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For a while now we've been using Basemark ES 2.0 in our smartphone reviews and SoC discussions to gauge OpenGL ES performance. For end users however, getting the same benchmarks has been difficult if not impossible, making comparisons and verification somewhat of a challenge for enthusiasts. The alternatives to the big industry-standard benchmarks in the Android market sometimes are poorly documented and ill-maintained as well. As time goes on we'll see more of these industry-standard benchmarks start showing up in all the app marketplaces for each platform. 

Today RightWare is launching Basemark ES 2.0 Taiji Free on the Android market, which contains (as the name suggests) the Taiji subtest of Basemark ES 2.0. The version being launched supports both Android and iOS for comparison purposes, though the iOS version will launch at a later date in Q1 2012. Taiji is the first of the two game benchmark scenes inside Basemark ES 2.0, the second being Hoverjet.

In conjunction, ES 2.0 Taiji Free also will feature an online result browser component called Power Board. This online result browser component aggregates and allows for comparisons of both user-submitted and in-house tested scores much the same way GLBenchmark and others do. It appears that Power Board will also aggregate data from the rest of Rightware's benchmarking portfolio, including Basemark GUI. Information and device details such as SoC, GPU, and resolution are all provided as well on Power Board for comparison purposes.

Gallery: Rightware Power Board

This is a big step in the right direction toward depreciating some of the enthusiast community's reliance on some of the poorly documented or ill-maintained benchmarks like Quadrant and others. 

Source: Rightware, Power Board, Android Market

GAMING PC MAKER Alienware has launched its Aurora gaming PC that uses the latest Intel X79 chipset.

The Aurora is aimed at enthusiast gamers and comes jam packed with the latest hardware centred on an Intel Core i7-3000 six-core processor that is factory overclocked. It’s liquid cooled and the firm claims it’s the “most advanced gaming desktop ever made”.

“The PC gaming industry continues to grow rapidly, and our customers are demanding systems that can keep up with the most graphic-intensive games on the market,” said Arthur Lewis, VP of product management at Alienware. “Alienware Aurora, our most advanced gaming desktop ever, delivers an experience that will exceed the expectations of any serious gamer.”

Alienware offers a wide range of graphics card options from a single 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6870 up to a dual 2GB AMD Radeon HD 6950 with Crossfirex. The Aurora caters for performance tinkering with an unlocked BIOS.

Rounding off the specifications is a choice of 8GB or 16GB of quad channel 1600MHz DDR3 RAM and a traditional hard drive with up to 2TB capacity. For extra performance users can upgrade to a 256GB or 512GB solid state disk (SSD) drive.

Alienware products do tend to come accompanied by a high price tag and the Aurora is no exception, as it is priced at £1,999 for the least expensive configuration. µ

GAMING PC MAKER Alienware has launched its Aurora gaming PC that uses the latest Intel X79 chipset.

The Aurora is aimed at enthusiast gamers and comes jam packed with the latest hardware centred on an Intel Core i7-3000 six-core processor that is factory overclocked. It’s liquid cooled and the firm claims it’s the “most advanced gaming desktop ever made”.

“The PC gaming industry continues to grow rapidly, and our customers are demanding systems that can keep up with the most graphic-intensive games on the market,” said Arthur Lewis, VP of product management at Alienware. “Alienware Aurora, our most advanced gaming desktop ever, delivers an experience that will exceed the expectations of any serious gamer.”

Alienware offers a wide range of graphics card options from a single 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6870 up to a dual 2GB AMD Radeon HD 6950 with Crossfirex. The Aurora caters for performance tinkering with an unlocked BIOS.

Rounding off the specifications is a choice of 8GB or 16GB of quad channel 1600MHz DDR3 RAM and a traditional hard drive with up to 2TB capacity. For extra performance users can upgrade to a 256GB or 512GB solid state disk (SSD) drive.

Alienware products do tend to come accompanied by a high price tag and the Aurora is no exception, as it is priced at £1,999 for the least expensive configuration. µ

ONLINE BOOKSELLER Amazon is rolling out an update for its Kindle Fire in the US after numerous customer complaints about the recently launched device.

Customer complaints on the Amazon web site centre on the tablet’s web browsing, touchscreen, lack of privacy and lack of an external volume control on the device.

According to the New York Times, Amazon plans to release an update to its Kindle Fire user interface in the next two weeks to address these problems. This is despite the fact that Amazon has updated the software for the Kinde Fire several times, saying it had improved performance and got rid of root access to the device.

Amazon said the latest update will also improve performance, as well as allowing customers to edit their recent activity to address privacy issues. Multi-touch navigation has also reportedly been improved.

Amazon also said there will be an improved version of the device itself in the Spring.

We still don’t have the Kindle Fire in the UK, although latest reports indicate it will arrive in January, just in time to miss the Christmas season. However, judging by its reception in the US, we might be getting excited over nothing. µ

MEMORY AND STORAGE VENDOR Kingston has announced its fastest Datatraveler Hyperx 3.0 USB flash drives.

The Hyperx USB drives are designed for enthusiasts, gamers and early adopters of technology, according to Kingston. The line offers high speed transfer rates and high capacities of up to 256GB.

“Enthusiasts have long known HyperX as the memory of choice for overclockers and power users who need the most performance from system memory,” said Krystian Jaroszynski, product marketing manager at Kingston. “The new DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 USB Flash drive continues this tradition. With the fastest speeds and largest capacity, this storage device is the perfect solution for users who require high performance whilst carrying their digital library.”

The range maxes out at 256GB but smaller versions are available in 128GB and 64GB sizes. Supporting USB 3.0, the drives can cope with read speeds of up to 225MB/s and write speeds of 135MB/s.

The drives use an eight channel architecture and are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 ports. The largest drive should hold around 10 Blu-ray discs, 54 DVDs or nearly 50,000 MP3s.

Prices start at £110 for the 64GB model then jump to £199 for 128GB with the price of the 256GB model yet to be revealed. µ

STORAGE VENDOR Kingston has launched its line of SSDnow V200 storage drives for cost conscious consumers.

The range of V200 solid state disk (SSD) drives replaces the V100 line-up and offer higher performance for lower cost. Capacity starts at 64GB with 128GB and 256GB also available.

Kingston said, “The Kingston SSDNow V200 brings value and performance to consumers who are looking for an inexpensive upgrade option to boost their current computer’s performance and extend the life of their investment.”

The firm said that a V200 drive is almost twice as fast compared to the V100. It also is priced 20 per cent lower. This should persuade consumers to take the leap of upgrading to flash memory for data storage, according to Kingston.

A stand-alone drive is available or users can buy a full upgrade kit instead. The desktop and laptop kits come with various bits and pieces to help with the upgrade process including cloning software, a DVD guide, cables and mounting brackets.

Prices for the drive range from £81 for the 64GB model to £134 for 128GB and £300 for the 256GB drive. The upgrade kit adds a further £8 to the stand-alone prices. Kingston has told us that the drives should be available from today. µ

CHINESE MOBILE FIRM Huawei has launched its flagship Android 3D smartphone, the Vision, and its own branded tablet, the Mediapad.

The company’s UK MD Mark Mitchinson announced pricing and availability for the Vision and Mediapad devices at an event in London this evening, and The INQUIRER was there.

Huawei had announced both the Vision and the Mediapad separately earlier this year. At the time, they were earmarked for UK release in the “second half” of 2011, so we had expected both of them on the shelves before Christmas. However, while the Vision handset will be on sale for Christmas, we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see the Mediapad.

The Mediapad will cost £275 but it won’t be available until the first quarter of 2012.

Meanwhile, the Vision handset will be available in time for Christmas from Phones 4U, with more operator and retail partners to be confirmed early next year. It will be free on £25 per month contracts.

The Vision features a 3D user interface and a “carousel display”, and runs the Android 2.3 Gingerbread mobile OS. It has a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8255 processor.

Like a posh car, the Huawei Vision has an aluminum alloy “uni-body” that comes in rose gold, silver or charcoal, along with “a curve touch design”.

The device measures only 9.9mm at its thinnest point and weighs 121g. It supports HD 720p video recording and features a 5MP auto focus camera with LED flash. It also has Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, high-speed WiFi 802.11b/g/n internet connectivity, and a full range of messaging capabilities including SMS, MMS, Email, Push Mail and IM.

Meanwhile, Huawei’s Mediapad tablet will run Android 3.2 Honeycomb and has a 7in IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen.

The Mediapad is 10.5mm thick and weighs 390g, and will be “supported by Huawei Device’s Hispace cloud solution”. Meanwhile, the battery will last over six hours.

A 1.2GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm will power the Mediapad and there is a front facing camera of 1.3MP. It has WiFi and HSPA+ 3G and an HDMI port. Pre-installed applications will include Facebook, Twitter, Let’s Golf and Documents to go, as well as support for Flash 10.3.

Meanwhile, the company also announced that it will launch a dedicated European design centre for its mobile device business in London as it looks to increase its market share across Europe.

The company said at the event in London that it is “transforming” its business strategy, going from “massive growth” to “quality growth”. Huawei’s new brand slogan is “Let’s simply share.” µ

TAIWANESE LAPTOP MAKER Asus has launched its N series laptops in 15.6in and 17.3in models.

The latest editions to the N series start at £649 and include Sonicmaster technology for users looking for above average audio performance. They have been designed by David Lewis who worked on Bang and Olufsen products.

Asus said, “The new N Series promises peak performance alongside long lasting battery life, with a range of clever features geared towards enjoying unbeatable notebook audio.”

With a focus on audio the N series comes bundled with an external subwoofer as well as the Sonicmaster, which has been co-developed with Bang & Olfusen Icepower technology.

The N55SF has a 15.6in display with 1600×900 resolution and the 17.3in N75SF has the same resolution as its smaller brother.

The notebooks are powered by an Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 or Core i7 processor that is accompanied by 6GB of RAM and a 640GB hard drive. Asus has gone for an Nvidia Geforce GT555M GPU with 2GB of VRAM to provide the graphics.

Other features include an instant-on resume, USB 3.0, HDMI and Nvidia Optimus, which automatically switches between on-board and discrete graphics for greater efficiency. µ

US PHONE MAKER Motorola has unveiled the dual-core chipped, 7.1mm thick Droid Razr smartphone at a press conference in the US.

According to the This is My Next live blog, the Android phone, known alternately as the Spyder, has got LTE for Verizon in the US, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8MP camera with HD 1080p video capture and a 4.3in Super AMOLED qHD display.

Meanwhile, it’s just 7.1mm thick, perhaps the thinnest smartphone ever made.

It has laminated construction for enhanced rigidity and a precision machined stainless steel core. The back is made from woven kevlar and it has an 1800mAh battery that delivers 12.5 hours of talk time.

We expect that the European version of this handset will be revealed tomorrow, possibly under a different name. µ

STORAGE VENDOR Seagate has launched its Goflex Cinema, a multimedia storage hub for the home.

The Goflex Cinema is designed to plug straight into a device such as a TV to create a digital media centre. The drive comes in 1TB, 2TB and 3TB capacities to suit varying demands.

Seagate said, “This new high-capacity drive is designed to transform the television into a digital media center. The drive comes equipped with all of the port connections and support for popular file formats that make it easy to start enjoying movies, music and photos away from the computer environment.”

The drive supports playback of files such as MKV, H.264, WMV and MP4 and supports full HD 1080p. Seagate has included HMDI and composite connections for video and composite or s/pdif optical for audio. It also has full size USB and microUSB ports.

Content such as photos can be transferred onto the Goflex directly, from a digital camera for example. Seagate includes a remote control for the drive and an on-screen user interface allows users to browse files and control playback easily.

If the standard capacities aren’t enough for your needs then the drive can be upgraded with a higher capacity Goflex Desk drive, said Seagate.

Seagate has told us that the device does not function as a digital video recorder (DVR) when plugged into a TV.

Based on prices at Amazon the cheapest model costs around £131, with prices going up to £165 and £191 for the 2TB and 3TB versions, respectively. µ