YouTube has expanded itself in to a massive knowledge base in the past few years. Number of videos you can find on YouTube is astronomical and new videos getting uploaded everyday are increasing the numbers exponentially.
You must be using YouTube to watch “how to” tutorials, news, and especially new music releases. What if you want to store a YouTube video in your iPod? YouTube doesn’t provide a built in feature to download files due to copyright issues. However there are several workarounds you may already know. If you want to convert the video to MP3 format it will add few extra steps.
Previously I was talking about a tool which is letting you to download YouTube videos in MP3 format with just few clicks. Today I’m going to introduce you to an even simple tool. It’s SnipMP3.com and here we go!
How to Use SnipMP3?
SnipMP3 is a JAVA applet. In order to run it on your browser you must have JRE (JAVA Runtime Environment) installed. If you don’t have, your browser will prompt you to install it. Follow the instruction and install it before you use SnipMP3.
A JAVA applet will require your permission to run for the first time. For this, again your browser will prompt you. You can click on “run this time” or “Always run on this site”. If you click run this time, every time you are using SnipMP3, you have to give permission. Always run on this site is one time permission.
Now Go to SnipMP3.com
It’s a very simple UI and there is a text box for you to enter the video URL
Copy the YouTube video URL which you want to download and paste it here
Then click Convert and within few seconds you will get audio file download link
It’s as simple as that. With just one click you can convert a YouTube video in to MP3 audio track. Now you can download your favorite music tracks from YouTube and enjoy them in your MP3 player.
Once you start using DropBox you get only 2GB of storage which is disappointing. But they gave you the opportunity to expand your DropBox by introducing your friends. The original plan was you get extra 250MB for one successful introduction and it goes up to 8GB.
When you go to DropBox web site, in the top navigation bar you can see a link with label “Get free space” with a gift icon. That’s where you can invite your friends and expand your storage. Today I visited this page and I noticed a difference.
What’s New with DropBox Referral Program?
At the top of page normally there is a message saying how much extra space you can get introducing new people to DropBox. Now that message has changed to this.
New Message
That’s a good news right? Now you can earn up to 16GB storage space and you get 500BM per introduction which is twice as before.
At the end of message there is a link named “Upgrade your account”. There are several packages which gives more storage for Pro users. Even if you are a DropBox pro user, you also can join referral program with extra benefits. You will get extra 1GB per introduction up to 32 GB.
The best part here is this new policy applies for your previous introductions as well. If you already have introduced friends, go and check your DropBox icon, you are already enjoying the benefits.
What is The Reason for This Expansion?
Apparently the reason behind this expansion is preparation for forthcoming competition. There are rumors speeding about new cloud storage service named “Google Drive” which gives you 5GB free space and document editing facility as well.
Once Google step in to something, they dominate it. It happened in Search engine, Email, maps and recently with Android OS as well. So DropBox must have felt the heat of tight completion.
I’m a big cloud storage fan and heavy user as well. This is great news to me and now I have 14GB storage space in DropBox. With another 2 successful invitation I will reach 16GB. If you are a DropBox user go to referrals page and start inviting your friends and expand your DropBox.
If you are a photographer you know how image manipulation such as Adobe Light Room or Photoshop tool can be used to improve photographs. And yes of course you can do it since still images are having very high bit depth and resolution.
Video is also a series of photographs, yet you cannot apply all the photo manipulation techniques to video editing. The reason is most of the videos and their individual frames are having relatively lesser resolution and bit depth. Even if you consider Full HD videos, still they have 1920 X 1080 resolution compared to 4928 X 3264 resolution in semi-professional 16 mega pixel DSLR.
If you so badly want to apply photo editing techniques to videos, only option you have is expand frames and convert it in to series of photographs. Now you can individually edit each photo. Still the above problems are not solved. In addition this will take forever and slight mistake will add disturbing effects to your video.
A research team in University of Washington is unveiling a good news for cinematographers, which is a practical solution for most of the above problems. They have published details of their project and its outcomes including a video demo.
What Is This Project About?
As I mentioned earlier videos are having lesser resolution than photographs and in most of the cases poor exposure as well. These researches in University of Washington have come up with a framework to enhance videos combining high resolution still images. This technique works for static scenes and it all works automatically without any human involvement.
In addition this framework is capable of identifying the content of video and related details such as depth and motion. Then it comes up with a mathematical model which uses to combine still images with videos. According to their presentation the process goes through below steps.
System Inputs: Videos and Still images
Geometry estimation: Structure motions and Understand depth both in videos and still images
Image based video rendering: Video reconstruction combining still images based on geometry estimation output.
SpaceTime Fusion: Here comes the magic! This removes the disturbing artifacts in the final outcome.
Output: Final enhanced video.
What It Can Do?
Super Resolution Videos
This framework is combining high resolution still images with videos. Therefore videos could have four times of detail level, in other words resolution than usual. This is letting the video editor to zoom in videos to get the desired frame.
In addition you can edit still images to get an optimum exposure than videos. So through this framework you can add that optimum exposure level to videos through still images. All you have to do is edit few still images taken at the scene. Rest of the process is totally automated.
Use HDR for Videos
HDR is not a new thing for photographers. But so far there was no way to make HDR videos. Since this new framework is combining still images and videos nothing stops you by creating HDR videos. All you have to do is make few photographs with different exposure bracketing, make HRD still images and let the framework to combine them with video.
Video Stabilization
Other than combining videos and still images this new framework is capable of identifying depth and motion of video accurately in the phase of geometry estimation. Those are the most required details to stabilize video shake.
There are lots of video stabilizing software in market. But this new framework is way better and producing extra smooth video even with highly shaky footage.
Dynamic Masking
Same as video stabilizing software there are lots of options you have in software market in the case you need to add a dynamic mask for videos. But none of those are measuring the geometry of video as this new framework.
Using dynamic masking you can remove unwanted objects in your video. All you have to do is make the edit in one frame, and the framework will automatically propagate the change throughout the video. Same way you can introduce new objects to your video as well.
Demo Video
Click here to go to official web page of this project. There you can read more detail about this and download related materials.
Final Wrap Up
The result of this research will turn the video production industry upside down. If you have an entry level DSLR, with this new framework you can easily produce cinema quality videos. The production freedom you will get is unbelievable, if there is any effect that you can apply for a photograph, you can do the same with videos.
With all those, news is spreading that this new framework is acquired by Adobe and is going be integrated with their next release of After Effect which is CS6. However there is no official news confirming this.
With all the advanced photo manipulation tools, today you have no way to believe what you see in a photograph. Sooner or later with Adobe After Effect or with some other video editing tool, this framework will come to market. Then after sometime, as same as photographs, you won’t be able to believe even a video you are seeing with your own eyes.
The best part is that video produces can expand their boundaries like never before and we will be able to witness magical video productions.
Every time Google release new version of Android, parallels they release a reference model compatible device as well. If you take a look at Android powered devices there are various models from different configuration. The objective of releasing a reference model is to set standard for android handsets to deliver a great user experience. With the previous version which is Android Ice Cream Sandwich they release Galaxy Nexus and the handset manufacture was Samsung. A smart choice by Google of course, they are the market leaders.
Quick Catch-up
Recently they release next version of Android which is jelly bean. Since Jelly bean is tablet optimized OS, they release reference model tablet, Google Nexus 7along with that. Again a smart choice, this time they worked with Asus. Previously I was talking about the shape of forthcoming Google Nexus tablet. The real device is pretty much similar to what I expected and when it comes to software configuration in Android Jelly bean it surprised me.
Quick Catch-up
Shape of Forthcoming Google’s Nexus Tab
The device came with 7 inch IPS display with 1280 x 720 px resolution. Processor is 1.3 GHz Quad Core Cortex A9 running on NVidia Tegra 3 chipset with 12 Core GeForce GPU. RAM is 1GB and internal storage is 8 / 16 GB, non expandable. As connectivity features it’s having Wi-Fi, BlueTooth, USB, and NFC. It’s having only a front facing camera which is 1.2 MP. To power up the whole thing there is a 4325 mAhbattery. Device weight is 340g which is very light.
Attractions
Android Jelly Bean
The biggest attraction in Google Nexus 7 is latest version of Android. Jelly bean comes with lots of cool features which can make all other mobile operation systems looking old school.
Quick Catch-up
What’s New in Android Jelly Bean?
Google Now
Another interesting thing about Google Nexus is Google Now. This is actually comes with Jelly Bean and capable of giving you location based result and respond to your voice commands. In near future this will be a good competitor for Apple’s Siri.
Battery Power
Battery power, the most important factor in any tablet and Nexus 7 is taking the lead here. It comes with a huge battery and practically you can use it more than 10 hours with heavy multimedia activities. Standby time will be way longer than all the other competitors.
Price Tag
Nexus 7 is now available for pre order and I’m pretty sure that the price tag will surprise you. It’s $199 for 8 GB model and $249 for 16 GB model. You will never be able to find a Android tablet with this configuration for this price anywhere in the world.
Wrapping Up
Google Nexus 7 is a trend setting tablet. It’s developing a new culture for 7 inch tablets with its hardware and software configuration along with amazingly low price tag. This is definitely a good competitor for other products and will be a great experience for users of all kind. However, one of the greatest strength in Android platform which is flash support won’t be there anymore after Android Jelly bean. Web developers targeting mobile devices now have to switch to HTML 5 for good.
Dropbox is the most popular and best cloud storage service out there. I believe most of you guys are already using it. In my previous posts I was talking about different creative applications of Dropbox. Today I’m going to tell you one more.
Here we are extending its scope beyond cloud storage service, file backup system or sharing. Today we are going to use Dropbox to remotely launch uTorrent and auto start downloading a given torrent file. Before you proceed, check whether you have properly configured Dropbox folder and uTorrent installed.
How to Use Dropbox to Launch uTorrent?
Here you don’t have to use any application modification, patch or anything. We are going to simply use existing application functions. Here are the steps.
Open uTorrent and go to preferences -> Directories.
Check “Automatically load .torrents from” and set location to any folder which is inside Dropbox folder. (To avoid hassle I’ll create a separate folder named Torrents)
For you convenience check “Put new downloads in” and set location to desired folder.
Now go to UI setting and remove the tick from “Don’t start the download automatically” in When adding torrents section.
Keep the computer ON and let your other torrents download.
Now you are good to go!
Whenever you need to remotely start downloading a torrent, all you have to do is upload the torrent file to above selected folder in Dropbox.
Then it will get synced in to your computer then uTorrent will fetch it and start downloading automatically.
Hardware: Intel Core i5 2nd Gen // 4GB DDR2
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium // 64 Bit
uTorrent: 3.2.2
Dropbox: 1.4.7
Now you can auto start downloading torrents from anywhere in the globe. All you have to do is keep your torrent downloading computer ON and uTorrent open.
In order to ensure smooth operations make sure you have not enabled auto shutdown in uTorrent. Before you trust this system for remote auto start downloads, try it out locally by adding torrent file in to local Dropbox torrent folder. If it’s working perfect, you are good to go with remote auto start downloading.
If your uTorrent downloads are unusually slow, read my uTorrent speed optimization guide.
When you are using WWW, sometimes you will need to hide your identity or fake your location. You may do this for security purposes or maybe for some experimental reasons. Whatever the reason it is, to get this done you need a VPN (Virtual Private Network). It tunnels your traffic to a Proxy server in some other location and show the WWW that you are actually coming from there.
Most of the traffic tunneling services offers you a web interface. There you can enter your URL and access the web page anonymously from a different location in the world. There are many restrictions in this kind of service such as no JavaScript support and Flash support. Performance is also at a minimum level.
There are VPN clients which you can install on your PC and it tunnels the whole traffic unlike previous web interfaces. Using them you are free to browse the web the way you want without restriction, yet anonymously. Most of this kind of services comes with great cost, but I found a very affordable, simple and user-friendly service which any one can use. Best thing here is, they are giving free service as well with limited monthly data transfer. The service is TunnelBear and it’s under NOG spotlight today.
How to Setup TunnelBear?
Go to TunnelBear website, download the client and install it.
When you are running the application for the first time it will ask you to create an account.
It’s only asking for basic information and proceeds with registration.
Once the registration is done installation will continue and finally it will open TunnelBear client after automatic sign-in.
The interface is pretty simple with a wood-like theme.
There you can fine two main controllers. One to activate service and another one to change the location.
Whenever you want anonymous web browsing, all you have to do is open TunnelBear client, switch it on and select the location you want to appear.
It will take some time to activate and once it’s done it will tunnel whole internet traffic in to your computer, not only browser.
In the main interface you can see a chart of data transfer rate and reaming amount of data.
Free version is giving you only 500 MB and if you want another 1 GB you can tweet about TunnelBear.
You can upgrade the account to get unlimited access.
Wrapping Up
The VPN client is very easy to install and setup, no advance configuration required at all. Performance level is great and you can surf the web and even stream videos without noticeable delay. The download speed is almost same as direct connection. Even if you want to buy the service, it’s affordable compared to other VPS services. No doubt that TunnelBear is a great VPN service that anyone can use, simple like never before and a must-try piece of software.
If you are a frequently download torrents, you know how long you have to keep your computer on till a download completes. Sometimes you will have to keep it on even when you are not at home. Worst part, if you have a poor broadband connection or torrent is not healthy it will take even longer time.
Even after all those hard work you have no way to share the downloaded file among your friends. All you can do is share the torrent file or magnet link, and then they also have to go through the whole torrent downloading process. In the torrent is not healthy, this is a nightmare.
As a solution to all of the above problems there is an interesting online tool you can file at www.put.io. It’s giving you an online storage and online torrent downloader. Using them you can let them to download the torrent file and store it online even when your computer is switched off. Best part here is they let you to stream video file without downloading and share it among friends. Let’s take a closer look to put.io and try to figure out what you can do it with it.
How to Use Put.io?
Put.io is not entirely free service but it’s letting you to have free accounts with limitations. It will give you only 1GB of space and you can store one or 2 movies in it. As the first step you have to register with Put.io.
Go to Put.io home page and click on the button Try it free now.
It will take you to registration page and sign up for free account.
It’s asking you only basic information, provide them and click sign me up.
It will take you to your Put.io dashboard where you can browser stored file, download torrents, stream files and share them.
Now you can add a torrent file to fetch. For that you can click on Add new files. There you can give a magnet link or locally saved torrent file.
Then it will take you to the transfer section and there you could see the progress of torrent download. You will notice that download speed is amazing and you can download huge files in matter of seconds.
Once the download competes you will be able to see the file in your files section.
There you can download It using any download manager, share it with your friends and stream it with DivX web player.
If you want to convert the video file to MP4 you can find that option when you click on the file.
Wrapping Up
Put.io is great service for sure and entire functionalities are working just fine. I’m using this especially when I have to download torrent with very poor health. If the torrent is very health this kind of service won’t make much difference, you can simply download it.
Video streaming capability is great and for that you need DivX web player which is not so popular one. But you can always convert your video to MP4 then you can easily stream it. Sharing feature is also very useful and working great. This service work not only for torrents, you can upload your own videos and store it there as well. All those videos also get streaming and other features.
Another interesting feature here is you can create a subscription with a RSS feed. Then all torrent files and downloadable vides will be auto fetched and stored in your storage space.
In any online storage service, space matters. 1 GB comes with free account is way not enough to get something serious done. Even if you try to get a pro account, next option you have is 50 GB which will cost you USD 9.90 / Month. I wish there is affordable 10 GB options as well. Put.io team may consider this in your future development.
Information Technology has become a part of day to day life in human civilization. Most of the complex work that we used to do with conventional methods, like paper logs, has been converted to digital electronic data and it has given us many advantages including rapid access, maximum efficiency, less usage of resources, easy distribution and improved productivity. Most of the industries are being digitized including government services, banks, shopping centers, air ports and even retail outlets to the point where they don’t need paper based systems anymore.
Once you digitalize your data, you will need software, to be more specific, an Information System to handle the data effectively. To cater the general requirement, there are various “off the shelf” software in the market. Microsoft Access is one of them which come as a proprietary version of software, means you have to purchase it. If you are looking for free and open source applications you can go for Open Office Base.
Custom Made Software – Nightmare or a Day-dream?
The above mentioned “Off the shelf” software will fit many businesses which are in initial stage. Once your business start growing to a certain level, you will be having more specific requirements. If you think that level has been reached, the next step is, custom made software, in other words specially designed software which cater exactly what you need.
In the time you were using “off the shelf” software, I’m pretty sure things went smoothly. That because those software are designed to fit in to most of the general requirements perfectly after doing a massive research. But of course, as your business grows your requirement become more specific and unique. That’s where you have to develop software for yourself. But the question is, “Will it run smoothly as previously used off the shelf software?”
The theoretical answer is YES, It has to be that way. It is software specially designed to cater the unique requirement of your own business. Off the shelf software is like a pant you bought from a fashion store, which is designed for everyone while Custom made software is like a pant you order and design for your own measurements by a local tailor.
But when it comes to Software in more than 70% of the cases answer is NO. But why? What will happen if your tailor gets inaccurate measurements before he designs the pants? Obviously it won’t fit you. Same as that, if the software developer didn’t identify what exactly your business is and what you really need, the software he is going to develop won’t fit in to your business. In real life, as I said before, in almost 70% of cases Software Developers are failing to take accurate measurement of your business, in other words Poor Requirement Analysis.
How to solve this problem?
Most of the medium and large scale industries are maintaining in house software professionals to accurately analyze the business requirement and develop software that they need. In the case of a large scale development, they can out source it with the supervision of an internal team. But how are you, a small scale entrepreneur going to solve this problem. Of course you are not in a financial position to hire in house software professionals. Solution is always DIY (Do it yourself)!
You can analyze your own business and document it by yourself. You will be the perfect person to analyze your requirement because no one else knows about your business like you do. But next question, “I’m not a techy person, Can I do this by myself?”
Answer is YES. Of course you won’t be able to come up with the final architectural design of your software. But you can easily carry out the basic requirement analysis process. NO rocket science, NO magic there. Take the analytical outcome of your business requirement and a few diagrams to a software developer, then he will do a classy job for you.
Software Modeling Tools
Before you start analyzing your business you will have to install some software in your PC. However, you can get the same thing done even without software. But if you use software, final document will be neater. I recommend Microsoft Visio2010 for non technical people. (I mean normal people, not Geeks)
Workflow Diagram
As the first step you must identify the flow of work in your business and draw a diagram. This will be called as a “Work Flow Diagram”. Once you draw this anyone would be able to identify how you run your business and you also will have a clear picture about that. To draw a workflow diagram you can go to Microsoft Visio -> File -> New -> Getting Started -> Business -> Work Flow Diagram.
Once you hit the create button, it will open an empty page with lots of items in left panel. You can see that, there you can find most of the common workflow objects. By drag and drop, you can add any item in to the page.
Once you have more items, you can connect them with arrows to represent the workflow. When you take your mouse over a workflow item, you can see four arrows around it. Using them you can auto connect them with surrounding items. If it won’t work, you can use ‘Connector Tool’ in the tool bar. Using that you can click on one item and drag the mouse to next item to connect them. Finally your workflow looks like this.
It’s always better to have a documented workflow for your business processes. It will help you to further optimize the operation and let the employees to know what to do next effectively. Further, when a new employee comes in to the business all you have to do is hand over this diagram to him to minimize the learning curve.
This diagram will be useful to the software developer to identify the business requirement, specially the data and flow of data. When he designs the interfaces, this will be helpful to include relevant items, to give relevant privileges and store appropriate data in database.
Use Case Diagram
After drawing the work flow diagram you will be very much clear about the business process. Using the diagram you can identify involving employees and relevant activities. After that you have to think what are the functionalities required by each employee who plays a role in the business process. In other words you have to jump in to his shoes and see what he needs to do to continue with the business process. In order to model that there is a diagram named “Use Case Diagram”. To draw use case diagram you can go to Microsoft Visio -> File -> New -> Getting Started -> Software and database -> UML Model Diagram.
Once you hit the create button it will open an empty page and tools in the left, same as before. In there you can see a subsection named “UML Use Case” and that’s what you need. Expand it. To come up with basic use case diagram you will require actors and use cases. Actors represent employees who play a specific role in your business process and use cases are his activities for the business process. Based on the previous business process I mentioned in this article, if I draw a use case diagram for the “Manufacturing Worker” it will turn out like this. The Use Case that I have mentioned here are totally hypothetical. As I said before you are the best person to identify functionalities in your business. When you draw this, do it carefully and accurately.
What is Next?
Since you draw the Work flow diagram, now you have a clear picture about the business process, involving employees and their activities. Then you draw the Use case diagram, hence you know what are the functionalities required by each employee who plays a role in your business process. Now you are ready go and meet an ICT professional.
Consult Software Development Company and talk with them based on these diagrams. These diagrams will give them a clear picture about, what is your business and what you really need. After doing a preliminary study they will give you a quotation. Take quotations from few companies and select the best service provider. Once you come to an agreement, they will identify required data to be stored in the database using Work Flow diagram and required functionalities using Use Case Diagram. However, the details in these diagrams won’t be adequate to produce the final software application. In order to collect further data, you should give your maximum support to software development team and finally, you will be able to get an effective custom made information system for your own business.
Windows 8 official launch is few weeks away and it’s not only path breaking change for Windows but it’s the beginning of a new category of mobile computing devices. Many manufactures introduced various different devices to work with Windows 8 Pro. So far I talked about Microsoft’s very own Surface Pro and Acer Iconia W700.
There is another Windows 8 Pro device which took my attention. In first look I though it’s a Notebook, but I was wrong. It’s really a tablet with keyboard dock, which reminds me of Asus Transformer. This amazing Laptop-Tablet transforming device is Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro and it’s under NOG spotlight today.
Specification Spotlight
Design
Design of Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro is highly influenced by Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. In front face it’s having a huge display and stereo speaker. In back panel it’s having the primary shooter. When you dock it, in top edge you can find headphone jack, power button and other ports.
It weighs 884g and with clamshell it will go up to 1600g. Thickness is 11.8mm and again clamshell increases it up to 21.8. Clamshell is having full QWERTY physical keyboard and in tablet you can find a S pen.
Display
The display is 11.6 inch LCD panel with 1920 x 1080 px resolution which will give it 190 ppi of pixel density. It’s a huge display for a tablet having good resolution as well as decent sharpness.
Processor and Storage
The processor is Intel CORE i3/i5 Ivy bridge working with Intel HD graphics 4000 GPU. System memory is 4GB DDR3 and internal storage is 256GB SSD expandable via microSD or microSDHC.
Camera
The primary shooter is 5 MP capable of recording video and front facing camera is 2 MP optimized for video calling. It’s not having LED flash and it won’t be a big problem for many people. Shooter in tablet device is rarely used.
Connectivity
This is one of the major attractions in Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro. It supports wide range of connectivity technologies such as Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0 and even LTE/3G (optional). However there are no signs of in-built GPS device or navigator yet.
Battery Life
The capacity if battery is 49Wh and it would be enough to keep it alive for 8 hours. Specification says that video playback time is 5 hours and it’s above average for device with Full HD display.
Wrapping Up
The main attraction in Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro is its convertible design between notebook PC and tablet. There is a magnetic connector to attach clamshell to the tablet and then it will become a notebook instantly. S Pen adds extra color to the whole package.
If you want a tablet to use on the way with high speed data connectivity, this could be the device you are looking for. So far this is the only LTE enabled Windows 8 Pro tablet I came across with.
I’m pretty sure this device will give a good competition to other Windows 8 pro tablets introduced to the market. So far my best pick is Microsoft Surface pro, but Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro is a step ahead in internal storage and connectivity technologies.
It’s the time of Windows 8 and many devices are coming out to work with its beautiful metro UI (Windows 8 UI). Previously I was talking about Microsoft’s very own Surface PRO and its specifications.
And I told you that Microsoft Surface is not alone in this game. It’s having more companions, more or less competitors. Today I’m going to talk about one of them. Acer Iconia W700, a Windows 8 Pro tablet with style and it’s under NOG spotlight today.
Specification Spotlight
Design
Design is the major attraction here. The tablet comes with a cradle and stand. You can use the cradle as a docking station to transfer data to a computer as well as charging. Stand is having 2 positions, one is 70 degrees and another is 20 degrees. You can use them as you prefer.
Right side edge is populated by volume rocker, power button and headphone jack. In left edge, you can find USB 3.0 port, power slot and microHDMI port. Back panel is clean and having only the primary camera. Front panel is populated with beautiful screen and front facing camera. The whole package weigh 1043 g.
Display
The display is 11.6 inch IPS panel with 1920 x 1080 px resolution which will give it 190 ppi of pixel density. This huge full HD display will give you enough space to run any application though its sharpness is relatively lesser.
Processor and Storage
The processor is Intel CORE i3 Ivy Bridge 1.8 GHz working with Intel HD graphics 4000 GPU. RAM is 4 GB DDR3 and internal storage is 64 GB SSD expandable via microSD. (only in Iconia W510)
Camera
Primary shooter is 5 MP capable of recording 1080p videos and having all the other standard features. 1 MP front facing camera is optimized for video calling.
Connectivity
The device is having Wi-fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and USB 3.0 connectivity. No signs of GPS or LTE/3G radio. Nothing to worry about, as there are enough Wi-fi hotspots and you can always tether with your Smartphone.
Battery Life
Same as many other Win 8 Pro tablets, battery capacity is not specified. However, many news sources says that it’s supposed to have 8 hours of battery life with standard usage.
Wrapping Up
Acer Iconia W700 has a unique design going beyond conventional tablets and laptops. Cradle with power supply and USB extension is a cool idea. Other hardware specification also sounds like a high end laptop.
If you are looking for a portable multimedia unit, this would be a great choice for you. It’s full HD large display and 5 MP shooter will open you many creative opportunities.
The main complaint against Acer Iconia W700 is its built quality. Most of the reports state that it has very cheap looking plastic built. This could be a major drawback for this device to compete with tablets such as Microsoft Surface with amazing built quality.
