htxt.africa's Tech Made Easy - November 2014 by htxt.africa

PICK ME UP AND TAKE ME HOME!

M A D E

E A FSR Y EE MAG! FROM

htxt africa SOUTH AFRICA’S BEST TECH WEBSITE

HOW TO... Tweak Shadow of Mordor

Make the Lord of the Rings game look even better on PC.

GROUPTEST Internet security

The best in antivirus for 2015 compared and rated inside. Is your PC safe?

SUPERTEST!

HOW TO... Become a Gmail Jedi

Master your webmail with some must-know tips and tricks for experts. ISSUE 9 | NOVEMBER 2014 | HTXT.CO.ZA

E N O H P T R A M WHICH S ? Y U B U O Y D L SHOU Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC, Huawei: It’s time to put the top end handsets to the test.

TIRED OF BEING DISAPPOINTED? Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a deal that will make you

Get NeoBroadband LTE 15GB for only R499 p.m. Includes free installation worth R500.

NeoBroadband has the HAPPIEST CUSTOMERS and was voted Best Broadband in SA. MyBroadband Survey 2014.

Switch to Neotel and switch to happiness today!

HappyA4.indd 1

2014/07/29 2:50 PM

:50 PM

Contents

www.htxt.co.za November 2014

ISSUE #09

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

REMEMBER, REMEMBER...

t’s November, which back where I come from is celebrated by the ritual donning of gloves and hat (for it’s the start of winter there) and burning the effigy of a man who died some three hundred years ago on top of a large bonfire while children ignite metal shards for fun and adults light up the sky with fireworks. Here in South Africa, summer is in full force and we’re already thinking ahead to the holiday season. Right now, we’re torn between whether or not we’re going to spend it playing Shadows of Mordor (page 31) or Alien Isolation (page 29). Or just bombing off into the bush for a good time. Or maybe we should stay and browse the internet? As we go to press, OpenWeb is offering unlimited ADSL for just R99 a month – which is frankly brilliant. And it’s just the latest in a month of ridiculously fast price cuts across the board for both fixed line and mobile broadband. And what more access means is better services and – thankfully – education. Turn to page 5 now to read about one of my favourite projects of all time, a new school that could revolutionise the way we teach in the Operator’s sub-R500 Steppa is firs townships. For the better. t of its kind.

MTN launches supercheap smartphone

obile operator MTN has launched South Africa’s first Android-powered smartphone that’s available on pre-pay for less than R500. It certainly an African first, and may even a world one: as far as we know, there’s no other smartphone in this class PUBLISHER: Brett Haggard – brett@htxt.co.za available for less than $50 anywhere. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Adam Oxford – adam@htxt.co.za That makes it quite a milestone in MANAGING EDITOR: Tiana Cline - tiana@htxt.co.za putting high-tech handsets within the HARDWARE: David Greenway – david@htxt.co.za reach of everyone. Which is awesome. GAMES: Deon du Plessis – deon@htxt.co.zaThe phone itself isn’t, of course, hugely PHOTOGRAPHIC WRITER: Charlie Fripp powe – charlie@htxt.co.za rful. It’s based on a Qualcomm WRITER: Lungelo Shezi – lungelo@htxt.co.za reference design, so it has a 1GHz single core Snapdragon processor, a 3.5in ch SENIOR DESIGNER: Quinton Hoffmann –screen quinton@htxt.co.za and a mere 2MP camera on board. More limiting is the fact that there’s ADVERTISING: Dorothy Haggard – dorothy@hypertext.co.za only 512MB of memory and 1GB of storag Sengezo Jubane – sengezo@hypertext.co.za e on-board. The screen is a decent enough multitouch affair, which takes up most

Adam Oxford Editor-in-Chief htxt.africa

It’s!a mil50 N I W which putests higonehtech handsets within the reach of everyone…

of the front of the device. There’s no physical keyboard. It also runs a positively ancient versio n of Google’s Android OS, Gingerbre ad. Still, that does still mean it’s able to access BlackBerry Messenger, which is hugel y

important for South Africa. Sadly, MTN has confir med that there ’s no plans to upgrade the Steppa to a more recent version of Android, although local hackers are investigating the possib ility of unlocking the phone and flashing a custom firmware. There’s an FM radio though, along with a microSD port for upgrading the storag e. What you don’t get, however, is a fast HSPA radio for high speed internet access – you’ll have to settle for plain old 3G. All in all, though, it’s a heck of a phone for the price. Not even Nokia can come close with its Asha range of semismartphones, which start at about R799 and don’t have access to half the numb er of apps and services the Steppa has. Like the sound of this super budget smartphone? See our full review at

WHAT IS THAT ‘Bit.ly’ STUFF ALL ABOUT?

htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy is Bit.ly shortens web addresses, produced by: Hypertext Media, 102 on 11th, making easierCAU to paste them CLIMATE CHA NGEitWILL SE MORE Highlands North, 2192, Johannesburg STORM DAM AGE into character-limited services IN SA More news at Two scientists from Contact Us: like Twitter or Facebook. They Wits have ed a paper Email: info@hypertext.co.za also serve aspublish shortcuts to which web says that South Africa may be at pages with long Type go to htxt.co.za Tel: (011) 023-8001/4 increasaddresses. ed risk of tropica l storm damag the Bit.ly URL seen e. in the exerpt Fax: 08654 83304 Our content is licensed under a Creative 6 | TECH MADE EASY | MARCH 2014 Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence. Other rights may apply for non-original materials.

I am a cy 6kR for clpictured one intoBit.ly your/Nww browser, forming over Madagasexample, and you’ll go directly car

the article page.

http://bit.ly/1l5dVkv

FACEBOOK BUYS WHATSAPP FOR R200BN Facebook has just dived into its war chest again to make another big purchase, this time it’s buying the popular messaging service WhatsApp. Bit.ly/1nPD8wj

Typ e into this c you ode r bro web wse r

K m

• • •R •P

MediaShareWireless Wireless MediaShare MediaShare Portable wirelessWireless streaming for Portable wireless streaming for Portable wireless streaming for your tablet or smartphone your tablet or smartphone your tablet or smartphone

STORE, STREAM & SHARE...Anywhere! STORE, STREAM & SHARE...Anywhere! Tablets and smartphones are often limited by their built-in STORE, STREAM SHARE...Anywhere! Tablets andcapacity smartphones are& often limited by their built-in storage and their ability to access content saved

storage ability limited toWireless, access content elsewhere. Withand the their MediaShare you built-in cansaved access Tablets andcapacity smartphones are often by their elsewhere. With the MediaShare Wireless, you can access and enjoy your files without wires or an internet connection. storage capacity and their ability to access content saved and enjoyWith yourthe filesMediaShare without wires or an internet connection. elsewhere. Wireless, you can access STREAM and enjoy your files without wires or an internet connection. STREAM • Connect up to 5 devices to the MediaShare and share video, music, STREAM • Connect up to 5 devices to the MediaShare and share video, music, photos and data. photos and data. • Connect up to 5 devices to the MediaShare and share video, music, USB/SD CONNECTION photos and data. USB/SD CONNECTION • Built-in USB port and SD Memory slot allows easy access to content from a USB USB/SD CONNECTION • Built-in USB porthard anddrive SD Memory slot allows easy access to content from a USB drive, portable or SD memory card*. drive, portable or SD memory card*. • Built-in USB porthard and drive SD Memory slot allows easy access to content from a USB WIRELESS drive, BRIDGE portable hard drive or SD memory card*. WIRELESS BRIDGE • Upload and download content wirelessly to and from your tablet or smartphone. WIRELESS • UploadBRIDGE and download content wirelessly to and from your tablet or smartphone. RECHARGING SMARTPHONES • Upload andFOR download content wirelessly to and from your tablet or smartphone. RECHARGING FOR SMARTPHONES • The integrated 3000mAh battery can be used as a powerpack for your smartphone. RECHARGING FOR SMARTPHONES • The integrated 3000mAh battery can be used as a powerpack for your smartphone. •

The integrated 3000mAh battery can be used as a powerpack for your smartphone.

Scan the QR-Code to watch video. to Scan the the QR-Code watch the video. Scan the * USBQR-Code drive, hard driveto or SD memory card not included. watch the video. * USB drive, hard drive or SD memory card not included. * USB drive, hard drive or SD memory card not included.

Mitsubishi Chemical holdings Group Mitsubishi Chemical holdings Group Mitsubishi Chemical holdings Group

Contents ISSUE #09

Need to Know

What’s been happening in tech this month?

5 6

n d s n.

10 12

African School for Excellence Meet the team who want to change education in Africa with tech. Hands-on with Windows 10 Everything you need to know about Microsoft’s next operating system. Flying high We take a drone out for a spin in Joburg. Assassin style The producer of the next Assassin’s Creed game tells us why it’s going to be ace. Games news PS Plus prices go up and why Portal 2 can save your brain.

The best reviews 14

22 25 27

Which smartphone should you buy? It’s that time of year: all the best smartphones in South Africa rounded up and reviewed. Gigabyte P27 A superthin, super powerful gaming laptop. Does its pixel pushing power justify the price? FIFA 15 Recapture that World Cup magic with the latest soccer game from EA. Alien Isolation The best game featuring a member of the Ripley family? Quite possibly, yes. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor You’ve never played a Lord of the Rings game like this.

Mobile games round-up Machinarium Bik – A Space Adventure Tiny Thief The Secret of Grisly Manor Gemini Rue

Photos Made Easy Our exclusive guide to photography in SA.

33 37 42 44

The gear we’ve loved this month.

www.htxt.co.za November 2014

Photo news The iPhone 6 camera Instagram’s new speed settings Canon updates EOS 7D Best superzoom compacts Three top long lens shooters compared. How to crop your photos The basics of tweaking your best taken pics. Everything you need to know about white balance Give the colours in your pics some punch.

How to...

Guides and tips for your tech.

46 48 52 54

Protect your PC The best security software compared. Be a Gmail Jedi Top tips for getting the most out of your webmail account. Update to OSX Yosemite Terrified of updating your Mac to the latest version? Let us help. Make Shadow of Mordor look amazing How to tweak the Lord of the Rings game on a PC.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 3

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

The most excellent school for Africa? How tech is transforming teaching in a township.

he East Rand township of Tsakane has few claims to fame right now. But in the future, it could be remembered as the place where a revolution in education began. For it’s here that the African School for Excellence (ASE) has launched, an 18-month-old academy with a mission: to produce world-class schools for South African townships that are both affordable and scalable to the country as a whole. Right now, Tsakane is the only school the organisation operates, and the entire school is based in a handful of portable classrooms at the end of a dusty drive. In less than two years, say the founders, children who entered ASE with low grades typical of low-income areas are competing with the very best in the country. In the 2013 Cambridge Curriculum Checkpoint tests, only one pupil out of the 80 grade 9 students who sat the test got less than the 50% that is considered a pass. Internationally, only 85% of students score passes. The average score in grade 9 for South African students is just 13%. “These kids here, they’re superquick to learn and get very excited,” says cofounder Jay Kloppenberg, “You put the right environment in place and give them a chance and the sky is the limit.” Kloppenberg and his colleague, Nonhlanhla Masina, have set themselves a lofty goal: the reinvention of education

in Africa. Right now, many of their pupils are from incredibly poor backgrounds and entered the school with low marks typical for the area. None were selected based on

“...you put the right environment in place and give them a chance and the sky is the limit.” academic achievements or potential. “On their testing now the kids are scoring better than kids in the top 10% economically in the country,” beams Kloppenberg, The philosophy at ASE is to foster curiosity among learners and encourage self-directed learning using internet tools. From the start, Kloppenberg has had a lot of backing from similarly curious minds at Centurion makerspace House4Hack. The most radical project has been undertaken by Toby Kurien and Schalk Heunis, who have helped establish locally cached and offline versions of Khan Academy lessons, as well as develop tools for pupils to mark each other’s work based on the peer review systems deployed by Coursera.com and

other Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) providers. When it comes to engineering, ASE students have also had a boost from the team at RoboBeast, who are donating a 3D printer to the school in the shape of the award-winning RepRap Morgan. The purpose of all the technology is to expose the children to what’s possible and what’s being made and achieved locally. But the really clever stuff is in the underlying structure of the school. Masina explains how teachers are able to meet high standards with few resources. For a start, there’s a very high teacherto-pupil ratio throughout the school, with just one qualified teacher per 75 pupils. Actual class sizes, however, are smaller than average with around 25 pupils in one room at a time. Each subject, she says, has three different classroom set-ups. “We use technology to give them more frequent testing with shorter feedback loops. The kids can do the exams from Khan Academy and work at their own pace. So by design we’re leveraging the skilled teacher with a few non-skilled teachers,” says Masina. “We represent the fire and the spark that exists in our township areas,” says Masina, who grew up nearby herself, “And we’ve been able to capture that spark and explore it and live in it.” Bit.ly/YHSHzX WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 5

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Microsoft skips Windows 9 and goes straight to number 10 “Windows 10 represents the first step of a whole new generation of Windows,” says Microsoft’s Terry Myerson.

ave you been patiently waiting for more news of Microsoft’s Windows 9 operating system? Well, you are out of luck as the company has announced that its skipping convention and jumping straight from Windows 8 to Windows 10. During the surprise announcement, the big tech firm highlighted the updated user interface, the added security features and showed off some of its management capabilities. In addition to the previewing Windows 10, Microsoft announced its Windows Insider Program, which is a collaborative development effort to design an operating system that you want. If you opt into the program, you will receive a technical preview of Windows 10 as well as all subsequent updates. “Windows 10 represents the first step of a whole new generation of Windows,

unlocking new experiences to give customers new ways to work, play and connect,” said Terry Myerson, executive

“Microsoft has touted that Windows 10 will be used by almost all platforms that Microsoft supports...” vice president of the Operating Systems group at Microsoft, in a press statement. “This will be our most comprehensive operating system and the best release Microsoft has ever done for our business

customers, and we look forward to working together with our broader Windows community to bring Windows 10 to life in the months ahead.” There are a number of notable improvements and added features to the new operating system, but one that consumers will be most delighted about is the return of the Start button. Microsoft has also touted that Windows 10 will be used by almost all the platforms that Microsoft supports, including Windows Phone – and there was even mention of Xbox. “Windows 10 adapts to the devices customers are using — from Xbox to PCs and phones to tablets and tiny gadgets — and what they’re doing with a consistent, familiar and compatible experience, enabling even greater productivity.” Bit.ly/1wtkDVM

Beware: the Windows 10 Technical Preview knows everything about you and is telling Microsoft

ust before you go and download the Windows 10 Technical Preview onto your PC to see what Microsoft has in store for its next OS release, beware. Apart from the fact that this is a beta release and may well be full of bugs, Microsoft has stuffed the

6 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

Getting started with Windows 10

ow that Microsoft has formally announced the next version of its Windows operating system, you’ll be wanting to know how you can try it out, won’t you? Anyone can download the 4GB ISO file and create a bootable USB installer to try out Windows 10. Be warned, once you’ve installed Windows 10, going back to your original OS will require a near full reinstall from recovery discs. The good news, however, is that if you do go ahead, the process is quick and getting to know Windows 10 is a lot of fun. The big news about Windows 10 is that the Start Menu, familiar from every version from ’95 to 7, is back. It’s not exactly the same as before, though, and is now a hybrid of the old Start menu and the Windows 8 Start screen. It’s now split in two, with a list of programs as seen in Windows 7 on the left and space for Live Tiles on the right. Microsoft has added a Power button to the top of the Start menu that lets you power down, restart your PC, log out or hibernate without having to do that stupid “Open Charms, Click Settings, Click Power

Technical Preview with all kinds of datagathering tools that scoop up information – including the personally-identifiable kind – which is then sent back for analysis. There’s even a keylogger in there that records what you type; Microsoft says it’s to improve “autocomplete and spell check features”. Here’s a fun excerpt that should get any privacy advocate’s hackles up: “When you acquire, install and use the Program, Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices,

then choose your option” rigmarole from Windows 8 if you didn’t know the alt-F4 shortcut. An interesting feature to the new Start menu is that you can now drag to resize it. The options to configure its size exactly as you want it aren’t massively flexible, but it’s a nice new addition. Conspicuously absent, though, is any sort of shortcut to reach the Windows 8 Start screen, which is still there under the hood. Microsoft believes people will want to use the Start screen, especially on tablets, and Windows 10’s ability to automatically configure itself depending on the type of screen it detects means that the full screen layout should be the default one for tablets, you can also set it to appear whenever you click the Windows icon on a standard desktop too (if you really want to). That’s done by accessing the settings menus, ticking a box and logging out and in again; it’s a huge schlep and something which should probably become a simple flag or shortcut in the final release, much like the way StarDock’s Start8 menu for Windows 8 does it.

The two new icons, Search and Task View are the other immediately obvious new additions to Windows 10’s desktop. Clicking Search and typing something brings up a list of all items related to your query, from apps to documents to web pages. Task View is a bit more interesting. When clicked, the Task View button opens an overlay showing all open apps, and lets you switch between them or close them with a click. It’s kind of like a slightly more useful version of alt-tabbing. Task View is also where you create and manage the “virtualised desktops” Microsoft spoke about on Monday, which are copies of your primary desktop configuration (icons, wallpaper), with the difference between each being the programs you have open. File Explorer – or just Explorer – has been tweaked with a new layout, with a Home button the most noticeable new addition. It gathers your favourites, your most frequently-accessed folders and the most recent files you’ve created or opened together in one place for easy access. Bit.ly/1rq8wmh

applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage.” So basically, if you don’t want to share your data with Microsoft, don’t download and install the Technical Preview. This is being done in the name of analytics, of course; Microsoft needs to know how the Technical Preview is being used so that they can make the necessary

changes that will theoretically make the final release version of Windows 10 a much better operating system, and clearly it’s relying on more than just the built-in Feedback Form to do that. The saving grace here is that evaluating the Technical Preview is entirely voluntary, and to Microsoft’s credit the data-gathering features of the OS are laid out quite clearly and right at the top of the privacy policy so it’s not like anyone was hiding it, exactly. Bit.ly/1sO4QP1

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 7

NEED TO KNOW: NEWS

More stories at

ship in Black Flag), AC5 will have RPG-lite features that let you tune Arno’s stats in a pleasing manner. This is done through a bunch of items that boost stats – Phord-Toy says there are around 200 of these to be discovered throughout the world – and there is a total of between 80 and 85 hand-crafted weapons for Arno to find and use. When asked if players will have the opportunity to maximise all of Arno’s skills or be forced into specific upgrade paths at the expense of others, she said no, Arno will be fully maximisable. The point, she stressed, is to give players as much choice as possible. When asked about the game’s subtitle – Unity – she said this is the first time an Assassin’s Creed development codename has been used as its commercial name. Unity, she said, is seen everywhere in the game itself, from the seamless drop-in co-op multiplayer to the unification seen in the streets of Paris of common folks uniting in their struggle with the ruling class. That extends to the actual development, too, as having a total of ten studios involved in the game’s creation requiring a significant amount of harmony to work towards the huge, over-arching common goal that is AC5.

CAN YOUR PC RUN CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE?

go to htxt.co.za

10 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

The latest in the series will take up 55GB on your hard drive, which seems to imply that it will come with juicy high-res texture, complex levels and 3D models. Bit.ly/1tdwczB

She also told us the game has been designed to be as accessible as possible. To that end, players aren’t shut out of the game’s 20 co-op missions – which are separate from the main storyline – if they don’t have friends to play with, as all of them can be played solo. But should they play with friends, they’ll get to take part in assassinations that reward teamwork, and unlock achievements for things like simultaneous takedowns. The main story is entirely solo, though, as it’s all about Arno’s story and his quest for redemption. There will of course also be Abstergo-related things to see and do, but there’s not much been shared about that side of the storyline to date. One of the coolest things we heard about AC5 is the presence of taverns throughout Paris, where players will see ghosts of their friends who are currently playing the game. Joining their session for some co-op killing is a simple matter of finding their ghosts and pressing a button, so there’s no need to for separate multiplayer foyers or leaving the game for another screen – everything is seamless. AC5 is out on November 11 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Bit.ly/1wrrxZm

SA TEAM ENERGY ESPORTS GOING TO THE ELECTRONIC SPORTS WORLD CUP The team’s trip is being sponsored by SteelSeries, Internet Solutions and ProLine, and ASUS has signed up quite recently to give the guys G-series gaming laptops. Bit.ly/1w7ZMIV

NEED TO KNOW: GAMES

Space-bending game is a better brain-trainer than actual brain-trainers

T Sony increases price of PlayStation Plus in South Africa by almost 50%

layStation gamers have been mocking Xbox Live players about the latter’s need to purchase a subscription in order to play online games – but now Sony introduced a similar pay-to-play model with the release of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Plus. Sony announced that South African PlayStation Plus subscribers will now have to fork over more than half of the original price to keep the benefits. “Due to various market conditions, the price of your PlayStation Plus subscription is going to rise slightly. On 01/10/2014 the price of a 3 month subscription will rise from R145 to R219,” Sony said in a letter to current subscribers.

here is now concrete proof that playing Portal 2 is better for improving all sorts of brain skills than more serious educational games designed to do the same. A scientific study was recently conducted by the psychology department at Florida State University that showed a marked difference between various brain-based skills of people who played eight hours of Portal 2 compared to others who played eight hours of Lumosity, an educational game specifically designed to teach the same sorts of spacial awareness, problem-solving and lateral thinking. However, it must be acknowledged that Gamasutra added that the study wasn’t exactly conclusive, even though it’s clearly stated in the study’s overview that definite differences were measured between the two groups’ cognitive abilities before and after testing. Still, it’s a good indication that games are beneficial to at least some people’s brains, and at this point, that’s enough for us. Bit.ly/1v0uiEh

Bit.ly/1vPkj3t

Snapping is even better with the Xbox One’s October update

here’s an Xbox One update in the pipeline that looks like it’s going to make Microsoft’s awesome new console even better. Of particular interest are the improvements to the Xbox One’s multi-tasking. For those not in the know, that means its ability to run applications alongside games, which Microsoft refers to as “snapping”. When the update rolls out, snapping will be activated by double-tapping the Xbox button on the controller or by saying “Xbox, snap XX” if you own a Kinect (with XX being whatever it is you want to snap, like Achievements or your Friends list). That brings up a

cross-shaped menu that is superimposed over your game that presents you with options as to what you’d like to snap, a big change from the previous approach that required you to manage snapping from the Home screen. Snapped apps are arranged along the right side of the screen, and many have been redesigned to let you do useful things with them while in that state. The new snappable Achievements app that rolled out earlier this year, for example, now lets you see which of your friends have unlocked achievements in the games you’re playing.

Bit.ly/1vNc06o

women htxt africa SOUTH AFRICA’S MOST IMPORTANT SITE FOR WOMEN IN IT 12 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

HEAD TO WOMEN.HTXT.CO.ZA

Portable bluetooth speakers, designed to move.

Minimal design. Serious sound

available at leading retail outlets

SUPERTEST

Smartphone is right for you?

WHICHâ&#x20AC;Ś

Eight of the best mobile options out right now and what makes them the right buying choice.

hese days buying a good mobile phone is easier than ever with budget smartphones packed to the rafters with features and enough power 14 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

to keep them running smoothly. The real challenge is trying to find the best smartphone for your money, especially at the high end of the smartphone market.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because in the last two years smartphone manufacturers have been able to shrink the gap between the best and the rest.

SUPERTEST

APPLE IPHONE 6

THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN IPHONE DESIGN YET inally it’s here, Apple’s much TouchID uses a far more elegant anticipated and long awaited approach, implementing the sensor update to its massively popular into the sapphire crystal home button. smartphone, the iPhone 5. It’s No sliding of fingers, and consequently immediately differentiated by the dropping phones. You just hold your inclusion of a much larger 4.7 inch print in place and it gets read in around display that dwarfs every iPhone before half a second, it really beats every it. However while the display has been other sensor by a mile. growing up, the rest of the iPhone Battery life is still an issue with the has been slimming down with its iPhone 6 still needing the same late day aluminium frame now measuring just top-up as its predecessors have however 6.9mm in thickness. the increase in display size alone makes The latest Apple made, 64-bit, A8 the upgrade worth it for any iPhone processor and its accompanying 1GB lover. Bit.ly/1nMu9Ss of RAM are lightning fast at handling everything from general day-to-day app usage to graphics intensive gaming DETAILS and it makes using an iPhone 6 an absolute pleasure. While still sitting at Design 9 8 megapixels Apple has upgraded the Performance 10 iPhone 6 camera sensor with drastically improved autofocus to make sure that Value for Money 7 your iPhone 6 is ready to shoot almost instantly and can now take incredible slow motion video at up to 240 frames per second. On every other device with a From R9 899 fingerprint reader, it’s a bar-type Box quote: Easily the best iPhone sensor that required the user to slide Apple has ever made. their finger across its surface. Apple’s

Overall

BLACKBERRY PASSPORT

THE FIRST REAL CHANGE TO STANDARD SMARTPHONE DESIGN IN YEARS it also makes reading text a much ithout a shadow of a doubt the BlackBerry Passport more pleasurable experience with less scrolling down when compared is the most polarising to a candy bar phone in landscape smartphone we have ever reviewed. orientation and less eye strain from There has not been a single instance small lines of text that you see on a where someone has seen it and it hasn’t elicited a comment. The portrait orientated phone. By far its best feature however remarks themselves aren’t those that is its battery life which dwarfs that the standard iPhone vs. Android of almost everything else out there. crowd would give me about which Bit.ly/1re6kip phone is better and why, but rather the comments were more out of genuine curiosity and astonishment at the initial DETAILS sight of the Passport. Design The Passport is a smartphone 6 aimed solely at the professional power Performance 7 user, which is to say that if your day is not spend pounding out emails, Value for Money 7 managing your calendar and browsing through presentations, spreadsheets and documents then the Passport is probably not for you. That 4.5 inch square display Price TBC makes watching video and movies It sure looks strange but the display a completely awkward experience is actually a pleasure to use. with tonnes of wasted space however

Overall

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 15

SUPERTEST

HTC ONE (M8) ONE ANDROID PHONE TO RULE THEM ALL

he HTC One (M8) is by far one of the most hyped smartphones of the year and with good reason too. Last year’s HTC One was by far the prettiest Android handset we’d ever seen and this year’s model is even better. Hewn from a single block of aluminium and carved into a beautiful smartphone with all of the trimmings needed to compete against the likes of Apple and Samsung, the HTC One (M8). Packed inside is the latest and greatest in terms of hardware specs with HTC’s Sense customisation, which is now in its sixth and, in our opinion, best iteration. It comes with BlinkFeed, the Flipboard-esque feed of stories that collates posts your social networks, calendar appointments, your reading list from Pocket and articles from your choice of news sources. The 5 inch display of the HTC One M8 uses the same Super LCD 3 display technology as well as having the same full HD 1080p display resolution as its predecessor. Colours are bright without being over-saturated and the brightness levels indoors make sure that everything

HUAWEI ASCEND P7 ANDROID EXCELLENCE ON A BUDGET consistently hit. ith glass both front and back along with its aluminium And at nearly R4 000 less than the sides, the Ascend P7 not Samsung Galaxy S5, iPhone 5s et only looks absolutely gorgeous, it brings al, the Ascend P7 offers more than enough reasons to choose it over the a fantastic, premium feeling in hand competition. There will always be those as well. Whatever else it may be, the Huawei Ascend P7 is first and foremost who want the absolute best and are a stunningly beautiful smartphone but willing to pay a premium for it, but thankfully it doesn’t end there. for those who cannot justify the added expense, the Ascend P7 is perfect. While most smartphones are content Bit.ly/1wtoWk2 to brag about the cameras on their backs, the Huawei Ascend P7 will brag about the incredible 8 megapixel selfie-cam it has up front. While low light conditions will make hard work of DETAILS getting the best selfies the Ascend P7 Design 10 has by far the best front-facing camera we’ve ever tested. That’s not to say Performance 7 that pictures from its rear mounted 13 megapixel camera are bad, in fact Value for Money 9 they’re right up there with our other contenders. The Ascend P7’s impressive battery saving skills meant that it managed to get to the end of a full day’s work R5 899 with 40% charge left in the handset. The best phone for its price That’s an impressive feat that no other punches well above its weight. smartphones on test here managed to

Overall

16 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

from text to pictures is beautifully crisp and easy on the eyes. Were it not for the often less-thanaverage photographs that can result from the low resolution of the Ultrapixel camera we would have absolutely no problem in calling it the greatest Android phone ever made. As it is, if you aren’t too worried about taking the highest resolution photos then the HTC One (M8) is by far the best Android smartphone available right now. Bit.ly/1kkyVVM

DETAILS Design

Performance

Value for Money

Overall

R9 779 It’s the prettiest looking and best feeling Android smartphone we’ve used.

GET SOCIAL WITH US! Find us on your favourite social network. facebook.com/htxtafrica twitter.com/htxtafrica

htxt africa

news . features . reviews . opinions . culture

SUPERTEST

LG G3

TRAGICALLY FLAWED BRILLIANCE

igger, faster and with a display resolution that truly boggles the mind, the LG G3 was by far one of our most hotly anticipated smartphones of the year. It wasn’t just the fact that it boasted some of the best specs in the game; it was also because of the reputation of its predecessor, the G2, which won our smartphone supertest last year with a combination of smart design and incredible battery life. The LG G3’s quad HD, 1 440×2 560 resolution, HD-IPS+ LCD display is the best panel we have ever seen and while at 5.5 inches it’s a bit large for our tastes, many will appreciate the size of the display. That’s in no small part to the tiny bezels on the display make it far less unwieldy that other smartphones with a 5.5 inch display that we have used in the past. The 13 megapixel camera of the G3 comes with an upgrade version of the company’s optical image stabilisation technology and has laser autofocusing to ensure that it can focus on subjects in record time. The lasers work a treat

NOKIA LUMIA 930 THE BEST WINDOWS PHONE EVER MADE African market today. It’s fantastically he latest flagship (and last, as Microsoft has now rebranded well built, has the specs to match the company) from Nokia the competition at the top of the is the Lumia 930. It’s essentially smartphone ladder and has one of the best cameras on any smartphone out the same hardware specifications there. as the massive Lumia 1520 phablet but packed into a more manageable That said however the Windows frame to appeal to a broader audience. Phone platform is still short on the apps It’s running the latest version of the that will make it competitive with iOS and Android based smartphones. The Windows Phone operating system that gap is constantly getting smaller but has addressed some of our greatest there are still several key apps that we complaints with it in the past and, as is customary from Nokia phones in couldn’t find. Bit.ly/1re8aQq the past, has a camera that promises exceptional photos. DETAILS As with previous Nokia smartphones, the Lumia 930 uses the company’s Design 8 ClearBlack display technology that Performance 7 makes reading it in even the brightest sunlight an absolute pleasure. The Value for Money 8 full HD resolution makes Windows Phone’s new six-tiles-across interface work spectacularly well and the AMOLED display was as bright as the polycarbonate backing, which made R7 999 pictures and video look fantastic. All the best bits of Windows Phone The Lumia 930 is by far the best in a premium package. Windows Phone available on the South

Overall

18 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

at close distances and make sure that photos are captured quickly and with no fuss but it’s not particularly useful at longer distances although images the G3 captures still look great. Battery life which was the killer feature that made the G2 dominate the pack last year, but is the one thing that lets the LG G3 down this year. If you don’t keep your phone plugged in and charging all day, this isn’t the handset for you. Bit.ly/1pjhJvu

DETAILS Design

Performance

Value for Money

Overall

R8 779 A sublime display that is let down by its battery life.

SUPERTEST

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5

A SOLID UPGRADE BUT NO LONGER THE LEADER OF THE ANDROID PACK

he Galaxy S5 is of course the successor to two of the fastest and best-selling Android smartphones ever made – the Galaxy S III and S4. There have been more than 200 million Galaxy S series phones sold to date, so there’s a lot of pressure on the shoulders of the Galaxy S5 to succeed. The Galaxy S5 is almost indistinguishable from its predecessors from the front but the back has been replaced with a dimpled, soft-touch plastic cover that feels better to hold, but isn’t as premium as the likes of the iPhone or even the Ascend P7. The Galaxy S5 is now also IP67 rated which means that it is both dustproof and water resistant for depths of up to one meter for up to 30 minutes at a time and also includes a built in heart-rate sensor that integrates into the S-Health app and a fingerprint reader which is nowhere near as good

as Apple’s TouchID sensor in the iPhone 5s. With the best warranty in the game and a bevy of new features and upgrades the Galaxy S5 is easily better than its predecessor, in fact it offers a better proposition than almost anything that has come out before or since. Bit.ly/1j7nWY0

DETAILS Design

Performance

Value for Money

Overall

R10 000 The best Android smartphone Samsung has ever made.

SONY XPERIA Z2

THE SMARTPHONE THAT WE ALWAYS KNEW SONY COULD MAKE

hen the Sony Xperia Z2 was announced, Sony made a point of telling us about touted a much-improved display and a pair of stereo front speakers that added to the already formidable list of specs that we saw from both the Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z1 Compact last year. The glass front and back might scare some but after a few months with the Xperia Z2 we can honestly say that the phone can stand up to the rigours of regular day-to-day use and even the occasional accidental fall onto the floor from a relatively mild height. We’re glad to say that Sony has righted the ship when it comes to displays in its high-end smartphones from a quality perspective. The 5.2 inch Triluminous display is definitely one of the best we’ve ever seen with colours looking bright and vibrant something that had eluded previous Xperia Z smartphones. As with the Xperia Z1 smartphones the 20.7 megapixel camera in the Xperia Z2 is capable of some of the

most fantastic images. The standard setting will keep images down to a more manageable 8 megapixels but will use the extra data that the lens captures to correct errors and beautify the pictures it produces using oversampling. If ever Sony had created a handset worthy of praise the Xperia Z2 is most definitely it. Every single highend spec that could be in a modern smartphone is present in the Xperia Z2. It makes for a superb smartphone. Bit.ly/1yXFIdv

DETAILS Design

Performance

Value for Money

Overall

R9 649 Sony’s flagship has evolved into something special.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 19

SUPERTEST

WINNER T

his year no single smartphone has truly stood out head and shoulders above the rest of the pack – that’s largely due to the fact that, as we said earlier, the gap at the top has shrunk down to almost nothing. Each of the competitors could have won our supertest and those that didn’t missed out on the top prize because of a glaring omission or problem with them. In the end, it was the HTC One (M8) that won us over because of a combination of fantastic design in both hardware and software. That said, it’s still has a seriously flawed camera and if high fidelity mobile photography is your thing there are better options out there. The HTC One may not reign supreme for long on the top of our charts for too long with the iPhone 6+ as well as Sony’s Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact all slated to arrive on our testing table in the coming days putting even more serious competition into the top end of the market.

’S EDITORE CHOIC

PHONE NUMBERS Apple iPhone 5s

BlackBerry Passport

HTC One (M8)

Huawei Ascend P7

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 930

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

4.7 inches

4.5 inches

5 inches

5.5 inches

5 inches

5.1 inches

5.2 inches

750x1 334

1 440x1 440

1 080x1 920

1 440x2 560

1 080x1 920

326ppi

453ppi

441ppi

534ppi

441ppi

432ppi

424ppi

Dual core 1.4GHz Apple A8

Quad core 2.26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

Quad core 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

Quad core 1.8GHz HiSilicon Kirin 910T

Quad core 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

Quad core 2.26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

Quad core 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

Quad core 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801

1GB

3GB

2GB

2GB/3GB

2GB

3GB

Storage

16GB/64GB/ 128 GB

32GB (Up to 128GB microSD card)

16GB/32GB (Up to 128GB microSD card)

16GB (Up to 64GB microSD card)

16GB (2GB RAM)/32GB (3GB RAM) (Up to 128GB microSD card)

32GB

16GB/32GB (Up to 128GB microSD card)

16GB (Up to 128GB microSD card)

Camera

8MP

13MP

4MP

13MP

16MP

20MP

16MP

20.7MP

802.11ac

802.11n

802.11ac

Bluetooth

4.0

Battery capacity

1 810mAh

3 450mAh

2 600mAh

2 500mAh

3 000mAh

2 420mAh

2 800mAh

3 200mAh

iOS 8

Blackberry 10.3

Android 4.4.2

Windows Phone 8.1

Android 4.4.2

Weight

129g

196g

160g

124g

149g

167g

145g

163g

138.1mm x 67mm x 6.9mm

128mm x 90.3mm x 9.3mm

146.4mm x 70.6mm x 9.4mm

139.8mm x 68.8mm x 6.5mm

146.3mm x 74.6mm x 8.9mm

137mm x 71mm x 9.8mm

142mm x 72.5mm x 8.1mm

146.8mm x 73.3mm x 8.2mm

Display size Display resolution Pixel density

Processor

RAM

WiFi

Dimensions

20 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

14192 IDEA ENGINEE ® S

WORK WIDE. Introducing BlackBerry® Passport. Don’t limit yourself to the narrow world of today’s phones. See the bigger picture.

• 4.5” Square touch display, 453 PPI • Touch-enabled 3 row keyboard • 3450mAh, 30 HRS Battery life* • BlackBerry OS10.3 & BlackBerry Blend ** • 13 MP camera (with OIS) • 3GB RAM, 32GB Flash, microSD slot

Download the free BlackBerry App by scanning the QR code. Once downloaded, use the App to scan the page and discover the interactive content with your smartphone. For IOS, Android and BlackBerry 10 users.

BLACKBERRY PASSPORT BlackBerry.com/Passport ©2014 BlackBerry. All rights reserved. BlackBerry®, BBM™ and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of BlackBerry Limited (“BlackBerry”) and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. BlackBerry assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third-party products or services. Screen image simulated. *Based on mixed usage scenario. Many factors affect battery life including but not limited to network, transmission environment, battery age, usage, location software and feature configuration **www.blackberry.com/blend

REVIEWS

DETAILS • CPU: Intel Core i7-4810MQ @ 2.7GHz • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 860M 2GB + Intel HD Graphics 4600 • RAM: 16GB DDR3 (max 24GB) • Storage: 128GB mSATA, 1TB Western Digital • Operating System: Windows 8.1 64-bit • Ports: USB 2.0 (x1), USB 3.0 (x2), Full-sized HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, SD card reader, eSATA • Battery: 5 700mAh, 86Wh R22 999

Gigabyte P27G v2 Gaming Notebook Looking for a new laptop that manages to play games at their highest settings at a very playable frame rate?

igabyte’s P27G v2 gaming laptop does a pretty good job and will also cost you significantly less than Dell’s premium-branded Alienware gaming notebooks do. This “new” notebook is actually a refreshed P27, with the same outer shell as the original but with a new graphics card and processor. The biggest change is the single NVIDIA GeForce 860M graphics chip and its 2GB of VRAM, which is powerful enough that each and every game we tested on the P27G played smoothly at their highest settings, helped along by the P27G’s quad core Intel Core i7 4810MQ processor. When you’re not gaming, Intel’s excellent HD Graphics 4600 chip takes over display duties, a trick that saves on battery power. At 17inches, the screen is small enough that you probably won’t notice any jagged edges or the absence of super-realistic bumps without it, and the extra frames per second could well be worth putting up with the slightlydowngraded visuals. It’s just nice knowing that you don’t have to. Of course, the extra horsepower that makes gaming so smooth means booting up and using Windows is fast, too.

22 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

While the plastic build quality feels a bit disappointing, Gigabyte has maintained the P27’s colourful legacy with the delightful shade of bright orange that adorns the lid, so at least you’re sure to attract a lot of attention wherever you set it up. The P27G is quite a thick notebook at 48.8mm, but that allows it to have a Bluray/DVD combo drive and fit in all of the extras that make it so good for gaming. It’s also how Gigabyte offers gamers the option to install multiple hard drives and upgrade its memory to a maximum of 24GB, up from the 16GB it ships with. The notebook supports two 2.5-inch drives in addition to its primary 120GB mSATA SSD, allowing gamers to install a maximum of 3TB of storage. Performance and build aside, the P27G has a very nice backlit keyboard that’s comfortable to type on with what felt like just the right amount of travel, and a good selection of ports (1x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, HDMI, eSATA, Ethernet). The keyboard’s backlight is limited to a single colour – white – and the intensity adjusts automatically according to how much battery is left. There aren’t any media keys to control movies and music, though,

which is a pity. At a recommended retail price of R22 999, the P27G v2 is not the cheapest notebook in the world, but you definitely get what you pay for. So the P27G v2 isn’t the sleekest or nicest-looking notebook out there. But that doesn’t matter, since people should buy gaming notebooks because they run games nicely, not because they look like supercars, and in that the P27G most certainly succeeds. Think of it as a brightly-coloured family sedan whose bonnet hides a 500kW engine that can leave any souped-up megaboet special standing at the robots. And that’s brilliant.

Bit.ly/1nwSxaz

SCORES Gaming Performance

Everyday Performance

Build Quality

Screen

Value for money

Overall

Promotion extened till 20th of November 2014

KEYS TO KYRAT: Play co-op mode with friends who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t own the game

REVIEWS

DETAILS

FIFA 15

• Publisher: Electronic Arts • The good: Emotionally-aware players on the pitch, the awesome new FUT mode. • The bad: Defence, defence, defence – players often look like bunch of school children chasing after the ball. PC (from R599), Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 (all from R699)

Believe it or not, 15 is the 22nd iteration of Electronic Arts’ venerable soccer series.

IFA 15 is a stable, effective and slick football simulation game. Electronic Arts is constantly attempting to make the game of soccer more realistic, more challenging and slicker, but also to keep it deeply familiar, and in this FIFA 15 succeeds. The interface has some tweaks, performance and presentation, but the lay of the land is much the same as in previous versions. The game’s visible improvements are subtle – changes made to the pitches, the stadium and the crowd visuals. The bits that have been added to FIFA 15’s presentation links directly to a much deeper part of the game, and that is the ‘emotional intelligence’ of the players – a feature EA has been punting quite extensively. Basically, players have stronger reactions to what is happening on the field, so when your top striker misses, you’ll see a cutaway of him showing his dismay. While these cutaways can become a little frustrating in their regularity (they can be skipped) they affect how the rest of the game plays. That same top striker who missed, for example, will kick the ground and play the rest of the match with less confidence. Quite impressively, there are over 600 combinations of emotional responses that each player has access to in response to situations that are unfolding on the field. Because of this, the game really does feel

more life-like. The tackling system and player-on-player contact is more sophisticated, and players generally seem to run better and appear to have a lot more control over the ball. Yet despite the awesome realism of the game, the defence, which has always been a problem for the FIFA series, still hampers the flow and movement of each match. Inevitably you hold down ‘A’ too much and rush in on the player. When playing with more than one player on a team it often looks like a bunch of school children chasing after the ball, which is humorous, but not quite accurate to the actual game of football. It also makes the game biased towards attacking teams. You seldom buy players to bolster your defence, but rather try to buy the top strikers. There has been little change to the game modes – FIFA 15’s manager mode has some new tweaks that are simple but clever, but for the most part EA has left FIFA’s game modes intact. The only mode that has seen major changes since the 2014 version of the game is FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT). FUT is an online version of the game that is about the buying and selling of ‘real’ players; it has online markets that shift and change with input from players around the world. FIFA 15 has also introduced more comprehensive ‘season

loans’ of players to the game, where you can borrow high-profile players for a set number of matches. It’s up to you to use them wisely to win those big games. The newest feature in FUT is Concept Squad, where you build a list of your dream team, and offers the ability to check your current squad against the Concept Squad to see how your players measure up. If you love FIFA or you’re new to soccer games, you owe it to yourself to get this one, but if you aren’t the biggest FIFA fan and have FIFA 13 or 14 already, you can probably give it a miss. The new game immerses you in situations that other soccer games don’t, and it opens the scope for deep imaginative play and just keeps getting better the more you play. Bit.ly/1zkitLI

SCORES How it plays

Interface

Soundtrack

Immersion

Overall

8 WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 25

Selfie-Stick Bluetooth Remote

Wireless Remote Control for Camera & Music Player

• Take selfies • Take pictures • Play music and skips tracks • Compatible with Android and iOS

Selfie-Stick Monopod for taking selfie pictures or movies • Universal mount that will fit any size smartphone • Fully adjustable to desired angle, tilt and length • Non-slip handle with lanyard to keep monopod secure

DI S T

R IB

U TE

DB Y:

(011 )4 www 66 3771 .q faceb dcellula r.c ook.c om/q o.za dcell

REVIEWS

DETAILS • Publisher: Sega • Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. • The good: Authentic to the movie in every way. Pack spare underwear! • The bad: It’s just too long… R499 for PC, R599 for previous-gen and R699 for current-gen consoles.

Alien Isolation

A brilliant but flawed almost-masterpiece that will scare and frustrate you in equal parts.

f you’ve ever imagined what warrant officer Ellen Ripley went through in the first Alien movie, all alone in the middle of space and facing a huge, impossibly aggressive and crazy fast alien beast with nothing more than her wits, you still won’t know what it’s like. Alien Isolation will tell you, though, and as if you hadn’t guessed: it’s scary as hell. The enemy is relentless in Alien Isolation. It’s intelligent and it will hunt you down, so it’s best avoided altogether until you’re armed, which only happens much later in the game. And the alien? It’s a very primal experience, and one that will stay with you long after the game ends. That’s because the alien doesn’t mess about – when he sees you, you die. There is no slow depletion of health bars as he claws at your face, it’s just a quick, vicious death every time he gets too close. This primal hunter/hunted mechanic turns Alien Isolation from a mere game, into an experience. You, the player, will experience fear like you have never done in any other game before, complete with sweaty palms, a racing heart and a genuine sense of shock when the alien inevitably catches up with you, sometimes unexpectedly, and impales you with his tail or sends his second mouth plowing into your skull. For the first part of the game you’re entirely weaponless, but even once you’re armed you won’t feel powerful as ammo is scarce and you become very, very hesitant to make noise as You Know Who is going to be attracted by

it. It’s a refreshing change to play someone so vulnerable in the age of regenerating health and bullet-sponge protagonists. But of course concessions must be made, even in something as original as this, and in parts, the game turns into a bit into a bit of an action shooter. As pants-wettingly scary as Alien Isolation is, it makes a few mis-steps that will likely keep it from being the Game of the Year. Aesthetically, it can’t be faulted – the game’s environments and use of retro-future technology are as true to the 1979 movie as possible, and the alien is as ugly and, well, alien as it appeared then thanks to HR Giger’s visionary design. The sound design is particularly brilliant, with a moody score that responds to what’s happening, and lifelike sound effects that work very hard to make you believe you’re in a doomed space station with a deadly beast after you. So everything looks, sounds and feels convincingly authentic… but damn, the game is long. That’s partly because on several occasions the game seems like it reaches a climax only to send you off to another location on the ship afterwards, and partly because a lot of what you end up doing – backtracking, restarting generators, re-routing power – feels like padding. On the one hand it could be argued that this is just Creative Assembly’s idea of pacing, and because the original movie was 117 minutes long they were looking to drag their game out in a similar manner, but unfortunately even

if that’s true, it dilutes the game’s core appeal rather than enhances it. When you’re done with the main game, or you just want a bite-sized chunk of Alien Isolation, Creative Assembly also included a Survivor mode that has you playing a single map and trying to reach the exit in the fastest time possible. Developer Creative Assembly has made an incredible game here; it’s not perfect by any means, but it’s easily the best Alien game based on the license that we’ve had since 2000’s Aliens vs Predator, and truer to its source material than any Alien game, ever. It’s the game Alien fans have deserved since 1979, as it’s slow, methodical and deliberate, and just as scary, if not more so than the movie. Bit.ly/1t5lone

SCORES Aesthetics

Sound

Fear Factor

The absence of frustration

Overall

9 WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 27

Turning amateurs into proâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

stockist of major photographic brands

Tel: 011 880 2885 Fax: 086 685 8132 KAMERAZ - Shop L12, Rosebank Mews 173 Oxford Road, Rosebank

Web: www.kameraz.co.za Mail: info@kameraz.co.za Find us on facebook: http://goo.gl/3XitwWW

REVIEWS

DETAILS • Publisher: Warner Bros. • The good: Exploding orc heads and then some! • The bad: The control system takes a bit of getting used to. PC (R499), Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (R799), PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (R699)

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Lord of the Rings, Assassin’s Creed or Batman fan? You owe it to yourself to play this game.

ames based on the Lord of the Rings books and movies haven’t exactly set the gaming world on fire. In fact, if anything they’ve inspired a certain cynicism in gamers who’ve learned to be wary of games sporting the LOTR label, which is probably why Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor doesn’t use it despite being based on Tolkien’s fantasy works and the current movie spin-offs. It blends the beauty of next-generation graphics with ideas torn from several popular franchises and casts players into a living, breathing and incredibly beautiful open world that genuinely responds to their actions. But that’s not all. Shadow of Mordor has a personality all of its own, too, that makes it well worth your time and money. The basic premise of the game is that you’re Talion, a Ranger of Gondor on a quest to avenge the death of his wife and son. As you make progress, the story shifts and changes until you’re actively pursuing a bigger objective than mere revenge, eventually placing Talion on a collision-course with Sauron himself. The game’s meat-and-potatoes, and what you’ll spend most of your time doing, is killing orcs with Talion’s sword, dagger and bow in delightfully violent ways. But you can’t just wade in and start chopping, or else Talion will die very quickly since he’s so ridiculously

outnumbered all the time. He is, after all, one of the only free humans living under the gates of Mordor as Sauron’s power returns; everyone else is either a slave or an orc. Getting the better of the orcs in Shadow of Mordor involves using the best tools for the situation, and not being afraid to switch between stealth, ranged attacks and the sword on the fly. And while you’re learning the game’s ropes, you will die. Death in Shadow of Mordor doesn’t have a traditional penalty: when you die, whoever killed you rises in power and gains a rank in Sauron’s army, moving from lowly grunt to Captain, and eventually up to War Chief should their win-streak continue. As you’d expect, unranked orcs go down quite easily but Captains and War Chiefs are much harder to kill. They have their own strengths and weaknesses which Talion must discover before engaging them, otherwise it’s tickets for him. Knowing those is the difference between trying something and failing, and orchestrating events in a way that the kill is quick and easy. Shadow of Mordor isn’t an RPG in a strict sense, but it does have a levelling system that expands Talion’s abilities as he accumulates experience points (XP), Mirian (cash) and Power points. Each unlocks different things: XP unlocks attribute points that can be

invested in a range of combat-enhancing abilities, Mirian unlocks extra health and focus as well as rune slots for Talion’s weapons and power grants access to new abilities. Instead of dropping loot like armour and new weapons, orc Captains and War Chiefs drop runes that can be added to Talion’s weapons to make them better, and naturally the stronger the orc, the better the rune. But without its incredibly flexible combat options and the decent upgrade system in place, Shadow of Mordor wouldn’t have been half the game it turned out to be. Fortunately every piece of the game works well on its own and together with the rest, creating a game that can be legitimately said to be greater than the sum of its parts. Bit.ly/1x88Fit

SCORES Looks

Fighting

Fun

Upgrade system

Overall

9 WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 29

PHANTOM 2

THE SPIRIT OF FLIGHT

CREATE INCREDIBLE AERIALS WITH REAL FLIGHT AT YOUR FINGERTIPS. available at

E T .

REVIEWS

The 5 best adventure games for your mobile phone Remember the good ol’ days of Sierra and LucasArts? Here are some point-and-click games that pay homage to all things adventure. BIK – A SPACE ADVENTURE (Android/iOS) ooking a bit like the original Space Quest games, Bik’s pixelated 2D graphics follow the story of a boy on a camping trip who gets abducted by aliens. From making friends with alien mercenaries to saving the world and ultimately finding his way home, Bik is charming, old-fashioned, wholesome and – most importantly – a whole lot of fun. The puzzles and storyline aren’t perfect, but the clever dialogue makes it worth the download. R32.84 (Android) R36.99 (iOS)

L GEMINI RUE (Android/iOS) science fiction, cyberpunk, neonoir thriller about a police officer named Azriel trying to locate his brother, Gemini Rue is an impressive game to both look at and play. With hand-drawn backgrounds, two protagonists, fantastic voice acting and an innovative investigation and (occasional) combat system, the Blade Runneresque story is engrossing, revealing just enough to keep you curious and leave you thinking. Seriously impressive for an on-the-go adventure game. R54.08 (Android) R59.99 (iOS)

TINY THIEF (Android/iOS) his point-and-click tapping medieval game from Rovio is filled with levels where you have to solve puzzles, and then escape without being seen. There’s a lot of hiding, stealing and sneaking going on, and you have to collect different things – some have more than one use – to get the right amount of stars. Tiny Thief has six adventures in total, each with a different theme and lots of lovely details to enjoy. Free with in-app purchases

THE SECRET OF GRISLY MANOR (Android/iOS) imilar to old-school adventure titles like Myst, The Secret of Grisly Manor offers bite-sized, episodic challenges where you have to make pieces of a puzzle fit together to progress. The touch controls may be simplistic, but figuring out what to put where, or why to do it, can be quite a challenge. The only downfall is that if your sleuthing skills are especially good, the game ends up being on the short side. R10.73 (Android) R11.99 (iOS)

MACHINARIUM (Android/iOS) nlike other adventure games, Machinarium doesn’t have lengthy dialogue trees to follow. Every element of the well thoughtout story is told via context clues and the unnamed robotic protagonist’s thought bubbles. Machinarium is beautiful, whimsical, charming, atmospheric… but difficult. The puzzles can be extremely hard to solve, so much so that Machinarium offers quick - but also not easy - 2D shooter mini-games that you can complete for a hint. Good luck… you’ll need it. R50 (Android) R59.99 (iOS)

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 31

1THREAD_6013_TEC

POWER TO YOUR NEXT STEP We all have a next step. Make yours getting more creative with photography.

Take your next step at www.canon.co.za | www.facebook.com/canonRSA | twitter.com/Canon_SA Follow us:

facebook

twitter

ÂŠ Lorenzo Agius. Canon Ambassador

IMAGE: CC-BY-SA-3.0/ROBBIE ASPELING | HTTPS://COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG/WIKI/FILE:R_ASPELING_UNION_BUILDINGS.JPG

1THREAD_6013_TEC

PHOTOGRAPHY

Wiki Loves Monuments South African photographic winners announced I n an effort to improve the images in posts about landmarks in South Africa, the Wiki Loves Monuments South Africa initiated a drive to have as many monuments documented for Wikipedia entries as possible. The initiative came to an end in late September, but the winners of the best submitted photographs for South Africa in each category were announced: “We would like to commend this year’s participants for the high quality of their photographs. The quality of photographs submitted has been increasing every year, and this year was the best we have had in terms of quality since the South African competition started in 2012,” Wikimedia’s

South Africa chapter said in a press statement. A wealth of photographs were submitted, but due to the Copy Right Act of 1978 only images of some of the older statues could be included in Wikipedia. “We are deeply disappointed that we could not accept photographs of recently built monuments. Most of these monuments commemorate South Africa’s struggle against Apartheid, and it is very unfortunate that photographs of these important historic places cannot be submitted or used on Wikipedia.” Over 4 000 photographs were submitted this year, which is only slightly less than when the competition was run last year

– which was over 6 000. But even though there were less images submitted, “the quality of submissions was much higher than in previous years.” The winners for the South African edition are: • First Prize: Women’s Memorial Under Rainy Sky by Leanri van Heerden • Second Prize: R Aspeling Union Buildings by Robbie Aspeling • Third Prize: Old Dovecote. Farm Onverwacht, (Die Bos), Somerset West. by Chris Snelling Bit.ly/1symItz

SOUTH AFRICA’S BEST

CAMERA NEWS, TIPS, TRICKS AND TUTORIALS PHOTOS.HTXT.CO.ZA

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 33

PHOTOGRAPHY

nstagram’s Hyperlapse feature turns mundane images into super-fast action scenes with the back camera of your iPhone, and has been popular since it was launched a while back. Well, it seems that people wanted to do the same thing while taking selfies – and Instagram listened. As part of the apps update that will be rolling out to iPhones from today, you will now be able to take high-speed selfies by using the phone’s front-facing camera. Instagram has given a number of tips on how to make the most of the new feature by giving some examples: • Stand still and have a moving background (ie Times Square foot traffic,

riding a roller coaster). • Capture yourself walking down the street as your surroundings whirl by. • Hold up your phone as you spin around in a chair, or jump on a trampoline. Just as with the back-facing Hyperlapse videos, you will still be able to share your new super-fast creations with all your friends to ogle at on Facebook, Twitter or just save it to your Camera Roll. Unfortunately Android users will have a wait a little bit longer for the update to come their way, as the feature will only be made available to iOS units for now. “We hope to bring Hyperlapse to Android in the future. Unfortunately, the

requisite APIs are not currently available on Android,” it said. When the initial feature was announced, Instagram explained how to use the feature. “We designed Hyperlapse to be as simple as possible. You don’t need an account to create a hyperlapse. Instead, you open up straight to the camera. Tap once to begin recording and tap again to stop. Choose a playback speed that you like between 1x-12x and tap the green check mark to save it to your camera roll. You can share your video on Instagram easily from there.” Bit.ly/1nZd48j

CC BY 2.0/KEVIN DOOLEY | WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/PAGEDOOLEY/

You can now take high-speed selfies with Instagram

Canon finally pushes EOS 7D to Mark II O ne of Canon’s most successful camera ever bodies is arguably the EOS 7D. In fact, it’s so good that it hasn’t been updated since its release in 2009 – until now. The camera giant says that the EOS 7D Mark II will be released in the coming weeks, and sees some major improvements over its predecessor. The updated version, according to Canon, has been designed with speed in mind, and has been completely rebuilt and redesigned. “Made for life’s fastest moments, the camera can capture an incredible 10 frames per second (fps) without a drop in resolution, and together with a new 65-point cross-type AF system and Dual DIGIC 6 processors, the EOS 7D Mark II sets a new benchmark for electrifying speed and power,” Canon said in a media statement. The camera features a new 20.2 MP APS-C CMOS sensor with a native ISO 100-16 000 range, which is expandable to ISO 51 200. To make the most of image quality, it also

incorporates an advanced high-resolution 150k pixel RGB+IR metering sensor and flicker detection. To shoot movies, photographers can look forward to making use of the uncompressed HDMI output and Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology, to shoot in Full HD, with a choice of frame rates from 24p to 60p fps. “The EOS 7D Mark II is engineered to shoot in the most demanding situations, with improved weather resistance and a tough magnesium alloy chassis – as well as built-in GPS and a digital compass to help you track your adventures,” Canon explained. Bit.ly/1CgrstD WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 35

SUPERTEST

WHICH IS THE BEST…

Compact camera with a powerful zoom? The top three pocket-zoom cameras go head to head.

aving a compact camera is a great boon for those who are looking to capture as much action as possible, wihtout having to hulk around a bunch of lenses and a heavy old SLR. But most of the time a standard compact camera has a 3x lens at best, which simply won’t get you close enough to the action and something a bit longer is needed. To get a shot of that lion in the Kruger Park, in which you can actually see cat from a vague yellow spot in the centre of the frame, you’re either going to have to get out of your car or get a better zoom. And we know which we’d chose out of those two options. For the purposes of this test, we’ve selected three of the best current cameras on the market with a built-in lens that has a 20x or more magnification rating. But which did we think was best? To find that out, you’ll have to read on.

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 37

SUPERTEST

CANON SX 700 HS

SMALL, BUT VERY POWERFUL

anon is known for its high-quality imaging products, most notable its expansive range of DSLR cameras, but that doesn’t mean that its compact cameras have been neglected. On the contrary, its compact models pack just as much a punch as the big guys – if not better, in a size to quality ratio. So couple a good zoom onto one of its flagship compact models, and you have yourself a brilliant camera that will be ready to capture just about anything. HANDLING It would be a bit of stating the obvious if one had to say that the camera can fit perfectly in your hands, as by nature of any compact camera build, it has been designed to do so. But the SX 700 HS is slightly different, in the sense that it has a bit more weight to it. Compact cameras a built in such a way that all the controls and buttons are easily reachable, and this one is no different. With the shutter, zoom and power buttons located on the top of the unit, the rest of the functions are situated on the right of the 3.0-inch TFT colour LCD screen. Everything that you might need in terms of functionality will be located here, like the mode selection, the picture review button and menu options. IMAGE QUALITY In terms of image quality, the Canon is a star shooter straight out of the box and has a few

38 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

hidden extras if you know where to find them. The 16.1 megapixel high-sensitivity CMOS sensor will provide you with crisp images under ideal lighting conditions and all the usual options for tweaking colour balances and compensating for types of show. In low light conditions, the camera performs rather well as it makes use of the Canon HS System, which has been designed specifically to eke out detail in near dark and does sterling work to reduce noise at high ISO settings. But if you aren’t familiar with all the camera modes, or just don’t feel like tinkering around with the setting, you can swap over to the Smart AUTO, which will automatically select the right camera settings based on 58 predefined shooting situations. PERFORMANCE Not only does the SX 700 HS have the pretty powerful 16.1 megapixel high-sensitivity CMOS sensor combined with Canon’s proprietary DIGIC 6 Image Processor, it has a 30-times optical zoom to boot as well. The zoom is the key here, as it endeavours to bring things closer before losing image quality – which is what you want in a high-zoom compact. But besides the nice zoom length, you will also be able to capture videos at full 1080p at 60p. One of the other great things about the SX 70 HS, is the fact that it has a Hybrid Auto function. This mode lets the camera take a short video clip before and after a still image is taken, just to make sure that you capture the

entire moment. And just in case you miss your target, it has Zoom Framing Assist to help you keep you subject in the frame by following it throughout a scene. But one of the niggles that we had, was that the pop-up flash was rather flimsy and not as sturdy as we would have liked it to be.

KEY FEATURES • 16.1 megapixel CMOS sensor • 30-times optical zoom • 3.0-inch TFT colour monitor • Canon HS System for low light • DIGIC 6 Image processor R3 200

SCORES Handling

Image Quality

Performance

Value

Overall

SUPERTEST

NIKON COOLPIX S9500 TINY, POWERFUL AND GREAT

o matter how good mobile phone cameras get, its long throw lenses like the one on the Coolpix S9500 which will mean there’s always a place for compact cameras in someone’s bag. At 205g and measuring only 110.1 x 60.3 x 30.7 mm, this is one of the smallest capture units around – but you shouldn’t form your opinion based on its size. Available in funky colours, the S9500 is one of those models that will serve you well wherever you are – and will provide image quality to match. HANDLING While it might be smaller than other compact digital cameras, the S9500 packs a rather big punch for its size. Fitting perfectly in your operating hand, the camera’s controls are located in such a position that it is easy to navigate and operate with just one hand – while it’s not ideal, it’s totally possible. As per usual, the shutter button, zoom and power button are located on top, as is the selection wheel which you’ll use to choose from the different shooting modes. On the left of the 3-inch OLED monitor is where all the other controls are housed, which includes the menu and review buttons. The only thing about the selection buttons, is that they could have been made a bit more prominent. But other than that, it operates rather beautifully. IMAGE QUALITY Being such as small camera, one would think

that the image quality couldn’t possibly come close to anything bigger – but you would be wrong. Gone are the days where cameras were measured by their size (which then translated to images quality). As technology started to provide smaller chips and image processors, the quality of compact cameras increased – and this model is no different. The S9500 shouldn’t be seen as a substitute to any professional camera, but it does have a number of tricks up its sleeve in order to increase (or at least maintain) the image quality, no matter where you are. Primarily a pick-up-and-go camera, it has a plethora of modes (like Close-up, Food, Museum, Fireworks show, Black and white copy) that will pre-set the camera for you. Then all that you have to do it point and shoot. PERFORMANCE Before we get to the monster zoom that the S9500 hides under its tiny body, the camera has an 18.1 megapixels Backside illumination CMOS image sensor – in short, it will capture as much detail as it can, while providing crisp imagery. Those who have a bit of a shake in their step, there is no need to worry as it has a lens shift and electronic VR (Vibration Reduction) built in. This will try to minimise the shakiness when taking still images or video clips. As part of the system to provide great images, it was Nikon’s EXPEED C2 imageprocessing engine, which is some of the best in the industry. But the biggest start of this model is the 22x optical zoom. While it might

not sound that impressive, it is about the same focal length as a 550mm lens – which is great. By having such a long lens at your disposal, you will be able to capture subjects that are pretty far away. There is one downside though, and that is image capture with that length will inherently suffer from some form of image degradation.

KEY FEATURES • 18.1 megapixel CMOS sensor • 22-times optical zoom • Focal length of approx. 500mm • 3-inch OLED monitor • EXPEED C2 image processing engine R2 300

SCORES Handling

Image Quality

Performance

Value

Overall

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 39

SUPERTEST

FUJIFILM FINEPIX F800EXR GREAT CAMERA, GREAT QUALITY

PERFORMANCE For the purpose of the grouptest, the compact cameras had to have a zoom that would make a telescope proud, and the F800EXR doesn’t disappoint. For standard operation, you will be able to bring that lion hiding in the bushes right to your feet with the 20x optical zoom. That is about the same equivalent as a 250mm (at the other end, it’s a 25mm wide angle). In the event that you want to go even further, the model has a sneaky mode available – a 40x intelligent digital zoom. Granted, by nature a digital zoom’s image quality isn’t as good as an optical zoom, but the 40x flavour does provide for a 1000 mm equivalent. And to review your images you will need a screen, which is where the 3-inch LCD monitor comes into play. The same as the Canon model, the flash was a bit flimsy – if it had to pop out while in transit, we fear that it could possibly snap off.

ujifilm has been best known in recent years for its X-series of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, but don’t let the popularity of the X-Pro 1 or XE-2 lead you to believe that the firm has given up on compacts. The lens length of the F800EXR featured here may be the shortest in the test, but it’s still extraordinarily good. HANDLING With a sturdy handhold on the right side of the body, the F800EXR feels very comfortable to hold – and light too as it weighs just 212g. Compact cameras all seem to follow the same design aspects, but there is actually a reason for that. The units are small, so it is easy for you to operate with one hand while walking down a road or needing to just quickly capture something and then moving on. One of the most interesting things about the F800EXR’s design is that the mode selection wheel is located at a slight angle on the top. Where others will be placed either on top of the housing or next to the screen, this one straddles the top and back panels. But that isn’t

a bad thing – in fact, it’s incredibly comfortable to use, and it makes you wonder why more manufacturers aren’t placing it there. IMAGE QUALITY Under normal shooting conditions the camera performs rather well, but the true measure of a great model is how it performs when taken out of its comfort zone? In low-light conditions, the F800EXR has one of the highest ISOs that we have seen – an astonishing ISO12800 sensitivity. That means that it will be able to capture images in almost complete darkness, but there will naturally be some image quality loss. The 16 megapixel EXR CMOS sensor will indeed help with that, and the EXR Auto with Motion Detection will help you to determine what the right shooting mode should be to make the most of its power. The mode has been designed for compact camera users who don’t have enough know-how to fiddle with individual or creative settings, and will select the right parameters including exposure, white balance, switches and sensor mode.

THE WINNER

aking all the factors into consideration of the models for this grouptest, the winner is the one who we felt provided a better value for money proposition, had great zoom qualities and generally performed just slightly better than the other two – the Fujifilm FinePix F800EXR. It was a tough decision, but it just felt better when operated, and while it has slightly less pixels than the Canon model there’s little to choose between

40 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

the two on image quality. And we have to admit, placing the mode selection wheel at an angle also played a huge role in the decision. Compact cameras are designed for those that aren’t into it as a serious hobby, so handling comfort coupled with great image quality is incredibly important – and the F800EXR just ticked the right boxes on that. Bit.ly/1wDaSmf

KEY FEATURES • 16 megapixel EXR CMOS sensor • 20-times optical zoom • 40-times digital zoom • ISO of 12 800 • 3-inch LCD monitor R3 100

SCORES Handling

Image Quality

Performance

Value

Overall

EDITOR’S CHOICE

HOW TO: PHOTOS

How to crop your photos perfectly Whether it’s to emphasize the subject of a picture or just remove an unwanted element of a picture, here are a few things to keep in mind when you crop your images.

ropping images can be done for various reasons, but more often than not it is to remove unwanted elements from the frame, or to recompose the image to better reflect what is going on. It can also be done to highlight specific subjects, or just to change the perspective of the viewer. But cropping images doesn’t need a lot of technical know-how, and you most certainly don’t need all the fancy photographic software that can be obtained at photographic shops. Windows has the really nifty, if somewhat rudimentary, Paint image editor, and Mac users can fire up Preview to crop photos. There are also a number of other free or open-source images out here, such as GIMP, that will do the trick just fine. WORK SPACE It can be really hard to successfully crop an image in its native resolution if the picture is larger than your screen. So before you begin zoom out so that you can see the whole photo. Change the working space to fit the whole image into one screen. This way, you will be able to see exactly what you are working on, and where the changes need to be made. In Microsoft’s Paint, for an example, select the magnification icon, and right-click the mouse a couple of times. The image should reduce in size to make edit more manageable.

42 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

ASPECT RATIO It’s always a good idea to be mindful of the aspect ratios of images, as you would want to keep them as close to the standard sizes as possible. By this, we mean the old fashioned 4:3 ratio of longest side to shortest of classic pics and monitor screens, or widescreen layouts like 16:9 or 16:10. There’s two reasons for this: first of all, most places that you’ll want to share or print your pics will be set up to look their best at standard image sizes. Also, you need to be aware of the final number of pixels – especially if you’re planning on printing your work. Your crop is going to be smaller than the original picture, and anything less than around 3MP isn’t going to look good on A4. But with that said, exploration with cropping to non-standard formats can also bring a photo to life, so don’t be afraid to experiment. SAVE, SAVE AND SAVE It might seem like obvious advice, but while you are tinkering with your images, save them as often as you can. Even more

The rule of thirds

importantly, make a duplicate of any image before you start chopping away at the edges or discarding bit and pieces. Many a good image has been ruined as the photographer worked on the raw images with backing them up first. CONSIDER DIFFERENT THINGS Most cropping is done to trim the edges, to remove something awkward that can’t be done with image editing software, or correct framing mistakes, but it can actually be used to create different perspective of the same image. For example, if you have a group photo of some friends, crop the image to only highlight two or three of them. If you have taken a picture of a busy street, crop it down to focus on a street sign to the right of the image. If done correctly, it can change the perspective completely. Just remember, most of the images that you see on the internet taken by professional photographers have gone through some form of cropping, so don’t feel discouraged if you can’t replicate their images through through the camera. Bit.ly/1o7pvyY

Most photographers subscribe to the rule of thirds. If you image the picture through the view finder being divided by two equal horizontal and two equal vertical lines (making nine equal blocks across the screen, as in the picture above), subjects should always be placed where these lines cross. Users of the technique claim that it creates a bit more tension and interest.

digital medium format

THE reference in medium format ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

51,4MP CMOS sensor (ISO 204800) Full HD and 4K Time Lapse Video Weather sealed body 86K pixel high-precision exposure metering SAFOX11 autofocus system with 27 AF points 3 FPS continuous drive 3.2” Tiltable LCD with 1,037,000 pixels Dual SD slot (SDHC SDXC) Compatible with previous generation 645 & 67 lenses

HOW CAMERAS WORK

Understanding white balance That WB setting may be the least used function on your camera, but it’s one of the most important aspects of digital photography.

ave you ever noticed that when you take pictures in the daylight, it will look different to when you take a photo inside a room or in the shade? You also might have noticed that some pictures tend to be a bit bluer than others. Well, that comes down to the ‘colour temperature’ of the image, which is commonly referred to as white balance. In short, different light sources like the sun, fluorescent bulbs or tungsten lights have different colour temperatures, which determines how much warmth (red) or coolness (blue) is present in an image. If you’re in the room when an image is taken, you’re unlikely to notice that there’s a colour tint in the air because you’re eyes automatically adjust to ambient effects that can make photos look odd. Colour temperatures are measured in Kelvins, or K. The correlated colour temperature of candlelight, as an example, is between 1000-2000K. Old-fashioned tungsten light bulbs are 2500-3500K. A sunrise or sunset under a clear sky is 30004000K. At the high end of the scale,

shade or heavily overcast sky has a colour temperature of 9000-10000K. These are all common settings on your camera which automatically compensate for off-white colours. The human eye is excellent at differentiating what is white under different light sources, but digital cameras struggle to capture the same scene perfectly. Almost all digital cameras will have an auto white balance (AWB) setting, but even then they might need some help from time to time. To get the most accurate representation of what a scene looks like, you would have to set the camera’s white balance to one of the pre-defined options, which consists of a list of light sources. The camera will then automatically adjust the scene’s temperature to the one selected. It should give you a pretty good reproduction, but if that doesn’t work, it’s over to manual control – which can get a bit tricky at the best of times. In manual control, you will need to set a benchmark so that you can tell the camera what white looks like in a scene. It seems a bit silly, but the results will be well worth

the effort. The easiest way to calibrate the white balance manually is to get a piece of white cardboard. Many cameras have a setting where you can photograph this and set the colour it produces as white. Prior to the digital age, correct colour balances had to be manually taken using a light metre and adjusted for by placing colour correction filters on the camera lens or over studio lights. But having an incorrect white balance isn’t always a bad thing, and some settings on a digital camera will actually change it. As with anything in the photography world, colour can be used to change the tone and emotion of an image. Images taken with a warmer white balance tend to resemble photographs taken many years ago, creating a retro or vintage feeling. Some digital cameras have an effects setting called Vivid, which also tinkers with the white balance, making the image warmer.

PHOTOS TAKEN WITH DIFFERENT WHITE BALANCE SETTINGS Tungsten

44 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

Auto

2500K

9900K

Security Software Roundup B

uying security software today is more complex than in previous years as people don’t just have PCs anymore – they have a mix of Macs, Windows computers, smartphones and tablets, all with different operating systems. So the old approach of software that protects just one device is no longer good enough.

Multi-device protection is the way forward for antivirus suites.

Which is why the big guns have all brought out versions of their software that cater for more than just a handful of PCs. Make the right buying decision, and you can secure all of the gadgets you use every day with just one convenient package. Here are three options to choose from. Bear in mind that all three offer the usual

firewall, anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-rootkit, polished interfaces, low resource use, identity protection, excellent detection rates and more, so we’re just going to focus on the features that make them different. Lastly, none of these work on BlackBerries as the company has its own security setup.

MCAFEE LIVESAFE

cAfee LiveSafe does away with the idea of per-device licensing and instead takes the unique approach of offering protection for an unlimited number of PCs, smartphones, tablets and Macs. No more are you stuck with just three or five installs. Once you’ve bought the software and signed up, McAfee asks you what you want to protect. All you need to do is choose the device and how you’d like to receive the software (email link, a direct download, download link via SMS) and then download and install it. You can do that for as many devices as you own. Obviously there are legal provisions in the EULA that ensure you don’t simply buy the software once and roll it out to your 3 500 employees, but the core idea is there, and it’s probably the most consumer-friendly move

46 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

I’ve seen a security software company make. Others are still stuck in the “Only for three to five devices” mentality, which is so 1993 in this day and age when even our watches need internet security. You will pay a premium for it, of course, but it makes good sense for families that own more than five gadgets that need securing. And while other suites offer cloud storage and data encryption, none of them secure that data with voice and face recognition and a PIN. McAfee LiveSafe has its own 1GB offer that you, and only you can access.

SCORES

Overall

Annual cost: R800 for protection of unlimited devices

SUPERTEST

NORTON SECURITY

ymantec has rolled all of its many Norton products into a single new one, the plainly named Norton Security. It only gives you protection for five devices, however, but you’re free to mix and match as you please. After you’ve redeemed the product code and installed it on at least one device, all you have to do is log into your Norton account via the web, choose what type of security you want and how to send the download link to the device. And when you get a new phone or tablet, you can remove protection from your old device and add it to the new one quite easily, too. Symantec’s anti-theft tools for Android are also

very good: tracking, remotely wiping them and locating them is possible via the console. For an extra R250, you can secure 25GB of encrypted cloud storage. Norton consistently scores in the highest percentile of independent security testing labs across all security disciplines and has a very streamlined, user-friendly interface, and is thus one of the very best options out there if you only have five devices to protect or less.

SCORES

Overall

Annual cost: R550 for protection of up to 5 devices

KASPERSKY INTERNET SECURITY MULTI-DEVICE 2015

aspersky is likewise a bit behind McAfee on the number of devices KIS 2015 offers to protect – five – but in addition to being one of the very best security suites available today according to its consistently good results in independent testing labs, it has something the others don’t: Webcam protection. Webcams have become the target of internet hackers who hack them to watch computer users going about their daily lives. KIS has a feature that specifically monitors webcams and prevents unauthorised access so you can surf without worry. And for anyone concerned with banking with their phones or tablets, KIS 2015 also has a separate secure browser called

Kaspersky Safe Browser for Android, iOS and Windows phones that can be used specifically for tasks that need you to enter sensitive data like passwords and user IDs. For that extra layer of protection, you can even enter your passwords with a secure, onscreen keyboard provided by the software.

SCORES

Overall

Annual cost: R559.50 for protection of up to five devices

CONCLUSION

icking which one to go for here is difficult, as all three packages offer fantastic security for a good mix of devices. If you own more than five phones, computers and tablets, McAfee’s LiveSafe will undoubtedly give you the most value for your money, even if it only offers a meagre 1GB of online storage. If you have five or less, both Kaspersky and Norton Security are good options, but Kaspersky edges Norton out with its secure browser, webcam

protection and on-screen keyboard. Norton is still a good option if you like a minimalistic interface and near-silent protection, though, or you fancy 25GB of secure, encrypted online storage.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 47

HOW TO…

How to become a Gmail Jedi Tips and tricks for managing your mail.

here’s something about a Google mailbox that just works – from the endless storage space to the fact that you can track deliveries or unsubscribe from annoying mailers without having to read through a whole email, there’s always something new happening in Gmail.

SEARCH SMART

You probably already know about the myriad of shortcuts you can type into the Google search bar. From mathematical equations to translating common phrases, tracking flights, and being depressed by the exchange rate, Google does it all… and so does Gmail. Gmail has many of the same search operators built into its mailbox that will help you find what you’re looking for. For example, if you type “size:1000000”, all the messages bigger than 1MB in your inbox will show up. “size:25000000” will display messages (mostly with attachments) greater than 25MB and so on. Size isn’t the only search operator that works when searching for anything in your inbox. Other helpful words to plug into that search bar include “from” (when you’re looking for a message from a specific person) – “to” and “subject”.

48 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

KEYBOARD TRICKS

Who needs a mouse anyway? Before you can use Gmail’s handy keyboard shortcuts, they need to be enabled in your settings. To do this, click the gear icon in the top right and select Settings, then the tab marked Labs. Then find the “Keyboard shortcuts” section and select Keyboard shortcuts on. Next, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. Here are five of our favourite keyboard shortcuts to use in Gmail: 1. Press Shift + C to compose a new message in a new window 2. When viewing an email, hit R to reply, A to reply all, or F to forward 3. When you’re in an email, simply press E to archive. If there’s already a label applied, the email will archive into that folder 4. To move a message to the trash, type # 5. When you’re in an email thread, type N and P to move among newer and older conversations. Hit O or Enter to expand a conversation

EMAIL REGRET

Having second thoughts about an angry mail you just sent? Did you copy instead of blind copy someone into a message?

For anyone who has experienced accidental email regret, its time to enable Gmail’s Undo Send feature. Head to Settings and under the Labs tab, enable Undo Send. So if you’ve accidentally hit send, you can now click Cancel immediately, Undo when it appears or press Z (if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled.) But be quick, you only have 10 seconds to take back that mail…

LABEL IT

The one thing missing from Gmail is traditional email folders. Labels, however, are a useful tool for keeping your messages organised. They actually work better than folders in many ways, primarily because you’re not limited to one folder per message – a single email can be labeled with as many things as you’d like. (But keep in mind that Gmail only supports a maximum of 5 000 labels, including sub-labels and IMAP keywords.) What’s more is that only you can see your labels, so whether you mark a message with “Missed deadline” or “Don’t reply” the sender will never know. You can also edit which labels appear under your inbox, as well as the name of each to customise your Gmail to your liking. Bit.ly/1tdN8pB

Multiple HD Streaming Powerline adapters auto-connect and stream to multiple HD smart TVs throughout your home

Smart TV

Floor 2

Powerline 500

Smar t TV

Scan for video

TPL-406E2K Powerline 500 AV Nano Adapter Kit • Includes two TPL-406E adapters • 500 Mbps networking from an electrical outlet • Auto connect out of box

Floor 1

COMPETITION

WIN!

A 3G HUAWEI TABLET WORTH R2 359!

A quad core 7inch Android tablet with built-in 3G modem and a back-up battery pack could be yours. What more could you ask for?

ondering how good Android tablets are these days? At least one member of the htxt.africa Tech Made Easy team recently gave up their laptop for one (again) and vowed never to go back to a desktop operating system while on the move. And if you haven’t yet been bitten by the Android bug, allow us to fix that for you. Our friends at Arbalest (www.arbalest. co.za) have given us a 7inch Huawei MediaPad YouthPad 2 to give away to

one lucky reader in our awesome monthly competition. The YouthPad 2 is a slimline and portable slate with a quad core processor and 1GB of RAM built-in. On top of the Android 4.3 operating system you’ll find the simple and friendly UI of Huawei’s own Emotion User Interface software to guide you from app to app. It comes with 4GB of storage on board and a microSD card slot for expanding that to 32GB at will. Its best feature, however, is the built-

in modem which will let you surf the net wherever you are (providing you supply a SIM card) at speeds of up to 21Mbps download via HSPA+. As if that’s not enough, Arbalest is also throwing in a 2 600mAh Milk Momax battery pack too. It’s a battery pack that looks like a carton of milk. Ace. Aimed at students but suitable for all, it’s a great piece of kit and in order to win one all you have to do is follow the instructions below.

POINT YOUR BROWSER AT WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA/HUAWEIYOU

TO ENTER

THPAD TO ENTER!

To stand a chance of winning this tablet simply visit our competition site at www.htxt.co.za/huaweiyouthpad and complete the following sentence in 20 words or less. “The youth today…” The closing date is Xth December 2014. Terms & Conditions apply, all details on the website above

50 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

WIN!

TICKETS TO GEEKFEST!

It's the biggest event of the year for nerds, and we've got four pairs of tickets to give away.

hat are you doing on the final weekend of November this year? Wrong, you’re going to be joining every other self-respecting geek in Gauteng at the awesome event that is Geekfest. There’ll be videogames, a geek quiz, board games, robot wars, cosplay compos, live roleplaying and even a best-dressed pet parade – if that’s your thing – and it all takes place on Saturday 29th November at the Ball and All Driving Range and Pub, up near

the Lion Park in Noitgedacht. You can read all about it here: www.geekfest.co.za, and tickets cost R50 per adult or R25 for kids under 12. We’re going to be there. And you can too in our exclusive competition to win tickets. We’ve got four pairs to give away, and all you need to do to win one of them is caption the picture on the right from Geekfest 2013. Don’t worry, no pets were harmed in the taking of this picture. Honest.

To enter: Point your browser at www.htxt.co.za/geekfestcompo

CLICK TO SIGN UP... Get htxt.africa and the best of Tech Made Easy delivered to your email box every day!

on’t miss any of the most important national and international tech news! Our parent website, htxt.africa, sends out a fact filled email every single day. With over 5 000 subscribers its one of the biggest communities of readers in the country – so don’t miss out, sign up today! Still not convinced? Our email newsletter subscribers also get access to exclusive competitions and offers just for them. And don’t worry – if you don’t like it it’s easy to unsubscribe and we’ll never sell your details on to spammers either! Want to find out more? Point your browser at www.htxt.co.za/emailsignup and fill in the short form there.

htxt africa

news . features . reviews . opinions . culture

WWW.HTXT.CO.ZA | 51

HOW TO…

How to create a bootable Mac OS X Yosemite disk

You’re four steps away from enjoying Apple’s latest desktop OS.

he latest version of Apple’s desktop operating system is here and you’ve got two options when it comes to installing it onto your Mac. You can either download and install the update straight away which will keep all of your files and settings the way they were or you can install it from scratch to give your Mac that justout-of-the-box look and feel. To do that you’re going to need to create a bootable OS X Yosemite installer disk, which also doubles up as a handy rescue tool should you ever need to re-install the operating system on your Mac.

automatically runs once the download has completed by clicking on ‘Install OS X’ in the menu bar and selecting ‘Quit Install OS X’. If you have more than one Mac this is the time to copy the installer to a flash drive to upgrade all of your devices without needing to download the files individually (even if you’re planning on just running the installer on each to upgrade without doing a clean install).

YOUR 3. FORMAT FLASH DRIVE

The first thing to do is head to the Mac App Store to ‘purchase’ and download Yosemite. Depending on the speed of your internet connection the 5.16GB download could take quite a while to come down so you may want to start up a movie and get comfortable.

Grab a flash drive which must at least be 8GB in capacity or larger and follow these steps: 1. Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder in Applications 2. Select the ‘Erase’ tab 3. Set the format to MAC OS Extended (Journaled) 4. Name the drive ‘Untitled’ 5. Hit ‘Erase…’

THE 2.CANCEL INSTALLATION

THE 4. CREATING BOOTABLE DISK

DOWNLOAD OS X YOSEMITE

The OS X Yosemite Installer lives inside the Applications folder in your Finder but will delete itself once you’ve installed the OS. You need exit the installer which

The simplest way to create a bootable disk is to use Terminal. That can seem a bit intimidating for those who have never used it before, but thankfully you’ll only need to

enter one line of code and it’ll be a strictly copy and paste affair to minimise the potential anxiety. Here’s how: 1. Open up Terminal from the Utilities folder in Applications 2. Copy and paste the following line of code into Terminal and push Enter sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite. app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/Untitled –applicationpath / Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app – nointeraction 3. Enter your account password (assuming you have administrator rights) 4. Wait until you see the two lines saying “Copy Complete. Done.” (see image below) 5. Eject your disk. 6. Boot.

FROM 5.BOOTING YOUR INSTALLER

Connect the flash drive to your Mac. If your Mac is already booted into OS X then go to Startup Disk in System Preferences and select the Install OS X Yosemite drive. Or If your Mac is currently shut down hold down the ‘Alt’ key at startup and choose the Install OS X Yosemite drive when OS X’s Startup Manager opens. Bit.ly/1t8HIef

52 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

Unti

Untitled-1 1

10/13/2014 6:42:35 AM

HOW TO…

How to make Shadow of Mordor look even better

Getting the High Definition texture pack for the PC version of Shadow of Mordor, if your graphics card can take it.

ant to see Shaodw of Mordor running with the high def texture pack installed? Open up Steam, click Library and find the game. Right-click on it and choose “View Downloadable Content” – this is where you should see “Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor - HD Content” if the texture pack is installed; if you don’t see it there, you’re going to need to grab it. Fortunately that’s very easy. Browse to the game’s Steam Store page, find the texture pack under the Downloadable Content section (Bit.ly/1w2XZ6w), click on it, then click the Download button that appears on

Learn more at…

the next page. It’s a 3.7GB download later which should take between 2.5 and 3 hours on a 4Mbps ADSL connection to complete. Now all you need to do is fire up the game and set the textures to Ultra, and voila, you’ll see far more details on just about everything if you look closely enough. To its credit, Shadow of Mordor is already a very pretty game without the HD texture pack, it’s just that much prettier with it. Be warned, though, that running Shadow of Mordor on Ultra with the HD texture pack installed requires a video card with a lot of VRAM. Should you have less than

HOW TO STREAM GAMES FROM ONE PC TO ANOTHER WITH STEAM

go to htxt.co.za

54 | TECH MADE EASY | NOVEMBER 2014

Just because you only have one high-powered gaming PC doesn’t mean that’s the only place you can play games at their highest settings. Bit.ly/1mxyULz

the recommended 6GB - and who does you may experience frame rate drops as your rig switches to system memory when it inevitably runs out of VRAM. Still, it’s these sorts of touches that make me very happy to see a PC game letting PC gamers take full advantage of the hardware superiority they enjoy over consoles. Not that we’re dissing consoles, mind – they’re absolutely fantastic for their put-in-andplay approach to gaming and their graphics have come a long way – but we’re still quite pleased that one of our favourite gaming platforms is getting a bit more love from developers these days. Bit.ly/1x8bctc

HOW TO TRACK A STOLEN IPHONE, IPAD OR MAC Apple’s ‘Find my iPhone’ service has been available to iPhone users since 2010 and has recently become available on iPads and Mac computers as well. Bit.ly/1giE2ne

DESIGNED FOR LIFE ON THE GO Knomo’s collection epitomises the perfect modern day bag — designed to protect your laptop, hold and organise everything you need while still looking smart and stylish. Knomo uses a combination of luxurious leathers and high quality lightweight nylon to create sophisticated bags that don’t weigh you down. Each Knomo features a padded laptop compartment as well as additional pockets for your daily essentials. You’ll never consider using anything else once you’ve found your Knomo.

THE WARWICK

THE BUSINESS CLASS OF BAGS

THE CAVENDISH

THE EPITOME OF A FUNCTIONAL YET FASHIONABLE BAG

IN STORE | ONLINE | MOBILE

STATS

SA tech

The numbers that sum up the state of the nation

in stats

OpenWeb is now offering unlimted internet access via ADSL for just R99 a month. Bit.ly/12aaYbv

HiSense is now manufacturing 4K TVs in its Cape Town plant. Bit.ly/12ab3Mq

Samsung has donated 3 000 smartphones to aid health workers in the field who are currently fighting ebola. Microsoft, meanwhile, has donated compute time to researchers, while Microsoft founder Paul Allen has pledged $26.5m (R265m) to the cause. - Bit.ly/12a9L44

1 200

people used microjobbing site Money4Jam to earn cash in its first month.

Bit.ly/12abh69

70% of people in Africa don’t have access to electricity. Follow this link to read about a man trying to change that.

Bit.ly/12abwhF

Enjoy this free copy of htxt.africa’s Tech Made Easy? There’s loads more like these, plus in depth features, geek culture and business news published daily at our website www.htxt.co.za.

77 3D printed parts are being crafted by makers to construct a Rainbow Nation crowdfabbed chair. Bit.ly/12a9Wwe Leader of India’s independence movement Mahatma Ghandi spent 21 years in South Africa. You can see exactly where in this awesome virtual tour. Bit.ly/ZGcL6j

NEXT MONTH

And if you want even more, keep your eyes peeled for issue 10 from 1st December in all good technology retailers.

available at leading retail outlets

KEEP KEEP KEEP MOM MOM MOM IN IN IN THE THE THE LOOP. LOOP. LOOP. KEEP KEEP KEEP MOM MOM MOM IN IN IN THE THE THE LOOP. LOOP. LOOP. KEEP KEEP KEEP MOM MOM MOM IN IN IN THE THE THE LOOP. LOOP. LOOP. Show Show Show Show her her her her allall all the all the the the good good good good stuff stuff stuff stuff she’s she’s she’s she’s missing. missing. missing. missing. Show Show Show her her her allallthe all the the good good good stuff stuff stuff she’s she’s she’s missing. missing. missing. And And And And keep keep keep keep it it secure it secure secure secure with with with with Norton Norton Norton Norton 360TM, 360TM, 360TM, 360TM, Show Show Show her her her allit all the all the the good good good stuff stuff stuff she’s she’s she’s missing. missing. missing. And And And keep keep keep ititsecure it secure secure with with with Norton Norton Norton 360TM, 360TM, 360TM, which which which which gives gives gives gives you you you you on-the-go on-the-go on-the-go on-the-go protection protection protection protection for for for for your your your your And And And keep keep keep it itsecure it secure secure with with with Norton Norton Norton 360TM, 360TM, 360TM, which which which gives gives gives you you you on-the-go on-the-go on-the-go protection protection protection for for for your your your most most most most personal personal personal personal information. information. information. information. which which which gives gives gives you you you on-the-go on-the-go on-the-go protection protection protection for for for your your your most most most personal personal personal information. information. information. So So So you So you you you can can can can gogo go boldly, go boldly, boldly, boldly, not not not not blindly. blindly. blindly. blindly. most most most personal personal personal information. information. information. SoSoyou So you you can can can gogoboldly, go boldly, boldly, not not not blindly. blindly. blindly. SoSoyou So you you can can can gogoboldly, go boldly, boldly, not not not blindly. blindly. blindly.

LET’S LET’S LET’S LET’S GOGO GOGO LET’S LET’S LET’S GOGOGO LET’S LET’S LET’S GOGOGO