its dynamic fulcrum hinge. 2-in-1 laptops – and especially those of the detachable variety – have had their ugly duck moments. This is no such moment for Redmond.
Beyond looks, every design element of this laptop is full of purpose, from the rolling hinge to how quickly you can detach the Clipboard. The Surface Pen and the display work together beautifully for creating art that I will never understand beyond jotting down my notes in chicken scratch. And then there's the Surface Book's undying performance that just won't let up whether you're working on spreadsheets, editing photos or even enjoying some light gaming.
While I praise this hybrid for its incredible performance, there are heavy limits on just how many games it will play with only one gigabyte of video memory. The early bugs are also something I can't ignore, but they're to be expected from the first run of the first laptop ever created by Microsoft.
Though some small parts of the Surface Book experience are borked as of this writing, you can bet Microsoft won't be resting on its laurels. Updates will continue to come out quickly one after the other and just in the time of one week, I've already received two software patches that have fixed a few of my early problems with the device.
If you were to strip away the Clipboard's ability to detach, the Surface Pen, the neatness factor of the dynamic fulcrum hinge and just about everything that makes the Surface Book unique, you would be still left with terrific laptop. That's what I love the most about this device. Underneath all the extra stuff, the Surface Book is a solid laptop in terms of ergonomics, performance and, yes, even battery life despite the promises.
Incorporating all the extras – from the ability to run off with the clipboard, the incredible accuracy of the Surface Pen and the engineering feats of the hinge – they all serve to enhance the experience, rather than detract. In time, Microsoft will smooth out all the rough edges of its first go. Both the Dell XPS 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro are well worth purchasing in their own right. But if you want an excellent laptop that does just a bit more, then the Surface Book is your ticket.
Hands-on the recently-released BLU Studio 7.0 LTE. Some of the specs include a 7.0-inch HD display, Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM, 8MP rear and 2MP front-facing cameras, microSD card slot for expandable storage, 4G LTE and Android 5.1 Lollipop.
Google today stealthily launched a new app on Android and iOS.
Called “Who’s Down,” the app lets you see which of your friends want to hang out. When you flip a switch to say that you’re down — which lasts for 3 hours — it looks like you can say exactly what you want to do, like “grab tacos” or “study.” Your status will then appear along with a question asking if anyone’s down to do what you want, like “Anyone down to grab tacos?”
The G5 X is one of three new cameras launched by Canon. The others are the G9 X, another compact camera, and the EOS M10 mirrorless model.
The G5 X is potentially the most interesting because it offers enthusiast-orientated controls in a pocket-size camera with an electronic viewfinder, and we've now been able to update our hands-on review with sample images.
Inside the G5 X (and G9 X launched at the same time) is the same 20.2 million-pixel back-illuminated 1-inch type sensor as is found in the Canon G7 X, which impressed us when we tested it in 2014. As in the G7 X this sensor is coupled with a Digic 6 processor and sensitivity may be set in the range ISO 125-12,800. The G5 X also has the same lens as the G7 X; a 4x zoom with a focal length range equivalent to 24-100mm. There's also a maximum aperture range of f/1.8-2.8, which ensures reasonable control over depth of field.
In a significant difference from the G7 X, however, the G5 X has an electronic viewfinder (EVF) built-in. This is a 0.39-inch type OLED device with 2.36 million dots and it shows 100% of the scene that will be captured. The EVF also has a refresh rate of 120fps, which should ensure that it's possible to follow moving subjects accurately. According to Canon this EVF is similar but not identical to the optional EVF that's available for the G3 X.
Canon has also given the PowerShot G5 X a 3-inch 1,040,000-dot touch sensitive screen that's mounted on a vari-angle hinge to make it easier to compose images in either upright or landscape format at high or low angles.
Further good news is that like other G-series cameras, the G5 X offers advanced exposure control with aperture priority, shutter priority and manual mode being available, as well as a collection of scene modes and automatic options. There's also stabilisation built-in to help produce sharp images as light levels fall.
Canon has opted for retro styling for the G5 X. Some may find it a little old-school and angular, but I rather like it. It's not a million miles away from the Sony A7R II in looks. It feels reasonably well constructed and there's a nice secure grip on the front.
The electronic viewfinder sits in the middle of the top-plate and this gives the camera a mini-DSLR-like appearance. There's also a retro control arrangement with a ring around the lens along with dials on the front and back of the camera that can be used to adjust a range of settings. In addition, it's nice to have a dedicated mode dial to set the exposure mode quickly and a compensation dial for speedy exposure adjustment by up to +/-3EV.
Initially I found the shutter release a little awkward to reach as your index finger has to stretch over the exposure compensation dial. However, I adjusted my grip a little so that my index finger could be poised on the release while my middle finger rested on the front adjustment dial. This enabled me to make quick setting changes with the camera held to my eye. I want to explore this control arrangement further when we get the camera in for testing.
Meanwhile the lens ring is within easy reach of the fingers and thumb of your left hand as you support the camera for shooting.
Having a viewfinder is huge advantage in bright conditions and the G5 X's EVF is very good. It's more comfortable to use than the unit in the Sony RX100 III and Sony RX100 IV and it doesn't have to be popped-up and extended like theirs do – it's ready for use whenever you need it. There's even a helpful sensor that detects when the camera is held to the eye to fire up the viewfinder and turn off the main screen.
Like the viewfinder, the G5 X's screen provides a clear view. It also responds quickly to a touch and it's easy to adjust settings and swipe through images.
By Rod Lawton
To introduce its new PowerShot G5 X, G9 X and EOS M10, Canon took a party of journalists to a derelict factory awaiting redevelopment in the London docklands for a little urban exploration. This was the ideal opportunity to try out the G5 X in a range of conditions.
This was taken at the lens's maximum zoom setting and it looks just as sharp as shots taken at shorter focal lengths – it also looks sharp right to the edges. The colors and contrast are good, and the auto white balance has captured the natural color of the mid-afternoon low sunlight very well. Click here for a full size version.
Here's another shot taken at full zoom. Click here for a full size version.
And here's another with the lens zoomed right out to give an idea of the focal range offered by the lens. Click here for a full size version.
This was taken at an ISO setting of 6,400. There's an obvious increase in grain and a noticeable drop in detail, but this is still a good performance from a compact camera, and the larger than usual 1-inch sensor is no doubt a factor. Click here for a full size version.
Even at a relatively low ISO of 125, however, the G5 X has not had enough dynamic range to hold on to the highlights in the bright sky here. It's possible that the raw file might hold some extra highlight information, but we'll have to wait until we have the latest Canon raw conversion software to check. Click here for a full size version.
The colors and tonal rendition are good here, but the G5 X's program AE mode chose a surprisingly slow shutter speed of 1/20 sec, even though this was shot at the maximum zoom setting. It's a shame the camera didn't choose a higher ISO to allow a faster shutter speed because the picture is blurred slightly by camera and subject movement. This is one of those situations where you'd need to take control manually. Click here for a full size version.
The autofocus worked well, even in low light. You can tap the screen to set the focus point, though it's often just as easy to use the centre point and half-press the shutter button to lock focus and then reframe. Click here for a full size version.
This low-angle shot was taken just a couple of inches above the surface of an expanse of water to capture the unusual reflection. The G5 X's articulating screen made this possible although, oddly, the eye sensor next to the viewfinder was confused by the high visibility jackets we were wearing, and didn't always switch the view automatically to the rear screen. Click here for a full size version.
The combination of a larger than usual sensor, for a compact camera, and relatively wide aperture lens means it's possible to get sharp foreground focus and attractive background blur, especially if you can get close to your subject. Click here for a full size version.
The G5 X's default evaluative metering seems to favour highlight areas of the scene, which is probably what most enthusiast photographers would prefer. It exposed the scene beyond the window perfectly here, without the need for any exposure correction. Click here for a full size version.
Finally, here's another example of the G5 X's excellent color rendition. The wall of the building opposite ours was bathed in a warm reflected glow from the late afternoon sun, and the G5 X has captured it perfectly. Click here for a full size version.
This second shot, taken roughly half way through the zoom range, has kept exactly the same exposure value and color rendition without the need for any manual adjustments. Click here for a full size version.
Our early samples suggest that the PowerShot G5 X is just like the older G7 X model. Like the G7 X, it produces high quality images in many situations, usually without much intervention from the photographer. With the G7 X, noise is controlled well but ISO 12,800 images are best kept fairly small – 8x10 inches is fine. We look forward to checking to see if the G5 X is the same.
Many of our G5 X samples were taken in low light and its autofocus system coped well – it will be interesting to test this further in our full review.
When I tested the G7 X I found that images shot at the widest point of the lens showed a more noticeable drop in sharpness across the frame than those taken at the telephoto end and some coma distortion was visible – we'll take a close look at the G5 X's images to see if this has been corrected.
After a prolonged period when manufacturers omitted viewfinders from compact cameras, they are now making a welcome return. While I liked the Canon G7 X a lot when I tested it, it doesn't have a viewfinder built-in and this made image composition trickier than I'd like in bright light. It's also easier to follow a moving subject in a viewfinder rather than on the screen on the back of the camera. The G5 X corrects this omission by adding a good quality electronic viewfinder.
Although it has a much in common with the G7 X and there's a similar lens ring along with a responsive touch screen, the new camera feels quite different, having a pronounced grip and a new control arrangement with an extra dial on the front. The shutter release seems oddly placed at first but it didn't take me long to adjust to it. It will be interesting to see how convenient or comfortable it is during prolonged use. I'm looking forward to giving it a thorough test in the near future.
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