Comparisons

The iPhone is something that we can see pretty much everywhere right now. Either that or the equivalent when it comes to the competition. But there are a lot of iPhone’s and others out there and as such, we need to identify which one will be better to suit your needs and which one is going to be the best use of your money.

What Are the Key Differences of the 16GB and 32GB iPhone?

One of the things that really makes the price tag go up is the difference in the amount of GB (gigabytes) that the iPhones have. One model has 16 GB, and the other model has 32 GB (there is even one with 64 GB, but we’ll leave that one aside).

The difference is essentially in storage space. This means that the larger the storage space, the bigger the amount of files a phone can hold within it. This includes pretty much everything, ranging from pictures, to videos, to games and to every single app that keeps on storing information. Without storage space, you’d have nothing within.

So you’d think that if you like to have a lot of games and a lot of apps on your phone, than you would probably be better off with the 32 GB iPhone, right? Well, not so fast. The principle is completely right, but there are other factors involved.

Costs and Memory

Currently, the 16 GB iPhone costs $199, and the 32 GB iPhone costs $299. This means that you will be paying approximately $12 per GB on the first one, and approximately $9 per GB on the second one. Effectively, for the amount of storage space that you are provided, the second iPhone is cheaper.

But it doesn’t end there. There are memory cards available out there that will cost you a lot less than the difference you see in prices. For example, a 16 GB memory card will NOT cost you $100, and as such you could pay for the 16 GB iPhone and get a memory card in order to counter the price difference.

Or, if you don’t like to have to make a lot of purchases and manage a lot of things, you’d probably be better off buying the 32 GB iPhone if you think that you need the extra space for games, apps and every other thing you might have in there.

Remember that, if you just want your phone to have some basic apps and to play some basic games, 16 GB is way more than what you will ever need. Nowadays 16 GB might not look like much, but we need to remember that not long there were computers that didn’t even have one GB of storage space, let alone 16 GB of storage inside your own pocket.

Some people believe that 1080i carries a lower vertical resolution compared to 1080p. This is not true. Both 1080p and 1080i use horizontal lines and vertical resolutions to deliver a wide-screen ratio that equals 16:9, within a resolution that covers 1920 x 1080 pixels, or 2.1 megapixels.

The 1080p is a progressive-scan video or ‘frame-based’. You have a frame rate that is defined in ‘frames per second’. A 1080i is ‘field-based’ as opposed to ‘framed-based’ and is referred to as being ‘interlaced’ or ‘interleaved’ video. It deals with fields. This field rate is defined in fields per second.

The field is made up of half the frame line and is laid out in either odd lines or even lines. If a field is made up of even lines, then the next is composed of odd lines.

Dealing with Frequencies

1080p carries a frame rate of 24 FPS (frames per second) in cinematography, 30/1.001 FPS for TV for NTSC countries, and 25 FPS on TV for PAL countries.

1080i carries a field rate o 60/1.001 FPS in NTSC countries, and 50 FPS on TV in Pal countries.

Let’s Make it Simpler

To define what it means to be operating at 25 FPS on 1080p, think of yourself shooting 25 FPS and then storing them as bitmaps. Each frame is actually a total picture and each pixel within that frame as captured at the exact same moment.

1080i at 50 FPS is like shooting 50 pictures a second and only storing half of them a s bitmaps, because you only store the odd lines and not the evens. Each field is actually half of the full picture at any given moment. Each pixel within that field was captured in the same exact second.

Problems and Drawbacks

1080i – You can run into some problems with Interlacing. It makes it difficult to rotate the video, pause it, scale it, make it slow motion, make it fast motion, play in reverse, or capture a still picture frame. That is, unless you know some good technical tricks and don’t mind losing picture quality. With progressive video you just don’t have these problems. The encoding is much more difficult because the codec is never working with a full frame.

One other problem 1080i carries is that it’s designed for TV Broadcasting. That makes it totally out of the question in some situations.

1080p – The problem here is that 1080p only uses half the frame rate as 1080i which makes the motion a lot less fluid. It cuts the fluidity in half and that makes a pretty big difference. When you watch a large-screen flat TV you can see how it will de-interlace the video to it will play on those LCD screens. This is different from CRT displays which are progressive by nature. This is also the reason why you can get a really great resolution but still have jerky motion.

Better Things on the Horizon

In the future the use of progressive 1080p with 50 full FPS, or 60/1.001 FPT, can hopefully solve these problems. However, this will probably require a brand new type of studio equipment (cameras, storage, editing systems) so this might be a while in the making. The most popular SDI standard used to connect HD video equipment is still lacking in bandwidth.

The only way you can get fluid motion using progressive scanning is using 720p, which carries an FPS that his twice as fast as the 1080p, and could or could not be a problem when used with certain applications. No 720i exists.

Some Ideas and Parting Thoughts

In most every scenario I believe progressive scanning is the best solution. However, if we have to remember that if we are theoretically discussing interlacing, especially in regard to 1080p and 1080i as they stand today, then we have to understand that 1080i is often times required on TV broadcasting and when you convert from 1080p to 1080i the result is jerky motion.

So with all things being equal I believe the p beats i in most cases, even though the video and frame rate is half as small as the interlaced FPS.

With 1080i you get all of the odd lines displayed, and they are followed by the evens. That means you’re only getting half of the resolution (540 pixel rows or lines) displayed at any one time.

CRT displays are less than half the lines being displayed at any time when compared to LCD where all 1080 lines get displayed. The same thing is true with 1080i and 1080p.

When you see the term ‘540 pixels being displayed at any time’ it is quite misleading. The whole of the 1080 pixel-rows are being displayed all at once, however, just half of them are going to be updated within any given frame. So that means is is the ‘refresh’ rate that gets cut in half, and not the resolution.

If you are like me the jargon and terminology used in explaining the answer to this question can run together and become confusing. So let’s come at this with total simplicity in mind –

The difference is simply in the way display lines get scanned. Both of these resolutions display 1080 lines, one is vertical, the other is interlaced (odd number lines) and get painted onto the screen first, then the even number lines next.

On 1080p the lines get displayed consecutively all in one single pass, with the odd number lines alternating. 1080p delivers a cleaner and smoother display. There are actually NO HDTV standards that outperform 1080p in regard to picture quality.

NOTE: DIRECTTV uses a variant on the 1080p format called a 1080p24. This format is optimized for movies, so it gives you a more cinematic experience while watching at home.

With the recent unveiling of the new HTC One X, owners of the HTC One have begun to wonder whether they should make the switch. Each of these smartphones runs Android and they both have the same display screen size (4.7 inches). However, this is where the similarities come to a screeching halt.

Key Differences

There are many differences between the HTC One and HTC One X, most crucially, the quality of the display. The HTC One was equipped with a 1080p display, as opposed to the 720p display that the HTC One X is sporting. The pricing structure has also changed with the release of the One X.

Whereas the One’s prices have held steady at $199 for the 32 GB model and $299 for the 64 GB model, the price of the One X varies, depending on the outlet from where it is purchased. The HTC One X also takes a major step forward from the One, as it comes with a much stronger overall processing system.

Hardware and Processing

The HTC One came with a 1.7 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, which is certainly impressive in its own right. The HTC One X, builds on the progress of the One, and is equipped with a 1.5 gigahertz Quad Core T3 processor and is considered to be the superior smartphone for those who are concerned about the phone’s ability to watch videos or listen to music.

HTC One has a leg up on the HTC One X in terms of ability to store memory, with 2 gigabytes of storage capability, while the HTC One X can only provide users with 1 gigabyte of storage. The resolution has also shifted dramatically from the HTC One to the HTC One X.

HTC One users were able to enjoy resolution at 1920 X 1080, while HTC One X runs at a resolution of 1280 X 720. Even the glass has been changed. The HTC One was constructed using Gorilla Glass 2, as opposed to the HTC One X, which uses Gorilla Glass.

The primary camera has also received quite an upgrade from the HTC One to the HTC One X. The HTC One is no slouch in this department, with an ultrapixel camera that operates at four megapixels. The HTC One X blows the HTC One out of the water when it comes to taking photos, with a 8 megapixel BSI camera.

HTC One’s secondary camera operates at 2.1 megapixels, while the HTC One X’s secondary camera operates at 1.3 megapixels. Even something as simple as the pixel density has been altered greatly, with the HTC One running on a 468ppi pixel density, which is much different from the HTC One X’s 312ppi pixel density.

Additional Features

The HTC One X also adds the smile detector feature, which was not present in the HTC One. The video recording mechanisms in each phone are somewhat similar, but there are a few key differences. Each phone records video at 1080p, with the HTC One X recording at 1080p in the front and 720p in the rear.

As an added bonus for those who do not like to carry a phone in their pocket that is too heavy, the HTC One X weighs slightly less than the HTC One. The HTC One tips the scales at just over 5 ounces, while the HTC One X weighs in at 4.5 ounces. The difference may seem minute, but every ounce is noticeable when you are on the go.

HTC One runs on S-LCD 3 technology, the HTC One X runs on S-LCD 2. The ratio of screen to body has been slightly altered, which is another relatively small difference that may make or break a customer’s purchasing decision. The screen to body ratio for the HTC One stands at 65 percent, while the HTC One X’s dips to 64.8 percent.

What Issues Exist?

One of the main complaints that has been lodged against the HTC One X, as compared to the HTC One, is its lack of battery life. If a person is using their fully charged phone to conduct conversations, they can expect up to eighteen hours of continuous battery life, although the average is sixteen.

Should the phone be left in standby mode, the battery in the HTC One can last up to 25 days, on average, and a minimum of three weeks. The additional quad core power of the HTC One X is attributed to the One X’s lack of consistent battery life.

Some more enterprising smartphone are used to being able to swap their battery as needed, but the HTC One X does not provide this option, as the battery is sealed into the phone’s chassis. The superior graphics processing capabilities of the HTC One X are a double edged sword, as the phone needs more energy to ensure that all of the pixels are firing off properly.

A person who enjoys watching movies and playing video games on their Android device should choose the HTC One for this reason. The HTC One X can last without a charge during a 24 hour period, but only when you are using the phone sparingly.

Even though there are a few similarities between the HTC One and the HTC One X, the differences are far more numerous. When deciding between these two Android smartphones, it is important to consider these differences when you are making a purchasing decision, so that you do not end up making an incorrect selection that does not suit your needs.

When you’re building up a brand new PC, you kind of need to know the difference between every component and what it does on your computer so that you can make the best decision. There is a lot to sink in since there are literally thousands of options out there and more and more keep coming into the market.

In this article, we’re looking at Intel Core i3 and Intel Core i5. These are two different processors and they are intended for different purposes. The architecture of these is a modern one, different from older processors.

Getting to Know the Intel Core i3 System

The Intel Core i3 system is less expensive than the Core i5 system, but then again it does not have the same capacity as the i5. Essentially, the improvements that the Core i5 are going to bring to your PC will allow you to multitask better, will allow you to have better performances while running tough programs and it will be a general improvement if you think your PC is slow.

In addition, the Core i5 system has a better cache (on-board memory) which will generally improve the PC’s ability to run repetitive tasks. For example, people who have to deal with a lot of spreadsheets are going to benefit a lot from this, since the PC will be able to run these smoothly without having to think too much about it.

Intel has a technology called turbo boost that, essentially, will automatically overclock a processor whenever it is possible. In this task, the CPU monitors the temperature and when the temperature is cool enough, overclock is applied so that the machine runs effectively. This technology isn’t found on the Core i3, but it is found on the Core i5.

There is also the technology of hyper-threading that Intel has. This type of technology simply “tricks” the operating system into believing that there really are more cores than the ones that the processor physically has. This improves the performance on a lot of tasks that occur at the same time, such as web surfing and rendering. Core i3 uses hyper-threading to make it look like it has a four-core chipset (instead of the two it originally has).

Knowing the Core i5 Processor

On the other hand, if you have a Core i5 processor, you already do have four cores integrated and as such there is no need for it to hyper-thread. But since the Core i3 models actually support hyper-threading, they also manage to support four threads.

At the end of the day, the decision needs to come from you. Clearly, the Core i5 has advantages over the Core i3, but then again these are too few to justify buying the Core i5 if you are just going to use your PC on normal everyday stuff.

When setting up a home computer network, one that can easily access the Internet, people often make the mistake of assuming the wireless router and modem are interchangeable parts that both accomplish the exact same task. In order to properly set up your small computer network, it is important to understand the differences between a wireless router and modem.

While the router and the modem work in tandem with one another, one is not able to function without the other. Unless each of these devices has been properly installed, you will not be able to use your small network to connect to the Internet. Each of them has equal importance when it comes to a new network.

The Router Explained

The router is actually wired directly to the modem, which is the most crucial difference between the two. Once the router has been correctly wired to the modem, the modem must then be wired to the coaxial cable or the DSL phone line, depending on which Internet connection you are using.

Coaxial cable is used for a cable connection, while the phone line is used for DSL. There are also satellite Internet connections that can be used. In these instances, the router will need be to be wired to the satellite modem.

The modem and the router each serve completely different purposes. The goal of the modem is to keep your Internet connection established at all times, while also converting the signals that are sent by the router. Without the modem, the network is unable to link to the Internet and stay connected.

The router’s job differs greatly from the job of the modem. When traffic that is destined for the Internet needs to be forwarded to the modem, the router is responsible for doing so. The internal traffic within the network is also regulated by the router. Traffic between computers that exist on the same network or the traffic between a printer and computer on the network is is kept within the network by the router.

The router also keeps track of which computers on the network are making requests to the Internet, by assigning numbers to each of them. When the requests are sent, the router responds to the specific computer that made the request and that computer only. The majority of homes and businesses rely on a wireless router to handle all of their day to day Internet needs.

The Modem Explained

A modem and a wireless router are both part of the same system, but each of them serves a very different function. Your modem makes sure that you can establish an Internet connection and convert signals with ease, while the router is responsible for keeping traffic contained within the network you’ve established and ensuring that requests to the Internet are taken care of in a timely manner.

Nowadays we live in a technological era where we need to store up a lot of information on our drives so that we can look at it again later. Sometimes this information can be incredibly precious for professional purposes – that is the case with work documents and that kind of stuff. Or it can sometimes be precious on an emotional level – such as wedding pictures.

Whatever it may be, we need to keep it stored. There are two types of technology that came in from back in the day that can cause some confusion to a lot of people. These are SSD (solid state disk) and flash storage. These two have no moving parts and can both be reprogrammed and erased, but they are not the same.

Flash Storage

Flash storage is a technology that came from the 1980s, and it was invented by Dr. Fujio Masuoka, who was originally from Toshiba. The name flash came from the reminder that the process of erasing the contents that were stored were similar to a camera’s flash. Flash storage is a relatively old technology, and one that is limited to a certain amount of cycles were the data is stored and erased. As time goes by, the integrity of storage starts declining.

SSD Storage

SSD technology is actually older than flash, but that doesn’t mean it is necessarily worse. These, in the 1950s, were referred to as auxiliary memory units but soon enough they fell out of consumer preference. Only 20 years later did they come back as they were integrated into supercomputers, but they didn’t stay for long as the costs were slowing things down.

Then, in the 1980s, SSD cartridges and modules were introduced, and even though there were some issues related to the loss of content in these, they still managed to survive the unforgiving world of technology. The loss of content occurred whenever a storage chip wasn’t powered and that limited the user to having backup battery power.

Soon enough, in the 1990s, a flash-backed SSD came into play and that solved the loss of memory problems. This meant that the technology could finally thrive and today, flash and SSF technologies can be found pretty much everywhere.

The availability of these two technologies in tiny little cards inside your devices is what allows you to save hundreds and hundreds of photos and videos that would otherwise end up being lost in time. The fact that modern ultrabooks come with SSD makes it so that they can carry gigabytes upon gigabytes of data without having to be giant units. As such, SSD technology (along with flash) has helped the world become more mobile, and as time goes by, we keep on evolving in that direction.

Ever wonder what the real difference is between Analog and Digital TV? Well there is a big difference in quality between the two. For the first part of the TV life we had analog and that was fine for both TV watchers and also for television stations sending out the signals. The analog system is now being replaced by the newer digital TV. Six years ago you had to buy a new TV that would receive the new digital TV signals or just by a box that would convert the signal to a digital one.

Digital TV

The real reason the country converted to digital TV is that the picture quality is much more superior with digital TV. The digital programming also benefits the TV stations broadcasting. They can broadcast multiple shows from their TV stations. The picture quality is so much more superior in digital broadcasts.

The digital TV has a clearer picture and the sound production is crisper with less interruptions. Digital TV allows broadcasting stations to send out signals for more channels so customers get a better selection. The difference is like night and day with analog TV having big problems with blurry receptions along with white outs. Even the sound is poorer quality with analog TV which can produce sound that is cutting in and out.

The signals sent out with digital TV are more dependable in receiving the clear communication over an analog system which transmits signals at different frequencies giving a less than perfect picture. A digital picture is more exact as it uses a digital formula for transmission so you either see a perfect picture or nothing at all. The digital system allows for more content to be broadcast through the airwaves. All the advanced sound and picture quality can now be transmitted like HDTV. The signals sent out from the TV stations can carry more information to your TV because of the digital system programming.

Analog TV

The analog bandwidth signals were never made to send out the information like you have in our digital world today. Digital signals will enable you to get also better over the air quality TV. So you can do without the cable and satellite TV and still get a better picture than what you received with analog TV. Most newer TV’s have a built-in digital tuner so you don’t have to worry about getting the best TV quality available on the market today which is digital.

With the bigger size TV’s today you can enjoy movie theater sound and picture quality. The technology and science behind TV today makes it better quality and more exact so you’re getting some never before seen TV. We definitely live more in a world of computers and technology today. That is exactly what your TV is today, a bit of a computer giving you a higher quality viewing.

An Xbox 360 Kinect is a bank of cameras connected within a single device that when plugged into your Xbox 360 game console has the ability to visually track an impressive 48 skeletal points of the human body, and this means that it has motion sensing abilities even down to the level of a player’s individual finger movements. It also has a microphone feature that will give you the ability to pass vocal commands to your Xbox 360.The Xbox 360 both new and older models are all compatible with the Microsoft Kinect; this Kinect is only conversant with the Microsoft Xbox games solely.

When an individual stands before a Kinect enabled Xbox 360 the cameras are able to track their movements and in turn relays those movements to the game console so they can interact with it. That means the player becomes the controller without having to hold anything in their hands while the ordinary Xbox 360 requires the use of controllers to be able to play the game.

The Xbox 360 Kinect also has a built in voice command feature which means you can shout commands at it which its counterpart, the Microsoft Xbox 360 do not possess.

With the Xbox 360 Kinect the ability to stream data on a 320×240 16-bit depth at 30 frames per second is available which is otherwise not possible on the Xbox 360. The Kinect Xbox 360 skeletal tracking systems can also track up to 6 players and has the ability to map active players into live avatars, a feature which trumps the ordinary Microsoft Xbox 360 which requires controllers and a limited number of players.

Another fantastic capability of the Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect is the speech recognition in multiples for easy command input from different players with live party and in-game voice chat among participants, a feature you can find on its equivalent ordinary Xbox 360.

Although most game publishers have signed up and are producing Kinect versions of their games, not all games compatible with the ordinary Xbox 360 have their Kinect version available, thereby giving upper hand to the ordinary Xbox 360 in terms of vast array of games to choose from while the Xbox 360 Kinect has a limited number of available games.

For lovers of video calling and online game challenges, the Xbox 360 Kinect offers users the ability to video call other users around the world via a Kinect to Kinect connection and the ability to play against other users around the world via the Microsoft Xbox live service, a feature which is absolutely absent on the ordinary Xbox 360.

With this improvement in Xbox, Kinect Microsoft has been able to succeed by taking the success of the ordinary Xbox 360 and turning it into something awesome that has the potential to wow game lovers around the world.

We live in a world where there is a growing necessity of being online. We need to be online for pretty much everything we do on our daily lives and we can’t really stop going unless our Internet connection fails. We need to go online to check our email, our social media accounts, our favorite newspaper and so on.

But as we all know, the Internet isn’t exactly safe. There are millions of hackers out there and there is no one safe out there unless some precautions are taken. If we do use the Internet to check on our favorite newspaper we can tell that there are dozens of large-scaled Internet attacks yearly, and we can multiply that number if we want to see small scaled attacks.

Our computers come with a type of protection that does a lot for us while we don’t even notice it: the firewall. A firewall basically enforces policy based on a protocol that comes with it already. Put simply, it checks the sources addresses and destinations of what is coming and going into our computer, and blocks what isn’t wanted.

There are, however, two more systems related to firewalls that we need to understand. These are IDS (Intrusion Detection System) and IPS (Intrusion Prevention System). Both of these systems improve our security by monitoring traffic and scanning data that just doesn’t look right. These mostly work with data that has already been detected or recognized – not by our computers, but by the company offering the protection system.

Intrusion Detection System

There are, however, differences between them. IDS provides a new level of preventive security to any network it is working with, by detecting any type of malicious or suspicious activity going on in the network itself. Through the recognition of malicious activity, a user can understand that something is going on and can take action against it – which is crucial.

Intrusion Prevention System

IPS is a system that immediately prevents access to an network in order to keep it safe from any attackers and possible threats. It won’t keep good data away from the network, but it is designed to keep malicious data away by blocking it and by tacking neutralizing action against it, mostly stopping its development before it’s too late. For example, it can create a series of rules that will enforce the prevention in order to keep this type of data away.

As technology advances, the line that differentiates these two is getting thinner and thinner, since most protection system include both of them in the same package. Both of them are essential and one isn’t as effective without the other. To stay safe online, it is recommended that users take advantage of both these systems.

For most technology pundits, year 2012 will always be remembered partly for ushering the release of the Samsung Galaxy S3 Smartphone and the introduction of its more affordable counterpart, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. Both phones possess so much in common and both share similar design style and smart capabilities although there are also a few defining differences that distinguishes one from the other and helps you determine which is more suitable to you.

What Does the Galaxy S3 Offer?

The Galaxy S3’s 4.8 inch screen can still be considered among the best displays of all the newest devices of year 2013. Possessing a screen resolution of 1280 x 720, high definition (HD) content can be enjoyed on its Super AMOLED technology while the S3 Mini gets its name by being smaller and lighter with a resolution of 800 x 480. In terms of size the Mini is actually about 15mm by 7mm shorter and over 1mm thicker than the S3.

Camera-wise the S3 has the upper hand by being outfitted with an 8MP shooter as against the 5MP mounted on the S3 mini. The Galaxy S3 boasts some extra software features not available on the S3 Mini making it easily adaptable to any environment and ensuring higher resolution and picture quality. For the video calling lovers the S3 is easily an easier choice with its 1.9MP HD front sensor against the S3 Mini with a VGA (640×480) resolution. Samsung included both MHL and video out options on the S3 but it comes as a total shock to discover it was omitted on the Mini thereby reducing its hype in terms of connectivity.

What About the Galaxy S3 Mini?

The Galaxy S3 trumps its S3 mini counterpart in terms of battery life, boasting an impressive 2100mAh over the Mini’s 1500mAh and considering its quad core processor tends to drain a lot faster than its more impressive brother.

While Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 support are present in both devices the S3 mini lacks DLNA, and while none of them possess a 4G LTE radio, some versions of the S3 possess LTE.

Outfitted with a 1.4GHz quad core processor, 2012 was a memorable year for the S3 as one of the fastest Smartphone on the market while the Mini was dropped to 1GHz dual core chip making it a slightly disappointing phone considering it’s a Samsung brand, and considering what you pay for it the S3 Mini comes in at a bargain discount towards the end of its lifespan and the power drop-off could be considered as worth it.

In terms of storage, the base capacity available for the S3 is 16GB and 8 GB on the S3 Mini with external microSD capabilities on both devices for storage expansion up to 64GB. Both devices possess equal 1GB of RAM.

The above spec clearly shows that both on paper and usability the S3 clearly outperforms its Mini counterpart both in terms of specification and functionality. As a budget device the S3 Mini is a great phone.